言承旭家庭背景:Tokyo finds new and fragile ‘normal’ - Focus ...

来源：百度文库编辑：九乡新闻网时间：2024/04/29 18:43:26

Tokyo finds new and fragile ‘normal’

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Three weeks on from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, the country’s worst postwar disaster, life in the capital is markedly changed. The combination of power cuts, daily news of death and devastation in the north-east and fears of nuclear contamination have had an extraordinary effect on previously vibrant, noisy Tokyo.

The spirit of jishuku, or voluntary self-restraint, has been invoked as lights are dimmed, entertainment events cancelled and television and poster advertisements swiftly dropped or pulled down.

For the casual visitor to Tokyo, some changes are hard to see immediately, just like the children’s game that asks: “What’s wrong with this picture?” While a semblance of normality is indeed returning to aspects of life, it is a new and fragile “normal”.

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Tokyo, usually a heavily illuminated urban sprawl, is in semi-darkness at night, the famed “neon forests” of Shinjuku and Ginza switched off. Visits to government offices and top companies evoke the wartime days of London’s Blitz, with corridors in darkness, no heating and long walks up stairs.

In subways, shopping centres and office blocks, “down” escalators are switched off. As Tokyo-ites prepare for a long, hot summer without air-conditioning, the impact of power cuts is already pervasive. Smart jackets have been discarded to enable staff in some luxury hotels to work in short sleeves as the air conditioning is rationed. More seriously, hospitals have been warned to plan fewer operations to keep energy usage to a minimum.

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With international airline staff being reluctant to land in Tokyo, some flights into or out of the Japanese capital are being diverted to Osaka or Nagoya. Flights from Europe and the US can take five to seven hours longer as airlines including British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Qantas stop in Seoul, Hong Kong or other destinations to drop off non-Japanese cabin crew and collect Japanese replacements. This avoidance of the capital is one of the most concrete signs of what is being labelled “radiation paranoia”.

The extended closure of international schools in Tokyo beyond the normal spring break partly explains the expat exodus after the March 11 disaster. One of the biggest, the American School in Japan, took the unprecedented step of offering “virtual classes” online for students, which will be available until late April. While some schools reopened this week – with barely more than half their normal pupil numbers – others, the French and Chinese schools, remained closed. The British School in Japan reopens on Monday.

With numerous workers staying away from offices in the days after March 11, and some still working from home or offices outside Tokyo, Japanese corporate culture has been forced to change its traditionally rigid ways. Some companies quickly set up virtual private networks to enable remote access to computer systems. Others have allowed employees for the first time to use personal e-mail, mobile phones and other devices to work more flexibly from home.

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In spite of government assurances about close monitoring of tap water and produce from regions near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, it is clear that the crisis is fuelling suspicion of government information. Fear of radioactive contamination, even of seawater, has hit the restaurant and food industry – particularly sectors dependent on fish sales. Sushi restaurants have seen business plunge, along with fish prices in the city’s Tsukiji market. Restaurants say consumers are anxiously asking where each ingredient is sourced.

Bottled water remains in huge demand. But some restaurants importing water from Europe – for example, Beige, a Michelin-starred establishment in Tokyo’s Ginza – were told by a transport company it would only deliver water to Osaka, as staff were reluctant to go to Tokyo, further raising the costs of delivery.

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