Suddenly!

I went to a lunch meeting with Japanese business people and it was supposed to be another ordinary day, but... As I received an urgent call from Tokyo that the agencies were writing a plane crashed, I thought they were kidding, but when I saw the English state TV broadcasting screen I saw the eyecatching words: BREAKING NEWS PLANE CRASH
Our staff scrambled to get information and the crash was confirmed right away and it was a roller coaster experience after that. I decided not to go the scene and concentrate on gathering information as I found out it was a plane model, Russian one, that would not be used in Japan. Rather than thinking of getting our footage it was important to get as many information as possible to fill in the evening news in Japan.
The battle was over at nighttime, but I was once again shivering to realize how dangerous riding planes in this country is... Actually we took the same airline and perhaps the same type of plane when we flew to Tabriz in October. I was relieved to feel how lucky I am to be alive and I told myself I have to cherish what I have... my life... my family... I don't want to lose it now... or the near future!

PS
I went through my picture library... I found it...

it's the same type of plane we took in October!

The inevitable...

No progress early in the day, as I was ineffective as always when I'm tired and sleepy...
I'm seriously getting cornered as I'm without one of my staff and I also hear another staff will take five days off this month and likely three more weeks next month for a trip! Without gas, I can't put my vehicle on top gear and I hope I can find some alternative fuels like many are doing in the world for their fossil fuel eating machines!
Right as we were talking about probable feature stories, news about the inevitable broke in!


M6.1 earthquake (source USGS; M6.0 measured by the Iranians) in southern Iran!

Iran is a country filled with possibilities of natural disasters just like Japan... quakes, floods, heavy snow and rain... Maybe my expertise with disaster reporting would help in many ways, but I'm always praying so disasters will not hit to claim and ruin many people's lives... I'm always asking for peace, which probably would not be a good thing to do if I want to be a successful correspondent, but I'm never blurry about this request. There are more constructive things to do with my job and I'm surely going to devote my life to pieces of work that would save people's lives rather than wait for a chance to report about people lives torn apart!

Today I felt the strong winds showing signs of autumn coming... it's really much cooler here in Tehran in the morning (it's still hot in the afternoon!) and even cold at night time. I heard there was strong rain early morning, and that's another sign of autumn... Soon it will be very cold, and that's what I'm scared of the most!

Looking back...

It's a new month. I had not much work today, so in the afternoon, I decided to take a walk in the neighborhood. When I got to the mall I visited on Friday, it started to rain quite harshly... so I just relaxed inside having a cup of Coffee with Caremel and a muffin.

oh, I could take my time...

When I was in the bookstore, things started to look rough as I recieved a call that put me back to the work mode...
The rain seemed to soften a bit, so I returned to my hotel and got back to work, making calls and writing e-mails!

While going through this process, I'm having thoughts that I wish I hadn't...
When I write in this diary, I try to avoid using proper nouns that would lead to an identification of persons concerned, but I always try to write my true feelings, because I can relate to this without any private information, because I would know what I'm talking about when I read this diary.
Today, I have to write that I'm feeling some regrets that I took this job just because I could come to a country I've never been to. Of course, when you see all the broadcasting work done at the disaster zone in China and around Burma, and look back at what I was doing during the same period, it's mostly posteriori reasoning... It's my fault I'm not satisfied with how my performance is and it's nobody else's fault! That's what makes it all sad and irritating... Well, all I could do now is hope that this will be another lesson I learn and I could take it in as one experience I will relate to sometime in the future!

PS
Doing some shopping at a nearby grocery shop...

the same chain store we visited at the rural city in May!


Thumbs up... an Indian coke?
Maggi Cuppa Mania... an Indian manufactured Nestle megahit?
and a Thai made Yum Yum cupped noodles to compare with...
some Twinings Darjeleen Tea for a souvenir perhaps!


I tried the Maggi Cuppa Mania... another spicy cup!!

Bad!?

After drinking with my colleague way past 3AM, I went home feeling fine and sleeping till noon.
But I wake up realizing I've done something bad....

After negotiating, I finally woke up and went to overnight duty.

I was a little bit concerned about the United States Geological Survey's release about California's future.


http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1914

There is a high percentage of a destructive earthquake hitting the area! I'm a little unsure about the percentage, but like Japan, there could be a quake any day in California. I hope it doesn't happen soon, but we have to be ready and forget about FEMA coming and the Terminator Governor helping out. Everything's up to you!!

Storm attack in South Asia!

Working in the day shift, we had to gather information about the Bangladesh crisis where Cyclone Sidr has caused serious damage to a poor nation.

a Category 4 cyclone with clouds as large as the country itself...

There are so many countries in the world prone to be attacked to tropical storms and Bangladesh is one of them. Japan and The U.S. are of course among the ones attacked with a tropical storm every year, but it is clear that the number of casualties is on a different scale with countries like Bangladesh (of course, Katrina was exceptionally deadly).
The deadliness of Sidr will soon be known to the world, but countries with decent levees and digitized early warning systems like Japan must seriously consider what support is needed to cut the damages drastically. Hefty levees and televised early warnings are not a realistic answer and shelters are badly needed. I hope they will get what they need until the next one hits!

Sniffing around...

At a research institute, I was sniffing around about volcanoes.

haven't seen a pyroclastic flow like this one in years in Japan... but maybe we can soon abroad!

As I was told to pursue a new mission three weeks ago, I had to go to work and spoil my day off.
With so many things to do, there ain't any choice but to do so.
But my new mission is quite challenging, and hey, maybe it was something I wanted to do for years after I left the Middle East three and a half years ago!

Nothing's "not serious"

Good for Indonesia, the casualties from the quakes doesn't seem catastrophic.
Still, many have lost their homes and their livelihoods and no disasters of this sort could be not serious to anyone... especially for me covering these kind of news for years! So to be sure to cover what is needed, though it was supposed to be a day off of me, I decided to work today... but only after taking my fatigue off by resting throughout the morning to make sure I wouldn't fall dead at my office! ;)

Being a little relieved, at night, I was able to keep my promise to treat a youngster going to the States to study with a send-off dinner. I hope he will have a good time in the West Coast, and I felt a little envious, he could still go on an adventure!

On the other hand... the race for premiership doesn't seem serious at all to me...

the matchup is just a show on TV... so to be a premier of this country, you have to be a relative of some famous politician!?

Not again...

In the morning... another tsunami warning in the Indian Ocean... but at least it was a limited one!

a M7.8 quake this time! but no observed tsunamis! phew!
(there was a M7.1 later on in the afternoon too)

Yesterday's M8.4 quake generated tsunamis all over the Indian Ocean as PTWC had observed a 120cm tsunami in Indonesia and a 72cm tsunami at Oman. But there were no catastrophic damages of tsunamis reported and the death toll was slow to rise in Indonesia.
I hope it stays that way so we all can have a peaceful weekend, and give all our air time to the politics division covering the LDP turmoil with the resigning PM being hospitalized and the candidates for premiership already on their feet!

Never too sure...

I spent the day mostly at Hibiya attending an international meeting about water-related disasters.
Ironically, a powerful storm was undoubtedly going to hit Tokyo, and the strength of winds and rain was already heightening in our capital city in the afternoon.
In the evening, I met a visitor from Kobe, and told her that she won't have a problem returning home. But the Shinkansen stopped their operation between Nagoya and Tokyo at around 6PM, which was a couple of hours earlier than I thought.

Oh, I'd been covering typhoon disasters for more than half a decade at my previous position, but I could never be too sure about what to say to the would-be disaster-affected people with this result!

With the winds growing stronger each minute, I decided not to return to my office and returned home at the earliest...
I had a haircut and...

some McDonald's to take out!
yeah, I don't have any food stored in my house... another bad example...

Going the right way?

The Catagory 5 hurricane quickly degraded itself after it slammed into Central America, and another hurricane, Henriette landed on Baja California, but they were both dangerous but not catastrophic. Still there were deaths and there could be more to come...

Leaving them to my colleagues, I had to get into high gear as I had to get through three quick appointments.
Going through them on express lanes, I crammed in too much things in my brain today, and I'm not sure if I'm going towards the right way.
When I feel this way, I'm sure there's something wrong. I better find what's could cost me and rectify my course!

this typhoon has surely turned to its expected course! right towards Tokyo! uh-oh...

Using my time wisely...

I tried to make out the best of my limited time... at home!
It's really tough to go through overnight duty, but I also have to make arrangements for days to come.

sleep, make a phone call, send an e-mail, sleep, get a phone call, reply an e-mail, repeat, repeat...

In no time, it was time to head to work...

just as I took my position, Hurricane Felix hits Nicaragua... Category 5... a bad sign...

A threat wakes me up

It was night shift day, but in the morning, a threat in the Pacific lured me to get to my office early. A fairly large quake hits near the Santa Cruz Islands.
M6.9 was USGS's analysis... PTWC had it at M7.3...

No strong tsunamis were generated... at least by observation. I hope no one was killed!

Disaster Reduction Day

Like last year, I am no longer in the coverage team of this special day, the important day for reporters in charge of disaster coverage in Japan.

Many in this country are still not interested in disaster reduction, as many have lost their lives from recent natural disasters. But far more die out there in the world.
It's time for me to shift my eyes outward! I know there aren't any easy solutions to cutting the casualties from catastrophes, but there must be something I can do!

On the streets, this was posted on bulletin boards...

hey, to those who don't care about Kitty-chan! it's not a bad idea to start from children... to implant the importance of disaster reduction in the minds of promising infants!

Miraculous!

I woke up being informed of a breaking news coming into my mobile phone!

almost all of the channels were showing the plane on fire LIVE!

It seemed to be a terrible disaster, but miraculously, no one was killed!!
Feeling relieved that many were spared their lives, I went back to sleep in the afternoon, returning to my vacation time...

At the last hour...

Just as I was ready to get out and start my vacation...
with only about three quarters of an hour...

THE DISASTER STRUCK!

a big one in South America!

Uh huh... I worked and worked... for 24 hours in a row!
That is... with a five minute nap sitting on my chair at around 7PM... (i.e. just falling asleep... naturally...)

This quake is so threatening that my vacation is in jeopardy!
How many days off shall I lose is the question!?

Great distress...

A typhoon rolls through the nation and a series of earthquakes with tsunamis attacks northern Japan hitting far-east Russia. And furthermore, a great bridge collapse occured overnight in the U.S.
In which position do have to station myself when this kind of catastrophes randomly attack the news department? No doubt the typhoon which I know the best about, is the largest news of them all for the Japanese, but the others are the top news of the world. I have to be aware that I'm now a member of the international news section. I have to find my position in this new area returning all my stable establishments I'd built in the last seven years to the drawing-board...

With great distress, I shall go into my first overnight shift tonight...

the 5th typhoon "Usagi" meaning "rabbit" in Japanese... this wabbit seems to be faster than a turtle going north, but not harmless as they look!

It's practically over...

I'm going into overnight duty, but the strong rain has moved to the north and that will soon be over too.

the radar and satellite pictures from JMA at 4:30PM

But there's so many things to do at my office!
I have to sort out my papers and clean up the mess I'd left in my locker... Cleaning up is one of things I really hate and it's cruelly stressful I only have two more days to finish cleaning up!

Cleaning up... painstaking...

I couldn't wake up again... yes, again!

But I don't get a day off... In the evening, I finally made it to the press club at around 5PM. My job for the weekend was to clean up all the mess I made this year, as piles of papers and files were filled up around and on my desk. The painstaking clean-up seemed to never end as my laziness has really wrund my neck!

And meanwhile, the 4th typhoon of the year is starting to attack the east.

coming this way... SOON!

It was rainy in Tokyo too, and it sucks I have to take my materials out there in the rain in order to get it first to my car and then to my house...

Leaving behind...

One thing I must leave behind leaving my division is the coverage of typhoons attacking our nation.

One of the strongest typhoons in years is attacking the southwest!

when the satellite picture is "beautiful", it's a bad sign... the typhoon has a firm eye... that's when the menace is pulling itself together manufacturing the threatning strong winds from its center!

At night, I went out to have a drink with the members from the air pollution lawsuit. They held a small and casual farewell party for me near Korakuen. Well... I will be associating with them till I die, so in fact it's not a farewell party!

P.S.
Last night, we were drinking till 4AM and I was really sleepy! I don't even remember what I did the last hour except slumbering at a karaoke box without singing!

Fighting with the sandman, I covered the ex-Aum leading member's death penalty sentence given out at the High Court. The last one at the appellate court level concerning the Aum crimes...

(short article from Kyodo)
◆Death penalty on AUM's Nakagawa upheld at high court
TOKYO, July 13 KYODO
The Tokyo High Court upheld Friday a lower court's death sentence against former senior AUM Shinrikyo member Tomomasa Nakagawa who was convicted of his involvement in the killings of 25 people in various criminal cases from 1989 to 1995, including the cult's sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway and in Nagano Prefecture.
Presiding Judge Ritsuro Uemura turned down an appeal from Nakagawa, 44, a former physician, against the death sentence given in October 2003 at the Tokyo District Court.

On the decline...

タイトル：減退傾向…

The quake that hit Shimane at 8:14 AM was only a maximum trembling scale of 4.
The last time it was 5 plus and in March it was 6 plus.
It's on the decline! Good for my country!

I didn't sleep all night, as I had to read a bunch of papers.
I'm so tired... and I get depressed that it's Monday tomorrow!

午前８時１４分に島根を襲った地震の最高でも震度４。
前回は５強だったし、３月には６強だった。
減退傾向にあるね！我が国にとっては良いことだ！
一睡もしなかった。大量の資料を読まなきゃ行けなかったから。
すごい疲れてる…そして明日が月曜ってことで気分が鬱になるね！

Another major upset...

12th favorite Koiuta wins The Victoria Mile(JpnI) followed by 9th favorite Asahi Rising and 8th favorite Daring Heart!
the most favorite "undefeated" Kawakami Princess suffered a crushing defeat finishing 10th and the second favorite and my favorite Sweep Tosho finshed 9th...

また大番狂わせが…
写真：１２番人気のコイウタがヴィクトリアマイル（ＪｐｎＩ）勝ち、９番人気のアサヒライジングと８番人気のデアリングハートが続いた！
１番人気で「無敗」のカワカミプリンセスが大敗を喫して１０着に終わり、２番人気で俺も支持したスイープトウショウは９着に終わった…