Business Trip to Thailand (Third Time)

I am now at a departure gate in the Narita International Airport. I am going to visit Bangkok today, and this is the third time to land on Thailand.

Thailand is currently suffering from severe flood threat. The flood is causing damages in the northern part of Thailand, but it has not reached the central part of Bangkok.

I will arrive at Bangkok this afternoon, and will leave Bangkok at the midnight tomorrow.

According to news obtained so far, I am not sure whether the flood threat will reach Bangkok. If the central part of Bangkok is attacked by the flood, then, I will not be able to undertake my business mission in Bangkok, and in the worst case, I will not be able to leave Bangkok if the international airport in Bangkok halts its functions due to the flood threat.

This is similar to the situation which I experienced in Japan on March 11, 2011. Large earthquakes and subsequent massive tsunami as well as the successive meltdowns of the nuclear power plants in Fukushima completely halted functions of Tokyo. Trains were delaying and even not moving, and electricity was stopped in some areas.

Urban areas are fragile to natural disasters.

--until here, written on October 20---

--from here, written on October 22---

I am writing this post in a train back to Tokyo.

I came back to Tokyo, and I am safe and well. I was not trapped in the flood thread in Bangkok, but I felt the situation was not solved and still facing future crisis. I am not sure whether Bangkok will be safe.

This crisis tells me that a megacity is fragile to natural disasters. Once a natural disaster occurs in a metropolitan, then, at first, vast of information starts distributing. We face massive of information. In addition, this kind of information spreads all over the world in a short period.

Next, many of managers are assigned from different authorities to the disaster. For example, in the Japanese case of the nuclear crisis, the prime minister of Japan, the minister of Economic Trade and Industry, and President of Tokyo Electric Power Company were conducting operations to minimize damages of the nuclear crisis. Although each of the representatives seemed to try to do their best, communication among each other was reported not to be enough.

In the past, I have read a book, but I forget the title of the book. The title was probably “sustainability future” or stuff like that. According to the book, 50 to 75 % of human beings will live in mega cities in the future. Given the ongoing flood crisis damage social and economic activities in Thailand, people will face a similar hard situation in the future as well.

Chrysanthemum Festival

Today and tomorrow, there is a chrysanthemum festival in my town. A couple of hand-made-Japanese dolls dressing chrysanthemum is displayed at a temple near my home during this two days. This festival is held every October. It is the fourth time for me to see this festival.

When I was in my home today after my dinner, I heard pulses of Japanese drums. I went outside, and found five young women and one man were beating Japanese drums on top of a float decorated as like a fishing boat. I was fascinated with the performance.

While watching the performance, I found that people in my town seem to be connected to each other rather strongly. I have no kids, and my working place is about 1 hour away by foot from my town; thus, I have very limited connections with people in my town. On the other hand, when I went back to my hometown where I had been living until the 18 years-old, I found myself a member of communities in my hometown.

Someone regard this valuable connection as social capital. We need time and effort to foster social relationships in communities; but, once such a connection is developed, you will be able to obtain many opportunity from your community.