Encouragement from Oversea

The government announced that the electric power supply in the Kanto Region, where more than 40 million people are living, would not be able to be maintained over this night unless electric power demand decreased. It is cold today, so the lower temperature is increasing power demand for heating both in residential houses and the industrial sector, and there may be a possibility that the demand will exceed the supply.

My boss requested his subordinates to go home at 4:30 p.m. because the transportation system would not be functionning if the electric power supply stopped. Though I had a task to be finished, I left the office. The unintentional and large scale blackout has not occurred so far, fortunately.

Tokyo Electric Company (TEPCO) is responsible for supplying electricity in the Kanto Region. Since several power plants, including Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, owned by TEPCO were damaged by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and did not work at this time. Thus, TEPCO is now short of electric supply.

The situation is more severe in the Tohoku Region than in the Kanto Region. More than 15,000 people who had lived there were confirmed to have died or been lost so far. In addition, more than 0.45 million people are in refugee camps in the Tohoku Region. Little water/gas/electricity/oil/food have been provided to the refugee camps so far.

Furthermore, the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is getting worse day by day. I cannot capture what is going on there, but I am certain that in the future this crisis will be proved to have harmed the health of many people (I don’t know whether or not the radiation pollution remains to be confined in Japan) and polluted the soil/air/water in Japan and the Pacific Ocean.

The Japanese people are now in trouble. Thus, I am very glad to hear that foreign people are kindly expressing their sympathy for Japan. Some artists gave money donations to us. Some countries provided us with daily necessities. Other individuals encouraged us over the Internet. I greatly appreciate every bit of help offered by foreign countries. The encouragement from foreign countries must directly help us.

Crisis after the Earthquake

The crisis caused by the earthquake has not ended at this time. The number of casualties is not still known. The TV said, a couple of hours ago, that more than 4,000 people were confirmed to have died or been lost mainly in the tsunami. The cooling system of three nuclear power plants were damaged by the tsunami, and a hydrogen explosion occurred at one of them two days ago. Another hydrogen explosion occurred at another one today.

Furthermore, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) has a shortage of electrical power supply due to the troubles with the nuclear power plants. Thus, they announced yesterday that they have decided to conduct a planned power outage in their supply area including Tokyo. In response to this announcement, rail providers were forced to cancel or reduce services on many lines today. Many of my colleagues, clients, and subcontractors could not reach their respective offices today because they could find no way to get there.

In addition, groceries such as tofu and bottled water and the daily necessities such as tissue paper were sold out at most of the supermarkets nearby my house and office. Many individuals must be rushing to prepare for contingencies.

I cannot predict when this crisis will end smoothly. Everyone should maintain a calm state.

Strong Earthquake and Subsequent Events

A series of strong earthquakes has been and is still hitting Japan, including Tokyo, since the first strongest one hit the northeastern part of Japan yesterday afternoon. Fortunately, my family members and I are safe, but more than 1,000 people are reported to have passed away or been lost at this time. A large tsunami devastated many towns and villages. In addition, a nuclear power plant is still in trouble. I trusted that technical countermeasures against seismic activities in the field of the nuclear power plant in Japan were well established and introduced; however, the magnitude and the scale of these earthquakes must have exceeded our best available technology.

I was in a conference room and had a meeting with more than ten people when the earthquakes struck us. I had never experienced such massive (in terms of both the magnitude and the duration) earthquakes before. The railway system was paralyzed just after the event and still did not fully recover till today. I stayed all night in the conference room because there was no way to get back home at that time. I could hardly sleep there and then. I arrived at my home around 9:00 a.m.

I sincerely hope that the damage arising from the disaster will be taken care of properly.

Life without Novel

I have read little novels recently. This is simply because I have little time to set aside for reading novels. Over the past several years, I have devoted myself to reading technical documents relating to my profession when I had the opportunity to decide what documents I would read. Some technical documents have inspired me, and led me to add value to my job. Since technical knowledge has sometimes provided me with job opportunities, reading technical documents should be welcomed and thus done. This is a simple logic, and I have followed it accordingly.

I have been working intensively over the past two months. I have been reading or writing technical documents even when it was a holiday. I have not allowed myself to read novels because I did not have time for any leisure.

Today is my holiday, and I had some time to talk to my friend. I am still in a relaxed mode. However, I will read a set of technical documents in an hours time. Although I woul like to read a novel now, I have to read the technical documents by tomorrow, instead. I have to realize that there are many technical documents which should be read preferentially.

When I was in university, I studied my research themes and related fields as intensively as I am doing my business now. I read academic papers and textbooks from morning to night. However, I read novels at night and on holidays. I came back home around 7 p.m. at that time, so I had some time to read novels. The novels nurtured my humanity.

The intensity of my business schedule is expected to ease in April. I will come  home early, and read novels at night. Because I have a job now, I keep prioritizing my job over reading novels.

Final Destination

We were born to live, and the final destination of our life is death. Our body becomes organic material at the time of death, and our spirit disappears simultaneously. We are all living and walking for the final destination.

I am now 30 years old, and since I do not have fatal diseases so far, I will not lose my life soon, probably. Death does not exist within my territory both physically and psychologically. The news of someone’s death makes me sad and I feel sympathy for the bereaved family member especially if they are close to me. However, I cannot relate death directly to myself even when I hear such news.

I am currently living just to live, not to die. Some of my relatives are old, so they will pass away according to the natural rule of the biological organism. However, I do not know whether or not the death of my relatives raises my awareness of death.

Death means the end of life. No one can put back the clock. Though I am living with paying little attentions to death, I maintain one principle that I would like to feel satisfaction with my life at the last moment of my life.

Today, I heard that the mother of one of my friends passed away last night. In my high school days, my friends and I have visited his home uncountable times, and she kindly welcomed us most of the time. This article is dedicated to her.

Business Trip to Vietnam

I am currently in Hai Phong, Vietnam on a business trip.  I arrived in Hanoi last Sunday, I had meetings yesterday, and my business partners and I came to Hai Phong by car today.

Vietnam is close to Japan, it took only 6-7 hours to fly from Tokyo to Hanoi. The food in Vietnam is good, it is fresh and less oil than Chinese one and Thailand's one. There are not many beggers in the street in Hanoi and Hai Phong. However, the air pollution is severe here. There are many particulate matters in the capital, Hanoi.

Visiting foreign countries is interesting for me. However, the schedule during this business trip is so packed that I have little time to set aside time for sightseeing. I would like to visit Vietnam again in the future not on business, but for the purpose of leisure.

Work of an Environmental Consultant

I am working as an environmental consultant and I had an opportunity to make a presentation regarding my profession at the office of CSIJ the other day. It was a nice opportunity for me to summarize what I have been doing so far in the field of environmental consulting services.

In the beginning, there is no legal definition of an environmental consultant, so that anyone who wishes to become an environmental consultant could become an environmental consultant and call themselves as an environmental consultant without any authorized permits or licenses. In this sense, an environmental consultant is different from an attorney. Anyone who hopes to undertake the professional work of an attorney requires a legal certificate of an attorney.

Since there are not any legal definitions of an environmental consultant, environmental consultants have been working in a variety of fields and I am no different from them. I have been working for three different types of clients. The first one is governmental offices, the second is manufacturing companies, and the last one is financial institutions. Those three clients are conducting totally different types of business, however there are demands for environmental consulting services in the three different sectors.

Governmental offices request environmental consulting firms to conduct various kinds of research or supports in order for the offices to develop, implement, and promote environmental regulations. In this modern time, regulatory frameworks of environmental regulations become so complex that no governmental agency can proceed with their jobs without helps of private consulting firms.

On the other hand, there are also demands of environmental consulting services from manufacturing companies, especially which expert their products to foreign countries. Now is the globalization age, so products could be circulating all over the world. Manufacturing companies have to confront environmental regulations when exporting products and placing them on the market in the host country. Each country has its original environmental regulations on import products. Regulatory frameworks which restrict import activities are so complex that a good number of companies call for the support of environmental consultants.

Financial institutions hire environmental consultants as well. Such financial institutions do not actively invest money in a company or a project which violate environmental good practices. Environmental consultants are then requested to conduct environmental audits to evaluate environmental performances of a company or a project when financial institutions decide whether or not to invest money.

In the near future, I think that environmental regulations on a household sector will be strengthened because there are currently little restrictions on the use of energy and materials against the residential sector. If so, demands for environmental consulting services will be created as well. In such cases, my clients will be not only business operators, but also a consumer. Retail business seems interesting, too.