Earthquakes, and an unexpected departure from the Land of the Rising Sun

The following is from my Blue Nails blog 

It wasn’t until three days after the quake that there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere in Niseko.

Obviously everyone was concerned for the affected areas of Japan, and horrified at the destruction caused by the tsunami that hit the coast and devastated so many homes in Northern Honshu. But even though we had all felt the quake, albeit very slightly by comparison, as we watched the news it was very much as if it were all happening in another country. Hokkaido is quite a bit further north than Sendai, the city nearest the epicentre, well over five hundred kilometres, and we were also in an elevated position on the western side of the island, whereas the tsunami struck the eastern coast. There was talk of there being another large quake quite soon, but Japan is a country generally prepared for seismic activity (8.0 quakes followed by tsunamis excepted) so the danger seemed remote. In short, most of us were resigned to stay on in our little oasis of calm to enjoy the remainder of the ski season. It wasn’t until the news about the reactor trouble in Fukoshima came out that people started getting nervous.

Some of the season staff started booking flights earlier than others, deciding to get out of the country ASAP. Then there were those that were sure that they had it all under control. We’d heard that they’d flooded the reactor with seawater to cool it, a drastic measure which means that it can’t be used again, but we thought that that would be an end to it. But as the days went on and they struggled to cool down the increasingly volatile situation it seemed that they weren’t getting anywhere fast.

More people started investigating means of leaving the country, some because of the threat of radiation, some because their original plans of travelling around Japan after the season didn’t sound like they’d be much fun; it’s hard to have fun with the locals when they are recovering from a national disaster. After a long discussion in the house where we discussed the pros and cons of leaving, the cons for basically being: missing out on snow and my last week of work; the cost of booking new flights at short notice; missing out on visiting Okinawa, the sub tropical islands to the extreme south-west of the country where I was planning on spending the month of April. Disruption to travel plans and slight monetary loss are trivial complaints when ten thousand people are missing or dead and thousands more are homeless though, so I decided to get out. There was also the fact that I was getting a lot of emails from concerned friends and family, and I was afraid my mother would have a nervous breakdown if I stayed any longer than I had to. So I booked flights direct from Sapporo to Hong Kong (which meant that I could skip a layover in Tokyo), along with three of my workmates who’d also decided to bail.

The threat of radiation where we were was remote, and even the “above normal” levels of radiation they were detecting in Tokyo were negligible. We were eight hundred kilometres or so north of the stricken plant, and a reliable Siberian wind blows south over Hokkaido (bringing powder snow along with it), which should keep any airborne radioactive material away from us. On the other hand, it also had to be taken into consideration that as consistent as the winds are, globally the weather has been doing some pretty crazy things, and what was once dependable might not remain so for long. It also occurred to me that our location, within ten kilometres away from a huge sleeping volcano mightn’t necessarily be the best one, considering more seismic activity was predicted for the near future. Even if Yotei or another volcano on Hokkaido just decided to throw a lot of ash around the place it would still be enough to ground flights and strand us for an indefinite amount of time - Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland (no, I didn't know how to spell that), which had delayed my flights into Tokyo by two days, having made me wary.

Some people scoffed at us for leaving, and they were probably right, there is nothing to worry about. But why take the risk, particularly when no one seems entirely sure what’s going on.

Anyway, after saying goodbye to all the gang in Niseko, and then the ones in Sapporo I flew out on Sunday the 20th of March. It wasn’t the ending to my working holiday I’d pictured, but you’ve got to take what you get I suppose.

All I can say for now is good luck to the ones that have stayed put in Niseko, and to all of the other friends that I have made over the course of my ten and a half months in Japan.




In particular, my thoughts are with the family from Sendai that picked me up while I was hitching to Matsushima, and invited me to join their family barbecue, took me fishing and then dropped me back off at the motorway after a terrific day. The email address I have for them never worked and I couldn't get through to them on the phone number either. I hope they made it out all right. It's a long shot, but if anyone knows anything about them I'd be very grateful to hear from them.

Interviews

Didn’t say much about it at the time, but about a month ago I went to Niseko, the best known ski resort in Japan, to suss out jobs for the ski season. The majority of the hotels and businesses in the area are Australian owned, and the place gets a lot of foreign custom, mainly Australians, Chinese and Singaporean, so my beginner’s Japanese was not likely to be a problem.

The hitchhiking out took about two hours and I got dropped right in the middle of the main area. The first guy that picked me up was one of the few travelling with children that has stopped for me. Not only that, but, because the front seat was covered in various bits and bobs, he told me to get into the back beside his six year old son. Not only THAT, but after about ten minutes he pulled into a convenience store parking area, turned to me, said “Wait a minute”, and disappeared into the shop, leaving the keys in the ignition, and me and the kid sitting there looking at each other. He came back with drinks for all and we resumed the journey. A really nice guy, but unlikely to win any parenting awards for that move.

Once in Niseko I began hitting the businesses, starting at the very top of the hill in the hotels etc. nearest the main ski lifts and working my way down. The ones at the top didn’t need anyone, or if they did they were looking for someone who spoke Japanese. This was true for most places until about halfway down when I got invited into an inn (Japanese owned) and offered a job on the spot, cleaning rooms etc. I decided to keep asking around to keep my options open, as the pay wasn’t great in this particular place and free time to enjoy the snow would also be limited. I would also have to buy a ski pass out of my own pocket which I really was hoping to avoid.

The employers I met during my job search were very helpful and even if they didn’t have any job openings for me they were more than willing to give me pointers on places that might be hiring. The ones who were looking for people often invited me in for an interview, as most of the applicants they get apply online from abroad and so they don’t get to meet them in the flesh until after they’ve been hired and show up for work.

I couldn’t afford to print out a rake of CVs so I had one original that I’d printed at a friend’s house, and of which I’d made one photocopy. It was only as I was handing this copy out that I realised that I had my Irish number on it instead of my Japanese one so I had to correct it. Eek. I told the rest that I had handed all my CVs out (which was true) and they all said it would be fine for me to email it to them. I’d also decided that I wasn’t going to tell any porkies during the interviews; I’d just tell it how it is and see how it went. An example from one particular interview went as follows:

Employer: So, do you have any bar experience?
Damien: Well, I did a bar and restaurant course about three or four years ago, but I’m not going to pretend that I remember any of it now.
Employer: I see…
Damien: I also work part time in my landlady’s bar at the moment, but my job is more focused on talking with customers than serving drinks, so I don’t know if I’d even class that as experience either.
Employer: Well, some experience is still better than nothing, you know.
Damien: Hmm…I suppose so.

Perhaps not what one might call “selling yourself”. You can imagine my surprise when I got an email from that employer last week offering me a position running the bar in his hotel. I’d hate to see what the online applications were like.

I had to decline this offer, though, as I’d already accepted a position in another company with three outlets – a bar, restaurant and café. They have a few ski passes which are shared among staff, a reasonable salary and plenty of hours if I want them, which I will. They also arrange shared accommodation, which is a little bit expensive – twice what I’m paying at the moment – but then again it’s a pricey area.

All in all, a day well spent, although I did think I was going to get stranded out there as the shadows were growing longer while I stood at the side of the road trying to thumb my way back home. Thankfully, just as I was about to give up and try the train (oh the horror), two girls on their way home via Sapporo picked me up and dropped me off in town.