After a weekend in the Sendai and Ishinomaki area, I am both in awe by nature’s power and depressed by the seemingly insurmountable cleanup challenge ahead.

Hundreds of miles of complete devastation are currently being attacked by a handful of poorly equipped, unpaid volunteers whose numbers dwindle every day. Have the people of Japan and the world already forgotten about the worst natural disaster in modern history?

As part of an international group of Tokyo business people, we were welcomed with open arms by the scattered groups involved over the weekend of June 3-5. Here is my trip.

Tsunami

Perhaps a bold claim, but I truly believe a tsunami to be the most dangerous and devastating natural disaster possible. It does not have the wind of a hurricane, but it has just as much destructive power in the form of a wave, or rather, a river. Yet it comes without warning whereas residents are often given days warning with hurricanes.

It has the immediacy of an earthquake or tornado, but unlike those it allows no place for escape. A tsunami clears everything in its path, leaving nothing for survivors to reclaim of their previous lives.

I consider this tsunami, hitting a first world country, causing billions of dollars of losses and thousands of lives, to be the worst possible. More lives may have been lost elsewhere, but nothing comes close in terms of the combination of lives and economic impact.

Sendai

The city of Sendai is located inland from the coastal city of Ishinomaki. Sendai took the full brunt of a 9.0 earthquake.

Structural Damage in Sendai

It was almost too normal. So much so, that I jumped out of my seat on the bus to take pictures when I first saw a boarded up window at a local restaurant. A few blocks later, a car dealership was under scaffolding to remodel some infrastructure cracks. This was the equivalent of getting punched in the toe by an ant compared to the Mike Tyson furry ahead.

Ishinomaki

As we approached the coast, I saw an upside-down car in a field. Again, I scrambled to get pictures. Slowly the debris scattered fields increased until we saw our first building with damage. Realizing we were still miles from the shore, I began to pace my photo-taking.

Close to 8am, we pulled up late to the local Peaceboat camp, a cleared out apparel warehouse serving as our basecamp for daily work, and began to get a grasp of what lie ahead.

This was the field in the videos that showed the burning houses floating in the tsunami

A Peaceboat local hub

My group, bundled up and ready to work

A couple dozen volunteers were sleeping at this facility, sweating away during the day, yet unable to shower other than a fully clothed hosedown in the evening. The port-a-potties were functional and they were well stocked with shovels, wheel-barrows, hoes, brooms, bags for mud, bags for debris, bicycles, pick axes, and other landscaping tools. I now knew we would not be building houses on this trip…no, that will not come for a long time.

The Park

We split up in groups and we were assigned to clean a park. Seeing the carnage of the empty houses and buildings as we walked down the street, I began to question the logic of cleaning a park. But, it was explained to me that families cannot come back to their homes until there is a place for the kids. The streets and neighborhoods are too dangerous with glass, nails and rust everywhere. There has to be a place for the kids to play while the parents come back and work on their homes.

Carnage in this town

The walk to the park

The park was a mile and a half from the seashore. The wave was not powerful enough at this point to knock over houses entirely, but at 6 to 10 feet high, it flooded the bottom floors, sank and ruined foundations and streets, and threw floating cars into houses that caused severe damage.

The Park - Before

A swing from a pick axe into the mud from a group member hit a compressed-gas camping container that exploded in his face. Scary, but no damage. A dangerous place for sure. This took us an entire day.

The old man next door to the park was a survivor. He appreciated our help in clearing the park and was able to talk about the immediate neighborhood. The lady living on the other side of the park had died. The house next to that had sank by a few feet, was leaning awkwardly, and would have to be demolished. The couple across the street had died.

He told us how he was sitting on his front porch about 20 minutes after the massive earthquake when he saw the wave coming down the street. By the time he was able to get up his stairs, the water was up to his lower chest area. But, the water did not climb to his second floor. The water stayed for a week before he was able to walk outside of his house again. It was unclear to me how he survived during that week.

The old man on the far left lived next door to the park

The Park - After

Perhaps once a day, a truck would come by to load up the trash and mud we had organized. The IBM football team is rotating through smaller groups of players to volunteer for a week at a time. The guys are strong and energetic and are ideally suited for this teamwork job.

We managed to finish cleaning our park with a half hour to go and went to help the other group cleaning another park. They still had a long way to go, but 4pm came and we all had to get back for the curfew. For the comfort and safety of the residents, volunteers are not allowed on the streets after dark.

Back in Sendai for dinner, we enjoyed a local izakaya, and then were treated to a good swaying rumble of an earthquake in our beds around 1am.

Peaceboat

The group we volunteered for is called Peaceboat. They are the largest NPO (Non-Profit Organization) helping out in the region. They have just a few paid employees, but hundreds of volunteers. Our group of 40 was a huge boost to their spirits. Before Golden Week (first week of May), they had been getting up to 5000 volunteers per week to the area. After Golden Week, the numbers dropped considerably and they now have less than 1000 volunteers in the entire region.

Government troops basecamp

Destruction and trash as far as the eye can see

That is basically it as far as support goes. There are other groups, what I would call “guerrilla” operations, working to help in specific towns or roles. Most consist of 5-20 people and struggle to provide enough tangible manpower and supplies from supporters. That said, these groups can be very mobile and aggressive, creating order and solving problems much quicker than any government or even large NPO operation.

Mud

The second day of work brought us more mud to clear. This time we were given a house, but our work was only on the outside of the house. The yard was full of debris, which again needed clearing before we could attack the mud. And there was a storm drain in front of the house that was completely clogged.

Work on the drainage ditch

My half of the group got the storm drain, a stinky, toxic mud-filled nightmare, leading into the rest of the city storm drains running through the neighborhood, which were also clogged as well. We removed the remaining cement block covers – those that had not been washed away – and went to work with the shovels, dumping mud, water, and whatever other surprises we found into biodegradable plastic bags. This is heavy work, but there are jobs for everyone. While I did the cement block lifting and mud shoveling, a 70-year old lady on our team held the mud bags for me. I carefully tried to aim as much mud into the bag as possible, trying to prevent spilling the filthy stench all over her.

Back at basecamp for lunch we felt a good, quick jolt of an earthquake. It was just a 3 on the Japanese scale, but centered just off the coast from us. One quick bam, no more than 1 second, and that was it.

Having cleared the storm drain in front of the house, we prayed that the next rain would not fill it up with the mud from the street or neighbors drain, but it was as much as we could do for them. We then moved on to clearing the rest of the yard with the other half of our group. We hauled enough junk out of there to fill a giant dumpster, but looking around at the neighboring streets and yards, it barely seemed to make a dent.

Before we cleared this yard. We were not allowed under the garage

So much work to do

At one point the son and daughter of the house’s owner came by to say thanks and check on things. Another man drove an hour and a half to bring the owner, his friend, a few bottles of drinking water, and left them on his porch. We never saw the owner. In two days on those streets, I saw less than five residents around the whole area, including the old man next to the park. Unfortunately, the streets are not busy from volunteers and workers either. The towns are eerily empty. Noise from a saw over here…a garbage pickup truck there…but mostly emptiness.

The drainage ditch

These houses have second story damage. Potentially a boat or car was sent crashing into them.

The lot we were working on cleaning

Water level line where the water sat for a week

Our work. The white bags are mud. The brown bags are small debris.

The near electric tower in this image was knocked over in the tsunami. It has been replaced.

O.G.A for Aid

On Saturday night, a “guerrilla” group called O.G.A. for Aid came and spoke to us about their operation. I was very impressed with what they are doing.

The group is small, but nimble. They are an international group started by an international family living in Aomori City. They have adopted the city of Minamisanriku, population 19000 before the tsunami, as their main relief focus and work on everything from food distribution in the city to finding people jobs to health care support. Below is a video of the tsunami hitting Minamisanriku, taken from a junior high school atop a hill above the city. The tsunami washes clear the entire city in less than 7 minutes.

The “international” part of this group is very important. They speak Japanese and are well ingrained in the Japanese cultural understanding, so they are able to communicate well with the locals. However, Japanese groups, or Japanese people in general, can be very structured, and thus timely, in their decision making processes. While this has proven to be a great power of large Japanese corporations, in times of emergency or stress it is good to have lower level workers able to make decisions on the fly. If a survivor tells a helper they need more of a certain supply, a normal Japanese worker would go away and report that to his boss, who may in turn report that to his boss, who might be able to make a decision on what to do. In the meantime, the survivor struggles and waits without that supply. This group, OGA, is able to make decisions on the fly and help people immediately, while reporting back to their leaders later who will then meet with town officials to work on a higher level, longer term solution.

(Note: I do not mean this in any disrespect to the Japanese way of a structured reporting and decision making system. I think it works well in large corporations. But, I also believe it is a hindrance during times like these. While up there, we heard of town government officials that could not provide local residents with answers because they were waiting for answers from the federal government. Meanwhile the Prime Minister is being run out of office, so nobody is at the top to make decisions…the decision making process is in a complete stall at the top right now and the local survivors are suffering because of it.)

Groups like OGA or Aid also provide advice and guidance at a time when it is lacking. The town hall of Minamisanriku was washed away, along with half of the city council. Records of residents, home ownership, even drivers licenses, are all gone. The city governments are truly struggling to operate on their own, if they still exist at all. Not to mention the guidance from above is completely stalled. Outsider advice is crucial.

I will continue to help O.G.A. for Aid going forward. They have a presence on Facebook and are posting smaller, timely, projects on their website. I plan on both providing them with some of these needs as well as trying to get back up there to help them in a hands-on matter. I am not sure if that will be possible, but the least I can do is provide help from Tokyo. At a minimum, I would ask that you please “Like” their Facebook page in support.

Fishing Industry

One of the extremely apparent issues that came up over the weekend, and especially in the OGA for Aid discussion, is the importance of the fishing industry. The town of Minamisanriku, and the hundreds of other 5k-20k person towns dotting the coast just like it, relied almost entirely on fishing industry jobs. As much as 80% of the jobs in these towns were in some relation to that industry. Having their boats, harbor, and equipment completely wiped away and destroyed has created a massive hurdle for job creation going forward.

A fisherman needs a boat, ropes, and a forklift as his main tools to start a business. The fisherman in these towns do not know much else besides this trade. But, with those three tools, they know how to run a successful business. From there, the supplementary businesses come back as well. The warehouse for packing and storage. The trucks for shipping. The accountants for bookkeeping. It all relies on a few boats, ropes, and forklifts.

There are many ideas floating around about teaching these people new skills. Computer experience or otherwise could be a great way to provide these people and towns with new hope in emerging industries. But, at the end of the day, a fisherman wants to fish. In order for any sort of revival in these towns, these three tools must be provided in one way or another.

Ishinomaki Grand Hotel

The last day of our trip was an educational day for us. It is strange to think that we needed to be educated as much as we were already seeing and learning. But, what we saw that Sunday was a lesson in devastation that is almost impossible to describe, yet I will never forget.

The first stop was the city center of Ishinomaki. Back in October of 2010, I visited this town with our basketball team, the Tokyo Apache, to play the Sendai 89ers. We stayed in the Ishinomaki Grand Hotel and took walks from there down to the riverfront. Stopping our bus next to this hotel was almost a blessing for me. I immediately knew where we were and took off running to take pictures of where I had stood just 8 months prior.

Ishinomaki Grand Hotel survived with just flood damage

Pray for Ishinomaki

Statue of the local action figure hero is still standing

This area was heavily flooded, up to 10 feet high, but did not take the brunt of the powerful wave. The hotel is not using the first floor yet, but it is letting government workers stay in the rooms while it undergoes repairs. The island we had walked to as a team was still there, although 3 of the 4 tress had been knocked over. One proud tree still stood. The park that runs along the rivers edge was beat up, but it still resembled a park. It was great to see.

Island park with the lone surviving tree

Riverfront park

Spaceship-shaped museum in the background

Elsewhere in the city center we were shown the central headquarters for the city base of Peaceboat (there is a separate volunteer/warehouse HQ we went to later in the day). This HQ is an old restaurant, cleaned up and loaned to the group to work from. They have maps, laptops, and lists in a control center on the second floor. On the first floor, volunteers cook for thousands each day, making huge pots of soups and other food and loading them into trucks to go out to evacuation centers.

The Harbor

From HQ, we headed to the coast, where my heart sank and hopelessness set in. I don’t know how to describe it. For about the last quarter to half mile from the coast to the water, there is nothing but wreckage and chaos.

This harbor area used to be busy with ships

Giant chemical containers rolled over and busted open

The area near the harbor is a mess. I have never smelled such an awful stink in my life. Dead fish everywhere mix with the spilled chemicals and bake in the sun to create an unimaginable odor.

I think this says "Gambate Ishinomaki" (Good Luck)

Rubble everywhere

Schools near the ocean acted as evacuation grounds for kids and locals after the earthquake. Those lucky enough to go back inside and make it up to the fourth floor before the tsunami hit were lucky enough to call it a safety shelter from the water. 300 survivors camped in Minato Jr High for three days with no help or information, waiting for the water to recede or help to arrive. The water stayed for a week, but fortunately help arrived sooner. Many people are still living in the classrooms and gymnasium, with nowhere else to go. The schools have started up again even while the gyms are full of evacuees. Some people refuse to leave the smaller classrooms for the more public large gymnasiums, so school classes have set up in other temporary locations instead.

The school

How some of these random houses managed to stand, I do not know

Where houses did survive near the coast, levees are busted and streets fill with water up to 3 feet high during high tide. Half of the day must be spent indoors while the tide is in.

Everywhere is trash. It is like the worlds largest garbage dump, except it was never meant to be trash. On March 10th, it was all useful stuff. The sea turned it into trash. In the video below, “Junior”, from Peaceboat, explains how the government workers do clear some debris, but their main job is searching for bodies.

Onagawa

North of Ishinomaki, we visited the town of Onagawa. Or, at least what used to be the town of Onagawa.

Onagawa took a direct hit from the tsunami. A small bay facing the east contained a city center near the harbor with three valleys running out of it between hills.

The entire valley of buildings, washed clear

We saw entire buildings rolled onto their side and upside down

The valleys acted as channels, focusing the intensity of the wave. A half mile from the ocean, and probably 30 feet above sea level, we drove past a 3-story building with a car upside on its roof. Then we drove past another one. These buildings are probably 60 feet high, so we’re talking about a 90+ foot (30+ meter) wave putting the car on this roof.

Car on the roof of a 3-story building

Everything thing in this town is destroyed. Nobody was working to fix anything. Troops were still searching for bodies. A volunteer we were with said the town looked the exact same as he saw it more than a month ago.

High up on the hill in the distance, a house was destroyed

The roads have been cleared...that's it

Only the few strong buildings remain standing in this town

Waterfront hotel

Onagawa train station

Lot's of wreckage left on the rooftop

This boat lies across a road hundreds of yards inland

Not much left of the harbor

Completely empty

Temporary Housing

Temp Housing. Like army barracks packed like sardines.

The biggest problem with the temporary housing is the location. The government obviously refuses to build them back near the waterfront. However, as I mentioned before, all jobs revolve around the waterfront and the fishing industry. There is no transportation for people to get to and from the temporary housing, so they are being held captive from any job or business they could try to do for work.

Temporary housing

At the same time, once people move out of the evacuation shelters and into the temporary housing, they are left to fend for themselves. They are not allowed to get in line for shelter food lines and are asked to pay for normal expenses like food and utilities. All of this is very hard to do with no job, no money (the banks – or mattresses for most old folks – were washed away too), and missing family member support.

The temporary housing situation is very grim.

Peaceboat HQ

Our last stop of the day was at Ishinomaki Senshu University, location of the main warehouse for Peaceboat, and the camping grounds for almost all volunteers arriving from around the country.

"Junior" is one of the head Peaceboat workers

The warehouse is well stocked, but tiny compared to what I would expect for a warehouse providing supplies to an entire coast of devastation. It is manned by volunteers, so, while people work hard, it is not the most efficiently run operation. Our group has some Fed Ex contacts and I believe there is a logistics team that is going to head up to provide some help in managing the warehouse, incoming shipments, and outgoing deliveries to outbases.

After seeing the grounds, we sat down with Mr. Ito, who is in charge of the local association formed to help make decisions around the area. Lacking any government direction or organization, NPO’s and NGO’s decided they needed to communicate better with each other to become more efficient in their relief support. More than 100 groups have joined this associatoin and they meet regularly to discuss the situation. The groups have been divided up into 10 sub-sections (Mental Health, Medical Help, Cleanup, Food, etc.) and each section has their own discussions as well.

L-R: Ayumi (our Peaceboat group leader and translator), Mr. Ito, the founder of Peaceboat, and "Junior"

Mr. Ito explained to us many of the problems and what they are doing to combat each. Most of the problems I have already discussed, but the solutions for each are far less impressive. It is not Mr. Ito or the NPO’s fault. There are simply not enough people and firepower to help in an overwhelming situation.

Back Home

Upon arriving back in Tokyo, I told my Japanese friends about the lack of people and support up North. Amazingly, one friend was shocked. He said the news had been telling people not to go help because there were too many volunteers for the organizations to handle. To be fair, I had heard they were saying this during Golden Week, but I do not know if that has been the message since. If it has, it is the wrong one. Also, people are not encouraged just to go show up at random. You need to go up with a plan (camping equipment, food, water, and a destination). Don’t just get off the train at Sendai station and expect to be able to help someone.

But, if are able to go up there, I suggest taking camping equipment and heading to Ishinomaki Senshu University. From there, you can get involved with Peaceboat (let them know you are coming in advance), and if bilingual support is needed, they do have staff that can help you. There are buses from the campus each morning to take you to the local bases in each town. And from there, they will give you a team to join and shovels to work with.

It is exhausting work, but desperately needed. Peaceboat asks that you come for a full week at minimum. Looking at the destruction and mess, combined with the pace of work with the manpower available, and I think it will be years before we see reconstruction and revival of some of these towns. In the meantime, people will continue to try to survive through this emotional and physical nightmare.

The other option is to team up with a group like ours. We will try to head up again, and will stay in hotels near Sendai, and have our own buses organized for transportation. It is a more expensive route than camping, but it also allows one to be fully clean and rested for maximum productivity each day.

If you cannot provide hands-on support, I suggest donating to the productive organizations such as Peaceboat, or even the smaller ones such as OGA for Aid. And, unless you are able to coordinate the delivery of a specific good in a specific timeframe with a specific group, I suggest you donate money. Their needs change weekly and delivery to these locations can be very difficult. The groups I met are more capable of purchasing the supplies they need in a timely manner than most of us are able to provide for them.

I am now back home in Tokyo, but I will be heading up to help again as soon as my wife returns from her trip to LA. This is something she needs to see with her own eyes. Japan has been great to us since we’ve been here and this is a way we can give back. This is a situation that we will most likely never see again. The worst type of natural disaster, stemming from the biggest earthquake, hitting a first world country that I call home. I can only hope it never happens again.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

My Trip through the Aftermath of the Japanese Tsunami

Around 2:45pm, I was in my office on the 15th floor of Roppongi Hills, when the desk started shaking a bit. This was pretty normal as we’ve felt tiny earthquakes like that previously. But when my monitor started to shake I knew it was a bigger one. I walked out of my office onto our main office floor to see if others were noticing it and people were definitely looking around at each other. Within 15-30 seconds it started really shaking and the building was creaking. Hearing the building creak, walls and fittings adjusting, and other building adjustment sounds is one of the scariest parts.

I immediately called my wife, Katie, and was able to get through. She said they were stuck in a subway and just hanging on. I thought it wouldn’t last much longer and told her to hang on and call me when they got off the subway. That was the last phone call I’ve been able to make as the phones went down immediately afterward.

The 8.9 earthquake shook forever. It seemed like 5-10 minutes of solid hard shaking. There was one point in the middle where it shook hard enough for me to lose my balance slightly and to lean against the wall. We all kind of ran around the office not knowing what to do. I stood near a door frame while some of the girls got under desks. Eventually we moved out and went over to the windows to watch. The building next to us was swaying wildly. I tried to get video, but it was shaking so much in our office that it wasn’t possible to see the swaying across the way. A few things fell off shelves in our office and some of the sliding shelves were swinging around, but all in all, our office building managed to handle it very well. The alarms went off in the building, but they just said that there was an earthquake and to get off any elevators at the nearest floor.

There were two guys on a window washer platform hanging from the swaying building next to us. We watched them swing and bang around for like 20 minutes before they were finally able to head up and get off. We also immediately saw smoke and fires in a few buildings off in the distance. The smoke overtook the clear skies very quickly so we knew there must be many other fires around elsewhere.

Even after the hard shake we still had continued shaking and swaying of the building. The aftershocks within the first 15 minutes or so kept the building swaying non-stop. I went back into my office and jumped on the computer throughout this to post a few Facebook and Twitter updates since I couldn’t get in touch with Katie or anyone else via phone.

The buildings swaying looked like this Youtube video. I tried to get video, but could not do a good job with how much we were shaking. Very scary, though. Never seen anything like a huge massive building swaying like a pine tree in the wind.

Eventually, it was continuously shaking enough that we figured we should get out of the building. The last thing I wanted to do was trap myself in a crowded stairwell, but we weren’t doing anything productive in the office. We hiked down 15 floors to get outside to sit with hundreds of others outside of our office. There was another good shake when we hit about the 5th floor and so I double-timed it down the last 5.

We sat outside for an hour or two through a few other small shakes. We spent most of the time on our phones trying to check in with others, find out news, and report where we were. Phone calls and text messages weren’t working, but the data service on our phones did work so we could use the internet, Twitter, Facebook, and email. My Facebook and Twitter feeds blew up as news from everyone in Japan came in quickly and support from others abroad followed immediately thereafter. During this time we heard tsunami alarms in the city with announcements saying to get to high ground.

Around 4pm, after most people decided to head back into the building, we followed as well. We hiked up the 15 floors, which was exhausting, but only to joking complaints. Once I got back upstairs I saw a tweet from my brother saying that he got in touch with Katie on Skype. I got on Skype and started to get a lot of updates from my brother. He had been able to get in touch with Katie on Skype and heard they got off the subway and were stranded on the other side of Tokyo.

I immediately got on Skype and was able to chat with Katie, who was with her parents who are visiting from San Diego. They said they would head toward my office on foot. They had about a 6-7 mile walk ahead of them, so it would take a while to get there. But, they were alright, although very frightened from going through the earthquake in the subway. The subway stopped immediately when the earthquake hit and they were stuck between two stations underground. They sat there for about 20 minutes while the train shook around and people whimpered and looked generally frightened. Eventually, the train moved up to the next station and they were able to get off. They had been in Asakusa site-seeing and were heading towards Ginza for a high tea at a favorite Teppanyaki place of ours. They began their trek home along with millions of others on the Tokyo streets.

Our building shook again from another aftershock and our Rep Director decided to get the staff out of the office for good. I stuck around for a few minutes longer with our team President and CFO, but eventually decided to get out. During that time in the office I was able to check in with most of our players and team staff, although we still had not heard from everyone by the time I left (we have since confirmed all Apache staff are alright).

I walked downstairs and realized that I did not know where to go. This was about 5:30pm. My apartment was a 20 minute walk away and Katie was heading toward me, but out of contact. Our apartment is on the 33rd floor as well, so I was not to keen on getting back in a tall building, let alone having to climb those stairs. So, I headed towards a local pizza joint, Pizzakaya, which happened to be open. I was the first one in there and shared some stories with the bartenders over wings and a beer as we watched the news and I got to see most of the tsunami videos for the first time.

Meanwhile, millions of people were walking by outside on foot. The entire subway system and office population had emptied onto the streets for a long trek home. It was the most orderly disaster reaction I’ve ever seen. Basically a single file line, a million deep, with breaks at intersections to wait for the crossing lights to change. There is no way to describe the way the Japanese people handled this other than to say that every foreigner I spoke with was in awe over the order and calm with which the problems were handled. Anyway, most people in Tokyo take an hour train ride every day to get to work. This means many people had to walk for about 9 hours to get home. Thank goodness I live only a single train stop from my job.

I tried Katie on all methods of communication, but could not get through. I had been told by my brother that her phone was dying, so she probably turned it off. About an hour later I was finally able to call her on Skype again, over the internet, iPhone to iPhone. They made it to Roppongi and came to meet me at the pizza place. We reunited, shared pizza, beer, and stories, and charged our phones and legs for the walk home.

Meanwhile, I continued to check in on our friends and staff. I got a hold of Pam Hill who gave me their scary recap of the shake in their 28th floor apartment. Fortunately they were alright, although they were locked out of their building. The power was out and no elevators, so they had gathered with most of the rest of their building at the bar in the basement. Given blankets by the building staff, they huddled to stay warm and pass the time until their power came back on.

Around 9pm, Katie, her parents, and I, full from pizza and beer, decided to make the trek home. They were exhausted from their hike already and her mom had on high heels that were cutting her feet. Katie had the flu and felt awful, so even a 20 minute walk was going to be tough. When we got outside, it was very cold and the wind was really blowing. Fortunately, the ground wasn’t shaking any more, but it was still an painful walk. The traffic was absolutely stopped and the sidewalks were packed with people. We eventually saw our building and could see lights on, so we knew that was a good sign. When we arrived, the main elevators were blocked and shut down, but the staff led us to the service elevator, which was in action. The elevator was packed since it was the only one running, but it got us to the 33rd floor.

Our biggest fear was that our China cabinet had fallen over or the TV had fallen. Fortunately, both survived. The only big damage was our giant standing mirror that fell over and blew up with glass everywhere. It hit the opposite wall and left a big dent. But, other than that, we only had a few cracks in some corners and a picture frame or two that fell over. All of our kitchen shelves held strong and the doors held closed. One of the most interesting things is that all of our hallway and bedroom doors closed automatically. They are on these push-n-pull levers that hold them in place when open. But the shake of the earthquake pushed-n-pulled them all to unlatch them and let them close. I image this is some sort of fire prevention mechanism for earthquakes. Genius Japanese.

Katie went to sleep immediately while her parents and I cleaned up the glass. I checked in with a few more people before heading to bed myself around 10:30pm, exhausted. I took a picture of the red taillights lining the city before I went to bed. I heard traffic was a complete standstill for at least another 5 hours.

We woke up to more aftershocks around 1am and again felt some big ones between 4-5am. Nothing big, but they showed up in the 6.x range on the charts this morning. They shook the bed a bit and the building creaked again, an all too unfriendly yet now familiar sound. We woke up and checked in on everyone again and with family back home. We had another good minor shake (6.8) around 10:45am, but they are fewer and farther between now.

The hot water was out all night, but just came back on. The convenience stores shelves are entirely bare, but we found a grocery store at Tokyo Midtown with plenty of food and the long lines that accompany it.

All in all, Tokyo was spared most of the devastation. It was a crazy experience, but everyone I know is alright. Now our thoughts go out to those up North. The Sendai basketball team was in Niigata for games (canceled now) and checked in fine. But, we hope all of their families and friends, plus the team staff, are alright. If we find out anything we can do, we will surely make the effort to get to work helping out.

That’s my story. Not nearly as extreme as what we see on the video and TV, but an accurate report of what happened in Tokyo. Just want to update everyone back home with what is going on and let everyone know we are alright.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Japan 3/11 Earthquake and Tsunami

As of two days ago, I am now the General Manager of the Tokyo Apache, the Tokyo basketball team in Japan’s professional basketball league. Evolution, the company I work for, bought the team as this press release explains. We are just at the beginning of the entire process, but I am really looking forward to it all.

I will probably be posting on here a lot less, unfortunately, but I promise to keep everyone updated along the way. I will be spending more time in Japan (if that is possible) and potentially be moving there, so there could be plenty of interesting stories to come.

Wish me luck!

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Tokyo Apache General Manager

Is a boycott of Arizona’s “turqoise jewelery and bolo ties” really worth it? Has Mayor Villaraigosa really thought this one through?

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Los Angeles Bites the Hand That Feeds

However, Twitter advertising is still in its early stages. There are lessons to be learned on what are effective ads on Twitter.

Recently, I was approached by an advertiser through SponsoredTweets. They provided some pre-defined text for me to Tweet out in exchange for payment. I accepted it and the system tweeted it for me.

A couple of days later, I received a message that the tweet would need to be tried again because it did not receive enough clicks. Sponsored Tweets makes sure that a strong ratio of views/clicks exists to provide a solid service to their media buyers, which I completely respect.

However, Sponsored Tweets requires that you change the text of your original tweet, since the way you put it obviously did not work the first time. So, I changed the text around from the ad copy that the advertiser provided to something that sounded like it came from me and submitted it. Incredibly, the advertiser responded that the copy must match what they provided.

Obviously they did not entirely understand that Sponsored Tweets forces the user to change the text. But, more importantly, they do not understand the purpose behind that.

The first ad copy did not work for a reason. The advertiser wrote the copy. I can tell you from experience that all of the ads I have written have done better by far in terms of clicks received.

Anyway, I added a period to satisfy Sponsored Tweets and the tweet went out again. Sure enough, it was returned as it did not receive enough clicks. And sure enough, the advertiser still wanted me to run that same copy for the third and final time. I will not even try to run an advertisement for that sponsor again.

The smartest Twitter advertisers allow the user to write their own ad copy. If you want their followers to click through to your site, you want it to sounds like it is coming from the user, not some copywriter on Madison Ave.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Lesson in Twitter Advertising: Let the Tweeter be your Copywriter

Just look at the difference between what the NOAA estimates versus BP’s worst case scenario estimate. Talk about a large margin of error.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Gulf Oil Spill Oil Leak Estimates

Seriously, can someone please explain? They have taken over our local coffee shops and I read an article a week about them. These things just came out of nowhere and are now the latest fad worldwide.

Today, I got a chart comparing worldwide macaron prices (a dozen, I believe), as if they were to replace the Big Mac Index!

I just don’t get the fuss…

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

What’s the Deal with Macarons?

If history is any indication, keep an eye on my travel schedule for the next couple of years. The last two times I have taken a voluntary exotic vacation with Katie (I don’t count my honeymoon as that is a mandatory vacation), the markets have crashed hard.

The first time was in September of 2008. The indications were almost there the day we left for Italy, but Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy on Monday of the trip and by mid-week all hell had broken loose and the markets were in free fall. I spent the nights online working and the days sleeping in the sun while Katie patiently watched in disappointment. The trip was ruined and understandably so.

This time was a bit more gentle, but it still happened. Last week, I left to charter a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands with little hesitation about leaving. Yet sure enough, it happened again. The markets crashed midweek. It started in Europe and carried over the US. At one point, the DOW was down 1000 points intraday and the VIX was up almost 20 points on the week. This week is lining up to be a crazy one, with the potential of a European country or bank defaulting being quite high (today’s rally is still volatility, good or bad).

I have no explanation other than pure coincidence. But, it could surely happen again. I’ll make sure I send out a remind for my sunny vacation of 2012. It might just be the right time to get short again.

*image source: yahoo.com

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Market Crashes During My Vacations

Posting from my iPhone in the Caribbean – not far from the gulf of Mexico – so I can’t provide more than the link. Please have a look, it is an important infographic.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (no coined name yet?) will be bigger than the Exxon Valdez within 50 days at the rate of the spill. As far as I’ve heard, there are no easy ways to stop it in the near term.

Complete nightmare. BP has to pony up for the bill.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Size of the Oil Spill

“You guys are busting down doors in Palo Alto while Commandant Gates is ridding the world of mosquitoes. What the f**k is going on?”

I have to agree that I think Apple makes some fantastic products. But, they just go a bit overboard with their whole our way or the highway mentality.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Apple Becomes Big Brother

Airspace Rebooted from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

European Flight Paths After the Volcano

Stagecoach is the Country music version of Coachella. It is the weekend following Coachella and has two days worth of music instead of three. That is about where the weaknesses stop. With a great set up around three stages, the music festival rocked.

The first act on the Mane Stage was Joey + Rory. I must say, they were awesome! They have a great story, a great sound, and a great look. The married duo provides a very personal touch on their performance and it is well appreciated.

Rory wears overalls and sings about his farm an hour south of Nashville where he tends to his ducks, chickens and cow named “Shooter”. Joey has an incredible voice and comes across as a strong yet sweet southern gal. I definitely suggest downloading their first album that includes “Cheater, Cheater” and “Play the Song”, and look forward to their new album coming out this Fall.

Another band I enjoyed (it was too bluegrass-y for Katie) was Trampled by Turtles. While Billy Currington was fun, Phil Vassar was a little strange yet had a lot of energy, and Keith Urban comes across as way too fruity to be a Country singer (also why the girls love him, I’m sure), Sugarland stole the show.

For Sugarland, this was their second stop on their new tour and they made it well worth it for us. Not only did they sing all their favorites and put a ton of energy into their performance, but they also “remixed” in a bunch of oldies and pop hits, including Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, and even some “Sweet Caroline.”

Unfortunately we had to come back on Sunday so we did not get to see the second day. Either way, we had a great time. Thank you Stagecoach, we’ll be back next year!

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Joey + Rory join Sugarland in Rocking Stagecoach

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

New 100 Dollar Bill

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

US Flight Paths

I feel awful. Katie and I were really looking forward to hitting up Coachella this weekend and I totally blew it.

This year was to be our first Coachella experience. I asked some buddies for advice and was told that the last two years they picked up tickets at the gate. Considering we are always adjusting travel plans, and that our hotel could be canceled up until about a week prior, for some reason I decided to hold off getting tickets a while back.

Well, sure enough, this week the rumors started flying about it being sold out. When I looked online, it said the 3-day passes were sold out, but it also said there would be ticket kiosks available at the gate to purchase tickets. I was not sure if that message was from prior to or in conjunction with the online tickets being sold out, but I figured we could scalp some tickets in the worst case scenario.

Well, Katie and I drove all the way out there and got skunked. The place was packed and there were no new tickets available. We were definitely not the only ones looking for tickets either. The demand was sky high and there was zero supply.

So, I blew it and now I need to make up for it with Katie. We ended up seeing “Hot Tub Time Machine” (hilarious) last night. Then we drove back today after ditching our last night at the hotel. We have had a great day, fortunately, but I am still in the doghouse. Fortunately, we’re planning a fun trip for Golden Week, so hopefully that can help make up for it. Otherwise, I get to be extra nice for the next few weeks.

Anyway, lesson learned. Always purchase tickets online ahead of time if possible. Next year, I will not make the same mistake.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

I Botched Coachella

The California Budget is a mess. That is no secret. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to fixing it.

The State of California spends way too much money. The State is in a huge amount of debt. The State has dwindling income as revenue decreases during this recession. Tax increases barely keep revenues near previous levels, let alone compensate to cover deficits and new expenses.

Unfortunately, the State Government has lost control where the voters now have an incredible amount of power. They are able to vote in public works measures that sound great on paper while in reality no money exists in the budget for the projects (sell more bonds is the solution to every project…look how much debt that has created). They also hamstring the legislature in making any vast changes. So the Governor and State Congress can only do so much before they are required to ask for another vote. In the meantime the state hemorrhages money.

Unfortunately, cutbacks in state jobs and salaries are some of the few areas the state actually has a decent amount of power over. So, those get hit first. Now, I am not opposed to cutbacks and layoffs, especially in inefficiently run organizations such as the government, but I do wish other programs were easy to cut as well. It is no secret that state run organizations are archaically organized nightmares (I’ll mention the DMV and leave it at that). They need to be cleaned up, but probably from the top, not the bottom.

Well, these cutbacks have begun to hit home. Katie sent in her Articles of Organization for her new clothing line about 3 months ago. She has still not received back the stamped copy. We know it was approved and given a File Number back in February because we can look it up online. Unfortunately, the government is not sophisticated enough to send you an official copy over the Internet yet (that whole automated email thing is difficult, you know). So, calling the Secretary of State office, we are informed that because of the cutbacks the forms will now take between 4-12 weeks (up from the original 4-6 weeks) to be returned. Fortunately we are able to apply for some licenses with just the File Number (such as an EIN), yet others need an official copy (such as opening a bank account).

As I said, I am not opposed to these cutbacks, it is just unfortunate that they come at the expense of such a simple task. These things should have been organized and optimized years ago during technologies heyday and governments budget surpluses. It makes you not only realize the issues with large government organizations running large programs, but also what can happen if the funding for those dries up and inefficiencies become greatly exposed. God help the world if the US Government is ever unable to cover its budget with extra Treasury sales…

So, as a lesson to California small businesses, if you need to do work with the California state government be prepared for even slower responses and longer delays. Tough times are ahead for the efficiency of this state.

*image source: cityzine.com

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

California Budget Cutbacks Personal Repercussions


Budgeting – Mint.com

*image source: mint.com

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Job Growth by City and State

I have never had the luck of overlapping with this almost random event. Tourists schedule trips months in advance only to miss the bloom by a week or two and come home empty handed. Unexpected to me, I lucked into the exact week this Spring to arrive to a snow of pink.

Unfortunately, my iPhone picks do not offer visual justice, especially the serenity of the night.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

A Pink Dream

Umm, yikes.

*image source: bis.org

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Projected Government Interest Payments

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Statiscally Designed Japan

Japan is the most interesting culture in the world. I could go on forever about its peculiarities, but I will begin with a simple one. The Japanese tendency and acceptance of getting completely drunk from beer on a work night.

I went to dinner this evening at a restaurant/bar called “Aloha Table”. (Side note: Japanese love attaching positive verbs to semi-relevant nouns in naming their businesses. The airport shuttle is called “Friendly Airport Limousine”. A popular wedding event company is called “Take and Give Needs”. Sometimes, they drop the verb all together…the restaurant across the street from my hotel is simply called “Plates”.) Soon after I arrived, one of the men lit up a cigarette at the table next to me. Coming from California, I hate this, but it is customary in Japan so I did not let it offend me.

Anyway, a few minutes later, I notice the man speaking with the waiter/bartender. Shortly after, the waiter proceeds to politely help support him walk as he exits from the restaurant. The waiter walked him all the way to a cab, put him in the cab, and told the taxi driver (wearing a full suit and tie as they all do) where to go.

The guy could barely stand and had the very red Asian Flush. He was wasted. Drinking by himself after work. It was 7pm. On a Monday night.

He was a typical sarariman (salaryman = Japanese white-collar businessman). I’ve seen this happen dozens of times.

The Japanese love beer and I love them for it. While not every Japanese will act like this, it is completely acceptable to get off work and head to the local bar, by yourself or with a small group of co-workers, and proceed to get completely drunk off beer before heading home for the evening.

Now, I realize this happens in cities in the US and elsewhere, but I’ve never seen it done with such consistency and acceptance as in Japan. It is also a completely casual and non-violent event. I’ve never seen one of these types of drinkers cause any problems.

As I said, there are many peculiar things about Japan, but this is one of my favorite. To be honest, I don’t know why I find it so interesting, especially considering how un-peculiar this event may be in comparison to the rest of their peculiarities. Perhaps because it seems to cause very few repercussions that I’ve ever seen. Either way, it helps make Japan truly unique.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Wasted in Japan

*image source: mint.com

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

HDMI: Don’t be a Douche Nozzle

I’ve decided to retire from my business life and get back into basketball. And I don’t mean coaching.

I’ve been playing hoops seven days a week recently and am back in the best shape of my life. I’ve spoken to some of of my agent friends and a few scouts and I think there is a solid chance I get picked up in the D-League next year.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. The next few months will be grueling as I enter the summer leagues and showcase my re-found talent. Let’s just hope I get picked up next Fall so that I can pay the rent.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

I’m Going Pro

Going into the final weekend I have all but locked up several of my pools. A few years ago I changed my strategy to use the same bracket in every pool. I figured if I did well, I’d prefer to win them all at once. If you enter 10 different pools per year with 10 slightly different brackets, and win maybe 1 pool every other year, it just does not have the same adrenaline rush as winning them all at the same time.

So, with my single bracket, I have already currently won our family pool, am in first place with only one opponent (Duke would have to win out for me to lose) in the office pool, and leading the way in several others. However, possibly the coolest achievement is a current 7th place standing worldwide among all Bloomberg brackets (BRKT on Bloomberg). With a West Virginia win against Duke I think I could actually move into 2nd place.

Fortunately for a few others, I posted my picks as our Basketball.org picks just two weeks back. I have some friends who used that exact bracket in their pools and are winning theirs as well.

These picks were actually crushed by the Midwest region, which I had Kansas coming out of after beating Georgetown, neither of which happened. However, my performance in the other three regions was incredible, losing only 2 out of 15 games in the East regional and 3 out of 15 in the South and West regionals.

If West Virginia wins against Duke and then loses in the Finals (preferably to a lesser chosen Butler), I could start topping even more nationwide brackets. Go Mountaineers!

*image source: Bloomberg

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

NCAA Bracket Bragging

*image source: mailchimp.com

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

First Monthly Newsletter

The air quality index (AQI) in Santa Monica today: 32

The AQI all time record in Hong Kong: 208 (July, 2008)

The AQI in Hong Kong yesterday: 500

In fact, 500 is just the maximum reading on the scale. It doesn’t go any higher. Looks like they are going to have to readjust the scale. Either way, breaking the record by almost double is incredible.

After speaking with my colleagues in Hong Kong, it is as bad as described. They say it is unbearable to go outside and you can taste the smog in the air. It clings to your clothes and you come inside dirty, as if it had rained dirt.

If there is anything positive we can take from this it is that the Chinese factories up the Pearl River must be operating at full steam. Production must be increasing, which is good for the economy.

And bad for the residents of Southern China’s lungs…

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Hong Kong Smog at Record Levels

Some of the smartest macro-economic guys out there, Gavekal, put out a piece last night on what this health care bill really means longer term. While I am not nearly as bullish as them longer term, they do convince me every so often of the potential for hope.

One of the best parts about Gavekal is that they rarely take political views. In this piece, they follow that line and merely explain that good or bad, US politicians coming to a consensus vote on a tough decision is extremely important for America and the world.

It is one thing that the US has done consistently since the Civil War and what makes the US Constitution one of the greatest documents in the history of mankind. Too many countries get stuck political stalemates that hinder their economy for decades. At least in the US we are able to choose something and move on from there. If it was a wrong choice, we fix it and choose something else. Either way, these consensus decisions lead to change.

“In most European countries it is widely accepted that both tax increases and cuts in public spending will be required to stabilise fiscal positions and the main political arguments are over whether the ratio between tax and spending measures should be 50-50, 40-60, or 30-70. In America, by contrast, roughly half the country opposes any tax increases under almost any circumstances, while the other half rejects any cuts in the only spending programmes that are big enough to matter-the long-term entitlements to Social Security and Medicare. Worse yet, the intensity of feeling in America on these fiscal issues is very high. According to a recently published study by Princeton political scientists, political polarization, as measured by attitudes to the role of the federal government in the economy, is “now at a post-Reconstruction high” (see report here). To put this point more bluntly, the only time Americans were more politically divided than they are today was during the Civil War.

Given that Congressional rules generally require a 60% majority for major legislative changes, a nation that feels so intensely about fundamental economic issues and is divided 50-50, 51-49 or even 55-45, seemed destined for political paralysis. Indeed, the prospect that a Californian-style budgetary gridlock could grip the entire US fiscal system has emerged as one of the biggest risks facing the world economy and especially the bond markets. While last night’s healthcare vote does not dispel the risk of legislative gridlock, it does show that the US political system is still capable of creating coalitions to take tough and unpopular decisions when the chips are down. Whatever we may think of this legislation, it has proved that US democracy is working more or less as the founding fathers intended. Anyone betting that the US was an ungovernable country, incapable of dealing with its fundamental political problems, has been making a losing bet since the end of the Civil War in 1865. Despite the intensity of today’s political polarization and the magnitude of the budgetary challenge, a bet against America will almost certainly remain a losing bet.”

The next step is implementing this power at the State-wide level. Unfortunately, I am not as optimistic there. There is much less loyalty to States and States do not hold the power of managing their own currency and interest rates.

Interestingly enough, from that same Princeton study came a result that California was the most polarized State politically. Not a good sign.

I think States’ futures are much more confusing and depressing. Obviously they pale in comparison to the US economy and have much less world economy impact, but it is important for the underlying infrastructure of the US economy.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

Great Divide in our Great Country

Murray State just defined why I love March on the first morning of the NCAA tournament.

They defeated #4 seed Vanderbilt as a #13 seed on a last second shot. With 5 seconds to play, they ran a basic play which kind of fell apart and yet their senior stepped up to hit the biggest shot of his life.

I must say that making my March even better is the CBS Sports iPhone App. The premium version costs $10, but it is worth every penny. It allows you to watch any game live in streaming video over your phone. There have already been 2-3 games that were close in the final minutes that I preferred to watch on my phone over what CBS was showing on TV. The app can also send you alerts on games you request (ie. start of the game), as well as alerts for any games that are close in the last minutes (my favorite alert) or upsets about to happen.

I don’t think I can write anything else the rest of the weekend. I am absolutely glued to these games as they have been absolutely fantastic.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

My Love with March

Not sure if any of you saw the movie The Cove, but it won best documentary at the Oscars. The movie depicts a team of activists calling out Japan for killing dolphin’s for meat and entertainment.

Interestingly enough, The Cove has become a major issue right here in Santa Monica. The filmmakers have called out the local sushi restaurant, “The Hump”, for apparently serving whale meat.

The Hump is one of my favorite sushi restaurants. I believe they serve the best fish in LA (maybe not the best rolls, but definitely the freshest fish). It is based right at the Santa Monica Airport and you sit and watch the planes take off and land as you dine on delicious sushi.

Apparently The Hump has suspended operations while they figure out what to do next. There was a huge protest of over 100 people there a couple of days ago with “Free Willy” signs and what not.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. The Hump has not made any statement so far, so I am not sure what stance they are taking. Personally, I would be fine if they just admit it, pay a fine, and re-open. As long as they do not do it again, I am alright with it. The sushi there is just too good for Santa Monica to lose.

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

The Cove: Part 2

I’m obviously a bit biased, but I do think it is pretty great. It has all dates and times, locations, and team records, yet in my opinion is not too crowded. Also, it runs sideways so there is still plenty of room to write in your picks. Print it out in a higher quality format and you will enjoy making your picks.

We have all of the NIT, Women’s, and Division II and III brackets on there as well for those who are interested.

*img source: basketball.org

Read more articles on this topic at Green Taxi

NCAA Bracket