＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
The other day (June 18, 2018), I experienced an earthquake while on a JR commuter train, and here are some thoughts I had.
1. JR’s response leaves issues to be addressed
(1) Providing the latest information frequently
The first is that I wish JR would have delivered updated information frequently to ease passengers’ anxiety.
Like a broken tape recorder or a parrot, “All trains have stopped due to the earthquake. Please wait a moment before resuming operation. This only added to the frustration of the passengers.
(2) Flexible arrangements for getting trains to the station
Secondly, if a “train with power access” is only about 100 metres from the nearest station, it would not interfere with preceding or following trains, so surely each site could have taken the flexible approach of moving the train at the slowest possible speed to the nearest station and having all passengers get off?
I think that saying, “When there is an order to stop operations from headquarters, trains cannot run even for a short distance” is a rigid and unreasonable response that lacks consideration for passengers.
(3) Announcements to reassure passengers
The third point is that about two hours later, when a passenger was yelling “Let us off quickly,” the explanation was given that “We are giving priority to getting off injured and those who are feeling unwell,” but I think such an explanation should have been announced to all passengers in advance.
If possible, it would be even better if the announcement added, “In about how many minutes, we will be ready for all of you to get off.
I am reminded of the recently reported story of the 13 boys who were trapped in a cave in Thailand for over two weeks.
The boys must have been dozens of times more anxious and terrified than we are. I am amazed that they stuck it out and were all rescued safely.
(4) Convincing announcements regarding the resumption of service
The fourth issue is very similar to the first one. Although I arrived at Suita Station at 10:15, when I asked the station staff about the expected resumption of service, they just kept repeating, “There is no prospect of service resuming.”
This is complete nonsense, like a broken tape recorder or a parrot.
In the end, I waited at Suita Station until 12:30, but since there was no progress, I contacted my company and said, “I don’t know when I’ll be able to come to work today, so I’m taking the day off,” and decided to “walk home” for several hours (in the end, it took more than four hours).
There was a long line at the taxi stand in front of the station, and there was no sign of any cars coming, so we had no idea when we would be able to get a taxi.
In the future, won’t Osaka Prefecture and its municipalities need to work with JR and other private railways, the police, the Self-Defense Forces, bus companies, and taxi companies to develop in advance response measures for people who are unable to return home (for example, by making it possible to provide “alternative transportation” similar to that for railways)?
2. Timely response from university students
(1) Free smartphone charging service
One good response was that students from Kansai University, located in front of JR Takatsuki Station, brought emergency generators and provided free charging services until late at night for people who were having trouble with dead batteries in their smartphones and other devices after the earthquake.
I learned about this later on the TV news. Apparently they were students from the university’s “School of Social Safety,” and their response was truly a “God-like response(「神対応」)”. I was impressed by this timely and extremely valuable volunteer work.
Couldn’t the shops of mobile phone companies have done similar support? I hope that the companies will consider this in the future.