One week on. It’s hard to believe isn’t it ? So much has happened in the space of seven days with terror upon terror heaped upon Japan. If the nuclear threat is contained, I wonder how long the media will continue to broadcast the plight of the Japanese people as they try to re-build their lives. Nuclear melt-down, exposed fuel-rods, damaged reactors - all news-worthy headlines for the tabloids – but months on – will we still be hearing of their efforts to re-build ? Or will this story be confined to old news with the odd reporter providing occassional sound-bites updating us on their progress ? But I guess you will say that is just the way of the world, with newer and rawer calamaties clammouring for our attention.

In terms of ‘people stories’, the ‘Fukushima 50′ fascinate me. You have a choice. You are one of a very small number able to save your country from a nuclear disaster. To help almost certainly puts your short and long-term heath at risk. Do you think of yourself and your family or that of the greater good ? Their adoption of the latter is an indication of the Japanese psyche and culture; the needs of the group are greater than those of the individual. Rightly heralded as national heros, they will become the focal point of TV documentaries, books on the disaster and undoubtedly ‘the film’ of the events at the beleaguered Fukashima plant.  I can’t imagine how I would react in their situation if called upon to ’save Japan’. I guess my human reaction would be to go but who am I to make such a bold statement from the safety of my office desk one damp Friday lunchtime in March. What is clear however is the respect shown for these courageous and honourable men, and for their families, who wait in anticipation knowing that the immediate future of their country is in their hands. Their anonymity only serves to strengthen their stoicity and selflessness.  If I had to define ‘brave’  – this would be it.

The news is both confusing and conflicting tonight depending on whether you follow BBC or Sky News. BBC news has just broadcast that Tepco, Tokyo Electric Power Company, has just connected a power cable to one of the reactors but it is unclear as yet whether it will be able to restart the cooling pumps. Sky News however makes no mention of this, simply stating that there is no news as to how successful efforts have been to cool the reactors. Hopefully by tomorrow morning there will be more news – hopefully good.

An indicator of the fear and anxiety experienced by many Japanese is evidenced by the uncharacteristic displays of emotion. Normally a reserved and emotionally contained people, many Japanese are clearly frightened and angry at the government. We will probably never learn of the true extent of the damage to the reactors and the fuel rod cooling ponds but it is clear that the situation is still touch and go. Regretably some of the tabloid coverage has been sensationalist talking of Armageddon and ‘total melt-down.’ While the situation is clearly critical, and let’s not push to one side the effects of the earthquake and tsunami in favour of the ‘nuclear story’, there needs to be an undertstanding that the natural disaster has, and probably will, account for many more lives than that of potential radioactive fall-out from the Fukushima power plant. Whatever the outcome, our thoughts are with you our Japanese friends.

Well, my blog was down yesterday but back up again to-day – some kind of server problem which is now fixed. It’s now  two days later and things seem to go from bad to worse in Japan with the threat of radiation poisoning spreading by the hour. The pictures outside Sendai show a devastation not seen since Hiroshima or Nagasaki and the sight of people fleeing Tokyo only adds to the horror. Emperor Akihito spoke to the nation to-day in a broadcast to the Japanese people – this is most unusual and an indicator of the severity of the situation in Japan. One thing I have decided this evening is, rather than focus on the troubles beleaguering Japan, I’ll list some of the many happy memories we have of our trips to this wonderful country. So, here goes – some of the most memorable times we have had on the other side of the world:

1. Cat Cafe on the seventh floor of a sky scraper in Shinjuku in Tokyo stroking Persian cats at midnight

2. Sitting on tatami mats in Komagata loach restaurant in Asakusa in Tokyo eating tiny fish with chop sticks

3. A long, beer-infused night of karaoke in a karaoke bar in Osaka

4. Walking in Kamikochi in the Japanese Alps followed by a barbeque in the woods

5. Beautiful Nikko in the snow with its moss-covered stone lanterns and old temple complex

6. Feeding rice cakes to the cheeky deer in Nara

7. Drinking coffee in a Maid Cafe - less said the better!

8. Sitting on the bullet train eating noodles and admiring a snow-capped Fuji from the window

9. Wonderstruck at the ice and snow sculptures in Sapporo at the annual snow and ice festival

10. Spotting the geisha in old Gion in Kyoto

11. Hearing the crack of ice as our ice-breaker boat crunched through the frozen sea off the coast of northern Hokkaido

12. Enjoying a steaming onsen on the top of a mountain as snow fell at night

13. Endless detours to the many Seven Eleven stores to buy Melty Kisses, Almond Joy and seaweed-flavour crisps

14. Rows of vending machines selling hot coffee, pancakes in tins, flowers and bottles of Pocari Sweat

15. Every minute of every day of every week spent in Japan. Arigato gozaimasu ( thank you very much ) Japan

More news from Japan continues to fill our TV screen and the BBC news website. Eye-witness accounts are now starting to surface as is news of survivors and the infrastructure problems which must be hampering the delivery of food and basic living necessities to those now occupying gyms, schools and other large civic buildings. Fears over further potential explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant in addition to radiation links continue although it is difficult to get a consistent view of the situation. I don’t understand the full implications of a meltdown or that of exposed fuel rods but it can be nothing if not serious. Whatever the outcome, the Japanese people are clearly very worried at the possibility of another Chernobyl to add to their already horrific predicament. But there is one common and consistent theme running through news reports and that is of the calm and orderly behavior of the people in a time of such crisis. The collective nature of this society combined with the need to consider others and ‘save face’ equips the population for times such as this. There has been no looting, no jostling for priority assistance and no ‘looking after number one.’ That’s just not ‘Japanese.’ And that’s just one of the many, many reasons why we love Japan.

To-day has been another day spent thinking on and off about our dear friends in Japan. The news continues to bring the horror home to us to the point where I took a decision to turn the TV and radio off. Having had so many wonderful trips to Japan and met such lovely people, we feel closer to the disaster even though we are thousands of miles away. Walking home yesterday I tried to imagine what it would be like to see our entire road destroyed – that was hard enough – but when you multiply that out to the entire locality, it’s then that the magnitude of the quake and tsunami really hit hard. I did log onto NHK and saw that the Japanese Navy had rescued a man swept out to sea after three days adrift. The story runs that his house was engulfed by the wave and that as the structure crumbled, he clung to the roof and floated out onto the ocean. Humankind’s resilience can be both humbling and awe-inspiring. And these stories do go a little way to uplifting spirits in times like this. But the Japanese people are known for their stoic, unrelenting resilience. They work as a team where the value of the individual is always surpassed by the value of the wider group and it is this approach to life which will see them survive this disaster and build an even stronger Japan.

Tsurui and Rausu are names which don’t immediately jump out as being Japanese in their origin. Located in Hokkaido, the coldest, most northern tip of Japan, these small towns are set within low, flat snowy plains surrounded by mountains. I can honestly say that with just exception ( the infamous Everest base-camp experience in Tibet ) I have never been so cold for so long! But the environment was staggeringly beautiful. 6.30am saw us watching the Tancho cranes wake up in the Setsuri river at minus 17 degrees. Ive never been interested in bird watching but these were amazing – huge long- legged creatures with white and black plummage and red heads. But it was the scenery which really took our breath away ( along-with the cold ) as we stood on the tiny wooden bridge over the river. It was utterly beautiful: deep snowy drifts, frozen sparkling foliage and icicles draped along the river bank like lametta hanging from a Christmas tree.

After spending the morning exploring this barren but beautiful landscape we joined a trip out on an ice breaker boat. Setting out from the small port of Rausu the boat took us on a three hour trip into the frozen sea. How amazing it was to hear the boat crunch and grind its way through the ice as we passed icebergs floating and bobbing on the waves. Eventually we arrived at a huge area crusted over with thick ice where sea eagles and birds came to feed. But again it was the scenery which captured my imagination. Here was a true sense of northern-most icy wastes; a white and grey solitude made all the more eery by the whooping of the gulls windmilling overhead. Looking out from the front of the boat ( for fellow non-sailors I understand this to be the bow ) and spread out as far as the eye could see were mountainous ice floats, a thick white sky and far into the distance the peaks of the mountains. Well below freezing, barren, white and wonderful. This was true northern soul.