[Column] On the bus

In the morning, I felt really sick on the bus to go to the company. It wasn’t car sickness.
I was going to tell them I would quit the company to evacuate. Exactly speaking, it was my father.

I was working for my father’s company, but I knew I had to leave there. From the day zero, that was obvious that he is not fully updated about the situation and it is impossible to make him understand.
To live, I had to leave.

That was a small company, and he was a kind of dictatorial type of boss.

I got off the bus. My socks were soaked by sweat.

About 2 months before, 9/18/2011, I was looking at the calendar to talk to myself.
“What am I doing ?”
I knew I’d have to go somewhere since reactor1 exploded. I was trying to make up my mind but I was also becoming sick more and more. I was being irritated by myself.
I thought of leaving Japan in 2 months. Spend the first month on looking for a good place to go. Spending the second month on throwing everything away.
Fortunately, I found the good place to go by the next morning. The biggest problem was the second part, especially quitting the job.

I am an only child. I thought quitting father’s company means the end of family.

I got to the entrance of the building where the company is and opened the door. Luckily, I didn’t meet the neighbors. I was having nausea.

I stepped up the stairways and entered the office. I was the first one to come as always.
I opened the window and cleaned the floor like as if they were some important ceremony.
stood in front of the phone. He must be still at home. I picked up the receiver, twice.
In the third time, I managed to dialed.
I thought I was going to be drowned inside of my skull.

He picked it up, “Good morning, what happened ?”
I was, “I’ll evacuate Japan, so I’ll quit here.”

Silence.

I ordered all the soldiers to aim the gun.

“Did you get mental ?” He replied.

“No, I’m serious.” I said.

“OK, let’s talk about it later.” He hung up.

I sensed the calm before the storm.

My coworker came.

I said, “I just said I’m gona quit.”

“Finally..” he mumbled.

My evacuation had two purposes. One is my evacuation. and one is to urge others to think about the situation.
He had a baby one year before. He is the one who should leave.
However, he didn’t leave, because he had just bought a house.

After all, I took a step. I moved forward, kicked the ground backward.
That was really a heavy door. I was feeling like I wasn’t really me.

 

 

_____

Français :

[Éditorial] Dans le bus

Ce matin-là, dans le bus pour aller travailler je me sentais vraiment malade. Ce n’était pas un mal de voiture.
J’allais leur dire que je quittais l’entreprise pour évacuer. A dire vrai, j’allais le dire à mon père.

Je travaillais dans la société de mon père mais je savais que je devais partir. Depuis le premier jour il était évident qu’il n’avait pas bien compris la situation et qu’il était impossible de la lui faire comprendre.
Partir, je devais partir.

C’était une petite entreprise et il était un patron de type dictatorial.

Je suis descendu du bus. Mes chaussettes étaient trempées de sueur.

Environ deux mois plus tôt, le 18 septembre 2011, je regardais un calendrier tout en me disant en moi-même
“Qu’est-ce que je fais ?”
Je savais que je devais aller ailleurs depuis que le réacteur 1 avant explosé. J’essayais de m’y faire mais j’en étais aussi de plus en plus mal. J’étais en colère contre moi-même.
Je pensais à quitter le Japon depuis deux mois. Passé le premier à chercher où aller. Le second à tout jeter.
Par chance, j’ai trouvé le bon endroit où aller le matin suivant. Le plus gros problème était la seconde partie, en particulier quitter le travail.

Je suis seulement un gamin. Je croyais que quitter l’entreprise familiale tuait la famille.

Je suis allé à l’entrée de l’immeuble où se trouve la société et j’ai ouvert la porte. Par chance, je n’ai pas croisé de voisins. J’avais la nausée.

J’ai monté les escaliers et je suis entré dans les bureaux. J’étais le premier arrivé, comme toujours.
J’ai ouvert la fenêtre et nettoyé le sol comme s’il y avait une cérémonie importante.
Jje suis resté devant le téléphone. Il devait être encore à la maison. J’ai décroché le combiné, deux fois.
A la troisième j’ai réussi à composer le numéro.
J’ai pensé que j’allais me noyer dans mon crane.

Il a répondu, “Bonjour, qu’est-ce qui se passe ?”
J’ai dit, “Je vais évacuer le Japon, alors je vais devoir arrêter ici.”

Silence.

J’ai donné l’ordre à tous les soldats de prendre leurs armes.

“Tu est devenu fou ?” a-t-il répondu.

“Non, je suis sérieux.”

“OK, on en reparle plus tard.” Il a raccroché.

J’ai apprécié le calme après la tempête.

Mon collègue est arrivé.

Je lui ai dit, “Je veux juste dire que je vais démissionner.”

“Finalement…” a-t-il murmuré.

Mon évacuation avait deux buts. L’un est mon évacuation et l’autre est d’exhorter les autres à penser à la situation.
Il avait un bébé d’un an avant. Il était celui qui aurait du partir.
Mais il n’est pas parti parce qu’il venait juste d’acheter une maison.

Après quoi, j’ai fait un pas. je suis allé de l’avant, poussant le sol en arrière.
C’était vraiment une porte lourde. J’avais l’impression que ce n’était pas vraiment moi.

About this site

This website updates the latest news about the Fukushima nuclear plant and also archives the past news from 2011. Because it's always updated and added live, articles, categories and the tags are not necessarily fitted in the latest format.
I am the writer of this website. About page remains in 2014. This is because my memory about 311 was clearer than now, 2023, and I think it can have a historical value. Now I'm living in Romania with 3 cats as an independent data scientist.
Actually, nothing has progressed in the plant since 2011. We still don't even know what is going on inside. They must keep cooling the crippled reactors by water, but additionally groundwater keeps flowing into the reactor buildings from the broken parts. This is why highly contaminated water is always produced more than it can circulate. Tepco is planning to officially discharge this water to the Pacific but Tritium is still remaining in it. They dilute this with seawater so that it is legally safe, but scientifically the same amount of radioactive tritium is contained. They say it is safe to discharge, but none of them have drunk it.

Categories

October 2012
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031