The damage to the power plants in Fukushima are having wide and deep unexpected impacts. Services to many trains are suspended indefinitely. A few trains are running at 30% capacity. My train routes are completely down. Many services that rely on these trains have virtually shut down. This also affects gas stations. Most gas stations are sold out and closed until further notice.

The government is attempting to avoid a complete blackout of East Japan by rationing electricity. This means my home is without power for upto 6hrs everyday for the next two forseeable months. Good thing I bought these expensive UPSs to battery power my home! 😃

This is already starting to show in the convenience stores as they open for very limited hours and a have less to sell each day as the suppliers are unable to deliver foods. Only major grocery stores are allowed to stay open for restricted hours. This means that people have to plan and buy enough to last 3-4weeks.
Travel in and out of Japan is heavily limited. The cost of leaving is prohibitively high. All ports are closed to incoming tourist.

Internet access is heavily reliant upon power at both my home and the service providers. So, even if I can keep the lights on, the equipment to the internet provider’s network would fail.

My company has arranged to relocate me to a hotel nearby the office in downtown Tokyo. It’s one of those 3-star hotels with services and the like. Despite all meals services, and private room prepaid, I personally like my home more… The company will keep me here for the next two weeks. After that, I may telecommute. For the time being, this also means that I can’t call my family. Since I need to use my home PC to Skype call the States.

Many business with the ability are having most of their employees telecommute from home since transportation has all but halted.
At this point, we have to play it by ear day today. Don’t worry… I’ll be all right. I know how to take care of myself.