防災訓練 Neighborhood Disaster Training

It's called 防災訓練 

It's called Bosai Kunren.

The English translation is Emergency Training but in the tale I'm about to tell I think Disaster Training more apt.  It starts like this:

If still sleeping at the late morning hour of seven a.m. you wake to a gruff distorted voice. The voice blares through the neighborhood, like the whole neighborhood from houses way up the hill down to the ones nearer the main road. The voice comes from loudspeakers positioned up high on poles throughout the hood. I still believe them to be remnants of WWII. It's my own theory I've never actually asked anyone, but I've convinced myself they just found another use for the speakers they used to use to warn people that US warplanes were about to start dropping bombs. The voice is usually utterly unintelligible, or so it seems to me. Another theory is they find the biggest mumbler in the neighborhood, give him a pint of sake (rice wine) then turn him loose on the speaker to inform everyone for miles around of...

Well seems pretty much anything. It wasn't till after a few years here that I realized the apparent most common use of the neighborhood blaring speaker notice system is a lost old person. In the land of the largest number of centenarians per capita, in the culture in which the elderly stay in the family home and aren't trucked off to nursing homes at the same rate they are in the West, lost old people is a fairly common occurrence. I realized this once my Japanese got good enough to pick up words and phrases like height, age, colors and clothes. Then I put two and two together and "Ah-HA! It's a lost old person!" Basically if a senile senior goes out for bread at 6:00 in the morning and hasn't come home by 19:00 they inform everyone in the county via the distorted blaring speaker system. The speakers echo off of the hills, sound traveling quicker from one to the next so if your house is positioned equally between two of em then catching the message is nearly impossible. Or so it seems to me at least. My wife could likely understand what's being said but she appears to ignore the messages for the most part.

But back to Bosai kunren. It was today. As said if in the hood, and if by chance you didn't know it was today, then you knew after the speakers went off at seven a.m. Or at least you knew something was gonna happen and maybe guessed it was either an earthquake drill, Godzilla attack, or Mrs. Johnsonagazuki got lost when she went out to the porch to fetch the morning paper again.

Neighbors of each "kumi" or group of houses, assembled at eight a.m. The kumi we're in met with some other nearby kumis in the field behind the Sepia Court apartments. Once there there's the morning greetings and/or a few short speeches (opening ceremonies and speeches accompany every occasion and event in this land). Tents were set up and volunteer firemen, and perhaps a few regular full time ones as well, were there too to teach disaster skills. Junior high kids get assigned to the community center where they show how to distribute and cook the disaster food or to each kumi neighborhood group assembling area so firemen can use them to demonstrate how to put on splints and the like. Our oldest is a big seventh grader now. He lucked out and got to go to the community center. He didn't want lunch after it was all done. He said he was full of disaster food.

Shortly after eight a.m. everyone from our kumi--from our little group of a around twenty or so houses--went to the road over by the river. There we stood around in the hot sun, people sweating and saying things like "Atsui ne" (It's hot). Kids playing with ants in the middle of the road, volunteer firemen standing around hoses and nozzle in hand ready to go.

They called us all in close. Closer please. Closer. Everyone come around here.  Here was a manhole cover. Everyone knows the manhole cover because it's the same we open to connect the firehouse twice a year on neighborhood clean up day. But no matter. It's all part of the training so everyone gather around. The guy who likely lost at janken (rock paper scissors) that firemen was the one who showed everyone how to lift the manhole cover, then how to insert the up pipe contraption onto the pipe down in the hole. It was likely explained where to find that contraption, along with the hose and the special tool for turning on the water and such, but I missed all that and even so everyone knows that's in the hose case.

The hose cases are all painted red, stationed around the neighborhood on the side of the road. You can't miss them. Literally. I once ran to help an old guy who had heat stroke. I saw him fall while walking his dog down the stairs that led from the riverbank to the road. I went to help him up and tried to get him to go sit on the side of the road. He didn't take my advice. He broke away from me as I was helping him walk, telling me he was fine as he tried to make for home. His walking turned into a stumbling stagger, increasing in speed until running head first into one of those red hose cases on the side of the road. I tried to catch him I swear I did. You'd be amazed how fast an old guy with a little rat dog on a leash can stumble head first into a hose case. In any event he didn't get up again. I held his hat against the gash on his head and told a neighbor who came out to see what the BANG! was to call an ambulance. That's how we found out it was  heat stroke. Silly me I thought he'd downed a pint of sake and was on his way to inform us all there was a lost 103 year old in the neighborhood somewhere!

But enough about the hose cases. They're easy to find. That's all you need to know.

Okay so up pipe contraption thing this is how you insert it. Now you guys try. It's hotter'n shit. Nobody wants to try but a few of the oldest members do just the same. A few parents do it with their kids. That's reassuring. When the big quake hits don't you fret! Little six year old Taro already called dibs on manning the hose! In fairness I wanted to do it with our four year old girl child. Unfortunately her mother told her to stay inside since she was still a bit worn out from having a fever and barfing on her dad the day before. Oh well, next time!

After showing how to lift the manhole cover and insert the up pipe thingamajig they demonstrate then everyone, okay a handful rather, practice turning on the water and manning the nozzle. Then it's back to the meeting place behind Sepia Court apartments. Once back there we get cold tea to drink then people sit around talking as a fireman in the tent shows how to use various household objects to brace a junior high kid's pretend broken arm. It was about that time that I stealthily slipped away.  I can count on one hand the number of times I've stayed till the end. More like three fingers actually. Or two. It's sitting around in the hot sun talking. Call me a bad neighbor if you will but I've got a house full of kids and nephews (i.e. more kids) and other things to do. It's mostly retired folks who stay till the end anyhow I've noticed. It's good fun for them. I guess I'll wait to find out if I get to retire at 80 as planned. We'll see.

Later the "kumi cho" (group leader for the year) stopped by with disaster food for us. We thanked him. We put the disaster food in the cupboard, all the while hoping junior high kids end up eating it next year instead of us needing to eat it if a major quake or the like hits before then. If it does though and you happen to see TV footage of me and my Japanese neighbors all working together and helping each other--doing things often left for professional first responders to do in other countries-- now you know why.  In the land of the gods--the land of typhoons and floods and earthquakes and Godzilla attacks or worse--people are prepared. Everyone, from six year old Taro to 103 year old Mrs. Johnsonagazuki knows where the firehose is, how to connect it and turn it on and save the neighborhood.

Neighbors gathered ready to practice connecting the hose

Neighborhood mom watching her kid train to save our hood

Trusty local FD dude waiting for next volunteer

Meeting place with cold tea under one tent, disaster training under another and possibly Godzilla attack defense strategy being drawn up in yet another. Who knows!