“Are wa cotto karai ne… dame.”
I said to Ken when we had a dinner in a party last weekend. I was telling him that the particular food he wished to try was too hot for his four years old tongue.

“I know what you told him.”
Suddenly a girl who’s been eyeing on us (well, on Ken actually.. she is just the size of Ken and seems so interested on Ken the whole evening).
She nodded her head several times and gave a smirk, persuasively.
The party was of a embassy and expat society where most of the people don’t speak Japanese and their kids go to International school. So this girl really want to let me know that she understood what I said to Ken in Japanese.

“Oh really? That’s good. OK, tell me what I told him” I challenged the cute small girl just for fun.

” Hm.. well, I forget… but I really know what you told him” still nodding her head. She got a sharp eyes go directly to mine, very convincing.

” Oh, you are so smart” I honestly feel after heard her answer.

” Thank you, and I am a big girl.”

” How old are you?”

” I am five. You know what, I can spell too…”

” Wow, that is great. What word you can spell?”

” I know some words, but my favorite is C-A-T for cat”

” Oh, you’re surely really smart”

She grinned with delight.

Friendster, who host this blog, is introducing a new format of blog, which like it or not, we have to move there.

So the old one will no longer be updated, and the new blog address is

http://dmertani.blog.friendster.com/

(the only different from the old one is the removal of letter “s” after the word blog).

Just some days before he turned four but suddenly he started baby behaving.

He’s been an easy baby. He is an easy boy.
When baby, he laid on my side quietly staring and smiles to me, when I work from home.
I attended numbers of teleconference meeting from home while having him on my lap or even while breast-feeds.
Never he allows anybody in the meeting knows his presence. Very cooperative baby.
He doesn’t cry. Not when he is wet, sleepy or hungry.
He just quiet and a bit restless, so I alert.
He drinks, eats, sleeps easy. Dream baby for any Mommy.

Walk just before turned one.
Out from diapers just before turned two.
When I have to drop him in Day Care Center, tough hard, he will let me go.
With that sad look in the eyes saying, please don’t go. But he doesn’t cry.
That makes me cry.

4th birthday is coming at the corner of the week.
Another milestone to grow.
A big boy. No more baby.

But suddenly, he doesn’t want to grow.
Feed me Mommy, I can’t eat by myself.
Can’t go to toilet myself.
Can’t put on pyjama myself.
Can’t put away the toys myself.
Can’t even scratch my own itches.
Middle night sneaking to sleep at Mommy Daddy’s bed.
Kiss me Mommy here and here and here and here…

Ken, sweetheart.
Don’t worry.
Grow, my boy.
You can grow up, grow big, grow to be a  strong man.
And you will still always be my baby.

If in Zimbabwe, Pakistan and now Thailand it took lots of demonstration, turmoil and blood to make the leader step down, it’s not that hard for Japan.
Just about twelve months ago Shinzo Abe resigned from Prime Minister seat after only a year in the position, and now another one.
Last night, Yasuo Fukuda resigned from being Japan Prime Minister, same like his predecessor, just after a year on the seat.

I don’t know the politics. I don’t know the reason. I don’t care.
What worry me now is, how to explain this to Raisa, after what she asked me just 12 months ago.

It’s been 85 years from The Great Kanto Earthquake, but the pain and the lesson from it remain strong. The magnitude around 8 claimed over 140,000 lives.
September 1st since then, is commemorates as the National Disaster Prevention Day in Japan.

September 1st is also the first day of back to school after two month of summer holiday. So the first day at school usually ended quick around 11:00 just after the simulation of earthquake/fire evacuation at school.
In no other day (except sick) children is allowed to be pick by Parents or guardian from school, except today where it is an obligation as part of drill when the earthquake occurred: children must be picked by authorized guardian.

Japan is very serious about this. Being located on earth quake prone plates where the country jolts by about 100 quakes every single day though most of them are too small to be felt by human being, every body understand the importance to be ‘literate’ with the disaster.

Once I wrote about many colleagues in my office who has extra pair of walking shoes (aside from the dress shoes or the high heel they are in) in the locker or under their desk for the event of earth quake, where public transportation will be down and everyone need to walk home. No matter how far.

Every house hold has emergency bag, including in it the basic emergency kit like torch light, battery, radio, water, dry food, blanket, etc. My Japanese mother even included in her bag, two bottle of 100% vegetable juice (replace every 3 month when they are expired) as she said in the event of disaster, the supply of vegetable to the city will be disturbed and we need to be ready with the vitamin and fiber, we need to remain healthy to survive.
The colleague sit next to me has a clean plan. It is agreed in their family, when it hit in day time, he will walked to his son’s school, her wife will walk to their daughter school, both will stay in the school (most of school are designated as disaster evacuation spot). If after 24H situation permitted, the husband and son will walk to the daughter’s school. If after 48H husband didn’t show up (with the assumption somebody get injured), the wife will walk to the son’s school. Their parents is expected to walk and stay at the nearest community center and stay there until communication back on line or house is announced as safe by the authority. All to be executed in the event of emergency without further communication.

The premium of quake insurance has been lowered. The loan to upgrade your house or building to make it quake-resistant is easier to get. The current regulation to have the building built with 75% quake resistant material and design is now to be increase to 90%.
The road and pedestrians is designed to handle the mass flow of people walking home after earth quake hit. However, the government want people to stay in where they are when it is save, because after public transportation system collapse, flock of people will crowd the street, make the density of 6 people per meter square, immobile due to congestion, block the road for evacuation effort. That, plus the dangerous of falling objects on the street.

The expert said, in worst case when 7.3 quake jolts Tokyo, it will kill 11,000 people and destroy 850,000 building. That sound a lot but comparing to the one happened in 1923, this number is result of lots of work. Within 10 years, this number is expected to lower by half. More detail here.

Sometime I think that Japanese is a nation with extra prevention and too much anxious (people still so scared to fly to Bali after the bombing years ago). But in the preparation for quake, I raise my hat.
I told my self from,urgh….. 8 years ago to make emergency bag ready at our home. But it always push back to less priority. Bad bad me.
I got to do it. The bag, the plan.
When it happens, God knows what will be happened to me.
But for now, my kids should see, feel and learn to be prepared.