setsuden

Ha! I guess I did jinx myself, because yesterday, we had some hail and some flurries...woot!

Anyway, trending word these days is "setsuden" (set-sue-den) it is the fusion of two words.

Setsuyaku means to conserve. Denki is electricity.

Since the massive earthquake and tidal wave earlier this year, all of Japan is trying to conserve electricity so that we can help pass on some of it to the Tohoku (North Eastern Japan) areas.

In Osaka, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. we're asked to cut back at least 10% of our usage.

Since I try not to use the heater as much as possible, I've been wearing my down vest and I've been really making use of this...my yutanpo.

Filling it with boiling water, it stays hot for about 4 hours.

I know in my previous post, I said you can use the water to wash dishes or your face, but my yutanpo has had rust from the beginning, so I don't use the water, just dump it out.

Not sure if I'm conserving water or gas by doing this, but at least I'm doing my part to conserve electricity.

and then there was NO light

Last night, I was watching Oprah's Dream Academy Program when the lights flickered and went out.

It wasn't only our house, it was our residential area, plus neighboring areas too! We scrambled for candles and our hand-crank-solar cell-emergency radio.

No radio programs could give us any information on the power outage and the electric company was working on the problem.

I guess you really don't realize how much electricity rules your life until something like this happens.

And hour and a half later the power was restored, I'm thankful that we weren't in freezing conditions. I'm also thankful that they are re-broadcasting Oprah's program this weekend, so hopefully our local station will show it too and I'll be able to see it in its entirety.

Hope your week is going well.