All students to remain in Japan

Junior Olivia Vareha was on the ninth floor of a building in Kyoto Station taking a kimono class… Junior Olivia Vareha was on the ninth floor of a building in Kyoto Station taking a kimono class last Friday morning when the earthquake struck Japan.

She felt the entire floor swaying back and forth and described the movement like being on a boat at sea.

“At first I thought I was getting sick,” Vareha said through Skype. “There are times I don’t feel well and I have to sit down, but then I realized it was an actual earthquake.”

But it has been business as usual in Kyoto since the earthquake and tsunami struck more than 100 miles away, off Japan’s northeastern coast.

“Everyone is going to work, students are commuting to school and people are still going out on the town,” Vareha said. “It feels like nothing has really changed here.”

Vareha and the other six Pitt students currently studying abroad in Japan have been mostly unaffected by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that struck the country more than 100 miles away from their location.

Jeff Whitehead, director of the Study Abroad Office, said that six of the students are prepared to depart Japan as scheduled in late March or early April, which is the beginning of the traditional spring semester in Japan. One will remain for the conclusion of a year-long study abroad program.

The closest Pitt study abroad location to the area affected by the earthquake and tsunami is Tokyo.

Whitehead said that the program in Tokyo pushed back the first week of the spring semester by one week, missing the earthquake. The other programs plan to continue normally because they are not in the region severely affected by the earthquake and resulting tsunami.

Vareha lives in Kyoto and is studying at Ritsumeikan University. She intends to stay in Japan as long as the area is still considered to be safe.

Vareha said her mother, on the other hand, wants her to leave, but her father has been calm and trusts the Pitt student’s judgment.

Even though Vareha lives away from the affected areas, she still experienced the immediate impact.

Vareha’s boyfriend, Pitt alumnus Harold Baguinon, lives in Shikama, Japan. Located in the northeast, Shikama was a vulnerable location when the earthquake struck.

He was teaching English to Japanese students through the UK Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme.

“For me, it really hit home because my boyfriend was up north and almost near the heart of the entire disaster,” Vareha said. “I think of Hurricane Katrina, and because I was so far away, it never really hit me.”

Vareha had difficulty calling him, but saw at the train station that he wouldn’t be able to take any trains out of Shikama. Eventually, she was able to get in touch with him and find out if he was safe.

“But then I couldn’t reach him for two days, so it was extremely nerve-wracking,” Veraha said.

After the phone companies were able to repair signals, Baguinon organized to travel to Kyoto, where he arrived two days ago.

Senior Josie Norton, who is studying at Kobe University, was not in Japan when the earthquake hit. She was flying back to Japan from Australia, where she has family members.

The plane stopped over in Guam because of the earthquake, about halfway between Japan and Australia. After the plane arrived in Japan, she had to spend several hours at a train station in Narita, Japan, before the trains were running again.

Norton plans to remain in Japan for her year-long study abroad program because Kobe is considered safe and the people are calm.

“If people started to panic, people started coming down south and bigger problems occurred, I would probably leave,” Norton said.

Even though the students are studying in the southern region of Japan, their daily life has been affected.

Both Vareha and Norton have experienced the planned blackouts, which are meant to conserve power as a result of the crippled nuclear reactors.

“Some businesses in Kyoto aren’t forced to shut off their power, but they do it anyway,” Vareha said.

Vareha said that people have been buying all of the bottled water in Kyoto, and she said a friend in Tokyo told her that the shelves are almost bare. Norton said that food like bread is quickly disappearing off the shelves.

Vareha said that students preparing to come to Japan should probably discuss with family whether or not to go because of the problems in Japan.

Norton said that students should not let the possibility of natural disasters affect their decision to study abroad.

“Students should still come to Japan to study abroad,” Norton said.