March 14th (Mon)

After watching the news and taking a look at the station in the morning, I figured, that it would be very hard to get to work, so I took the day off. I didn't really feel like walking long distances again, as my legs still hurt a bit.

At the same time more and more bad news from Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant came in, so we where quite worried. The situation there was totally out of control and when I noticed that my neighbors where leaving I thought it might be a good idea to also leave.

So we packed our things – mostly stuff for the kids. These vacuum sealed storage bags we bought at Costco previously proved very useful. Luckily I now have quite a big car and managed to get everything in.

At this point my plan was to go to Kyushu or Osaka and send my wife and kids to Germany.

Once I left my home, I noticed that the traffic was completely stuck. I waited 4 phases at the traffic light to route 16 and figured it might be best to take another route.

So I took the small country route via route 299 to Chichibu and from there to Yamanashi. Roads where OK, but gasoline was sold out everywhere. At the few places that still had gasoline there where huge lineups (also blocking the traffic).

I drove quite fuel saving and my tank was full, but still I was worried. In Yamanashi I refueled at a tiny fuel station that was still open. I only used about 10 liters, which is not bad for such a big van, fully loaded through the mountains (~140km).

From Yamanashi it was quite a relaxing drive on the highway. The only thing I noticed was, that everyone was going really slowly and fuel conserving, which is really unusual here (Normally it's a hard race for position).

When the fuel needle reached ¾ I pulled in at the next gas station, mostly because I wanted to make sure that there is fuel. Turned out that fuel was limited to 10L per car, so I was glad I refueled early as it was still a long way.

Somewhere after Osaka we took a coffee break and I skyped with my parents. They suggested that I should stay in Osaka, because there is a German consulate in Osaka and none in Kyushu. So I googled for a hotel for the next day.

The combination of Google maps and car navigation is quite good – even though the hotel is in the middle of the city, in some small side-street, I had no trouble finding it, even at night. We had to wait until the next morning (it was already past midnight), so I drove around to find a place where I could rest. That was a tough night, because of the kids who had slept well and where now up and wanted to play.