SHORTAGES:NEAR THE centre of Japan's northeastern town of Kitakami lies the long bulk of a Shinkansen station, a flat-roofed temple to the sleek bullet trains that have become a central symbol of the nation's success and modernity.
Since the earthquake, however, this train temple has been silent. A handwritten sign on the station doors informs would-be travellers that services have been suspended indefinitely.
Train cancellations are just one small part of a vast web of disruption caused by the quake over a large swathe of northern Japan, where residents were spared the destruction but where life has still been deeply affected. These effects are in many cases not easily apparent. Outside a narrow coastal zone, few buildings have suffered serious structural damage.
Cracked and subsided roads are being rapidly marked off with cones and signs. Stranded travellers have quietly sought temporary accommodation. The failure, though, of the electrical grid in large parts of prefectures such as northeastern Iwate has meant nights of dark chill for millions and has created widespread water shortages. Within a day of the tremor, most of the shelves were completely empty in the 7-Eleven store in the hamlet of Arai in eastern Ibaraki prefecture.
In areas where the lights are still on, the most obvious sign of difficulty is the huge queues of cars outside any petrol station still able and willing to sell fuel to the general public.
The government has closed much of the highway network in order to check for damage but the roads are open to traffic involved in disaster work.
Private companies are also co- operating in putting relief work first. Hitoshi Sugawara, manager of a Kitakami branch of the Toyota Rent a Car chain, says the company decided to stop offering his vehicles to “ordinary people”, instead sending them to the airport for more worthy customers such as arriving doctors and rescue workers.