Photo/Illutration Kachidokibashi bridge in Tokyo on July 21, 2021 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Of the many bridges spanning the Sumidagawa river in Tokyo, 12 are illuminated every night in its specified color--white for the Kachidokibashi bridge, yellow for the Kuramaebashi bridge and pale blue for the Eitaibashi bridge.

But the Tokyo metropolitan government, which manages and maintains them, made a snap decision on March 22 to forgo the lighting and leave them all engulfed in darkness.

This was in compliance with the government's blackout alert, issued for the first time and in a great hurry.

On March 21, Tokyo Electric Power Co. abruptly called for power conservation. The following day, the economy minister warned of "extensive outages."

When I looked at TEPCO's official website, I was alarmed to see that power consumption had at one time exceeded supply to register a usage rate of 107 percent.

Many people must have recalled the chaotic days in the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011.

In cities where rolling blackouts were implemented, unlit traffic lights at intersections caused collisions, while many businesses and households voluntarily removed light bulbs to save electricity. Never before had Japan's power situation become so unreliable.

Until quite recently, it felt as if power shortages were a phenomenon limited only to certain afternoon hours on brutally hot summer days when everybody cranked up their air conditioners.

I certainly did not expect to worry, from morning to night, about a potential blackout in late March just after the arrival of sakura cherry blossoms.

Having gone through two huge tribulations--the mega-earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic--we have learned the toughness and tenacity of civil society.

I believe we were spared massive blackouts this time because many citizens, already let down by the government's shoddy power management, just went ahead and switched off or lowered the lights and heaters in their homes and places of work.

Last night, I gazed at the bridges on the Sumidagawa river from afar. In the valleys formed by the city's soaring high-rises, the bridges and the river were eerily dark. I was acutely reminded that our society is much more feeble and fragile than imagined.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 23

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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