Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Map of Recent Quakes

I looked up our area on the earthqake map at High Sensitivity Seismograph Network Japan, and found something interesting

The black arrow points to my house! Click to see it larger
That is a lot of quakes. Don't worry, the red doesn't mean big, it means shallow. Big quakes have big circles.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Changed Eating Habits

I used to wake up, go to the fridge, take a couple of eggs, some cheese, and ham and make an omlette. I never really thought much about it. If there was only one egg left, I might choose a different breakfast, since the wife might need it for making lunch. If I felt a bit peckish during the day, I would cut a hunk of bread and slap some butter on it for a snack.

Now, I open the fridge, and I hesitate. Is it OK to use the eggs? We only have 10 left..... The cheese bag is half full.... If I use a whole slice of the ham, what will we have for meat for lunch? Hmm.... the ketchup bottle is half full, what happens when it runs out? Can I use one of the potatoes for making miso soup? Or should I save it for making curry at lunch.....

I know most of you saw the video I made about the week after the quake, with the empty supermarket shelves. It changed me. Now the supermarkets are about 90% back to normal around here. But it still haunts me. It only took 4 days without trucks coming in to empty ALL the supermarkets in our area.... four days...

How much food do you keep on hand? What if the trucks stopped coming to your supermarkets tomorrow? How many days would it take to empty your markets...

(buy an emergency crank powered flashlight and radio)

I Have Gas!

Yes, I chose that title because it was kind of funny.
We decided that we would take a chance, and go into the neighboring town of Hitachi-Ota to fill up the car with gasoline. The wife has become a twitterholic, and some of the people she follows said that the Shell station there was allowing you to fill up the tank- not just put 10L or 2000 yen, but full tank. So we gambled.

In my life so far, I have never left the house wondering if the car had enough gas to get me back home. Think about it. You might worry that you don't have enough gas to get from your house to the gas station, but not knowing if you can actually get any gas- it was unsettling.  I knew that we had enough to get there, and at least part of the way home. And of course we could walk if the worst happened, but it was unsettling all the same.

Well, we made it to the gas station and lo and behold, the line was only about 60 cars long! So we got in line, and 20 minutes later we had a full tank, and a 10L can of gas as well. So we headed for the family restaurant and celebrated- in no particular order- my birthday, the daughter's last day of school, the son's upcoming first day of school, temporary fuel security, buying groceries, and finally getting the wife out of the house. It was quite an event.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Two Weeks After The Big One

Well, it has been two weeks since the big quake. Our car has not moved since March 13, but we are well supplied thanks to the internet. About five days ago, the major package delivery companies resumed their routes, so we now have our main staples in stock. The bread machine is set for 6:00AM, and we have a case of canned tomatoes to go with our beans and rice. Maybe not luxury, but feels good.

Tomorrow, we are thinking of taking the car and going into Hitachi for a well deserved break/celebration of the end of Kylie's school year. Hopefully we can get some gasoline there (On Friday morning, there was a 2Km line for gas in Takahagi- and you needed to get a ticket first... Welcome to our Peak Oil simulation!)

The supermarkets are gradually getting better. Every day there seems to be more and more food in them, but still nowhere near the pre-quake levels.

The radiation levels in our area (about 80Km from the plants) have been dropping- keep in mind, they were never into the "dangerous" zone. All the same we have been keeping inside as much as possible of course. Say a prayer for the men who are working to fix the leaks up in Fukushima.

I don't know why, but it seems that every Saturday evening there are larger aftershocks than other days. We had two shindo 4 quakes this evening.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Some Of What The Earthquake Taught Me

This quake taught me a lot about myself, and about modern society.
I learned that:

I am a greenwasher.  I always cultivated the image of environmental sustainability, but I am a hypocrite. I can finally admit it to myself.
Running water is not to be taken for granted. I never thought about it, really. But during the four day blackout, I can't count the number of times I tried to turn on the water to wash my hands, brush my teeth....
I turn on and off a lot of lights during the day.  Same as the running water- I would find myself flipping the switch as I entered the toilet, or the hallway in when it was dark.... Since the blackout, that has changed a lot. I think before I touch the switch.
Wood heat is very important. You can almost always go to the forest and get more wood, even just picking branches from the forest floor can supply enough in many cases. If you can't buy fuel oil or gas, you get cold quick.
Nights are soooooooo much darker without electricity. Not just the obvious overhead lights and bedside lamps. All the dozens of little standby lights, the light pollution from the cities....
The fourth candlelit dinner in a row is actually more annoying than romantic.Especially when the candles are squat and blocky. They just cast shadows on the plate and make it hard to see what it is you are eating.
We tend to get so much more done without electronic distractions. Early to bed, early to rise. No e-mail to check, no weather report to watch, no blog posts to write. Every day by 9:30 I thought it was time for lunch, since I had finished all the usual chores.
Always keep batteries on hand. Rechargeable, with a charging device that doesn't depend on the grid
Live within bicycle distance of your job and shopping. Thousands of people didn't go to work, because they believed they lived too far for bicycle commuting. Always live within 10Km (15-20 if it is all flatland) of your job and shopping. Your bicycle never waits in gas lines, and always gets a killer parking spot- next to the front door. And your bike doesn't need to be some super high tech mountain bike. Two wheels, one medium low gear, a big basket in front and a nice cargo rack over the rear. I used to have an 18 speed 28 inch cross bike, until I popped half the spokes (lightweight wheels, heavyweight rider, gravel road). Now I have a 6 speed, 26 inch mountain bike. My commuting times have not changed.
An AM radio is an important survival tool. We were going buggy wondering what was happening until I discovered that you can wrap cardboard around AAA batteries to make them fit a C or D cell appliance.
Try to keep your gas tank full, and have a spare gas can. You just never know when it will happen. We always filled the tanks on Saturday afternoon, when we made our weekly shopping trips. Well the quake was on Friday afternoon....
Dried or canned beans and rice are so much more important than a freezer full of meat. Your meat will stay frozen for one, two days in the winter. Not in the summer. You can keep rice on your kitchen counter for a year.

More on this later.

In other news, last night (Saturday) we had 6.1M quake, which gave us a "shindo" of 5+ here.
The epicenter (36.7N 140.7E) was less than 6Km from our house! I am starting to think this area might be dangerous. Since then, we can hear deep booming noises, like someone is striking an enormous kettledrum in the basement (well, we don't have a basement, but that is what it sounds like). At least once an hour, maybe twice, with the accompanying aftershock rattling glasses.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Japan Quake Day Eight- Signs of Recovery


What a difference that a day can make! Today on my way to open my school for the first time in a week, I saw some serious signs of recovery. Cars waiting to get gasoline- sure the line was over 1Km long, but gasoline is beginning to come in. The supermarkets- barren, but open again. Construction equipment cleaning up the rubble of collapsed walls and roofs. My students told me that water was back to most of their homes. It gave me a good feeling. We will get through this!

Like the Beatles said:

"I've got to admit it's getting better
A little better all the time"

Friday, March 18, 2011

Japan Quake Day Seven

March 17, Thursday

Now it has been one week since the big quake. And I am getting a bit worried. Not so much about the continuing small aftershocks, but that today I went to town by bike to see how the recovery is going. Keep in mind we are on the far southern edge of the disaster area. We got off with very little damage, and the tsunami was much smaller than up north, due to our shallow shelf which bled a lot of the energy off before it struck home. So don't imagine damage like you see on CNN. Only (?!) three people died in our town.


The city and national governments are doing a good job in my opinion. The lines for water are short, if you have a need, you can just ask one of the city workers at the center and they will take care of you. Diapers and baby formula are available within minutes.
Power has been restored, as far as I know, to the whole city, including the parts flooded by the tsunami.
City crews are working on the water mains, and have restored water to quite a few parts of the city.

Filling water tanks by roof damaged buildings
It is the private sector that is worrying me. One week after the quake, I peered into the windows of nine or ten supermarkets, home centers, and drugstores.
Two drugstores appear to have not been touched since the quake hit. Bottles and glass on the floor, shelves of food and medicine that could have been used by the victims here in Takahagi, and even more, up north.
One week after the quake- an untouched drugstore full of bady needed supplies...
Two home centers were closed, even though they are major suppliers of kerosene for space heaters here in Japan. The signs stated they are unable to open due to damage inside the store. But the kerosene station is far outside the building...

loosely translated: "Notice- due to earthquake damages, we are unable to offer any items, inluding kerosene for sale at this time"
Two supermarkets were empty as far as I could see, two more were open only in the mornings, and the only supermarket open this afternoon was the large Aeon chain store, which was rationing severely. I approved of their strategy- only strict rationing like that can prevent the hoarding that follows a disaster like this. I was able to buy a can of generic cola, a can of whole tomatoes, and amazingly, a large can of baby formula for a very resonable price- actually much lower than the usual price.


"Please choose only one item per rack"
 However, the independent fruit/vegetable store on the corner across from the big supermarket in Akiyama was doing booming business. Cabbages, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, and fruit were available. The wonderful woman running the store is a miracle worker- combing the area for produce, and not gouging prices too badly (of course, being independent, the store was always more expensive than big chains). Thank God for local merchants!

All the gasoline stations in the city were closed, most with signs saying they were closed indefinitely. The TV news reports that the tanker trucks have started moving again, but it will take a long time to catch up to the demand. Personally, I hope they send trucks of kerosene to the worst affected areas. We can drive later- they are dying up there in the cold.

"Due to quake damage, closed indefintely"

On the way home, I stopped to visit some friends, pick up some supplies they had bought for us, and just share stories with. We had some seaweed and instant ramen noodles for dinner, and watched the news.

Private sector- get on the ball. Even without new shipments in, your supplies are needed...

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Japan Quake Day Six

March 16, Wednesday

It seemed like a normal day today, when we didn't have the TV news on. We relaxed around the house, played with the kids, and had inventive cooking from the wife. As you know, the supermarkets are not open, so we have to make some inventive menus. All of them include rice. That is one great advantage that Japan has over much of the USA. Every house has rice, usually 10-20Kg at any given time. While white rice may not be the most nutritious food, it has a heck of a lot of energy, you can keep it indefinitely, and it is easy to cook. Ten kilos of rice will last a young family of five for quite a long time.
Like I said, except when the news was on, it was just a normal day.
Thank you God for small blessings.

Japan Quake Day Five

March 15

At 2:00 AM the wife poked me awake and pointed to the hall. Electric lights were on. Hallelujia! I eased out of bed, came downstairs and turned on the TV, called my Father, and connected the computer. After talking with Dad for a while, I watched some news. Still disturbing. Scary scary stuff.
After posting on Facebook that I was still breathing, and answering some e-mails I went back to bed, relieved that the blackout was over.

I woke up again at 6:00 to the kids, who were delighted that the power was on. We cooked on the electric stove, watched news, and then baked bread in the bread machine. We also finally got in touch with some other friends whose contact information was stored in our computers or telephone. A day of relief.

After lunch, I headed to my school by bicycle. I saw maybe five cars. Groups of people were filling water jugs from the river, and from the rice paddy irrigation ditches. I hope to God that was just to flush their toilets with. In town, the line at the supermarket was very short, so I lined up. We were able to buy one item from each of 8 or so areas marked out in front of the store. So I got some kiwi fruit, spinach, one can of tuna, a large can of baby formula, and 5 Kg of rice. In high spirits from my shopping success, I headed out to see the rest of the city.

All over the city limestone garden walls had collapsed, while their neigboring concrete block walls stood firm. Blue tarps covered hundreds of roofs where the roof tiles had slid off. Near the beach, where the tsunami had reached there was still no power. Long lines of cars were waiting to go south, nobody was headed north. Gas stations were comandeered for official use- ambulances, police, military relief, and supply truck use. That I could agree with wholeheartedly. Here and there were cars by the side of the road with "Out of Gas" signs propped up in the windows. Along main street, only one shop- the butcher's- was open.

At the school, I was able to do some vacuuming, and finished the cleanup. With a few minutes on hand, I headed to the local convenience store, more out of curiosity than necessity. After a 30 minute wait, it was my turn to go in. I filled a basket with mostly chocolate and snacks. That was about all that was left. Thank God that we have some food at home still. After deciding that no students were going to come, I posted a note on the door and headed for City hall for the daily diaper ration. The lines for water were shorter, since the military had three water tankers dispensing water. I got home, had a dinner that couldn't be beat, and fell asleep on the sofa for a few hours before heading up to bed.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Japan Quake Day Four

March 14, Monday

Still aftershocks all night long, but can hardly notice them anymore. Used the last of the bread to make two slices of french toast for the kids. They are troopers and didn't complain (much) that they only got 2/3 slice each. The house is pretty much cleaned up- cleaner than usual in fact, since we have no electronic diversions. We spent most of the morning listening to the radio on and off. Worried about the Fukushima nuclear plant, about 80 Km North of us.

I had a brilliant idea and went next door to our old neighbor and asked if he had any newspapers. He did! There were special editions from Saturday and Sunday. Both just one page, but finally- news! We sat down and devoured the paper, finally able to see pictures to go with the images in our heads. It was upsetting to say the least.

A friend stopped by on her way to her house in the city- she brought news of gas stations opening (3 Gallon limit- three hour lines) and power coming back on in the cities south of us. Other friends of the neighbors came up to fill water tanks and bathe in his bath house. We exchanged news. Some had TVs in their car navigation systems, and were able to watch TV news before coming. Of course, there was no reception here in the mountians.

I decided that I would go to town on my bicycle to save gas, and try and contact some friends we hadn't been able to reach, since cell service has been spotty for the last two days. While I was there, I also planned to get some supplies from my school- all the batteries from any electronic things, a solar battery charger, and diapers.

I saw a gardening friend of mine at the bottom of the mountain and we talked a bit. Then an old student's mother stopped and inquired about us. I assured her we were fine. All the roof tiles had slid from her house, but no injuries. She gave me a bag of broccoli and a small Chinese cabbage. In town, I made phone calls to the wife's college friends. Town was eerily deserted. Traffic was easily 1/3 of usual.

My friend from the Ramen shop next door invited me in for coffee, and we talked about the disaster and the future of Japan. They gave me some fish and two pork roasts that they use for their Ramen. Since there was no electricity, they had to get rid of thawing food in their freezer. In return, I gave them a six pack of my homebrewed beer, and the chinese cabbage. Bartering food.

After cleaning up a little in the school, I headed for City Hall, where they were giving out diapers for families with children. Then I was able to watch some news broadcasts in the relief center. That is when it really struck me. I finally saw the tsunami. Video is a powerful tool. Scary too. As I left the area, I heard a familiar "chirp, chirp, chirp" sound. Sure enough, it was the crosswalk signal! I looked up and the traffic light was working! The florescent lights in the bank were on! Electricity had reached the city, or at least part of it!

When I arrived home, it was still without power, but I felt very hopeful that there would be electric soon. My hopes sank as evening fell, and then night. Candlelit evenings are becoming annoying, rather than romantic. After the kids went to bed, we listened to the radio news and went to bed.

Japan Quake Day Three

Sunday, March 13

Woke up with the sun- no surprise there, after going to bed just after it set, 10 hours of sleep (well, 8 if you subtract two hours waking up during aftershocks). I flipped the light switch entering the bathroom- force of habit. Nothing happened. I made some pancakes for the kids- have to use up some milk and eggs before they go bad. And comfort food is good for shock. After breakfast, the wife washed the dishes in the neighbor's river while the kids and I walked the dog and tied up the goats. We spent the morning trying to be normal- reading books, folding laundry, cleaning. Had "chijimi" a kind of Korean vegetable pancake type thing for lunch, cooked on the campstove of course.

After lunch we headed for town for some news, and to see if the lines at the supermarkets had calmed down. There was still no power or water. The big supermarket was still rationing out food to a huge line, but one of the smaller markets had a short line. They were selling one day's worth of food- grab-bag style. 500 yen/bag. We thought, why not? And got in line. After purchasing, we found three packets of ramen, a piece of fruit, a chocolate bar, and a salty snack. Not exactly nutritious, but it could be worse. Definitely not worth $5 though.

After that, we went back to City Hall to check out the situation and make a phone call or two. It wasn't until after that we found out you can use any public phone in the disaster area for free. No need to wait in line at just that phone. There were huge lines of people waiting for water at the disaster center in City Hall, and a Japanese Army jeep with two soldiers. One thing noticable was that there were not as many cars on the street as the previous day. And I heard a lot of people starting to wonder about fuel. Some people were beginning to line up outside the gas stations that were still closed.

On the way home from town, we met our daughter's classmate's family! They had driven down from the mountain to deliver food and water to us on their way to town! At their house, they had running water, propane, and most of the wild boar still frozen in their deep freeze. So a wonderful reunion was held by the side of the road. They offered for us to come and take refuge at their place, but we had high hopes the power would be on by evening, and thanked them but refused.

When walking the dog that evening, we noticed a lot fewer cars on the road. Other people were feeling the fuel pinch. A quiet candlelit dinner of pork soup and rice balls, a few hands of "Go Fish" with the boy, and an early bedtime.

Japan Quake Day Two

Saturday, March 12
Still no power. We had hopes that it might come on during the night, since we hadn't seen too much damage to power lines. Our "All Electric" house was maybe a bad idea in that respect. I never realized how much I rely on the electricity- our well, electric stove, of course fridge, but even our telephone (fiber optic) needs the juice.
So, I made eggs and toast for breakfast over the campstove. We debated bugging out for Mayuho's mother's house. Then we remembered we had less than 1/4 tank of gas in the car, and only the 10L can for the chainsaw in reserve. Also, the roads were sure to be crowded since the expressway was closed. So we made the decision to stay. Our neighbor has gravity fed springwater at his house, so we filled any empty containers with water for use at our house. Thank God we have a composting toilet! At about 10:00 (which felt like afternoon already with no electronic distractions) we headed for town to clean up the school and check on the situation, and hopefully buy some supplies. We checked out the big supermarkets. Only one was "open" in the sense that they were rationing items out from the front door. The line snaked through the parking lot. Easily 300 people waiting. We decided to keep going. Arriving at my school, we took some photos.


(Click to view larger images)


Like I said, it was a miracle nothing was broken! After cleaning a bit, hampered by three hyperactive children, the owner of the noodle shop next door dropped in to say that we could make free calls to contact friends and relatives from the telephones at city hall. While there, we saw the first water lineup. A few hundred people lined up to get a bag of water. Our neighbor was there also. He told us that we could use his house (it is sort of a summer house for he and his friends) since he had propane gas and spring water. We thanked him profusely. Mayuho was able to contact her brother, who sent e-mail to my parents and let them know we were all OK. Not being able to do anything else, we decided to head back home.

At home, it was lunchtime, so we borrowed the neighbor's gas and cooked Japanese style noodles for lunch. After washing up, we headed home, and cleaned/straightened up the living room and relaxed. As much as you can relax when there are aftershocks every 5 minutes or so. On our mountain, you can hear the quake before you feel it. A "rumble rumble rumble BOOM" Shake... And the cats are a good indicator as well. If Caramel (the Tom) climbs the drapes and disappears to the second floor, it will be a pretty good sized one.

One thing I did manage to do was to get our little radio working. We needed 6 "C" cell batteries. We had zero.... So I took some rechargable "AA" batteries from various children's toys, and wrapped them with cardboard to make them bigger. After cramming them in the radio, it worked! Necessity is the Mother of Invention. Now we could listen to the news without going to the car. Of course, listening to the news was scary enough....

After a dinner of macaroni salad by candlelight, we all went to bed early.

Japan Quake Day One

Just a normal Friday afternoon. I was in my school getting ready for the first student at 3:00 when a deep bass rumble started. I could feel it as much as I could hear it. Usually Takahagi has pretty small earthquakes. Not too much to worry about. But for some reason, this one felt different. I headed for my backdoor. A few seconds later the shaking started. It threw me against the door as a roaring sound began. I sprinted down the steps to the street, just wanting to get into the open. The traffic signal in front of my school was swinging like a pendulum as I raced across the street to the bank parking lot. Then the shaking stopped. All the people around asked each other if they were OK. Then the next phase happened. More, and much larger shaking began and continued for what felt like minutes. The facade on the building next to me crumbled to the street. A large limestone block garden wall crashed onto the sidewalk. Roofing tiles cascaded off of the houses all around. The concrete sheathing on an antique warehouse shattered, releasing a huge cloud of dust. Windows up and down the street cracked, or some even exploded in showers of glass. The traffic lights went out. And then it was quiet. Sirens. People crying. Voices raised in wonder that they were still safe. Then leaders arose from the crowd, marshalling people away from broken glass, and out of buildings. Thousands of cell phones came out of pockets as people tried to contact loved ones. But the miracle was, look as I might, there were no injured people in sight! Thank you God!

As I went back into my school to assess the damage, I got off so lucky. Shelves had toppled, plants were strewn on the floor, a window had opened itself- but no breakage! Not as single coffee cup or plate glass window. A strong afershock convinced me that being in the building was not a good option, so I locked the doors, got in my K-truck and headed for home. The route home was littered by fallen bricks and roof tiles. A power line was draped over the road with just enough clearance for my truck. But a hundred meters or so further on, a meter high fault ran across the road. I turned back and chose a different route. This time I made it to the road coming off of our mountain, and saw my wife's car approaching the intersection. I flashed my lights to signal her, and we had an emotional reunion by the side of  the road. We calmed down a bit, and headed back up the mountain toward our house. Boulders, some up to a meter across had fallen here and there across the road. Luckily, most of them had enough momentum to carry them across the road and rest against the guardrail, leaving the road passable. We reached our house and stopped in a field. I ran up to the house to check on some damage, and to remove the woodfire from the house. I stepped inside and flipped the light switch. Of course, nothing happened. I made my way to the living room. Again, all the items from shelves had fallen to the floor. The bricks from behind the woodstove had fallen, and the woodstove, still burning merrily had rotated in place about 30 degrees! I picked out the burning wood with the fire tongs and put them into the metal ash bucket, sealed it, and took it outside. All the while aftershocks continued at a rate of about one every 3-4 minutes. After that, we continued to my daughter's school to see if she was OK. Cell phones were still unusable, but we could listen to the radio broadcast of the disaster and finally got an idea of the scale of  it. We made it to the school- all the children and staff were fine. Then we headed back home carefully.

At home, since it was still light out, I was able to dig the camping goods out of the shed, along with a large box of candles leftover from my wife's business. So we had light. A dinner of ham and cheese sandwiches was eaten by candlelight and aftershocks which continued. The kids, still in shock, decided to sleep on the living room floor in sleeping bags, and I on the sofa. The baby and wife went to the bedroom. It was hard to sleep with quakes continuing all night long, but we finally got some shuteye.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Scrapwood Desk

My no frills desk built of scraps
Well, in my copious free time between classes at my school, I decided to make a desk out of some scrap plywood and old 2x4s and 1x4s leftover from other building projects. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Of course, it is a rough desk. Any high school shop teacher would either scream in terror or fall to the floor laughing. Good thing I don't know any shop teachers around here.
I had no plans, just kind of built it as I went along.

Step 1: I measured the top, subtracted 10 cm from the length and width, and built the base of 1x4s. The back was the full length, but the front was actually two boxes, with a space for the drawer in the middle. If you don't want a drawer, just a simple rectangle is easier of course.
Step 2: I measured the height of my old desk, and subtracted the thickness of the plywood. I forgot the numbers. But they don't matter. Make it a convenient height for you, not me.
Step 3: Then I found two scrap 2x4s that were the height from step two above, plus 20cm. I marked them at 10cm from each end, and drew a diagonal line across the 2x4. After cutting, I had two tapered legs. I cut the bottoms off to shorten them to the desired length.
Step 4: I put the legs in the corners of the box and secured them with screws. I considered using dowels and other joinery, but I was in a hurry and it is not a showpiece- just a working desk.
Step 5: For the drawer, I made a box of 1x3s I ripped with my circular saw. The outside face was a full 1x4. I routed a 2cm wide, 5mm deep groove along the left and right sides, and put rails on the inside of the base for it to slide on. I cut the slot for the bottom out with my circular saw set for a 6mm deep cut. The bottom is a thin plywood sheet cut 1cm larger than the interior dimensions. Screws and glues hold it together.
Step 6: I attached the top to the base with some short screws from the bottom. And glue. Lots and lots and lots of glue.
Step 7: I used a router to shape the plywood. Yes, I used a router on plywood. Stop laughing, it worked OK.
Step 8: A few passes with the random orbit sander and it doesn't give me splinters anymore.

It is a remarkably sturdy, and surprisingly good looking desk.

I can't believe this is the first drawer I have ever made...
Umm..... tapered 2x4 legs and plywood top....

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Wild Boar Stamina Yaki

My friend Yasu went hunting the other day and got a 40Kg wild boar! Woo Hoo!
So on the advice of my good friend Ken, I cooked "Stamina Yaki" for lunch today.
Pretty good.
Just need 100ml each of:
Katsuo Dashi
Mirin
Soy Sauce.

Boil it down to 100 ml, and then marinate the meat in the sauce.
After a couple of hours, stir fry and you are ready! Serve over rice, with some salad.