TOKYO – The giant TVs are silent, the neon lights dark and the bars of Tokyo half-empty. Two weeks after Japan’s deadly earthquake, the city that once never slept is learning to live with a new era of frugality. Many public escalators are idle, the trains less frequent and the usually overflowing shelves of the round-the-clock convenience stores sparsely stocked. In the daytime, under the crisp winter skies, the city almost seems to have recovered from the shock of the massive March 11 earthquake which sent a huge tsunami crashing into northeast Japan and triggered a nuclear crisis.
But nightfall reveals the reality — a fortnight after the twin disaster struck, the capital is still a shadow of its former self. Nowhere is the contrast more evident than in the usually vibrant teen fashion district of Shibuya. The huge television screens and illuminated billboards that usually light up one of the world’s busiest pedestrian intersections are lifeless — victims of an energy crunch that is expected to drag on for weeks if not months.
