Oswego Residents Remain in Japan, Future Plans Uncertain

Two Oswego residents and piano instructors at the remain in Japan as fears grow throughout the country of radiation exposure from damaged nuclear reactors.

Dr. Shiho Saito and Joshua Vogel arrived in Tokyo hours before the earthquake struck the country Friday. They were to embark on a two-and-a-half week concert tour of venues around the country.  Concert plans continue to remain uncertain, but the two have managed to play for small groups of people.

The following is an e-mail Saito sent to Patch Wednesday night updating the status of the trip.

"We are safe here, but we still get a small/middle-size earthquake every few hours. 

Power plant and radiation are our concern, as well. We are far from the main power plant area; however, the TV news is warning us to stay inside for the day due to expected wind and rain today. We finally got TV news in English. 

Due to an unexpected rather big earthquake yesterday, many of public transportation stopped for a few hours and we had to postpone our performance yesterday.

We gathered neighbor kids and played an hour piano concert, did mini-piano classes for younger kids, and did English conversation sessions for adult yesterday for free.

Everyone appreciated very much saying that it was nice to forget about what is happening outside and focus on "life and music" for a few hours. We had lots of laughs and great time.

Our performance schedule includes the Ibaragi area...they are located near a power plant affected area. We are considering not going due to high radiation rate.... We will keep you posted.  

We hope to ease concerns and tension of people at this difficult time. However, we are also considering option of leaving Japan earlier than planed. It seems some of government are advising people to leave Japan."