Tsunamis, Typhoons and Earthquakes

I remember one night in 2002, my mother knocked on my door and woke me up: “Did you feel that earthquake?” I rolled over and peered over to my door and groaned, “It was just a truck going by, go back to bed!” That was my first earthquake, a magnitude 4.8, and I dismissed it as a articulated lorry.

Since coming to Japan, my experience of the Earth’s fight against humanity has increased thousandfold. We feel at least one earthquake every three months, at least one typhoon in the summer, and, much more rarely, tsunamis. In summer last year, after a string of earthquakes, I became worried about the anticipated 20XX Tokai earthquake. Luckily, nothing has really come of it yet as I’ve still not stocked any survival gear, not even a torch. I should get my act together.

Yesterday morning I woke up to a Facebook message asking if we were okay. There had been a magnitude 6.9 quake in Okinawa, Japan’s southern island province. Keiko’s colleague is in Okinawa at the moment, so I rolled over and told her to check on him. It was the biggest quake in Okinawa since 1909, and only 2 people were injured. In the capital, Naha, it was only M4, which is enough to rattle the pans and cupboards, but being an earthquake-prone country, the houses and building throughout Japan can handle much worse.

Across the other side of the world, Chile was struck by a M8.8, a mindblowingly strong quake, the 5th strongest on record. Luckily, my friend in Chile is fine, but just watching the news, as I’m sure you all have seen by now, I was struck by the violent pattern of the shaking, as caught on the CCTV cameras across the capital. Commonly earthquakes shake from side to side, but the dangerous ones jolt vertically. Again, a severely earthquake prone country, Chile has the infrastructure and building codes to withstand the kind of forces that would level British homes.

As I write, tsunami warnings have been issued across the Pacific coast of Japan and people are being evacuated. Most areas are going to be fine, but trains are stopping along coastal routes. The hardest thing to believe is that this all comes from an earthquake in Chile – 17,200 km, or 10,700 miles away. I have been wrestling with in my mind since I watched CNN’s coverage of the Hawai’i evacuations last night. Nothing much came of them, but in 1960, a M9.5 in Chile killed 138 people in Japan. The governments of the Pacific Rim, the so-called Ring of Fire, are right to react as they have.

My heart goes out to the people of Chile. If you are worried about anyone you know, or want to help, please look at Google’s Support Disaster Relief in Chile page. If you are a British citizen living or travelling abroad, please register with LOCATE, as provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In the event of a natural disaster, it will help embassies with locating and contacting you and your relatives: LOCATE.

The Middle of Obon: Earthquakes, Sea and Sand

My first weekend of my summer break saw me out and about in Odaiba followed by a house-shaking earthquake (Sunday). This was followed by a rude awakening on Tuesday: another big quake hit Shizuoka and I woke up with my rocking futon at a bleary-eyed 5:07 am. Unable to sleep, I turned on the TV and discovered that Tuesday was a bad day to live in Shizuoka: Factor 6 quake, typhoon rain and wind, landslides, and worries about the on-coming quake of all earthquakes.

The news discussed whether the earthquake that day was the Tokai Earthquake. Japan, just like the rest of the world, occasionally experiences the kind of earthquake that would even scare my hamster (who was nonplussed with the previous ones). Just like the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, the 20XX Great Tokai Earthquake threatens to level Shizuoka: thousands will die, hundreds of thousands will suffer severe property damage/loss, and life for those trapped in the disaster zone will be a struggle to survive. The Tokai segment last ruptured in 1854 and before that tended to fracture every 110 years: we’re now at 155 years. While East Kanagawa, Tokyo and Chiba will only suffer a Factor 5 or 6 quake, that is still enough to break a few walls. Needless to say, I’m now preparing to stock up on water, torches, matches and a couple of helmets ahead of any future apocalypse.

By the end of Tuesday, however, I had forgotten all about the danger as Chikara and a recently-returned-to-Japan Nori came over for drinks. I was pretty drunk by the end of it, which is always a good sign. The nice thing about living away from everyone else is that you really appreciate it when your friends come to visit.

On Thursday I travelled three hours into Chiba to Katsuura, a rather quaint beach which, despite being in the most crowded season, was relatively quiet in comparison to Kanagawa’s beaches. As usual, my first concern was whether the water would be Odaiba black, or Okinawa blue: turned out to be a healthy ocean green. I donned my swim shorts and shirt and waded in, but with a good 10-15 years without swimming, I found myself unable to stay afloat. I rented a bodyboard and used it as a float, saving myself from drowning, but still putting in enough effort to realise just how much work swimming is.

The nicest thing about swimming in Japan is that it is an immediate and effective way to escape the summer humidity. It was nice to just float around, even if the oppressive sun meant frequent reapplications of sun cream. Yet in a week or two, it’ll no longer be safe to enter the water as hordes of jellyfish descend on the coast. It was nice to get out and catch some rays.

I got back to read that there was yet another Factor 6 quake out to sea in the morning. So, now I’m worried yet again. Three big quakes on the Tokai region in one week, scary stuff.

Yesterday (Friday), I went to Yokohama’s 150th anniversary celebrations, but more on that later, I have a GLAY concert to prepare for…

Defender of Tokyo

This year is the 30th anniversary of the seminal big stompy robot anime, Gundam. Although I have never been hooked by its constant retelling of the same story (I found Macross much easier to get into), I nevertheless could not afford to miss the centrepiece of the celebration: a 18-metre high RX-78 model Gundam in Shiokaze Park in Odaiba (near Tokyo Teleport, Rinkai Line; Daiba, Yurikamome Line).

The day was quite dark and overcast, a pretty terrible day for photography, and the humidity and threatening rain made it a worse day still for wandering around outside. Around the Gundam was a small festival called Green Tokyo, but the signs pointed to something far from green: large crowds, insane amounts of rubbish, and a giant statue of a robot draining electricity. A sign proudly displayed how much energy was coming from solar panels, but I saw about 10 diesel generators too.

We approached from Kokusaitenjijo, the station serving Tokyo Big Sight, on a Yurikamome monorail. As we passed the Maritime Museum, a large structure built to resemble a cruise ship, the Mobile Suit began to loom out of the trees in the distance. There was some commotion as people tried to look out the window, and I was surprised to find so many people mingling around Daiba station having seen finished seeing it.

The crowds generally approached from the rear, making for a number of unimpressive photos. Throngs of people queued to walk under the Gundam’s legs and to touch it, but given the humidity (by this point I was pouring with sweat and becoming relatively moody) we decided not to.

The detail on the statue was quite impressive, but I couldn’t help thinking that the colourful and bold anime style didn’t transfer quite so well to real life. Still, it helped it stand out against the rain clouds behind it.

All in all, however, despite some food stands a few other tents aimed at kids and diehard fans, there wasn’t much else to see, so we retreated to nearby Aqua City, a shopping centre, for shelter from the heat while we waited for twilight. It was my plan to get some decent night-time shots, but that proved less likely with each passing hour. Come 5pm, dirty dark clouds hanging overhead, we decided to head home. As we did, it began to spit.

When we arrived home, thinking our excitement for the day was nicely sated, fate had something else in store. The floor began shaking and soon the windows started rattling in their frames as we were hit by an earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Japanese scale (4 out of 7). After 10 seconds, the house continued to shake, so I flung the window open in case we had to escape. It was pretty terrifying: my largest one yet. However, we’re all fine, it wasn’t serious and the countdown can continue to the big killer earthquake that’ll once more level Kanto.

Eating Cheese Before Bed

Yesterday morning, about 6am, Keiko and I were fast asleep right up until the floor started sliding around. The weird thing was that I had just had a dream about an earthquake. Perhaps I can control tectonics with my mind… Someone call Prof. X!

Lunch-time Boneshaker

So, I was sitting in my classroom at Kokubunji eating a lovely bento that Keiko prepared when all of a sudden the room started shaking mid-way through my peeling of a mikan (seedless mandarin). Earthquake #2!

Meanwhile, Keiko was in Shibuya and felt it… unfortunately for her, she missed the monkey on the loose earlier in the day! ((See here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7572113.stm))

Anyway, I have a really busy 6-day week for this week, so expect some major updates on Sunday.