Japan Thoughts

The Great Wave by Japanese artist Hokusai

It's been almost two weeks since the Earth moved around Japan and changed so much over there. I once took a drive up that very coast the tsunami hit with my buddy Simon. We traveled to Sendai that day to check the city out. I can clearly remember it as one of the best days of my time in Japan. We saw the ocean in our drive through Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. We went to see a movie, ironically it was Twister, and had a great dinner in the city center. After the earthquake, I thought back to that day and was happy we had made that trip and I had been to those places that you see in the pictures.

I was in Japan during the Kobe earthquake in 1995. I remember getting to school that day and several of the teachers were crying at their desks. I didn't even know what had happened. It wasn't like I woke up and turned the news on. We certainly didn't feel the earthquake in Karasuyama some 300 miles away and it didn't really affect my life that much. My parents and friends freaked out a bit because all they hear is earthquake and Japan and think I must be in the middle of it. I went through Kobe in the summer of 1996 to catch a boat to China. By that time, they'd done a lot work on getting the city center rebuilt, but the area was still hurting.

So now two Fridays ago, I came home after work and called my family in Toyama to check in on them. When Takashi answered the phone, he was surprised to say the least. We hadn't spoken since Brooke and I visited them in November 2007. His reaction to my question of his health was the same as mine to my parents after Kobe, "Earthquake? No problem." It's what I expected to hear, but it was nice to get that information directly. They didn't even feel it.

I can pretty much guarantee that Karasuyama felt this last one. I don't have any friends that I speak to in that area anymore. It's been over 10 years since I've heard from anyone around those parts. That memory of my drive to Sendai reminded me just how close my old place is to this devastation, less than 100 miles. There was only one of the many earthquakes I felt in Japan that had me running. It was one on the northern tip of the main island of Honshu in Aomori prefecture. It was long enough that I could get up and run outside my apartment to wait for the shaking to end. There was a minor tsunami for that one as well.

I've heard in the last week of two American teachers, like myself 15 years ago, missing from this tsunami. I can't even imagine what life would be like there now in Karasuyama. I can only say, I'm glad I'm not there...

Before and After pictures of towns in the tsunami's wake. [New York Times]

Some other links I've collected over the last several weeks...

The Internet is getting crowded. We may be running out of addresses. [New York Times]

Lego mania...check out these crazy Lego projects. [BuzzFeed]

Amazing story of one resilient puppy dog! Thanks for the link Depune. [WRTV]

Interesting story of the military challenge coins. [Washington Post]

Great article about the older generations keeping up with the newer technology. Not just Facebook but Skype and new iPads too. [New York Times]

Take care...

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