As most people already know, Japan was hit with an immense earthquake and tsunami wave on Friday afternoon. We were incredibly fortunate to be in an area far to the south of the quake. Although we did feel it, we suffered no damage and other than a few cracks in the plaster, life has continued as normal for most people in our region. However, we are heartbroken and appalled by the images that we see from the north of the country.
A couple of people have asked, so hear is our story:
Last Monday, I attended a class on disaster preparedness and first aid. We're so isolated in our foreigness and lack of knowledge of the language, when I saw the class I couldn't pass up the opportunity to learn a little bit about what we are supposed to do. I knew that a huge quake hit our area about 16 years ago. When we moved here, we were assured that the big ones only hit every 50 years or so. Our building withstood the 1995 quake, so we assumed we'd be safe and honestly we didn't really give it much more thought. We've experienced a few small tremors since we've been here. The biggest was a few weeks ago but nothing that significant.
The class was incredibly informative and a little scary. We were told that 1/10 of the worlds' earthquakes happen in Japan. The instructor also spent a long time discussing first aid for disaster victims. It shook me up enough that a friend and I actually set aside some time on Friday morning to put together disaster preparedness kits. Things like water, plastic bags, toilet paper, work gloves, copies of all our important documents, etc. It's quite a list. A list of items that I pray that I never need to use. I left everything on the bed and headed to school around 2:30 p.m. to volunteer in Katie's class.
I was sitting in a room across from her classroom, waiting with another mom volunteer when I started feeling a little lightheaded. I actually thought I might pass out. I caught myself on a table and the other mom said "I think it's an earthquake". We sat and looked at each other for a long moment. Then the principal made a " Duck and Cover" announcement. We ran across the hall to Katie's class and crawled under the little tables in their room. The students giggled, assuming it was just another drill. In a few minutes, the principal called an all clear and asked us to stand by while he checked to see if there was a tsunami warning. A few seconds later he called a tsunami all clear and the class headed over to the multipurpose room to practice their sensory motor skills.
The kids were bouncing on balls, wiggling through tunnels, throwing at targets and my cell phone was going crazy with calls and texts. Matt called to make sure I was okay. He was at P&G talking on the phone when the window blinds in his conference room started banging against a window. It took him a minute to realize what was going on. He didn't get worried until he realized that it wasn't going to stop right away. Instead of a few seconds, this quake lasted for several minutes, something none of us had ever experienced. He also looked out his window and saw our apartment building swaying back and forth.
My friends at our apartment building were texting me that the building was moving and that they were supposed to stay in their apartments. (The building is built to sway in the advent of earthquakes, it helps release the energy without harming the building). The kids were laughing and yelling when all of a sudden I felt light headed again. The duck and cover announcement blared and since our room had absolutely nothing to duck under, we ran for the classroom. A few minutes later, it was over and the class started getting ready to dismiss for the day.
My friends at our apartment building were panicked. The elevators weren't working, the building was still swaying and the staff was asking them to stay in their apartments. I agreed to try to find their kids and hold them at school for a bit. It was quite a challenge. There were 15 of them, ranging in age from 4-12. The kids were spun up from the earthquake. Many hadn't even felt it and thought it was just a drill. Finding out it was real freaked them out. Most of the kids were used to going home on their own. They wanted to check on their moms. They wouldn't agree to stay until I told them that the Entente was still swaying. That scared them even more. Several broke down in tears.
The day before, I'd arranged a play date for Katie after school. The mom arrived to pick her up and I was kind of stunned. The mom seemed so matter of fact and calm that I finally decided to let her go. After 20 minutes or so, I started home with my crew of 15. Some took off like bullets, a second group went ahead but then turned back. I was struggling to watch all the older bikers while still staying close enough to the walkers and the preschooler just learning to ride his bike. I was afraid to let them go under the train tracks, unless something fell on them. I was terrified that another quake was going to hit while I was responsible for these 15 children, who were strung out over 2 blocks. I can feel my blood pressure shoot up every time I think about it. After 3 blocks I realized that one of the boys wasn't with us. One of his friends told me that he'd gone ahead. I tried to text his mom to see if he'd made it home and realized that my phone wouldn't work. I could receive calls and texts but couldn't send them.
We finally made it back to the building and the kids scattered immediately. The lobby was filled with people and
the elevators were not working. Rumors were flying about cracks in the ceilings and walls but the staff was asking people to return to their apartments, so Nathan, Laura and I climbed the 28 floors to our apartment. Another aftershock hit while Laura and I were in the stairwell. We went out onto that floor and talked to a friend for a while until it stopped and then kept climbing. Laura was pretty calm. It wasn't until we got home that she started crying a bit.
Katie's friend's mom called to see if they could take her into the city to go out to dinner. I wasn't sure what to think but I finally said okay. Then Matt called to say there was a tsunami warning for our area. It wasn't supposed to be anything major but they wanted people to stay off the streets. I tried to call Katie's friend but couldn't call out. I felt so helpless! I finally reached Matt and he called. The family decided to wait until after the tsunami warning expired and then go anyway.
The mix of "no big deal" and "totally freaking out" was incredibly surreal. I didn't know what to think. P&G asked it's employees to remain at work until after the tsunami threat. We both watched out our windows but the tsunami never appeared. Our little island is in a fairly protected position in Osaka Bay. Matt said that when the all clear was announced at his office, he couldn't get his people to leave! It was 6:00 p.m. on a Friday night, but everyone was too busy working to go home. Definitely a different reaction than he would have seen in the U.S.!
When he got home, he poured each of us a stiff drink. Neither of us felt up to cooking, so we decided to go out to dinner at the restaurant at the foot of our apartment building. We ran into a number of people from our building, several of whom were extremely upset. The further you were up in our building, the worse the quake felt. Our apartment is on the 28th floor, near the top. I'm so grateful, for many reasons, that I was at school instead. (Early the next morning I was awake for one of the strong aftershocks. The swaying and creaking of the building was much worse than my experience at the school, even though the event wasn't nearly as strong.)
Katie arrived home from her play date in a great mood. I don't think she realizes that any of it was a big deal. The school was so calm about it that she never got scared and since she went on a play date after school she didn't experience our creaky, swaying building.
Nate has been a total rock! I could never have managed bringing all the kids back from school without him. He's been pretty stoic about it all.
We've done our best to shield the kids from the news. We've talked about how much worse the earthquake and tsunami were in the north in a general way but haven't gotten into any specifics. We haven't let them see any of the pictures either. Maybe we're over protecting them but I'm not sure what good scaring them even more would do. As far as what is going on in northern Japan, you probably have a better idea than I do. We can't understand the local news and I don't want to turn on CNN in front of the kids. I'm mostly just checking the CNN and AP news sites and the Japan Meteorological Association site.
The images and stories that I have seen from the northern parts of Japan are heartbreaking and so incredibly sad. I feel so helpless and guilty, since life for us is continuing on as normal. I'm the having trouble sleeping. I keep having nightmares about an earthquake hitting while I'm trying to get all the kids home from school. I'm also feeling very dizzy whenever I'm in our apartment. I'm not sure if it is mental or if the building is still swaying slightly with the mild aftershocks hitting our area. Another friend is feeling the same way, so I'm hopeful that I'm not just losing it!
Life goes on for us though. Yesterday we went on a tour to Ninja Village. This morning Matt left for a business trip to China. The day was warm and sunny, so the kids and I spent most of it outside playing/talking with friends. Tomorrow we go back to school. A few hundred miles to the north of us, people's lives will never be the same. They are still in fear of strong aftershocks, tsunami, fire, nuclear reactor melt downs. They've lost lives, homes, businesses and entire cities. I'm still trying to grapple with the reality of it. I can't even imagine what their reality is.
Ninja Village - March 12, 2011
We had made plans several months before to go on a tour sponsored by our local foreigner community center, CHIC, to Ninja Village in the town of Iga in Mie prefecture. The morning after the earthquake we received an email saying that since none of the area we would be traveling through had any damage, the trip would go on as planned.
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| Map of the town |
Matt and I discussed it and we decided that the distraction might be a good idea. Otherwise, we thought would have spent the day glued to CNN and the kids would have gotten much more exposure than would be good for them. It felt very weird to be leaving on a trip to a tourist destination the day after such a devastating disaster but several other families made the same choice and about 25 of us headed out on a bus for the 2.5 hour trip to the theme park.
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| Inside the shrine to Matsuo Bushu |
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| Exterior |
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| Moat and walls surrounding the castle |
Iga is a former castle town ringed by mountains on all four sides. With its residences of former samurai and temples, the city retains the look and feel of ancient times. It is famous as the birthplace of Iga-ryu school of ninja. Iga is also known as the birthplace of Matsuo Basho, the poet who transformed haiku. Ueno Park contains a restoration of Ueno Castle and the Ninja House, a replica of a ninja home. It looks like a typical old-fashioned farmhouse, however, it has various clever tricks such as revolving walls, secret passage, reversing doors, hidden stairs and hidden guard chambers
. The park contains a museum of Ninja weapons and clothing. They also offer a demonstration of the use of ninja weapons. There is also a shrine to Matsuo Basho, the poet.
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Ueno Castle with Ninja Laura in front
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| Ninja wearing ninja vest |
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| Ninja armor |
