Earthquake Update 2

Hello again. You probably have heard by now, but we made it back to the US on Thursday morning. We were set up in temporary living and are now trying to put some order back into our lives.

Not sure if you are interested in my earthquake story. If so, read on... I am going to let the rest of the family write out their version if they want so this is from my experience only.

It was about 2:30 on Friday march 11th and we were finishing up an all-day event at work. We have flex time so it went through my head to try and sneak out at 3:00 since we were going to have business trip members in Japan for the next 4+ weeks. The days were going to get long. I was finishing up some e-mails in the meeting area (open area with long tables). At about 2:45, it started. We had a 6+ magnitude earlier in the week and this felt similar at first. I saw someone push a flatscreen monitor further onto the table and I noticed ours was also working its way to the edge of the table. I walked over to push it back on and I was told to get under the table. I got under the table as the quake really started to get bad.

There were three of us under the table. The building started to shake and sway violently. We slid along the floor with the table which kept us protected. I remember telling myself that this was unbelievable, but I was ready for it to stop. I thought to myself "I hope the ceiling, roof and floor holds up" as the ceiling started to fall. I looked over at the other two Japanese associates under the table with me. The look on their faces told me that this was the "one". It wasn't until I saw the terror in their faces that I really started to get worried. At that point, an industrial air conditioner came down beside me. It stopped about a foot from the floor hanging by wires. During all of this, we were sliding about 2-3 feet along the floor. Then it slowed down.

We were located near the emergency exits so we climbed through the debris and down the fire escape. The whole time, we could feel the earthquake still shaking. We assembled by departments so role call could be taken. We were right outside the building and the aftershocks started. For safety reasons, we moved from the building area back to the soccer field area. We stayed there until about 4:30. The sun went down and the temperature dropped significantly. We were hearing rumors of the 10 meter (30 foot) tsunami that hit Sendai.

The phones did not work so we were not able to check with our families to see if things were OK. They started taking people by department to go back into the building to get their belongings out of the locker room. I made it in by about 6:00. My friend had a much longer commute than I did so I let him take my bicycle so he could get home quickly. The roads were essentially parking lots.

After I grabbed my personal cell phone, clothes and coat, I went back outside the building and put them on over my uniform. I checked to see if the buses were running to the house, but they were only going into the city so I started walking. It was about 6:30 PM.

The road I rode to work on was fairly empty but I soon caught up to the cars. I actually was able to walk faster than the traffic. Keeping track of the cars helped occupy my thoughts as I walked the 3.5 miles home. When I got to the house, I slipped on something in the yard. There was no power so there were no lights. I figured out that our roof had sustained a lot of damage. There was a note on the door, but I could not read it. Then one of the neighbors came up and told me that the family was at the Fukami's house. It was such a relief.

I started walking toward the Fukami's house. I was the last to arrive so the family was pretty worried about me. They were cooking ramen noodles and I was able to eat a little bit even though I didn't feel much like eating. Denny was falling asleep sitting up so we decided to go back toward the house. We were told that we should stay outside until the damage could be assessed so we stayed the night in the car. We felt aftershock after aftershock. It seemed like they happened every 10 minutes or so. Couple that with sleeping in a car and you can imagine we were pretty tired the next day.

We woke up with the sun at about 5:30 - 6:00 AM. Several of our friends were making a curry breakfast and we were invited. After eating, we returned to the house and tried to clean up. I worked on moving tiles and Elin worked on the kitchen. Later, we returned to the Fukami's house for a BBQ. The power and water were still out so we were using up what we had in our freezers. We ended up sleeping in the front room of the house. We were urged to not sleep there, but weren't sure why... We knew we had damage to the house, but we assumed everyone had the same problems, but we were wrong. Again, we spent a restless night with many aftershocks.

We promised to make everyone pancakes the next morning. Everyone showed up around 10:00. Elin and I were already trying to finish cleaning up. My friends gathered tarps and tried to patch up the roof since rain was in the forecast. Unfortunately, we could not get to the second level of the roof. Even if we could, there were not enough tarps. Everything was closed and there was no gasoline to go shopping around the city.

After we ate, we were told the local grocery store was bringing food outside and selling it. We stood in line for 2 hours to get anything we could. By the time we got an opportunity to 'shop', there was only bread, coke, tea and potato chips available. So we bought what we could. We returned home to continue with the clean-up. We received some bad news about our insurance only paying 50% of the value of the items lost and they urged us to get things out of the house. The Fukami family took us in. They had a playroom in their upstairs that they didn't use so we were able to "move in". Their house had no damage. I finally understood why they were concerned about us staying in our house. So, unfortunately, we had to make quick decisions on what to try to save before the rain arrived.

We spent Monday at the Fukami's house. We were following the nuclear reactor situation closely. We also were able to find three separate options for housing based on associates who had recently returned home after their assignments were over. If the power plant situation took a turn for the better, we seemed to have good prospects for housing. I believe on Monday, the evacuation area was a 10 km radius and they expanded the concern areas to a 20 km radius.

On Tuesday, we woke to find out that the radiation concern area was again expanded to 30 km. We were located about 150 km away so if you run the numbers, it seemed like we had to start thinking about moving further away. We started to receive calls about potentially returning to the US so we called our friends in Tokyo to see if we could stay with them for a few days. So, once again, we looked at our things and decided what we couldn't live without. We packed 2 suitcases and 4 backpacks and packed the car. Fukami san's family lives in the southern-most area of Japan. They also made the decision to pack up and go south as we were packing our things. Unfortunately, we had to say good-bye quickly and head out. We stopped to see the Mitani's on our way out. Toshi was at work, but Takako indicated that she was taking the kids to her family's house west of Utsunomiya. Again, we said our good-byes and headed out on the road. Leaving our friends behind was the hardest part of this whole experience.

Six hours later, we reached The Padget's house in Tokyo. We spent the night in their spare room. When we woke up on Wednesday, we were told that we were being pulled out of Japan. We were urged to move closer to the Haneda airport. We helped the Padgets pack up their bags and headed out on the train. We got to our hotel around dinner time on Wednesday. We reserved cabs to arrive at 4:00 AM since we were told that we would be on a 7:00 AM flight out. Of course, our rooms were on the 8th floor. We had another 6.0 magnitude earthquake that day and we were still having aftershocks. So, our first night in a bed in 5 nights was plagued with additional aftershocks. Being on the 8th floor only magnified the amount of sway and also magnified the amount of fear we had.

We received out wake-up call at 3:00 AM... packed our things... and headed to the airport. Every step seemed like a huge undertaking - make it through the night at the hotel, guarantee the cabs get there, make it to the airport, cross your fingers we had a seat on the flight and the plane takes off, hope the plane makes it there safely, hope the flight from Detroit makes it to Columbus safely... I just kept waiting for the next bad thing to happen. We had a lot of turbulence on the flight from Japan. It feels similar to an earthquake so it was near impossible to relax on the plane

Then, we were home. It seemed (and still does) like a dream. I think we are suffering from revers culture shock. Things here are so big and fast. The grocery stores are overwhelming. The highways are intimidating after a year of 20-30 mph driving. It's been a rough few days just being back. We have received some gifts, clothes and supplies from our friends. It is hard to accept things, but it has really reduced our stress levels to have clothes and toys for the kids as well as other supplies. We went food shopping yesterday so we are OK there as well. I start back to work tomorrow and we are going to see if Savannah can handle school. We stopped on Friday and her former classmates were ecstatic to see her. I think she will do well in school and it will be good for her to be with friends.

So... for the time being, we are back. We have to figure out what will happen in the future, but for now, we are stationed near Tuttle Mall in Columbus.

Earthquake Update 1

I wanted to write a quick update in case anyone is checking the blog... I will add more later.

Everyone is OK. I was at work, Savannah was at school and Elin/Denny were home when the quake hit at 2:45 PM. We were able to come together by about 7:30 PM Friday night. I was the straggler since I was not allowed to leave work until after 6:00 or so. We spent the first night in the car since we were told to do so.

We got power and water back last night. We will have the magic jack on if you would like to call, but at this point, we are kind of "camping" so we are often out of the house. Several of our friends have pulled together in terms of meals and support so we have been moving around the neighborhood. Our area is nowhere as bad at what you are seeing on the news. We lost a lot of our roof tiles and the drywall is cracked in every room, but I think we are OK structurally.

We are periodically feeling aftershocks - the first night seemed like every 10 minutes or so. Everyone is still on edge... in fact, one just started right now... Just a small one, though. It kind of feels like you are on a boat except everything is moving...

Anyway, we are having everyone for a pancake brunch so I have to be brief. It is our turn to cook.

Finally... a February update. I apologize for not updating this month. Seems like time is going by so quickly. We have been preparing for our first prototype build at work. We had business trip members here for two weeks. The whole family has been sick - including me - which has kept us somewhat house-bound.



Early in the month, Honda had a work sponsored event - strawberry picking. Interestingly enough, strawberries come into season in February in Japan. They are grown in greenhouses. A lot of the local fruits and vegetables are seasonal. You can usually get them year-round, but they are expensive out of season. Strawberries have been cheap for the last few weeks.

I thought the poster read that it would be 500 yen per person (maybe $25 total), but after I signed up, I was told that I have to pay double since I am not part of the union. So it was a little more expensive than I expected, but we had fun.





Opening ceremonies... well one of them at least. We had planned on arriving early, but I slept late.







When you signed in, you were assigned a greenhouse to go to. Our number was in the 90's so they had a LOT of greenhouses. This is obviously a picture from inside the greenhouse.






I don't remember seeing this before, but many of the strawberries end up growing together making one big berry.








Savannah and Denny amongst the berries.

















Elin showing off her berry picking skills.













Denny with the biggest strawberry ever. He picked it and then of course refused to eat it. I think Elin had to cover for him.













Savannah and Denny again in the greenhouse.









Denny with his big strawberry.













These pots were hanging inside the greenhouse. I asked several Japanese people what these were, but they were about as confused by them as I was so I let it go. I never did find out what they were for. I was thinking they were for bugs, but it was so cold that the bugs didn't seem to be out yet.










After you ate as many strawberries that you wanted, they fed us soup and mochi. Mochi is pounded rice and is typically sweet. The texture is a little difficult - it is kind of chewy - and none of us are fond of the texture. These were the kitchen workers serving everyone. I thought the bandannas were funny looking so I took their picture.




Savannah eating her soup.

In February, we had good snow twice. It started snowing one morning and every time I looked out the window at work, it was coming down hard. It snowed through the night and we still only ended up with 2 or 3 inches. It seems like it doesn't get cold enough for the snow to stick around long. This snowman only lasted a day or so and he melted away.

On the second snow, the kids made more snowmen. We forgot to get their pictures so Savannah and I went out at night an got a few. You can see that they barely made it through the day before they started melting away. This is Savannah trying to salvage her snowman.

This is Denny's snowman.

Savannah posing with her snowman.

Savannah again striking a pose as we made our way back to the house. You can see that the streets are clear. They don't have snow removal equipment so they just let it melt away.

This was the little bit of snow that was left in our yard.

Elin heard that these little fish are a good source of calcium so she bought them to add to our rice. I think we ended up eating about 25% of the package. I think the decision was made to stick to milk instead of little fish.

Similar to what happened with Savannah, Denny got on his bike one day and pedaled off... no help needed. If you are a follower, you probably saw him opening his scooter at Christmas. I think the scooter helped him learn balance so the bicycle was a logical next step.

Denny posing with his bicycle. It was a hand-me-down from one of the members who returned to Canada. We are planning on getting him a new one for his birthday.

Valentine's day is a time when girls give chocolates to boys. Japan has White Day on March 14th when boys give gifts to girls. This is Denny with his Valentine's present. I received chocolate and chocolate beer. I haven't tried the beer yet, but I will soon.

Savannah showing off some of the chocolates we received from friends.

Ladies' night out was at the German restaurant in Utsunomiya. I haven't been there yet, but many of the people who live in town go there and they say it is pretty good.

Yep... Elin had a few drinks... It doesn't take much...

Elin invited her friend Mitani san to the party. Mitani san actually had the second portion of an English test the next day so they couldn't stay out too late.

I meant to take a picture of our Pizza Hut pizza but I forgot and it didn't take long to make it disappear. This was the first time we had Pizza hut since we have been here.

A medium pizza is 2000 yen - $25. They had coupons for 1500 yen mediums so we bought two for about $35. The kids knocked out a whole pizza themselves. It was soooo good. We typically don't get Pizza Hut at home due to the grease, but I am thinking the floodgates have been opened.





Denny riding his bicycle.





I explained February 3rd holiday in a previous blog. Basically, someone dresses up as an evil spirit (Oni) and everyone throws dried soy beans at it. We had beans everywhere...





Denny using the mask he made at school.





Elin as the Oni.




The kids strawberry picking.




Mochi making. The man rotating the rice about had his hand taken off by one of the kids. He was resting it on the side of the bowl before they started and the child just about whacked him with the hammer.




Swing and a miss...

Daily Life in Japan

We have been fairly home-bound since shutdown. I think we were all still recovering from the long vacation. It took us a little while to get back into the swing of things. As you have noticed, I have also been slacking on updating the blog as well. Anyway, here are a few weeks worth of pictures and movie clips.

By the way, some people have mentioned the comments sections not working properly. I tried it last week and I was able to add a comment. Try again if you want. I always look for comments, but typically there aren't any. Hard to tell who is checking in on us.


On Saturday, Denny had another family day at school. We all got bundled up and headed out around 8:30 AM. Parking is usually a hassle so we decided to walk. We were told to be there by 9:00 but the festivities didn't seem to start until around 9:30... This is Denny's picture of a rabbit. This year is the year of the rabbit.







Savannah and her "new" Walnut/Acorn shirt. I talked to my sensei about how we used to do a lot of hand-me-downs back home through all of Elin's network of friends. She mentioned that it is also popular for the Japanese to trade clothing. We have recently received a bunch of clothes from friends. I think I put the "I love tears" pants on the last update. This is my new favorite shirt on her.







Denny relaxing before the other families arrived. I tried several time to explain why you don't do this to the chairs. Shortly after, we got a first hand look when another girl toppled over after tipping her chair back.









Denny and the other kids during one of their exchanges with the teacher. The kids are encouraged to be "genki" or loud/boisterous at times. Role call is one time they get to jump up and yell out "Hai!" to indicate they are there. Not all of the kids take advantage, but Denny does. I have a movie clip below...








Denny with his daily communication book. They mark the days that they are at school and the teacher sends messages home in this book. Typically, it is in kanji which is just about impossible for us to read. Savannah's teacher often writes in hiragana which we can typically translate.



Animal pictures in Denny's classroom. Savannah and I thought the dog on the toilet was too funny to pass up. Also, Japanese people gargle often so the alligator (wani in Japanese) is shown gargling.




These are the sinks outside Denny's classroom. I love the soap bags that they have so I got a picture of them.






This is Denny making his "Oni" mask. I think an Oni is a devil or some type of evil creature. On February 3rd, one of the family members puts on an oni mask and the rest of the family throws beans at the oni. I think it is to ward off evil spirits. After I think everyone has to eat as many beans as your age. I am sure I don't have it completely understood so I will do more investigating and explain on the next entry. I am sure there will be pictures.






Denny finishing up his oni mask.







Denny giving his "peace out" sign as he was leaving school. He is wearing his 'to and from' school hat. Savannah also has a hat specifically for walking to school.









We had a party planned with our friends. Unfortunately, Tenga got sick so Nanako could not make it. Also Takako Mitani had a woman's party to attend so the husbands and the kids came to the party. Toshi Mitani brought some Suntory 'Relax' beer. This was the first time I had seen this so I had to take a picture. I think it is a low calorie beer. We thought name and rainbow were funny.







I have mentioned the lack of central heating a few times. You probably have seen our kerosene heaters in previous posts... This was at about 5:30 in the morning before work. The 25 degree Celsius is the temperature setting of the heater. The 'actual room temperature' reading is showing zero degrees. I don't know that I have seen a minus reading so I am not sure it goes lower than zero. So other than the bedrooms, it is LITERALLY freezing in our house every morning. Our electric bill was over $300 last month. We asked a few of our Japanese friends if their bills are that high. The answer is a resounding 'no'... because they typically do not heat their bedrooms through the night. No thanks... I'd rather spend the money and have a little warmth.



We had some problems with a title recently so we had to take a trip to Tokyo to go to the American Embassy to see the notary. I took our camera because I knew I would get some good pictures. We passed Finn McCool's at around 9:30 - 10:00 in the morning and what do you know? They were already open. Unfortunately, we had an appointment to keep and I thought it was best that we didn't show up smelling like Guinness and Bushmill's.


We passed this sign and tried to read it a few times to make sense of it. In the end we just decided to take a picture.







I am pretty sure there is more to it than 'the way the wind blows', but that's just my opinion...

We saw a poster for the Sound of Music. All of the characters are Japanese. We couldn't tell if it was in English or Japanese but we thought the poster was interesting.

We ate lunch at T.G.I.Fridays... It was the first American restaurant (other than fast food) for both of us. IT WAS SO GOOD! I had a full rack of ribs and Elin had a Southwest burger platter with a brownie sundae for dessert. The bill came to something like 5600 yen which is about $67... for lunch! BUT IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!!! I was so full I slept on the train home. We got back around 6:00 or so and I didn't eat another bite until lunch the next day.

Me at T.G.I.Fridays.

The restaurant had an "Athens Steam Laundry" sign from Athens Ohio. I was surprised to see this so I had to take a picture. Athens is a few hours southeast of Columbus.

On our way home, we stopped by an outdoor shopping area. We had childcare set up and Mitani san told us to take our time getting home - so we did. It was our first date without the kids since we got here (I think). It was nice to have some time together.

I spotted some octopus for sale. It was so red that it almost looked fake.

This is Elin's new alter-ego - Ultra Woman. She is "no make beilieier". She's the real deal.

One store was selling hemp 'body lotion'... call it what you want. I did a double take when I saw this huge sign outside the store.

And of course, what market would be complete without a cardboard box of salted pig feet? Mmmmm mmmmm. I'll take the one with the brownish tint. I made the mistake of showing this picture to my Japanese friends at our party... they said pig feet are delicious and they are going to buy some for our next cookout. I absolutely cannot wait.

We unfortunately didn't get to meet "Big Mama" but we thought we had to get a picture of her thriving concierge business.

Hard Rock cafe was another one of our dining choices, but I was told that Friday's ribs were the way to go.

Denny in the morning before school.

Savannah getting ready to go to school. The flu is being passed around here in Japan. Savannah's school actually cancelled the 4th and 5th graders for two days last week due to the number of kids that were sick. Typically, the Japanese wear masks to prevent getting other sick and they sometimes wear masks as preventative measures for themselves. Savannah has to wear a mask all day, every day so she can try to avoid getting sick.

A few weeks ago, we didn't have anything going on so we went to Round 1 again. It is kind of like Chuck E. Cheese's and we all like going there. This is Denny duck-pin bowling.

The kids enjoying their drinks at Round 1.

Elins's friends took her out for dinner for her birthday. From the left is Nanako, Takako, Elin, and Keiko

Elin with her Emperor statues. They are for Girl's Day. You have to leave them out until girl's day on March 3rd and then put them away the day after or your daughter won't get married.

The ladies went to a yaki niku (grilled meat) restaurant. If you are a regular follower, I have added pictures of yaki niku before. It is one of my favorite styles or restaurants. You cook the food by yourself at your table.

The kids and I stayed home during Elin's party. We bought snacks and watched movies. Around 9:00 I noticed that it was snowing. This is the first good snow that we had since move-in day back in April of last year. I couldn't resist letting the kids go out and play for a few minutes.

Denny and one of his super poses...

Denny all covered in snow.

Our yard the next morning. We got about two or three inches of snow.

Denny posing... again.

Savannah with her prized chunk of ice. It has been so long since it snowed that we felt it was necessary to remind them about yellow snow...

We had a snowball fight for about 45 minutes. As we played, the sun warmed everything up and the snow was just about gone the same day.

Elin playing outside.

Denny posing with his snowball.













Savannah roller skating.




Denny duck pin bowling.




This is a ramen bowl with chopsticks picking up the noodles. I saw this while we were in Tokyo and thought it was hilarious.




Denny and his classmates during the wake-up song.




Role call... "HAI!"




Denny working on his oni mask and Savannah goofing around with the camera. The little voice in the background is Lisa Mitani. She loves Savannah. Lisa's sister Ema is in the same grade as Denny




Denny finishing cutting his oni's hat. He tells the teacher that he was finished.




Bowing near the end of the family day.





Singing songs at the end of family day.