Memories, Thoughts and Prayers to Japan

First days in Tokyo

UPDATE: Allison just read that there were three fires, now extinguished, in our former hometown of Tsuchiura. Latest report of casualties jumped from 60 to 300. I fear things are going to get much worse.

Tokyo, Japan - August 2005. Two fresh-faced Americans arrive with a sense of wonderment and an excess of suitcases (13, I believe). Those two were Allison and I, and we were embarking on the first of our worldly adventures together. After ten days or so of exploring Tokyo and training to become English teachers, we moved to our new home in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, about two hours northeast of Tokyo. Over that time, we were privileged to explore much of the country, from the snowy city of Sapporo on northern Hokkaido, to the sunny, peaceful Hiroshima in the south of Honshu, and many places in between.

Snowy Sapporo

This morning we were very saddened to see the devastation wrought by yesterday's massive earthquake, which they are saying is the largest one to hit Japan in 300 years. Naturally, our thoughts turned to the friends and students we met and the many amazing places we visited. We didn't live too close to the coast, but you never know where people end up as the years pass, or who has friends and family in the effected areas. In a slight yet very odd coincidence, just after we arrived in Japan Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, an event were totally unaware of since we were busy exploring our new home and had very limited access to TV and internet. It's odd to know that we didn't experience that event in the same way that most Americans did. Hopefully, Japan does a better job of managing this crisis and rebuilding the affected communities there.

Friends in Japan, still living there

Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto

Still, we should be thankful that things weren't much, much worse. For quite some time geologists have been saying that Japan is overdue for a major earthquake like this, but fortunately this one was well offshore. In 1923, the Tokyo region experienced the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake which killed almost 150,000 people and simply razed towns and cities. That was a 7.9 on the Richter scale, compared to the 8.9 measurement of yesterday's quake. The Richter scale works exponentially, not incrementally, so 1.0 more is 10x as strong (if I recall my Bill Bryson correctly). If this kind of quake had hit the Tokyo region, the world's largest metropolitan area at 32 million people, the death and destruction would likely have been unprecedented in human history.

Torri gates up a holy mountain. Outside of Kyoto

World's tallest statue at 120m (400 ft), in Ushiku where I worked

Japan is a lovely, amazing diverse country and we hope and pray that the damage and loss of life is minimal. If you've ever wanted to visit Japan, I highly encourage you to do so. Feel free to email me for suggestions on what to see and do, or find out how you can live and work there. This amazingly diverse and beautiful country offers more to see and do than you could possibly imagine and should be experienced by anybody with an interest in travel.

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