It’s all happening in Japan!
** Spoiler Alert: You WILL be rewarded for the long read at the end of this entry **
Okay, I haven't written in ages and I apologise for people concerned about my safety but believe me, I have been busy and when I'm not busy, I'm frustrated with the difficulties in just getting internet access at home.
So far what has been happening... Obviously this entry is backdated by a week - the earthquake
was last week. My nerves have been a bit frayed and my sensorium numbed. Last weekend Laura, Ruth and myself hiked all the way to the open pool in saturday morning hoping to catch the last of the summer bronze only to find that in Japan, when it is officially autumn, that is, the 1st of September, all outdoor pools are closed regardless of what the weather is like. We were not impressed because the sun was out, the day was a sweltering 33 degrees celcius. There was no going into a indoor pool and having to wear a bathing cap, paying Y800. So we thought to trek back to the marina and to the beach, the same way we biked last saturday. Not a brilliant idea since biking obviously covers more track faster. So we hiked all the way for about 30 minutes and then decided to sod it. We might as well sit out on our balcony and put on a barbie instead. But on the way back, I remembered that the water treatment plant near the beach had a small kids wading pool and given our desperation for sun and water, and our immunity as gaijin, who cared whether it was intended for kids or not. We were so there and it was so fun. And I swear that the two or three ladies who sat around dipping their toes in occasionally, while watching their kids, were absolutely envious of our liberation. We sat in the shallow water, cocked our heads back into the faux waterfall and basked for about an hour. It was grand as. And we came back and decided it was “aussie” lunch. Toasted bagels, cream cheese (these were Debbie’s contributions since she couldn’t join us in the morning and didn’t know what our plans for lunch were). We didn’t have a bbq grill, so the big fry pan had to do. Barbied onions, sausages and salami. It was almost as if we hadn’t spent the day in Japan at all. :-)
We took the rest of the arvo “off” and bluged around getting ready for Taka & Kyoko’s wedding party. We dolled ourselves up so much that, when Jeff saw the video clip off Aldrain’s video camera, he didn’t even recognize me. I was quite impressed (and so were a good handful of people in attendance) by the way I put my hair up with a pair of chopsticks the way I had seen Su-ann do it so many years ago... It was really secure. The wedding party was good fun too with pink champagne and free flow of white and red vino though, I was really a lot more restraint that I wanted to be at a partee. It was nice to dress up, take photos, let our hair down (or put it up as it were) and have some fun in Kobe.
Sunday. We went to bed holding our breathes because the forecast predicted a typhoon headed for us this weekend and since it hadn’t arrived saturday, the likelihood was that it would arrive sunday instead. Although we were spared the typhoon this weekend, it was a lot more than we asked for.
We actually got to sleep in because we had decided to go directly to Tannowa Beach, Wakayama instead of going with the church convoy. We were hoping to get there an hour early in order to set up for the Hope Chapel Olympics 2004 which Debbie and Laura had worked so hard to prepare and I was just sitting pretty on the side trying to look busy. In the end, we were there an hour late because it takes so much for four gaijin girls to find their way around here. The beach party went without so much as a hitch. Amen! The weather held and was cloudy enough to be pleasant but not thick enough to grey out everyone’s mood. In fact for a while, God opened the clouds and shined his glory upon the church games, enough to warrant sunscreen and a warpaint for the Australian “contingent” made up of Ray, Eric and myself. Now this is where it begins to get interesting. After the games were announced over, it was time for the hardworker bees to have their fun and play so I finally got to get my summer’s dip (even though, officially it is autumn). The water wasn’t as clear or as cool and far more salty than like back in Sydney but beggars can’t be choosers. And the few gaijin folk got their chance of (re)liberation in the water just fooling around and taking the piss at everyone including Jeff. I like to think we finally decided to get out of the water at about 5:30pm or closer to 6pm and made it to the train just before 7pm. Because, right then, the weekend turned out to be way more than we were prepared for. On the way back to the city, the cloud cover made for a spectacular fiery sunset sillouette on the horizon. And the conversation on board of American and Europen political relationship made for an absorbing ride. So, all twelve of us missed what a 5 point earthquake in Wakayama, lost in the shakes of the train ride already.
When we got back to Namba, none of us were any the wiser and we went to Kai’ana at Namba Parks for a dinner of Hawaiian style avocado burgers. Delish! And right in the middle of dinner, Jeff gets a call which only then clues us in that there was an earthquake at Wakayama, exactly on the coastline beach where we were on and which we had completely let miss us. We were shocked in disbelief, or should I say, shocked but still didn’t believe it was possible. The truth in twenty-four hour retrospect, is that I thought I was invincible even though I didn’t actively think it. Presumed it. After dinner we still had the clarity and sanity to have an after-dinner conversation about the christian life, pastoral and ministry. But Iafter 9pm, I really had to bail after such a packed weekend.
And life went on as usual. Nothing out of the ordinary. I was just starting to drop off reading
My Love, My Dove from Roald Dahl’s
Tales of the Unexpectedwhen I thought I felt someone really heavy stomping around or perhaps up the stairs. Could it be... the earthquake? I got my affirmative when I heard Laura halfway relating the day, including the aforementioned and missed earthquake at Wakayama, suddenly said to the phone, “I’ve got to go. There’s an earthquake now!” and slammed down the phone and yelled for me. By then the thudding feeling had got me to my feet and I could definitely feel vibrations. I jumped into my pants and coming out of my room, I immediately said to open all the doorways (but then forgot to say also to stay under the doorway structures). But when we were at the doorway, that was when I really felt the earthquake. It was really shaking. So, when Laura said to run out, I was for it since we were already at the doorway and we only had two flights of step to run out into the baseball field. And that was what we did. And we stood outside, it frightened us that the metal structures of the building were creaking in the weight and pressure. It sounded really bad from the pointblock which at that time of the night in those circumstances, looked really really tall and forboding as if they should anytime decide to drop down and wipe out our existence. When it did stop and we went back to the apartment, both of us were fraught. Laura called her folks back again to tell her she was really fine and not leave them freaking out at the unknowns. And I called Debbie to check on her. When we both finally had time to catch our breath and sit down, we decided to drag our futons into the living area and sleep in the same room together. We then decided, to take some precautionary measures should there be an after-tremor. Locate table. Torch. Whistle. Phones. Water bottle. Footwear. Open front door. Watch for weather report. It didn’t help us at all that not only were there three massive newsbreaks on at the moment; earthquake, impending tidal wave because of earthquake, and the bloodbath at the Russian/Chechnya border involving the deaths of almost 150 school children held hostage and another 150 local folks, but that all this was in Japanese so we didn’t know when the report for one ended and when another started. But when we thought we were ready for bed, we looked at each other and we both thought that we still felt the shakes but looking at the suspending lights, realised it was either or both our imagination and that we were still quite shaken from it. I had to jump up a few times from bed to convince myself that it wasn’t really shaking but that I was really quite shaken from it. Rationally, I didn’t think it would happen again but then these t hings didn’t happen rationally. They just happened and it could happen again. Still, if these apartment survived the 8 point Kobe earthquake, rationally speaking, there wasn’t really much to be afraid of since the epicenter of this earthquake was from the Pacific at the Wakayama side. All the same, I don’t think we got to bed till about 2 to 3 am in the morning and it was fitful sleep. So I was terribly foul this morning cause now my nerves were even more frayed and jarred rather than getting the convalescence it needed.
I need to find the mental space to think through the events of the weekend, but there was not be much time for it. Typhoon Songda and Typhoon #19 (name forgotten) are made their way up mainland Japan and arrived on tuesday morning.
Tuesday morning 12:35pm.
I have already biked down to Tsutaya and then along the river for some fresh air and a workout, some benchpresses and situps. Though, a part of me thinks that I didn’t really expend myself on the bike ride than I should have. But before that, I got to laze a little around after brekkie with Laura, watching for any news report of the changing weather when Laura was the first one (again!) to notice that something was shaking. I glanced quickly at the suspending light in our lounge and it was swaying. It was another earthquake! The one on sunday night that gave us such a fright was a 7.3 at the epicenter and a 3-4 between Hyogo and Osaka. The one this morning also originated from the same subducting pacific plate which was crashing into Japan. It rated 6.3 at the epicenter and 3 where we were. Wow... Interestingly enough, this time, we didn’t run out of our apartment. We were taken by surprised because we didn’t think another earthquake would take place so soon. Both Laura and myself looked at each other wondering if we should panic like we did the last time (but were not doing this time), be sensible and duck under the table or be blase like the Japanese seem to be and just let life go on. Obviously from the bike ride, my life just went on. Interesting. Now it’s almost “yeah, that’s part of life here in Japan...” Wierd.
Earthquake. Typhoon. What could be worse? How about an eruption from one of the volcanoes around Nagoya (“one of” because, I cannae figure out what the name of it is in Japanese). It was a billowing cloud of ash and smoke. From the news report, it looked like it went up 50-100meter high and scattered lava around the vegetable fields which had been taking advantage of the fertile soils around the area. It’s as if all the natural disasters decided to coordinate efforts. I know volcanic activity and earthquakes are related, but I didn’t expect that a (the) volcano would vent so soon from the subducting plate movements into Japan that just happened over the weekend... I still am intrigued by physical geography.
So, in the middle of Typhoon Songda, I decide to turn into a Kitten-saving super heroes yesterday. Mid way through lunch, while watching the weather report (again), we suddenly thought of the litter of kitten we saw monday after work and wondered what would happen to them in the the high-speed wind storm. We figured they wouldn’t survive the typhoon so we set of with box in hand to go save them. We only found one of them and we took “Twinkle” home with us, gave him milk, food, a towel/blanket, warmth, a shelter over his head and lots of love - even though he was quite cross and vicious toward us, probably cause he was so frightened....
Present day. Saturday. Osaka City.
Life seems back to normal. My life has obviously picked up pace from the last six months. :-) Amen God. I'm sorry for such sporadic entries and when I do, their incredibly long. To make it worth your while having read thus far, here are some piccies of what I get to enjoy everyday!
The container apartments I call home at Wakabacho, Ashiya.
Not quite the view from my window. From the park across the river.
