Just checking in to say that the major earthquakes that struck northern Japan today did not have any effect on us. We didn’t feel a thing here, and the first I heard about this happening was from Ethan, who IMd me with, “hey – you rocking the earthquake? it looked like it’s not very close to you”.
I have no idea how long this link will be valid, but dang, check this out–I’ve never seen anything that impacted so much of the country like this! Apparently they felt something in Takamatsu/Okayama-ish, but that’s all that Shikoku would have felt. (And if you look back at previous earthquake images…it looks like Niigata got very minor earthquakes every 10-20 minutes all day today. Wow.)
I really am curious as to whether I’ll feel anything moderately strong while I’m in Hokkaido/Tohoku in a couple of weeks, since a lot of stronger quakes seem to be centered in and around Tokyo and north of there. It’s rare to get anything big in western Japan.
In other news, there was a small festival and a fireworks display in Ikeda today, and I went out to the festival with Julie, Chalice, and Ashley, and Sally and her dad joined us (and we saw a TON of our students there, but especially the Ikeda ALTs in particular). I had to miss the fireworks, though, due to my two phone interviews this evening. I was able to catch a bit on the balcony before the first interview, though, and it was nice to at least see that much. Afterwards, I went straight to the Okinawan restaurant and met the crowd for about an hour, though Sally, her dad, and Ashley had to leave before too long. It was good to unwind after 1.5 hours on the phone–the interviews/phone sessions went pretty well, I think, but I still have three more to go. We’ll see how tomorrow and the day after unfold.