Category: Thoughts

So I fire up dashboard with my handy Japanese weather widget and I see…

I’ve never seen a RED umbrella before. Should I be worried? Apparently a typhoon is on the way. A co-worker says that the above-ground trains are often stopped when a typhoon comes. Since I take the simply wonderfully sky-high-above-windy-terrain-to-begin-with Yurikamome line every day on my way to work, I’m wondering if tomorrow/Friday might be my first real commuting adventure here in Japan.

Quick blog update for everyone. The past four weeks have been incredible. I had such an amazing time with Linda (my fiancee) tromping through various parts of Japan. Unfortunately, I was not able to post the episodes that I had recorded and drafted. I didn’t test my cellphone browser with WordPress and I was unable to post the articles containing the episodes.

Rather then post them, and become slightly out of order, I will be creating some newer episodes this week and posting them as I go. I will bring the other material back in at another point. There is too much fun to share now.

I realize it’s been over three weeks, but I hope the wait will be worth it. In the meantime, make sure you check out Inochi-kun.

(IMAGE/REUTERS)

Seems like I’ve been dodging these things in my sleep since I’ve been here. This past weekend we have had both a typhoon and an 6.6-6.8 earthquake in Japan. The earthquake occurred in Kashiwazaki approximately 160 miles northwest of Tokyo. Though I was awakened this morning by my bed moving softly side to side, I didn’t occur to me until Alex and I were at the Panasonic center watching the damage from the Northwest side of Japan that it was actually so large.

Even further, the water level was significantly higher and much more “muddy” in the rivers. Alex and I initially thought that it was due to the typhoon but I have just learned that the earthquake also caused some minor tsunamis warnings that had suspended bullet train service, and temporarily shut down the worlds largest nuclear reactor earlier in the day today.

My experiences with earthquakes so far has been fairly mild. I think its primarily because Tokyo doesn’t get hit directly with so many earthquakes. But I think its interesting that I usually sleep through them or get woken up gently by them. My personal experiences with earthquakes and what I see on the TV is so highly mismatched at this point. Very strange. At any rate, I am ok and there were only a few deaths from this past set of natural occurings.

A special thanks goes out to Matt for sending this my way. Apparently, Finding Japan was put into print for the first time in a recent issue of Newtype magazine, a US-based Japanese Manga and Anime magazine.

Does this mean more trips to Manga-cafe’s and Akiba searching for obscure anime titles for me? Perhaps, perhaps not. I think the current formula for FJ works well. But it is nice to get the notice without even trying. Thanks Newtype and thanks again Matt for noticing and sending it my way.