Another Stormy Sunday, Sumo Scrutiny and Seismic Shakes

At 9:42 this morning, while I was breaking my early morning riser rule and sleeping away the daylight, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Hokuriku region in central Japan. The Ishikawa Prefecture was the hardest hit with over 40 homes reduced to rubble and over 200 homes and buildings suffering major damage. Although I don’t think a death in this fashion is something to be thankful about, considering the quakes of the past the current reports of only one dead is some good news in the face of what could have been a major tragedy. Yasuhisa Shiozaki, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, confirmed earlier this afternoon that the person killed was a 52 year old woman with various news reports saying she was crushed by stone lantern. The reports of injuries due to the quake is also very low at 170. Two 10-20 centimeter tsunamis crashed into the coast an hour after the quake struck causing some to flee for higher ground. The epicenter, The Japan Meteorological Angency says, was 30 kilometers southwest of the Ishikawa Prefecture 11km under the Sea of Japan. Power is still out in some areas and the quake forced the closing of some train lines and a small region airport. An aftershock warning, as there were a few scattered about during the day, is in affect. The Noto area alone has been jolted with over 100 aftershocks with some registering up to 5 on the scale.

Wajima (193 miles northwest of Tokyo) looks to be the worst of the cities affected by the quake with 44 homes totally destroyed and many more being hit with some kind of major damage. 1,000 people or more were evacuated to school and other points of refuge. The cutting of water supplies and power failures are scattered the region with some 600 people without power and over 4,500 homes without water. 400 police from various surrounding prefectures have been dispatched to the area with 30 of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force arriving to collect information about the quake. Landslides and aftershocks now are the main cause of concern as well as getting power and water back to those without. 1933 was the last time a major earthquake hit this area causing three casualties. CNN reports that Takeshi Hachimine, seismology and tsunami section chief at the Meteorological Agency, said the affected area was not considered earthquake-prone. "After the powerful earthquake, aftershocks will continue," Hachimine said. "All residents, especially those who are near the hardest-hit areas, are advised to use extra caution. Aftershocks could further damage what's already fragile."


This quake has hit a little too close for my liking. The Ishikawa Prefecture is only three prefectures away from me. I doubt I would have felt any shaking if I had been awake and if I had probably would have disregarded it as one of the passing trains. So, before all of you back home see it on the television or read it in the paper and flock to your phones or computers to ensure that I am in one handsome piece I assure you I slept like a baby until eleven and didn’t learn of the news until later on when I visited the online website for the Japan Times.

Back in January I devoted an entire post to earthquakes after another large one hit Hokkaido at the start of the year. Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries and with two over 6.1 magnitude quakes in the span of three months you better believe it. Here you an island sitting on top of four tectonic plates. There are two types of earthquakes: induced and naturally occurring. In the case of today’s and most quakes they fall under the category of naturally occurring. These are caused by the tectonic nature of the Earth. One could look at the planet is a grouping of plates always in motion induced by heat within the core which causes the rock underneath the planet’s surface to become a sort of lava that moves those plates around. When plates cross each other is creates friction and this builds up a fault plane underground which displaces the Earth’s crust producing seismic waves that cause the trembling of the earth. Japan, with the history of tragic quakes, knows of these tremblings all to well and have one of the best earthquake task forces in the world not to mention reinforced buildings, bridges and well plotted out evacuation plans. Comforting, yes, but when I take a glance at how close this baby hit today and I keep reading about how some major quake is long overdue I do a little trembling of my own. In Canada all I had to worry about was the possible chance that I might have to wear snowshoes and skates to get into work. That and those insanely murderous wild rabid Ottawa beaver gangs.

In that January post I wrote: I certainly know I will be keeping my guard up by having a prepared area in my apartment for extra food and water, I will pick up a flashlight and familiarize myself with escape routes. I also think now of my father, who still resides by the tracks. The photos on his wall always hang askew. There is no reason to straighten them as the next train will just rush on by and place them back in their crooked positions. So, I think the best course of action along with the above is to pre-askew my wall photos and, generally, keep my place in a helter-skelter, uncleanly state. If people inquire on the ramshackle condition of my abode I will smile and say: "Sometimes the earthquake gets you and sometimes you get the earthquake." I have to be honest and say that I have not done this, any of it, although my room has sometimes looked like an earthquake has hit it. The water and food storage is something I should have done the first week I arrived but I have been far too busy with exploring and work and time spent organizing my apartment is at a very low minimum. In fact, I don’t think I have done any major sorting or cleaning except for that day a few weeks back. With this morning’s warning, I decided that it was time to get things in gear and plan my earthquake kit. It will sit in one of those plastic bins in the closet and be a box of crackers, some bottled water and anything else I think won’t go bad. I have my flashlight keychain on me or easily accessible and the TV, radio and computer are in the room to provide updates. Throw in some reading material and a pretty Japanese girl and you have the perfect Earthquake kit. In all seriousness, I’m reading the signs and will get my ass in gear.

In other news yesterday was my first staff meeting of all the teachers in the area, both native and Japanese. I don’t know if I mentioned this yet but all the Japanese teachers that work for The Company are women. For some reason men are excluded from the hiring practices which would certainly have many crying afoul back in the West. There are more Japanese teachers then us foreign type and so here I was today in a conference room just outside of Osaka surrounded by about two dozen vivacious ladies. Some of these girls were heartstoppingly gorgeous. Yes, so pretty that I have to make up words to describe them. Us native teachers were all placed in a group with four of five of these women and they expected me to concentrate and be able to demo new lesson curriculum with such unclean thoughts rattling around in my mind. The Japanese teachers were much more nervous about this day than I was and they had good cause to be. Unlike us, the Japanese teachers are hawkeyed and marked by not only their area manager but a designated head teacher in our group. Mog posted on his site recently and allow me to reiterate but the Japanese teachers really do get the short end of the stick here. They do much more work then people like me, much more, and are paid less. Their salary depends on how many kids they can maintain in a classroom and the have heaps of pressure loaded onto their slender backs. It really doesn’t make much sense.

At this meeting my supervisor handed over to me something I have not had since December. You know, I want to say a Bridgehead coffee but what he placed into my hands was my first paycheck. I am now earning some cash and no longer have to live strictly off the money I brought with me. I was expecting much less with all the deductions the Company levies upon you so I was happily surprised to find that higher block of numbers underneath the column with the text I couldn’t read. In fact, I couldn’t read any of this outside of the numbers and this includes my own name as it was all in Japanese. I really do not like this as I cannot make out what is being deducted and the why and the where it is coming from. Apparently I was giving some kind of pay stub translator during training but considering I was given about three box loads of paper during those two weeks it might take a day of digging to actually find it. I admit, I am not a very trusting individual and always err on the side of caution when it comes to the very important things. Getting paid is a very important thing so a digging I will go for this kanji check code cracker and if I can’t find it I will find somebody who can read this thing so I can ensure everything is what everything should be.

Meanwhile, as I write this, the rain continues to fall on another day of the weather flexing around above me. Yes, yes, you got me again, didn’t you? Here I have another day off and am stuck inside while you storm and blow your way over the city. Fine, fine. Honestly, I am actually pretty happy the weather is bad today. There were some things I wanted to get done online, some pictures needing editing, and a new program to learn. I finally managed to get my hands on some professional video editing software and I spent the better half of the afternoon learning how to use it while watching those fat, sweaty men slam into each other all over again. My sumo tournament footage clocks in at nearly fifteen minutes and I had a two minute opening montage in mind from the moment I started shooting last week. There is more to come as this is just the first little bit, a teaser if you will, and only the opening sequence but here you are. Enjoy the fruits of my editing education this afternoon. I have to go and make an earthquake kit.