SLEEP! or not...

Later in the evening John, a Japanese friend through Church (yes he is Japanese but he has taken a Christian name), came by to check on us before he went to a friends to sleep for the night.  He worked only a few minuted from our hotel in Shinjuku but he lives in Yokohama, which is a fair distance away.  That night we had Sarah and Caroline stay with us as they had nowhere else to go.  It was not a good night for sleep.

SCAVENGE!

Caroline and Sarah walked with me to the first floor, down the emergency staircase because we still were unable to use the elevator.  There, the girls inquired about their bus to Kyoto overnight to discover that it was canceled, but they were entitled to a refund.  The hotel staff had filled all their rooms and the price for a single room with a bed was about $170 CAD, twice their normal rate.  The businesses in Shinjuku certainly made their share of money off of the disaster.  The hotel staff was kind enough to let the girls store their luggage overnight and they shared a room with us.

TSUNAMI!

As the day started to wear on, the sky darkened and the clouds began to blow into the sky that were full of rain clouds.  As the weather started to get colder, the quakes started to become slower so more and more people left the open area in the center to sit on the benches along the outside of the park. 

PANIC!

We left the coffee shop and headed towards the hotel, following along the road.  As we were walking, the opposing side of the street people were pointing to the upper extremities of the buildings above us, making me wonder what they were looking at but not really wanting to stop and gawk.  Tokyo is a city of millions, and every single one was in the middle of the street.  Staring at the buildings and each other trying not to cry.  Every building had people leaving it after the big shock and doing headcounts.  The people were kind enough to make space for those on their way to destinations so we didn't have to force our way through a crowd.  Even in a crisis the Japanese are polite.

EARTHQUAKE!

Here in Japan there was just  the largest Earthquake ever measured.  As I write this, according to BBC World News, 26 have been confirmed dead and many missing.  The excact number continues to change, but it seems to be about an 8.7 on the richter scale.

Takoyaki

Japanese food is very different from standard North American meat and potatoes.  Still very different from the food we get out on the prairies, even in 'Japanese' restaurants.  My tutor, Kimura Mariko, decided to introduce me to takoyaki.

I've had tako (squid) before.  Never in this form, usually in some Greek dish, and I can't say I particularly enjoyed it.  But hey, when in Rome...

Heat (What? Again?)

So now I have a heater in my room that does more than act as a fire without the comforting sounds and hypnotic movements.  Really, that stove only had the downsides of fire-heat.  It was a God-send those days though.
Now I spend my days in comfort, allowing my electric bill to steadily climb (to which I say, meh, it is still cheap).  If I have successfully conquered heating my room, why then would  I continue to talk about heating?  Really, there a ton of interesting things here to see and do, but the Japanese have several other intuitive ways of heating, read on!

Heat

In Canada we have Central Heating, which means that even when it is very cold outside, all of the rooms in our houses are heated evenly (more or less).  We also construct most buildings to retain heat.  Doors and windows that seal well, central rooms, etc.  In Japan, things are very different.

Pancakes, In a Can!

Everyone I know has heard stories of the vending machines here in Japan.  I have yet to find anything too interesting in any of them.  All I have seen are standard drink ones.  And the odd cigarette one.
I have seen interesting drinks in them, though.  Such as "Hot Lemon" or "Hot Yuzu"

Lately the Weather has Been so BiPolar

Hello all.  Haven't talked in a while.  Well I guess I have just become better at procrastinating while residing on a different continent.  I suppose I should just actually write more of these things, not like I'm never on the internet.

Yesterday, I bought a bike.  (Go me!) Few cool things about the bikes here, they all have baskets and the locks are not chain locks, though you can find them, but just a little lock on the back wheel.  I still fail to see how these things are 'locked', one merely needs to raise the rear tire slightly and walk it to wherever.  That, and I see people leaving things in the baskets all the time with them never being removed.