19 Mar 2011 - 04:00
I was waken up in the middle of the night again.
An entire week after the earthquake I still sort of sleepless. It's funny about the way I bonded with this country. Callng it my second home. I missed tokyo, I missed Japan. I missed the Japanese.
Really hope this will be over soon and everything back to normal a.s.a.p.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
15 Mar 2011: Things not looking good here
It's the 4th day since the biggest earthquake of Japan's history happened.
Here in Tokyo, everything looks alright, except the news. We have several aftershocks, but then well prepared with survival kits and stuff with us all the times.
24 hours ago I was telling everyone, don't worry, everything's gonna be alright. It looked all normal in Tokyo center, nothing to panic about, no need to fly out of Japan. Please divert your hearty blessings to the affected sites in the North. We are fine in Tokyo. "Come on, Don't be paranoid!" I have said that over hundred times. I was so determined to stay with people here through all this then.
And this morning, at 11am, another nuclear reactor exploded. Now, this is worrying...Friends from Hong Kong start calling me on my cellphone, urged me to fly back. Not to mention the email messages and FB messages I kept ignoring so far...
Reluctantly I talked to my boss and mentioned the intention to work from Hong Kong office temporarily...He said "Yes, do the wise things you think you should do."
Called mum, she's crying at first, when I told her about the flight, she immediately bursted into laughs and cry happily...A sense of guilt lurked though my veins. "Shouldn't have made mum worried like that." I said to myself.
I put down the phone, and frowned.
Very mixed feelings. I JUST started calling Japan my second home. I have some loved ones here too, flying back just like this. I'm feeling bit hard too. It hurts.
Fingers crossed, things will be under control soon, and I can return in no time...
Japan and friends here, my heart is still with you all.
Japan my dear home, I WILL BE BACK SOON.
私はすぐ日本のホームに帰ってくる
皆さん さびしくなるよ！
Friday, March 11, 2011
11 Mar 2011: Biggest Earthquake in Japan's History
東北地方の地震 国内最大のM８．８、海外でも津波警戒
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
It's in every headline, every TV channel, every walks of life in Japan. A horrible day in Japan, Tokyo even. It's the 6th largest recorded since 1900...Certainly the largest in Japan's history.
The first most severe to many, including me.
Several days ago, I was in the office when a 3.x ritcher earthquake hit north of Japan. I felt it swaying the entire building, thought that was horrifying.
Today, after lunch, a even stronger one came.
I was in the office working, suddenly I felt the floor humming, thought it was a mini trauma or something. But then the floor started to swing sideways, still we all thought it's fine, "Everyone stay calm, it's gonna be fine." People around said.
THEN, the building started jumping up and down, now this is not fine. File cabinets are banging. My monitor is literally JUMPING up and then back down on the desk. "Shxt, WTF, WTH is this?"
Now everyone stood up and looked around, waiting for further instructions from anyone. Maybe the building announcements?
Nope, nothing, so we start wondering "Shall we stay, or shall we move downstairs..."
"This building is ok, we are safer inside the building then outside."
That line stopped lots of us from moving...and then, we saw smokes coming out from Odaiba area, right next to Fuji TV and Tokyo Tower direction...
And then not long after that, maybe 10mins or so, another shake strike us. We nearly lost balance. Everyone was just stay low and grab any desk/chair nearby.
That went on for around 10mins. Now we decided we should go. So we took our bags and walked down from 26/F to the open area for evacuation.
OK, then everyone down on the ground were checking news. It's 8.8 ritcher in the origin area. Tokyo, probably 5 or so. News then came about Narita and Haneda Airports closed. All metro and JR suspended. By then I already got 20+ messages from HKG via my mobile phone...this is really big, we all agreed...
Finally, it quieted down a bit, so I went all the way back up to the office to check out things...
Trying to call up my sister in Hong Kong, desperately wanted to hear her voice and let her know I'm safe...and surely, Hope to hear the subway resume service so I could go home soon...
No joy...so planning to walk home...I have never seen THAT much people walking on the street in Roppongi Ichome...All the way down, via 国会議事堂前駅 Kokkaigijidomae, ichigaya, kudanshita, all packed with people walking home...
On the way, I passed by lots of convenience store, but had no intention to stop, just want to be home before my phone ran out of battery, coz' the GPS Google Map is my only friend right now...Announcements was everywhere, but all in Japanese so I really didn't know what's going on around...my friend even pinged me at Whatsapp and said "Are you OK? Everyone is looking for you in Facebook." "Am fine, walking home, should be there in 20mins...Thanks." I texted back, feeling a bit better as I knew lots of people cared about me and I need to get home asap to let them all know that I am safe...
And it's getting cold, "Google map said 58mins, should be fine..." I said to myself...Yikes it ended up to be a 1.5 hours of walk, the final 10mins I was actually dashing/sprinting to warm myself up...When I got home, face are frozen, hands are shaking, legs are tiring...luckily my home looked exactly the same as this morning when I left it...The TV didn't tip over, lucky...
The rest of it, including the 10m high Tsunami, were all shown on TV you all knew...
Not to mention me stopping by the FamilyMart nearby, SHELVES WERE ALL CLEARED...no cup noodles at all. I managed to get some chicken sticks, and miso soup cup...
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
It's in every headline, every TV channel, every walks of life in Japan. A horrible day in Japan, Tokyo even. It's the 6th largest recorded since 1900...Certainly the largest in Japan's history.
The first most severe to many, including me.
Several days ago, I was in the office when a 3.x ritcher earthquake hit north of Japan. I felt it swaying the entire building, thought that was horrifying.
Today, after lunch, a even stronger one came.
I was in the office working, suddenly I felt the floor humming, thought it was a mini trauma or something. But then the floor started to swing sideways, still we all thought it's fine, "Everyone stay calm, it's gonna be fine." People around said.
THEN, the building started jumping up and down, now this is not fine. File cabinets are banging. My monitor is literally JUMPING up and then back down on the desk. "Shxt, WTF, WTH is this?"
Now everyone stood up and looked around, waiting for further instructions from anyone. Maybe the building announcements?
Nope, nothing, so we start wondering "Shall we stay, or shall we move downstairs..."
"This building is ok, we are safer inside the building then outside."
That line stopped lots of us from moving...and then, we saw smokes coming out from Odaiba area, right next to Fuji TV and Tokyo Tower direction...
And then not long after that, maybe 10mins or so, another shake strike us. We nearly lost balance. Everyone was just stay low and grab any desk/chair nearby.
That went on for around 10mins. Now we decided we should go. So we took our bags and walked down from 26/F to the open area for evacuation.
OK, then everyone down on the ground were checking news. It's 8.8 ritcher in the origin area. Tokyo, probably 5 or so. News then came about Narita and Haneda Airports closed. All metro and JR suspended. By then I already got 20+ messages from HKG via my mobile phone...this is really big, we all agreed...
Finally, it quieted down a bit, so I went all the way back up to the office to check out things...
Trying to call up my sister in Hong Kong, desperately wanted to hear her voice and let her know I'm safe...and surely, Hope to hear the subway resume service so I could go home soon...
No joy...so planning to walk home...I have never seen THAT much people walking on the street in Roppongi Ichome...All the way down, via 国会議事堂前駅 Kokkaigijidomae, ichigaya, kudanshita, all packed with people walking home...
On the way, I passed by lots of convenience store, but had no intention to stop, just want to be home before my phone ran out of battery, coz' the GPS Google Map is my only friend right now...Announcements was everywhere, but all in Japanese so I really didn't know what's going on around...my friend even pinged me at Whatsapp and said "Are you OK? Everyone is looking for you in Facebook." "Am fine, walking home, should be there in 20mins...Thanks." I texted back, feeling a bit better as I knew lots of people cared about me and I need to get home asap to let them all know that I am safe...
And it's getting cold, "Google map said 58mins, should be fine..." I said to myself...Yikes it ended up to be a 1.5 hours of walk, the final 10mins I was actually dashing/sprinting to warm myself up...When I got home, face are frozen, hands are shaking, legs are tiring...luckily my home looked exactly the same as this morning when I left it...The TV didn't tip over, lucky...
The rest of it, including the 10m high Tsunami, were all shown on TV you all knew...
Not to mention me stopping by the FamilyMart nearby, SHELVES WERE ALL CLEARED...no cup noodles at all. I managed to get some chicken sticks, and miso soup cup...
I am glad that I am home finally, seeing so many caring messages from everyone. So touched. Thanks everyone. Thanks indeed. I love you all.
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