My Birthday, Funnies and the Earthquake...

Hi everyone, sorry it's been a while. But, that just means I have a lot to write about!

My parents came out for my birthday which was great - we did some Tokyo sightseeing at places I have already been to so won't write about here. On my birthday, we went for all-you-can-eat sushi, which was AMAZING! I am now a huge fan of whale!

One day, I went out on to the roof of my dorm to hang up my laundry to dry. It was such a clear day that I had an amazing view of Fuji, so I took this photo:

How many people can say they can see that from their rooftop?

I have been clubbing a fair bit in Tokyo recently, as well as all-night karaoke, which is obviously fun and Japanese seem to always buy me drinks. For example, I accidentally knocked a guy's drink on the floor, looked up at him and the following ensued:

Me: Argh! I'm really sorry, what were you drinking? I'll get you a new one!

Japanese guy: Oh hang on, it's your birthday isn't it?

Me: Yeah it is, but what do you want to drink?

Japanese guy: Then I will get YOU a drink! What will you have?

Me: Erm....

Japanese guy: Jagerbomb?

Me: OK then, if you're sure?

Japanese guy: CHEERS!

Only in Japan can you knock someone's drink on the floor, for them to then buy YOU one. Bizarre, but I wasn't complaining.

I managed to pick this up on one of my nights out:

A giant poster from a noodle restaurant. Unfortunately it didn't fit in my suitcase *sad face*

I used my birthday money to buy some lovely headphones and a beautiful new bass - the Fender 70s re-issue Jazz bass (on the right):

Also, the obligatory funny Engrish signs:

"25:00~8:00" is when it's cheaper to do karaoke, apparently.

Ah, of course - I must be careful of my skis that I frequently carry around the CITY of Tokyo. Also, it doesn't look like he's been on holiday as he has no other bags.

Mmm, delicious Beel!

My friend and I were going to go in and then say that it was all right as we were foreigners not 'foregners' but we thought they probably wouldn't find it funny/understand.

So, now that the fun stuff's out of the way, I should probably talk about the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear plant situation.

When the earthquake happened at 2:46pm on the Friday, I was still in bed (had been out the night before) and felt my bed shaking. I was confused, naturally. Then I looked up and saw the things on my shelves shaking, as was the screen of my laptop. At this point, I jumped out of bed, grabbed breakables from the shelves and posted a Facebook status: "My first BIG earthquake!" (I'm a 21st Century man, OK?). Then I crouched down on the floor next to my bed. At that point my friend, Tim, knocked on my door:

Tim: "Jim! What the F do we do?"

Me: "I dunno"

*Both standing there in PJs*

After about 2 minutes, the shakes stopped and we relaxed. The building still intact, I carried on as I normally would - I had a shower, got dressed, etc. When I went out to get some food, everything was as normal but I could see lots of people gathered at the station:

Everyone was watching the large TV screens on sides of the buildings. This was the first I heard/saw of the terrible tsunami. I stood watching for a good half an hour before carrying on to get food. Seeing the tsunami more or less as it was happening was scary. People's lives being destroyed was not something I expected to see on my year abroad.

In my town, Tachikawa, there was no visible damage apart from a few broken windows. However, as the weekend progressed, people seemed to become more and more quietly panicked. I say 'quietly' because although it appeared everyone was calm and going about their daily business as usual, this was the sort of thing I was seeing in the usually fully-stocked convenience stores:

People seemed to be panic-buying, even by Saturday. By Monday, this was still the case, especially due to the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which caused people to worry more. On Monday, Newcastle Uni emailed the students studying in Japan, saying to leave the Tokyo area if worried and by Tuesday this had changed to 'Leave Japan ASAP'. They said that our insurance would cover our flights, so I booked my tickets and was on a flight on Thursday.

On Wednesday night, my friend, Tessa, and I stayed in a hotel close to the airport as she was worried we wouldn't make it in time on the day of the flight due to petrol shortages and the train services being disrupted. So after looking at 2 izakayas,which could only offer cold foods (due to power shortages) and expensive beers, we found a place where everything was just ¥300 (about £2.20), including takoyaki (delicious fried octopus balls). We ended up having some great banter and stayed there until 1 am.

Feeling a little worse-for-wear the next day, we got up at 7am and went to the airport, where Tessa had to get her re-entry permit (which for various reasons she had not got before). She got the permit with about 10 minutes to spare before the gate closed, so when I saw her board the plane I was so relieved (I had gone on without her!).

So now I am home in Kent, safe and sound. I am going up to Newcastle to visit friends on Thursday until the following Tuesday, which I am so excited about. Whether or not I go back to Japan is undecided at the moment, but I will keep you updated on the situation. Thank you for trawling through my huge post - I know lots of you will have been interested to know my experiences of the biggest recorded earthquake in Japan!