Earthquake

American Culture Tour

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American Culture Tour

I wanted to remember my experience returning to the U.S. after a year away and with a group of Japanese students.

Every year, our university subsidizes a trip for all freshmen in our English communication program to visit Willamette University in Salem, OR for five days. We call it “American Culture Tour.” Willamette University is the sister university to our school and where our students go to study abroad. This year, about 200 students, 10 teachers and a handful of admins made the trek across eight time zones and back.

Click on any photo for a larger view and full caption. More of the story below.

Before we set off, we had a series of classes to teach our students what to anticipate when traveling. We covered everything from packing, customs/security, airport plans, etc. Most students had never left Japan before and it was their first trip abroad or to the U.S. We placed a lot of emphasis on packing comfortable clothes and shoes. Americans dress a lot more casually than the Japanese. A couple of my ladies still brought their platform heels!

The airport experience was really smooth. My students were very well behaved and accepted my authority when I asked them to do something. Only one student accidentally brought a pen/X-ACTO knife combo through security, which was confiscated. In Japan (and most other countries I have traveled to), it’s not necessary to take off your shoes going through security!

The only thing out of my control happened in the airport going through customs. We had lined up when alarms and sirens started going off. Students’ phones started beeping with emergency notifications. And then the ground started to shake. We had a pretty major earthquake—actually in our home prefecture of Saitama—but we were about two hours away at the airport in Narita. A couple of the students started to freak out while myself and another teacher (Cassie, you rock!) just froze and looked at each other like, “What the hell is happening?” I have to say, we did great. But, my nerves were frayed after that. Being responsible for 17 lives in a natural disaster? No, thanks.

I think the students were excited about being in an airplane—watching movies and eating the food, ordering beverages, etc., although they were instructed not to order alcohol! We left Tokyo at 5 p.m. on Monday and arrived in Portland around 1 p.m. on Monday. Going through American customs took forever because all 200 kids were in the foreign passport line. And some of the customs agents were pills. Even I got stopped and asked for my American ID in addition to my passport.

Students and staff from Willamette met us at the airport, which was a nice greeting. My group had two Willamette students who stayed with us that week and arranged activities for my students when I wasn’t holding class.

We arrived on campus and students got their dormitory room keys and unpacked. We had a boxed lunch in the courtyard. We had beautiful weather that week! In fact, the Willamette campus was so gorgeous. Flowers blooming. The sun was out. The grass was green. The students were impressed by the “nature” and squirrels on campus and in the parks.

Speaking of lunch, is everything is bigger in America? When my students returned from their weeklong trip to Oregon last year and reported that the “food is big,” I thought, “Eh, whatever. American food is not that big in size.”

But, this year, I discovered they were right. Mea culpa. American people are bigger. The cars (trucks) are gigantic. And yes, the food portions are pretty big. At least from the perspective of the Japanese diet. Our lunch that day had a big sandwich, a bag of chips, a side of hummus, a pear and a brownie. It was awesome! But no way did anyone finish it all.

We had been awake for who knows how many hours at this point. I wish I had written down what times I actually slept. I was on a crazy schedule. I would try to sleep at midnight, but be wide awake. And if I fell asleep, I would nap and wake up at 3 a.m. ready to go. I actually slept through my alarm the first day, but I made it to class only 4 minutes after 9 a.m.

Each day, we held class in the morning for three hours. The first day, I took my students to a coffee shop, which was great because I slept through breakfast! Mmmm… Oregon definitely has great coffee. Sorry, Japan! I had an Americano and a Marionberry-basil scone. My students mostly ordered cocoa, but it was great to see them trying to read the menu and order and give the correct amount of money. I stayed out of the way and let them figure it out! A couple of students in the group emerged as leaders and helped out their peers. I had students ranging in sections (based on skill level) from three to 14 (of 15 total).

We also walked along Salem’s riverfront and saw the carousel. We popped into Salem Center mall and browsed through some stores. “Bik shi” or Victoria’s Secret was popular among the girls and everyone seemed to like Hot Topic. The second day, we went to the Salem Public Library—which I love—and we read some children’s books and Japanese manga (comics) translated into English. It was fun and somewhat academic.

One of the students chose a picture book that detailed a Japanese woman’s time in an internment camp in Oregon during World War II. The student didn’t really understand; that was a difficult one to explain. After the library, we walked to get some Dutch Bros coffee and hung out at Bush Park.

Overall, the trip was pretty relaxed. The Willamette students took care of a lot of evening activities so that I could see my family.

It was fun to see my mom and sister. My mom hauled me around town as I browsed through Trader Joe’s, Fred Meyer and Costco. She even brought me my favorite cake from the Market of Choice in Corvallis!

My sister and her boyfriend accompanied us one of the days that we took the students to Portland. The culinary highlight of that day for me was Stumptown’s cold brew coffee. Oh so good. I want another one. Please drink one for me, Cascadians. My sister and her gentleman friend were awesome and served as the navigators for that day.

My students LOVED shopping and thought the prices (even the prices at Pioneer Place) were cheaper than Japan. Favorite stores included Nike, Kitson, Forever 21 and the Made in Oregon store. Oh, and students were in love with the Safeway near campus. The worst Safeway in Salem probably. Oh well. Maybe it’s like how Robert and I were excited about going to grocery stores when we first came to Japan.

Our groups had lunch at the food cart pod downtown. One of my students said “It’s world food.” I guess she was right—Korean, Thai, Greek, Mexican, Polish, Chinese, even Japanese. But I think students mostly tried American food: “big” hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs. Some had burritos or tacos, but overall, I don’t think they were into Mexican food. One of the nights, the Willamette student leaders took them to a taqueria and most Japanese students ordered fish and chips or hamburgers. Ha. When my students say they had Mexican food, I always ask, “was it spicy?” And they always say, “yes.” It makes me giggle. I love spicy food so I am a fish out of water in Japan.

My mom took my sister and I to my favorite Mexican restaurant in Salem: La Hacienda. It’s the best because they make their own flour tortillas. Along with a Negra Modelo, that was as good as I remember. I also went to Robo Taco in northeast Portland and ordered some “pork” and “sausage” tacos, which I doused in habanero salsa. YES. And +1 for vegetarian food options.

I’ll also add that in addition to amazing coffee and awesome Mexican food, Oregon has the best beer. Nobody else makes beer like Cascadians. It has color! It has hops! It has depth! Flavor! I die! It was fun shopping around and finding beers on Robert’s wish list. I also enjoyed a hoppy pint at Hair of the Dog and some sours to change it up at Cascade Brewing (on a night off! I was not on duty or in charge of any lives 🙂 ).

My other observations:

  • Portland really IS weird. I could do without randos begging our students for money while in line at VooDoo or screaming and ranting about restraining orders and gun permits in front of the courthouse. I’m glad that last one didn’t erupt in violence.
  • It’s hard to go from Tokyo back to Portland. 13 million people vs. 600,000. I do love pockets of Portland and I’m sure we’ll end up living there, but…there’s no comparison.
  • Americans are rude (but not as rude as Europeans) when compared to super-polite Japanese people. I witnessed Salemites arguing about parking spots, who was in line first and inconsequential things like that. That would never happen in Japan. The Japanese apologize and say excuse me even when they’ve done nothing wrong.

Overall, I had a really great time bonding with my students and seeing them use English in a real world setting. I got to see some of my students from last year who were studying abroad at Willamette. And I got to spend more time with some of my co-workers who went on the trip. Win, win, win. Thanks, ‘Merica.

The Surgeon vs. The Sturgeon

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Tsukiji Fish Market

The great thing about a city like Tokyo is that you never run out of things to see. After a brief Tokyo rut, we’ve recommitted ourselves to crossing things off the “to-see” list.

First item off the list was the historic Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo’s Chūō Ward. Tsukiji is a popular tourist spot, but it’s also a working wholesale fish market. Visitors rub elbows with local chefs picking through the freshest (in many cases, still alive) seafood in Tokyo.

A turret truck cruises through the narrow aisles of Tsukiji Fish Market
A turret truck cruises through the narrow aisles of Tsukiji Fish Market

Inside, hundreds of vendors crowd into a warehouse. The smell of the sea greets you from a block away. The aisles are narrow with just enough room for one-and-a-half people to pass through. Tourists alternate between snapping photos, sidestepping fish-water puddles and dodging the turret trucks that zip down the aisles. Old-school wooden carts roll through more slowly, loaded with some of the larger ocean fish and offering a hint at the origins of the market.

Catch of the day... it looks like I'm afraid someone's going to steal my fish!
Catch of the day… it looks like I’m afraid someone’s going to steal my fish!

Fish markets in Tokyo date back to the 1600s, but the current incarnation was built in 1935 after its Nihonbashi district predecessor was destroyed in the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. In November 2016, the market will be moved to nearby Toyosu to free up the current location for development prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The tools of the trade at Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market.
The tools of the trade at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market.

The butchers worked with surgical precision, carving the large fish into perfectly-weighted fillets and making paper-thin slices for sashimi (raw fish). Many used “knives” that more closely resemble a samurai sword than anything you or I have in our kitchens. The four-foot long blades made short work of the even the largest tuna.

The surgeon vs. the sturgeon. Did I mention this was a working fish market?
The surgeon vs. the sturgeon. Did I mention this was a working fish market?

After awhile, the aromas inherent in such a place started to take their toll on our stomachs. Occasionally I’ll come across Japanese food that makes me second-guess my vegetarian choices, but the fish market was not one of those places.

Cascadia-style coffee perfection at Kachidoki's Market of the Sun
Cascadia-style coffee perfection at Kachidoki’s Market of the Sun

We headed outside for some fresh air and a short walk over the Kachidoki Bridge to our very favorite farmers market in Japan. Market of the Sun is Japan’s largest regular farmers market and has the most unique selection of local produce, goods and snacks in Tokyo. We left with a couple varieties of honest-to-goodness rye bread and a hearty beet, both nearly impossible to find in our local area.

Looking down Monja Street on a quiet Saturday morning.
Looking down Monja Street on a quiet Saturday morning.

A couple blocks away from the market, we checked off another of our Tokyo to-dos with a visit to Monja Street. We’d first tried monjayaki during my birthday weekend in Asakusa. This two-block stretch of restaurants in the Tsukishima district features almost exclusively monjayaki and okonomiyaki shops.

Although it was proper lunchtime, most of the shops were still closed when we arrived. We found one with several people inside and ordered a monjayaki and an okonomiyaki—best described as savory Japanese-style pancakes. The waiter started our monja on the table-top grill, but we took care of the okonomiyaki ourselves. Check out the video below to see us in action!

Video: Making okonomiyaki on Monja Street

Nepal: Before and After

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Young Buddhist monks-in-training having a little fun at Boudhanath
To donate to the relief effort,
see the links at the bottom of the post

When I started to outline the post about Nepal in my head, it felt like it’d be a quick rundown with some nice pictures. I really enjoyed Nepal as a country, but it came at the end of our exhausting tour of northern India. The travel sniffles had set in and we were ready for a couple days of relaxing.

On our first morning in Delhi, we took a walk through the neighborhood near our hotel. I remember seeing the residential buildings in varying states of decay and remarking that it was easy to see why earthquakes in the region cause so many deaths.

On April 25, 2015, a massive and devastating earthquake struck about 50 km outside of the capital city of Kathmandu. The 7.8 magnitude quake was followed the next day by a 6.7 aftershock. At the time of this post, the official death toll is over 2,500 and another 6,000-plus have been injured in Nepal, India and Tibet.

The fault line responsible for the quake is the same one that created the Himalaya mountain range, enough upheaval over millions of years to create nine of the world’s ten tallest peaks. The quake also occurred at a shallow depth; shallow quakes cause the most surface damage.

Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu when we visited in February
Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu when we visited in February
Cracks in the stupa of Boudhanath in Kathmandu (Photo by @JigmeUgen on Twitter)
Cracks in the stupa of Boudhanath in Kathmandu (Photo by @JigmeUgen on Twitter)

It’s a bit eerie now, looking through photos from our trip and reading the news coverage of the heartbreaking damage throughout the country. The stupa at Boudhanath, built shortly after the death of Lord Buddha, is the largest of its kind in the world. Buddha’s eyes can be seen from several vantage points all over Kathmandu. Today, the internet features images of large cracks in the 1,200-year-old stupa’s golden tower.

Extensive damage atop the Swayambhunath complex (Abhimanyu Chakravorty, Indian Express)
Extensive damage atop the Swayambhunath complex (Abhimanyu Chakravorty, Indian Express)
The stupa at Swayambhunath in February. The old shops and monastery residence building is still standing.
The stupa at Swayambhunath in February. The old shops and monastery residence building is still standing. The pagoda can be seen in both photos.

Swayambhunath, a 1,500 year old religious complex, sits atop a hilltop to in western Kathmandu. 365 stairs lead to the top and is a popular trek for religious pilgrims visiting the complex. Known as the Monkey Temple for the holy monkeys that inhabit the grounds, it’s a sacred site for both Buddhists and Hindus.

Several old brick buildings encompass the stupa, housing souvenir shops and residences for the monks living on the grounds. Amazingly, only one death has been reported in the Swayambhunath area. The brick buildings surrounding the stupa have been destroyed.

Pashupatinath Temple experienced little to no damage in the quake
Pashupatinath Temple experienced little to no damage in the quake

Karma’s sick and twisted sense of humor seems to have saved Pashupatinath Temple. Nepal’s answer to Varanasi, the sacred temple is open only to Hindus and Buddhists of Indian or Tibetan descent. Cremations take place all day inside the temple along the banks of the Bagmati River. Somehow, Kathmandu’s holy final resting place escaped Nepal’s deadliest earthquake in 80 years.

The spirit of the Nepalese people will get them through this difficult time, but Nepal is very much a developing country and will need a lot of help to get back on its feet. Rescue workers from all over the region arrived within hours of the quake and the international community is already hard at work on getting food and aid supplies into the country.

Please consider a donation to Mercy Corps or Public Radio International has a list of other charities who have been pre-vetted and are contributing to the relief effort on the ground.

Yokohama

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Yokohama

Yokohama was high on my list of places I wanted to visit while in Japan. I really knew nothing about it and the desire was probably due to it being home to the Yokohama Baystars baseball team, Japan’s equivalent to the Chicago Cubs (think “lovable losers”).

Last weekend, we popped down to Yokohama for the day. Located a short train ride south of Tokyo, it’s actually the most populated municipality in Japan and second most populated city after Tokyo. Due to its development as a port town in the 1800s, Yokohama is a melting pot of Pacific cultures.

Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum
The main floor of the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum

Our first stop was the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, billed as the world’s first food-themed amusement park. On the two lower levels, a 1950s-era Japanese street scene has been replicated in authentic detail with signage, music and a variety of ramen shops. A less-era-authentic magician performed tricks for the large crowd while blasting modern electronic music from his iPhone.

Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum
The standard ordering vending machine, still in use in many shops today; Vegetarian ramen at NARUMI-IPPUDO; The requirement: Everyone has to order at least one bowl of ramen on the honor system.

The wait times for each shop are on a chalkboard by the main stairs. We arrived around noon and already some of the shops had 30 minute waits. Waiting that long for ramen in Japan seems a little silly since there are literally 20,000 shops in Tokyo with no wait, but it’s a little like waiting in line at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland. The wait is part of the experience.

We picked NARUMI-IPPUDO, a French bouillon/Japanese dashi hybrid for our first course. The mini-sized bowls with medium-sized noodles and light broth were the perfect appetizer. In response to the variety of tourists who come through the museum’s doors, most of the shops offer at least one vegetarian bowl and one halal option for the increasing number of Muslim visitors. Guilt-free ramen is the best ramen of all!

Spicy Miso Ramen
The delicious spicy miso ramen at Ryu Shanghai

Lunch #2 involved one of the aforementioned 30 minute waits. Ryu Shanghai offered a unique spicy ramen with thick noodles in a rich, flavorful soup. The added dollop of the spicy miso sauce on top was enough to open up the sinuses on a cold day.

Kamome Shokudo was one shop caught my attention in the brochure. The original shop washed away in the 2011 earthquake and tsumani that decimated northeastern Japan. The shop has been replicated in the museum, giving their Sendai-style ramen a second life.

Puroresu
A 1950s-era television broadcasts old puro resu (professional wrestling) matches

Era-correct props dotted the museum’s basement floors. A payphone booth was made even more authentic by the black electrical tape holding the cord to the handset. An old black and white television console showed 1950s professional wrestling matches (side note: the sport’s popularity in the 1950s used to draw large crowds to watch the matches on big screens in Tokyo). A stained vending machine rolled out small glass bottles of Coca Cola. Plenty to see while waiting in those long ramen lines.

Yokohama Bayfront
Yokohama Landmark Tower; Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel; Yokohama Bay Bridge.

Next, we headed south toward Tokyo Bay. Every once in awhile, we get those “doesn’t feel like Japan” moments. The area around Tokyo Bay certainly qualified as one of those times. The massive Landmark Tower, Japan’s second largest building, anchors the skyline and casts a large shadow over the Nippon Maru, a clipper-style boat-turned-museum that was used as a training vessel for the Japanese Merchant Marines from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Looking toward the bay, you can’t miss the Cosmo Clock 21, the centerpiece of the Minato Mirai 21 (MM21) shopping center. Built in 1989, it was the world’s tallest ferris wheel for nearly a decade and, thanks to the digital clock on its face, it still stands as the world’s largest timepiece.

Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse
The Red Brick Warehouse served as a customs building in the early 20th century, but now hosts shops, restaurants and cultural facilities

From MM21, we followed Kishamichi Promenade along the bayfront. It felt more like the Cairns Esplanade in Australia than anything we’ve seen in Japan. A running event was taking place on the day we visited, so we shuffled alongside those athletes braving the cold weather along the bayfront, ending up at the Red Brick Warehouse. The event overtook the grounds of the former customs warehouse, which was restored in the early 1990s and is now (of course) a retail center.

Yokohama Chinatown
The gates to Yokohama’s Chinatown district

From there, we ventured inland toward Yokohama’s thriving Chinatown district. Thousands of Chinese immigrants arrived at the port in the 1800s, bringing with them food (including ramen) and customs that still thrive in Japan today. More than 250 shops are fit into several city blocks, making it one of the world’s largest “Chinatown” districts.

Guan Di Miao
Guan Di Miao is one of the most important Chinese temples in Yokohama

Two ornate and impressive temples appear between the pork bun shops in Chinatown. Guan Di Miao was founded in the 1860s by immigrants as a central spiritual site as well as a tribute to Guan Gong, a well-respected general during the Han Dynasty in around 220 B.C.

Mazu Miao
The Mazu Miao temple is the newest temple in Chinatown

The second temple rivals all of the great structures we’ve seen in Japan, yet was built less than a decade ago, officially opening in March 2006. The city had planned on building a large apartment complex on the site, but the community was concerned about the impact such a building would have on the area. They negotiated with the developers and eventually purchased the land, building Mazu Miao in its place.

Yokohama Chinatown
The streets of Yokohama’s Chinatown

Less than two hours by train, Yokohama deserves another day trip in the near future. Would love to hear from anyone who’s visited about what we missed the first time around.

Cascadian Abroad :45—Yokohama

Shake, Rattle and Roll

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Earthquakes

In Oregon, earthquakes are something you remember. Ask a resident of the Willamette Valley about the 5.6 magnitude Spring Break Quake, and they’ll be able to tell you exactly how they were woken up at 5:34 a.m. on March 25, 1993. I felt the bed shaking and heard the closet doors rattling in my bedroom. I thought our dog, Sampson, was scratching at the end of my bed, so I gave him a little foot-shove to get him to stop. Apparently he was close to the end of the bed, because he fell off and landed with a thud on the floor, but the bed was still shaking. I still feel bad about that…

In Japan, they’re a fairly regular occurrence. A 2013 study showed that an earthquake of magnitude 3 or more occurs every two to three days on average since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. I’m not sure if you get used to them, but I certainly haven’t yet.

Since part of the intention of Cascadian Abroad was to document our experience in Japan, I’m choosing to use this post as a running log of the quakes we feel in Kawagoe with the date, magnitude and epicenter. Hopefully it’s interesting to some of you as well.

November 7, 2015 at 10:45 p.m. — 4.9 (Ibaraki)

There’s not a lot more unsettling that the start of an earthquake after you’ve already gone to bed. We hadn’t quite fallen asleep when this one started with a slow roll. It felt like one of those that could really get going, but fortunately it was just a little guy.

October 21, 2015 at 3:04 p.m. — 5.5 (Fukushima)

We’ve had a couple little earthquakes since May, but this is the first one in awhile. I try to flip on the local news channel right away to see how long it takes from when I feel it before they mention it. They always beat me to it! This one was about a minute of light shaking, but since it was epicentered in Fukushima—home of the nuclear reactor damaged in the 2011 quake—the news is all over it.

May 30, 2015 at 8:24 p.m. — 8.5 (Ogasawara-shoto Seiho-oki)

Something’s brewing… third quake in a week and by far the largest. Viktoria had just arrived back in Japan from the U.S. when this one hit. We were at the supermarket grabbing a bite to eat in the cafe when the building started to roll for nearly a minute. The overhead lights and signage swayed for several minutes afterward. Everyone froze in place, some announcements were made and some people headed for the exits. We finished our dinner while chatting with the ladies next to us about the “cool” earthquake that just woke us all up.

May 29, 2015 at 1:15 a.m. — 4.8 (Ibaraki Prefecture)

Earth is angry again! In the morning, I watched as Mt. Shindake on Kuchinoerabu Island in southwest Japan erupted live on television. Around 1 a.m., the earth started moving significantly for the second time in a week. It would have been enough to wake me up had I not already been awake, stuck on the addictive Walking Dead game for iPad.

May 25, 2015 at 2:28 p.m. — 5.6 (Saitama Prefecture)

The first significant quake with an epicenter in our home prefecture since we’ve arrived. The epicenter was 68 miles to the northeast of Kawagoe, but actually felt stronger in Ibaraki Prefecture, 120 miles to the east of the epicenter. It was plenty strong here as our little apartment swayed for a good 30 seconds. Viktoria was at Narita Airport preparing to fly back to the U.S. with a group of 200-plus students where alarms sounded when the quake hit.

May 13, 2015 at 6:13 a.m. — 6.6 (Iwate and Miyagi prefectures)

Earth is angry! Yesterday, another large quake struck Kathmandu, Nepal. During the night, tropical storm Noul soaked our neck of the woods. Then, early this morning, a strong quake hit of the northeast coast of Japan. It was enough to wake us from an early-morning slumber, enhanced by the siren of an ambulance that was passing by.

December 20, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. — 5.9 (Fukushima Prefecture)

Our couch wobbles a bit when someone adjusts their position. We’d just commented on this when a 5.9 quake shook our little apartment (low magnitude in our area). The feeling on the couch is exactly the same, but the added rattle of the sliding doors was an indicator that this was not a simple adjustment.

November 22, 2014 at 10:08 p.m. — 6.8 (Nagano Prefecture)

This one hit while Viktoria was in Ibaraki for a conference. We were FaceTiming when the light fixture started to sway. She was on the sixth floor of her hotel and felt it for awhile. Turned out it was a pretty big quake in Nagano, about 90 miles to the east of Kawagoe. Several people were injured, wooden homes collapsed and a mudslide closed a road. Officials were surprised by the strength as inland quakes are typically not as powerful as the coastal quakes.

November 12, 2014 at 9:53 a.m. — 4.7 (Ibaraki Prefecture)

It’s been awhile since we had a good shimmy! A subtle sustained shake to make you say “Hey, it’s been awhile since we had a good shimmy!”

September 16, 2014 at 12:28 p.m. — 5.6 (Ibaraki Prefecture)

Eating lunch when the closet doors starting shaking, then the whole apartment started swaying and seemed to last forever! This only measured as a 5.6, but it felt stronger than any earthquake we’ve experienced since arriving in Japan.

July 12, 2014 at 4:22 a.m. — 6.8 (Fukushima Prefecture)

I thought I was dreaming, but this was an actual (quite long) quake. This one hit near the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant and triggered a small tsunami. According to Japan Today, workers on night shift were instructed to retreat to higher ground.

June 17, 2014 at 2:42 a.m. — 5.3 (Chiba Prefecture)

In a night filled with loud cars and more than one ambulance burning by, why not be woken up in the middle of the night to a shaking floor. Lots of seismic activity in Japan this week.

June 16, 2014 at 5:14 a.m. — 5.8 (Fukushima Prefecture)

Woke up to a long shaking quake this morning. The epicenter was about 90 km (about 56 miles) off the coast of Fukushima, home to the nuclear power plant that was damaged in the 2011 earthquake/tsunami. Japan Meteorological Agency says there was a 5.6 in Ibaraki Prefecture at 3:19 a.m., but that one didn’t wake us.

May 13, 2014 at 8:35 a.m. — 4.9 (northwest Chiba Prefecture)

Just a good, long shake. I was reading e-mail and drinking coffee. First reports indicate that I did not spill said coffee.

May 7, 2014 at 5:18 a.m. — 6.0 (Izu Oshima island south of Tokyo)

This one started with a hard “shove” followed by an extended period of shaking. We were still in bed, but the shove was enough to wake me up.

April 18, 2014 at 7:53 a.m. — 4.7 (south Ibaraki Prefecture)

Making breakfast and noticed the water bottle and pepper shaker on the counter wobbling. Didn’t really feel it otherwise.