Last Night's Earthquake

I really appreciate all those who dropped a line in regards to last night's earthquake, but in Tokyo, it wasn't too bad. (While it was a 7.5 up north, for us, it was only about a 3 or so). At the time that it happened, I was just relaxing in my room with my girlfriend (who was asleep) when my phone started ringing in a way I hadn't heard before. Sure enough, I opened it up, and there was an email inside that only said 'Earthquake'. (The Japanese government somehow has a system out that sends out warnings to EVERYONE'S cell phone when an earthquake is about to hit). About 30 seconds later, it hit, and everything started to shake. It was bad enough to wake her up (and homegirl can sleep through damn-near anything), but it lasted for less than a minute before disapating. After it finished, like most 'quake-proof' buildings in Tokyo, my apartment continued to sway and wobble for a few minutes after, but overall no damage done.


Thus far, I've been back in Tokyo for about two weeks now, and it's been interesting seeing how many things are different. The other day, I saw Shibuya at night with all the neon lights OFF and much like my first train ride in the dark since I've been back, it was my first time ever seeing that. It was eerie. On a more annoying note, the escalators continue to stay off in a lot of places, and I have a feeling that they will continue to for some time to come. After work, I stopped by one of my modeling agencies, Free Wave, and dropped off some food for a run they were making up to Fukushima to help out with relief. It's funny because I never thought a modeling agency would be the first in line to do that kind of thing, but as horrible as things have been, it really has brought out the best in a lot of people, and some of the truest heroes in efforts to help out have been people that I never would have thought had the character. Just goes to show that you can never judge a book by it's cover.

On a darker note, it is also interesting to see how it changed people in other ways. People are quieter. Even though they still laugh and joke, you can see in their eyes that thoughts of what they have been through are never that far away. The master I study Karate under said he saw streets undulating like ocean waves, and skyscrapers wobbling like blades of grass in the wind... and it was an image that will be with him for the rest of his life. My heart really truly goes out who were actually in the epicenter and I can't help but wish I could do more for them.