Earthquakes, Car accidents, and Customer service

Yesterday an Earthquake occurred in Japan. It happened in an area about 200 miles north of Tokyo. Many people said they felt it, although I did not. I was on the subway on my way to Kamakura when it happened. One person I spoke to said that he was in the hotel when it happened and he felt the building sway and shake, as well as heard the walls creaking. I am glad I was out of the building at the time! The newspaper said that so far they have found nine people dead and 200 injured.

On a lighter note, I had a great day in Kamakura. I spent the day alone walking around and exploring this beautiful area. I went alone for a couple of reasons. Partly because I just needed a break from the schedule and large group activities, and partly because I just wanted to see if I could navigate my way around Japan by myself. I had virtually no problems. It took me about an hour on the train to get to Kamakura. I got a little turned around in one of the stations where I had to change from the subway line to the train line. The most wonderful thing about Japanese people that I have found, is that they are more than willing to help you if you get lost. I asked a girl to show me which station I was supposed to change to by pointing to it on the map. She walked me all the way to the train. The day before I went out looking for the 100yen store (like our $1.00 store) and I walked into a store and asked an employee where the 100 yen store was. He had no idea what I was asking. So, I pulled out my trusty little Japanese-English dictionary and attempted to explain to him what I was saying. He very politely gestured for me to follow him out of the store, around the corner, and down the street. He took me all the way to the 100yen store! Now that's what I call customer service. Anyway, back to Kamakura.

I saw three temples, and two shrines. I wanted to see more but the temples were so far apart I was exhausted after seeing the third temple I decided to go to the nearby beach and put my feet in the ocean. I sat on the beach for about an hour taking pictures of the people and scenery, then I headed back to Tokyo. I met up with two women from the JFMF group and we went to dinner. I spent 780 yen (about $8.00) and had a huge bowl of noodles and a plate of tempura. The food is surprisingly cheap here. The restaurants are very reasonable and tipping is not allowed. The most expensive meal I ate was $1800 yen ($20.00) It was a great day!

Today we left Tokyo for the Chiba prefecture. We are now in Chiba City which usually takes about an hour from Tokyo by bus if you don't smash into another car on the way. Our tour bus driver apparently ran a red light smashing into a small car. Luckily we were all wearing our seat belts, except for our guide Sawamoto-san. She went flying forward into the entry way of the bus. She seemed to be uninjured although shaken up. A couple of my group members complained of whiplash. One of them went to the hospital to be checked out. I'm fine and was hardly shaken at all. The accident caused quite a traffic jam and a lot of excitement for our group. We were all snapping pictures and watching the collection of emergency vehicles arrive on the scene. Three ambulances, a fire truck, two police vehicles all ascended on the scene in a matter of five minutes. A monk appeared out of nowhere and began sweeping the street before the emergency vehicles even arrived, then he disappeared. That was weird! After about 45 minutes of waiting, several taxis arrived to take us to our hotel.

Tomorrow our week of school visits begins! This is the part of the trip I have most been looking forward to. We will tour the local University, Chiba University, all morning tomorrow. After lunch we will be visiting a local Sake Brewery! The whole group is really excited about this. I hope to take home some samples. Later we will visit a "Handicraft"shop. We will be in our host city, Katori, tomorrow night and for the next eight days.

This is the car our bus hit! A passenger was mildly injured.