Week of the Four Elements

Yesterday, during a Game Day, there was an earthquake. Not just any earthquake; it was reported as 6.9 on the Richter scare. However, we were lucky that it was 320 km away and 340 km deep (making it about 457 km from here, and making me smart enough to pass the math test if they only ask me about Old Man Pythagoras). Where we were, it came down to shindo 4 (shindo being a Japanese scale of earthquake intensity, read all about it on Wikipedia). I was on a 2nd floor (by Japanese reckoning) of a sturdy 2-floor building, so it felt like a 1-2 minute long amusement park ride. Don't worry, I'm okay. You're reading my blog, for crying out loud!

As if it wasn't enough, I hear they're planning a typhoon for tomorrow. I've been warned not to shop in underground malls.

Going back in time, last week I went to see fireworks. Twice. Once on Sunday eight days ago, and once on Thursday four days ago. The former was with Edogawa Boardgame Club, the Japanese group that kind of adopted me, and we had a large reserved space on Edogawa bank to lie and watch the magnificent skies. The latter one I went with my Komaba friends and their Komaba friends, and we each rented our own plastic square meter for ¥2000. (Actually now that I'm writing about it, might be even less than 1 m.sq.) The price included listening to a concert, and explosives. It was kind of steep, but worth it. Then, since we were already spending, we proceeded to a karaoke bar. Good day, all in all. I learned a Russian song. Well, the chorus, anyway.

EDIT: Wot4E continues. I was woken today at 5:09 am by another quake. This one wasn't as bad here as the last one, but I wasn't in a sturdy 2-floor house today. Also, sensors say Shizuoka region fared much worse from this 6.6-pointer, as it was only 20km deep, and much closer to the land. No amusement park ride this time.