journal features

the earthquake

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2021.02.13

We've had several quakes in the near year I've been here. But tonight's was by far the largest. A 7.1 at the epicenter off the coast of Tohoku, it was still a strong 4.something way inland where we are in "Tokyo's bellybutton". It was also longish. Our drill is that one of us goes to the kitchen to shut off the gas and the other runs to prop open the front door. I did the door thing, getting it open (so it wouldn't jam shut if the house re-settles) and tossing out shoes and jackets for everybody. It was over soon enough. Mari later spotted a new crack in the molding where the wall that divides the living room and kitchen meets the ceiling.

Here's what today's quake was like in various parts of the country.

I guess we're not getting an aquarium!

The news channel said that today's quake was an "aftershock" of this one from a slim ten weeks after we left Japan in 2010:

rand()m quote

It has always seemed strange to me...The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.

—John Steinbeck, Cannery Row