Huge quakes hit Japan

Huge earthquakes hit Japan this afternoon. It was very scary.

At first, I thought that it was a nomal quake that happens every so often in Japan.
However, the quake got stronger and stronger and I saw that books and small ornaments on the shelves started falling down. At the next moment, a full-length mirror and a floor lamp fell and broke into pieces.

I was scared and started to praying. The image of the clashed building in the earthquake in New Zealand came into my mind. The apartment where I live is very old and I could easily image that it would clash like a pancake.

Lukily, the quake stopped. Another big earthquack hit within an hour and many smaller after quakes are still occurring. I have never experienced the earthquake as large as this one in my life.

Things are still a bit chaotc around here. There is no gas in my home, despite being a cold night. Phone lines are still not working. Public transportation is suspended in Tokyo and many people are still on streets.

However, we are still very lucky in Tokyo. In the coatal areas of northern Japan, tsunami has swept away thousands of houses and destroyed rice and farming fields. It is very shocking to see such devastating damages happening to my own country.

I hope that the damage won't spread any futher.

Record snow in Japan

Japan Meteorological Agency announced yesterday that the amount of snow in January was the highest on record at 37 weather stations located mostly on the Sea of Japan side of Japan. In Tokyoku and Hokuriku in the north of Honshu, the snow amount exceeded 3 metres. On the other hand, the climate on the Pacific Ocean side of Japan remained summy and recorded extremely low precipitation.

The deepest accumulated snow was observed in Uonuma in Niigata with 4.09 metres. The measurement was the second highest on record and twice as much as the average year.

JMA reported that this extreme weather in Japan was caused by Arctic Oscillation and La Nina, which brought intermissive frost over the Japanese archipelago from the Japan Sea side.


Yes, it's been very dry here in Tokyo. It's the first time I need to put so much moisturiser on my skin. It is also very, very cold.  I generally don't turn on a heater during the daytime to save energy, but I cought cold last week and I now use heating all day long.