Japan Days 1＆2: Adverting Disasters

Updated： Got a chance to expand this post.

Day 1 in Japan: Narrowly miss a typhoon. Typhoon Man-Yi hit the island of Kuyshu in southern Japan. We were crossing the sea between Korea and Japan （Japan Sea to the Japanese, or the East Sea to Koreans）We faced the huge waves that preceded this typhoon. Good thing my mom brought Equate brand motion sickness medicine. People were puking, and all the while, me and my family watched a Korean film titled "Hearty Paws."

Safe on land, we made our way up to Tokyo, using our Japan Rail passes. Those are good deals. The typhoon meanwhile followed our path at sea. As we came into Tokyo and got to our hotel, the typhoon brushed up against the city. We didn't get any rain where we were, just bad wind.

Day 2 in Japan: Feel a strong earthquake while in Tokyo. As a California native, I grew up on earthquakes. I have very clear memories of three major earthquakes: the 1986 Palm Spring Earthquake, the 1992 Landers Earthquake, and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. This didn't feel nearly as strong as those. In fact, most of the Japanese didn't even seem to notice it at first.

However, it sounds like many wooden buildings in the area collapsed, there were mini tsunamis, and a nuclear power plant had a small fire.

Today, my mom and brother are trying to track down their luggage. Looks like we'll hike Mt. Fuji tomorrow. The way the trip has gone so far, lets just hope it doesn't erupt on us...

For the rest of the trip, I'll be posting blogs day-by-day.