There have been earthquakes on the Northwest coast of Japan all day today. While I was checking into our hotel at around 4pm with my daughter, she had a nauseous feeling then felt the quake. We are hundreds of km away from the epicentre and felt the shaking enough that it made me incredibly nervous.

We got to our floor (10th) and there were half a dozen English speaking people milling about concerned in the hallway. Apparently it was enough to scare one woman who just arrived from Australia out of the shower and she was in her pyjamas joining the chorus of questions from everyone else.

That was when my daughter discovered it was a 7.6 magnitude quake, and that was the point I freaked out a little. Images of the quake and tsunami that damaged Fukushima and swept away tens of thousands of people flashed through my head as I looked at my daughter and wondered what on earth I would even do in such a catastrophic event. Damon and River were at Haneda airport just on their way to the hotel after catching the Shinkansen from Kyoto earlier in the day while I drove the rental car with Steph. Daniel was out with his friend Nick who is also in Japan doing some shopping for his friends.

I felt… Helpless. The force of nature is quite seriously awesome. If an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, wildfire, or any other force majeure hits it’s down to fate what happens to whom. The wobbling waves today that seemed to just keep rolling were a reminder that humans are itty bitty powerless little ants on a picnic blanket and nature is in total control of when she shakes or blows.

The aftershocks are still rocking the settlements on the other coast and have been going all day. We’ve felt nothing since the three major jolts that were felt here in Tokyo. 

Everything is more or less carrying on here in a calm and orderly fashion.

Who knows what is next here or anywhere.

All the kids are in rooms next door and we are all in the same space after Damon and I ventured out and did a four hour trek to drop off our rental car at Narita and then return to Haneda. Everyone was talking about the quake and most people felt it.

We talked to and met more people in a few hours after the quake than we have engaged with in the entire 12 days we have been here. It was a unifying force and a conversation starter. The vast majority of people were incredibly calm, some less so. But we all shared something and we have all seen what the worst case scenario is if there’s a series of huge shakes.

So that’s all I have to say today. I don’t even really have a point to make. 

I just hope that for the sake of the people here and near here that the ground decides it no longer needs to shake.

Goodnight from Tokyo.