Blogs from Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, Asia

(SC writes)Yesterday we woke to grey skies and heavy rain. Luckily it was time to move and we only got a little damp on the short walk to the station. Our luggage has expanded somewhat over the past three weeks but we coped! It’s going to get worse, as we have plans for final shopping in Tokyo. Before that, though we had one last Garden to do, as Cathy explains below. So we travelling back eastward through Tokyo and onwards to the town of Mito, over 4 hours in all. (Cj writes) We came to Mito specially to see the third of Japan’s three best gardens. The Kairoku-en Garden is planted with 3,000 cherry and plum trees, in a couple of hundred or so different varieties, and from late February through to April or early May ... read more

We drive up to the entrance to the car park to Hitachi Seaside Park, Kaihinkoen. I’d met Hanako-san at the ticket barrier at Katsuta Station, and Suzuki-san had picked us up outside in her car. There is a woman in the car park booth and she waves us on. ‘It’s free’, says Suzuki-san, ‘and so’s the entrance. It’s to encourage everyone’. At the entrance to the park the Japanese flag is flying at half mast. As we go in, staff are handing out maps and smiling at everyone. I’ve never seen the park this busy before. I’ve come here several times with friends over the past years during the week, and it’s always been pretty quiet, but now there are people everywhere – a lot of elderly people complete with hats, but younger families and groups ... read more

‘It’s been very quiet with the aftershocks these last two days,’ I say to Neil, ‘maybe they’re dying down’. ‘Either that,’ says Neil, ‘or the pressure’s building up for another one’. That’s the problem – you can’t even relax fully when there aren’t any aftershocks. I remember only too well the article in the Japan Times from Thursday this week, which said that the Meteorological Agency warned that the likelihood of an aftershock of magnitude 7.0 or higher is 10 % within three days of 3 pm Tuesday this week, and also the same percentage within three days of 3 pm Friday this week. 10% seems too high a percentage to feel comfortable. Is the beast quiet now, or merely getting enough strength for the next pounce? Neil slows down to go over the bump before ... read more

Neil’s getting up to go to Tsukuba for a meeting and I’m still in bed, thinking I should be getting up. I feel the vibrations, and this time they increase, rather than easing off. As I lie there I can feel the building start to sway and as it sways it creaks, backwards and forwards it goes. Should I be jumping out of bed? The swaying and the creaking die down and then fade away. I’m going for a run round Senba Lake, the only reminder of the earthquake is dodging the broken bits of tarmac. It’s a perfect blue sky and the cherry blossom trees which encircle the lake are still in full bloom. There are people out walking round the lake, most of them exercising in a serious way, often wearing white gloves which ... read more

I’m in that cosy warm dream of a state between sleeping and waking, when I become aware of some vibrations. The shoji (paper screen windows) start rattling in their wooden frames and the whole building starts creaking. It must be an aftershock. You can always feel an earthquake more when you’re lying down. I think of what Lian and Mika said about going into the bathroom during the big earthquake, as the smallest room is the strongest. There are so many earthquakes in Japan that you can’t go into shelter every time, and I lie and wait to see if the earthquake will increase or die down. It dies down, and the rattling and the creaking subside. I look at the clock – it’s 6.45 am. The waitress leads us to our table. It’s the only ... read more