Hana Sakura

I look across to the sakura trees lining the river – they look sad now with their colours lost and the slate grey skies emptying their rain over everything. I’m early for the bus so I go to the kiosk in the station to buy a Japan Times. Who will buy them now, I think. During the whole time I’ve been in Mito I’ve seen a grand total of four western men around the station area, but not a single western woman. You never see lots of westerners in Mito, but you would normally see more than that in a week. I’m in Narita airport. There are a very few westerners, mostly men, but normally Narita is brimming with foreigners. I’m in a shop which sells traditional Japanese souvenirs. ‘Sumimasen’, says a Japanese man to the ... 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

I wave goodbye to Neil as he drives off on his way to Narita before flying to China. I’m on my own now if there’s another big aftershock. No, I’m not, I realise, my friends are here. Gambarou, I tell myself. I’m in Mito station omiyage shop. It’s a very big tradition in Japan to buy omiyage – souvenirs – for your family, friends and colleagues, either when you travel away or when you’re going back home. Every station has at least one omiyage shop, and you see people laden with bags getting on the trains. First of all I look at the section with the charms and pens. I spot just what I need as an omiyage for my son-in-law who is rather partial to football - a Hello Kitty mobile phone charm showing Kitty ... 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

As far as I can make out, there were no vibrations or shakings in the night. My phone rings. It’s Hanako-san to make arrangements for meeting on Monday. I should take the train to Katsuta, and she and Kimura-san will pick me up then by car. We’ll go to Hitachi Seaside Park. If it rains, we’ll go somewhere else in Oarai. If there is an earthquake and the trains are cancelled, then we’ll phone. I smile to myself. Times have really changed when you don’t only have to allow for rain in making plans but also for earthquakes. I go out the hotel entrance and past all the construction workers relaying the pavement slabs which must have been tossed around by the earthquake. I spot Michiko-san’s yellow car waiting for me in the street. ‘Ohisashiburi desu ... 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

Several times during the night I surface from the fog of sleep wondering whether that is the rumble of a start of an aftershock, but drift off again. I think I may be hearing trains again after they were stopped last night and I’m pleased as it will mean Sakamoto-san will be able to travel up from Tokyo for the MESA meeting. Now the rumbling is becoming more pronounced, it seems as if the building is creaking and now it’s definitely swaying, to and fro. I glance at the clock and see it’s 8.15 am. After breakfast we check the Asahi website, looking to see how many aftershocks there have been. There were a series of Japanese scale shindo 3 level earthquakes in Fukushima prefecture during the night – the shindo level is lower than the ... 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

We’re sitting in the windowed gallery of the dining room, waiting for our cooked breakfast to come. I’m fascinated by all the tableware. Each piece of chinaware has on it the hotel’s emblem, a pattern with leaves. The cutlery is silver plated, as is the milk jug, and every item has the hotel emblem engraved on it, including the little butter knives. It’s a genteel traditional elegant western style, and as far as I can remember, the only other hotel I’ve ever stayed in with the same feel was the Imperial Hotel in Delhi. Yesterday we’d looked at all the memorabilia in the corridors and rooms - photos from bygone days with westerners in Edwardian dress, a row of seven or eight early twentieth century hotel buses, ballroom dancing in the banquet hall. There are entries ... read more

I’m on the Skyliner, the express train between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Narita airport. Mika was an angel yesterday and found out for me which trains were running as they are not running a full timetable yet after the earthquake. The train isn’t very full at all – normally there are lots of foreigners on it. I look out the window and see pink cherry blossom everywhere like candy floss floating on the solid burnt black branches. I’m looking at the Daily Yomiuri, the only English newspaper I could find at Nippori Station, to find out more about the earthquake on Thursday. It says it was strongest in Miyagi Prefecture. I look out my Lonely Planet book and check the kanji, and realise that I’d mistaken the kanji for Miyagi for Fukushima. Miyagi is the ... read more