AmericanInTokyo (aka "Early Riser") LOL Glad nothing fell on you, too.
Does the power grid seem to have held up?
No news in the US: we have another piece of news going on.
BOY Godzilla been quiet lately
I am really glad that no one that you know was injured! Thank God that both of us were far enough away that it didn’t affect either one of us or our families/friends beyond a ‘rude awakening’, or otherwise ;)
I hope that neither of us have to deal with the ‘Kobe’ type disaster within our lifetime... and also that the ROBOT Japanese will never have to experience anything similar again, until they are better prepared (better construction)..
Honestly.. (HONESTLY!!!) The first thing that entered my mind (as well as all other shakers, I guess).. was I hope there were no kids injured... the ones who experienced ‘this’ earthquake... I hope they can learn from it (especially the major hit areas)... and learn to work to help others. (meaning that I hope that they are able to assist even though they aren’t adequately trained/taught what to do if they lose ‘something’... you know what I mean.
In my 10 years here... I still highly look down upon the robotic/group mentality. There is much missing in the responsibility/respect(for others/other’s)/discipline.... and of course the all infamous “blame the teacher” (meaning homeroom Japanese teachers, of course).
The scary thing about this is the anyone who has lived here long enough and kept their eyes open... we see that Japan is about 30 years behind the America (USA) in general..... but recently, America is catching up in this ‘educational’ situation (respect/responsibility/discipline) are, if not getting worse.
Sorry to rant... just finished doing 8 hours straight of a Saturday JUKU on a Saturday... have a headache from the stress of going to a CHO-Genki class to a DEAD class... etc... I live in Chiba city and I have to travel to Akabane by train, while I drive to my weekday school (14 minutes... sweet ;))
anyway.. gonna check the rest of the messages and get to bed. IF the next earthquake gets me... so be it. I just hope the kids are ok.