Sunday March 13, 2:35 p.m.
This was the sight that greeted me when I finally got home after my 5-hour odyssey commuting post-quake. I had been expecting that there would be a mess, and sure enough, there were CDs, a useless computer monitor on the tatami. Also, my DVD player and my microwave were also down. But surprisingly not out. Despite the fact that my oven fell all the way from the top of the fridge, it was still working as usual.
It took an hour to clean the whole mess up but I wasn't exactly sleepy since I was rather rapt at the around-the-clock coverage. As Piers Morgan said, it was indeed the Worst Quake. For past major quakes, the Japanese would label them as Dai-shinsai or Great Quakes. This was the first time that I'd ever seen "Kyodai-shinsai" or Super-Great Quake.
The past couple of days have been interesting to say the least. Even though the Tohoku area up north has basically been destroyed, even Tokyo and Chiba have been affected. Yesterday, I found out that my gas was offline (and probably will be for a couple of weeks according to the gas company), and now my water is now gone, too. Luckily, I filled up my tub with water...of the brown variety. Not sure when that will be back. There has been a run on food and daily supplies at the supermarkets and convenience stores. I bought some mineral water and may even try some oolong tea sponge baths when I get home.
My relatives in Osaka have contacted me to make sure I was OK. And I was able to reach my worried mother and sister-in-law. Of course, they nagged me about making sure I had enough money and my passport ready to take off.
It's been taihen definitely. We've had the Mother of All Quakes, then a gigantic tsunami and now we may even be facing a nuclear meltdown at the two Fukushima power plants. It's playing out like an Irwin Allen triple feature. Even the Tokyo Canadian Embassy has sent out a warning about avoiding non-essential travel to the surrounding prefectures including my Chiba. Ouch.