An Earthquake Shakes the Whole House
Earthquakes are fairly frequent occurrences in Japan. In fact, we've had two tsunami warnings in the last couple of months as a result of large earthquakes to the north of Japan. One even came with warnings for some people on the Navy base to move to higher ground.

That night, around 8PM, we heard the loud speaker in our neighborhood, which simply announced in English, "There is a tsunami warning in effect. Take appropriate precautions." We weren't sure what "appropriate precautions" entailed. And unfortunately, the base neglected to post any warnings on their website for off-base residents who also live close to the water. (Three blocks from the water, to be exact.) So, we trusted that it must not affect us and we went to bed.

Good thing the warning turned out to be a false alarm with a wave of only about 16 inches. Which begs the question, how do you tell the difference between a regular wave and a 16 inch tsunami, anyway?!

Before living in Japan, I'd never experienced an earthquake. Last night was the 3rd earthquake I've felt in 6 months. It occurred a little after midnight. It startled me from sleep as I realized the bed--and then the whole house--was shaking. It took a moment to realize what was happening, at which point I flung my arm around 180 degrees to swat Brian on the back to see if he felt it, too. By the time I heard an unappreciative, mumbled, "I know, I felt it," from his pillow, it was over. (He literally sleeps face down, "downward facing dog," I call it.) I fell back to sleep right away. Just another earthquake in Japan...

But I still like to look up where the earthquake's epicenter was and the intensity of the earthquake at the Japan Meteoroligical Agency website http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/. This one was to the south of Japan and registered a 5.5 on the seismic scale.