Mother Nature is PISSED OFF!

What have the Japanese done?! In the last week or so, there have been 2 major typhoons, a volcanic eruption and several earthquakes.

The typhoons surprised me, actually. Even though I feel like I live in the middle of nowhere, I'm actually not too far from the sea. Nobody in Japan really is, you see, since it's such a narrow country. Anyway, we had very strong winds and rain -- strong enough for the BOE to cancel school yesterday. It was nice to have a day off but I didn't like having to weather the scary storm all alone in my apartment.

Last Sunday, I spent almost all evening sitting on the floor doing my Japanese homework. Around 7 p.m., I felt a strange shake - small, but enough to make me stand and turn off the TV and fan and stand in my doorway and think, "Was that an earthquake?" It's been about 3 years, I guess, since I've felt one.

I turned the TV on again and, sure enough, there was a report of a large earthquake (7-something on the Richter) near Osaka and Kyoto. There were also warnings of tsunami, or tidal waves. A few hours later, at almost midnight, I felt an even bigger quake. It came from around the same area, I think. That quake caused tidal waves of up to 2 meters in some places.

Luckily, only a few people were injured in the quakes. In yesterday's typhoon, however, more than 600 people were injured, 20 missing and maybe 10 dead. I have a feeling that most of the typhoon injuries could have been prevented if people just stayed inside their homes. The deaths came primarily from shipwrecks - Indonesian and Russian ships, I read.

The volcano that erupted last week was far away and I don't think it was too bad. Still, it's kinda freaky to experience so many forces of nature in such a short period of time!