12 March 2011

The Big One

I was mildly concerned when I heard this morning that there was an eathquake in Japan, but after having seen the pictures on the internet I am pretty much shocked.

Kazukos family ist all right, although her mother is stranded somewhere in Tokyo as she was out of the house when the quake stroke. She has to stay the night in a public building before she can hopefully return to her home on Saturday.

I hope that all of you and your families are all right, my thoughts are with you. This is an absolute nightmare. I hope hat nobody got caught out on a rindo somewhere up in the mountains on a beautiful, balmy spring day.

I would appreciate if you put some comments so that we know about you when you have time.
Posted by mob at 01:27
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5 comments:

Manfred von Holstein said...

Thanks for your worries. Looks like you escaped Japan on time for this one!!

Tokyo is mostly fine. The biggest impact has been the complete train stoppage, which forced people onto taxis, and eventually clogged up the roads. Some underground lines resumed late last night, JR stayed out of service. This morning most lines are back, but at reduced service. My wife got stuck in Kunitachi and is hoping to make it home this morning. In the meantime, I will go out to check whether the rindos still exist...

12 March, 2011
David Litt said...

Thanks, MOB. My family and I (and our dog and house) are all fine, and riding my bike home, passing endless lines of stopped traffic and crowds of people walking toward the suburbs, still just leaving central Tokyo even 4 hours after the main quake, I did not see any damage, not even broken glass.
It was quite an exciting ride, with my office building swaying for 10 minutes during the main quake ... then again with long shaking and swaying in repeated aftershocks over the next two hours. It was like being on a boat in somewhat heavy seas, and disconcerting to look out the 29th floor window at the Marunouchi Bldg across the plaza and see it swaying the opposite way, and later to see black smoke coming from someplace in Odaiba, and an hour later a big fireball in the sky on the horizon toward Chiba (the oil refinery fire in Ichihara).
I suspect that this event on 3/11/11 (or 11/3/11) will add significantly to the number of bicycle commuters, just as the 9/11 terrorist attacks did in the Washington DC area, when roads turned into parking lots and cyclists moved without incident.

12 March, 2011
the ups and downs of a belgian amateur cyclist in tokyo said...

Thanks for your prayers Michael.

Everything all right here in Fuchu.

Left the office at 16:00 yesterday and decided to walk all the way to home...it took me about 5 hours (luckily I had my Edge 800 GPS with me!). A real exodus along both sides on Koshu Kaido; many people decided to walk the distance instead of passing the night inside overcrowed and cold gymnasiums...very unreal. Saw very little damage on my way back. At home, one frame fell down a bookshelf with glass shattered; otherwise everything intact. Musume spent an extra night in Okinawa and is returning home later today (Haneda is operating again as well as most train traffic in and around Tokyo).

Cancelled all cycling events (major Super Six overhaul at O-Vest and selling my Ridley)for this weekend but might ride tomorrow (am worried about the cocktail of kafun pollen and radiactivity in the air. Sure hope the nuclear reactor damage can be contained).

12 March, 2011
Fumiki said...

Hi,Michael-san
Its beena while.

I was in subway Azabu-Juban station,Toei Oedo Line.
I had to go for a walk.
Its took 3.5hours or so on,but I could arrive at home safety.

I really concern about Tohoku area and also serious trouble in nuclear reactor of Fukushima Pref.

12 March, 2011
Manfred von Holstein said...

Wow, 3.5 hours or even 5 hours walking - that's quite something. But then it's short compared to 12 hours on the bike...

I took it easy today with a shorter ride, exploring some new territory:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72527490

12 March, 2011

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