Japan: June 10-19, 2018. Earthquake!
It was just after 8:00 am in the morning. We'd had an amazing meal -- our last meal -- at the ryokan and were preparing for our trip on the Shinkashen to Tokyo then on a plane to LA (10 hour layover!) then along to ABQ.
The Ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel. While I've said the one we stayed in was made of bamboo and paper, that's not entirely correct. It's mostly constructed of bamboo. The building is old, so it's withstood many significant earthquakes (6+ magnitude). The Ryokan we were in on the day of the earthquake is a three-story building (we were staying on the third floor, the two covered windows on the right were in our room).
Of course this ryokan also had lovely flowers in front.
The ceiling revealed much about the construction.
And our room looked like so (but at the time of the earthquake, we had found the ryokan's supply of futons and we layered our futons 4-deep; one layer was simply not enough! Can you say, "Prince and the Pea?" or "Princess and the Pea?")
At first there was a rumble. I had heard that people often thought small earthquakes were trucks passing, but this was clearly no truck. Then there was shaking. Paul was wearing his yukata; I was already undressed. I grabbed my yukata and followed him out the door. Others were gathered in the central open stairwell of the ryokan, we were all looking shaken and watching the long lamp swing back and forth over the open area.
I referred to my phone, which had the following warning:
It was an image, so I couldn't take it into Google Translate. I certainly couldn't read it. I tried to connect with family members; Eric answered my texts. He couldn't read this either, but had access to internet and was able to identify the epicenter (between Kyoto and Osaka) and say it was 6.1. There was no tsunami danger identified. He stayed with me, on text, until I (and the shaking) calmed down.
Back in our room, we turned on the TV. I'm pointing to Kyoto, identified as having a "5+" earthquake; we later heard it was 5.3 where we were.
Our hostess at the ryokan suggested we go asap to the train station. Her son (who didn't speak English) would come with us. We walked there, bags in hand. The lines were long but the people jovial. This seemed to be just so normal. Our Japanese guide spoke with the ticket agent; we could tell that it didn't look good for getting out of Kyoto. All trains were stopped. No subway transportation. All roads out of Kyoto were closed until it could be guaranteed that they all were safe. We walked slowly back the the ryokan, wondering if we'd have a place to stay. But of course, the guests who were scheduled to arrive that day could not arrive and the small ryokan would be happy to accommodate us for another night.
The surprise for me was when we arrived back at the ryoken, the hostess already had called Delta for us. She had done all the waiting on the phone for us; within a few minutes we were booked on flights exactly 24 hours after our scheduled flights -- no additional charges.
This photo is from the entryway of the ryokan. We don't wear shoes inside, our shoes are in the foreground. There's a flower arrangement on the back wall. The tables are short. Paul is on the phone, our hostess is beside him.
So we had 24 extra hours in Kyoto. Swiftly, we headed to the bike rental shop, two doors down from the ryokan. We rented two bikes for 800 yen for the day and took off. Riding clear across town, we saw the roads were packed (no subways!). We navigated our way around town, finding Arashiyama, which is an area with a large bamboo forest, and a 500 year old shrine with a garden that was not only hundreds of years old, but was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were able to ride our bikes over the Togetsukyo Bridge, through rice patties, and along the beautiful river on our way back to the ryokan. (Images of those wonderful places will appear in a different post.)
It was a good idea to visit temples; the web told us that visitation to many special places in Kyoto were down. "Less busy than usual," was great for us.
That night was the aftershock at about midnight. I woke to a shake, yelled, "PAUL!" He said, "It's all ok." So I went back to sleep. He has no memory of it; I had to check to see if it really happened. Yes it did: 3.7.
We left for Tokyo the next day, getting seats on the Shinkashen that allowed us magnificent views of Mt Fugi and that took us to the airport early. When we were asked about what stood out most for us on our trip, we both said the earthquake. Part of my answer is how the earthquake showed us more of the generosity and kindness of the Japanese people and also allowed us to see more of Kyoto than we had thought we would see.
The Ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel. While I've said the one we stayed in was made of bamboo and paper, that's not entirely correct. It's mostly constructed of bamboo. The building is old, so it's withstood many significant earthquakes (6+ magnitude). The Ryokan we were in on the day of the earthquake is a three-story building (we were staying on the third floor, the two covered windows on the right were in our room).
Of course this ryokan also had lovely flowers in front.
The ceiling revealed much about the construction.
And our room looked like so (but at the time of the earthquake, we had found the ryokan's supply of futons and we layered our futons 4-deep; one layer was simply not enough! Can you say, "Prince and the Pea?" or "Princess and the Pea?")
At first there was a rumble. I had heard that people often thought small earthquakes were trucks passing, but this was clearly no truck. Then there was shaking. Paul was wearing his yukata; I was already undressed. I grabbed my yukata and followed him out the door. Others were gathered in the central open stairwell of the ryokan, we were all looking shaken and watching the long lamp swing back and forth over the open area.
I referred to my phone, which had the following warning:
It was an image, so I couldn't take it into Google Translate. I certainly couldn't read it. I tried to connect with family members; Eric answered my texts. He couldn't read this either, but had access to internet and was able to identify the epicenter (between Kyoto and Osaka) and say it was 6.1. There was no tsunami danger identified. He stayed with me, on text, until I (and the shaking) calmed down.
Back in our room, we turned on the TV. I'm pointing to Kyoto, identified as having a "5+" earthquake; we later heard it was 5.3 where we were.
Our hostess at the ryokan suggested we go asap to the train station. Her son (who didn't speak English) would come with us. We walked there, bags in hand. The lines were long but the people jovial. This seemed to be just so normal. Our Japanese guide spoke with the ticket agent; we could tell that it didn't look good for getting out of Kyoto. All trains were stopped. No subway transportation. All roads out of Kyoto were closed until it could be guaranteed that they all were safe. We walked slowly back the the ryokan, wondering if we'd have a place to stay. But of course, the guests who were scheduled to arrive that day could not arrive and the small ryokan would be happy to accommodate us for another night.
The surprise for me was when we arrived back at the ryoken, the hostess already had called Delta for us. She had done all the waiting on the phone for us; within a few minutes we were booked on flights exactly 24 hours after our scheduled flights -- no additional charges.
This photo is from the entryway of the ryokan. We don't wear shoes inside, our shoes are in the foreground. There's a flower arrangement on the back wall. The tables are short. Paul is on the phone, our hostess is beside him.
So we had 24 extra hours in Kyoto. Swiftly, we headed to the bike rental shop, two doors down from the ryokan. We rented two bikes for 800 yen for the day and took off. Riding clear across town, we saw the roads were packed (no subways!). We navigated our way around town, finding Arashiyama, which is an area with a large bamboo forest, and a 500 year old shrine with a garden that was not only hundreds of years old, but was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were able to ride our bikes over the Togetsukyo Bridge, through rice patties, and along the beautiful river on our way back to the ryokan. (Images of those wonderful places will appear in a different post.)
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| https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3912.html |
That night was the aftershock at about midnight. I woke to a shake, yelled, "PAUL!" He said, "It's all ok." So I went back to sleep. He has no memory of it; I had to check to see if it really happened. Yes it did: 3.7.
We left for Tokyo the next day, getting seats on the Shinkashen that allowed us magnificent views of Mt Fugi and that took us to the airport early. When we were asked about what stood out most for us on our trip, we both said the earthquake. Part of my answer is how the earthquake showed us more of the generosity and kindness of the Japanese people and also allowed us to see more of Kyoto than we had thought we would see.
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