Remember: when disaster strikes, the time to prepare has passed. --Steven Cyros I think it was during my first few months in Japan that the news brought up the concern of the biggest typhoon of that year. Me, not ever having to deal with typhoons since I grew up in the middle of the U.S., got scared.
Now my sister, on the other hand, who had lived in Florida for a few years, I didn't even think about asking her what to do in case of a typhoon. Maybe I thought that Japanese typhoons and Florida typhoons were different. I don't know. But because of my lack of experience, I did the next best thing I could think of--create an emergency bag. Since I have been camping and my husband i sone who is preparing for an apocalypse, I knew, generally, what I should pack. I also consulted the various papers and pamphlets I was given during orientation about earthquakes--because that was another thing that scared me. Unfortunately, I didn't have a car to quickly go to the various stores around town, nor did I know which stores might have what I needed. Luckily, one of the younger female teachers (not of English, although she spoke some) wanted to get together for lunch--and she had a car! She picked me up at the nearby 7/11 and we drove to Onahama, a beach-side town, just about 20 minutes away by car (and around an hour and a half, if you're booking it by bike). The town had been hit hard by the tsunami in 2011, but they had rebuilt a lot and it was looking good. We met up with another woman, a surprise to me, who was an office worker at the same school. Apparently, they had been meaning to have lunch together, but hadn't had time until today. She didn't speak English at all. The restaurants were on the second floor of the building overlooking the ocean. It was a nice day out, so we chose to sit on the balcony outside. There were many vendors to choose from and the way to order was to put your money in the appropriate vending machine and push the button that had what you wanted typed on it. I ended up getting soba three-ways. One was a cold noodle, the other was warm with mountain vegetables in the broth, and the last was hot soba in broth with tempura vegetables on top. Delicious and filling! Afterwards, we walked on the beach. We looked for pretty shells and even found a sand dollar, although it was not whole. Then, they asked me where I would like to go since I don't have a car. I asked them where would be the best place to get emergency supplies since I was worried about the upcoming tsunami and didn't have anything prepared. At first they were shocked by my request. They didn't even think THEY had anything in case of an emergency. After talking it over, they decided on taking me to a few different places similar to Menards (a do-it-yourself kind of place) and Scheels (an outdoorsy store). It took a good hour or so until I finally was satisfied with what I had bought: a bright orange backpack that doubled as a flotation devise, hand warmers, heat blankets (the shiny ones that aren't really blankets), bungee cord, pocket knife, flash light, emergency food (granola bars and the like), and a few other things. When I got home, I asked my neighbor Rodger if he had prepared anything for the upcoming storm. He was planning to within the next few days. When he had gathered his up, we compared our bags. They were pretty similar, but if one of us was missing something, the other one had it. So, we felt we were ready in case it got bad. It never did. The worst it got was semi-windy and rainy. Pretty similar weather for spring in the middle of the U.S. But at least I could gift it to my successor.
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Myself
Video blogger and now a blogger as well. My life in Japan has changed me for the better. However, it wasn't easy... Archives
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