Morning Rumbles

I use a blindfold to help me fall asleep. Back when I was in London, I flew back and forth 6 times in total via Virgin Atlantic. And actually, I was on the plane 7 times because once, my flight was delayed for 14 hours because something was wrong with the engine so they had to fix it. I then flew back on the fixed plane, which didn't help my somewhat frayed nerves.

Point being, I got those little packets of goodies from Virgin Atlantic 7 times, and eventually got them in all 4 colors - blue, yellow, red and green. Came with toothbrush, earplugs, slippers, bunch of other stuff and blindfolds with cute little phrases such as "cat nap," "beddy bye," and "forty winks."

Since I flew back and forth so many times, and have been on airplanes alot since London, I have used the blindfolds to force my eyes closed and in essence, force me to go to sleep. I have gone through the two Virgin Atlantic blindfolds that I brought with me to Japan (both yellow and saying "cat nap")- the elastic behind my head stretched out. So when I was in Korea, I went with Deena to this awesome store called ArtBox where they had tons of cute stuff, and bought a new blindfold which was only about $5:

Kinda hoping that Deena picks up the rest for me, they are so cute! Haven't found anything like that in Japan, I kinda wish ArtBox was here too.

Regardless, this morning I was sound asleep, or rather dead asleep. But I felt a rumble, and something shaking on my wall. "Hmm," I thought, with the blindfold still over my eyes and me still half asleep. "Is that another earhthquake?" When the rumbling didn't stop after that thought - unlike the last time which was a sharp, but mild jolt at 4 in the morning - I promptly bolted out of bed and ripped off the blindfold.

Okaayyy...so I THINK that was an earthquake. I did what I did last time - logged onto my mac, and then promptly posted an "Um, did I feel an earthquake?" post on my forum's earthquake thread. Then I went to the Japan Meteorological Agency, whose site is very well done in English. (Usually a hit-or-miss with government websites.) According to the JMA, there was a 6+ (later confirmed to be a 7.1 on the scale) earthquake in the Noto Peninsula. Where the hell is the Noto Peninsula you ask?

According to this administrative map (with a bit of help from Wikipedia), the Noto Peninsula is where Ishikawa-Ken is, on the largest island - Honshu. It's right smack in the middle of the picture, a little finger of land sticking out from. I am a little south and to the left on the map, in Kyoto-Fu and specifically Kyoto. So, I am totally fine for those that were worried about me - just another regular day in Japan.