Kamakura

Before we moved to Tokyo we knew that there were earthquakes. In fact, we knew that there were over 1,000 earthquakes or tremors every year (though many of them you don’t feel). Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. It is located on top of several converging tectonic plates, which results in earthquakes (and tsunamis), volcanoes and thousands of mineral rich hot springs (called “onsen,” which we haven’t tried yet but hear they are wonderful).

Up until April 4th, we had only felt small tremors…a small, gentle rocking for only a few seconds. On Friday, April 7th at 7:30 pm we felt our first moderate tremor. While I was making popcorn on the stove for our Family Popcorn Movie night, the kids were in Nathan’s bedroom playing. As I was shaking the popcorn pan I heard the sliding closet doors rattling. My first thought was, “What are those kids doing in there?” When I stopped shaking the pot, I realized that the ground was still moving. At that same time, Nathan and Maddie ran to the kitchen and said, “Mom!” All that happened in the course of about 20 seconds. We were all a little shaken up (pun intended). Darren was still at work and we called him and he said he felt it too. Most of newer high-rise buildings employ shock absorption technology such as rollers so the building will sway in the event of an earthquake. We later learned that the epicenter was 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of Tokyo and was a magnitude of 5.0. The US Geologic Survey site is great in that it posts data on the latest earthquakes around the world usually within minutes of them occurring -- http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/.

On May 7th we were awakened at 1:45 am by another moderate earthquake. It lasted about 30 seconds. Somehow, Nathan was able to sleep through it. We learned that the epicenter was near the east coast of Honshu, Japan (about 100 miles from Tokyo) and it registered a magnitude of 6.8. Every time we have a tremor, it reminds me that I need to prepare our earthquake emergency kit!

The last major earthquake in Tokyo was in 1923 (known as the Great Kanto Earthquake). It killed over 100,000 people and damaged most of the buildings in Tokyo. Hopefully, the new building standards will be able to fare better today in the event of a major earthquake. They say that Tokyo will experience that type of earthquake every 70 years…so as you can see, they are well overdue!!! So, every moderate tremor I feel, I hope that it’s not the next Big One! Here’s a great website if you’re interested on reading more about earthquakes in Japan: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3950315.stm.

On April 27 we took a trip to Kamakura (about 1 hour from Tokyo taking the train). It is a coastal community with several shrines. The first shrine we visited is called Daibutsu (or the Great Buddha…it’s the statue we all see in the books on Japan...the kids and I are standing in front of it). It is Kamakura’s main attraction and a national treasure. The Kamakura Daibutsu is the second largest bronze Buddha in Japan. There was supposed to be some squirrels that ate nuts out of your hands but--much to Nathan’s dismay--they were not here on this day. You are supposed to wash your hands before entering shrines so Nathan and Maddie are helping each other wash their hands.

We then walked to the Hasedera shrine. It is one of eastern Japan’s most popular temples and houses an ancient gilded Kannon (a Buddhist goddess of mercy that is said to be the tallest wooden statue in the country…no photos allowed…sorry). This place had the most beautiful gardens, ponds full of carp and turtles and waterfalls and awesome views of the coastal community (the Zaimokuza coast and the Miura peninsula). Climbing up the path to see the views, we walked by thousands of little statutes of Misuko Jizo, which are placed there in memory of babies who died before birth. There is a prayer wall that people can write their wishes, prayers or sentiments on. We thought this was a precious wish.







After grabbing lunch, we walked to the beach we had viewed from the top of the temple grounds. The kids had the most fun here (of course!). On May 4th Japan celebrates what is called Children’s Day (Kodomo No Hi). It was initially a day to pray for the healthy growth of boys. Families with young boys fly carp streamers outside their homes. The carp kite is a symbol of perseverance and courage in Japan.

Anyway, we saw an old man and some of his friends flying a beautiful (huge – taller than me) kite with 20 carp streamers. We decided that we will go back there this summer for a weekend at the beach.







On our way to the shopping district (Komachi Dori) we saw these men. We didn’t know what their story was but it looked like such a traditional Asian photograph.

We bumped into a local artist playing the Yangqin and purchased his CD. I’d tell you his name if I could read the Kanji he wrote on our cover.




After rushing through the shopping district, we made it to our final shrine of the day, Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine, before they closed at 5:00. We had read that you could purchase food to feed the pigeons and that they would land on your arms to get the food. However, we did not find the food to buy and there weren’t that many pigeons around (again, much to Nathan’s disappointment).

We then took a nice leisurely stroll back through the shopping district before heading home for the day. Maddie and I bought some great sterling silver rings with genuine stones for 1,000 yen ($10.00).

We went to a children’s hands-on museum last weekend called The National Children’s Castle (Komodo no Shiro). Though it was somewhat of a disappointment (rated 1 out of 10 by the kids) we did get to watch a cute play in Japanese.


Here is a photo of Madeline's class on a field trip to the amazing Tama Zoo. We're going there as a family soon so I'll tell you all about it later. She is the one in the back standing up doing to infamous double finger peace sign (thanks again Paul!). Her posse is to her right (Mika from Israel, Lior and Myako from Japan).

Language lesson are still challenging.
Language Lesson of the Week: Numbers 1-10

1 ichi (eechee or sometimes eech)
2 ni (knee)
3 san (sahn-nn)
4 shi (she) or yon (yohhn)
5 go
6 roku (loh-koo)
7 shichi (she-chee) or nana (nah-nah)
8 hachi (ha-chee)
9 Kyu (que)
10 Jyu (joo)

Simple right? Aaah, but those are just the generic counters! If you want to count people you say ichi-mai (1), ni-mai (2)… Animals: ippiki, ni-hiki…except squid which are ippai, ni-hai...and birds which are ichi-wa, ni-wa… Flat objects are hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu… Long slender objects are ippon, nihon, sambon… And I won’t even get into counting time which has yet another system! As you can imagine Darren and I study (somewhat diligently) on Sunday and Tuesday evenings in preparation for our language classes the next morning. And sometimes all four of us sit at the table and study our Japanese at the same time which has been fun. Of course the widely-held belief that kids can learn a foreign language much quicker than adults is proving true in our household!

Funny Photo of the Week:

We saw this while riding on the train to Kamakura.