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The funniest thing happened yesterday. I played with a few little frogs on my friend's porch. Then we got in the car and drove to Matsuida. On the way there, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was a frog. Somehow, a little frog had gotten into the car and was hopping around. I stopped, and tried to catch it. It hopped outside the car, and I thought it was long gone. But as I was driving, it reappeared, hopping around my windshield wipers and hood. So I had to stop again to get it off. The only way I can think of for it to have gotten into the car, is for it to have jumped onto my shirt while I was on the porch. Pretty strange. The frog kind of leads into my next topic, typhoon. The typhoon season in Japan lasts from about the end of August to Nov. Last year I was aware of the season, but not a lot happened. This year the skies are vengeful. It had been dumping rain on the Kanto area. The military stations always air warnings and safety tips for the typhoon. The clouds that roll through Ota are huge and move very quickly. Friday there were major floods in Tochigi and Fukushima prefectures. Thirteen people died because of the floods. Some train lines have been put out of commission. Some highways to Tokyo have been closed. I was supposed to go to Kamakura this past weekend, but I was warned that if the typhoon hit, I might be stranded. Plus, I chose that place because I could get in some culture as well as the beach. So I spent 1 day in Tokyo and the other in Kurabuchi, which is in Gunma. This wasn't a great thing. On the way back to Ota today, I had to make a major detour because the rain had taken its toll on the mountain. A small wooden torii gate had fallen onto the road, and a bit farther down the road, I was turned away by a police man. A tree had fallen on the road and a a road team was there taking care of stuff. There was also a survey team at the river to monitor the flow and level. The typhoon is still 1000km south of Tokyo and is moving at only 10km per hour, so it looks like we might get dumped on for a while. The bases on Friday had but the service men on level 3 alert, upgraded from level 4. I haven't heard the radio since then, but I am sure that the warning hasn't decreased. Another thing is that there was a pretty good earthquake (5.4) on Sun morning. The newspaper said that no one was hurt, but it was a LONG one. The epicenter was 70 km under the seabed of Tokyo Bay. No tidal waves, which is good. Only thing that happened was that some trains were delayed. And that's my report from Japan. Valerie Straayer |