This is it: Today is our last day in Natori. We've spent our last night in this apartment, everything is ready to go, and in an hour my supervisor will come and check things over and take the house key. We're really going to miss this place... this town has treated us wonderfully these last couple years. At least we can leave with the happy knowledge that we'll be back some day soon.

Wow, somewhere along the line my Japanese got more than good enough to understand the news. I haven't tried in ages.

There have been three major subquakes at 9:20, 9:30, and 10:00. There is a warning out for a possible large earthquake again, but so far no fear of tsunamis. All trains are stopped, so it looks like it's a good thing Jen and I decided not to go to Yamagata to go hiking today. Traffic is running normally though, as are buses. Some folks in Sendai living in condominiums are pinned in by lack of elevators, though! It's pretty interesting to be going through this. There are some reports of minor injuries, but nothing worse than a broken leg as far as I can tell. I'm not really certain though as I'm not getting a hundred percent of the news. A report Jen is watching right now says a bridge has been taken out (rather spectacularly, judging from the footage) and that at least 30 people are in a nearby hospital with injuries.

Whew

We just got hit by a rather large shaking of the earth, far more potent than anything I've been through. It was a 6.9 in Iwate, the prefecture north of us, and local sensors say we got hit with a high five/low six. The coffee in the coffee pot was sloshing up and almost out of the carafe (which was less than half full), the shelving unit in the kitchen swayed back and forth like an able seaman on his first day of shore leave, and when it was all over many of our belongings were scattered hither and fro around the house. We're still getting aftershocks now, thirty minutes later.

Everything is all right, and the friends we have contacted so far are all right as well, so anyone hearing about the earthquake that hit Northern Japan: yes, it hit us, but no, not too hard.

Not much in the way of updates this month, so once again the traditional apologies.

Robin and Jon came and went. Their Japanese is more than functional, and I think they had a great time fending for themselves while I was at work. I managed to get a fair bit of time off, and took a few days early-off as well, so we managed to do quite a bit together as well. The weather was very obliging: it seems to have rained just barely enough to not get in the way, and only on the days they had indoory things to do like Zuiganji Temple in Matsushima. Robin and Jon, feel free to post your own comments!

My friend Masaru, a math teacher from Icchu, invited us over to his house for dinner tonight. We had a pretty fantastic time, everything from playing kids' games and exchanging silly songs to wii tennis and smash brothers. Robin might get to go to an onsen with Kei, Masaru's wife, who according to Masaru is "a professor of Onsens".

I'm sleepy.