Keith & Lillian's Big Adventure

Before we came out we had the impression that these were rare things at this end of Japan. Obviously not so. We had just moved into the house and purchased our mobile phones with 4G internet. Neat. When one evening we heard a buzzer going off we thought it was the front door bell. It didn’t sound right but what else could make that noise? I went to the front door an opened it and that is when the first quake struck at the house. The house shook. It didn’t just tremble, it shook. Then the tremor died away. OK so what are you supposed to do now? Nobody was at the door by the way. Lillian checked her phone and she had received an earthquake alert warning. It’s a good idea to get a local phone as soon as you can if you are planning to stay. At least then you know when to get ready to run. The alert warning is a good idea but a number of people have said that it is more nerve wracking than the actual quake. Not so certain about that but it does put you on edge the few seconds before the quake hits.

The house seems to be well built. The second night was also disturbing. I don’t think I would like to be in a multi storey block of flats. Apparently school children are trained to go under the desks when the warning first goes off. Then when the tremor dies away you get outside before the next one. Our house has a field in front. If the worst happens we would have a field we could go and sit in which is far enough away from the buildings and trees so we wouldn’t get hit. I understand now why some of the larger stores have sections devoted to emergency care, rations and surviving outdoors.

There are lots of opportunities to take photographs of cherry trees in blossom. Here are just a few.

I took most of these one morning in April. The cherry blossom has died back quite a bit now.

A colleague at work has family members that have a second hand shop. These shops are quite common but the quality does seem to be variable. We had been and checked out the prices of a new fridge freezer and washing machine. They are about 750 quid each new. At the second hand shop they did not have a fridge freezer that was as large as we wanted so we decided to buy two. The washer dryer was last years model (but new) so it was cheap. Then we added a combination microwave oven and grill, an electric grill/fryer, a toaster, a heater, a fan and some shelves. The lot worked out at about 500 quid. They delivered and installed as well.

This is it when it is pretty close to being empty. Out front is a farmers field. I guess we would call it a small holding. On one side we have neighbours and to the left we have a bamboo grove.

You have to work out what the toilet controls are.

A lot of the food stores have a small bakery attached. You pick up a tray and tongs and then go around selecting your preferred products. At first glance they appear to sell things like bread rolls and fruit cakes. Ah ha! They appear like but aren`t. A bread roll may have cream cheese or vanilla custard in it. A fruit tea cake can be delivered hot from the bakery. Not always obvious but the bottom of the tray starts to heat up. Bite into the tea cake and hot apple and custard can come squirting out. Yum but messy on your shirt if you are not prepared.