Would you like fries with that quake?

Last night I experienced my second earthquake in as many weeks. I had been in Japan about a week when the first one occurred. It was just a nice entry-level earthquake, and wasn't so scary because I was at school and the receptionist was there so I wasn't alone. We stopped what we were doing and stood in a doorway while we watched the doors swing back and forth. What surprised me was the total lack of sound. I always expected an earthquake to be accompanied by a big rumbling sound, you know, the sound of the planet shifting..., but it was totally quiet and wasn't much more shaking then when Gromit scratches his ear with his back foot while he's on my bed.
Last night however was a bit more unnerving. It was 12:30am and I was exactly where I am now: sitting on the couch, blogging about my first week of teaching when my apartment started to shake. It was very subtle at first but amped up somewhere in the middle and my sliding glass doors started to bang against each other. I did what I was supposed to and turned off the gas, opened the front door and then stood in the doorway furthest from the windows. I have a big vertical beam right in the center of my apartment that makes for an excellent earthquake station. I'd like to tell you that I stand calmly in said doorway and watch in wonder while considering the mechanics of plate tectonics, but the truth is I wrap both arms and legs around the beam like a monkey, press my forehead into it and repeat "ok stop now" until it does. Then, as soon as it's over I run next door to Natasha's for a hug.

my earthquake beam

Needless to say, after that I was wide awake for the rest of the night. I only got a few hours sleep this morning and have been beat all day, so I'm off to bed as soon as I finish this. I have to give the Japanese media some props (people don't say that anymore, do they?) because THREE MINUTES after the quake ended, it was on every channel. They had maps that showed the force of the quake in each area of Honshu, they had video taken while things were shaking at the epicenter and were interviewing people about any damages their property sustained. Amazing.

So the story is, it was a 6.8 at the epicenter in northern Honshu (that's my island), but it's a good ways off. 6.8 doesn't sound all that bad on the Richter scale but here we use the Japan seismic intensity scale and it only goes to seven. Here on the Boso Peninsula in Chiba, it was only a 3.8. This site updates instantly after an earthquake and shows exactly what went down and where. Here's the picture it was displaying last night. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, I am the furthest southern point in turquoise. The red X is where you do not want to be.
Here is the chart that describes the hell that breaks loose at each interval. Notice that for a 3 point something it says "some people become frightened." That was me. My neighbor said he considered getting out of bed but didn't. I only hope that after a few months I will be as bored with all this as he is. Well, off to sleep curled up around that vertical beam. Good night!