Emily was at nursery and Nick at work, at the time it hit. I was walking to a dental appointment at the clinic next to Tokyo Tower. Standing at Akabanebashi crossing, a busy intersection, I became aware that the ground was rolling; akin to being on a ship in a lively sea, and I felt off-balance. When I looked around it was like a windless hurricane: trees were waving wildly and the traffic light gantries were shaking hard. People were looking around for confirmation from passersby that they were not going crazy. There was a gaijin next to me and we got talking, with a little nervous laughter, about never experiencing anything in this scale before. From where I was standing I could see Izumi Garden Tower about a kilometre away and could clearly see it swaying, so I was worried for Nick up on the 26th floor. My thoughts turned quickly to Emily and I prayed that her teachers were taking good care of her.
Once the quake was over I continued to the clinic, where I found patients and staff outside the building and felt more comfortable being able to chat with some of them. Though phone lines seemed to be down I was immensely relieved to get a call from Nick saying he was OK and that he had been able to talk to Ui and Emily was alright. After quarter of an hour we were allowed to go inside and my appointment began. However, there was soon a strong aftershock and we quickly evacuated. I realised I had been fortunate not to be indoors the first time as it was a lot scarier to be in a building. Outside the nearby koban (police box), an officer was sweeping up hundreds of stinky ginnan that had been shaken out of the ginkgo tree, and it seemed that the aerial atop Tokyo Tower had bent a little too. Finally we went back into the building and I had my check-up. After the afternoon's events it was child's play (not that I have ever been scared of the dentist's chair). However, he told me I need a number of cavities filling so it could get very expensive.
Going home, it was immediately noticeable how the pavements were packed with people making their way home. The trains had all been suspended so some commuters must have been facing very long walks and decided to start their journey early. Going into the apartment (after walking up 10 flights of stairs because no-one was allowed to use the lift) I saw that Nick had been home as his bag was there, but he was no longer home. I wasn't quite sure where he could be but eventually concluded (correctly) that he must have gone to pick up Emily. When I went into the living room it was like a bomb site. The two 2 metre high CD shelves had toppled, crashing into the table and shedding hundreds of plastic cases. The heavy upper half of the computer desk had crashed down too and the PC was hanging amongst the wreckage.
I began clearing up and was relieved to discover that there was little damage other than the CD cases and a couple of broken ornaments. The computer even seemed to be working normally. Several times I went back outside to see if Nick and Emily were coming home, entailing a tough climb back up to the 11th floor each time. Finally, they arrived home at 7.30, after walking most of the 5 km from Ginza, with Nick carrying her and her bag towards the end. At the same time, Nick's friend Masahiko arrived. He had called earlier asking if we could put him up. He is from near Kyoto and had been in the city on business and could not get a hotel room. I offered him a futon and he turned up just after they got back. I think Nick was quite happy to have someone else around to share the burden and take in the additional details emerging.
There was a truly horrific piece of footage of the tsunami pulverising a town on the coast and instantly demolishing all in its path. It seemed almost alive, and very sinister, boiling with wreckage. The early estimates of hundreds dead will surely be proven too low.
There were many more aftershocks during the evening. Emily was very scared each time the door began rattling on its catch, signalling the start of another one. I stayed with her until she fell asleep, amazed she would even agree to sleep in a different room to us, and for the first time, I left the light on in the hallway for her. On turning in, Nick and I remained half-dressed, just in case, and had emergency supplies close at hand.
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