Reporting on the weather does not generally fit my idea of sharing exciting news. As you can see, I didn’t even bother obscuring the clutter behind me with a mundane weather map. However, over the past few days the weather around here has been a bit more interesting than usual, and I’m here to fill you in.

 

Three or so days ago there was an earthquake somewhere outside of Tokyo early in the morning. I remember waking up at one point and wondering why my bed was moving slightly. Not entirely convinced that I was actually awake, I just went back to sleep.

 

Since that time a typhoon had been moving upward through Japan from the southern end. It hit Tokyo yesterday, with strong winds and tons of rain. I decided to go out in shorts that day because my umbrella was completely ineffective at protecting my jeans from the slanting rainfall. When I was leaving work, there were a few gusts of wind so strong that they essentially froze me in place as I tried to walk forward.

 

And then today there was another earthquake north of Tokyo. It felt gentle like the previous one because I was far from the center, but I heard that at least two people died because of it. I work in one of the newest and therefore (I’m pretty sure) most earthquake-safe buildings in the city, and I’m probably safer than anyone reading this. So please don’t feel obligated to burden yourselves with worry for my sake. As you can see in the picture above that I took with my computer at work earlier today, I’m fine.