In a similar vein to my previous posts, this one begins the night before. I had a good mate of mine's going away party here at a bar called 7-3 in Nishi Azabu last night. The guy has lived in Tokyo for some time (and Japan for even longer) and it brought back a lot of fond memories of having done the living/working thing overseas back in the Caymans some years back. You end up with this rat-pack random eclectic group of people, most who meet for the first time at your own going away party. Was a great way to kick off the night and the drinks were definitely flowing freely. From there we ventured to the usual haunt Alife, locked in a VIP table and partied well into the early hours of the morning.
This did not leave me in great condition for a Friday in the office. But I managed to pull myself out of bed and drag my sorry ass into work feeling very worse for wears. I spent the morning contemplating whether I should send some work I'd been doing to my boss, pondering whether, if I sent it, I would need to discuss it at some point. I saved the message as a draft and ventured downstairs for a coffee to consider it further. Shortly thereafter it was midday and time for a Japanese lesson with my ever-so patient Japanese tutor. I suggested an outdoor class because the sun was out, so we sat outside Starbucks whilst I worked on becoming a shade darker than Caspar-white. My next suggestion was to cut the class a few minutes short because I was starving and hadn't eaten breakfast. I ran from the class to get a big bowl of cleansing soup, vegies and noodles which really hit the spot.
I went back into the office feeling only mildly better and still kicking myself for not calling it a shift an hour or so earlier the night before. After an hour at my desk I thought: "I would do anything to get out of here a bit earlier today." And then, only a few minutes later, I felt it. A tremor. I kicked myself again - had I stooped so low that I was feeling the earth move on account of the previous night's shenanigans? Surely not. And then another one. I looked at my Japanese office-mate, asked "Earthquake?" and he nodded, non-plussed. But then, the rumbling really started and the Prudential Tower which houses our office (12th floor no less) started to sway, as it had been designed to do, to avoid cracking in exactly this situation.
I stood up and the floor was moving, looked out the window behind me and saw the adjacent hotel swaying violently, the aerial towers bending like plastic sticks. I walked out of my office and the local Japanese seemed relatively calm, for a few minutes, until the movements became more aggressive. It was like turbulence on a plane - everyone is ok with it, until it goes on for a bit too long and is a bit too noticeable. Then you start to freak out. And freak out I did. After 5 minutes of serious shaking, I saw Christchurch and pictured myself as that guy being hauled out of the rubble, covered in debris, and ended up not making it.
An announcement came through the pa system instructing us to remain calm because the building was earthquake resistant. Even with a hereditary trust of architects (from my father who is one), and without any formal engineering training, the amount the building was swaying was very distressing. And with even the local Japanese exchanging their non-chalance for pained, worried looks, I became even more anxious. Even my other office-mate, a very calm quiet expressionless German who had lived in Tokyo for many years looked edgy. I ran back to my desk contemplating my next move, and by the time I sat down, the rumbling had subsided. I quickly shot out a status update, but no sooner had I clicked the post button, the movement started again, equally if not more aggressively. I thought this was the time to send the folks a goodbye email, just in case, clicked send, and got up again, asked whether it was best to stay or go. The answers were mixed. I thought that there couldn't be much worse than being on the 12th floor of an office building if it went down. I grabbed my coat and made a beeline for the exit as the tremors subsided.
With a few others, we clambered down 12 flights of stairs as the floor started to move again. I looked up and thought to myself a stairwell would not be the best place if the whole thing went down. So I moved a bit quicker and made it out the front. Security guards suggested the lobby was a safer place than outside due to the risk of debris falling off buildings. I preferred the outdoors than having multiple storeys crashing directly on top of me. So we left to go to a nearby temple which seemed like a safe place because it was not surrounded by skyscrapers. Quite a serene place to be amongst so much chaos.
After the quake, walking down the street felt a bit like a US box office sci-fi thriller. People everywhere, looking dazed and confused, staring up above to make sure they weren't going to get smashed by some loose debris. People huddling in the cold outside televisions to watch live news feeds of the carnage in other parts of the country. Both phones and the subway were not functioning.
So now I keep looking at the light in my apartment just to see if it is swinging, each creak of my apartment building makes me check again.
I have to say a big thankyou to everyone for their messages of support, and especially the Bakers' people from back home for making sure I was ok and offerring to help in any way possible. Funnily enough there was an earthquake here a few days ago and I joked about having been in the gym pumping iron at the time (and drew a loose connection between my weightlifting and the earlier quake). Lesson is: Don't joke about earthquakes! They are no laughing matter.
And to Japan I ask - what next?????????????????
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