Massive earthquake shakes Japan

Empty shelves at the supermarket.

At 2:45pm on March 11th, a magnitude 8.9 earthquake rocked Japan. At the time, I was at a cafe in Tokyo working on my laptop. Yoshi was at work. Everything started shaking, people were screaming and running out of the building. I quickly packed my laptop and got ready to evacuate. After a few minutes, things calmed down and most of us returned to the cafe. But 15 minutes later, the building started shaking vigorously again. I ran out of the cafe. The streets were filled with panic-stricken people. The trains stopped running and the phone lines were jammed. I immediately tried to contact Yoshi and his family. Luckily, our friends and family were all okay. Shortly thereafter, my cell phone battery ran out but I was able to buy a portable battery charger. I spent the next few hours at a different cafe emailing friends and family abroad. Thank goodness for technology and the internet. Yoshi spent the night at his office and I managed to walk to a friend's house. We were finally able to return home the next morning and fortunately, our house wasn't damaged and our goldfish was safe in his tank.

Yesterday, we went grocery shopping but all we saw were half-empty shelves. Most of the food had already been sold out. The government has announced that there is a 70% chance of a magnitude 7 aftershock to occur within the next three days. We have prepared emergency food and water.

Our second green card interview was actually scheduled for today, but the US embassy has postponed all non-emergency visa interviews. We pray for the victims of this tragedy.


３月１１日、下午２：４５在日本發現了８．９級的大地震.。那時候、我在東京的咖啡店用電腦工作。Yoshi 在公司。 突然、咖啡店開始搖、有些人喊叫、我很快就關電腦準備避難。沒有大事。但是、１５分鐘後、又開始搖、搖得很厲害。我跑到外面去。外面有很多人、大家恐懼不安。電車停了、電話也一直不通。終於能跟Yoshi還有家人聯絡、可是我的手機不久就沒電了。我買電池充電機以後、去別的咖啡店寫email給外國的家人和朋友告訴他們這裡的情況。那一天晚上、Yoshi 在公司睡、我走到朋友家跟她一起過。１２日早上、我們終於回到家。我們家是木造的老房子、所以我們很擔心家裡的情況可是還好、沒事。真的是幸運。我們的金魚也活著。

昨天、我們去超級商場買食物可是大部分的架子上沒有東西。有一些青菜可是其他的東西很少。政府發表說、這三天有７０%的可能性會發現7級的餘震。我們準備了食物和水。

其實、今天本來是我們的第２绿卡面試。美國大使館延期了全部的不緊急的護照面試。我們為受害者的人祈禱。