Stirred, not shaken

Justin and I arrived back in Fukuoka safely last night after a relatively modest 26-hour travel day (5 AM Saturday Pittsburgh time to 7 AM Sunday Pittsburgh time, which is 9 PM here in Fukuoka). This was the first time we'd included an airport transfer in our travels - we flew into Narita, Tokyo's largest airport, which is heavily focused on international and long-range flights, but then transferred to Tokyo's Haneda airport by bus for our domestic connection. The airport limo costs $30 each, a bit steep, but it was better than the alternative, which was to wait overnight in Tokyo because no Fukuoka flights left until Monday. Actually, it ended up working great. The bus ride took us maybe seventy minutes, getting us to the airport around 5:30, not only in plenty of time for our 8 PM flight, but actually so early that the gate agent checked us in for the 6 PM flight. Getting home two hours earlier than expected? Fabulous. Haneda transfer is a win.

And then, this morning, at 8:22 AM, Japan saw fit to welcome these two Midwesterners home with our first-ever earthquake!

You can see the epicenter at the X above, in Hakata Bay. The blue circles just below the X are us.

Please be assured that I would not have used that exclamation point, nor would I have started this post by babbling about air travel, if the earthquake had been serious. This is nothing like the 7 pointer they had in Chile this morning. According to the map above, it was a magnitude 3.8, or a 2 on the Japanese scale, and one text descriptor says it might even have been a mere 1 (Japanese) by the time it got to us here in Sawara-Ku. I was in bed debating whether or not to get up when I felt it, and it felt sort of like lying on one side of a waterbed while somebody sat down on the other side. If I'd been on my bike or in a car, I wouldn't have even noticed it. Still, it was novel, and reminded me that I definitely need to ask our teacher supporter Kumi if she has an estimate on earthquake insurance rates...

What a way to kick off '11!