Japan

I was woken up Friday morning at 5:30 am, by a text message from my dad. It said "Turn on tv, biggest quake ever. Japan, north of Tokyo." Ugh. My heart stopped for a minute and my brain was blurred. As I watched channel 12, I couldn't help but change to Japan TV (we have a Japanese satellite). Watching the news in Japanese made it seem a little less real, almost like I was watching a documentary from 50 years ago. Even though the Japanese have been planning this for decades, some disasters are just inevitable. If any country can get through this, it's the Japanese. They are strong, smart and driven.

Luckily our family and friends live southwest of Tokyo and are all safe.  I've been trying to find some blogs about Japan and how to help. There is a website where you can donate to the relief.  The videos and pictures are devastating. The first one above looks like toy planes and cars.

One of the stories that really made me both cry and smile was the one of the 76 year old father looking for his daughter who worked at the airport that was washed away. The news anchor that spoke to him drove him into the area where he found out from someone that she was alive. They then drove him back to his wife who was waiting in the car. When they approached the car, she dove into her car to offer them an armful of oranges and apples in gratitude for having driven her husband back from the airport. This is truly how Japanese people are. It's AMAZING.