April Fools Day earthquake

I thought about posting a fake entry as a joke for April Fools, but never got around to it. Instead I called up my grandparents and told them that there had been an earthquake in Osaka and that we had got the aftershocks and that some of the rooms at TUJ were pretty wrecked up and classes got cancelled. Grandma told me to come home right away! It was an elaborate joke that worked very well - she was surprised (and relieved) when I told her April Fools! (Don't worry, my grandma is a tough lady, so it wasn't too mean!)

In reality, earthquakes are a concern in Japan. The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake killed 140,000 people in Tokyo and its environs and destroyed 570,000 homes and even more businesses. More recently in 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe killed over 6,000 people and destroyed more than 100,000 homes. As a result, there is an emphasis on emergency preparedness and infrastructure is now built to withstand smaller earthquakes. Above, you can check out this sign we saw in Kawasaki (about 20 minutes south of Tokyo) this weekend.