Sunday, July 15, 2007

Safe and Sound in Japan

Just in case any of you have been watching the news the past couple days and have seen warnings for a typhoon to hit Tokyo, I wanted to let you know that Tom is safely in Japan at the Naval Shipyard in Yokosuka.

He called me tonight (after getting off work about 3:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon) and I got to talk to him for about 20 minutes until his phone card ran out. I asked if he was safe and if the typhoon was affecting him where he was at, and he said no; they had prepared a lot for it and evacuated certain areas around Tokyo, but it blew by them and they barely experienced heavy rain and a tiny little bit of wind. He also admitted that he knew about the typhoon predictions before he left, but didn't want to tell me so that I wouldn't worry. How well he knows me...

***New:*** You also might have heard of an earthquake that hit Japan. I want you all to know that it happened Monday morning Japan time, even though we are just now hearing about it. And Tom called me last night (Sunday) at 3:30/4 -ish on Monday Japan time...so the earthquake had already happened, as well as this nuclear spill in to the water. But it was on the opposite side of the island from where he's at, and he's safe. I just don't want any family and friends to be hearing the news and worrying about him over there.

Anyway, he says he likes it over there -- everything is very small, not a lot of cars, and even the public places are pretty quiet. He says it seems like everyone pretty much keeps to themselves and doesn't want to interfere with each other by having a loud conversation or listening to loud music, etc. He said that was kind of a nice difference between our two cultures; ours is so bombarded by noise all the time.

Well, that's about it for now. Please keep Tom and Ron in your prayers on Friday for a safe trip home!

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