Pre Japan update

[rachel_riecheru]

I am sitting on my bed laughing in hysterics at myself, do you want to know why?

Because in my plight to choose a window seat with a seat thats unreserved next to me i chose the following seat. "58k"... once i noticed this i couldn't help but laugh, i then looked at all the other flights, and all the "58" rows had window seats with a seat available next to it. So i scooped them all up.

Crap i am a mental fangirl, but surely thats a good way to start a trip to the land of Yaoi, (among other things.) right?

Today i went for an hour long walk and my ankle only hurt for 8 times (for around a second) during the walk so its much much better, ^_^

I've almost finished packing, par a few extra clothing most of it is completed.

I am very excited!!! I can't wait to sit in the 58 seats XD!!!

Comments

[rachel-reicheru.livejournal.com]

ah you might not know this but this is my second trip ^_^

So i know where to look for these lovelies!:P for the comiket stop over im staying in Ikekuburo not more than 1k from Otome rd ^_______^

[evilchuckles.livejournal.com]

Do you read Japanese? I find the bookshops SO frustrating. So much yaoi, so close and yet, so far! *sob*

Have you been in Japan since the earthquake? If not, brace yourself for the increased tectonic activity. There are many more earthquakes now (some scientists believe it could go on for years because the March event destabilised the plates). Every week at least, sometimes several a day.

[rachel-reicheru.livejournal.com]

No i haven't been since the earthquake. I will brace myself i was sort of expecting it. I'm a little nervous since we don't get a lot of earthquakes in Australia but i think I'll be alright :)

I don't read japanese, but do you need to when you buy manga porn lol? In my op a good manga can be read without words, http://www.mangafox.com/manga/sorenari_ni_shinken_nandesu/ this is a manga i brought on the lasts days of my trip in Shinjuku, (not sure why i was trying to shop there but whatever) and it was so wonderfully drawn i could 100% understand the story without words, only a couple of weeks ago i found that scanlation and i was spot on with everything :D

may i ask where about in Japan you live?

[evilchuckles.livejournal.com]

So do you think I could follow the stories without reading? I might try it! Although I do blush when I'm wandering around the yaoi section in the bookshops. As a European I get stared at quite a lot so it's impossible to be anonymous. You can imagine how fascinated people are about the gajin who clearly likes yaoi! Still, it makes the day more interesting for the bookshop staff.

I live in Saitama, north of Tokyo. I'm about 40 minutes from Ikebukuro by train. We're on a more stable part of the plate than Tokyo (or so I'm told) but I still spend a lot of time being woken up in the night as my flat tries to jump off the ground. Sigh.

[rachel-reicheru.livejournal.com]

Wow I must say I'm a little jelous u live in Japan. Yes I do know what u mean I don't get easily embarrassed so when I was buying yaoi last time (I brought large amounts too) I did get strange looks but it didn't bother me :p I even got a kbooks point card ^_^ can't wait to use it again lol.

They asked if I wanted me books wrapped in paper when I got them maybe to hide the dirty covers but I always said no I was so halogen be in Japan. My current plan is to go there once a yr until I can find a way to move there. When I was there lasttime it was the first time in my life I felt relaxed and at peace :) this time I'll be by myself which I am not sure I'm very good at, if I cab survive it and still be relaxed and at peace it proves that's the place I an destined to live.

[evilchuckles.livejournal.com]

I got out here by getting a job teaching English. So many foreigners left after March that there are lots of jobs available for native speakers of English so if you are one too then you could move out here quite easily! You need a university degree though, to get a working visa. I know someone who went to university for three years for that sole reason!

And don't worry! They always offer to wrap books in paper. It's to protect the jackets. It was no judgement of your reading habits!

[rachel-reicheru.livejournal.com]

Yeah lol that's why I was doing uni but it was sooo bloody painful I quit I might start up again once I've finished losing weight

[rachel-reicheru.livejournal.com]

Any advice u can give someone for when an earthquake appears eg stop or keep going ect?

[evilchuckles.livejournal.com]

Open the door or the window so that you won't get trapped and then get under the table!

But only if things are really swaying.

I didn't even get out of bed during the 6.4 last night!

[rachel-reicheru.livejournal.com]

Epp well I'll be in tokyo for 10 days (nights) all up. 3 for comiket and 7 for my final week shopping and such. Hopefully nothing to scary, but i wouldnt mind actually feeling an earthquake we dont get them here, so id be interested to see what it feels like... long as the ground doesnt split between my feet XD

[randomdiversion.livejournal.com]

I live on top of a fault-line here in California (as in, the builders had to put a set-back for the fault in a neighbor's yard). So I get little earthquakes all the time.

Little earthquakes are safely ignored. Japan builds for them, so you really only have to worry about objects on shelves and things falling on you, not about the buildings themselves being damaged.

Larger earthquakes differ from small ones mostly in their duration. If an earthquake lasts more than about 10 seconds, you can consider either going under a piece of heavy furniture to avoid falling objects, or possibly walking calmly outside. However...

If you do walk outside, be aware there is a danger of window-glass or non-structural decorative elements on the outsides of buildings falling down on you.

If you are driving and an earthquake is strong enough to discern, calmly pull to the side of the road someplace that is neither on top of nor beneath an overpass.

The Japanese all know what to do, so follow their lead.

[rachel-reicheru.livejournal.com]

Yeah that was pretty much what i was going to do (follow lead that is.)

[randomdiversion.livejournal.com]

Ok.

things I'd like to add while I think of them--stacked parking structures seem to be unusually vulnerable to pancaking, probably because they don't have the stabilization of walls between the vertical supports. If you are in one when a quake hits, then without panicking exit immediately or at least get to an area with a waffle-style ceiling so if the level above falls, there's a crawl space to be in. You don't want to be between two flat slabs of concrete, so don't hang around wondering if the quake is bad or not.

In LA there used to be a lot of 1950's era apartment complexes built on top of a parking level--in various quakes most of these have pancaked down onto the cars.

Anyway, Japan has serious quakes even more frequently than California, so most structures that *can* fall have already fallen and been replaced with structures that won't.

Notably the old temples and such? *Very* earthquake tolerant. Modern engineers are still learning things about earthquake-resistant design from them.

In California most areas don't suffer more than broken mayo jars unless the intensity gets over Richter 6.5. Japan is probably the same. Due to aftershocks from the Sendai quake, I imagine residents of Tokyo probably don't blink at anything less than a 6, because they've been having so many aftershocks. (This was my experience after the 7.2 Loma Prieta quake.)

Another indicator of earthquake severity is whether the power goes out. If it does, then the quake is probably significant (though it may be distant and not shake too hard where you are) and that's an indicator to seek shelter from falling objects because the quake may last more than a few seconds.