I really ought to stop underestimating Japanese typhoons!

According to the colorful charts and maps on the news- Typhoon number 22 (Japanese storm naming leaves a bit to be desired) is bouncing off Tokyo as I type. Airplanes are grounded, Shinkansen trains are stopped in their tracks, and the highway (tollroad) from here to Shizuoka (south of Tokyo) is closed due to wind and rain. Firetrucks are driving around with sirens begging citizens to stay inside. My door is shaking and my windows are creaking enough to make me nervous. And yet- where was I? Uh- at the mall waiting to see a movie.

Well- come on- you can only spend so much time in a two room apartment!! Seriously, it poured all night and all morning so when I woke up I kind of thought we were in the clear. A glance at the news showed we obviously weren't anywhere near clear since the big, red dot was in a direct path with Tokyo. So I went to Ueno park and handed out free food to the tent city. Logical, right? It was fun, anyhow. Some of those tents are almost the same size as my apartment- with little stoves, "doors", and what looks like sections for separate "rooms". One man was tucked inside with a cute cat- and I swear another had a TV (must have been radio). Of course, I don't envy them tonight. I hope the blue tarps hold fast.

After a shower and lunch, I had coffee and read a book across the street in a very friendly but rather empty neighborhood cafe. It was only 4 in the afternoon but it was dark enough that cars and buildings had their lights on. Then I made a spur of the moment decision to see if there were any movies playing. I rented a video- but that wasn't going to fill the whole day so I figured a real movie might be fun. By the time I got out to the "mall" (more like a department store/grocery store/Starbucks/cinema in one building), I was pretty soggy... but I bought a ticket for Fahrenheit 911 anyhow. Then I had an hour to kill so I "window shopped" my way through the bookstore, the clothing stores, and even bought some yarn to kill time tomorrow if it was still raining. To my shock though- when I returned to the theatre for the movie- they were announcing that they were cancelling all shows due to the typhoon!! I've never heard such a thing and wondered (still wondering) what the rain had to do with watching movies. We all got our money back and a free ticket for admission to another movie (if I'm reading the kanji correctly). Still in disbelief, I called Yoko and asked if I was missing something.

"What?!? You're WHERE??" Then she told me about the firetrucks... and as I was listening I reached the doors and noticed the 5 or so inches of water flowing through the plaza where the Starbucks tables are usually standing. Then I noticed the trees bending over.. hm... perhaps this was a bad idea.

I made it to the next doorway down before I dodged back inside to put my bag inside my jacket so something would be dry when I got home. It certainly wasn't going to be me. I'd been soaked during those first 10 seconds from door one to door two. The most worrisome part was that the street was flooded with water up and over the curbs. Squish, squish... I gave up on my umbrella and started jogging.

Halfway home I ducked, dripping, into a 7-11 and grabbed dinner: instant udon, some sushi, and a couple of beers... having decided Dominos' delivery wouldn't take my call for pizza.

Like I said when I started- I am finally tucked safely back inside my dry, warm home, and listening to the 24 hour typhoon news. They are cycling through live video feeds from around the country- showing bouncing boats, flooded neighborhoods, swollen rivers, and stranded travelers (don't forget -its the first day of a long weekend!). One of these days I will learn....


UPDATE: According to (more) typhoon TV News, we had over 30 centimeters (almost 12 inches) of water on the streets here in Koto-ku (my area of Tokyo) at one point, with the stranded cars to go with. One of the subway stations next to Tom's flooded- with feet of water pouring in from the ceiling and drowning the tracks. There was a landslide in Nagano that crashed into a hotel or restaurant (I didn't quite catch it) and destroyed it- fortunately no one was hurt. In Shibuya (see photos below... sorry, they weren't taken tonight!) they measured over 60 ml of rain within an hour- and almost 300 ml since the rain started yesterday. I have to admit- I have no idea how much rain that really is in American English ;) but I can tell you it is really, really wet.