Linking Maine and Japan

Yesterday we saw the Earthquake museum on Awaji Island. Part of the museum has been built right over some actual destruction from the earthquake. It contains some trees, earth and fences that shifted in the 1995 earthquake here. Some of the museum had models of a wrecked kitchen and also a ruined road with rubble all around. We sat in an earthquake simulation room, and felt the shaking and aftershock as it would have felt in that earthquake. So much damage, and so scary!

Today we rode back to Tokyo on the Shinkasen (Bullet) train. We got to see Mt. Fuji again as we passed by. At first it was very beautiful, then it was entirely covered in it’s very own weather pattern of clouds, that surrounded Mt. Fuji like a shawl and completely obscured it from us, even though there were few clouds elsewhere in the sky. Very strange to see this powerful mountain have it’s own unique weather. In the last picture of Mt. Fuji shrouded in clouds, you can see rice stalks drying in the fields. They will be used to make tatami mats or crafts, even though the rice itself has already been harvested.

It continues to be very exciting to see the beautiful country of Japan. The people here are so kind and welcoming! Lots more to tell when I see you next.

Mrs. Grumbling