3 Months Later

Every once and a while, a major world event happens.  These things are so huge, we just refer to them by date.  Here in Japan, people ask "where were you on 3/11?"  Here we are, already three months later.  I realize that some of you don't have any idea where I was- so I thought it was time to share my (long) story.


It was a Friday- my day off.  For weeks before this particular Friday, I had been putting in overtime lessons at work.  For some reason, I forgot to put in for any that day.  So we decided to take advantage of the free weekday and make the long trek outside Tokyo to Costco.  We had been talking about this possibility for months.  We wondered what a non-American Costco would look like.  Would they sell the same things?  We heard rumors about the hot dog and soda combo, so we went for it.  That morning we spent a particularly long time planning our route.  There are a few locations in Japan so we had some options.  It came down to two locations, and we finally chose Shin-Misato because we thought it was less train transfers.

After a bus and two trains, we finally made it to Shin-Misato.  You could tell we weren't in Tokyo anymore.  There was a huge shopping mall, an Ikea, and signs for Costco up ahead.  We took our time wandering through the mall- it was easiest to walk through the mall to get to Costco anyway.  By the time we got to our destination, it was already after 2pm.  We got quite distracted in the mall, but there it was- looking just as I thought it would:

Some things look the same everywhere

We flashed our American Costco card (memberships are honored worldwide) and we were in!  Of course we headed straight for the food counter.  Most people wait to enjoy they hot dog and soda after they shop, but not us.  They didn't have my raspberry iced tea, but that was okay.

Slightly more expensive than the $1.50 back home, but still a bargain!

As usual, we stood in line for quite a bit.  We heard a lot of English around us, so we weren't the only ones trying to get a taste of home.  Finally, we got what we came for.  I don't know if it was all the anticipation or what, but it didn't taste as good as I remembered.  Maybe it was because these dogs were 100% pork, and aren't they 100% beef back home?

Ketchup, mustard and tons of onions are essential to the Costco dog experience

By the time we finished stuffing our faces with hot dog and Bulgogi bake (similar to the chicken bake, but not as good), it was time to shop.  After a quick pit stop (the bathrooms had American Standard brand toilets!), it was already after 2:30pm.  By the way, in case you are now amazed at my ability to remember times, please note that I only have all of this precise information due to the information available on the pictures I took with my phone.  Now that you are thoroughly unimpressed- back to the story.

We started from the beginning.  A collapse-able salad spinner soon made it into the cart.  Have you ever seen one?  What a genius way to save space!  Next, it was on to the wine section.  This was a special treat.  Costco in Maryland doesn't sell wine, so unless you make the trek to Pentagon City- you can't experience this luxury.  It wasn't long before a very cheap (under 1000 yen) bottle of red was accompanying that salad spinner.  We took our time trying to read the labels of all the glass bottles around us, when we felt the first shake.  Now mind you, glass bottles are not ideal surroundings in this situation.  Anyone who has been inside a Costco knows, those shelves go all the way to the ceiling.  As the shaking continued, my eye wandered up to the bulk-sized EVOO 10 feet above my head.  This was not good.

We looked at each other, and we looked around us.  Everyone was sort of standing around as if frozen in time.  But no one was exactly frozen- we were all wobbling slightly.  It was getting difficult to stand still.  Up to this point, I'd experienced small quakes before- but this was far longer and stronger than anything I'd felt.  My head just kept saying, "it'll stop soon- any second now."  But it didn't stop.  It got worse.  The lights started to really shake above us.  People started to run.  And scream.  This was the worst feeling, and just like they say in the movies- it all happened so fast.  We grabbed hands and high-tailed it out of there.  I don't think I've ever run that fast in my life.  I put my other hand on my head, as if that would really protect me from any falling debris.  As we approached the door, large chunks of ceiling were coming down around us.  And the shaking just kept going.

Once safely outside, I realized the severity of what had just happened.  As I looked around at the hundreds of other frightened people, I was overwhelmed with relief.  All those women holding their babies- they didn't even have time to push their strollers out.  Children were crying.  Families and friends out for a casual day of shopping, were now holding each other, comforting each other.  We were okay.  It was going to be okay.  And then the earth shook again.  This second quake might have been even stronger than the first.  Now that we were standing still, you could really feel the strength of it.  People crouched to the ground, and we followed suit.  It was nauseating.  I never want to feel like that again.  You keep reaching for something to steady yourself, but it doesn't help.  After those first two big ones, the number of smaller aftershocks were impossible to count.

The Costco employees were amazing.  At first, they were huddled together and scared like the rest of us.  But in mere moments, they were organized and walking around to see if anyone was injured or needed help.  Someone got a megaphone to distribute information to the crowd.  They developed a system to get people their paid merchandise and abandoned property inside.  We had left a backpack in our cart in the mad dash, but that was brought to the front and we were able to get it back easily.  I couldn't believe how calm they all were.  I highly doubt Americans would have handled it the same way.

We had to abandon our unpaid items and head to the train station.  Unfortunately, the trains never did run that day.  We were stranded, but so were thousands of other people.  We waited in line for a bus to another small town, where we waited in line for another bus that never came.  It was an unusually cold day and the hours had dwindled by.  Finally at almost 10:00pm, we figured we weren't going to make it back to Tokyo.  We hopped on a different bus and managed to find some shelter for the evening.  More on that particular kind of shelter in another post.

When we turned on the TV, I was blown away by the scale of everything that happened.  Watching that early footage of the tsunami didn't feel real.  At the time, I knew something serious happened, but nothing could have prepared me for the scale of it all.  We were so lucky, not only to be okay, but to be with each other.  If I had been alone, I don't know what I would have done.  And that other Costco location that we were considering?  Part of the building collapsed and killed a child that afternoon.

Needless to say, the experience was one I'll never forget.  While it was truly horrifying, I'm grateful to have gone through it.  Everything happens for a reason.  It allowed me to see a different side of Japan.  Japanese people everywhere did what they were told in an orderly fashion.  There was no looting- they don't even have a word for looting in Japanese.  It was inspiring, and still is.

March 11- 3 months later, but still fresh in my mind.