Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

I was driving home from a friends house when I received a voicemail from an old coworker of mine asking me if I could read Japanese. Her daughter was in Tokyo when the big earthquake hit and she needed help locating the hotel her daughter was staying at.

"What earthquake?" I thought to myself. I immediately turned on the TV when I got home and it was bad. I tried calling my aunt and of course all the phone lines were down and I couldn't get through. As the hours went by I began to learn how bad it really was. Thankfully most of my family are in Tokyo, but then they started talking how bad Sendai and Ibaraki was. That's where one of my aunt and uncle on my mother's side are living.

Luckily I got a hold of my aunt and uncle (dad's side) in Tokyo and everyone there is fine. Very shaken up, but fine. My cousin who works in Odaiba (where the fire broke out in Tokyo) was fine too. But no one could get a hold of people in the Sendai and Ibaraki area. That night I went to sleep a bit relieved but a little worried about my other relatives in the harder hit areas.

The next day I watched/read the news about Japan all day. By 3pm (8am Japan time) I started to try to call my aunt in Ibaraki but no luck. My aunt from Tokyo called me to check back in and to let me know everyone was accounted for and fine. The family in Sendai were all ok. Thank goodness! We just couldn't get a hold of my other aunt in Ibaraki and she said she'd keep trying as well.

4pm - The phone to Ibaraki is finally ringing and I finally hear a familiar hello. Oh thank goodness!!! They were all fine. Their electricity was out all night/day and their phone lines were out for while. Other than that they are all fine, and she was able to get a hold of her siblings as well, so my uncle in Sendai was fine too. Yippee!

So now my plans to travel to Japan has been changed. I was suppose to leave this Wednesday, but pushed it out by a couple of weeks. I'm watching the nuclear power plant and the radiation scare closely. Depending on what happens with that, that'll determine whether me and kids go as planned or cancel the trip.