Oops, I forgot to mention that when we rode back from shopping last night, Barry discovered that his rear tire was flat. He had just been thinking, that over almost 6 months of riding in Japan, that we had not had any flats. He was able to pump it up and make it back to the hotel (almost!) with some air in the tire.
It is always more frustrating when the rear tire has a problem…it is a bit more work. But we do find that the 20” tires are easier to deal with. Barry, the happy mechanic now that all is right with his trike.
We are enjoying the location of our hotel, close to the beach, here in Nago. This woman has her cats with her at the beach on leash. We see so many wild cats here…good to see well loved cats with a home.
Riding along the path by the beach. We have seen so many Tropical Almond Trees growing like this along the walkways. Sometimes we curse this tree as so many almonds cover the ground and it is hard to avoid them.
In the afternoon, Barry went shopping and I was in the hotel room. Suddenly loud alarm sounds were blaring from the tv accompanied by a woman’s voice, high pitched and speaking very fast with urgency, no pauses. It was continuous and unsettling. It took me awhile to realize what was happening. Every channel on the tv had lost their normal programming and replaced with the same emergency broadcast.. Initially I thought the emergency warning was for our location. Barry returned and we figured it out by using our phone with google translate on the tv screen. We were both transfixed by this emerging crisis. It really hit home when we heard the names of places mentionned that we had ridden through on our trip to Japan in the spring. Our hearts went out to them.
The tsunami warning extended from the northern tip of Hokkaido, along the northern coast of Honshu and Kyushu. Basically the complete northern/western coast of Japan.
It was impossible for us to stop watching. We knew that the earthquake has done considerable damage, with several more earthquakes occurring . I think there were 17 recorded in a short time at Noto Peninsula alone.
Meanwhile, looking out our window, the weather is fine on Okinawa. We are quite a distance south of the rest of Japan.
Charmaine RuppoltThank goodness you all weren't on the west coast of Japan when the earthquake hit! I was thinking of you all! Reply to this comment 4 months ago
What a day it has been. Barry successfully changed his inner tube, we explored the beach and park area in front of our hotel and then a tragic earthquake hit Japan. It is terrifying to witness a catastrophe like this unfold, knowing that there is nothing you can do. Japan is a country which experiences frequent and very damaging seismic activity. Japan is considered to be a leader in creating an infrastructure with building codes, strategies and emergency preparedness procedures in place to decrease loss of life. We feel their sorrow in coping with this latest tragic earthquake.
