We are safe but . . .

For those of you not following on FB, we are safe here in Southwestern Japan on the Seto Inland Sea, but all seacoast areas on open water - Sea of Japan as well as Pacific - remain under tsunami warnings as earthquake aftershocks continue from the devastating 8.8 earthquake near Sendai in Northern Japan. We have been glued to the TV for about 24 hours now, after hearing about the strong earthquakes and tsunami that continue to hit Northern Japan. The photos & videos we're seeing are indeed overwhelming and horrifying - yet everything here in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture remains the same.

We are heartbroken for our Japanese neighbors to the north. Although we are NOT in the affected area, phone and internet services remain intermittent all over Japan from damage and overuse.

Thanks to all of you who have emailed and contacted us. If you're interested in more info, check out these links for Earthquake & Tsunami warnings. If you click on "Previous Information" on the Earthquake page, you can see the date stamp & have an idea of how many earthquakes have occurred within the past 24 hours since "The Big One" - absolutely amazing!

I am very grateful to Japan's NHK World and BS2 television stations for providing continuing disaster info - in English (as well as many other foreign languages) - on Japanese TV during this info during such a frightening time. Japan is extremely prepared and organized in time of disaster - they have lived with typhoons, volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunami for thousands of years. But their preparedness, professionalism, calmness, and skill at such times continues to amaze me!

If you are able, please follow us on Facebook for updates. And thank you for continuing to keep up with our adventures in this beautiful country.

~Margie
Saturday @ 3:45 PM