I know many people will remember that afternoon forever now. It was a sunny and warm spring day. Everyone was waiting for the cherry blossoms, and planning for their hanami parties.
I had a day off, so I decided to take a bath and just relax at home. It was perfect, the radio was playing the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” and me sitting in the bath doing precisely that, with 2 rubber ducks and a floating candle.
Out of sudden, there was a tsunami in the bathtub. I quickly grabbed the candle when the ducks disappeared.
What do you do when there is a monster size earthquake and you are butt naked?
Japan is the best-prepared country for earthquakes. And the Japanese people live their every day lives, waiting for The Doomsday.
But still, when it happened, I was scared, although not scared enough to go running outside naked. I stayed in the bathtub, where I knew probably was the safest place in my apartment anyway.
When the shakes finally slowed down, I got dressed super fast and went to the study to check the news on the internet.
I knew that all the phone lines, and mobile phone connections would soon die, and I was worried about internet too. So I quickly skyped my family and told my mum I was OK. She was confused and asked me what happened, so I explained. She screamed and told me to get out of the building right away, and I just said, don’t be silly.
You see, people living in Japan know the only way to survive a big earthquake in the city is to stay indoors.
My study floor was covered with fallen bookshelves and scattered books by then. And the building was still rocking. I started worried about my friends. So I checked Facebook, and talked to some friends, all terrified, but otherwise OK.
After we made sure everyone seemed to be still in one piece, we started to calm down a bit, and even attempted some jokes, until later we heard about the tsunami in Fukushima.
Everyone went quiet.
Nobody said it out loud, but I know we all felt guilty that we had survived, but they didn’t.
