Just a couple of weeks ago the Kansai region of Japan was hit with a series of earthquakes that caused quite a bit of damage and disruption. And now a good part of Japan is facing yet another series of potential natural disasters.
While the end of June/beginning of July often sees a large amount of rain, we have seen much more that is typical in the past few days. Due to an almost constant torrential rainfall for the past two days (and it's expected to continue into the weekend), we have had a lot of flood, landslide and inundation warnings. Due to this combination of things, a lot of the trains have suspended service, and I also saw a very unusual event on my way home...the two main roads near my apartment were filled with traffic to the point of it being a traffic jam. While those two roads see a lot of traffic, I have never, until today, seen anything even remotely close to a traffic jam before, so it was either a result of the train suspensions or people are seriously worried about these events.
As far as the flooding goes, the rivers have risen quite high and the flow is extremely strong. In fact, there is a river on the way to work which often floods quite easily after heavy rainfall, but this time it looks intense.
Morning of July 5...seems like normal flooding (except happened much faster)
Just for comparison...this is how the river normally looks...clearly a different season but usually you can walk down right next to it, and the water is extremely clear
The city of Kobe also posted some really interesting maps on their website regarding areas of potential flooding and landslides, and when I checked it last night on my way home from work, I was slightly concerned. There were a few potential landslide areas that were within 500m of my apartment building. However, don't worry too much. I wasn't included in the danger zone, and there are a number of buildings and roads between me and that area, so even if it were to happen, I should be alright. It was slightly disconcerting to see that so close to me though.
The yellow areas are for landslide hazards, the red and green points are just evacuation sites
An overview of landslide risk...we're in the 'Extreme' zone for now...
Areas of potential flooding....
Don't be too worried though...nothing so bad has happened yet, and although the rain will likely continue throughout the weekend, I'm sure all will be fine here!
If you're feeling overly concerned, the city of Kobe website I was talking about before can be found here, but it isn't showing actual events, rather just a prediction of where possible events may occur.
Or for more recent events and forecasts, I would suggest taking a look at the Japan Meteorological Agency website, found here.
As you may have heard, there was quite a large earthquake centered in Osaka on Monday morning. It was a magnitude 6 earthquake (which if you don't know, is relatively high). Living quite close to Osaka, we felt the earthquake as well here in Kobe, although it wasn't quite as strong. Somewhere around a magnitude 5. The earthquake happened just before 8:00am, and I was about 2 minutes away from my school. So, outside, walking.
Osaka is the red area, and Hyogo (where Kobe is) is the bright yellow [5 lower] area to the left of the red
Some people have been asking me what it feels like, or how I knew an earthquake was happening, so I'll try to explain as best as I can. As for how I knew, well it was a combination of the shaking as well as the loud alert coming off of my phone. If you don't know, pretty much all mobile phones in Japan are equipped with an emergency alert system, which is supposed to let you know (ideally in advance) of any impending disasters. It overrides all other active functions on your phone and is extremely loud. In the case of this particular earthquake, I received the alert at the exact time that the earthquake started. I did hear from others that they had about 1-5 seconds notice this time.
As for the earthquake itself...in my experience, the first thing that happens is there is a loud crack or boom...kind of like thunder, but a little different. Next you feel a downwards jolt, and then the ground feels like it's shaking horizontally.
Since the earthquake happened around 8am, it caused a lot of transportation problems, and many people were stuck on the train for hours. I was actually texting with a friend as this was happening, and he said that the train started shaking, and many people on the train got quite upset, and were crying.
Also, since it was a rather large earthquake, everyone expected there to be some occurrences of aftershocks, and there were...both on Monday and Tuesday there were apparently a few aftershocks ranging from a magnitude of 3.5-4. Here in Kobe, I only felt one around 12:30am, but a friend who lives closer to Osaka told me that she felt quite a few.
Also as a result of these earthquakes, my school cancelled classes, although I did go in on Tuesday and got quite a bit of work done.
The other thing that I've heard a lot of curiosity about was whether or not my apartment was affected. In previous earthquakes I may have had an item or two drop, but nothing overly significant. This time, however, was very different. I came home to a MESS!! Things had fallen out of my cupboards, dishes fell off the shelves, into the sink and onto the floor, things in my bathroom fell into the tub, clothes/baskets in my closet fell down, and then there was my wall (see picture below). It took some time to clean everything up, and it definitely wasn't what I wanted to come home to, but I suppose it could've been much worse. Everyone was quite surprised when they heard about my apartment trouble though since I'm in Kobe, and the tremors weren't as strong here...
Apparently they're still expecting further aftershocks, or another earthquake, but so far so good. Keep safe everyone!
After 5 years, I finally did it!! I visited the sand dunes in Tottori! I originally read about them when I was still living in Korea, and since then, I've always wanted to go, but never took the time to do it. Until this weekend that is. Originally my plans had been to go in the middle of this week (it's Golden Week in Japan, so we have time off), but then it looked like I might have to cancel my plans because the forecast was for rain for the days I had booked. But, Saturday morning I took a look at the hotel again to see if they had rooms earlier in the week as the forecast was for warm sunny weather. I wasn't overly optimistic because during Golden week things are usually fully booked months in advance. But I lucked out, and was able to find a free room! I wanted to stay a couple of days, because there were a couple of other things I was interested in checking out in the area. But...if a person only wanted to go to the dunes, it is definitely something that could be done as a day trip. The train from Kobe takes about 2 hours 20 minutes, and then there's a 20-30 minute bus ride from there to get out to the dunes.
When I got into Tottori, there weren't so many people around, except at the bus stop. The line was quite long for the bus going to the dunes, but I was able to squeeze onto it anyway. There were a few different stops along the way, but once we got closer to the dunes, it was quite slow going because there were SO MANY cars! I ended up getting off a stop early and just walking a couple extra minutes because it seemed more time efficient. Also, I wanted to briefly mention...all of the websites I saw said that the bus fare to get out there was 370¥ one way, but it was actually only 300¥!
When you get out there, the road the bus drops you off on has the sand museum (which I'll talk about a little later), and quite a few cafes, restaurants, and of course, souvenir shops, as well as some excursion offices.
I passed all of this by and didn't go straight onto the dunes either. Rather, I continued down the road for a bit and took a little walk down by the road that ran parallel to the coast on one side and a kind of forest on the other side.
After that, I went back and went out onto the dunes themselves, after I picked up a little map outlining the general area. I also found out that the dunes are marked with wooden posts that are placed in a 100m grid corresponding to the map so that you can find out where you are in the dune (and don't get lost?). These dunes are supposed to cover an area of about 30km2. Each post also has a mini version of the grid on it as well. There were a few rules that they have for the dunes, such as don't remove sand, don't write/draw in the sand, don't drive on the dunes, no fireworks, no littering, etc. Mostly straightforward, although the writing/drawing might be tempting for some people.
Grid post!
At this point I was almost as FAR away from everyone as could be...the entrances were around M-12 and L-14...
and most didn't leave that main area...
Also this seemed really random to me, but they also had this chair lift that went over the road. But...it didn't go ANYWHERE!! So what is the point? I was so confused...
When I first got out onto the sand, there were SO MANY people!! Most of them were climbing the first ridge, or walking around in the entrance area, and some were playing in the water by the oasis. These dunes are also right next to the ocean, so there was a really nice breeze coming off of the water, and some people also went down from the ridge (which at the entrance was quite steep) to walk by the water. Some people were also just hanging out, sitting and talking/eating on the sand. There were also a few camels that you could take for a ride or take pictures with but there were a lot of people and a really long line, so I passed that by.
See! There really were camels!
So many people! They look like ants!
I started my walk on a path that went next to a green area...yes, there can be green around dunes...look!
A sign said these purple flowers were sand shallots
I didn't see the bug on the flower until I went back and looked at my pictures...
Love the view!
After that I made my way to the top of the main ridge where most of the people were, saw some ripples, sat down, emptied a ton of sand out of my shoes, and took in the nice view of the ocean.
I love it!!
It was windy! And so bright! But so much fun!
After that, I spent the next few hours just wandering around, being a geo-geek, thinking back to how one of my professors in university would be so excited to see this area, took too many pictures, and had an overall good time.
Prepare to see a lot of pictures of sand! (If you get bored, just keep scrolling until you get to the next part).
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I really wanted to change the color on this one for some reason...what do you think?
Dune vegetation!
Foot prints!!
It was random...
Thank you to this couple for being my scale...
Erosion-control forest on the edge of the dune...
You can see the hint of a paraglider...
It's really hard to show how tall this ridge is...at the bottom left, there is a man starting to climb the ridge and in the picture below, you can see a couple people standing at the top against the sky...much bigger than you think!
It was hunting...Also much bigger than it looks....
Layer of exposed volcanic ash
If you look hard enough...you can find evidence of water...
Canadians: Remind you of anything?
The oasis: size will change based on rainfall...
Last look...no more dune pictures, I promise 😉
Short video of the sand dunes! If it doesn't work, click here.
For interest's sake...a map of the dune area
Sand Museum
After I finished wandering around in the dunes, I went to go check out the sand museum, which holds a variety of sand sculptures, created by people from a variety of countries. They change the displays every year or so, and the current display theme was "The Nordic Countries" and it also had a lot of fairy tale themed displays. Admission to the museum is 600¥, and once you get inside it's hard to believe that the displays are made from sand because not only are they huge, but also very intricate. There were a lot of people inside, and so at times it was kind of hard to see, but if you ever go to the dunes at Tottori, I would also recommend checking out this museum as well!
Egeskov Castle from Denmark
Zooming in a bit...cute details
The above two were part of "The Sami People" display
Bryggen -- old district in Norway
Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue
On the other side of the little mermaid...
They had a waterfall going between these displays of the Landscape of the Fjord and Norse mythology
The Little Match Girl and The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep inspired.
Zooming in on the sand cat
All of the above are part of the Norse Mythology display
Animals in Northern Europe display
Apparently this is from a Swedish children's story
Alfred Nobel and the Nobel prize display
Winter sports display
The Doll House...kind of creepy...see the girl looking through the window?
Edvard Munch - The scream - display
Trolls in the forest
Going back to the Landscape of the Fjord...
Edvard Grieg and Peer Gynt
Santa Claus
Views of displays from the second floor
Animals from Greenland
Ok, I was wrong...one last picture of the dunes.
Views from the sand museum
Quick view inside the sand museum. If it doesn't work, click here.
Once I finished in the sand museum I thought it was about time for me to head back into the city for the night, and I was fully intending to take the bus back but....there were still so many cars on the road so it was guaranteed to be slow going for a while, and I found out that the next bus wouldn't be coming for over another hour. So...me being me...I just decided I might as well just walk back. After all, it was only 6km. Which meant I could get back before the bus even arrived. Plus, I was able to see more of the city if I walked. So I did. But not before I tried Tottori's specialty pear ice-cream!
Yum! Pear ice cream!
Ate next to these frogs. Don't know why they were here. They just were.
There were lots of traditional style homes around Tottori...
Children's Day is coming soon! Never seen this many koinoburi in one place before though
Bunny statue outside of Tottori Station
My plan for once I got back to the city was to eat when I got there, since I wasn't so hungry yet while at the dunes. BUT!! Once I got back there were NO restaurants open! Well, McDonald's was, but that doesn't count. I was so surprised! I mean, sure it was a national holiday, but usually restaurants are still open...So it was supermarket food for me and then back to the hotel to get some rest before the next day.
One of the other places that I had heard about and wanted to check out was the Tottori Prefectural Flower Park. It wasn't actually in Tottori City though. Well actually, it wasn't in any city at all. Getting there was a bit of a trip in itself. First I had to take the train to Yonago (by express train it takes about an hour and a half), and then had to hop on the free shuttle bus, which took another 20 minutes, and went through an extremely rural farming area and into a mountain before arriving at the park.
I also found out that the park was at the end leg of their tulip festival, so the entrance had tulips of all types and colors.
There were many different flowers throughout the park, and I spent a few hours going through it. In the very center of the park there is a big dome type green house and that connects to the covered walkway that goes in a 1km circle around the main section of the park. At some times this path is at ground level, other times quite high up, and at one point it also goes "underground" and you can check out a display that they have about what goes on underground for plants.
Here you can see the higher part of the walkway I was talking about.
At one point they have a waterfall that goes over the walkway as well
'Floating Gardens'
Flower clock?!
Thyme!
Orchids
The Mist Gardens
These lilies were GIANT...some were even taller than me!
Evidence!
Ask me no questions...I don't know!
From the European garden
Baby roses!
Inside of the dome
The park also has some more secluded "forest paths" on the north side of the park. They also have speakers placed throughout the entire park and play relaxing music in an attempt to create a more calming and serene environment.
Another interesting part of this park was the Keukenhof corner. So...this garden in Tottori has a sister garden in the Netherlands, and they did some kind of exchange about flowers and gardening techniques, and this section of the park was created as a result of that. Also, the idea was that each bed had one or two colors of flowers to create a look that represents an artist's paint palette and they use other flowers of the same colors below the tulips so that it can be viewed throughout the year.
This sign is what I was trying to explain
One of the highlights of this park is the view of Mt. Daisen, which I learned is one of the tallest mountains in the region at about 1700m. The best view is from the flower hill.
Mt. Daisen from the flower hill
Those were the highlights of my trip out to Tottori!
Also...as a side note of random interest! I've now reached 5 years on this blog!! Hard to believe!
