Ninjas, Earthquakes, and Gangsters

Last sunday was Ninja Fest! I got to walk around dressed as a ninja, went to Ueno Castle and the Ninja Museum, and go to do some ninja tasks like throwing shuriken (throwing stars)!







Ninja Van


Ninja's hiding spots


Ueno Castle made form postal stamps!


Ninjas wall climbing and picnicing

JUST THEN...

There was a BIG EARTHQUAKE!

It was a 5.4 and the center of it was about 25 min by train away, so really really close! I was on the ground having my ninja picnic, and it struck! It's weird because everyone is quiet and it sounds like thunder, but from everywhere, not just a place in the sky. A tremor occurred about a minute afterwards in which I screamed a little from nerves, and got laughed at a bit. I don't understand how people think something with such remarkably easy potential to hurt and kill is fun.
I came home to find things knocked over, the extreme things were my TV stand moved, my smoke detector was in the next room, and my coaster flew 7 feet... but my tall thin bottle of moisturizer had not budged!

As if there weren't enough violence as of late, I wake up to find the mayor of Nagasaki had been shot by a yakuza gang member from Japan's top gang. Mayor Ito "was a liberal and a vocal opponent of nuclear weapons... and urged Japan to get out from under the American nuclear umbrella."(Time) He was shot over not approving that the goverment pay for the gang member's car damage.

Today my supervisor showed me a picture of the ninja fest that was in the newspaper, asked if I was a certain person and if they were all foreigners. It wasn't me.. but the girl in the background had a purse very similar to mi--- wait a minute! That's me! I was in the photo after all!

I also placed my first letterbox there. woo!