地震だ (+_+)

A fairly big 地震 (earthquake) just hit Japan!

The epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean near 茨城県 (Ibaraki Prefecture) north of Tokyo.

It registered a “5” on the Japanese earthquake scale (Japan doesn’t use the Richter Scale). The Japanese Shindo Earthquake Scale goes from 1 (mild tremors) up to 7 (can topple buildings).

One main difference between the Japanese scale and the Richter Scale is that the Richter Scale assigns an earthquake one rating based on it’s strength at the epicenter…but the Japanese scale assigns an earthquake different ratings for how strong it was at different locations.

So, this earthquake was a level five at the epicenter, but in Tokyo it registered a level three. Big enough to shake our apartment, but nothing fell down in our house…and my kids slept right through it.

But it raised my wife’s and my heart-rate.

A Japanese expression, translated into English, says that the four scariest things are, in order:

Earthquakes, lightning, fire, and a father’s wrath.

I hate earthquakes!