Feuerwerksmusik: Menuets I & II - GFH

So for a couple of weekends now, we've been heading down to the beach to set off fireworks. Nothing hugely spectacular, but entertaining nonetheless. The first time (the weekend after the 1st and 4th of July) the weather was great, and I took my tripod. The next time (we didn't bother on the weekend of the typhoon) it was "misting" as we headed down to the beach. The "mist" got heavier and heavier and with the wind down by the water we were soon forced to admit that it was actually pretty heavy rain. The fireworks were somewhat difficult to light, and I didn't have a tripod, but a good time was had by all. The pics are up on my flickr site.

On the topic of the typhoon, it's apparently quite normal to get them here. The last one was really not bad at all, although I was told it turned out to sea before we got the full brunt. Rained a lot Saturday night and was sort of windy on Sunday. Maybe the next one will be more fun.

The earthquake (which managed to hit the same weekend) was on the opposite side of Japan. So we felt it as a general shaking of stuff for about 30 seconds. We also felt an aftershock about 13 hours later (that was a good shaking of over a minute). Before coming to Japan I had maybe felt one earthquake (years ago in Ontario). Since I've been here, I've felt at least six, all small, but enough to feel the shaking. Generally this area has been spared any major damage since the last big Tokyo quake (1923). However, some scientists do think that the Tokyo area (about 150 km away) is due for a big one within the next 50 years. On a much lighter and safer note, I've taken up surfing. When I get better, I'll post some pictures.