Earthquake Hits Tokyo

So I’m on the third floor of a somewhat dilapidated building in northeastern Tokyo when the whole place starts shaking. An earthquake had struck Tokyo—a pretty big one too. When I left the building an hour later, I was surprised to see that Japan’s legendarily reliable trains and subways were all shut down. All the tracks had to be thoroughly checked before they trains could begin operations.

Plenty of stranded pedestrians would rather wait for the subways to start back up than walk in the summer heat, and people lined the streets, filled up the restaurants and convenience stores. For me, I decided to walk. Two hours later, having walked halfway across the city, a good friend called me to tell me what lines were working. I went to the nearest train station of one of the working rail lines and headed home.

The earthquake was reported to have been 5.7 magnitude on the Richter scale, which is pretty sizable. No fatalities were reported, and five people were reported injured.

UPDATE: The earthquake was ultimately 6.0 magnitude in the Adachi ward of Tokyo—where I was at the time!—and the biggest quake in thirteen years. There were ultimately 27 injuries.