<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16788" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> I have a feeling it will probably be some time before any serious Geyser Gazer will get to go check it out.  I was in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1:place>Tokyo</st1:place></st1:City> when the earthquake hit and it was really intense; there was a lot of panic and people were really afraid.  The building next to ours caught on fire and there was a lot of smoke.  The entire city shut down and people were stuck wherever they were at.  We were stranded for eight hours where we were while every few minutes an after shock rolled through; it felt like we were on a deck of a ship out a sea.  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p> </o:p> The next day on Saturday we had an appointment up north but the transportation systems are just not running.  They told us that the train tracks are damaged, but that they are doing everything they can to get things back to normal.  As intense as the earthquake and aftershocks were, <st1:City><st1:place>Tokyo</st1:place></st1:City> is basically okay.  Other than minor damage to many of the buildings the only real impact was people were stranded everywhere without the ability to communicate because the phone systems were overloaded or down.  The only thing we could do was sit down and wait for things to improve.  Food and water was hard to get for the first day because most of the store shelves were completely bare within a few hours.  It’s pretty sad over here right now, people are still pretty nervous especially since we are still feeling aftershocks every few hours and of course there is the worry of a nuclear power plant meltdown.   <o:p> </o:p> <st1:PersonName>Kendall Madsen</st1:PersonName></DIV> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left> <HR tabIndex=-1> From: geysers-bounces@lists.wallawalla.edu [mailto:geysers-bounces@lists.wallawalla.edu] On Behalf Of TSBryan@aol.com Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 5:39 PM To: geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu Subject: [Geysers] Onikobe Japan </DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV>Not that it really matters, and I'd be very certain that we'll never know. But... people here often query as to whether or not some earthquake caused changes in the geysers. Well, for the record, the Onikobe-onsen of Japan, apparently the only natural geysers in Japan, are near Sendai. Might be interesting to see the place about now......</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Scott Bryan</DIV></BODY></HTML>