Someone died in my hostel today. No foul play, just... died. Very unsettling. I'm not sure of the details yet.

I woke up to more tragic news this morning concerning the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. For those of you who have been following this blog since I visited Japan, my friend Erin is fine - though Takamatsu is on an island, it is facing north and so is on the wrong side to be affected by any results of this disaster. I knew this and even so I was very worried for her when I heard the news from Al Jazeera this morning. The footage was really terrifying. Luckily, Japan has been preparing for something of this nature for a long time. Though the quake was devastating, I have no doubt the earthquake in Haiti did more long-term damage.