As you might have heard, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan at around 3 o'clock PM (as what I heard in some sources) in their time. Because of me meeting some Japanese teachers last year, I can't help but feel worried about their safety. So first of all, I'd like to send my condolences to those affected by the earthquake and the tsunami: not just the Japanese people, but everyone else as well.

That being said, I think I had a heads-up on the news.

I was browsing Pixiv (a Japanese art gallery site, for those who do not know) past midnight when something strange was going on. Pixiv, a site that rarely gets errors, went down for most parts (strangely, their main page is still up, but judging by how it is translated in English I'm thinking it's set up internationally). It was around 1 AM in my time when it happened.

And knowing that we're 15 hours away from Japan, I thought something was going on. Too bad I didn't really know how grave it was, but it did give me a fair warning.

Everyone in my Japanese class was depressed by the news, really. Some of us were in the D-level (one level higher than mine) and met other Japanese teachers and students that I didn't get the chance to. They were extremely worried about them as well.

Here's to hoping this disaster will be resolved and acted upon sooner.

EDIT: Looking around other sites for reaction, I find it... more depressing... that people talk about "the end of the world" rather than the disaster itself. Preachings here, scares there... I'm especially furious of the ones that talk of "the second coming", as if they're certain about it happening right now. I'm not going to dwell into it any further, but I'm just infuriated that people aren't reaching out to the victims and instead fend for themselves.

It's too early for that.

EDIT: Looks like amidst all the trouble in Japan, Pixiv has gone back up. I'm pretty sure things aren't still stable in there, but for the internet community it seems to be going back to business... 皆さんが　大丈夫といいです。。。