Preparing for Nabi

We went out this afternoon to shop for necessities for the impending storm, and the blackout we will subsequently experience. Canned goods, water, lanterns, candles, cup noodles, beer. You know, all the basics.

I was glad to see that everyone else was buying supplies too. My first typhoon in Japan was freaky, not because it was big, because it wasn't, but because I was expecting it to be big. No one else prepared, and they didn't even put on their storm windows. At that time I couldn't really understand the tv or internet predictions, so I was just stealing myself for the worst storm ever. Now I've realised that I should watch the animals and my neighbours to find out how bad the storm is going to be.

It really is the animals who know. Last night, the summer sounds of cicadas chirping and frogs croaking lasted all night long. Today, there has been basically nothing since about 6 pm. I don't know if they've left, they're just quiet, or what. The rain has let up, and the only sound is of the wind whooshing over top of the patio cover onto our roof tiles. If I ever make a horror movie, this sound is going in right before the climax.

We know that we're going to lose power, it's happened too many times before. That's the worst, when you are just sitting in the dark of your boarded-up and boiling house, waiting for the worst to come, or the storm to be over. When you can't get information, it's hard to know how long to wait. So we wanted to buy a battery powered radio.

We ended up finding the best invention. For only 2000yen, we got a contraption that is a radio, a lantern, an emergency flare, a siren (what is that for? making your neighbours think help is coming when it really isn't?) and a cell phone charger. Best of all, if the batteries run out, you can charge it by turning a crank on the side.

Here's hoping we won't need to use it.