Last night Otousan pulled out the wind-up battery-powered radio/alarm, and we all took turns winding it up around the dinner table as we watched the evening news for the latest typhoon updates. We wouldn't know for sure if school was going to be cancelled or not until this morning, but we watched the projected path of the typhoon on the television screen, and it looked as though it could come toward Kobe.

After dinner I was sitting at the table doing homework when I noticed that the wind had become really strong. I started feeling a little nervous, so I told Okaasan and Otousan that I would head back into my room in my separate area of the house for the night so I could get in safely before the storm hit. Otousan handed me a huge, red flashlight and told me to take it to my room for safety. He also cautioned me to take a shower sooner rather than later because no one knew if or when we would lose power. The imminent storm draws closer, yet one of the most pressing matters in people's minds is cleanliness. I told Otousan that if we lost power and I still hadn't taken a shower, I would just go stand outside for a minute.

The wind was howling away last night, and as it was coming from the north and the east, my windows were rattling especially loudly. The wind would blow very strongly for a while, then stop, then pick up a short while later. I still heard cars and motorbikes from the street outside my window, though, so there were a few daredevils out last night. The rain was coming down pretty hard, but not so much so that it completely obstructed one's vision. I had trouble falling asleep, though because the wind was quite loud.

This morning I woke up early to the sound of a gentle rain falling outside. By nine thirty or so, the rain had stopped, and an hour later the sun was shining brightly overhead. So the typhoon is all gone from the Kansai region, but now it's in the Kantou area, near Tokyo, and also hitting Nagano prefecture. I heard Otousan's mother lost power in her home in Nagano.

Morning lessons were cancelled for me, and Otousan and Yoko have the entire day off of school. I, however, must report to university for my fifth period class this afternoon. So ends my first typhoon experience.