Did thee feel the earth move?

Yes, literally. This morning, at around 2.54am, my bed rocked gently, and woke me up. I sat up in my bed, wide-eyed and fully awakened. All my utensils and stuff stayed in their places. And the rocking stopped after a few seconds. I tried getting back to sleep, but the birds in the adjacent park were all fully awake and chattering about what just happened. I heard this one particular female bird screaming to her husband, "How many times have I told you that this branch is prone to vibrations? You insisted on building our nest here. Don't you care about our eggs? We are lucky this time. First thing in the morning, you go and find us a safer location, ok?" The hubby didn't make any sounds - I guess he was meekly nodding.

(I learned later on in the morning that the quake measured 5.4 on the Richter scale, and was centered about 80kms southeast of Yokohama. News report here.)

Speaking of birds, I noticed a few Japanese crows the other day. They are bigger than their Indian cousins, and have a very shiny luxurious black colour. They're obviously on a better diet here. They have a different accent too. While Indian crows tend to sound 'kaaah kaaah', their Japanese counterparts have a shorter 'kaaw kaaw' - sounding definitely more dignified and sophisticated.

Being interested in energy healing, I was curious to experience Shiatsu - a Japanese massage technique to promote energy flows and healing. So I fixed an appointment at the Kimura Shiatsu Institute in Tokyo last weekend and went there. The healer is Susuma Kimura-san, a friendly man in his 60s, who speaks fairly good English. He got me to lie down flat on the floor, draped a sheet over me, and started prodding various points on my abdomen. Then he moved on to the legs, the back, my neck and head - prodding and pressing, and releasing his pressure when I was close to feeling pain. It was an interesting experience - similar to acupressure. I felt relaxed and refreshed when my hour long session was completed. He did make a surprise move on my back - in a sudden motion, he stretched my spine - causing a lot of crackling sounds. It's good for you, he said. I think one needs a few sessions to actually start feeling the energy work happening. The only disavantage I see is that it needs someone to work on you, unlike pranic healing, which you can administer to yourself.

Last weekend, I hit the temple circuit at Kamakura, which is 40 mins by train, south of Yokohama. I first visited the Hachimangu Temple, and then the Big Buddha - the 'Daibutsu' and the Hase Kannon Temple. The Hase Kannon Temple has a very beautiful garden around it - with hundreds of flowers everywhere, this being Spring. In fact, I have been seeing happy flowers everywhere, smiling and cheerful. Here are a few who coyly agreed to be photographed. All taken with my Canon A80.

A collage of Tulips in various colours - at the Yokohama Park (click for the original image - 2.9 MB in size).



And here's a collage of a variety of flowers, up close and personal (click for the original image - 1.5 MB in size).