Earthquake

Just had my very first earthquake experience.

It was 8 December 2025, 11:16pm. It was 7.5 magnitude earthquake in the sea near Aomori, the northeast coast of the main island of Japan. It was still pretty close to Sapporo, so we felt it but at an intensity of only about 3. So nothing serious… objectively.

We got the earthquake alert on our phones, and almost immediately, felt the Airbnb apartment shaking slightly. We stayed in bed huddled together, just observing. Thankfully, the kid was in deep sleep. Nothing fell off the walls or broke. It was over just as the fight or flight responses kicked in.

The next day, life went on like it was nothing.

So objectively, nothing really happened. But it felt like, that’s it? Do we need to be concerned? Or fly home immediately? In the end, we stayed on for one day more for our original departure flight.

With Japan authorities predicting a mega quake, we might have been lucky. But it might have been nothing at all too.

Something serious but nothing serious.

Such a strange limbo experience.