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Japan is reeling today from a horrifying natural disaster that hit last night. An earthquake rocked the northern coastal area of Japan, specifically in the Sendai prefecture, only 230 miles from downtown Tokyo. The earthquake measured around 8.8 on the Richter scale, and to put this into context, the Haitian earthquake last year measured 7.0 on the same scale. Japan has also reported a dozen aftershocks as well. In the CNN clip below, it’s so scary to see  the tsunami waves rush over the farmland and small villages just crushing houses and cars. The death toll by the coast is rumored to be at 300 today and rising (hopefully much less than the 150,000 lives lost in the 2004 Asian tsunami). Luckily it seems that most densely populated big cities, like Tokyo, were spared the worst damage (and casualties)…..but if you’ve ever had the chance to visit the small towns in Japan, you know how unique and precious they are. I’m saddened to think of people and delicate architecture and traditions that may be devastated.

But I’m counting my blessings that my cousin’s husband, his father and my family friends are okay so far. They were in the Tokyo subway when this happened and were evacuated. Thankful that Mikey’s cousin and fiance are ok, they planned their wedding for tomorrow in the southern part of Japan. The homie DJ Kastone is safe and sound, he was touring in Osaka (southern Japan) but will likely have to delay his plans to fly to Tokyo. And fortunately, the 20 plus coasts that were on tsunami watch like Hawaii and California weathered their waves.

We have many friends in Japan, and we know our readers do too….our thoughts and prayers are with them and their extended families.

Related:
If you are worried about friends and family in Japan, try Google’s Person Finder Database here.
President Obama and other countries offer aid to Japan
Follow the Red Cross’ efforts to help in Japan