It has been an wild week here in Niseko. Typhoon #21 slammed into Hokkaido overnight on the 4th causing extensive damage and then at 03:08 yesterday on the 6th we had a 6.7 magnitude earthquake around 70 km away near Atsuma. Power was cut to the entire island instantly with Hokkaido’s main electricity station suffering extensive damage. For an overview of the present situation please check out this article on Japan Today.. Here in Niseko the earthquake registered at a magnitude around 4.5 and lasted around 20 seconds which definitely woke most people up and caused some anxiety! There was no damage reported around the Niseko region.
With the real prospect of the power remain off for days understandably there was quite a bit of panic buying of food, petrol and essentials. It was a surreal experience driving through town with no traffic signals and nearly all shops and services down. Inside what shops were open people patiently waited in the long lines with the same stoic facial expressions to buy whatever they could. In all of the confusion of yesterday with people not knowing what to do with themselves GINGER RESTAURANT stepped up and put on an impromptu BBQ for the community in front of RHYTHM in Hirafu offering 1,000 yen plates and ice cold drinks 😉 This defiantly boosted moral.
Thankfully the power started to return to the region by the early evening and by this morning most area’s in Niseko have power. Life with hopefully return to normal before too long.
Ginger BBQ, 6 September 2018
Stars and candlelight, 6 September 2018
