Earthquake at the Beach

On Saturday I organized an outing to Enoshima beach. During the week I'd done some research about beaches in the area, and basically confirmed my suspicion that none of the beaches in greater Tokyo are that great, due to over-industrialization. I still wanted to see a Japanese beach though, so I wasn't about to let mediocrity stand in my way. The sand at Enoshima is volcanic, and looks very dark. Since I'm accustomed to lighter shades of beach I found this somewhat unsettling, as though the beach were somehow dirty. The entire beach is lined with bars and restaurants that are hastily recreated at the beginning of each summer and torn down at the end. The day we went was overcast, which I think kept away most of the crowds (I've heard that normally you can't find a place to put your towel if you arrive late.) There were still a fair number of people around playing Frisbee and soccer or swimming and sunbathing. Pretty much the normal activities that one expects to find at a beach. The really exciting thing is that there was an earthquake while we were there! I was sitting on my towel, so I was able to very clearly feel the earth shake back and forth. I wasn't really sure what was happening at first, but once I figured it out it was very exciting! I felt pretty safe since there weren't any buildings or large structures around, although I did briefly wonder whether there would be a tsunami. Our plan for after the beach was to go to Yokohama for dinner, but the earthquake delayed the JR lines so we ended up eating in Fujisawa. We had an excellent Japanese meal with tofu, sushi, and yakitori (among other things) that cost less than $20, which was a bargain by Tokyo standards. Afterwards we wandered around Fujisawa for a little while before heading into a karaoke place for 2 hours of singing.