Typhoon #22

Typhoon time again. Typhoon #22 is passing right over Okinawa main island and Naha right now. It's our second typhoon in two weeks, but the previous one didn't get that close so the effect was limited. This one is pretty weak, but a weak typhoon is still a typhoon, and it's right above us so we get fairly heavy rains and gusts of wind strong enough to pick people off their feet. You're not going outside while this is happening.

Typhoon #22, going almost right over Naha.

Everything is closed, of course, and all public events are cancelled. The not-so-informal yardstick on Okinawa are the buses: when the bus companies cancel the bus service everything closes. It's a convenient signal and a practical necessity; if buses can't run, neither can cars or any other public transport, and you can't open the office or the shop when your employees can't get to work.

In our back yard, a couple of ornamental trees in the neighbours yard have fallen into ours. There'll be some cleaning up to do after this one. Our main problem, though, is that we're moving (only about 500 meters; we're not leaving Okinawa), and we were supposed to bring all the small stuff to the new place this weekend. That's not going to happen in this weather.

Some plants and ornamental trees have fallen in the yard. I know it's a bad picture, but I'd need to go outside to get good shots and both Ritsuko and common sense puts a definite stop to that.

The typhoon is pretty small so the weather should improve by tonight, and we can probably cart the stuff over to the new place tomorrow. We'll spend Saturday packing, cooking and listening to the wind and the rain. Oh, and drinking a beer or two, in Okinawan tradition.