Wakayama, however, did experience a tsunami along the coastal areas.

If your family lives along the coastal area of Wakayama, they may have been effected by the quake.

If you wish to experience the Kobe Luminarie, it is best to take the train. Traveling there by car will take much more time out of your day because of heavy traffic. Also, if you visit the area earlier in the month, you will experience less foot traffic, as the event goes on more and more people gather to enjoy it. But if you like crowds, then later in the month is for you.

To get to the Luminarie take the Hanshin Railway line to any of the stations between Motomachi and Sannomiya stations.

NOTE: Illumination area times may change due to weather changes.

School faculty became suspicious after noticing higher than usual numbers of students absent from school with flu-like symptoms and notified public health authorities prior to the weekend.

For now, schools in Kobe are closed effecting over 32,000 students. Schools in Osaka overall remain open, but officials are monitoring the virus and infected schools in the Osaka area to ensure safety.

If you suspect you are carrying the virus, do not go to a hospital or clinic. Instead, contact the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Tokyo. They are open from 9am to 9pm and their phone number is 03-3501-9031.

If you are traveling in Japan, make sure you come in autumn at least once in your lifetime to see the Japanese maples in their vibrant yellows, oranges and reds.

The best known areas to view maple trees are at shrines, temples and gardens. But Japanese maple trees are so abundant, you can just about see them anywhere you go. They are strewn along mountainsides and can be enjoyed even while riding a train.

Some of the best know places to view momiji in the Kansai area are:

• Kiyomizudera – Overlooking the Kyoto valley from the temple mountainside.
• Tofukuji – Take a walk through the garden and ravine or over the bridge looking down into the ravine.
• Arashiyama – Enjoy a boat ride with someone special, take a stroll through the mountains to see momiji and monkeys or get in a boat and go downriver.
• Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji – While Kinkakuji is picturesque with the Golden Pavilion in the background, Ginkakuji has a some beautifully lined streets of momiji.
• Fushimi Inari Shrine – Not only will you see lots of momiji, but with equal brilliance in color, you can enjoy a long hike through the orange-colored prayer poles up the mountain to a view overlooking Kyoto.
• Osakajo – Spring is beautiful while the cherry blossoms are in bloom, but Osakajo boasts a good amount of momiji along the many walkways around the park and along the moats.
• Minoh Falls – If you like hiking, go to Minoh and walk up to the falls viewing momiji along the way. Make sure you wear a jacket because the pathway leading to the falls is well covered with trees and cooler as you hike further up the mountain path.
• Senriyama Park – Many momiji line the paths and roads around the park. The park is also a nice place to enjoy peace and quiet close to the hustle and bustle of Osaka City life.
• Todaiji Temple – View more momiji at this temple and surrounding parks than any other place! You can spend an entire day walking through Todaiji and the grounds around the temple and never run out of beautiful scenery, momiji or deer, which only add to the beauty and separate Nara from all other momiji areas.

Heavy thunderstorms in Tokyo caused flooding in rural Shinjuku and surrounding areas. People were stranded in their cars and some even had to abandon their cars otherwise they would possibly have drowned. One woman showed cameramen her car in an underground tunnel. Her car had water up to the roof.

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In Kobe, heavy rains caused several city workers who were in manholes to be washed away downstream. One man survived escaping death by grasping a handle near another manhole as he was being washed downstream.

Koshien stadium paused high school baseball games going on during the annual high school baseball tournament because of heavy rains and lightning. The games later continued.

People say it is the most lightning they’ve ever seen in the Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto. People on the streets stop and stare into the dark thunderclouds to watch the light displays crackling through the sky in fear and awe.

The Keihan and Hankyu railways have had many delayed trains, something that is unusual in Japanese train systems, because of heavy rain and power outages in Osaka and Kyoto. Train passengers were caught in the storms standing on platforms with no place to go as they waited for the next train. It took me an extra thirty minutes on my train ride home from Nara because of train delays.

Cold and warm air masses have been looming over Japan for the past week causing the turbulent weather, and more heavy rain and thunderstorms are predicted. If you are traveling to Japan, you may want to buy an umbrella when you arrive along with some rainboots.

A river rose in less than a minute in Kobe and washed several children and adults away to their death. So be careful not to be around any rivers or valleys during rainstorms because flash flooding happens in an instant and even the most prepared can be caught offguard.

IKEA will open at 10am and close at 10pm. These will be the regular hours of operation. It is unusual to keep a store like IKEA open that late in Kobe, but because there is a restaurant, which can hold up to 750 guests, IKEA expects to attract a good crowd from around Port Island and Sannomiya after people in the area finish work.

Before you visit IKEA, join and become an IKEA Family member. Registration is free and having a membership has some great benefits. It is easy to join. Go to the IKEA Family website and fill in the details. There is a lot of English on this page so filling out the form shouldn’t be a problem. The card takes a week or so to arrive at your home so, in the meantime, write down your membership number and keep that with you when you go to IKEA.

To join the IKEA Family, click the following link: IKEA Kobe Japan Website