A night out, unaware the earth was moving under our feet

The big news yesterday was the 7.0 earthquake that rocked northern Japan, and was strongly felt here in the Tokyo area. Strongly felt by most but not by Naoko and I, for we were on a train at the time (6:24pm) and were completely unaware until we got off the train and realized that both of us had been called by my mother-in-law, who most surely did feel the quake.

okaasan was home watching Kaika, for I had a rare weekday night off and I took advantage of that to spring a surprise “I’m taking you out to dinner tonight” on Naoko. I promised myself a no-moblog evening, but I did snap some mobile phone photos of the occassion which is what you see above. I took Naoko to a restaurant on the 19th floor of the Urawa Royal Pines Hotel, 10 or so minutes up the road (although from where we’re at, we actually have to take three trains to get there!). I have Gary to thank for tipping me off to this restaurant and it’s reasonable ¥4,800 (about $41 US) fixed price dinner course. I’m not a sophisticate when it comes to food, so I can’t really discuss the quality of the meal, but the food was delicious, the service was top-notch, and the atmosphere very enjoyable. And there’s just something about a view, even if it is of a surburban Tokyo sprawl on a cloudy night, that makes it all alright. (I will add that it was fortuitous the earthquake hit before we made it to the restaurant. I don’t think the evening would have been so enjoyable had we experienced the swaying of the building during the temblor.)

But mainly it was just nice for Naoko and I to spend a few hours together and not have to worry about attending to Kaika. Naoko was a bit taken a back by it all, I guess she’s not used to me pulling surprises like this (note self: fix that), and was amazed I could arrange for her parents to watch Kaika and reserve the restaurant all by myself without her getting wind of it.