Monkey story
Around 6:30 p.m. today I was walking home in the dark along Nakano Dori, the local main street. Coming towards me on the sidewalk was a woman on a bicycle with her pet sitting up in the carry basket. Many people, especially middle aged women, carry their small dogs around like babies, and that’s what I thought this was. But as the distance between us closed I thought, “That’s a strange shaped doggie.” Then I realized that it wasn’t a dog at all. The woman had her pet monkey in the basket. It had short, black hair and a long, thin tail. I’ve seen monkeys before. I’ve seen performing monkeys on the street. But I’ve never seen a pet monkey before.
Later, around 9:15 p.m., we had a short jolt of an earthquake. I was nearing the end of an hour-long lesson with a high school boy at the time. After the first quiver we looked at each other and I asked,
“Was that an earthquake?”
“Yes. I think so.”
Then immediately after he said that we got the jolt. It was all over in seconds. No big deal. Later the news said that it was epicentered in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.