Today, a typhoon hit Tokyo which was "one of the most powerful storms to strike the Kanto region in a decade. It became the ninth typhoon to land on the Japanese archipelago this year, a record high.”

Yes, this is a very strange year for Japan. This summer was extremely hot and humid, and hit record temperatures. I had to buy a fan to even survive. Fall officially began on September 23, and since then it immediately got cold. Within a 2 week period the temperature went from extremely hot, to having to wear a jacket. Not only that, but this year there was a record number of typhoons to hit Japan. I, of course, enjoyed every typhoon, but my friend did not find it welcoming as the city of Kyoto almost completely shut down 2 weeks ago as he was there during a previous typhoon.

Today’s typhoon, as stated above, was the strongest typhoon to hit Tokyo in a decade. That means that after half a day at work teaching what little students actually showed up for my first two classes, they sent me home early. After my second class I was told: “You can leave now. ECC has shut down for the remainder of the day because of the typhoon”. Well, that sentence was said in poor English by one of the staff members but I got the point.

Instead of going straight home, like everyone else did, I decided to go shopping for a little bit and buy some Japanese sweets. I timed it perfectly, as I got to my station right as the typhoon was hitting at its strongest. You can not imagine the amount of fun I had as I walked home in extremely fierce winds and heavy rain. Every part of me was completely wet, unfortunately along with all the sweets in my backpack that I had just purchased. I took my time walking home while being pummeled by wind that pushed me in all directions making me walk at strange skewed angles. The streets were completely void of people as they sat cowering in any shelters they could find. As I was about to reach home, I came across the biggest frog I had ever seen also out hopping around and enjoying the same thing I was.