I remember after an earthquake off the coast of Kyusyu a few years ago there was a tsunami warning. We all climbed a mountain near the coast and watched and waited.

We never saw the tsunami, but watching the news later, we found that it did in fact come.

It was less than one meter high.

Kevin mocks weather gods. Clip and save this comment for future ironic reference ;-)

A one-meter tsunami, formed by the sea floor pushing up all those tons of water can have a LOT more power, speed and size than you might think when it gets to shallower water.

But it doesn't cause as much drama as the two-story wave in my imagination.

My greatest fear is the ocean. And I have been plenty scared by one meter waves. Especially when you are in a kayak and your head is less than a meter above water level, those one meter waves are monsterous... but when you are on top of a mountain waiting for something that may or may not get you a little wet...

I was in Minimi-Furano during the quake. It got me out of my futon as I took cover in a door frame of the shakey old building I was staying in.

Other than the first quake and the first large aftershock I noticed no other effects of this M8 quake in Furano, Otaru, or Sapporo where I returned to Kyoto from yesterday. The quake felt fairly gentle to me and was not really frightening - but then I've felt some big ones in L.A. in the early 90's.

(p.s. just stumbled on your blog while looking for some other info about Hokkaido)

I came to Japan from SoCal on July 17, 1994, exactly 6 months after Northridge and exactly 6 months before the Great Hanshin Earthquake, so quakes have never slipped off my radar.

...stumbled on your blog while looking for some other info about Hokkaido

Sorry I don't have any info about Hokkaido, except I've heard a Hokkaido-jin say "namo-namo" instead of nandemo nai.

You must be down at Kansai Science City. What kind of bionic nanotech chimera Frankenstein technology are you working on?