so i meant to mention in my post the other day, but i finally got word from my cousin in thailand. i have been so worried these past several days because shoji lives in phuket--right where the tsunami hit. shoji is my first cousin--my only first cousin and he lives there on phuket where he owns and operates his own dive shop. apparently he was out at sea when the tsunami reached the shores, so he didn't even realize that anything had happened until he tried to return home to the marina. he owns a large liveaboard diveboat which at the time he was using to take out about 30 japanese divers for an extended holiday excursion. luckily there was a desalination plant onboard the ship and enough food to last for a few extra days. he stayed onboard his ship just offshore because the marina he normally docks at was completely wiped out. when he finally was able to return to the mainland, miraculously his diveshop was still standing although it had taken on major structural damage due the surge of water. shoji being the selfless person he is, and despite my aunt's protests, remained in thailand for the next few days to help as many people as he could being as he was able to provide freshwater, and electricity off of his generator. his apartment apparently had not been damage badly, so he allowed people to stay there and in his dive boat. he finally ended up returning to tokyo yesterday by no small feat, and is thankfully unscathed.