I also always wanted to write down my dreams directly after waking up, only one post in but hope to maintain this one too. The copy is a real brain dump and not going to be edited, it’s also sexually explicit in places (hence why it’s not on here!)

All in all I like the anonymity of Tumblr, you really could write anything on there. And people do. Huge swathes of the site are dedicated to self-shot nudity also, that is astonishingly submitted by users. The internet is changing all the time and all around us.

I hope Tumblr survives where so many of these types of sites have failed, if only to be a snapshot of what society is doing right now.

Tomorrow I shall cart the computer back to my office and resume normal service. I haven’t been resting on my laurels however; just completed another illustration project for the National Maritime Museum in the UK, worked on a new app, and some other bits and bobs.

“Cabin fever” would be the best phrase to describe the outcome of working at home. The change of scene will perk me up no doubt.

Also, coming in the next few days will be the 2012 version of hawkenking.com – some minor changes, new logo and so on.

So I made the decision to stay here in Tokyo. Thick and thin, this is what I set out to do many years ago. Sure I have spend a whole week going through the various scenarios (could have done with my think tank!) but returning to the UK…

For the family they are re-united in our memories.

I’ll always remember the wonderful lunches my gran made, and thank her from the bottom of my heart for putting up with me as a teenager.

My first hotel was nice and roomy, not too expensive. Decided to relocate some days later to a cheaper place, which wasn’t such a good idea as the second place looked like various private detective novels had been penned in the dark nicotine stained rooms.

Lots of my friends and colleagues came to Osaka this week, we were able to meet up and have post-apocalyptic beers.

Strangely the nuclear threat really didn’t phase me. I’ve already had one dose from europe and know that the potential for Fukushima (fuu-coo-she-ma) to affect Tokyo is basically technically not possible. We learned that 7 guys died fixing the plant so far and feel humbled by our meaningless gripes and groans. Those are some of the bravest people on Earth.

Sitting in the office was just like any other day, fired up my Mac and started trawling through Xcode.

2:30pm. At first, the shakes to the office here in Tokyo were slight, but they escalated in intensity. Everyone in my office uses headphones to enter the “zone” as it were. Hardly a noisy office but we all rent desks independently from one another so no radio or other music system is in effect.
Heads started popping up from behind partitions like meerkats inspecting the safety outside their home. Eyes met. We all knew this wasn’t your average earthquake and got the hell out of there. Mercifully we are only on the 3rd floor. (US system in Japan, literally 3)

Our street was packed with office workers who had the same idea. We all stood in silence as the quake started to escalate to it’s epiphany. Screams and shocked cries replaced the silence as the street turned to Jelly.

Near my office is a hair dressers on the 2nd floor. Two old ladies were getting their hair curled. Seemingly uninterested in this once in a thousand year event. Curled hair is far more important in this part of Tokyo.

As the quake hit, a postman on a motorbike came up the office and delivered the post. He went about it with routine glamour.

After what seemed like a whole packet of cigarettes and several liters of canned coffee I returned to the office, I had a quick chance to change my facebook status but phones were out. Below is a photo of what we found. A decision from the building manager was made to lock the place up and leave. Wave after wave of aftershocks told us this was a good idea. At this point, no one know the full extent of the quake and what it might bring or when it might end.

I live within half an hour or so walking distance of my office so I decided to go home and check on my apartment. Here’s a photo of what I found inside.

So as the quakes kept coming, Twitter and Facebook evolved from pointless time wasting activities to my first life line. Whats happened? Where did it happen? Everything was found out from the network of friends and colleagues in Tokyo. Slowly it dawned on us that this event was catastrophic in North East Japan. Just how much devastation the tsunami wreaked was yet to be found out, reports of a 10m high wave coming 2km inland seemed unreal at first, thats taller than your house. Mercilessly the reports were true.

All I could do was create a path amongst the debris of my apartment, so that when I return with enough whiskey to take out a horse, I might not cause more damage to my already ruined bubble of existence.
Not a single building collapsed in Tokyo.

Ron passed away peacefully in his sleep today and will be dearly missed.

When I was a child we visited him and my grandmother every weekend. He was very good with us and tought me his passion, Archery. Before he was too old he made me an American Longbow.

Ron was an engineer for Rolls Royce for most of his working life. Working primarily on the 1st generation of jet propulsion engines, continuing the work of Frank Whittle. When visiting him we would always draw some different types of engines and explain to me how they worked. His work was awarded by the Prince of Wales but even this accolade couldn’t help him figure out how to re-wind DVDs. A classic engineer of the 50′s and 60′s.

His career led to the refinement of blast forming metals, numerous engine patents and other marvels. His head was full of invention, a busy mind leads to a long life and thats what Ron was gifted with.

R.I.P. Ronald Dickinson. My Grandfather.