Earthquake?

So, we all know that Japan is very prone to earthquakes. It was only a matter of time until I experienced one. However, this afternoon I sat through an earthquake without even knowing it.

Since Wednesdays are half days, I was sitting in the park near Kochijo Castle, eating a late lunch. Not much was going on; I was watching some pigeons and crows doing random bird things. Then, for a second I thought I felt the bench rock beneath me. I was a little confused and tried to make it rock again, but it seemed pretty solid. I soon forgot about it.

This afternoon, I started noticing a lot of Facebook posts about an earthquake. At Japanese class, Costa also talked about how the earthquake scared all of his students. I asked what time it had been, and it was around the time I was eating lunch in the park. It turns out that Costa had been teaching in Nankoku, which is the next city over, and the earthquake was a 3 or 4 there. But apparently it wasn't very strong in Kochi.

So, I guess I've experienced my first Japanese earthquake. As weak and brief as it was, it was more confusing than scary. We'll see how the next one goes.