Listen to the Rain

Has it already been six years?

I wasn't affected at all by the Tōhoku earthquake, and neither really was anyone I knew personally. The worst that happened was an acquaintance in Tokyo at the time had to walk the twenty kilometers home in heels after the trains stopped running. In the western part of Japan, we weren't even affected by the power disruptions, because the different halves of Japan use different power standards due to buying equipment from different countries during the modernization of the Meiji Era.

I remember how others were affected, though. I still remember the Japanese word for "buried alive."

On Twitter earlier, I saw this photo of an advertisement of the Sony Building in Ginza.


It's all over Japanese news now, which gave me a clearer transcription of the Japanese, so now I can translate what it says:

3/11, every time that day comes, we think back on the things of that time. Six years have quickly passed since the Great Tōhoku Earthquake. Another such disaster must not happen again. We may hope that every year, but at some point, it is the unfortunate truth that another such disaster will certainly occur.

On that day, in Iwate Prefecture, Ōfunato City, the tsunami was observed at 16.7 meters (55.3 feet). If it came here, to the center of Ginza, it would be as high as this. Higher even than you had imagined. But now that you know this height, the actions we can take may change.

We, now, can prepare. We will keep the victims of the disaster in our memories, and we can store up their wisdom. We will not forget that day. That is the greatest disaster prevention.

The last line is because it's a Yahoo advertisement, but it works best without that, I think.

頑張れ、日本。