Little Japan Dictionary

ひな祭り　Hinamatsuri

3rd March – 弥生

Day to wish for the girls to have a good health and live well. Can be called 桃の節句 (Momo no sekku)

On 3rd March, Japanese families put the gorgeous Japanese dolls inside the house to celebrate Hinamatsuri. The theme of this dolls is the marriage day for emperor and empress, with their servants and musicians on the lower row, all the furniture in front is empress’s trousseaus. Putting those dolls to wish for girls to be able to have a happy marriage like emperor and empress. This tradition was come up with the Chinese traditional event called 上巳 (Joushi). Joushi was done in order to get rid of evil spirit. People transferred their impurity into the dolls made of paper or straw and float in the river; this is called 流し雛 (Nagahi-bina). 3rd March falls into the separation day of season, this day was believed as easier day for evil mind to come in human body. Japanese followed this event from China, but gradually the dolls became fancier so Japanese started decorating them at house instead of throwing in the river.

On Hinamatsuri day, people eat special food to cerebrate:

ちらし寿司 (Chirashi-zushi): rice mixed with many ingredients. This imply that wishing for girls never running out of food in the future.

蛤のお吸い物 (Hamaguri no osuimono): Soup including clam. This has a wish for girls to be able to find a partner who can live together forever- like the 2 perfect match shells clam have.

菱餅 (Hishi-mochi): rhombus shaped rice cake with red, white and green color. Wishing for long life and descendant prosperity.

ひなあられ (Hina-arare): snack with salty and sweet taste, colored white, red, yellow and green. Those colors imply season, wishing for girls can grow well throughout the year.

There is an interesting rumor that if the family does not put the dolls away after the 3rd March and leave it too long out there, the girls at home will get marry late. This belief has been told from long time and many people have heard about it. Of course it is just a superstition however, many family try to clean up the dolls as soon as the day is over. This rumor was started to be told as Hinamatsuri is symbolizing marriage and putting away in Japanese is 片付く (Katazuku), also can mean finishing. People say Katazuku for marriage too and putting away Hina dolls implies quicker marriage in the past. Also this was told as a discipline so that girls will clean up things quicker. Or there are another belief that putting the dolls too long will bring the evil mind back – this event is done in order to get rid of evil mind but if the dolls are there too long, they will come back and stay in the house again.

桜料理　（Sakura-Ryouri）

2nd March – 弥生

Sakura blooms beautiful and fall gorgeously. However, not only making us enjoy seeing them but also letting us having a great taste of it – we can eat sakura!

Some people might have seen it, that there are many shops selling sakura flower pickled in salt. It generally be used in Japanese sweets called 和菓子 (Wagashi), adding the cute color to the normal looks.

Actually it is told that we can eat the raw sakura flower as it does not have poison, but it is not delicious.

Generally for food, 八重桜 (Yae zakura) which has brilliant pink color with good smell, and 大島桜 (Ooshima zakura) with sweet smell and soft texture are used.

Eating Sakura have some great benefit to our body, such as improving blood circulation, anti-aging, killing the viruses and giving relaxing effect. But eating Sakura too much will cause liver problems and weaken it, therefore I recommend you to eat it with moderation.

The most famous Sakura food might be 桜餅 (Sakura-mochi). It has sweet and salty taste, using sakura flower with leaves.

Sakura mochi has different shapes in Eastern Japan and Western Japan.

Eastern Japan: Called 長命寺 (Choumeiji), having smooth red beans paste with pale pink color. Shaped like the bottom picture.

Western Japan: called 道明寺 (Doumyouji), using sticky rice outside and have the strong pink color just like the picture below.

Some information for where to see the　beautiful Sakura

-Kyoto: 淀水路 (Yodosuiro) From Mid February to the end of March, you can see 河津桜(Kawazu zakura)

-Nara: 吉野山 (Mt. Yoshino) From the early April to mid April, you can see 30,000 Sakuras mainly シロヤマザクラ (Shiroyama zakura) in the mountain.

-Tokyo: 目黒川 (Meguro river) From late March till early April, you can see ソメイヨシノ(Someiyoshino) along the river. there has Sakura festival around the time.

桜　Sakura (Cherry Blossom)

1 st March – 弥生

March in Japan, many people imagine with 桜 (Sakura=Cherry blossom). Sakura inform us that the spring has come, bringing us happiness and joy.

The native Sakura species are 10 of them, and it cross-fertilized by nature and grow 100 more new species. Those naturally made Sakura are called 山桜 (Yamazakura). Then humans created 300 more new species and those are called 里桜 (Satozakura).

Each species blooms in the different times, and some are even blooming in autumn! Though, generally many of the species blooms in the spring times between March and April, and showing us beautiful pink and white colored flowers. Even after falling down, Sakura makes brilliant pink carpet on the ground which looks just amazing!

In the Sakura season, people look at Sakura and eatfood with friends, family, coworkers. This event is called 花見 (Hanami), people enjoy eating nice food with others and singing songs together.

In the old time, Hanami was done for different purpose. In the rice field farm, people used to believe that there are god for rice field = 田の神様 (Ta no kamisama). People were saying that the god goes up to the mountain while winter and comes back to the field in spring. So when the Sakura bloomed, they thought the rice field god came back to the field and treat the god nicely under the Sakura tree. At that time, they wished for the great harvest for the year.

Then the time passes by, it become what it is now! People enjoy eating the 三色団子 (Sanshoku-Dango) and singing with friends. Sanshoku-Dango has 3 color of round rice cakes, White expressing Winter, Pink implies Sakura and Green is made from mugwort as Summer.

However, Hanami causes problems recently: because of the bad manner.

Not all the people but some touch Sakura flower to take pictures, even break the blanch and take it to home. Many people leave the rubbish on the ground, not thinking about others. Also some just leave the blue sheets to hold the place and make others not be able to get close to sakura trees. When people get drunk, they fight or too many people go to do Hanami… Please do not cause any of those problems, think about the other people and the nature, let’s enjoy all together!

This year, it has been expected that in Kanto area Sakura is going to be bloom beautifully from late March to early April. In the Western area, it is going to be from early April to mid April. Note that each different species bloom at different timing though!

Sakura blooming is explained with 1 to 8 scales. 1 as 10% of Sakura has bloomed (一分咲き＝ichibu-zaki), and 8 as 80% of Sakura, meaning fully bloomed, 八分咲き (Hachibu-zaki) or 満開 (Mankai). Normally it is expected that once Sakura blooms, it takes 4 – 7 days to fully bloom, and falls after 10 – 14 days. After sakura flowers fall, there are going to have brilliant green leaves coming out, which are also gorgeous to see.

温泉 – Onsen (Hotsprings)

29th February – 如月

For the cold weather days, it feels just great to take a bath, doesn’t it? In Japan, there are many 温泉 (Onsen= hot springs) and people enjoy bathing into the very hot water and seeing the outstanding view from there all the year.

From the old time, Onsen is believed to have the healing effects and cure illness and injury. Those beliefs are actually true, Onsen has various great benefit;

-Smooth skin: the body becomes warm and get sweaty, so the pores will open. From there, the dirt will come out therefore the skin becomes smooth.

–Water pressure effect: the water pressure by taking the bath can stimulate the viscera. This pressure massages body and makes viscera work better.

-Floating effect: putting body deeply into the water till neck makes the body weight lighter, to 1 out of 10. This allow to move freely and loosen the muscle so makes body relax.

Also each minerals from the different Onsen have variety of effects for body, such as lessen stiff shoulder, heal the back pains and so on.

By the way, do you know the difference between 温泉 (Onsen) and 銭湯 (Sentou)?

Onsen is what you call hot springs, where the nature creates the hot water from the ground. That water has to be over 25 degrees and it contains minerals.

On the other hand, Sentou is made by humans, the artificial public bathing place where many people gather.

So do not confuse with those two!

When you go to the Onsen or Sentou, you need to know how to keep the public bath clean and safe. Here are some rules.

First before jumping into the water, you need to clean your body with water: pour hot water from feet to shoulder. In order not to have heart attack here, it is important to start from bottom of your body to get used to the temperature.
Wash your body and head before going into the water. There are heaps space for each people to clean body, so make sure you are not dirty beforehand!
Finally you are allowed to go into the hot water! Enjoy the relaxing moment:)
When you finish bathing, get out from the water and then clean your body with water from the tap once again before getting out from this space. As many people use the same Onsen and Sentou every day, there might be some people who break this rule… So it is recommended to just pour some water to clean your body.
Wipe your body with clean towel – wiping before going to the changing room is the best as dripping water in the changing room always annoys people!

You can bring your towel to the bath to wash your body with it or hide your body, however do not put the towel into the bath. So basically you can hide your body until you reach the bath! Also it is recommended to drink plenty water before the bath as you will get sweaty and lose a lot water from your body.

畳 – Tatami (Traditional Flooring)

28th February ー　如月

Have you ever visited place where has Japanese flooring called 畳 (Tatami)? Tatami makes the house into Japanese style and having Tatami has many benefit in your house.

It is made with a glass called イグサ (Igusa)= rushes, kitting them beautifully. Tatami has the main part with rushes 畳表(Tatami omote), board inside 畳床(Tatami toko) and edges covered with colored cloths 畳縁(Tatami heri).

In the Summer time, mowing rushes and dyeing with mud then dry to make the main parts of Tatami = 茣蓙 (Goza).

Tatami can last around 5~8years, and if the backside of Tatami is also covered with rushes, it can be used for another 2-5 years by flipping it. The standard time to change all part of Tatami is 15 ~ 20 years after using it. therefore, Tatami is not used forever, has to be changed regularly!

Tatami has many benefit in the house. It can shut the heat out, so the room with tatami can be cooler than normal wooden floor. Furthermore, thanks to rushes, it can absorb carbon dioxide and dusts, then change them into harmless carbon monoxide and release it into the air.

Tatami can keep warmth too. Not only in can clean the air but also it is considered that 1Tatami can absorb 500cc water. Therefore, it can take the humidity when it has too much moisture in the air, and then when the air is dry, it releases the moist to the water.

Moreover, as Tatami has elasticity, it can reduce the noises – sound insulation.

Do not step on the Tatami edge!

From the old time, it is considered as rude stepping on the edge of Tatami. This is because many nobility houses used to have their family crest on the Tatami’s edge cloths pattern. Furthermore, some families use luxury cloths included gold, silver strings for Tatami edge. Therefore, stepping on it means to trampling authority.

Nowadays, there are barely houses using its crest for Tatami, but stepping on Tatami edge can create friction and fade the color. Moreover, Tatami edge creates slight step and sometimes it is dangerous enough to make people fall. That is why it is still considered not good to step on the Tatami edge. So if you have the chance to go into the Ttami room, be careful try not to step on it!

If you have looked for house in Japan, you might realize that Japanese house advertisement explains the size of the room with number of Tatami, even the house does not have Tatami!

Also the Tatami side is actually different depending on the area:

京間 (Kyouma): Used in Western Japan, 191cm : 95.5cm

中京間 (Chuukyouma): Used in Tokai area, 182cm : 91cm

江戸間 (Edoma): Used in Eastern Japan, 176cm : 88cm

団地間 (Danchima): Used in general apartment room, 170cm : 85cm

Therefore, it is recommended to check the actual size of the room or, what area Tatami size the real estates use.

日本の怪談-Nihon no kaidan (Japanese Ghost Story）

27th February – 如月

Every month on 27th is about Japanese ghost story! This is the second post, it is about 雪女(Yukionna) and お岩さん (Oiwa san), 2 of the sad lady ghosts.

雪女（Yukionna）

It is believed that the spirit of snow changes the appearance as very white skin lady wearing white kimono. This lady is beautiful and if anybody gets close to her, the person will freeze to death.

There are some famous stories about Yukionna, and the most famous one is from the story book written by 小泉八雲 (Mr. Yakumo Koizumi).

2 of the lumberjacks went into the mountain and they encountered heavy rain and winds. They decided to leave there but it was too heavy so they evacuate in the shelter temporary. In the night, the rain changed to snowstorm. Suddenly, one lady wearing white kimono came into the shelter and killed one of the lumberjacks, the older one by covering him with heavy snow. When she turned to the other lumberjack, the younger one, she did not kill him and instead she told him ‘I will save you this time, but if you tell what you see today, I will kill you’.

After a year this incident, the survived lumberjack got married with beautiful lady called お雪さん (Oyuki san). She had very white skin and beautiful looks. They got 10 kids and were having happy life together. One day, while he was looking at her working in the house, he suddenly remember the lady he met in the shelter. Then he started to talk to her about that night.

After hearing that story, Oyuki san looked at him and told ‘That was me. And I told you if you would tell this story I have to kill you!’. Then she continued ‘But now we have 10 kids so I cannot kill you. If there is anything that would make those 10 kids unhappy…….’ she did not finish the sentence and disappeared.

Sad love story between ghost and lumberjack, Yukionna fell in love with him but he broke the promise so she had to disappear…

There are different snow spirit stories in different regions. One is in Akita prefecture:

On the snowy day, there were one little kid and mother walking on the street. Then mother told to the passenger ‘could you hold my baby?’ When the person held this kid, the kid became to very heavy snow and he sank into the snow underneath.

Another story is from Wakayama prefecture, this snow spirit is called 雪ン坊 (Yukinbou):

On the day after snowing, there are small round holes under the trees. this is believed as the footprint from Yukinbou. – This one seems cute but the other 2 gives goosebumps!

お岩さん　（Oiwa san）

This story is very famous and is considered as one of the three most well-known Japanese ghost stories.

It was based from the story called 四谷怪談 (Yotsuya kaidan) written in Genroku era, from 1600s to 1700, the stories were made from the actual incidents happened during that time in Yotsuya, Tokyo. One of the story has the lady character お岩さん (Oiwa san), and she is enshrined in 於岩稲荷田宮神社 (Oiwainaritamiya jinja). Many visitors come here and wish for relationship – marriage and dissolution.

In the old time in Yotsuya, there were a family called Tamiya, and the daughter from this family was Oiwa san. She was forced to get marry with a man called 伊右衛門 (Iemon). He used to be a worrier but left the master house and did not have job, those people were called 浪人 (Rounin). She gradually started liking Iemon, but there were another girl who liked him – the neighbour rich family’s granddaughter お梅 (Oume). Oume’s family tried to convince Iemon to marry Oume, and they even offer heaps money for this engagement. Iemon could not deny that much money and they started the horrible plan to make Oiwa san away from him. Oume’s grandfather asked Iemon to put poison little by little to make the wife’s face collapse. Gradually this poison made her hair fall down, swell face and when Oiwa san saw her face she screamed and suicide herself. From that incident, she came in front of Iemon’s pillow in the night and cursing him saying ‘恨めしや、恨めしや’ (Urameshiya, Urameshiya).

Another sad story who were betrayed by her husband. This Oiwa san story has been used in many Kabuki and movies therefore it is one of the most famous ghost stories in Japan. However, there are scary rumors about Oiwa san’s curse: If you made fun of her, or said her name without respect (not putting ‘san’ after name), she would curse you – Actually when they made movies or kabuki, all the people who got involved in making it were asked to the shrine to pray for her. There were some people who did not go, became sick and died… Even the one person form other country made fun of her and did not go to the shrine got sick! Therefore, this curse might be on going!

Stay tuned for the another Japanese ghost stories on 27th March:)

日本のアイドル　（Japanese Idols）No.2

26th February -　如月

Last blog was mostly about girls idol groups, so this blog puts focus on boys group.

The most famous boys groups in Japan are basically from one company – Johnny’s Entertainment, established by Mr. Johnny Kitagawa. He passed away on July 2019, and it was such a huge loss for entertainment industry. Johnny’s idol groups only consist of boys and there are idols who are already debut and not debut ones called Johnny’s Jr. Johnny’s debut groups (famous ones are 嵐=Arashi, SMAP – already disbanded, V6) are frequently appear in TV media and gain fans. It is famous that Johnny’s debut idols have named weirdly by Mr. Johnny, for instance one called Sexy Zone and another one as Kis-My-Ft2, maybe he named like that to gain attentions. Moreover, Johnny’s idols were banned to use SNS, and controlled private lives (no romance allowed till 20 years old = however if they gets romance rumor even over 20, the medias disclose and report it).

Finally from 2018, Johnny’s entertainment started going into social media such as Youtube and instagram to gain more fans from overseas.

Boys idol fans have also the same mind as the girls idol fans. Idols show their immature side and let the fans glow together. In Johnny’s case, many people become fan while they are on Johnny’s Jr period, and with fans’ support, they accomplish their group debut. Both fans and idols glow together to win the debut position.

Those major big groups have their fan club and provide special contents to the fan club members. Furthermore, most idol groups sell their official goods in their concert venue which are only purchasable there. Some fans buy 100 of same goods! It is true that idol fans operates the economy!

For Johnny’s concert, there are fans’ implicit rules exist.

-When you go to the idol’s concert, do not wear the high heels, or make the hair style higher than your height.

-As it might disturb the back seat people. All the seats are reserved so you cannot switch or change the seat.

-You are allowed to bring decorated fans to the concert (this is common in Japanese idol concert) but you cannot raise it above your chests. Many people write actions that they want to see idols doing it, implying to get attention from idols.

Here are the relatively new Johnny’s idol groups who debut if you are interested:

日本のアイドル　（Japanese Idols）No.1

25th February – 如月

Idols – sing and dance as a job and they are relatively famous than ordinary people as they work on the stage. Japanese idol has contributed huge economic growth in Japan and those people give dreams to fans.

From 1970s, Japan has created the style of idols now. At that time idols were called stars, and those were succeeded as solo or double. As the time passes, there are variety kinds of idols born in Japan. In 2000’s, number of idols have consisted of group and gained a lot support from fans.

From 2000’s, with the huge popularity for girls idol group モーニング娘。(Morning Musume), the idol debut age become younger around teenagers. It is obvious that Japanese prefer the idols with cute face rather than beautiful by seeing the most popular idols in Japan. Many idols are with younger baby face, small and skinny.

There are many idols who are not so famous but active in the particular regions – called 地方アイドル (Chihou aidoru).

Also it must be mentioned that the idols only known by few fans are called 地下アイドル (Chika aidoru), Chika means underground, they hardly get attentions from medias, but there are many fans who are crazy about those as 地下アイドル are easier to meet than the famous ones.

The fans who have the passion to support idols are called ヲタク (Otaku), and those people flow the Japanese economic well! The main mentality of the Otaku are probably like parents to the idols – want to bring up the idols from not famous (imperfect) to famous (perfect) like bringing up the child. That is why they want to support the idols.

In the older time than now, the idols were the people above the cloud – cannot see them in the real life, only be seen on TV. However, nowadays there are many idols that people can see them in person – the idol companies provide the events that fans can see them not only in the concerts but also shaking hand events.

The producer Mr. Yasushi Akimoto created the famous idol groups in Japan a while ago called AKB48. This group was was very innovative and Mr. Akimoto brought huge success in selling those idols. He made the shaking hand events and put its ticket inside their CD. Fans can go to the event with this ticket and shake hands about 10 seconds with favorite idols – and they can join the queue as long as they have the new tickets – so many fans buy heaps CDs to meet the favorite idols many times. This created a huge success on CD sales but also became a problem of discarding thousands of CDs after the events.

Mr. Akimoto also launched an annual event called AKB総選挙 (AKB sou senkyo) = idol election. This event will choose the no.1 top favorite idols from the fan votes. To join this vote, again fans need to buy CDs. To make the favorite idol the top of the group and be able to show up on coming CD jacket, fans need to support the idols. In this way, Mr. Akimoto built up the most successful business in idol industry.

Due to the increased number of idols, each of them are trying hard to gain attentions. Nowadays, the idol who can sing and dance is not going to be seen on TV anymore – they need to have their personal character, some strong points which cannot be compared to other idols.

Also major idol groups have a definite rule which cannot be broken – No romantic affair. If idols break this rule, they might get punished by the company, perhaps they have to quit the groups. Or even the fans who have been supporting them will leave this idol and support the other idols. Therefore, idol jobs are not an easy work.

地震　Earthquake　No.2

How to mitigate the risks

24th February – 如月

It is not guaranteed that when you visit Japan, there will not be any natural disasters – earthquake can occur anytime anywhere in Japan.

Today’s blog will explain how to behave in several situation when you encounter earthquake in Japan.

When you are inside buildings

First when the earthquake happens while you are inside the building, protect your head with bags, chairs, desks and keep away from glasses, windows. Then wear the closed-toe shoes. If there is nothing to hide your head, find the spot where are fixed furniture like sofa, bed and hide the triangle spot made with ground and furniture .

It is better to open the windows and doors in order to make an escape way to get out from the building when the earthquake stops. The reason is the shakes warp the flame of the building and might not be able to open. Also if you were cooking when the earthquake starts, it is better to keep away from it, as shakes can spill the boiling water from the pans. Once the shakes stop, you can close the gas so that it can avoid the second disaster – fire. It is known that when seismic intensity is more than 5, the gas company will automatically stops gas. But most importantly, protecting your head is a must and first.

When you are ready to evacuate, it is better to cut the circuit breakers off, and pull out the electricity plugs so it mitigates the risk of fire in the house.

When you are outside buildings

If you encounter earthquake while you are outside from the building, please move to the area where does not have high building – areas like parks. Also when you evacuate, do not forget to protect your head all the time as things can fall down from the buildings around.

When you are driving

In this case, avoid the areas like intersection and park to the left side. Then evacuate to the areas like parks.

When you are inside the elevator

There is a possibility that you might stuck inside the elevator, therefore, press all the floors and get off as soon as the elevator stops at any floor. If you could not get out, there are emergency phone inside the elevator so contact people from there.

If you are in the supermarket

Use the shopping basket as a helmet to protect the head. Evacuate to outside following the green evacuation sign.

If you are climbing mountain

Keep away from the cliffs and be careful for the landslide.

If you are close from the sea

Evacuate to the place where are higher than at least 3rd floor, but it is better to evacuate areas where is not so close from the sea. if there are cautions for Tsunami, find a car and evacuate from the sea area. It was told that when Eastern Japan earthquake happened in 2011, people who did car pool to get out from the sea and evacuated to the higher area were survived. As Tsunami comes very fast phase, it is very important to evacuate with cars. Importantly, do not go down the hill yet even the tsunami seems stopped, as the wave can come back again and again.

And some more useful information:

-There is a message dial for people who are affected by the earthquake. When there are earthquake, many people try to contact relatives, friends, so the internet and phone connection becomes very bad and most people cannot use them. In that case, you can use the system called 災害用伝言ダイアル (Saigaiyou dengon daiaru), to leave and listen message on the phone.

171+1+phone number – To leave message

171+2+phone number – To listen message

Maybe set the family house phone number as the emergency contacts so all your family can leave / listen the message.

-It is always nice to be prepared all the emergency goods at home, but if you were on vacation, bring some food, water, battery, phone, warm clothes with long sleeve, torch and gloves can help after the disaster.

Many Japanese families keep their emergency bags at home, if you are living in Japan, it is better to prepare those, most of the emergency long-lasting food can be purchased most shops.

I hope as many people can survive from the earthquakes in Japan, believing knowing those things can help people and save lives.

地震　Earthquake No.1

23rd February – 如月

Earth quake occur when the bedrock on the surface of earth called Plate slides between its border. Japan locates on 4 active plates therefore 10% of earthquake occurring on earth is related to Japan.

Probably many of you have never experienced earthquake in your whole life. However, for people living in Japan, earthquake is such a common natural disaster so most people encounter this shakes from small to big ones.

Earth quake has vertical and horizontal shakes and it is said that more people would feel scared when it is vertical shakes as vertical shakes will occur when the epicenter of earthquake is closer.

There are 2 ways to express the power of earthquake in Japan;

震度 (Shindo) Seismic intensity – Shows how big the earthquake feels in each places. Therefore Shindo will be bigger when epicenter of earthquake is close. Shindo has 10 scale: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5弱, 5強, 6弱, 6強, 7弱, 7強 )　弱(Jaku)=smaller / 強(Kyou) =bigger

When its 5弱 or more, things can break, 6弱, people cannot stand up and 7 the buildings and things collapses.

マグニチュード Magnitude – The scale of energy which earthquake have. One point higher magnitude means 32 times bigger than one lower point (M1 considered as 1 then M2 is 32). Magnitude is only one for each earthquake. Even when Magnitude is big, if the area you are in is far from epicenter, the shakes will be smaller. On the other hand, even the Magnitude is small, if you stay close from epicenter the shake will be big.

When you encounter earthquake in Japan, it is more useful to check 震度, as it is more related than Magnitude.

You cannot feel safe even after the earthquake, as there can be 余震 (Yoshin) =extended earthquake, because the plates has slid it can still movable. This following shakes can continue a month and could be very big shakes, so it is better to be careful even after the earthquake.

Furthermore, when the earthquake happens, it also can bring Tsunami, as you can expect from the huge earthquake and tsunami happened in Fukushima in 2011. When the earthquake epicenter is deeper in the sea, the speed of tsunami is faster.

Most impotantly, earthquakes occur without notice. Therefore, we always have to be prepared in the worst case.

Blog for tomorrow will explain how to mitigate the life risks from earthquake, so hope you visit my blog again!