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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Did you feel that? It may be time to refresh your disaster kits — and vocabulary.

A map of western Japan shows the Nankai Trough and, to its north, the hypocentral region where the energy for an earthquake is thought to be building.

A map of western Japan shows the Nankai Trough and, to its north, the hypocentral region where the energy for an earthquake is thought to be building. | GETTY IMAGES

By Tadasu Takahashi
Staff writer

Aug 30, 2024

The ground shakes beneath you. Your body sways a little. An alert pops up on your phone. You turn to a friend and ask: 今揺れた？ (Ima yureta?, Was that a quake just now?)

On Aug. 8, the 気象庁 (办颈蝉丑ō肠丑ō, Japan Meteorological Agency) issued its first-ever alert for a 南海トラフ巨大地震 (Nankai Torafu kyodai jishin, Nankai Trough megaquake) after a magnitude 7.1 temblor struck off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture.

Again, that’s not a 地震 (jishin, earthquake) — that was a 巨大地震 (kyodai jishin, megaquake) alert.

Amid the heat and humidity in Japan, a good night’s sleep is growing increasingly elusive without the heavy use of air conditioning.

Summer has arrived in Japan and so have hot sleepless nights

By Tomoko Otake

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan’s landscape that they often go unnoticed.

Why Japan’s utility poles won’t be disappearing anytime soon

By Alex K.T. Martin

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