1923.9.1.11:58

Today is the 90th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake that flattened Tokyo at about noon on September 1st, 1923.

Let me introduce you to…

I have written a number of posts about interesting people. Most of whose stories are related to Japan in some way.
Maybe you haven’t seen many of them…so I decided to put links to all of them on a new page that I titled “Who’s Who?“.

Please check them out and leave comments to let me know what you think.

The new page is here.

Best movie quotes

Sometimes quotes from songs and movies become so well-known and often used that eventually many people don’t even know that the expression came from a pop song or movie.

For example, have you ever heard this quote:

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

Do you know where that simple but inspiring quote is from?

It’s a line in the song “Beautiful Boy” by John Lennon that was written for his son Sean Lennon.

John Lennon's "Double Fantasy" album (which includes the song "Beautiful Boy")

Here are some of the most often quoted lines from movies that I could think of off the top of my head (in no particular order):

I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse!

-Marlon Brando (from “The Godfather“)

(I have a feeling) we’re not in Kansas anymore

-Judy Garland (from “The Wizard Of Oz“)

Go ahead, make my day!

-Clint Eastwood (from “Sudden Impact“)

What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.

-Strother Martin (from “Cool Hand Luke“)

Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!

-Charlton Heston (from “Planet Of The Apes“)

Have you seen any of these movies? Surely you’ve heard those quotes before. Did you know they were from those movies?
What other famous movie quotes can you think of?

The biggest earthquake in Japan’s history

Today at about 2:45PM I was outside and I noticed the telephone wires overheard begin to swing wildly. It was a nice sunny day and not windy at all, so I was wondering why the wires would suddenly be moving like that.

And then as soon as it dawned on me that it was probably due to an 地震 (earthquake)…I felt the ground shake. I’ve been in a number of earthquakes here in Japan but this was the strongest I’ve felt the ground move. It gave me a queasy feeling.
It lasted a few minutes…which is quite enough time for an earthquake to do a lot of damage…and it got stronger. The buildings in front of me began to sway.

For the next few hours there were many aftershocks. Some of them quite strong.
It’s now 7:00PM and the most recent aftershock was about thirty minutes ago.
Maybe it’s finally over. I hope so! It was quite scary.

Actually though, we were lucky. A lot of things fell over in our house…but no serious damage—and most importantly, none of us were hurt.

Unfortunately, many people weren’t so lucky. At least nineteen people have been confirmed dead.
This earthquake, which has already been named—「２０１１年東北地方太平洋沖地震」 (“2011 Tohoku-Region Pacific Earthquake”), registered a 7 on Japan’s 震度 (Shindo) earthquake scale at the epicenter in Sendai, Japan!
“7” is the highest rating on that scale!
In Tokyo, it was rated as “5” in parts of the city and “6” in others.
On the western “Richter” earthquake scale, it was rated at “8.9“.

 

Tsunami warning map of Japan

A 津波 (“Tsunami” tidal wave) caused by the earthquake hit Sendai and swept up cars and boats and caused casualties and damage.

Boats upturned by the Tsunami. (photo ©Yahoo News)

In the Tokyo area, the earthquake caused a couple large fires.

A building in Odaiba, Tokyo caught fire in the earthquake (photo ©Yahoo News)

An oil refinery in Chiba, Japan near Tokyo caught ablaze in the earthquake (photo ©Yahoo News)

The 「２０１１年東北地方太平洋沖地震」 (“2011 Tohoku-Region Pacific Earthquake”) is officially the biggest earthquake on record in Japan’s history. And it’s in the top ten of the world’s biggest.
The said on the TV news that today’s earthquake was 180 times more powerful at it’s epicenter in Sendai, Japan than the 「関東大震災」 (Great Kanto Earthquake) that flattened Tokyo in 1923!

Disaster Prevention in Tokyo

Today is 2010 September 1. The 87th anniversary of the 「関東大震災」 (“Great Kanto Earthquake“) that destroyed the Tokyo area on 1923 September 1.

So every year on September 1st in Japan, it’s called 「防災の日」 (“Disaster Prevention Day”).

On this day, fire departments give fire and earthquake safety tips to people, schools hold earthquake drills, and people are encouraged to check and maintain their “earthquake kits” that are recommended to be in every home.

It is said that in Japan’s history, a major earthquake has struck on average every eighty years. So it is expected that Tokyo is due for another one.
I really hope not!

No major earthquakes have struck Tokyo in a long while (“knock on wood”), but a different disaster has hit Tokyo this summer.
A heat wave.

It was reported on the news today that the temperature this summer in Tokyo has been the hottest in 113 years!
The temperature reached 35°C a number of times this summer.
Over a hundred people died from heat stroke and thousands were hospitalized.

It has been brutally hot in Tokyo this summer…and the forecast for the rest of this week says the heat and humidity will continue.

"Uchimizu" is a traditional Japanese custom of throwing water onto the streets to lower the temperature in the city a bit.

アメリカ独立記念日

Today is ７月４日 (July 4). 「アメリカ独立記念日」 (American Independence Day).

I don’t usually do anything special on this day. Although there are many 花火大会 (fireworks shows) in Japan during the summer, they don’t usually start until late July or early August.

Watching fireworks is a “Fourth Of July” tradition in America, but I don’t live in America.
(It’s possible that the U.S. military bases in Japan will have a fireworks show this evening. I’m not sure. I don’t live near any U.S. military base anyways).

But anyways, in honor of the 234th anniversary of America’s independence from England, I am writing a list of some of American inventions that have changed the world (in most cases, for the better).

So, according to the U.S. Patent Office, this is a list of some of the numerous things that have been invented in America:

• Swim Fins: (1717) Invented by Benjamin Franklin
• Franklin Stove: (1742) Also invented by Benjamin Franklin
• Refrigeration: (1805)
• Circular Saw: (1813)
• Dental Floss: (1815)
• Morse Code: (1832) Invented by Samuel Morse
• Revolver (Firearm): (1836) Invented by Samuel Colt (founder of the Colt Gun Co.)
• Vulcanized Rubber: (1844) Invented by Charles Goodyear (founder of Goodyear Tires)
• Safety Pin: (1849)
• Potato Chips: (1853)
• Rolled Toilet Paper: (1857) Surprised this one took this long. Before this invention, people were using pages from old newspapers and magazines or leaves from plants.
• Escalator: (1859)
• Roller Skates: (1863)
• Cowboy Hat: (1865)
• Paper Clip: (1867)
• Barbed Wire: (1867)
• Cash Register: (1879)
• Electric Chair: (1881)
• The “STOP” Sign: (1890)


U.S. "Stop" sign



Japanese 「止まれ」 ("Stop") sign

• Ferris Wheel: (1891)
• Zipper: (1891)
• Radio: (1893)
• Flashlight: (1898)
• “Teddy” Bear: (1902) A toy maker made a stuffed toy bear and named it “Teddy” after the U.S. President at that time, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, who went hunting but decided against killing a bear cub.
• Air Conditioning: (1902) Before this invention, places in the southern U.S. such as Florida (where I grew up) were unpopular to live.
• Airplane: (1903) Invented by the famous Wright brothers.
• Ice Pop: (1905) Usually called by the brand name Popsicle in the U.S. In Japan, it’s called 「アイスキャンディー」 (“Ice Candy”). It was invented by an eleven-year-old American boy.
• Automobile Self-starter: (1911) Eliminated the need to engine hand-cranks on cars.
• Fast Food Restaurant: (1912) For better or worse, these changed the industrialized world.
• Traffic Signals: (1912)
• Fortune Cookie: (1914) Although many Americans associate it with Chinese food, the “Fortune Cookie” is only found in Chinese restaurants in America. Actually, it was invented by a Japanese-American man.
• Ice Cube Tray: (1928)
• Electric Razor: (1928)
• Chocolate Chip Cookies: (1930)
• Electric Guitar: (1931)
• Stock Car Racing: (1936) Led to the formation of the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).



• Corn Dog: (1942) Called a 「アメリカンドッグ」 (“American Dog”) in Japan.


「アメリカンドッグ」 (Corn Dog)

• Napalm: (1943) A terrible substance used as a military weapon.
• Supersonic Aircraft: (1947)
• Windsurfing: (1948)
• Cable Television: (1948)
• Polio Vaccine: (1952)
• Barcode: (1952) Invented in America, but Japan turned them into an art form.
• Eight-track Tape: (1964) This impractical medium for playing music was actually popular for about a decade.


KISS "Alive II" on 8-track tape

• Snowboarding: (1965)
• Inline Skates: (1979)
• Space Shuttle: (1981)
• Nicotine Patch: (1988) To help people quit smoking. I wonder if it actually works.
• Global Positioning System: (1993) Commonly known by it’s initials GPS.
• Self-balancing Personal Transporter: (2001) Commonly known by the brand name “Segway“.

Japanese Van Gogh

Probably every Japanese person knows who 山下清 (Kiyoshi Yamashita) is.

Have you ever heard of him?

He’s a famous Japanese artist. Often called the “Japanese Van Gogh“.

He died in 1971 at the age of 49…but if he was still alive today, last Wednesday would have been his 88th birthday.

Kiyoshi Yamashita was born in Tokyo on 1922 March 10 (his birth name was Seiji Obashi).
He suffered an illness as a young child that stunted his mental growth and he was diagnosed as mentally handicapped (some people now believe he was autistic).

In elementary school he was bullied because of his mental handicap and slow speech. So his mother enrolled him in a boarding school in Chiba, Japan for special needs children.

In 1940, Japan was at war and Kiyoshi Yamashita was eighteen years old and now potentially eligible for the Army draft.
So he ran away and began a life as a vagrant wandering around Japan and painting the scenes he saw.
When he was eventually forced to register for the draft he was found unfit due to his handicap, but he said that he enjoyed life on the road and he continued wandering for a fourteen years.

His art style is mosaic. He cuts pieces of colorful paper and glues them to a canvas to create a beautiful scene.
An amazing fact is that he would remember a scene that he saw and recreate it on his canvas later. He was able to memorize all the details that he saw…which is why many people believe he was autistic (the disease that Dustin Hoffman’s character had in the movie “Rain Man“).

Life on the road wasn’t always easy, of course.
He often had to beg for money to buy food. But he spent his money as frugally as possible and at one point he was arrested for vagrancy and the arresting officer found ¥10,000 in his bag that he was able to save up (which was a considerable amount at that time).
But when the police officer accused him of stealing it, Mr. Yamashita wasn’t able to explain himself clearly.
According to Mr. Yamashita’s biography, the officer beat him and pocketed the money.

At one point after Kiyoshi Yamashita stopped roaming the country and settled back down in 1954, he was given a chance to teach an art class for other mentally handicapped people.
He told them to never feel inferior and if they believe in themselves they can be like an Army general.
So, from that quote and also the way Mr. Yamashita had a habit of dressing without a shirt, he was given the nickname 「裸の大将」 (“The Naked General“).

There is a TV series in Japan based on his life. The series is titled 「裸の大将」 (“The Naked General“).

Ad for the TV series 「裸の大将」

History timeline

By no ways a complete list, but here is a timeline of some highlights of world history.

Japan-related dates are written in red.

• 1281: Mongolia was conquering most of Asia. As the Mongolian Navy was heading to Japan to invade, a giant typhoon sunk their entire fleet. Thus saving Japan.
  That typhoon was called 「神風」 (“Kamikaze“), which means “Divine Wind“, in Japan.The World War 2 Kamikaze pilots were named after this typhoon.
• 1346: The Black Plague started and eventually killed nearly half of Europe’s population.
• 1492: Christopher Columbus lands in America. But he believed he was in India and called the inhabitants “Indians“.
• 1603: 「江戸時代」 (The “Edo Period“) begins in Japan.
• 1680: The 将軍 (Shougun), Tsunayoshi, loved dogs and enacted a number of laws protecting dogs and making harming them a criminal offense.He is therefore often called “The Dog Shogun”.
• 1776: America declares it’s independence from England.
• 1789: French Revolution began.
• 1804: Napoleon became the Emperor of France.
• 1854: U.S. Naval Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan to open to trade with the West.At first Japan resisted and the island of Odaiba was built in Tokyo Bay to defend Japan from the American forces. But Perry’s fleet of black ships were too intimidating and Japan enacted law to allow trade with the West in general and America in particular.The resulting influx of American goods and culture sparked Japan’s “Westernization”.

An Ukiyoe portrait of Cmdr. Perry. His name is written as 「ぺルリ」 ("Peruri") because that's what it sounded like to the Japanese when Perry said his name with his American accent.

1859: Charles Darwin published his book “The Origin Of Species“.

1861: The U.S. Civil War began.

1868: 「明治時代」 (The “Meiji Period“) started in Japan. This was a period of modernization.

1876: Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.

1904: The Russia-Japan War began. Russia underestimated Japan and lost the war.

1905: Albert Einstein published his “Theory Of Relativity” (E=MC?)

1912: The “unsinkable” RMS Titanic sunk.

1914 – 1918: World War 1.

1937: The zeppelin Hindenberg exploded over the U.S. state of New Jersey.

1939 – 1945: World War 2.

1941 December 7: Japan attacked the U.S. Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

1945 August 6: America dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of 広島 (Hiroshima).

1945 August 9: America dropped a second atomic bomb on Japan. This time on the city of 長崎 (Nagasaki).

1961: Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin became the first man in space, starting the “Space Race” to the moon between America and Russia.

1964: Tokyo, Japan hosted the Summer Olympics. The first Olympic games hosted in an Asian city.

1969: U.S. Astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first (and so far, only) man to walk on the moon.

1972: Sapporo, Japan hosted the Winter Olympics.

1990 October 17: I (“Tokyo Five”) came to Japan.

1995 January 17: 「阪神淡路大震災」 (Hanshin-awajidai-shinsai), (“The Kobe Earthquake“) destroyed the city of 神戸 (Kobe, Japan).

A collapsed overpass after the Kobe Earthquake; 1995 January.

1998: Nagano, Japan hosted the Winter Olympics.

2001 September 11: Both of the World Trade Center in New York City, USA and The Pentagon in Washington D.C. are attacked by commercial airplanes hijacked by terrorists. Both of the towers in NYC were destroyed completely.

I know that I left out many important dates. Feel free to write any that you can think of in the comments section of this post.

And did you witness any historic events?

20 Years Ago

From December 1926 until January 7, 1989, the 昭和天皇 (Showa Emperor), (also called Emperor Hirohito in Western countries…but in Japan, that’s never done) was the reigning Emperor.

Those years are called the 昭和時代 (Showa Era) and lasted just over 63 years. January 1-6, 1989 are the year 昭和６４年 (Showa 64).

On January 7, 1989, the 昭和天皇 (Showa Emperor) died and his eldest son became the current 平成天皇 (Heisei Emperor).

January 7, 1989 began the 平成時代 (Heisei Era). So, even though the 今上天皇 (current Emperor) began his reign twenty years ago today…this year, 2009, is 平成２１年 (Heisei 21) because 1989 was 平成１年 (Heisei 1).

Also, April 10 will be the 50th wedding anniversary of the 今上天皇 (current Emperor) and the 皇后 (Empress). So, this year (2009) is a big year for the 今上天皇 (current Emperor)…twenty years as Emperor and fifty years married.

So, in honor of his 20th anniversary as Emperor and his 50th wedding anniversary this year, November 12th will be a legal holiday in Japan…this year only.

Why November 12th if today (January 7) is the anniversary of his father’s death and the day he became the 今上天皇 (current Emperor) and his wedding anniversary is on April 10?

November 12, 2009 will be the date of the one-time-only holiday because the coronation of the 今上天皇 (current Emperor) took place on November 12, 1990.

85 Years Ago

On September 1, 1923, the 関東大震災 (Great Kanto Earthquake) struck the Tokyo area and flattened the city. It registered about 8.4 (out of 10) on the Richter Scale!

It struck at noon, when people were preparing lunch with gas stoves, so many fires broke out. Over 100,000 people died. And most of the deaths were from the fires.

(This photo was taken of the earthquake’s aftermath by August Kengelbacher).

Every year on September 1, the 自衛隊 (Japanese Self-Defense Forces) hold an earthquake drill with the public to help prepare for another major earthquake.
This year’s drill was held yesterday (Sunday) so that more of the public could participate. About 15,000 people were a part of this year’s drill.
Also, American military stationed in Japan and Korean and Taiwanese rescue teams helped with the drill.