Comment by decimalenough
7 days ago
Japan forecasting tsunamis up to 3m across basically the entire eastern coast. First waves will hit within 10 minutes.
https://www.nhk.or.jp/kishou-saigai/tsunami/
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/live/ (live, Japanese)
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/live/ (live, English)
The east coast is also where the vast majority of Japan's population lives, and was previously hit by the 2011 tsunami (Fukushima and all that). We're about to find out the hard way what lessons they have learned.
Update: First detected wave in Nemuro, Hokkaido (northernmost Japan) was only 30cm. There may be more. Waves of 3-4m have apparently already hit Kamchatka in Russia.
Update 2: We're almost an hour in and highest waves to actually hit Japan remain only 40 cm. It looks unlikely that this will cause major damage.
Here are some live streams.. No action yet. Fingers crossed!
From a helicopter Japanese KATU news https://www.youtube.com/live/mBQHNV7cqrM?si=lwqB5YHknA7KUTY_
Webcams https://www.youtube.com/live/5pTPKHJxQ4g?si=xWe5MkLKIZ3N5I8D
Hawaii news https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lVy5nLWruu0&pp=ygUSSmFwYW4gdHN...
Now that things have calmed i can say that the webcam chats were very entertaining
Japanese news reporting during disaster scenarios is something to behold.
The screen is filled with data and blinking like a Bloomberg Terminal.
To be fair, most of Japanese TV is like that. I always joke that the primary reason they developed HD TV was to be able to cram more text in every corner xD
haha, makes a lot of sense!.
But then again, take a stroll around a shop-laden street in Japan and you'll see the exact same thing. They just like it that way.
Funny thing is how for interior design they do a full 180 and typically go very minimalistic.
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And most Japanese websites.
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My favorite is the NHK reporters standing in the middle of absolutely nowhere with their NHK helmets. No matter what the event, there is a reporter wearing a helmet.
Also, the very first thing they say when the camera cuts to them is that they are standing in designated evacuation zone X that's Y meters above sea level.
Then the cameraman zooms at the ocean, which is blurry and shaky because they're in the designated evacuation zone Z km away from the coast.
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Self-satisfaction or more professional?
Also when you visit most japanese websites you can see this phenomenon.
I've read an explanation once that this is because culturally, japanese people perceive a wealth of information and choice as being re-assuring and trustworthy, while most westerners feel more re-assured by seeing less content and choice presented in a more minimalist kind of way.
I actually prefer content style of Japanese websites. I get all the relevant info on one screen instead of having to scroll/click thru tens. The western style websites are very inefficient and hide info (feels scammy with lack of info).
Can you point to some japanese websites that have an english version and are a good example of this?
oh I hate minimalistic UIs, I think I might have just found my people
Yes, but it does make sense.
Eg. old people without smartphones or someone just turning their TV on, seeing big letter "Tsunami evacuate" with map and other information. You instantly know the most important information and you can act on it.
Pachinko!
A̶F̶A̶I̶C̶T̶,̶ ̶N̶T̶V̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶o̶r̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶3̶m̶ ̶w̶a̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶t̶ ̶J̶a̶p̶a̶n̶.̶
EDIT: Apologies, I misunderstood—a reply to this comment said they were just predictions. (I saw in this video[0] that the first waves had arrived, and assumed the heights would've therefore corresponded to actual measurements. But it's still in the "predictions" section, and I should've noticed that before posting....)
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbRCvDZO5Zk
No. That's the predictions. Biggest wave so far has been 60cm (EDIT: as of 6am UTC it's 1m30cm, but that's still relatively small. It came up almost exactly to the top of the pier in Kuji.)
I've updated my comment, I indeed misunderstood what I read.... Unfortunately it's too late for me to delete the comment, so everyone please feel free to flag/downvote it (both to push it down for the sake of clutter, and also to punish my carelessness :-P).
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How big was the 2011 tsunami? Is 3m bigger or smaller?
It's complicated. Tsunami forecasting is a very inexact science and "3m" means "very large".
The average actual height in eastern Japan (Tohoku) was 4-6m, but there were peaks up to 20m in places like Ofunato where the local geography funneled all the water upwards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_an...
For perspective, the tsunami that topped the seawall at Fukushima Dai-ichi had a peak height of ~14m.
The seawall was 5.7m.
Is height the only thing that matters? Presumably 1x 2m wave is less impactful than 10 x 1m waves spread 20 seconds apart?
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Don’t worry, if there’s one nation we can trust to have done the right thing, it’s Japan.
I honestly can’t tell if this is satire.
Same. Japan's earthquake/tsunami preparedness is genuinely unmatched, but earthquakes/tsunamis have the annoying habit of happening in the "wrong" place and the country's overall record of "doing the right thing" can charitably be described as spotty.
I've been monitoring the situation, but it appears nothing ever happens.
My guess is that the wide area simply reflects the uncertainty, and not some apocalyptic scenario. Hopefully this broad warning and plenty of time gets everyone out of danger effectively
Question: Could you cancel out a tsunami with a underwater explosion, similar to active noise canceling ?
Yes, but it would have to be equal and opposite the incoming tsunami, and the amount of energy involved is mind boggling. The recoil would have its own repercussions. Your neighbors on the receiving end of the resulting double tsunami would want to have a word with you.
Yike!!