Jishin
Jishin

Author: Lee Riordan

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Published: 2011-09-13

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1462901107

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In 1923, one of the greatest natural disasters ever recorded struck one of the most densely populated areas in the world. In Jishin, author Lee Riordan recreates this calamity, the Great Kanto Earthquake, providing both stirring adventure and touching romance. This book vividly describes the shaking and shuddering of the quake itself, during which thousands died, as much of the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama collapsed around their inhabitants. In the ensuing fires, many more perished as insatiable flames tore through the cities, destroying property and life. This gripping historical novel retells the story of the terrible quake that took over 140,000 lives. Jishin is also the story of Tatiana, the Russian countess, and Hugh, the American professor, who discover their love for one another against the backdrop of this destruction. The author built his tale on the recollections of Tatiana and Hugh, who were his parents, providing the book with an authenticity that gives it unusual poignancy and realism.

Predicting Disasters
Predicting Disasters

Author: Kerry Smith

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2024-02-27

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1512825360

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Japan is a place where powerful earthquakes have occurred more frequently and have caused more harm in the modern era than they have in all but a handful of other locations on the planet. In the twentieth century alone, earthquake disasters in Japan took almost as many lives as they had in all of the country’s recorded history up to that point. Predicting Disasters is the first English-language book to explore how scientists convinced policy makers and the public in postwar Japan that catastrophic earthquakes were coming, and the first to show why earthquake prediction has played such a central role in Japan’s efforts to prepare for a dangerous future ever since. Kerry Smith shows how, in the twentieth century, scientists struggled to make large-scale earthquake disasters legible to the public and to policy makers as significant threats to Japan’s future and as phenomena that could be anticipated and prepared for. Smith also explains why understanding those struggles matters. Disasters, Smith contends, belong alongside more familiar topics of analysis in modern Japanese history—such as economic growth and its impacts, political crises and popular protest, and even the legacies of the war—for the work they do in helping us better understand how the past has influenced beliefs about Japan’s possible futures, and how beliefs about the future shape the present. Predicting Disasters makes relevant elements of Japan’s past more accessible to readers interested in the histories of disaster and scientific communities, as well as to those who want to gain a better understanding of the risk and uncertainty surrounding natural phenomena.

Seismic Japan
Seismic Japan

Author: Gregory Smits

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2013-11-30

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0824839102

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What are we to make of contemporary newspapers in Japan speculating about the possible connection between aquatic creatures and earthquakes? Of a city council deciding to issue evacuation advice based on observed animal behavior? Why, between 1977 and 1993, did Japan’s government spend taxpayer money to observe catfish in aquariums as part of its mandate to fund earthquake prediction research? All of these actions are direct legacies of the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake, one of the major natural disasters of the period. In his investigation of the science, politics, and lore of seismic events in Japan, Gregory Smits examines this earthquake in a broad historical context. The Ansei Edo earthquake shook the shogun’s capital during a year of special religious significance and at a time of particularly vigorous seismic activity. It was also a turning point because, according to the prevailing understanding of earthquakes at the time, it should never have happened. Many Japanese, therefore, became receptive to new ideas about the causes of earthquakes as well as to the notion that by observing some phenomena—for example, the behavior of catfish—one might determine when an earthquake would strike. All subsequent major earthquakes in Japan resulted in claims, always made after the fact, that certain phenomena had been signs of the impending catastrophe. Indeed, earthquake prediction in Japan from 1855 to the present has largely consisted of amassing collections of alleged or possible precursor phenomena. In addition, the Ansei Edo earthquake served as a catalyst accelerating socio-political trends already underway. It revealed bakufu military weaknesses and enhanced the prestige of the imperial deity Amaterasu at the expense of the bakufu deity Kashima. Anyone interested in Japan, earthquakes, and natural disasters will benefit from Seismic Japan. The work also serves as essential background for understanding the peculiar history of earthquake prediction in modern and contemporary Japan.

When the Earth Roars
When the Earth Roars

Author: Gregory Smits

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2014-03-21

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1442220104

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Japan, which is among the most earthquake-prone regions in the world, has a long history of responding to seismic disasters. However, despite advances in earthquake-related safety technologies, the destructiveness of the magnitude 9 class earthquake and tsunami that struck the country on 3/11 raised profound questions about how societies can deal effectively with seismic hazards. This important book places the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown disaster in historical perspective, examining conceptions of earthquakes since the seventeenth century, the diverse ways actual earthquakes and their aftermath played out, and their enduring social and scientific significance. By looking backward, Gregory Smits identifies future pitfalls to avoid and assesses the allocation of resources for dealing with future earthquake and tsunami disasters. He criticizes Japan’s postwar quest for earthquake prediction and the concept of “characteristic” earthquakes. Smits argues that earthquakes are so chaotic as to be unpredictable, not only geologically but also in their social and cultural effects. Therefore, he contends, the best hope for future disaster mitigation is antiseismic engineering and flexible disaster-relief capabilities. As the first sustained historical analysis of destructive earthquakes and tsunamis, this book is an essential resource for anyone interested in Japan, natural disasters, seismology, and environmental history.

Japanese
Japanese

Author: Stefan Kaiser

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 662

ISBN-13: 0415099196

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Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar is a complete reference guide to modern Japanese grammar. Accessible and systematic, it explores the complexities of the language thoroughly, filling many gaps left by other textbooks. Clear grammar points are put in context using examples from a range of Japanese media. The emphasis is firmly on contemporary Japanese as spoken and written by native speakers. Key features of the book include: coverage of colloquial and standard Japanese extensive cross-referencing detailed index of Japanese and English terms up-to-date real examples of current usage greater emphasis on structures that learners find particularly confusing glossary of linguistic terms. Written by experts in their fields, Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar will prove a lasting and reliable resource for all learners of Japanese.

Japanese
Japanese

Author: John Hinds

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-01

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 1136855009

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First published in 2003. Present day Japanese has a basic word order of subject, object,, verb (SOV). As a result, it has postpositions rather than prepositions, branching is to the left. rather than to the right, and inflectional endings are added to the right rather than to the left. The goal of the editors of this series is to provide references works for a number of languages which will be uniform in appearance and content.

Law and Disaster
Law and Disaster

Author: Shigenori Matsui

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-09-03

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 1351059335

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On the 11th of March 2011, an earthquake registering 9.0 on the Richter scale (the most powerful to ever strike Japan) hit the Tohoku region in northern Japan. The earthquake produced a devastating tsunami that wiped out coastal cities and towns, leaving 18,561 people dead or registered as missing. Due to the disaster, the capability of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), was compromised, causing nuclear meltdown. The hydrogen blast destroyed the facilities, resulting in a spread of radioactive materials, and, subsequently, serious nuclear contamination. This combined event – earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown – became known as the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster. This book examines the response of the Japanese government to the disaster, and its attempts to answer the legal questions posed by the combination of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. Japanese law, policy, and infrastructure were insufficiently prepared for these disasters, and the country’s weaknesses were brutally exposed. This book analyses these failings, and discusses what Japan, and other countries, can learn from these events.

The Generative Study of Second Language Acquisition
The Generative Study of Second Language Acquisition

Author: Suzanne Flynn

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2014-01-14

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 1317780655

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The vast majority of work in theoretical linguistics from a generative perspective is based on first language acquisition and performance. The vast majority of work on second language acquisition is carried out by scholars and educators working within approaches other than that of generative linguistics. In this volume, this gap is bridged as leading generative linguists apply their intellectual and disciplinary skills to issues in second language acquisition. The results will be of interest to all those who study second language acquisition, regardless of their theoretical perspective, and all generative linguists, regardless of the topics on which they work.

Giants Monsters and Dragons
Giants Monsters and Dragons

Author: Carol Rose

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2001-12-04

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 9780393322118

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Contains alphabetically arranged entries that describe the imaginary creatures found in legends, religions, folklore, oral history, and theologies around the world.