I sometimes think about this.
We all know a big one is coming probably in most of our lifetime and I almost consider it at least a factor when weighing up reasons to go back home.
I have a family and if anything happened to them if the quake hits when we’re in different places or something I know I’d regret not taking them back to the UK.
That being said of course there are probably more chances of being killed by an out of control car or many other things in either country so I understand it’s slightly irrational, but I’d love to hear some thoughts.
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“Home” is another quake-prone country right on a fault line (New Zealand) as much as Japan is, so it makes no difference for me haha. I just don’t think about it, the slow decline of the climate and the natural disasters that come with that (droughts, heatwaves, etc.) are far more of a concern to me
You could say that about anywhere.
Are the fires a good enough reason to leave Australia or California?
Are tornadoes a good enough reason to leave the American Midwest?
Is the possible big earthquake good enough reason to leave the Pacific Northwest?
Are hurricanes a good enough reason to leave the U.S. south?
Are snow storms a good enough reason to leave Nordic countries?
While a big earthquake will likely hit somewhere in Japan in our lifetimes, it’s not really a concern. Like you said, you’re more likely to be hit by a car than anything earthquake related.
Sounds to me like you’re just looking for ad-hoc justifications to move away from Japan. You should probably try harder to find the real reasons for those feelings.
The risk of the “big one” is similar to the risk of AI/Skynet/singularity/robots enslaving humanity in the near future, but then moving to another country won’t save you. Maybe you could help Elon build his one way rocket to Mars?
planes crash, boats sink. how you going home?
Nah, I’m from an earthquake prone area too, so it’s not like that would be better. I grew up experiencing earthquakes, so it’s not as scary to me.
There’s always something— earthquake, forest fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, mass shootings (sigh, one of these things are not like the others).
2011/03/11 wasn’t big enough?
The chance of it hitting Kanto isn’t that big. And…. You don’t have to live in Kanto.
I am from Turkey so going back for this reason is absurd in my case. But I can assure you Japanese take this serious. It is still your call. There is a risk and they estimate potential death toll may reach over 200k.
If your home is close to the coast that may be risky. I went to kuyakusho recently and got a hazard map there. They estimate no tsunami over 3 meters will hit my home. I live in 5th floor so I am fine probably.
If you decide to stay in Japan prepeare a hazard bag. Go to your local shiyakusho and get a hazard map from them. They have many kinds of hazard maps. Make an evacution plan and decide meeting points with your family for potential cases.
I will not go back for this reason but I really can not say you should or should not go back. It is your family, your responsibility. Stay safe
Yea go back now
what if in the Uk you get caught in fire at your home while waiting for that big earthquake in Japan?
More odds, of dying tomorrow in the street by car accident even if you are walking around that dying due to earthquake.
You just want to leave Japan and are trying to justify it to yourself.
They’ve been saying the big one is coming in the next 30 years for the last 30 years, and they’ll be saying it for 30 years past that too.
If you are that worried about it make sure you aren’t living in a disaster prone area (newer building, low flooding and tsunami risk) but other than that you are in the best prepared country for natural disasters in the world.
For some people, sure. If it’s causing you stress and sapping your enjoyment of life here, then I wouldn’t judge anyone for using it as a reason to return home.
>when we’re in different places or something I know I’d regret not taking them back to the UK
Why would you be in different places? Are you planning to pack up and leave your family or something?
Also unless regarding living in the UK, unless you have a good/suitable job or rich parents, you’re family are more likely to suffer more in the UK due to cost living and austerity. Knife crime is high in the UK as well as robbery and muggings.
Also, talking about having a good job/rich parents, you will also need the required income/savings to get your spouse a spouse visa for UK
We called them Flyjin!
Turns out the biggest gaijin nonsense problem warrior was one. After a career of bashing Japan because he couldn’t bathe naked with other men he just bounced. He still tries but it’s even more pathetic than it was back in the day before the quake.
Id rather deal with the earthquake than getting shot back home ngl
I just accept and manage the risk. I live in a safety compliant building. I also have 100L of (10 year expiry) water, a bag of (5year expiry) food that can be made with said water, an emergency grab bag (you can buy off Amazon) in case I have to evacuate and a hard hat.
While I would go to a cafe in an old building, I would never live or work in an old building. If I go to the coast overnight I eye the evacuation map for 2 seconds before I go.
Staying safe is a very small time investment and a small ish financial investment but worth it and makes all the difference in an emergency. In the end I could get killed by a falling air conditioner in NYC (it happens!), so I just accept the risk of earthquake. Or, hit by a car, house fire, attacked by random, get sick, the list goes on and applies globally.
Failing to plan is planning to fail, and after that, you get on with life.
I’m prepared, Now, I just get on with life.
That’s as random of a reason as can be. A big one could hit tomorrow, in a decade, or way past your lifetimes. But you probably knew that before you even arrived in Japan. So why bring it up now? Also Japan is about as prepared as a society can be for natural disasters. So questionable how much damage is actually to be expected for you.
There is so much shit than can possibly happen in the UK as well. So going crazy about low probability cases is not a smart thing to do.
If you are homesick that is fine. But tell your partner that that is the reason. Don’t try to “logically” convince your family to move to the UK. This is an emotional decision. Putting up arguments like “I am afraid of a big earthquake and this is why we need to move to the UK ASAP” will just make you look like a fool.
Good reason? No.
Irrational reason? Yes.
People in 311 mostly died due to tsunami, so it depends on the location where you live and how tough the structures around your area. I think new buildings in Tokyo are fine.
From wikipedia,
> The leading causes of death were drowning (90.64% or 14,308 bodies), burning (0.9% or 145 bodies) and others (4.2% or 667 bodies, mostly crushed by heavy objects).
If the UK gets caught up in a world war and your kids are conscripted, you would probably feel just as bad.
You can mitigate your risks. You can not work in the big city, live in an area less likely to have major issues from a large earthquake, or trust that the buildings in Japan are generally safe from earthquakes due to stringent regulation.
You are worried about something that might happen maybe in the next 35-50 years. Get away from areas with multi story apartments and mountains and ocean, and relax a little. Get a nice little garden plot next to a house a couple hours away from the city. You can’t predict that kind of thing.
I feel like you have more of a chance of getting killed by a senior citizen driving through a red light… or on the sidewalk… or through the front of a conbini than dying from an earthquake in Japan.
I actually have also thought about this one, primarily because me and my husband could really live in whichever country. We are not looking for a reason to leave Japan but we have realistically weighed the pros and cons of both of our options. My home country doesn’t have earthquakes so if that was the only thing that mattered, we would probably move (but it’s not so we live in Japan).
Yes absolutely! You should also tell your friends about the dangers of living in Japan, and tell them to leave as soon as possible. You never know when the big one will strike. Go go go !
Damn that’s if you catch a plane to get home. How would you escape if the whole country was in turmoil?
I’m in Japan now, but back home they have been waiting for “the big one” earthquake for 20+ years and it still hasn’t come. Be prepared for it, but I personally wouldn’t let it make life decisions for me.
If anywhere in the world will come through a big quake OK, it’s Japan. As long as you don’t live in an old wooden house right by the sea, you’ll make it through the “big one” fine.
When THE big one happens, you aren’t likely to be safe anywhere. If you have an irrational fear of earthquakes you should look into why that is. And if you want to go home, you don’t need to make excuses of hypothetical earthquakes.
They’re making a prediction. It’s not an incontrovertible fact. We don’t know for sure that it will happen at all.
That being said, it’s rather irrational to be afraid of it. Such a large quake isn’t going to destroy Tokyo. Some older buildings may be destroyed and there will absolutely be large fires in east Tokyo if this does come to be, but most people are going to make it through. You may get injured, but you’re unlikely to die.
Do you remember the 2011 quake in Fukushima? That quake was so large that it slightly changed the Earth’s rotation, resulting in the day being shortened by 1.8 microseconds. To say that it was a large quake is an understatement. And yet, look at the videos from when The tsunami hit: all of the buildings are still standing, perfectly fine. It was the tsunami that did the damage. And the same thing will happen in Kanto; our buildings and our infrastructure will be fine, the real danger will come from secondary causes such as fires or possibly a tsunami, and there are steps you can take to protect yourself from such dsngers. For one thing, don’t live in the coast. And also, don’t live in those old wooden buildings in east Tokyo that are going to burn down.
Modern infrastructure is extremely resistant to quakes, but also there are lots of safety mechanisms in modern homes such as automatically shutting off the gas to your stove in the event of a quake. So long as you live in a semi-modern home that isn’t near the coast and is outside of the matchbox that is east Tokyo, you will probably be fine. And if you absolutely insist on living in an ancient building, look at the maps and don’t live near a fault line.
If you want to move back to England that’s perfectly fine, but fearing a large quake in Kanto is not a rational reason to do so. Besides, you’re more likely to suffer from an acid attack in London than you are to live out the doomsday nightmare you’re so afraid of.
Most people during a big one die in the ensuing tsunami (around 90% in the Fukushima one) If you live near the coast, move away. If you don’t, you probably have a higher higher chance of shitting your pants during it than actually dying.
Wanting to live somewhere safe from natural disasters is a valid reason to move away. Earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, all are dangerous and unpredictable, so I don’t think there’s much wrong with wanting to move away/back home. It’s your life and only you can decide how much level of risk you’re willing to take on.
I’m also from Europe and “are you not afraid of the earthquakes?” is something my family asks often.
The way I see it is that in Japan, nature is dangerous: you have earthquakes, typhoons, floods, landslides… In my country, people are dangerous. Back home there is terrorism and a higher percent of violent crimes.
Your family may die from a big earthquakes the same way they could die slashed by a random extremist while visiting London Bridge.
I chose to be afraid of nature because it’s less stressful than being afraid of people. But as for advice, antisismic technology is very advanced these days. You could visit museums and expositions by home-makers to help you understand how it works and be less stressed about it.
Moving will just replace those specific risks with others. It’s more important to take preparedness measures and have a clear family plan for when/if it happens (during the day and we’re all at work/school, at night etc)
I was in Sendai for 3-11, and it made me feel much better about being here for earthquakes.
One of the biggest quakes in history, and pretty much all the damage/casualties were from the tsunami. Buildings held up incredibly well to the quake itself, infrastructrure was fixed quickly, society coped well, people supported each other.
Being eaten by a bear is a bigger fear unless you live in the central of big cities nowadays!
Slightly irrational? No.
It’s very irrational.
The chance of dying in an earthquake is pretty slim tbh. I wouldn’t return on that reason. I’m pretty sure there is more chance of dying to a dog or a wild animal.
Honestly, if I could go to another country, I 100% would.
The other half of me is like, if I died in japan, it wouldn’t be the worst. When you move to Japan, you are kinda making the acknowledgement that you will be hit by an earthquake, tsunami and/or a missile from North Korea, etc. Like out of all the places and ways you could have died, you died in Japan and during the big earthquake?? <– History right thre.
So I have just accepted it as long as I have been in Japan.
Put it this way mate, I’d rather take the risk of that happening than moving back to that fucking shit hole.