Natural Disasters in

Japan

Great Hanshin Earthquake

• Commonly referred to as the Kobe Earthquake

• Tuesday, January 17, 1995 at 5:46 AM

• 6.8: moment magnitude scale• 7.3: JMA magnitude scale • Tremors lasted approx. 20 sec• Focus was 16 km beneath

epicenter on N. end of Awaji Island, 20 km away from Kobe

Damage• Approx. 6,434 deaths (4,600 from

Kobe), 300,000 left homeless• 68 children under 18 were

orphaned, 332 children lost one parent

• Collapse of 200,000 buildings• Collapse of 1 km of Hanshin

Expressway• Destruction of 120 of the 150

quays in port of Kobe• Fires raged over city• Disruption of electricity supply• People afraid to return home due

to aftershocks

Fore and Aftershocks

• Four foreshocks the previous day– Largest being 3.7

• Within five weeks:– 50 aftershocks 4.0 or

greater were observed• By Oct. 31, 1996:– 2,522 aftershocks, 408

felt

Economic Impacts

• Damage of approx. $102.5 billion, 2.5% of Japan’s GDP at the time

• Listed in Guinness Book of Records as “costliest natural disaster to befall on any one country”

• Most losses were uninsured, only 3% of Kobe covered by insurance

• Quake damaged the source of nearly 40% of Kobe’s industrial output– By March ‘96, manufacturing activity was back to 98%

• Major decline in Japanese stock market• Financial damage caused collapse of Barings Bank

Response and Memorial

• Hospitals struggled to keep up with demand for medical treatment

• People operated on in waiting rooms/ corridors

• 1.2 million volunteers involved in relief efforts

• Kobe Luminarie, small city of Christmas lights, set up in Kobe City and Shin-Kobe Station every December in memory of quake

2011 Tohoku Earthquake • AKA Great East Japan

Earthquake• Magnitude 9.0 on Friday, March

11, 6 minutes long• Epicenter approx. 70 km east of

Oshika Peninsula of Tohoku, hypocenter underwater 32 km

• Most powerful known quake to hit Japan and one of the five most powerful in the world

• Triggered tsunami waves up to 38.9 meters (128 ft), some traveling up to 6 mi inland

Damage

• 15,365 deaths, 5,363 injured, 8,206 missing across 18 prefectures

• 125,000 buildings destroyed• Heavy damage to roads & railways, fires, and a

collapsed dam• 4.4 million households left without electricity• 1.5 million without water• Level 7 meltdowns at Fukushima I Nuclear

Power Plant Complex

Damage• Production stopped in many factories • Overall cost could exceed $300 billion, making it

the most expensive natural disaster on record• “In the 65 years after the end of WWII, this is

the toughest and most difficult crisis for Japan.” –Prime Minister, Naoto Kan

Fore and Aftershocks

• Main earthquake preceded by a number of large foreshocks– First major foreshock was a 7.2 on March 9– The others on same day, approx. 6.0

• Hundreds of aftershocks– 7.0, 7.4, and 7.2 occurred on same day as main

quake– Over 800 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater

Nuclear Power Plants• 11 total reactors were automatically

shut down after the quake• Six reactors suffered meltdowns and

continued to leak coolant water• Radiation levels inside the plant up

to 1,000 times normal levels and 8 times normal levels outside the plant

• Radioactive iodine detected in tap water

• 200,000 residents evacuated within 12 mi radius of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and 6.2 mi of Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant

• Places as far as Hawaii and the west coast of USA on watch

Response

• Japanese government mobilized Self-Defense Forces

• Many countries sent search & rescue teams• Aid organizations worldwide – Japanese Red

Cross reported $1 billion in donations• World less apt to give sympathy and aid to Japan?– Poverty vs. rich – Location – Pearl Harbor

Haruki Murakami

• Born in Kyoto, Japan on Jan. 12, 1949

• Grew up in Kobe, heavily influenced by Western culture– Often distinguished from other

Japanese writers due to his Western influences

• Studied drama Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife, Yoko

Biography continued• Opened a coffeehouse/ jazz bar, “Peter Cat” in Kokobunji, Toyko, ran

from 1974-1981• Started writing when he was 29, inspired at a baseball game• Avid marathon runner and triathlete

– Didn’t start running until he was 33• 1986- Traveled through Europe and settled in US

– Taught at Princeton University and Tufts• Major influences:

– Raymond Chandler, Kurt Vonnegut, and Richard Brautigan

As a writer• Considered an important figure in postmodern literature• Three novels forming Trilogy of the Rat

– 1979- Hear the Wind Sing, inspired at a baseball game• Won him the Gunzou Literature Prize for budding writers

– 1980- Pinball, 1973– 1982- A Wild Sheep Chase

• Won the Noma Literary Prize for New Writers

• 1985- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World– Many critics say is his best work

• 1987- Norwegian Wood– Achieving a major breakthrough and national recognition– Nostalgic story of loss and sexuality, making him a literary superstar in

Japan

Continued

• 1994-95- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle– Won the Yomiuri Literary Prize

• After interviewing many victims of the quake and poison gas attack in ‘95, he wrote:– 1998: The Place That Was Promised

• Won the Kuwabara Takeo Academic Award

– 2000: Underground– 2002: After The Quake– 2007: After Dark

• “Notable book of the Year” by New York Times

Most Recent Honors• Jerusalem Prize (2009)• Honorary Doctorate from University of Liege and one from Princeton University (2007-

2008)• Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award (Ireland, 2006)• Franz Kafka Prize (Czech, 2006)• Asahi Prize (Japan, 2006)• The Guardian, a British newspaper, praised him as “among the world’s greatest living

novelists” for his work and achievements

Themes, Motifs, and Writing Style• Characterized by surrealism, wistful characters, and flowing language• Processing of collective trauma (when writing about the quake/ gas

attack)– Previously things written in more of a personal nature

• Humorous and surreal, yet at the same time has themes of alienation and loneliness

• Many of his novels have themes/ titles that invoke classical music– Dance, Dance, Dance (The Dells’ song)– The Thieving Magpie (after Rossini’s opera)– Norwegian Wood (after The Beatles’ song)– South of the Border, West of the Sun (Nat King Cole song)

“Murakami’s style of writing is rather strange, or far from the classical literature that most readers are used to. His simplistic, yet intricately control descriptive writing, along with Murakami’s imaginative, yet majestic, surrealism crossed with realism world he puts his characters in and the things his characters go through will intrigue you."

After The Quake

• Written in 2002• A series of stories revolving around the ‘95 earthquake in

Kobe• Quake wasn’t the direct cause of the tales, but its

presence is felt in the aftermath • Tales are realist and fantasist

– Murakami shows understanding of the compromises and rationales people make to cope with life’s rough times

• Characters are loners or lonely, yet all have moments that take them away from the self

• Containing insight