by Emily Connor
Every year I hear so many rumors about earthquakes in Japan. I don't mean just your little run-of-the-mill earthquakes, either-- I'm talking about the earthquake, the one that will leave Tokyo in ruins and thousands upon thousands of people dead and without anywhere to go. For the first couple of years I was in Japan, all this talk of earthquakes really had me scared. I saw information about predictions of devastating earthquakes all over the news and on the internet, and I'd be lying if I said there were nights when I couldn't sleep well because I had heard rumors that on that particular day it was predicted that the earthquake would strike and mass havoc would be upon us.
I'm sure that this major earthquake will eventually happen and that it will, without a doubt, be disastrous. However at times I feel that the way the predicted earthquake is covered on television that it's a bit too sensationalized and causing unnecessary anxiety in a lot of Japanese people. I've seen this one Italian psychic on TV several times since moving here, and every time I see him he's talking about when he thinks the quake will happen, and about how devastating it will be. Apparently the man is a really well-renowned psychic (if it's even possible to be a well-renowned psychic...) and I can't recall his name right now, but there are times when I think it would be better to not broadcast such information on national television. I mean, the guy is a psychic, not a scientist.
You could argue and say that television in the US constantly sensationalizes information, too, and you would be right. But I've never seen a two-hour primetime television special about some psychic who feels compelled to tell the nation about a supposedly impending natural disaster. I've seen many talk-show like programs in Japan focused only no non-scientifically based predictions about the Tokai earthquake, and I don't think it does any good for anyone. They say that ignorance is bliss, and while scientifically-based facts are completely fine by me, I find it kind of blasphemous to sensationalize psychic predictions. All it does is increase anxiety and unnecessary unease in people.
Natural disasters are a thing of nature (obviously, judging by the word 'natural' disaster) and it's inevitable that they're going to happen. While I feel it's important for everyone to have a plan of action for if and when this huge quake occurs, I don't think it's right to use scare-like tactics to get civilians anxious and worried about a completely unset date. It's not like how people are saying the world will end on on December 21, 2012-- people are simply saying 'the next huge Tokai earthquake will occur sometime in the 21st century', and that's pretty vague. When it happens it happens, and everyone should just have their own survival plans and not listen to sensationalized psychic personalities.
Every year I hear so many rumors about earthquakes in Japan. I don't mean just your little run-of-the-mill earthquakes, either-- I'm talking about the earthquake, the one that will leave Tokyo in ruins and thousands upon thousands of people dead and without anywhere to go. For the first couple of years I was in Japan, all this talk of earthquakes really had me scared. I saw information about predictions of devastating earthquakes all over the news and on the internet, and I'd be lying if I said there were nights when I couldn't sleep well because I had heard rumors that on that particular day it was predicted that the earthquake would strike and mass havoc would be upon us.
I'm sure that this major earthquake will eventually happen and that it will, without a doubt, be disastrous. However at times I feel that the way the predicted earthquake is covered on television that it's a bit too sensationalized and causing unnecessary anxiety in a lot of Japanese people. I've seen this one Italian psychic on TV several times since moving here, and every time I see him he's talking about when he thinks the quake will happen, and about how devastating it will be. Apparently the man is a really well-renowned psychic (if it's even possible to be a well-renowned psychic...) and I can't recall his name right now, but there are times when I think it would be better to not broadcast such information on national television. I mean, the guy is a psychic, not a scientist.
You could argue and say that television in the US constantly sensationalizes information, too, and you would be right. But I've never seen a two-hour primetime television special about some psychic who feels compelled to tell the nation about a supposedly impending natural disaster. I've seen many talk-show like programs in Japan focused only no non-scientifically based predictions about the Tokai earthquake, and I don't think it does any good for anyone. They say that ignorance is bliss, and while scientifically-based facts are completely fine by me, I find it kind of blasphemous to sensationalize psychic predictions. All it does is increase anxiety and unnecessary unease in people.
Natural disasters are a thing of nature (obviously, judging by the word 'natural' disaster) and it's inevitable that they're going to happen. While I feel it's important for everyone to have a plan of action for if and when this huge quake occurs, I don't think it's right to use scare-like tactics to get civilians anxious and worried about a completely unset date. It's not like how people are saying the world will end on on December 21, 2012-- people are simply saying 'the next huge Tokai earthquake will occur sometime in the 21st century', and that's pretty vague. When it happens it happens, and everyone should just have their own survival plans and not listen to sensationalized psychic personalities.
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