NO ONE KNOWS IF IT’S TIME TO Anxiety
The dilemma is exacerbated by the fact that the alert arrives just as the Japanese prepare to depart in droves for Obon, the illegal summer holiday interval when city dwellers usually make their way back to their hometowns.
It’s another looming but inanimate risk in a state that , in the last week has faced the possibility , of higher mortgage costs for the first time in over , a century, and a business fall and rise that few have actually experienced
There will be plenty of conversation going on with family members around the dining table. Ideas will return to the last big quake, which struck on New Year’s Day this January simply as , individuals were , napping off vacation meal comas.
No one is sure when to start panicking right away.  , For some, it was a good , reminder , to check on the status of disaster supplies and equipment. The Nankai Trough was the subject of humorous responses from some website users, with one wit online suggesting that since Google Maps permits reviews, we should appease it with a number of five-star reviews.
Others still, like Robert Geller, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, believe any prediction is a waste of time, and distracts authorities from preparing for disasters that ca n’t be anticipated- a category into which all the country’s recent devastating catastrophe, from Kobe to 2011, have fallen.
One , more major danger is that of the boy who cried dog. This alert is disturbing, if nothing happens, does a potential warning be ignored, even though the actual danger may have significantly increased? The attitudes toward North Korean missiles, which previously stopped traffic and then elicit yawns, are something that is less natural.
In all likelihood, the megaquake does not happen this day, and this season will remain forgotten. The alert serves as a reminder that nature does n’t move to such timelines despite the time we spend thinking about slow-moving issues like exercising to lower the risk of heart disease, reducing carbon emissions to combat climate change, and creating a nest egg to withstand the next recession.
For residents in Japan, it’s a good opportunity to do what we can to be prepared , and check evacuation routes. And for all of us, it’s a moment to think about the fragility of the world we’ve built, and how quickly it can be upended.  ,