Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!ccsf.homeunix.org!news1.wakwak.com!nf1.xephion.ne.jp!onion.ish.org!onodera-news!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!166-171-173-216.electronet.NET!not-for-mail From: "Kevin Gowen" Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan Subject: Re: Hurricane T'meiqua? Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 10:15:42 -0400 Lines: 170 Message-ID: References: <3f30638c_2@news.uncensored-news.com> <3F30BAFB.7030800@hotmail.com> <3F30E332.CD5C7FF3@yahoo.co.jp> <3F312DBA.1080408@hotmail.com> <3F313290.D834EE8D@yahoo.co.jp> <3F313831.3080306@hotmail.com> <3F31B67F.7B6C4D29@yahoo.co.jp> <3F32554A.5090301@hotmail.com> <3F32588C.F4073950@yahoo.co.jp> NNTP-Posting-Host: 166-171-173-216.electronet.net (216.173.171.166) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-2022-jp" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de 1060265795 29457595 216.173.171.166 (16 [105084]) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.in-japan:4155 Eric Takabayashi wrote: > Declan Murphy wrote: > >> Eric Takabayashi wrote: >>> Declan Murphy wrote: >>> >>>> So what do you want them to do, start giving every earthquake a >>>> name. >>> >>> No. But if it is big like what happened in Shimane and Sendai >>> recently, they will get names anyway. Not so typhoons in Japan. >> >> Thats not true at all Eric. > > So why do typhoons have numbers, and the same numbers every year, > instead of "names"? > >> For example around here people still talk >> about the 伊勢湾台風, and anybody who reads the newspaper automatically >> remembers the date 1959/09/26 and that more than 5000 people were >> killed. Even those who weren't here at the time (I wasn't even born) >> learn about it as we see references to it in the paper each year. >> Every >> bloody year as typhoons approach and I have to secure the company >> premises etc, I get bombarded with reminders of the 伊勢湾台風. Prior to >> it being *named* the 伊勢湾台風, it was just an ordinary garden variety >> typhoon numbered 台風１５号. Excuse my provincialism, but you can read >> about it at >> >> http://www.chunichi.co.jp/saigai/isewan/ >> >> and I'm sure other regional newspapers (what is the standard >> deadtrees >> read in Fukuyama?) > > The national papers, as there is no Fukuyama or Hiroshima paper. > Maybe the regional paper. > >> will have similar archives for whatever typhoons >> flattened their localities if they were so unlucky. The long and the >> short of it is, just as only big earthquakes get names, only >> unusually >> destructive typhoons get the same "privilege". > > Which is exactly what we are talking about. The fact typhoons do not > get names. > >>>> Great Hanshin Earthquake, Not Quite Great Kanto Earthquake, Nearly >>>> a >>>> Great Kanto Earthquake, Storm in a teacup Kanto Earthquake etc? - >>>> Fact >>>> of the matter is that most earthquakes/typhoons etc aren't worthy >>>> of a name. >>> >>> Fact is, the cycle for earthquakes in the Kanto area is about once >>> every 80 years, and the last big one in Kobe was 400 years ago, so >>> the fact they eventually come again doesn't make them confusing to >>> most people. Try that with say, 20 typhoons every single year with >>> a simple number. >> >> Sure, but 20 or so typhoons come and go each year, but very few kill >> even close to 5000 people or destroy extensive amounts of industrial >> and >> social capital. But when they do, they get a name Eric. They always >> do. >> >>> And when dealing with say, 20 a year that basically hit the same >>> region, typhoons will not be as distinguishable merely by "Typhoon >>> Number Four" even if you limit yourself only to those Typhoons >>> "Number Four" that cause damage. >> >> See above - you were misinformed. > > So what number was that typhoon, and is that what people know? And I > am not talking about just in the region. > >>>>>> Similarly did typhoons 1-3 take my roof off? >>>>>> No. Did #4 in 2003 - Yes. I reckon in that case I'd remember #4 >>>>>> in 2003 >>>>>> for quite some time. >>>>> >>>>> And how will other people remember "Typhoon 4" from uh, 2003? >>>>> Hurricane Andrew (not >>>>> even necessary to remember date to recall or search) became >>>>> famous throughout the >>>>> US, and internationally, despite having nothing to do with those >>>>> people. >>>> >>>> You are missing the point - Hurricane Andrew was not famous >>>> because of >>>> its name - >>> >>> How strange, then, that we remember the name, not that it was >>> Hurricane number three or whatever, of the year. >> >> It is only remembered because it was big. > > No, it was remembered by name, because it always had a name. > >> Do you remember Hurricane >> Eric? Hurricane Declan? There have been hundreds of cyclones (dozens >> per >> year) in Australia for thousands of years. But if you asked Brett, >> Rodney or any other Austrian to name "one" cyclone that comes to >> mind - >> then I'd bet you every ramen shop in Osaka that almost without fail >> the >> reply would be "Cyclone Tracy, Christmas Day, 1975". We don't >> remember >> it because it was called Tracy, > > So what number was it? > >> we remember it because it wiped the city >> of Darwin out more effectively than the Imperial Japanese Navy >> managed >> to do. >> >>>> but its size. And the Japanese have usually been more than >>>> willing to give names to major natural disasters - after they >>>> happen. >>> >>> Do big typhoons get names? >> >> Yes dammit. >> >>>> Only if it is a big >>>> earthquake/typhoon/flood whatever should it get a name. >>> >>> What does "big" mean? Taking off your roof? Or does it have to kill >>> a certain number of people or cause a few trillion yen in damage? >> >> I don't think taking off your roof would be considered big. Given the >> standard of housing construction, a garden variety typhoon can often >> manage that. >> >>>> Until then, a number should suffice. >>> >>> Sure. Just let the rest of Japan try to tell Typhoons 1-20 of this >>> year, apart from Typhoons 1-20 of every other year. And let them be >>> more confused when they realize people in other countries in other >>> languages use actual names. No matter how big they are or how much >>> damage they cause in Japan, English speakers will only remember >>> they typhoon (if even then) by its foreign given name, not Typhoon >>> number 20 of 2003. >> >> The inability of English speaking foreigners > > Only foreigners? Do Japanese know about Typhoon One last year? > >> to differentiate between >> one minor typhoon and another minor typhoon is hardly a reason for >> the >> Japanese to change a Japanese system that has served Japan well >> enough. > > Why is the issue not Japan following international standards that > serve other countries well enough? Japanese unilateralism in deciding its typhoon naming policy is a danger to our planet. Get Kofi on the phone at once. -- Kevin Gowen "If it were before me today I would vote against it, because it doesn't have environmental or labor standards in it." - Sen. John Kerry, explaining to the AFL-CIO how he would vote on the North American Free Trade Agreement. Senator Kerry voted to ratify NAFTA in 1993.