Discussion week 2 - Sunday the 10th and Friday the 15th of April

 - Discussion Week 2 -

 

- Sunday the 10th of March

 - Another Disaster? - 

Just last Friday, there was a small earthquake off the coast of the Wakayama prefecture. There was no tsunami warning issued. However! 5 years ago, there was a much bigger earthquake which we actually talked about recently in discussion class. At that time even with all the measures in place to keep Japanese citizens safe, many people still lost their lives in that tragic natural disaster.

 

But now, are Japanese people prepared for another large scale disaster such as the one that hit 5 years ago? IF it were to hit off the northern coast of Kyoto, what would YOU do?

What systems have been put in place since 5 years ago, and has early earthquake detection and have evacuation procedures been improved since then?

  

Lets talk about that

 

- Friday the 15th of March

 - Water and Sanitation in Japan - 

 

By request we will discuss the water quality and sanitation in Japan. 

Japan seems to have very good water quality and sanitation in Japan is very good in my opinion. But how did it get this far, and why is cleanliness so important to Japanese people.

Three examples I can think of since I've moved to Japan are;

Japanese people washing themselves before taking a bath (in western culture you can just wash yourself in the bath).

And Japanese shops/businesses rinsing off the footpath in front of their establishments in the early morning, picking up the trash etc. (in western culture there are people who have the job of cleaning the footpath and collecting trash etc.)

Also, Japan has robot toilets, you might have noticed western peoples reactions to robot toilets, it almost seems like a joke to us.

 

Why is Japan's tap water safe to drink? 

 

Lets talk about that.