Name: The Day Japan Fears The Most: $1 Trillion Megaquake
Uploaded: 2025-09-29T18:09:49.000Z
Duration: 36 min 59 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

The average length of a moderate earthquake is around 30 to 40 seconds.

Adverbs of manner

On January 1st, the people of Wajima, a rural town on Japan's not-open-insulate, were ushering in the new year, when suddenly, without warning, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck beneath the town, unleashing an enduring nightmare of destruction.

Modal verbs - B1

I can't believe it. Even now, I thought I might die.

In the space of just 40 seconds, Wajima's 24,000 residents had their lives brutally shattered for a generation.

I couldn't believe it, but all I could do was pray that it would end soon.

On the surface, Japan remains one of the safest countries on Earth. Stable, harmonious, and almost utopian in many respects, it's an incredible place to live. Yet underneath it all lies the uncomfortable reality that this is the most seismically active nation on the planet, with no less than four tectonic plates triggering devastating natural disasters, which, in the last two decades alone, have tragically taken the lives of over 20,000 people.

And amidst it all lies the unsettling sense of dread that looms of a potential mega-earthquake.

But what might a mega-earthquake look like if it struck the greater Tokyo area?

How prepared is the Tokyo government for the worst-case scenario?

From the not-open-insulate to the world's largest city, I'm going in search of answers from experts and government officials to heartbreaking stories from recent victims.

We'll discover the awe-inspiring technology and structures designed to protect millions of lives.

And I put myself in the shoes of what the worst-case earthquake might actually look like.

And hopefully by the end of it all, we'll know not only what to expect, but how to prepare for the day that Japan fears the most.

That night, the sky on Wajima was bright red.

It was a situation that made me want to run away.

My God, this has really caught me off guard.

The journey this morning from Wajima airport into Wajima town.

Buildings, roads, homes, schools, even entire mountains toppled, destroyed in landslides.

The scale of this earthquake is just absolutely horrific.

So I think the most unsettling thing about Wajima is when you walk down a road, it looks normal.

And then all of a sudden you should have quite a clear view of the ground that is Wajima Airport and the airport that's still there.

And we were shown this view the other day.

And it gives you a sense of the scale, right?

There's so much destruction in this town that they can't stop at all.

At the heart of the town lies the Hakuto Brewery, one of Wajima's proudest exports across nine generations and 300 years.

Tragically, the brewery suffered extensive damage on January 1st, with half of the site now turned to rubble.

I met with the owners, Kiichi and Akiko Hakuto, who revealed the profound impact the Noto earthquake has had upon their lives.

I knew it was going to be a large-scale earthquake, so I thought, this is it.

I didn't expect such a big earthquake to come.

All I could do was pray that it would end soon.

When I opened the door on the second floor,

The first floor was on the second floor, so I couldn't believe it.

It's been eight months since the earthquake.

There are still a lot of buildings that have been destroyed.

I've been on Wajima for a long time, and I haven't evacuated for two days.

I've been feeling the damage more and more recently.

It's hard to come up with positive ideas.

To be honest, I think it would be easier if I left this place.

I think it's more painful to do that than to run my own business.

Many of the town's skilled workforce have been forced to leave for neighbouring regions, simply just to have a roof over their heads.

I spoke with Junko Kirimoto, owner of Wajima Kirimoto, whose 200-year-old lacquer business is now threatened by the absence of her uniquely trained craftsmen.

And then, four days ago, we had an earthquake.

How were the first few weeks and months after the earthquake?

My friend said, please wait for one month, so maybe the government will organise everything.

I waited for one month, but nothing at all.

And then two months, three months, four months, maybe very slow compared with the city.

For me, the most powerful thing was coming here and seeing all the destroyed buildings, because I think many people believe everything is normal in Wajima now.

But this time, craftsmen lose their houses and workshops too.

Because most of the craftsmen, together, workshops include houses, and many people lose both places.

I'm a little worried about whether I can make a living there.

I think the population decline is the scariest thing.

My job is traditional craftsmanship in Wajima.

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The Day Japan Fears The Most: $1 Trillion Megaquake

absolutely

incredible

mindset

scenario