news

It is currently the peak season for Japan's tourism industry. Not only are overseas tourists flocking in, but Japan has also started a 9-day holiday since August 11.

However, on the 8th, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred off the coast of Kyushu Island, Japan. The Japan Meteorological Agency immediately issued a warning to re-evaluate the risk of major earthquakes, saying that the possibility of a major earthquake in the Nankai Trough in the Pacific east of Japan has increased, and called on the public to be vigilant and prepared in the next week or so.

This has made foreign tourists planning to travel to Japan nervous. After the earthquake on the 8th, there has been an increase in inquiries on social media regarding flight and hotel cancellations.

So, will the major earthquake risk warning issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency, the first since 2011, "cool down" Japan's currently booming tourism industry?

Unsubscribe, Cancel

After the earthquake on the 8th, the prices of air tickets from many places in Japan to China also rose "rocket-like". For example, the ticket price of Spring Airlines, a low-cost airline, from Osaka to Shanghai is close to 3,000 yuan, and the lowest price of air tickets from Osaka to Beijing, Hangzhou, and Tokyo to Shanghai is around 4,000 yuan. At present, many domestic airlines have given limited changes and cancellations to air tickets to Japan.

According to CCTV News, the hotel industry in some areas that may be affected by major earthquake alerts has also seen a "cancellation wave." In the Izu Peninsula of Shizuoka Prefecture, more than 550 tourists canceled their accommodation reservations in Shimoda City. The famous white sand beach in Shirahama Town, Wakayama Prefecture was closed, and the fireworks event was canceled; a hotel in the county received a large number of calls from customers asking if it was safe, and 350 orders had been canceled. Some domestic online travel platforms also responded to the large number of cancellations in the Japanese accommodation industry. Ctrip said that many travelers have indeed canceled their reservations for local hotels or inns in Japan recently; relevant staff from Fliggy said: "The earthquake occurred in a local area of ​​Japan and has little to do with Tokyo, Osaka and other places."

Xiao Wang, a Chinese living in Tokyo, Japan, explained to Yicai that the current increase in domestic air tickets in Japan is mainly due to the short holiday in Japan, which is second only to the New Year's Day. People are either going home for family reunions or going out for travel. Data from six JR passenger transport companies during the short holiday showed that the reserved seat reservations for Shinkansen and ordinary lines reached about 1.2 times that of the previous year. The domestic flight reservations of airlines in Japan were the same as last year.

The reporter Yicai consulted many Chinese in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and other places, and they all said that there was no panic buying of supplies around them, the supermarkets were well stocked, and no one discussed the earthquake. "It is the recent extreme high temperatures that have caused a shortage of large bottles of drinking water in supermarkets," said Xiao Wang. "Disaster prevention supplies are selling well in supermarkets, mainly because foreigners living here (Japan) buy more. In fact, the Japanese have long been accustomed to earthquakes." Some Chinese also said that during the short holidays, everyone would purchase some supplies in advance because some stores would be closed during the holidays.

Xiao Wang told reporters that compared with earthquake warnings, Japan actually has to bear the brunt of extreme weather such as typhoons and heat waves. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Typhoon Maria landed in Iwate Prefecture, Japan on the morning of the 12th, and the northeastern region of Japan was hit by heavy rains. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued emergency warnings for some areas.

This summer, Japan has experienced a rare heat wave, with many places recording extreme high temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius for consecutive days, and issuing "heat stroke alerts." According to data from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, more than 12,000 people were rushed to hospital for heat stroke in the week from July 29 to August 4, of which 21 died.

Maintaining warning of major earthquake risk

Although it has been several days since the earthquake on the 8th, the Japan Meteorological Agency has not yet withdrawn its warning of a huge earthquake in the Nankai Trough. On the 12th, officials from the Japan Meteorological Agency said that no irregular changes in the earth's crust have been detected so far.

Naoki Hirata, professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo, said at a press conference on the 8th: "In places where huge earthquakes can occur at any time, the probability of (a large earthquake) occurring has increased to several times higher than usual." He also emphasized that if cases around the world are taken into account, the probability of occurrence is about one in a hundred, and the exact location cannot be predicted.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said: "Even though an early warning has been issued, it does not mean that an earthquake will definitely occur within a certain period of time." Japan Meteorological Agency officials said that although there is no need to evacuate specifically, they have asked 707 areas in 29 prefectures - from Tokyo in the east to Okinawa in the south - to check local disaster prevention preparations and confirm shelters for immediate escape when an earthquake occurs.

Public information shows that the Nankai Trough is about 800 kilometers long and is located on the southwest coast of Japan, extending from Shizuoka Prefecture west of Tokyo to the southern tip of Kyushu Island. The Nankai Trough broke in 1707, triggering the second-strongest earthquake in Japan's recorded history, second only to the 2011 "3.11" earthquake. Since 1707, major earthquakes have occurred near the Nankai Trough in 1854 and between 1944 and 1946. Among them, in 1946, a magnitude 8 earthquake triggered a 6.9-meter-high tsunami, killing about 1,330 people.

According to CCTV News, on August 2, local time, the Japanese government's Earthquake Investigation Committee (J-SHIS) announced for the first time the long-term evaluation results of the investigation of active faults in the Sea of ​​Japan from the northern waters of Hyogo Prefecture to the Joetsu area of ​​Niigata Prefecture. The investigation found that there are 25 active faults or fault zones in the area with a length of more than 20 kilometers that can trigger earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above on the Richter scale. According to the assessment, the fault zone on the north coast of the Noto Peninsula triggered the 7.6-magnitude earthquake on the Noto Peninsula in January this year and triggered a tsunami.

Since Japan often experiences natural disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, the Japan National Tourism Organization's website also has Chinese-language safety tips that provide strategies for dealing with emergencies.