6.5 hours of videos during the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011

Check out all videos at this website:

http://ronjie-raw.blogspot.com/2013/03/65-hours-of-videos-from-great-east.html

Our hearts and prayers go out to all those affected, especially those who are, to this day, still suffering due to this tragic event.

Now, for some Nihongo:


In Japanese, the "Great East Japan Earthquake" is 東日本大震災 / higashi nihon dai shinsai.

Higashi / ひがし / 東 = east, but in some proper names, it is pronounced as とう / tou, as in Tokyo / 東京 / とうきょう / toukyou / east capital.

Nihon / にほん / 日本 = Japan, which literally means sun origin, i.e. where the sun rises (because Japan is to the east of China, whereas the sun rises in the east). 日 means sun, but it also stands for day as in nichi / にち. 本 stands for origin, but it also means "main" (as in Hon-Atsugi = downtown Atsugi) or "this" as in 本日 / ほんじつ / honjitsu (usually used in more formal situations, for example, when announcing the day's special menu item, or a special announcement for the day).

Dai / だい / 大 = big, as in 大学 / だいがく/ daigaku / university, or literally big school (gaku / がく / 学), although gaku also means "study of," as in 工学 / こうがく / kougaku / engineering, or literally study of industry (or study of engineering).

Shinsai / しんさい / 震災 = earthquake disaster. Earthquake translates directly to jishin / じしん / 地震, where ji means ground, and shin means tremor / shaking. Sai means disaster, but disaster (or calamity) translates to wazawai / 災い.