But no earthquakes in Germany? That German dude at the bgeinning was totally bonkers! Of course there are earthquakes in Germany, just a few weeks ago, there was an earthquake with a strength of about 4 in the southern part of Baden-Württemberg!
I’ve also experienced a few smaller earthquakes in Germany over the past years.

I also went to an earthquake simulator in Ikebukuro once, it’S quite scary how little you can do at a 7.0 earthquake. Basically all you can do is kneel down and try to hold onto something.

In general, “kyoumi-bukai” can be used for everything that “omoshiroi shouldn’t be. Note that you would not describe your day at Disneyland as “kyoumi-bukai” unless you were there for professional reasons.

At level 3 it feels like moderate turbulence on an airliner.

At level 4 you get worried about stuff falling out of cupboards or off tables.

I’ve never felt a higher level but you can see footage on YouTube which shows how scary a big earthquake.

By the way, out of curiosity, how could you express “interesting” without meaning “funny” in Japanese? Clearly “omoshiroi” would be the wrong word to use based on this article and the report.

Although all the modern buildings are supposed to be quake proof, no-one really knows.

Remember the expressway in Kobe which collapsed because the piers had been stuffed with wood pilings instead of concrete, and the Tokyo architect a couple of years ago who falsified the earthquake protection data on the manshons he was designing. How many more undiscovered cases are waiting?

I have to say, “Interesting” would be my (and much of the American public’s) opinion of both.

My proof? 10-20 low-budget movies about “10.5!”, “The Big One”, “Shakin’ San Fran”, etc, and then of course the obligatory “Fox’s World’s Deadliest Car Chases” volumes 1 to 200. It’s ENTERTAINING to people. Anyone see this little flick called ‘Titanic’? I think a ship sank or something, pretty disastrous.

Earthquakes and disaster in general hold a lot of people’s interest, because it’s something out of the ordinary. To put your earlier statement to rest, yes – there were a lot of people who found 9/11 ‘Interesting’. TV and news ratings skyrocketed for months especially when footage was shown.

Maybe it’s just America, but it’s sure not a new thing to be ‘interested’ or even ‘entertained’ by disaster. If Japan is outraged about him finding earthquakes ‘interesting’ or ‘amusing’ it’s just one more thing to tack onto the “Nonsense Things the Japanese Hyperreact To List”.

Personally, I think earthquakes are interesting. And if I was going to sum that up in Japanese I would use the word omoshiroii. It may leave things open to interpretation but it doesn’t make you a douche. It just means you see things differently.

If, however, the question was specifically about huge earthquakes that destroy cities; most people would say that it’s terrifying because your life is then on the line. Anything that threatens life is bad.

No, I’m telling you what Japanese people have explained to me it can mean in many contexts. Given that, the fact you think that “native Japanese speakers” would most likely interpret it as “earthquakes are great fun!” speaks more to you than anything else.

“Asking somebody “What do you think of cars?” is in no way similar to the question “What do you think of earthquakes?””

No, but given the rate of deaths caused by cars compared to deaths caused by earthquakes, it makes far less sense to ask “Earthquakes aren’t scary/you aren’t scared?” – like IN THE CLIP – than it would to ask “Cars aren’t scary?” They’re both absurd questions, but only one would be asked. And not the one that kills more people.

Earthquakes don’t kill you, the accidents that result from the man made things falling on you kills you. Cars don’t kill you, the accidents that result from driving millions of cars in close proximity kills you.

The only reasons people don’t consider these 2000lb hulks of metal flying by at high rates of speed, often causing death and destruction, “scary” is because of the powers of denial, the familiarity/social acceptability of it all and the illusion of control they think they have when they drive.

But I understand. Clearly we should all be as worried and tremulous as the Japanese about things that hardly ever happen and are clearly beyond our control. Otherwise it’s douchey. Sign me up.

「面（おも）」は目の前を意味し、「白い（しろい）」は明るくてはっきりしていることを意味した。
そこから、目の前が明るくなった状態をさすようになり、目の前にある景色の美しさを表すようになった。
さらに転じて、「楽しい」や「心地よい」などの意味を持つようになり、明るい感情を表す言葉として広義に使われるようになった。

Not remotely. Most earthquakes, even ones we can feel, are not fatal, still less in the thousands.

That is a surprise. I’ve never heard of any, so I guess they must be rather rare.

—————–

Huh. From the Beeb:

Monday, 23 September, 2002, 09:53 GMT 10:53 UK
Earthquake hits UK

Large parts of England and Wales have been hit by an earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale.

Buildings shook for up to 30 seconds in parts of the West Midlands, Wales, North Yorkshire, London, and Wiltshire.
The tremor began at 0053 BST and its epicentre was in Dudley in the West Midlands.
There was minor structural damage as homes were shaken, but no reports of any injuries.
Aftershocks were felt later on Monday morning from what is thought to be the UK’s largest earthquake for 10 years.

——————–

Here’s a list of recent ones
http://www.squidoo.com/England-Earthquakes

And everything you never wanted to know about Britquakes:
http://www.geologyshop.co.uk/ukequakes.htm

We can’t blame the TV show for the Embassy giving them wrong information though.

I stand by my translation. I translated as I thought native Japanese speakers watching the TV show would understand it. I wrote the comment about it in this post because of the way I saw a Japanese person react to their use of the word “omoshiroi” on this TV show.

I think you are making the mistake in assuming that Japanese people should interpret the word “omoshiroi” to mean what you or other speakers of Japanese as a second language imagine it should mean in this context.

About the analogy:

I was merely trying to help you with your terrible analogy. Let me simplify it for you.

car = an inanimate object
earthquake = an event

Asking somebody “What do you think of cars?” is in no way similar to the question “What do you think of earthquakes?”

Change the word “car” to “collisions between cars” and your analogy might work. Just like earthquakes, there are many collisions between cars every day that don’t cause injury or death.

Of course. As it’s also mistake to always translate it as “fun,” particularly when it often can have a slightly different meaning, which makes much MORE sense in THIS context, and you’re dealing with somebody who’s clearly speaking it as a second language.

No, an earthquake is a specific type of seismic activity which is occurring, basically, CONSTANTLY and ALL THE TIME around the world. A “disaster” from an earthquake causing a great loss of life occurs, otoh, extremely rarely.

Japan lost almost 6,000 in the Kobe quake in ’95 – http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/world_deaths.php

Japan had 8,300 deaths from traffic fatalities in 2002 ALONE, which is apparently the fewest since the 60s – http://web-japan.org/trends01/article/030318soc.html

Which means cars kill more than the Kobe quake EVERY YEAR, yet newsfolks aren’t out asking people if they’re afraid of cars.

Given the stats and the fact that earthquakes massive enough to cause great loss of life are extremely uncommon, it’s perfectly valid to ask “Why are you so scared of earthquakes?”

All this clip did for me was perpetuate the stereotype that the Japanese culture has a tendency to be panicky, worried and afraid when there’s not any real cause for it.

And a lot of folks, me included, are taught that “interesting” is what omoshiroi means…

It can mean “interesting” in certain contexts, but it is a mistake to always translate it as such. If you look it up in a Japanese-English dictionary, you’ll find that almost all of the example sentences present situations in which “omoshiroi” expresses enjoyment.

Just saying “omoshiroi” doesn’t give Japanese people much of a clue about the context you think they should recognize. Laughing about it and grinning as you ask the TV reporter why the heck he thinks earthquakes are scary doesn’t help much either.

http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn/27340/m0u/%E3%81%8A%E3%82%82%E3%81%97%E3%82%8D%E3%81%84/

It’s like asking what do you think about the ocean? If you think about a Saturday at the beach it’s one thing, a tsunami, another.

What do you think about cars? Interesting? Cool. But people die in them all the time!

An earthquake is a specific type of natural disaster. The ocean and cars are not.

And a lot of folks, me included, are taught that “interesting” is what omoshiroi means…

Earthquakes ARE interesting, and sometimes fun, and sometimes tragic and sometimes deadly.

It’s like asking what do you think about the ocean? If you think about a Saturday at the beach it’s one thing, a tsunami, another.

What do you think about cars? Interesting? Cool. But people die in them all the time!

Dumb analogy all around. In fact, I’d contend if someone thinks you’re a “douchebag” for an omoshiroi answer, then they, in fact, are the “douchebag” for not having the basic mental capacity of understanding or applying context.

But we know Gaijin aren’t really the same as real people, so of course those violent white faced barbarians would find the death of innocents “fun.” Of course. That’s exactly what it means.

About earthquakes, I have never experienced one. Actually I did, but I was sleeping and my parents told me I didn’t wake up at all. If it’s quite a big one, it probably IS very scary. No earthquakes for me.