A huge banner in Tokyo’s upmarket Ginza district provides a stark reminder of the scale of the tsunami that devastated vast coastal areas of northeastern Japan six years ago.
The banner, on a side wall of the famous Sony Building, bears a red line with the message “Just this height” in Japanese at 16.7 meters, almost at the fourth floor’s ceiling.
The Japan Meteorological Agency confirmed that measurement recorded by a watermark in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, as the highest level of the wall of waves spawned by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
“I simply cannot imagine a tsunami would reach that height,” said a 39-year-old male passer-by from Tokyo’s Ota Ward. “We need to live thinking that a disaster could happen one day."
Leading search engine provider Yahoo Japan Corp. posted the banner ahead of the disaster’s sixth anniversary on March 11.
The project, which will continue until March 12, is intended to encourage people to visualize the sheer force of the tsunami once more.
On the wall the message continues: “If you just know this height, you can do much more. Let’s not forget that day. That is the most effective disaster preparedness.”
The Sony Building is set to close on March 31.