Unable to travel further than their local grocery stores due to the state of emergency, folks in Japan were in for a pretty boring Golden Week aka,gamanweek. Naturally, Mother Nature decided to spice things up a bit.
Two quakes, serious enough to trigger the emergency alarm system on our phones, rattled Eastern Japan on the evening of May 4 and around 2 a.m. on May 6. Thankfully, neither tremors caused any injuries or damages—besides scaring us half to death with the terrifying J-Alert warning sound.
です！！ 地震です！！ 地震です！！
=
“EARTHQUAKE ALERT!! EARTHQUAKE ALERT!! EARTHQUAKE ALERT!!”
Launched in 2007, the J-Alert is a warning system the Japanese government uses to send emergency informationabout earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, or ballistic missiles to the general population. The J-Alert’s earthquake warning sound is known to send shivers down the spine of people living in Japan.
Cats, however, just couldn’t care less.
のアラームにおろおろするを「なにしとるん」みたいにているうちのさま。
=
“My cat is looking at me flustered like ‘Whacha’ doing?’ while the emergency earthquake alarm roars.”
Run for you nine lives
As if shaking the ground wasn’t fun enough, the weather turned to a pretty epic thunderstorm on Wednesday night in the Kanto area. Thunder and lightning lit up the sky like strobe lights on a dance floor. During the storm, pet owners shared videos and pictures of their furry friends’ reactions to the window-rattling thunder that made even us jump.
のこともわりをいにこうとしたら…なタイミングでがってきました
柏餅のは私にはべさせたくないようです(p_q*)ｼｸｼｸ
まりりん、カミナリにビビり
までこんなことなかったのに
=
“After taking care of the house, I was about to go buy kashiwa mochi… Then the rain started to fall as if the kashiwa mochi gods wouldn’t let me eat any. Maririn is currently hiding, spooked by the thunder. They’ve never done that before.”
It’s every cat for themselves in this house.
さっきがったのネコォの
=
“How cats reacted to the lightning strike:”
These Bengali cats weren’t any braver.
カミナリにビビるベンガル
=
“Bengal cats scared by the thunder.”
How to form causative verbs in Japanese
The Japanese causative form isn’t too hard to conjugate, but understanding how it works can give you a few headaches at first.
Basically, you conjugate a verb into the causative form when making or letting someone do something (or preventing someone from doing something).
- るverbs: るbecomes させる.
- うverbs: the last vowel うchanges like you would for negative verbs + せる
- するbecomes させる
- くるbecomes こさせる
神様は私には食べさせたくない= “The gods don’t let me eat.”
ませてください= “Let me have a day off tomorrow.”
Vocabulary
緊急地震速報 kinkyuu jishin sokuhou earthquake early warning 爆音アラーム bakuon araamu roaring alarm おろおろする orooro suru be flustered なにしとるん nani shitorun (casual) whatcha doing? みたいに mitai ni looks like 家 ie house, home 終わり owari end, ended 柏餅 Kashiwa mochi traditional type of mochi eaten on May 5th 絶妙なタイミング zetsumyouna taimingu perfect (exquisite) timing 雨 ame rain 降る furu fall 神様 kami sama god/gods 食べさせる tabesaseru let eat, make to eat 雷 (カミナリ) kaminari thunder 避難中 hinanchuu evacuating 鳴る naru rumble, roar 様子 yousu state, appearance ビビる bibiru be spooked, afraid ベンガル猫達 bengari neko tachi bengal cats 休ませる yasumaseru let rest/have a day off
