天声人语20110918 提高警惕，防范台风

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VOX POPULI: We must remain vigilant as autumn typhoons approach
    "Harusame" (spring rain) gently moistens all things, while there is something solemn about "akisame" (autumn rain) that cools off summer's residual heat. According to the linguist Haruhiko Kindaichi (1913-2004), the word harusame predated akisame by many years. The latter was coined during the mid-Edo Period (1603-1867) to complement the former.
    According to Kindaichi, the literati of that period were disgusted when this new word gained currency. "The use of 'akisame' as a counterpart of 'harusame' is to be vehemently opposed," one contemporary wrote, and went on to lament the "mutilation of the Japanese language."
    Japan appears to be coming under autumn's long, wet spell now. With a front sitting to our north and two typhoons developing down south, the rain icon is all over the weather forecast map. People in various parts of the nation are bracing themselves for damaging rains that are a far cry from the solemn, cooling rain of autumn.
    The typhoon that hit us in early September left a "dam" of mud deposits and sand on the Kii Peninsula, where damage was especially heavy. It is feared that further heavy rainfall could bust that dam. The slow-moving Typhoon No. 15 is pushing damp air from the south, and this pattern is said to be similar to that of the last typhoon. I pray this will not be the case.
    In large rivers, water keeps rising even after a typhoon is over and clear skies have returned. As disaster-prevention experts know all too well, natural disasters cannot be controlled by human knowledge. That we were safe yesterday does not guarantee our safety today. We have learned this at the cost of too many lives.
    Unlike earthquakes that claim many lives, we have not lost hundreds or thousands of people in a typhoon in recent years. One person likened this situation to winning a major campaign and losing badly in limited warfare. I want all future typhoons to go away empty-handed, so there will never be another victim.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 18