Tsunami (3) at Taito Port, Chiba, Japan

Tsunami at Taito Port on March 11, 2011.
(NEW: Watch the back story to this video: • The tsunami in Chiba; ... )
More educational than exciting.
The more spectacular stuff came after my video camera had filled up, so I missed capturing the instant demolition of one of the internal walls in the port (the jetty below the orange crane).
The waves may not look spectacular or dangerous, but they still packed a lot of power.

[@midnightstarr5413]

Wow! The engineering work on that system of diverters really did it's job!! What a heck of engineering skills and brains of who came up with that design!! Sure was a very big help and saved lives and your town ! Hats off to the folks who designed this. Unbelievable and what a big difference from this and when there wasn't one !! I hope more will be installed around tsunami prone spots

[@ajo3085]

It's excellent engineering but wasn't intended to deal with a major tsunami. If they'd been exposed to the full force of the tsunami like other areas of the open coastline were, that water would have just piled up and gone over those walls. Chiba only got the "outer edge" of the tsunami wave.

[@melodiefrances3898]

@@ajo3085 👍👍👍

[@melodiefrances3898]

@@ajo3085 but it does make me wonder if the best defense would be to somehow reshape the path of the water. I have no idea how doable this would be, just wondering ...

[@ajo3085]

@@melodiefrances3898 Not possible at all I'd think Melodie. If you check out a map, you'll see this area is only a very small part of Tokyo Bay which includes Japan's largest port. My guess would be that what we are looking at here is simply an entrance to one of the many man made docking areas that make up the port. Again, my guess, I'd say they are nothing to do with tsunami protection but likely structures intended to slow down ocean currents filling the dredged openings to the docks with sand.

[@midnightstarr5413]

@Married Texan are you really necessary

[@george7341]

Glad your area was spared. I have spent countless hours watching horrific videos from this terrible natural disaster. God bless!

[@karendixon401]

People were still right on the coast like they could view it safely...no idea how very bad it was in other parts of Japan

[@OldKingSol]

I'm glad your area was spared the worst. Thank you for sharing. :-)

[@vareast]

(NEW: Watch the back story to this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKjVYZ6OaJ2Ya80)

[@MinogFarted]

@@vareast Oh okay sure

[@you99tubejimking]

The people in the beginning of the video had no idea how bad the tsunami would be. I know a half hour to 45 minutes later, they realized the magnitude of the horror going on everywhere. I don't believe they meant any disrespect.

[@xisotopex]

in Chiba, it wasnt that bad. no houses washed away, no fatalities.

[@SVT-ny8ee]

Chiba is the southern most part hit by the tsunami but the tsunami already weak so yeah.....

[@misssmisssymaria]

So much nervous laughter. I can’t imagine the amount of stress and fear that everybody was feeling as they watched the tsunami waves arrive.

[@Sebadee80]

I have never seen such a close frequency of waves before, the amount of horizontal lines in the water is scary! But luckily the run up looked quite shallow which would have slowed the wave and absorbed alot of its power. Also because of this I think the defence system was able to cope a lot better than some other places fared, but still a scary thing to see from ground level I'm sure. A lot of the coastline didn't even have defence walls, so I think the authorities knew that the bathymetry of the area would ensure a good natural defence. That or this was either far north or far south, before the end curve of the wave which I hear can carry a bit more power. Good upload👍

[@kensilva2695]

I don't think the laughter is directed at what's happening. It sounds like conversation with laughter as to try and tell yourself and others were ok and it won't be that bad kind of talking. There's always off hand conversation that we cannot see. Microphones can pick up a lot of surrounding conversations and sounds & this could be people not panicking yet and staying in good spirits. Sometimes we're yput in situations where we don't know if we should cry or laugh and not comprehending at that moment that laughter will come out and sound wrong.

[@lindacarruthers3423]

I think they actually had no idea of the magnitude of the tsunami . Possibly they thought the wall would protect them . I know many folk were taken absolutely by surprise at the size of the waves .

[@tomseadon9965]

Ken Silva Sometimes when you’re seeing something that you can’t explain, or even understand what’s happening, levity kicks in to dispel any thoughts of an impending possible disaster. It’s simply how people sometimes deal with their fears. They won’t let the possibility in.

[@Tindometari]

My understanding is that Japanese culture, like many cultures, generally frowns on negative displays of emotion in public. Laughter and jokes function as a cover to avoid breaking this taboo. Even without that, gallows, or at least black, humour is a very common human response to natural disaster.

[@pamelahinds3990]

A

[@marjoriecoey3418]

People often laugh when I uncertain.

[@obsidiansuby]

Even the water got high at 4:20

[@michellecollins-betz9724]

That isn’t laughter as in funny but it is a nervous laugh, doesn’t mean that they don’t care it just makes them slightly calm in the face of danger

[@adamgoodword7888]

No its not!! There are other videos with people joking and laughing and families sounding happy at Taito Port. This is BEFORE the devastating second wave.

[@melodiefrances3898]

@@adamgoodword7888 yes and no.

[@mikehunt3852]

looks like you got a bit of a touch there compared to other areas

[@olgatrilogymartin3143]

Beautiful view

[@user-ff4rv9sq2w]

まだこの波が、次第に勢いを増し、この後どれだけの被害をもたらしたかを理解する直前の、現実を傍観視して興味本位に会話している状況がわかる！

[@midnightstarr5413]

I didn't understand at time that there was another wave that came in after this one that was disastrous and lives were lost. My condolences and heartfelt sympathy for lives lost. I'm sorry to hear that this was only the beginning. Stuck my foot in my mouth on my earlier comments. I meant no disrespect.

[@angelikadeonila3504]

ita kuto aro anesaki ichihara japan ive been working at kotubuki,beside toriyasu

[@thomastartu9597]

Thanks for sharing this.

[@StonyRC]

+Thoma Startu Really??

[@faithrada]

StonyRC. "Really" what? That was excellent footage documenting the Tsunami in that area of Japan.

[@faithrada]

StonyRC ps.. there were 13 confirmed deaths in this southern most area, and well over 400 buildings totally destroyed. All in all they faced a lot of clean up in this area... being so far from the epicenter.

[@barryallen7894]

Hope you were safe ...

[@midnightstarr5413]

The design of the construction still helped a lot in my opinion. I'm sure it would of wiped out the lower laying areas if that engineering design wasn't there. So one on a bigger scale could ease a bigger tsunami

[@livenhfree]

At least it was sunny there. Cloudy and gross further north. How rude!

[@MaryOKC]

A neighbors husband had a heart attacked and died, he was 40...his sister in law would break out in laughter several times every hour...it wasn’t because it was funny, it’s was the body’s haywired reaction to this emotional stress (which became very annoying) and I agree with other comments that this is an emotional response to comments being made by others conversation as these people had no clue what was happening up North at Fukushima.

[@ColumbiaB]

It’s bizarre to watch what appears to be a turquoise minivan (hard to tell, because it’s at such a distance), driving along the exposed harbor floor at the base of the long breakwater. It’s going from right to left, and is first readily visible at about 0:10. It quickly disappears behind a nearer jetty at 0:14, and reappears at 0:27. Our view of it is obstructed again at 0:33, and finally reëmerges into view at 0:39. The car keeps driving out toward the tip of the breakwater, as the tsunami surges in to the shore. The breakwater is many times higher than the car, so the driver can’t see what’s coming in from the ocean - as we can. Horrifyingly, the car reaches the end of the breakwater just as the waves do (at 1:37). Very strangely, though, the driver does not stop, and execute an “Oh, shit!” U-turn. The car instead just keeps driving right out onto the open beach, directly into the path of the onrushing water. At 1:43 the car plows into the surf, and by 1:45 has started bobbing in the water. At 2:10 the camera zooms back and pans left, to look north along the coast, so we lose sight of the car. The camera eventually zooms back in and pans right again, and at 3:16 we can finally see the turquoise car again. The tsunami surge has pushed it back inside the end of another jetty that’s closer to the shore; it’s in the field of view for four or five seconds before the camera pans left again. I don’t see the car again until about 5:55, when a second tsunami surge is pouring into the port. The camera zooms in, and it looks like we can see it again, back along the base of the outer jetty, bobbing along in the onrushing water. We can see it till about 6:30, when it drifts behind a closer pier, and the camera pans left once more. It’s possible it may drift back into view again about 8:08, to the left of the shoulder of a hill, but I can’t be sure. The camera pans left again at 8:22 to follow drifting trucks and such on the outflow of the water, and we don’t see the car again. I know that when the car was initially heading toward the end of the jetty, the driver couldn’t see what was going on out on the ocean. But still, I have to wonder, “What were you •thinking•??? There’s just been a big earthquake. You’ve seen the rapid drawback of the seawater, which everyone knows is a precursor to a tsunami. But you’re driving •away• from the shore, •toward• open, exposed coast?! Are you filming a What-not-to-do-in-case-of-a-tsunami video?!”

[@midnightstarr5413]

I believe it was a holding container that already was floating . I thought same thing and had to watch few times to make sure we weren't watching a tragic death unfolding before our eyes

[@ColumbiaB]

@@midnightstarr5413 - Possibly; it seems to have been moving too rapidly along the jetty for an object floating in a stream of water, and I didn’t see an outflowing course of water along the base of the jetty that might have been carrying along a floating object. But the image resolution here is not good enough for me to make out those components with certainty; your “reading” of the video is certainly plausible.

[@gailknight3128]

@@midnightstarr5413 you are right. I've seen them a lot in the fishing areas in other videos.

[@midnightstarr5413]

Myself, I know when the ocean suddenly recedes for '" and I don't care for what ever it's reason is" that I immediately get heck out of there and to high ground! Last thing I want is to be drug out to sea then eaten piece by body piece by shark, or die slow death from no water then you would wish for any shark to come along, or get caught up in the crushing debris from tsunami rolling in and dragging everything it touches in it's grasp. Horrible way. I wish there was no such thing as a tsunami. Millions of lives would still be here and no heartbreak from loosing loved ones

[@ajo3085]

@@ColumbiaB It's not a vehicle, it's a container. Compare the size of it to the excavator on the pier.

[@edyrodriques2961]

oh yesr.tsunami

[@mikeomolt4485]

"Let's switch the tsunami warning siren on" . . . 8:55

[@gottagoat]

The laughing stops long before the siren comes on

[@bossmacc9584]

is that tsumini .

[@MaryOKC]

The Fukushima disaster is still being felt around the world. Terrible, terrible.

[@user-cu2qj2qv5t]

There is a villa on a remote island in Okinawa. In winter, there are higher waves and swells. The height is about 4-5m.

[@px421alpha5]

I love Okinawa. Beautiful scenic place.

[@sandhopper599]

Destruction and mayhem- damned awful.

[@Jay-od2xs]

gets closer to you

[@jimjimgl3]

These people had no idea of the tsunami's impact on other parts of Japan. Maybe they were laughing because the tsunami seemed mild to them.

[@suze6083]

Yeah, how would they since it almost happened simultaneously. For them watching this from a safe spot it seemed rather like a nature spectacle. They couldn’t know. They were chill at the beginning that’s for sure.

[@russellreddy730]

Why are the camera people laughing??? Nothing about this is one bit funny

[@sayaorangkaya221]

mereka yg sdh naik kegunung sgt tau bgt tsunami sdg terjadi

[@kloos-s.c.h-7163]

Das ist ganz gewöhnlicher Welle. Dieser Ort war immer etwas hoch Welle als Nord Pacifik. Was Chiba Pref. andauernd sollcher kitchisch im Internett vereusdern will？Fragwürdig🙃

[@jimlahey1341]

Only love for the people lost but how come tsunami videos seem not even that big like the waves don’t look tall at all but when it hits its so aggressive. I couldn’t imagine the Alaska tsunami was a 1700 foot tall tsunami.

[@gav1233]

We don't really see 30 meter plus waves on camera because recording a wave that big and that close up should be the last thing you should do.

[@Mac_Omegaly]

There are different types of tsunami that can form. 3/11/11 was nothing like a wave. It was more like a sea level tidal change on a massive scale ×9-12. It was a very slow and gradually increasing threat, that in several places was hard to detect it's starting point. Then it gets to ×1.5 And keeps slowly increasing Each minute. ×2 ×2.5 ×3 Then the second "wave" of water hits, and instantly Tripple the power, as the first "wave" has already opened most of the way forward. ×9 But even with the 2nd "wave" it also intensified as it hit inland. ×9.5 ×10 ×11 And once it is at it's peak, all that energy slows down. And then reverses. *(but about half the force of peak, like the hight of a rubber ball bouncing.) Now obviously I am summarizing as the tsunami did hit differt areas in a variety of different ways. In part to the various protections put in place, and in part by geography and the shape of the land. But generally in what I would plausible say is the majority of captured footage, this is what the tsunami did.

[@sayaorangkaya221]

dijepang sdh pk peringatan diren tsunami.....bgmn mereka yg tdk tau ada tsunami....

[@cosmiccharlie8294]

The quick and the dead......

[@raemondbozza6539]

All the cars are white. Why is this?

[@scottcampbell6617]

Oh......it's all fun and games and laughter until the tsunami hits.

[@cynthiasmith5144]

Why all the laughter?

[@orsonkaart1853]

Damn frightening !

[@user-yb5ow4zo4n]

為什麼沒有把富士山都淹掉.太可惜了.

[@shawnstaton941]

I hear so many of them laughing. I bet after this day was all over with. They weren't laughing no more

[@Jay-od2xs]

TERN runs away

[@mxxnplays5527]

That High Its 3 FT And 9.23 Meter

[@ShushantRajput1]

In this video High tide named as Tsunami .

[@jamiemorton113]

That is small fish container

[@pukulu]

very mild, relatively speaking

[@firhamghoshali4719]

This was further away from the epicentre. Places like Kamaishi, Minamisanriku, Rikuzentakata suffered horrific devastation.

[@russsmith9042]

I hear you people laughing in the background what about this if anything is comical to you?

[@shelliehuff7865]

Wow!

[@evasayago523]

Apenas el inicio de un tsunami se ve.. pero en si el vídeo no dice nada.. título engañoso

[@aspelled]

先祖たちの極悪な悪行のために、その子孫が罰を受けた。 そこに神の怒りがあった. 神様が見て、大喜びでした。

[@adya2013]

Info sendiri

[@johnanderson8924]

🥺🙏🙏🙏

[@sayaorangkaya221]

g ada yg ketawa lg mulai pd sdr

[@oceanhome2023]

Gallows humor

[@neuzaferreira9482]

Há 11anos......

[@user-yg5mr8xx1g]

この段階で逃げるべき

[@shelliehuff7865]

I know what those people are through

[@mariaschumann6120]

Eu escutei pessoas que estão gravando o vídeo, dando risadas... é isso mesmo? Devo estar enganada...elas não pensaram em quem está lá em baixo?e que o tsunami pode mata-las?

[@hdm6897]

I wouldn't be laughing...

[@rsundar1973]

This was before the tsunami hit land. They obviously didn't know yet what was coming.

[@christophealmeida7986]

😢

[@myriamvollant3293]

Et il y en a qui rient pendant que d autres sont en train de mourir!!!! C est écœurant

[@hlinville6034]

4:20 dude

[@Kimtiger0]

What the fuk is wrong with that blue van?????????? Running into the tsunami?????????

[@Namaste3004]

Es ist ein Container.

[@TheBethyb00p]

I keep imagining all the children in daycare.

[@walkergillette3918]

WISH I HAD THE LAST 10 MINUTES OF MY LIFE BACK

[@rongieck9579]

life is about choices....

[@walkergillette3918]

@American Nobody watched for 10 minutes giving it a fair chance that it might get better I was wrong

[@1guitar12]

@@walkergillette3918 accountability hurts don’t it?

[@mesutkaya3949]

😥🙏🇹🇷

[@ANNNNT1165]

I'LL CHECK WITH YOU IN ABOUT 10 MINUTES ABOUT THAT LAUGHTER BIG DAWG...

[@AllahuAqbarALLAH-999]

لا حول ولا قوة الا بالله العلي العظيم 🥀

[@IRCZEW]

LUCKERS

[@rondascott2]

Rude to hear them laughing specially at the blue van that almost got swept away!!

[@anuruddawanshanatha6804]

Ttt

[@tywebbgolfenthusiast8950]

Look! It looks like Godzilla!! But we can’t say it’s Godzilla because of copyrights! But we will run like it it is Godzilla! (Even though it’s not!).

[@medicsturch2731]

Not for nothin, and I think I get what your tryin to do however, I've been much bigger waves at Va Beach Va damn!

[@chromberries7329]

Debbie Sturch tsunamis have nothing to do with waves really. the destruction comes by the powerful surges flooding neighborhoods and dragging everything into the ocean.. in some areas, I'm pretty sure this tsunami rose the sea level up by almost 20 feet or so, overpowering even the highest sea walls in the world.... the tsunami is what killed most of the victims of this tragedy. you will never experience such power at va beach.

[@Jowls2024]

Nothing to see here

[@Lesloi6227]

complete non event for nine minutes.

[@luisclaudiofontenelle5513]

Where is god? Is counting money

[@oceanhome2023]

At 4:09 center you can see a group of people 5 or 6 watching on the beach

[@Pain-io5zs]

Me: * watches video* Video at the start: *Anime girl noises * Also me: so anime girls are real!

[@tshegomotaung5249]

what a waste of 9 valuable minutes. That's 4 packets of noodles i could have made...

[@thecatalyst6212]

I value your sacrifice

[@redbaron474]

I wish it would have decimated Taiji

[@sonicreef8134]

Can I laugh..I have seen every video on this site of the tsunami, and all the people seem to laugh until it hits them hard. I might not understand a word. But a laugh everyone understands. I wonder if they are still laughing now.. I bet they are all crying knowing that what they thought was funny wasn't.

[@helenaville5939]

+Sonic Reef : For goodness sake you don't even know what they were laughing at. Why wouldn't they laugh at one another's chat when there is nothing alarming happening in front of them. You just couldn't help yourself from exercising your obvious cynicism could you.

[@sonicreef8134]

+Helenaville Fair enough.

[@faithrada]

Just so you know. ..some laughs are "nervous laughs" .. a way to release built up tension... it does not mean they think something is humorous. The physical expression between laughing and crying is very closely related.

[@lysxcat9213]

Easy to state when watching a video after the fact. Most of us would behave the same if we had the security of tsunami walls and tsunami warnings that turnout to be false.