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Phrase: Raise an eyebrow
Japanese people are known for their stoicism.
After Typhoon 15 on September 8-9, 2019, thousands of Japanese didn’t raise an eyebrow when they had to line up for hours to get a train to work.
The fact that they lined up at all caused me to raise both my eyebrows in disbelief, but that is another story altogether.
As you may have guessed, when something causes you to feel surprised or makes you question a situation, then it causes you to raise an eyebrow.
The kind of thing which is shocking but unbelievable at the same time usually causes me to raise an eyebrow.
That leads us to Chiba prefecture and the ongoing disaster recovery from Typhoon 15, which is itself a disaster.
After living in the Kansai area (notice the article) for more than 20 years, I’ve experienced many typhoons.
Yes, Kyushu and Kochi seem to get the lion’s share of rain-related disasters, but we in Wakayama get more than our fair share, too.
Therefore, the authorities here have experience with this sort of thing.
The response in Chiba, however, has raised a few eyebrows.
Tepco, the prefectural and national governments seem to be at a loss as to what to do.
Initially, the governor and Tepco officials said it would take two days to recover.
I raised my eyebrows here in Wakayama when I heard that.
I mean, heck, I’m here, and I knew it would take more than two days!
An unborn child can make better predictions than that.
This situation leads me to ask, “Is the Tokyo area ready for the next huge earthquake?”
I raise my eyebrows and lower my expectations.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 67.
The higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100, the easier the passage is to read.