I knew that "land rises," but I had no idea I would see it in my territory during my lifetime.

- Groundwater pumping for domestic use is currently causing severe land subsidence in the capitals of many countries.

- Many areas of coastal cities are now under water due to rising sea levels caused by global warming.

I knew this from NHK specials and other sources.

However, after the Noto Peninsula earthquake, I learned about the 4-meter uplift of the coastline and learned about it on video.

I had thought that these phenomena would occur somewhere in the billion years after the birth of the earth -- in other words, they were "someone else's problem" in the distant past or future.

I realized that I was living in a billion years of history.

-----

Today, the theory of continental drift is evident if you look at a world map. Still, at the time, the proponent of this theory (Alfred Wegener) was widely ridiculed by the public (and quite recently (1912)).

But, well, 'the ground can't possibly move!' I can understand why you would think that.

-----

I heard that Hawaii was near Japan in elementary school, and I did the math.

(1) Land moves roughly 1 cm per year.

(2) The distance between Japan and Hawaii is currently 6600 km.

Applying (1) and (2) above as they are, the time required for Hawaii to reach its present position is 660,000,000 years = 660 million years

The earth was born 4.5 billion years ago, mitochondrion arose 2.1 billion years ago, multicellular organisms a billion years ago, and 600 million years ago was an ice age.

The birth of humankind is roughly 10 to 1 million years ago (0.001 to 0.01 billion years ago), so it is well longer than that,

"The ground moves surprisingly fast."

Even as a child, I thought it.

Anyway, I can't help but be amazed that the ground has risen several meters in my lifetime.