The Sinking of Japan (Nihon chinbotsu)

The Sinking of Japan (Nihon chinbotsu) (2006)
(Trailer available here)

This is a remake of a film of the same name (1973), based on a novel by Sakyo Komatsu. The story is about Japan sinking into the ocean. The science behind this is highly plausible, given the super short time it took to happen : 338 days !? Ignoring the science as I did in The day after tomorrow and The Core, it's a great disaster movie to watch. Hey, Japan sits in the ring of fire, on 4 tectronic plates no less, so this can happen right ? Right ?? It helps when I am a great fan of disaster movies. Killing puny humans with the wrath of nature is really great entertainment, so long it doesn't happen to me in real life.

But well, the movie is great, the CG is hollywood quality, nothing looks fake, and it did not waste time at all. The first scene is a volcanic eruption with the female lead, Reiko Abe, swinging in to save the lucky clueless bastard, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi who was in turn, trying to save a little girl, Misa.

As in The Core, we got a scientist, Takamori, to explain the situation to the Japan government. Instead taking 5 years (that's fast) to slide into the pacific ocean as predicted by the yankees, bacteria in the crust produced methane gas which acted as a lubricant and accelerated the sliding process. So it's just 338 days to the total distruction of Japan ! This must be sweet vengence for all the atrocities Japan had committed during WWII !!! If we can't have the beautiful race queens and babes during many of their trade shows, they aren't allowed to have any either !

As the sliding into total destruction progresses, every volcano on Japan erupted, seas boiled, fissures appeared everywhere, mega tsunami swept and the air looks like Silent Hills with PSI in the thousands. The Japanese prime minister (hair style looks like Koizumi's) got blew out of the air while flying over a erupting volcano spectcularly.

Without leaking the entire storyline, here are some interesting thoughts I got in my head while watching the movie. You will need to watch the movie to understand these :

1. Can you get so many drilling ships to gather, drill holes in the ocean floor, and plant "N2" explosives at a moment's notice?
2. N2 is a fictional explosive that is almost as powerful as an nuclear device. Wow, the only thing I can think of that can do so is a non-existance anti-matter bomb.
3. Tsuyoshi Kusanagi actually denied Reiko Abe in heat ! Even when he knew that he will have absolutely no chance to continue his family line at all after the night. Didn't his father thought him the importance of the family line ?
4. The chain explosion caused by N2 explosives broke the stressed tectronic plates into 2, and prevented Japan from sinking further. That should generate a massive Tsunami that would have sunk Japan anyway, and do it's rounds in the pacific region. But well, every disaster movie needs a happy ending.
5. Godzilla did not appear to save the day, nor migrate to China.
6. If there is really so much methane gas in the crust, Japan should have long detect the massive deposits and pumped them out as fuel for it's enormous energy needs. Why wait for it to become lubricant for the sinking of Japan ? Sell it to the Chinese or the Yankees !
7. In many scenes in the movie, despite the heavy volcanic ashes and smoke, not many people are covering their noses. Very unlikely to happen if it's for real.