Kirk here with a question about an approach to information gathering that was not possible during the 2016 quakes. Now that we have AI, a person who can't read Japanese (or doesn't want to wade through a lot of Japanese) can ask an AI service to do research based on Japanese sources and get back a clear, actionable response.

For example, you might pose a question like one of these:

• "I live at such-and-such location and my water's off — who do I contact, and is there any word on when it'll be back?"
• "What does this notice from the city actually mean for me?"

If you've done anything like this since the earthquake, I'd really like to hear about it:

• What did you ask?
• What did AI find for you that you couldn't easily have gotten otherwise?
• Did it get anything wrong, or miss something important? (Just as useful to know — maybe more.)

I'm interested in this because I think the availability of AI may have significant implications for the older model of disaster assistance, where Japanese people or more experienced expats provide information or answer questions. AI should make it easier for individuals to take the initiative, even if they don't know the language well yet and are not familiar with the ins and outs of various social institutions. And, more practically, I'm hoping that the comments you post below will give other readers ideas about ways to make good use of AI and pitfalls to avoid.