Silent guardians

The high rises of Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama dominate the cityscapes around them. The towers give the impression of being as immovable and steadfast as a human-made structure can be.

These towers are the fixed backdrop to daily urban life in Japan, as they are in any large and developed city in the world. While people and traffic bustle around them, they are fixed and still – the pins that hold the rest of the hectic city together.

It takes an earthquake to reveal that perspective to be an illusion. In Japan, skyscrapers have to be able to move.

(Credit: Getty Images)