When Kiyoto Abe, 53, touched a small container filled with mud with a handheld massager, an orange pingpong ball slowly surfaced, wowing about 80 children watching it.
Abe, a freelance news anchor who put on the show, smiled complacently and started talking about liquefaction, a phenomenon whereby saturated soil loses integrity in a strong earthquake.
"People tend to think that nothing will happen to themselves (in times of disaster)," said Abe, who conducts science shows to raise awareness of disaster prevention. "The first step is to have interest in disaster prevention measures."