But for now they are about as useful in limiting damage from the current financialtsunami as Galveston's seawall was in protecting the city from Hurricane Ike.
While Mr. Shirakawa won kudos for keeping Japan's financial system intact in the face of the 2008 financial crisis, and after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country's northeast, he came under fire from politicians who found him reluctant to take drastic steps to beat deflation.
In some of the most egregious examples, commentators have used thefinancial crisis and even the 2011 Japanese eathquake and tsunami as vehicles for promoting fear of cyber attack.
And he said a swift resolution to the severe capital pressures the bond insurers are facing is necessary to stop a "tsunami" of problems in thefinancial markets.
Even now, Mr Noda's political priority has little to do with thetsunami: it is the consumption tax, which he wants to raise to prevent a financial meltdown.