Photo/Illutration A TV screen shows a file image of a North Korean missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul on July 19. (AP Photo)

Early yesterday morning, my smartphone alerted me to North Korea test-firing two ballistic missiles.

On a previous occasion, I learned of the launch from a news ticker on the upper part of the TV screen.

Another time, I was at home when the government’s J-Alert warning system went off and really upset our dog. I had a hard time getting it to stop barking.

All these episodes are fairly recent. Pyongyang has been busy testing its missiles. I am chiding myself for becoming desensitized to the menace, practically shrugging each time the warning sounds, saying, “Oh well, here we go again.”

When North Korea first test-fired its Taepodong ballistic missile in the summer of 1998, Japan was deeply shocked. I remember the ear-splitting clanging of the emergency alert system resounding throughout The Asahi Shimbun building, throwing the newsroom into chaos.

The writer of this column at the time expressed his shock and outrage: “What they have done is beyond irrational.”

But Pyongyang has been keeping at it. According to Defense Ministry data as of February this year, more than 150 missiles have been launched in the last 10 years, including 59 in the last year alone.

The weapons also indicate technological advances have been made after having evolved from short-range units to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Six years ago, The Asahi Shimbun ran a “senryu” cynical haiku that went to the effect, “It’s scary that I’m gradually getting used to those flying objects.” At that time, North Korea had conducted a spate of test launches in a row.

With the present frequency of launches, perhaps it’s only natural that we have let our guard down, so to speak.

Dramatist Shuji Terayama (1935-1983), who was in his 20s at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, noted that because Japanese people have only an abstract understanding of missiles, they tend to outgrow their fear of them and become used to them.

As a result, Terayama pointed out in “Jidai no Kiiwaado” (Keyword of the times), “The time will come when the entire Japanese population of 100 million will have to shout in unison, ‘The wolf is here! The wolf is here!’”

It is human nature to adapt to any situation. On the other hand, it is also a fact that missiles are now being fired in numbers never imagined before.

We need to be afraid of ourselves, who have become too used to missiles.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 20

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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