Nations all over the Pacific region braced for the arrival of deadly tsunamis in the wake of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Chile Saturday. In Japan alone about 640,000 families were evacuated from coastal regions due to the tsunami alert. The Japanese government also stopped rail operations and blocked highways that could possibly be affected by the arrival of tsunamis. Fortunately the prediction of 9-foot (3-meter) waves in the northeast coast has, so far, not materialized. Tsunami waves did hit coastal regions in Japan but compared to what they have prepared for the waves are considered inconsequential. However, the Japanese government are taking no chances and will wait a few more hours to observe what will happen before the Meteorological Agency will lower the warning.
Japan is no stranger to tsunamis and is obviously one of the countries most often affected by this natural disaster since the word tsunami itself is a Japanese term. Japan has a very good emergency system in place for events like earthquakes and tsunamis, being frequently affected by these. They were especially wary of the possible effects of the recent earthquake in Chile having suffered from lethal tsunamis generated by a 9.5-magnitude quake in Chile in the 1960s. The 1960 tsunami reached Japan 22 hours after the quake hit Chile and resulted in approximately 2800 homes destroyed and more than 140 dead and/or missing persons.
Other countries that issued major tsunami warnings but now are breathing sighs of relief include Hawaii, Australia, Russia, and Philippines.
Posted February 28th, 2010 by Maki | Comment (0)
Skeleton racing is probably not the most popular sport around, but it does have its own pack of supporters. Now that the Winter Olympics is the hot topic in sports, skeleton racing is gaining more notice, especially in Japan. By general consensus, Kazuhiro Koshi is regarded as the pioneer of skeleton racing in his country. Now 45 years old, the veteran says that he has “reached his limit.” From what has happened in the Winter Olympics, it looks like he just might be right. On the 19th, the competition for skeleton racing ended with Koshi finishing a mere 20th – overall. Despite this sad showing, Koshi remains positive and his fans continue to voice their support.
Koshi’s story is quite an interesting one. The Examiner tells us more:
Kazuhiro Koshi started off with dreams of Olympic gold out of university. Born in Nagano, the home of the 1998 winter Olympics, Koshi undoubtedly grew up surrounded by winter sports. He originally aimed to become a bobsledder for the 1992 Albertville Olympics, but after failing to be selected he switched his focus to skeleton.
However, at the time he decided to change it is reported that there were virtually no serious skeleton racers in Japan. In order to advance to an international competitive level, which he finally did by the late 1990s, he had to take advice from experts in foreign countries and train rigorously.
In the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, Koshi placed 8th in skeleton, and in 2006 he placed 11th in Turin.
This man’s spirit is undoubtedly admirable and as he announces his plans of leaving the life of competition, we wish him well.
Posted February 22nd, 2010 by Maki | Comment (0)
The Japanese tradition of hunting whales commercially and all the controversy surrounding it is nothing new. Indeed, the friction between the Japanese whaling industry and activists who stand up for the whales has been going on for decades. Recently, the two parties clashed in another incident.
According to reports, a group of anti-whaling activists “attacked” a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic Ocean. The group supposedly threw butyric acid at the ship. They also fired paintball guns at the ship. In response, the ship used water cannons on them. By the way, butyric acid is a substance found in rotten food and vomit. You can just imagine how disgusting that is!
This is not the first time that anti-whaling activists and Japanese whalers have clashed physically. Indeed, this might just be tamer than other incidents.
The Institute of Cetacean Research, Japan’s government agency that is in charge of whaling, says that the group behind the attack is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. These two parties have had a longstanding feud. According to the agency, the protesters endangered the lives of the crew of the whaling ship. It emphasized that those present in the ship were mainly researchers conducting studies legally. In international waters, whaling is permitted as long as the purpose is for research and not commercial.
There is no word as to what will happen as a result of this incident. The fact remains, however, that whaling is still a very sensitive issue for those involved.
Posted February 21st, 2010 by Maki | Comment (0)
Mobile phone and wireless Internet enthusiasts will surely clap their hands with glee when they hear about this new technology. Dubbed LTE, the technology is an improvement of the 3G, which is currently the standard in many parts of the world. Naturally, Japan is the leader in this new technology – what else can we expect?
Last week, the government certified the first ever LTE modem and the honor of having this modem certified belongs to electronics giant LG Electronics. This is a huge step towards the establishment of an LTE network in Japan, and we can only hope that the technology will spread to the rest of the world.
What’s so good about LTE anyway? Think about data transmission that reaches 100Mbps (wirelessly) – at the very least! You can just imagine how fast wireless transfer of data will be if LTE becomes the standard. No more frustrating moments while you’re on the road, I bet.
NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest telecommunications company will be using the LTE modem to run tests later on this year. If the tests prove to be a success, then commercial clients just might be able to use LTE technology before the end of year 2010. That means that the general public will not have access to the technology till 2011 at the earliest. Still, things are looking pretty good as the news is that NTT DoCoMo is working with other partners with regard to handsets and other devices that can be used on the platform. Exciting, don’t you think?
Posted February 6th, 2010 by Maki | Comment (1)
