Typhoon information website



Japan Meteorological Agency has a good page with typhoon data. I will be moving on Saturday July 14, so obviously I'm not too thrilled. They also have daily temperatures and UV warnings. At least I will be safe from that!

To put things in perspectrive: Yes, it rains a lot. And there is strong wind. And I have to change t-shirts about five times a day. Doing laundry? Hahaha. Nice, but nothing gets really dry, ever. Anyway, I prefer it to cold. You know minus 20 degrees? No thanks. I prefer this. I don't like it, I just don't mind it.

I once flew into Nagoya International Airport in the middle of a typhoon, in mid August, with Aeroflot. You know the good-old pilots at Aeroflot? Trained on mighty MIGs, that is one thing. I also think they were in some kind of existential orthodox fix, that only Russians can understand. They didn't circle around and prepare for a commercial landing, nice and slow, with "This is your captain speaking" booming from the speakers. Like pilots from other airlines. We had steam coming down from the ceiling, each time they applied the brakes.

I mean, other airlines probably cancelled their Japan-bound flights that entire WEEK. To cut a long story short, the particular typhoon-loving Aeroflot pilot I happened to be flying with, back in 1993, when half of their fleet still sported the Soviet flag - takes a long time to repaint that many airplanes! - he just dived. I still remember how my stomach felt. It was up near my tonsils. And on he went. Down. To Nagoya. We were all getting rather riled up and tell me one thing that is harmonious about modern aviation... Landing is always traumatic. The one instant when you either make it or... So. We landed. Can't remember disembarking or getting my passport stamped. Still working on my stomach. Typhoon on TV, each minute (oh, I'm already in Kyoto, at the Hiraiwa minshoku!) wondering, "did we really land in the middle of THAT?"

Comments

Pandabonium said…
Somehow, I like the conservative approach - even if takes longer.

As my flight instructor used to say, "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots!"
8:13 pm, July 14, 2007
Martin J Frid said…
"There is an art to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

— Douglas Adams, 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'
2:15 pm, July 15, 2007
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War

Image
A unique three-day international conference is being held at Makuhari near Tokyo, a day after the 61st anniversary of the enforcement of Japan's Constitution. It is organized by nongovernmental groups, including Japan-based Peace Boat . Organizers said the meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the significance of the constitutional article that endorses demilitarization and what people can do to promote its spirit, notes The Japan Times . While the constitution stipulates that Japan renounces war as a sovereign right and that it will not maintain land, sea and air forces, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been keen to make amendments. "The war in Iraq has shown that even the strongest, biggest army in the world can not keep peace in a single city. It proves that aggression never instates peace," Tatsuya Yoshioka, director of Peace Boat and a representative of the event's organizing committee, said during the opening remarks. "Article 9 is a treasu...
Read more

マーティンの鵜の目鷹の目 -世界の消費者運動の旅から

Image
  My new book has been published! マーティン・フリッド (著)   世界中の消費者が同じ課題を抱え、悩み、たたかっている。スウェーデンに生まれ、ヨーロッパ、そして日本の消費者運動の現場を歩いてきた著者が、人びとの日常によりそいながら軽妙なユーモアを交えて食、環境、エネルギー、社会のあり方、政治、経済を考えます。   https://nishoren.net/new-information/14177 Consumers all over the world are facing similar problems, worries, and struggles. In this book, the author, who was born in Sweden and has walked the frontlines of consumer movements in Europe ...
Read more

Salvador Dali, Hiroshima and Okinawa

Image
Spanish artist Salvador Dali was deeply terrified by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , and his exact, detailed style was very much suited to show the horror of the A-bomb, which America tried to keep a secret by classifying photos and descriptions until the end of the occupation of Japan in 1952. The Bureau of Atomic Tourism has more details if you want to know more about the legacy of nuclear weapons in the U.S. Even today, do people understand the real horror of atomic bombs? If not, then, why not ? Dali's paintings are on display in Fukushima prefecture, where you can view Melancholy Atomic and Uranium Idyll and The Three Sphinxes of Bikini at the Morohashi Museum of Modern Art . Long YouTube video from the Nihon University (Nichidai) channel with an interview featuring Morohashi Eiji, the son of the founder of the unique museum, and scenes from the Morohashi Museum (29:20): #271美術館への誘い ダリの世界 Is there a hidden message in Dali's Bikini hydrogen bomb painting...
Read more