Kurashi - News From Japan

A couple of years ago while I was writing the novel Kamikaze to Croydon, I made the trip to a very special place. 飯沼飛行士記念館 While Japan has a lot of (small or medium-size) airplane museums, see Paul Thompson's excellent website, J-HangarSpace , I think this is the only one dedicated to a single pilot. This is Iinuma Masaaki's birthplace, in what is now Azumino, Nagano Prefecture. A wonderful old farm house located a short walk from the station, with the Japanese Alps as the backdrop. Not far from Matsumoto, it is worth the trip if you are interested in aviation history. The exhibits are mostly a collection of items from The Asahi Shimbun, that sponsored his famous flight to London in April 1937. As you all probably know by now, he was a civilian pilot employed by the newspaper, setting records to Beijing and Taipei even before that famous event. The photo above shows his real Pilot's Licence from 1941. The light wasn't the best, but here is a ma...

Tragic eruption at Mt. Ontake bringing the total number of victims to 51 in Japan's worst postwar volcanic disaster, according to The Mainichi . NAGANO (Kyodo) -- Four hikers have officially been confirmed dead after their bodies were found on Mt. Ontake in central Japan on Saturday, bringing the total number of victims to 51 in the country's worst postwar volcanic disaster. Search efforts that had been suspended for two days by rain were resumed one week after the deadly disaster. Around 930 police officers, firefighters and Ground Self-Defense Force troops took to the mountain in midsize helicopters and on foot amid concerns their efforts could be halted again with the approach of powerful typhoon Phanfone, expected to bring rain to the area from Sunday. With the past two days of rain having turned accumulated volcanic ash into mud, the risk of mudslides has prevented the use of lar...

The good people trying to stop the Maglev train line between Shinagawa and Nagoya are holding several large meetings this fall, starting on August 30 at Wako University in Tsurukawa (Odakyu Line). The theme is to learn from the network that protested against environmental destruction near Mt. Takao in Tokyo, and the experiences from the lawsuit against the Ken-O Highway construction. On September 13 a symposium will be held in Yamanashi, and on October 13 in Tokyo (with long-term Japan resident Arthur Binard, activist and poet from the US). The Linear Citizens NET is a group with branches in all the affected prefectures (J).They are concerned about the environmental destruction, the threat to water resources, and other pollution concerns (such as the huge amounts of trucks that will be needed to remove gravel during the tunnel construction). Also, there is much doubt that there will be any financial gains at all for the people affected. Construction is expected to continue we...

I went for a walk and watched fireflies near a temple where I live. Amazing creatures. Got a lesson in bioluminescence from Pandabonium, too, via National Geographics. There is a lot I do not know. I like how my town is not exploiting this site for tourism. July - hot and humid. Japan still has no nuclear reactors online. Do people in other parts of the world even think about this? Can we get some support, please? Seems a small town in Tochigi near major tourist spot Nikko, where the Tokugawa shoguns have their final resting place, will be selected to permanently store radioactive waste from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. "Permanently" is a pretty serious word when it comes to nuclear waste. Not sure why they didn't put it in Fukushima. Expect Narita-style protests? The Mainichi: Tochigi town favored as permanent radioactive waste storage site Shioya Mayor Kasuhisa Mikata, right, expresses his disappointment ...

I like rivers, and moreover, I like people who care about rivers... Kiso River and the entire system that forms the Kiso Valley in Nagano, Gifu and then all the way down to Aiichi prefectures - such a treasure. Earlier this year, I went to Magome and visited the small towns like Tsugamo that remain intact since the Edo era. I hope you can stay there and enjoy the tranquility of ancient Japan. Just a couple of hours from some of the busiest cities on Earth, such rural places remain to inspire and educate. These towns do a lot better than some of the "shutter towns" in more urban settings. Why? Because of tourism? I don't think so. The secret is in the appreciation of the values that have been a cornerstone of life here, for a long time . Kiso Valley is located north east of Nagoya, a couple of hours by train, in Nagano-ken. In the old days, when voyagers were taking weeks to travel from Edo (Tokyo) to Kyoto, and all the way to Nagasaki, one of the main roads...