Kurashi - News From Japan

The aging nuclear plant at Hamaoka, in Shizuoka prefecture is located near a fault line in a region seen as vulnerable to earthquakes. It was one of the first nuclear plants ordered to be shut down after last year’s March 11 disaster. I can't say how happy I am to hear this news. No restart of Hamaoka nuclear plant likely for long time, says Shizuoka governor: Japan Today/AFP Last September, plant operator Chubu Electric Co began preparations to build an 18-meter-high anti-tsunami seawall. However, Shizuoka Gov Heita Kawakatsu told reporters that new disaster-mitigation measures at the plant are a long way off, NTV reported. Chubu Electric says the seawall and other additional safety measures should protect the plant from a tsunami as strong as the one that crippled the Fukushima plant on after the March 11 earthquake. The Hamaoka plant faces the Pacific Ocean and sits in the Tokai region, southwest of Tokyo, where seismologists have long warned that a major q...

The Hamaoka nuclear power plant was the first one I was made aware of, and campaigned against, back when I was working on another project (about food safety and antibiotic resistance) for Japan Offspring Fund. Now I am pleased to hear that there is very little chance of it going back online. The Shizuoka governor seems to share the deep concerns not only about the earthquake fault it is on top of, but also the lack of tsunami protection. Back then, I think it was 2005, we just thought there was enough evidence that that particular plant was unsafe. Of course, after March 11, 2011, we know that massive earthquakes can cause massive damage, much worse than we could imagine, back then. Of course, the damage can be contained, and life goes on. But the Hamaoka nuclear power plant is situated at such a location that if a similar event to the Fukushima disaster were to strike, then Tokyo (and eastern Japan) would basically be cut off from Osaka (and western Japan). The Shinkansen and othe...

Gorgeous, young, and from Venezuela. The Financial Times just hailed him as "The modern maestro" pointing out that classical orchestra conductors are no longer of the old breed, like Karajan, Haitink or Mravinsky... I did not know that conductors "did not exist until the mid 19th-century." Only then did the rapidly growing size and sophistication of the orchestra necessitate that someone other than the principal violinist beat time  and coordinate the players. Since the Ft.com does not like linking, I will not. Sad. Such great writing, on pink paper, not to be available to the reading, listening, thinking public. If they could explain why I should not quote, then so be it. I think the writers should protest, and the editors, and tell the owners of such great newspapers that we need to have them online, available, for the public good, for history, for democracy and for education. "The seed was sown to flower again... The Lord of the harvest goes forth...

16 amazing photos of flooding around Wakayama City after the recent downpour, from the Mainichi .

"700 plan" is simple enough, but the old neon sign makes no sense at all. What does it mean? The Swedish newspaper SVD decided to outsource the question, and after a couple of days, an answer was found. Something about 700 square meters, or whatever, as a promotion for a new shop. I like how Sweden had a totally un-metric unit, the "plan" back in the 1950s. These days, we are all too standardized to care. Japan, of course, has tatami mats as the way to go (make that "sleep"). Soft to step on, made from rice, with a certain bounce. One tatami mat is just about 2 square meters, by the way, but since the days of the Silver Pavilion was built in Kyoto, or whenever, the 2.73 m × 3.64 m (6 mat) room is a standard. Isn't wikipedia amazing, here is the page for tatami . Korea also has the pyeong (tsubo) and in Taiwan, the ping is used.  I digress, but for a reason. The United States is sometimes blamed as the only country on Earth that does not...

Do take care tonight, the 2 typhoons are hitting us hard and make sure you are not in harms way. I usually check the Meteorological Agency website for updates on a day like this. Go to their main website, then find the link to tropical cyclone information. http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html JMA has good updates in English and maps that are very accurate. http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/120424l.html

From the good people over at Kyoto Journal an appeal to support the next issue, "Fresh Currents" by donating thru the indiegogo.com website: http://www.indiegogo.com/freshcurrents More than a year after the triple meltdown at Fukushima, Japan and the rest of the world continue to grapple with the short- and long-term consequences. The myth that nuclear power can deliver us from the long-term evils of fossil fuels has been shattered. Renewable energy, long dismissed as impractical, is being given serious reconsideration. Japan can and must take advantage of this opportunity to rethink and refocus its energy strategies.   In Kyoto, birthplace of the Kyoto Protocol, a dedicated group of reporters, writers, artists, editors, and photographers associated with Kyoto Journal ( www.kyotojournal.org ) is taking a fresh look at proven and innovative alternative technologies such as solar, wind, geothermal, mini-hydro, and biomass as well as the even greater number ...