Kurashi - News From Japan

The 9th typhoon of the season, called Fitow , is going to hit Tokyo and Saitama real good tonight and early Friday morning. Shizuoka and Kanagawa are getting soaked too. Most schools are taking the day off tomorrow, and trains and flights are mostly cancelled. Stay inside and stay safe. I captured the warnings on TV tonight around 19:00 and some photos too. We are all taking this one very seriously. I'm home and I am safe, planning to try to stay dry !

Rough weather tonight I'm afraid, please take care. Updates at Tropical Storm Risk . I got the image from the Japan Meterological Agency Tropical Cyclone Information . How is the weather at your location?

Reuters reports that smog is menacing Japanese cities for the first time in 30 years and cropping up in rural areas for the first time ever: Warnings for high levels of hazardous smog have been issued in a record 28 prefectures so far this year, from sparsely populated isles in southern Japan to Niigata, western Japan, where 350 people have suffered stinging eyes and throats. While the government is cautious about placing blame, experts say much of the rise in pollution is coming from China. If you live in big cities, you are problably familiar with this type of smog, called "photochemical smog" because it is created when sunlight reacts with car exhaust and factory fumes (as well as older garbage incinerators). Such particles can cause breathing difficulties and headaches. An increasing number of children are suffering from bronchial asthma in Japan. Studies say the number of cases has increased sixfold in the past 30 years. Reuters: Smog Smothers Japan, Experts Point to Chi...

The Sweden-Japan Foundation is inviting people (in Sweden) to a lecture about Hakuin’s Zen Talk and Practice – Advice on attaining the peace of clear mind through Zen meditation by Souhaku Matushita, the abbot of Zen Buddhism Temple, Kaijozan Chokoji. Time: Wednesday September 12, 2007, 18.00-19.30 hrs. Venue: Summit, Grev Turegatan 30, 114 38 Stockholm (Sweden) Registration: info@swejap.a.se before September 10. Many Japanese believe in and practice Shinto and/or Buddhism, in every day life and at special ceremonial occasions. Zen, one of the important practices of Buddhism, was brought to Japan from China in the Kamakura period (1192-1333) and flourished in Japan.The Zen master Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769) was one of the great religious figures of Japan and the reviver of the Japanese Rinzai Zen school. Nowadays Zen is attracting increasing attention from around the world. In addition to Hakuin’s Zen, Mr. Matsushita will also talk about artworks and paintings and their teachings. He wil...

Agriculture Minister Takehiko Endo has resigned to take responsibility for the misuse of state subsidies by a farm group he headed. The farm group had lied about its membership size and exaggerated crop damage. His resignation comes just one week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled his cabinet, notes NHK. Update : New farm minister is Masatoshi Wakabayashi from Nagano prefecture. Just another busy day here at Kurashi News from Japan ;)

On September 1 and 2 this year there were a number of disaster prevention events all over Japan. I took some photos with my poor little mobile phone, you get the picture. Read more in The Japan Times: Japan engages in disaster-preparedness drills The main area of the drill was in Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture. The various exercises included one to evacuate tourists and another to secure the safety of employees of the Shizuoka Prefectural Government based on an urgent quake alert system of the Meteorological Agency, which will begin providing information to the general public in October. Aside from the disaster drill, a separate drill was held simultaneously around the Hamaoka plant, which set up an emergency task force of the nuclear safety agency in the area and held an urgent information relaying drill under the assumption that there was a fire at the plant. I wrote about the risks related to the Hamaoka nuclear plants here and here , when I was still working with Japan Offspring Fund . ...

Japan has the world's fastest Internet connections, according to the Washington Post. At 61 megabits per second, Japan's broadband service is 30 times faster than that of the U.S. at 2 mbps, the Post said citing data from Information Technology and Information Foundation. Korea ranked second with 46 mbps, followed by Finland with 21 mbps, Sweden with 18 mbps and Canada with 8 mbps. "Americans invented the Internet, but the Japanese are running away with it," the article said. "This is partly a matter of geography and demographics: Japan is relatively small, highly urbanized and densely populated." Korea is in first place for the number of broadband subscribers. According to data from International Telecommunications Union, there were 24.9 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants in Korea in 2005. Next on the list was Canada with 17.6, Switzerland with 17, Sweden with 15.1, Norway with 15, Israel with 14.3, Japan with 14.1, Finland with 12.8, the U.S. with ...