At least 42 people have died and 15 are missing after Typhoon Hagibis swamped Japan Saturday, bringing record rainfall that flooded more than 1,000 homes, The Washington Post reported. It was the worst storm to hit the country in decades, BBC News reported, and more than 110,000 people are now assisting with the rescue efforts. […]
Tuna auctions are a tourist spectacle in Tokyo. Outside the city’s most famous fish market, long queues of visitors hoping for a glimpse of the action begin to form at 5 a.m. The attraction is so popular that last October the Tsukiji fish market, in operation since 1935, moved out from the city center to […]
While the worst of this summer’s heat seems to have passed in the U.S. and Europe, Japan is in the throes of a dangerous heat wave. The end of the rainy season last week brought a dangerous heat wave that claimed the lives of 57 people in Japan and sent tens of thousands to the […]
The global plastic crisis has invaded a sacred sanctuary in Japan. Nine deer in Nara Park that have died since March were revealed to have massive amounts of plastic bags and food wrappers in their digestive tract. Three of the nine deaths were attributed directly to digestive issues from eating the plastic, said Yoshitaka Ashimura, […]
By Jeff Turrentine Is it just us? Other countries don’t seem to have a problem getting their high-speed rail systems on track. This superfast, fuel-efficient form of mass transit is wildly popular throughout Asia and the European Union. Japan’s sleek Shinkansen line, the busiest high-speed rail system in the world, carries an estimated 420,000 riders […]
Bluefin tuna made the news this week when a 612-pound specimen of the fascinating but vulnerable fish sold for a record $3.1 million at a New Year’s auction at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market Saturday. The purchaser was Japanese sushi chain owner and self-proclaimed “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura. “The tuna looks so tasty because it’s fat […]
By Sharon Kelly 2018 is set to rank as the fourth warmest year on record—and the fourth year in a row reflecting a full degree Celsius (1.8° Fahrenheit) temperature rise from the late 1800s, climate scientists say. This was the year that introduced us to fire tornadoes, bomb cyclones and in Death Valley, a five-day […]
Photos of two “crop circles” of trees in Japan’s Miyazaki prefecture have emerged online and on social media, causing netizens to marvel at the eerie forest formation. Turns out, these cedar circles—which you can see on Google Earth—are the result of a forestry experiment conducted about 45 years ago. The Japanese design and culture blog […]
Despite a global ban on commercial whaling more than 30 years ago, Japan has caught about 200-1,200 whales every year since 1987—including pregnant and juvenile ones—under the exception of “scientific research.” Opponents have fiercely criticized this research program as just a cover so the whales can be killed for human consumption. Now, the national broadcaster […]