Otsuchi, in northern Japan, is the focal point of the hand harpoon hunt which has claimed up to 15,000 Dall’s porpoises in previous years. In the most recent hunting seasons for which information is available, Japan allocated itself a quota of 13,493 Dall’s porpoises in 2013/14, 12,928 in 2014/15 and 12,364 in 2015/16. The catch, […]
A powerful earthquake rocked Hokkaido, Japan in the early hours on Thursday, triggering landslides, destroying roads and buildings and left the northern island’s 5.3 million residents without power. The 6.7-magnitude quake struck at 3:09 a.m. local time at a depth of 40 kilometers (24 miles), according to the Associated Press. Meteorological agency officials told the […]
A powerful typhoon made landfall in western Japan on Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and violent winds up to 135 miles per hour, reports say. Typhoon Jebi, which translates to “swallow” in Korean, is classed as a “very strong” typhoon, the weather agency’s chief forecaster Ryuta Kurora told AFP. “This is (the strongest) since 1993.” Jebi […]
An ongoing heatwave has sent a record 71,266 people to hospitals across Japan between April 30 and Aug. 5 with 138 people dying from heat-related illnesses, The Japan Times reported, citing the nation’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The busy capital of Tokyo saw the highest number of people taken to hospitals, at 5,994. Osaka […]
Hot, dry and fiery conditions are being seen by many parts of the globe right now. This includes Japan, where the nation’s meteorological agency just declared the extreme heat a “natural disaster.” An agency spokesman said that “unprecedented levels of heat” were being felt, as quoted by AFP. The city of Kumagaya, located about 40 […]
From flash floods in Vietnam to a blistering heat wave in Japan, countries across Asia are suffering from extreme weather, CNN reported Sunday. The events come nearly two months into the continent’s annual rainy season that extends from June to November, according to The Straits Times. A 2016 study showed that typhoons in Asia had […]
At least 109 people have died in Japan following historic flooding and mudslides over the weekend that prompted evacuation orders covering about five million people, The Guardian reported Monday. The flooding was prompted by Japan’s heaviest rainfall in decades. Parts of western Japan saw three times July’s regular rainfall since Thursday, BBC News reported. “We’ve […]
For years, the Japanese government has hunted whales under the name of “scientific research.” Now officials are angling to resume commercial whaling at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting this September in Brazil. At the meeting, officials “will propose setting a catch quota for species whose stocks are recognized as healthy by the IWC scientific […]
More than 120 pregnant female minke whales were killed this year in the Antarctic Ocean as part of Japan’s controversial “scientific whaling” program. The numbers were revealed in a newly released report presented earlier this month at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific Committee meeting in Bled, Slovenia. According to the report, Japanese whaling vessels […]
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