Japan wants to promote new concepts related to drinking and marriage in order to revive its economy

The government of Japan wants to boost tax revenues. It has launched a campaign named ‘Sake Viva’ to promote the demand for varieties of Japanese wine. The intention is to help boost the industry. A pastime like drinking was natural with the previous generations and the government wants to revive it. Hence, the government has appealed to youth in the age group 20 to 39 to evolve innovative methods to revive the drinking habit among their peers. The range of products include sake (rice wine), shochu, whisky, beer or wine. It seems in 1995, people consumed an annual average of 100 litres per adult. This has declined to 75 litres per adult in 2020. Obviously, tax revenue from alcohol sales have also dropped from 5 per cent in 1980 to just 1.7 percent in 2020. Japan urges youth to drink, marry - all for the country and economy. This competition would cover every possible method based on new lifestyles and changes in tastes due to various reasons apart from new sales techniques. The final presentation of the ideas will take place in November in Tokyo.

Marriage is another worry for the Japanese government. This matter is personal to the people but declining birth rate is a matter of concern for the government. When the number of babies born in Japan fell to a record low of 865,000 in 2020, the government realized the need to address the issue. Local governments used to operate matchmaking services for its residents. In 2020, some local governments upgraded their systems. They wanted to harness the power of artificial intelligence and form better matches based on criteria of not only age and income but also hobbies and values. Japan now faces a dwindling workforce and is trying to boost its population. This is necessary because low birth rate would also mean a void in the availability of caregivers for the surge of elderly population in the future.

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Floods in Seoul take lives, paralyzes the city – another instance of climate crisis

Torrential rainfall led to floods and landslides as Seoul witnessed death of at least nine persons. Forecasters cautioned about more rain to come. Three died when they were trapped in a flooded semi-basement. Many others suffered injuries and whereabouts of at least seven more are not known. Record rainfall kills at least 9 in Seoul as water floods buildings, submerges cars. The authorities have evacuated hundreds of people and made available aid in the form of tents, blankets and other essentials. They have also launched cleanup and rescue operations. This is because of damages to houses, shops, retaining walls and other pieces of infrastructure.

The rainfall recorded was the highest since authorities began keeping records in 1907. Photos in social media showed people wading across roads up to their thighs in water. In parts of Seoul, there was blockage of drains. These led to travel problems in the streets and subway stations. The Seoul Metro suspended services in some portions because of the floods. Damages included crumbling of parts of pavement apart from damaged vehicles that were swept up by floodwater. Loss of power left many without power in some areas south of the Han River. Yoon Suk Yeol, president of South Korea sent condolences to the victims. He also assured about conducting an on-site inspection and work to prevent additional damage. He realized the need to review the disaster management system. This is necessary in view of increasing instances of climate crisis. Countries in East Asia are experiencing more intense rainfall. The summer monsoons could grow stronger and more unpredictable due to global warming. This is according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Parts of Japan also faced similar situation as parts of Hokkaido reporting floods with possibilities of flash floods and landslides.

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Russia could vacate International Space Station by 2024

The International Space Station launched in 1998 has been in operation since 2000. Scientists and astronauts from different countries have worked in this sky lab located 250 miles above Earth. In spite of difference in policies and ideologies, this space lab is a venture where the USA and Russia joined hands with a common objective to promote space research. They have carried out studies on various aspects of working in space in order to evaluate the effects of alien environments on humans. They worked on animals, plants, other living organism, and as many as nine countries worked on the ISS. Over the past more than two decades, they have conducted space walks, repaired portions of the space station from the outside and have participated in festivals like Christmas.

It seems Russia has taken a decision to dissociate itself from the International Space Station after 2024. It wants to focus on creating its own orbital outpost. This has been reported in the media. Russia to quit International Space Station ‘after 2024.’ Obviously, the cooperative program between Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, and Japan would no longer exist. In the course of an ISS conference for NASA in Washington, an official said they did not want the US-Russia space relationship to end. Space agencies all over the world are trying to break new frontiers in space. They have the Moon and Mars on their radars. With a combination of robotics and artificial intelligence at their command, they want to explore unknown territories – they are in search of natural resources available on other planets.

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Eco-Park in New Town to soon have a Japanese restaurant offering sushi or tempura

Those who visit the Eco Park in New Town will soon get to taste Japanese delicacies like sushi or tempura at a restaurant that is coming up next to the upcoming Japanese garden. There are numerous Chinese restaurants in Kolkata that offer Chinese food but very few Japanese restaurants. The restaurant would be in sync with the Japanese garden.
The concept is to showcase Japanese culture in Eco Park.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 29 January 2017.

The HIDCO authorities plan to select a bidder who would have experience of running at least one Japanese restaurant in India. They should have international expertise and preferably be of foreign origin. In addition, the cuisine of the restaurant must be originating from Japan to ensure authenticity.
The structure of the restaurant has already been set up by HIDCO.
During the Bengal Global Business Summit, H.E. Mr Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Japan, New Delhi, had visited the upcoming Japanese Garden in Eco Park. In December last year, a workshop had been organized in New Town on the Japanese garden and a team of Japanese landscape experts had appreciated the concept. They had come up with helpful suggestions. They have also indicated that there were more than 500 Japanese gardens in the world and the one at Eco Park would be an addition to that list.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Japanese town of Beppu on the island of Kyushu is a hot spring resort with over 3000 of them

Beppu, a city on the island of Kyushu in Japan, is a hot spring resort with over 3,000 of them that keep ejecting over 130,000 tons of scalding water every day. In Yellowstone National Park in the US, the discharges are more.
In Beppu, this is attributed to geothermal activity is Japan’s largest active volcano which is the 5,200ft-tall Mount Aso - it is located just 60 miles to the south west of the town.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 16 November 2016.

The eight major geothermal hotspots in the city are too hot to bathe in and are often called the eight hells of Beppu. Tourists always get a warm welcome. They are treated to eggs being boiled in the hot springs, foot baths in some of the cooler ponds and huge souvenir shops. The warm water is also piped into homes and businesses.
Mount Aso’s current shape was formed when it erupted some 300,000 years ago. Tourists can visit the crater by car as there are parking spaces a short-walk from the edge. There is also a cable car that affords visitors views of the furnace inside.
Incidentally, Mount Aso had erupted for the first time in almost two decades in October and blanketed cities almost 150 miles away in grey ash.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Japanese maglev is the fastest train in the world traveling at 603 Km per hour

Japan has to its credit of creating the Shinkansen high-speed rail line which opened in 1964. It was a perfect timing because it was in that year that Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics, and Japan took the opportunity to come to the limelight and debut the world's first commercial bullet train.
History would be repeated because in 2020, the Japanese capital will host the Summer Olympics, and the country will once again shatter rail records by launching the new Japanese maglev. It will be the fastest train in the world after traveling at 603 kilometers per hour on a test run near Mount Fuji last year. It has broken its own world record of 590 km per hour that had been set the previous week.
This has been reported in edition.cnn.com dated 4 November 2016.

Maglev trains are already operating at slower speeds in Shanghai and Changsha, in China, and Incheon, in South Korea. They make use of magnetic repulsion both to lift the train up from the ground (this reduces friction), and to propel it forward. Maglev is Japan's boldest rail innovation yet. As per plans, the Chuo Shinkansen maglev line will link Tokyo to the southern city of Nagoya in 40 minutes. This will be faster than flying, given the time it takes to get through an airport. The line would, later, be extended to Osaka. Incidentally, the 16-carriage train can shuttle 1,000 passengers along the 177 mile (286 km) track. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is a big fan of this project and he is proposing a route from Washington to New York - it will be at a speed that would be equivalent to that between Tokyo and Nagoya.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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3rd International Dwarf Fashion Show held in Japan

The International Dwarf Fashion Show being held in Japan is a new type of show where glamorous women of short stature have broken down the stereotype of tall, leggy models with an empowering parade. The show is now in its third year, having graced Paris and New York fashion weeks over the past two years with roaring success.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 27 October 2016.

There were models of restricted growth dressed in American Wardrob outfits as they strutted their stuff down the catwalk in Ebisu, Tokyo. The objective of the Japanese Fashion Week show is to empower women by challenging the conventions of beauty and bringing to light the fact that models come in all shapes and sizes.
To participate in this show, models had to be under 1.30 metres in height and entrants from around the world get complimentary travel and hotel expenses to walk in the show. The point to note is that dwarfism is a state of the body that one has to accept.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Japan cancels more than 100 flights due to Typhoon Lionrock

Japan has cancelled more than 100 flights and evacuation warnings were issued for thousands of people in view of the approach of the powerful typhoon Linrock - it was near to the northeast of Japan in the region that had been devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami five years ago. The typhoon was expected to make landfall in the Tohoku region with sustained winds of 120 km per hour and gusts up to 176 kph as it moved north from the Pacific Ocean.
Apart from cancellation of 110 domestic flights, some Shinkansen bullet train services have also been suspended.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 30 August 2016.

As a preventive measure, Toyota Motor Corp would suspend production at two of its factories that fall in the path of the typhoon because heavy rain and strong wind would affect road conditions and lead to delays in delivery of spare parts.
Similarly, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that was destroyed in the March 2011 disaster, would be putting on hold some of the outdoor operations. About 1,200 households lost power in eastern Japan near Tokyo.
The category one typhoon could dump about 35 cm of rain in the northeast and that would be more than the average rainfall for all of August. However, Typhoon Lionrock was expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it made landfall.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Japanese twist to post boxes - 205 of these are major tourist attractions in Japan

Japan loves to give a twist to an ordinary product and its post boxes are the latest of these. At present, there are 205 of these special post boxes around Japan and they have become quirky tourist attractions for locals and visitors. Post boxes are usually nondescript items seen as boring, but practical objects. However, the Japanese have added a little twist to the concept. In Japan, post boxes can be of different shapes - the variety includes cartoon characters to bird houses. And - at times, they are also decorated with special items.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 17 June 2016.

These unique 'decorated' post boxes are dotted all over Japan. There is a website devoted to these where one can see photographs as well as a map revealing their exact location. The first of these was seen in 1952 - it was to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Japan Postal Service joining the Universal Postal Union.
Later, towns and cities began to design them as mini-tourist attractions. The small fishing town of Susami holds the Guinness World Record for the deepest underwater post box according to Japan Times. It is very popular with divers, who can purchase water-resistant postcards to send via the post box located 33ft below the surface of the sea. The mail is collected by the local post office once every couple of days to dispatch them via normal mail.
The latest in the list of memorial post boxes are four monuments unveiled in the town of Tobe in April this year - these are topped with the local pottery to promote the town's handcraft.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Bullet train for the rich and famous - fare will be 1.5-times that of AC 1st class

The bullet train in India would, as it stands,cater to the rich and famous. This is because the tariff proposed by the Ministry of Railways for the upcoming bullet train service between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will be 1.5 times more than the first class AC fare prevailing now.
The present AC 1st class fare by Duronto Express between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is Rs.2,200. Therefore, for the 508-Km run between the two cities via the dedicated, high-speed corridor, the fare will be around Rs.3,300. The fare in Japan for a similar distance is around Rs 8,500. That is the fare in Japan for the 550-Km run between Tokyo and Osaka on the Shinkansen, as the bullet train network there is called.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 5 May 2016.

Moreover, the first phase of the Indian network will have a maximum design speed of 350 km per hour and an operating speed of 320 km per hour and, the ministry expects around 36,000 daily users per day both ways by 2023, going up to 186,000 by 2053.
There would be a total of 12 stations namely, Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati. The total journey time of the fast train will be 2.07 hours and of trains that will stop at each station will be 2.58 hrs.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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It was a massive catch by fishermen of a Japanese village when they caught an extremely rare species of shark known as deepwater shark. The five-metre megamouth shark was snared into fishing nets five kilometres from the Owase Port in Mie Prefecture, Central Japan.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 16 April 2016.

The shark weighed nearly one ton and it has been bought by a local fish monger and shipped outside the prefecture. These megamouth sharks have been spotted hardly 60 times since they were discovered in 1976 and most of them have been found in Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan. The first confirmed sighting was in 1976, when a deep-sea anchor accidentally caught one off the coast of Hawaii.
Incidentally, these species can reach to a maximum length of five metres and are believed to be having a life span of up to 100 years. Moreover, they can descend to a depth of 160 metres under water during the day before rising to 12 metres during the night to feed. They usually swim with their huge mouths open so as to feed on plankton and other food.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Japan suffered the wrath of two powerful earthquakes a day apart and it left at least 29 people dead and trapped many others beneath flattened homes, as a result, thousands of residents fled to seek refuge in gymnasiums and hotel lobbies. Around 1,600 soldiers have joined rescue efforts and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that the damage from the magnitude-7.3 quake could be extensive. However, the Nuclear Regulation Authority has indicated that there are no abnormalities at Kyushu's Sendai nuclear plant.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 16 April 2016.

Kumamoto Prefectural official has revealed that the death toll was continuously rising and it stood at 19 from Saturday's magnitude-7.3 quake that shook the Kumamoto region on the southwestern island of Kyushu and another 19 when the second quake of magnitude 6.5 struck Kyushu - it left another 800 injured.
The epicenters of the quakes have been relatively shallow about 10 kilometers and close to the surface, resulting in more severe shaking and damage. As per local media reports, nearly 200,000 homes were without electricity and drinking water systems had also failed in the area.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Japan kills 333 whales in its latest Antarctic hunt - the figure was 252 whales in 2014

Four of Japan's whaling ships have returned from the Antarctic with a catch of 333 whales - including more than 200 pregnant females - the return was after a four-month long expedition and Japan claims that it is all for 'scientific' purposes. The current haul is a 'significant increase' over their 2014 hunt, because at that time, 252 whales were captured.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 25 March 2016.

Japan has continued to ignore international orders to put a stop to whale hunting and a ruling by the UN's International Court of Justice - in its opinion, the hunt was a commercial venture masquerading as science. Under the International Whaling Commission, to which Japan is a signatory, there has been a ban on hunting whales since 1986. However, Japan continues to go ahead in the practice using a loophole in the ban that allows for lethal research.
The claim of Tokyo is that it is trying to prove that the whale population is large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting, and that it has to kill the mammals to carry out its research properly. Moreover, this time there had been no incidents with anti-whaling activists - on the previous mission environmentalist group Sea Shepherd had objected to the whaling activities.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Japan to give India her first Bullet Train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad

Japan has landed the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project. The proposal of China was not accepted because of the bullet train accident in China four years ago in the south-eastern city of Wenzhou in which 40 people died and close to 200 were injured. Japan has offered low-cost finance and a promise to have a substantial 'Make in India' component and transfer of technology. These ensured that Japan get the contract.
The first high-speed Bullet Train would run initially between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and, in future, could be extended to Delhi.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 10 December 2015.

The Rs 98,000 crore project was cleared by the cabinet and is set to be announced during the visit of Japanese premier Shinzo Abe's later this week.
Incidentally, the Shinkansen System had the best safety record with no fatalities in addition to the fact that delays on a trip did not exceed a minute.
Nearly 70-80% of the components could be manufactured in India and the Japanese government has offered technical support and was willing to drive the local manufacturing and technology transfer initiative within a specified period.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Solar powered aircraft ‘Solar Impulse 2’ on its way to Hawaii from Japan

#SolarImpulse2 #solarpower #hawaii #japan #AndreBorschberg ‘Solar Impulse 2’ the solar powered aircraft is on the last leg of its journey around the world without using any type of conventional fuel. It has left Japan and is on its way to Hawaii.
This has been reported in dnaindia.com dated 29 June 2015.

The journey from Japan to Hawaii is nearly 8000-Km flight and there is no means of stopping enroute as it wings its way across the Pacific Ocean. And, 12 hours after take-off, it was more than 1,000-Km into its 7,900-kilometre flight and its pilot "Andre Borschberg had passed the point of no return.
The flight is expected to describe an arc between Japan and Hawaii because it has to follow a corridor with no clouds. ‘Solar Impulse 2’ was delayed for a month in Japan and it finally took off from the central Japanese city of Nagoya.
In the event of any problem cropping up and if the pilot has to face the worst-case scenario, the 62-year-old Borschberg would have to eject from his super-lightweight cockpit with a parachute and a life raft.
Then, he would have to inflate the life raft and wait for another plane to bring help and life support. The pilot can remain in this big raft for approximately three days by which time a ship can come to rescue him.
For the records - Solar Impulse 2 had taken off from Abu Dhabi earlier in 2015 in a multi-leg attempt to get all the way around the world without a single drop of fuel. The flying machine was not supposed to land in Japan, but due to bad weather from Nanjing in China to Hawaii, it was a forced diversion that happened at the beginning of June.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Nature gifts Japan with a new strip of land that rose from the ocean floor

#Rausu #Japan #HokkaidoIsland Japan has been gifted with a 300m-long strip of coastline by Nature – this strip of land has apparently risen from the seabed and that stands 10m-high in some places. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 27 April 2015.
This incident has taken place near the town of Rausu on Hokkaido Island situated at the country's northern tip.
This new stretch of shoreline, which resembles what used to be the sea floor, had initially sparked fears that a major earthquake was imminent. It may be recalled that in 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake had struck Japan and devastated large stretches of land and left thousands dead.

The quake of 2011 coupled with a Tsunami had led to meltdowns and radioactive leaks at the Fukushima nuclear plant. However, as far as Rausu is concerned, geologists have assured that the phenomenon was probably a result of a nearby landslide, caused by melting ice and snow that displaced a portion of the seabed that rose and came in sight.
Of course, Japan has also seen the creation of a new island – it emerged from the sea 620 miles south of Tokyo and continues to grow because of the volcano at its center that spews out magma. In the month of February, it measured around a square mile. Therefore, Rausu is not the only place where Japan is expanding.

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Japan worried about China and Russia – scrambles fighter planes more frequently

#coldwar #Japan #EastChinaSea #HokkaidoIsland Japan is worried about the activities of its nearest neighbors namely China and Russia and their provocative tactics. Proof of this is in the increase of the number of incidences when Japan Air Force had to scramble its fighter jets.
As reported in news.sky.com dated 15 April 2015, fighter jets scrambled by Japan have soared back to Cold War levels. Japanese warplanes were sent up 943 times in the year to March – this was a 16% increase on the previous year as revealed by the country's Self Defense Force (SDF).

While Chinese fighter incursions are usually localized in the East China Sea, close to disputed uninhabited islands near Taiwan, the Russian bombers and patrol planes usually encroach into Japan's airspace close to the northern Hokkaido Island and in the vicinity of four smaller islands which are claimed by both countries.
Statistically speaking, this is the second highest number of intercept flights ever recorded over a 12-month period ever since records began to be maintained in 1958 and was only one less than a record of 944 scrambles in 1984.
This, taken by itself, cannot be said to be a direct measure of Russian and Chinese military activities in the region but, it does indicate an increase in operations by the two countries and can be presumed to be a reflection of an increasingly assertive China. It has hiked its defense spending by more than 10% a year. Coupled with China is a resurgent Russia following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea last year.
To bring parity, Japan has also hiked defense spending, albeit to a lesser extent, and is buying a range of new military hardware, including longer-range patrol aircraft, cargo jets, helicopter carriers and stealth fighters.

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160-melon-headed whales stranded on Japanese beaches – fears of earthquake

#Hokota #whales #Japan #Tsunami #earthquake As many as 160 melon-headed whales have been stranded on the beaches of Japan near Hokota on the Pacific coast and there are fears of an impending earthquake in the region. This is because a similar phenomenon had been observed during the 2011 Tsunami which devastated Japan.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 13 April 2015.

These whales are in fact a species of dolphin and they have been found to have washed up along a 6-mile (10km) stretch of the Pacific coast of Hokota, located nearly 60 miles (100km) north of Tokyo. Officials are investigating the cause of the stranding.
The fears of an impending earthquake are based on the appearance of 50 melon-headed whales six days before the devastating undersea earthquake in 2011 that resulted in a Tsunami and earthquake and left 19,000 people dead.
In the opinion of experts, the reason could be attributed to some sort of a parasitic infection or the sandy shoals around Hokato city may have also made the animal's sonar ineffective. Another theory suggests that these whales that measure two to three meters in length, could have been trying to avoid predators like killer whales and ventured too close to the shore.

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Devastated by 2011 Tsunami, Japan plans to construct sea wall for protection

#seawall #japan #tsunami When Tsunami struck Japan in 2011, it led to destruction of much of the country’s northeastern coast and the authorities now plan to ward off future disasters of this nature by constructing a nearly 250-mile long chain of cement sea walls. These walls would be nearly five stories high at some places.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 22 March 2015.
It will cost nearly $6.8-billion to build and critics feel that such walls would not just damage the marine ecology and scenery but also act as a hindrance to vital fisheries. Moreover, such walls would do precious little to protect residents – they are supposed to relocate to higher ground.
However, those who support the move feel the sea walls are a necessary evil – it would provide jobs for some, at least for a time.
Incidentally, a 7.2-meter (24-foot) -high sea wall had been built years earlier to help stave off erosion of Iwanuma's beaches. It also had thin pine trees planted along the coast. In spite of that, the tsunami swept up to 5-Km inland and passengers and staff watched from the upper floors and roof of the airport as the waves carried off cars, buildings and aircraft. It also smashed most of the homes in densely populated suburbs near the beach.

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IS militants take two Japanese as hostage – demand ransom of $200-million

#ShinzoAbe #ISIS #Japan #hostages The IS militants have taken two Japanese as hostages and have demanded a ransom of $200-million from the Japanese government for their release. The captors have released a video of 1min 40sec entitled “A message to the government at the people of Japan”.
It seems the action taken by the IS appears to be in retaliation of a multimillion-dollar Middle Eastern aid package that had been announced just a few days ago by the prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
The hostages are Kenji Goto Jogo and Huruna Yukawa.
Incidentally, Yukawa had been captured in August. He was suffering from a series of misfortunes in his personal life. These included the death of his wife from cancer, and losing his business and home to bankruptcy. It seems he had gone to the Syrian city of Aleppo in spring 2014.
The other hostage is Goto – it is believed that he is a respected freelance journalist. He had gone to Syria last year to report on Syria’s civil war last year and was aware of Yukawa’s detention before his own incarceration.
The Japanese chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, did not elaborate on whether Japan would pay the ransom. Prime minister, Shinzo Abe, speaking in Jerusalem has described the threat to kill the two hostages in 72 hours as unforgivable and demanded that ISIS release them immediately.
It may be recalled that last week, at the beginning of his tour of the Middle East, he had indicated that Japan would be donating $200m in non-military aid to countries fighting Islamic State to help them build “human capacities” and “infrastructure”. It was part of a $2.5bn in humanitarian and development aid for the Middle East.