World Typhoon Trami was making its way toward mainland Japan this weekend, bringing winds of up to 134 mph. Trami hit Okinawa on Saturday and was expected to hit mainland Japan on Sunday and into Monday. The storm’s projected track showed it moving northwest through Osaka and near Tokyo in the coming days. Trami was expected to hit mainland Japan early Sunday, bringing winds of up to 115 mph—the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane. Trami injured at least 18 people when it hit Okinawa, battering the region with winds and rain. Around 600 people were evacuated from the region, while more than 121,000 homes lost power, the Japan Times reported. The number of injured could rise as more information is collected. Typhoon Trami was on track to hit mainland Japan on Sunday morning. Google Crisis Response Authorities urged people on mainland Japan to be prepared for the storm. Airports and train stations were closed in preparation, and residents were urged … [Read more...] about Typhoon Trami Track: Storm Hits Okinawa, Moves Toward Tokyo, Japan
Japan
Grizzlies’ Yuta Watanabe is a star in Japan and a curiosity in Memphis
Mark Giannotto Memphis Commercial Appeal Published 2:31 PM EDT Sep 29, 2018 As each Memphis Grizzlies player and front office member came through FedExForum last week to face reporters during the team’s annual media day, they inevitably faced some of the same questions. What are expectations after missing the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2010 last year? How will they blend this roster of experience and youth together? Are Mike Conley and Chandler Parsons healthy? What do you think about Yuta Watanabe? Wait, what? What makes Yuta Watanabe so intriguing? That last one usually came from more than a dozen Japanese reporters who were in Memphis this past week chronicling perhaps the most intriguing member of the Grizzlies’ training camp roster. Intriguing because he’s a lot like the modern big man in today’s NBA – a 6-foot-9 forward who can shoot 3-pointers and take defenders off the dribble. Intriguing because he fits the team’s … [Read more...] about Grizzlies’ Yuta Watanabe is a star in Japan and a curiosity in Memphis
Japan’s space rover releases new photos of asteroid surface
TOKYO — New photos taken on the surface of an asteroid show that it is (drum roll, please)…rocky. It may be no surprise, but Japan space agency scientists and engineers are thrilled by the images being sent to Earth by two jumping robotic rovers that they dropped onto an asteroid about 170 million miles away. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency posted the latest photos on its website late Thursday. They show slightly tilted close-ups of the rocky surface from different locations. “I cannot find words to express how happy I am that we were able to realize mobile exploration on the surface of an asteroid,” project manager Yuichi Tsuda said on the space agency’s website. It took more than three years for the unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft to reach the vicinity of asteroid Ryugu. One week ago, the craft successfully dropped a small capsule with two rovers onto its surface. The rovers, each about the size of circular cookie tin, don’t have wheels but … [Read more...] about Japan’s space rover releases new photos of asteroid surface
For Japan’s Okinawa island, US military bases take center stage in election
Simon Denyer and Akiko Kashiwagi, The Washington Post Published 7:48 am PDT, Friday, September 28, 2018 Col. David Steele, commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, stands on the base in Okinawa, Japan, in September 2018. Col. David Steele, commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, stands on the base in Okinawa, Japan, in September 2018. Photo: Photo For The Washington Post By Kosuke Okahara A view of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, located next to a residential area in Okinawa, Japan, in September 2018. A view of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, located next to a residential area in Okinawa, Japan, in September 2018. Photo: Photo For The Washington Post By Kosuke Okahara Denny Tamaki, one of the candidates for governor of Okinawa, Japan, stands in front of his supporters at arallies on Sept. 24, 2018. Denny … [Read more...] about For Japan’s Okinawa island, US military bases take center stage in election
How a Murder in the Grand Canyon Led an Arizona Writer All the Way to Japan
On May 8, 2006, amid the natural splendor of Havasu Falls at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, a woman was killed in cold blood. Tomomi Hanamure, a Japanese traveler, was stabbed 29 times by Randy Wescogame, an 18-year-old member of the Havasupai tribe with a history of theft and meth addiction. News of the shocking crime made its way to Annette McGivney, Southwest editor of Backpacker magazine, who decided to investigate the murder. The resulting story was one of the magazine's most successful ever, but McGivney wasn't finished. In researching the piece, she felt a connection to Hanamure that wasn't going away. "I had this sort of sense of obligation to make sure that she was remembered correctly,” McGivney says. "She was this woman who was hiking alone, and I also like to hike alone in the Grand Canyon and elsewhere, and I felt like she was kind of being disparaged in the press and by law enforcement saying, ‘Well, this woman should not have been hiking alone, it … [Read more...] about How a Murder in the Grand Canyon Led an Arizona Writer All the Way to Japan