Large 6.6 magnitude quake hit NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 04:26:42 AM at epicenter

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.2881+142.7274(M6.6+-+NEAR+THE+EAST+COAST+OF+HONSHU,+JAPAN+-+2011+September+16++19:26:42+UTC)&hl=e&ll=40.279526,142.734375&spn=18.215652,39.506836&t=h&z=5&vpsrc=6

MAP 6.6 2011/09/16 19:26:42 40.288 142.727 36.3 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

http://ptwc.weather.gov/

Kyodo News | 20 killed, over 50 missing as strong typhoon hits western Japan

Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Sept. 4, 2011, shows houses inundated in Kiho, Mie Prefecture, as powerful Typhoon Talas crossed western Japan. (Kyodo)

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/09/112837.html

TOKYO, Sept. 4, Kyodo

At least 20 people were dead and more than 50 others were missing as a powerful typhoon brought torrential rain causing massive floods and mudslides in western Japan on Sunday, a Kyodo News tally showed.

The number of victims from Typhoon Talas could grow in a wide area including the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, as flooded rivers, damaged roads and mudslides have hampered relief work by police and firefighters.

Japan has only experienced a few typhoons since 1990 in which the combined number of dead and missing has topped or neared 50.

Japan's gov estimates the amt of radioactive caesium-137 released by the Fukushima nuclear disaster so far is equal to that of 168 Hiroshima bombs

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8722400/Fukushima-caesium-leaks-equal-168-Hiroshimas.html

LARGE (RED) 6.5 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE NOW JUST HIT NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/140_40.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ring_of_Fire

JAPAN JUST GOT HIT WITH A 6.2 MAG EARTHQUAKE THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING - AUGUST 17, 2011

Update time = Wed Aug 17 12:43:19 UTC 2011

	MAG	UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s	LAT deg	LON deg	DEPTH km	Region
MAP	6.2	2011/08/17 11:44:08	36.776	143.773	10.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

6.6 magnitude quake hit near the East Coast of Hanshu Japan - Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 05:08:05 PM at epicenter

MAP

6.6

2010/03/14 08:08:05

37.780

141.562

39.0

NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Date-Time	Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 08:08:05 UTC Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 05:08:05 PM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	37.780°N, 141.562°E
Depth	39 km (24.2 miles)
Region	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
Distances	80 km (50 miles) SE of Sendai, Honshu, Japan 95 km (60 miles) E of Fukushima, Honshu, Japan 100 km (60 miles) NE of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan 285 km (175 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

7.0 magnitude earthquake hit RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN - 75 km (50 miles) ESE of Naha, Okinawa, Japan - February 26, 2010

MAP

7.0

2010/02/26 20:31:27

25.951

128.401

22.0

RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN

Magnitude	7.0
Date-Time	Friday, February 26, 2010 at 20:31:27 UTC Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 05:31:27 AM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	25.951°N, 128.401°E
Depth	22 km (13.7 miles) set by location program
Region	RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
Distances	75 km (50 miles) ESE of Naha, Okinawa, Japan 455 km (285 miles) ENE of Ishigaki-jima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan 660 km (410 miles) SSW of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan 1530 km (950 miles) SW of TOKYO, Japan

6.4 magnitude earthquake hit - SOUTHWESTERN RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN - Sunday, February 07, 2010 at 03:10:00 PM at epicenter

MAP

6.4

2010/02/07 06:10:00

23.472

123.713

16.5

SOUTHWESTERN RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN

Distances

115 km (70 miles) SSW of Ishigaki-jima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan
225 km (140 miles) ESE of Hua-lien, Taiwan
225 km (140 miles) ESE of Su-ao, Taiwan
2055 km (1280 miles) SW of TOKYO, Japan

RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service

Airport(s):	Location Airport ICAO Type Distance Japan Ishigaki Airport ROIG 65.91 km
Volcanoes:	Location Volcano Type Last eruption Distance Ryukyu Is Iriomote-jima Submarine volcano 75.46 km

For Some in Japan, Home Is a Tiny Plastic Bunk

TOKYO — For Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas, home is a cubicle barely bigger than a coffin — one of dozens of berths stacked two units high in one of central Tokyo’s decrepit “capsule” hotels.

Atsushi Nakanishi has condensed his possessions to two suitcases, which he stores in lockers at the capsule hotel where he lives. More Photos >

“It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep,” he said, rolling his neck and stroking his black suit — one of just two he owns after discarding the rest of his wardrobe for lack of space. “You get used to it.”

When Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 opened nearly two decades ago, Japan was just beginning to pull back from its bubble economy, and the hotel’s tiny plastic cubicles offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home.

Now, Hotel Shinjuku 510’s capsules, no larger than 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide, and not tall enough to stand up in, have become an affordable option for some people with nowhere else to go as Japan endures its worst recession since World War II.

Once-booming exporters laid off workers en masse in 2009 as the global economic crisis pushed down demand. Many of the newly unemployed, forced from their company-sponsored housing or unable to make rent, have become homeless.

An upper bunk in the capsule hotel costs 59,000 yen a month -- about $640 -- for a space of 6.5 feet by 5 feet equipped with a light, a small TV and coat hooks. But that is far less than the cost of renting an apartment in Tokyo.

Long-term dwellers like Mr. Nakanishi have special permission from the local authorities to let them register their capsules as their official abode, which makes it easier to land job interviews.

The capsules have no doors, only screens that pull down. Every bump of the shoulder on the plastic walls, every muffled cough, echoes loudly through the rows.

READ MORE ....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/business/global/02capsule.html?em

Market-Ticker.org | Here It Comes... (Sovereign Treasury Sales)

December 3, 2009

I have repeatedly warned that there's an "end game" coming if we do not cut out the monetization games.

I have repeatedly warned that the "end of the world" scenario comes about if The Government cannot finance its operating requirements (e.g. interest cost exceeds income), as that event will result in an instantaneous "death spiral" of credit downgrades and ramping CDS spreads, which in turn drive up interest rates further, etc.

I have repeatedly warned that if we do not get our own house in order others will force it upon us, as we have given them the weapons to do so by selling trillions of dollars worth of Treasuries to overseas sovereigns and institutions over which we can exert no control (except by threatening to use our 6,000 nuclear weapons.)

This morning there's a nasty rumor on the wire - that Japan may be intending to sell US Treasuries ....

SOURCE

http://market-ticker.org/archives/1693-Here-It-Comes...-Sovereign-Treasury-Sales.html

Japan Times | Retired diplomat to testify on secret pact: Ex-bureaucrat, 91, set to tell court of Okinawa reversion deal

To take the stand: Bunroku Yoshino, 91, a retired senior Foreign Ministry official, is interviewed recently. KYODO PHOTO

November 30, 2009 - A former senior Foreign Ministry official will testify Tuesday before the Tokyo District Court about state documents that plaintiffs argue indicate the existence of a secret Japan-U.S. pact about cost burdens for the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japan.

Although successive administrations of the now-ousted Liberal Democratic Party consistently denied the secret pact existed, 91-year-old Bunroku Yoshino, the ministry's former American Bureau chief who was one of Japan's negotiators for the reversion, has claimed otherwise.

The documents include one that is supposed to indicate that Japan secretly shouldered $4 million in costs on behalf of the United States to restore Okinawa farmland used by the U.S. military ....

Source:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091130a1.html

Xinhua | China, Japan plan first joint military exercise

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (R) shakes hands with visiting Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie prior to their meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 27, 2009.
(Xinhua/Ren Zhenglai)

TOKYO, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Japan and China agreed Friday to enhance defense exchanges as part of the efforts to further boost bilateral ties and mutual trust.

Visiting Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and his Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa said during a joint press conference that Japan and China will "comprehensively promote strategic and mutually beneficial relations of the two countries through continuous and stable defense exchanges."

In a joint declaration released after their meeting, the two sides said they will hold a joint naval drill for search and rescue operations for the first time and a meeting of high-level defense officials and uniformed officers regularly.

According to Japanese Defense Ministry, the joint drill will be held next year.

The two countries also agreed Japan's defense minister will visit China next year and that they will start discussions on mutual cooperation in the areas of disaster relief activities and U.N. peacekeeping operations.

In addition, the chief of staff of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Forces will make a visit to China next year and high-level Chinese military delegation is expected to visit Japan in return. The training squadron of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces is also scheduled to visit China for exchanges in 2010.

The two sides also vowed to continue talks and work on the early establishment of a maritime communication mechanism between the defense departments.

Before holding talks with his Japanese counterpart, Liang met Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and conveyed greetings from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Liang, who started the five-day visit to Japan on Friday, is the first Chinese defense minister to visit Japan since Cao Gangchuan did so in August 2007.

Source:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/27/content_12552393.htm

Xinhua | Japanese gov't finds documents proving existence of secret Japan-U.S. nuke pact: reports

TOKYO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese foreign ministry has found documents proving the existence of a secret Japan-U.S. pact that allows U.S. military vessels or aircraft carrying nuclear weapons to enter Japanese territory, local media reported Sunday, citing ministry sources.

A team of about 15 people, led by Mitsuru Kitano, a secretariat councilor in the ministry, found the documents during an investigation of ministry files, according to the sources. And the team informed Okada of its discovery on Friday.

"The probe is now in the final stage, and we will announce the outcome in January," Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada was quoted by Kyodo News as saying on Saturday.

On Sept. 17, Okada ordered thorough investigation into the alleged secret pacts one day after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama formally launched his DPJ-led cabinet.

As the secret nuclear pact serves as a breach of Japan's three non-nuclear principles of possessing, producing or permitting the bringing-in of nuclear weapons on its soil, Former LDP-led government had always denied its existence, arguing that as they had never faced demands for prior consultations, they had to conclude that nuclear weapons had not been brought to Japan.

The Japan Times | Invading jellyfish put hurt on fishermen, swimmers - Menace laid to warming seas, China pollution

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009 - ECHIZEN, Fukui Pref. — A blood-orange blob the size of a small refrigerator emerged from the dark waters, its venomous tentacles trapped in a fishing net. Within minutes, hundreds more were being hauled up, a pulsating mass crowding out the catch of mackerel and sea bass.

A giant jellyfish drifts off Kokonogi port in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, on Oct. 14th

Fishermen at the port haul in a net full of jellyfish

The fishermen leaned into the nets, grunting and grumbling as they tossed the translucent jellyfish back into the bay, giants weighing up to 200 kg, marine invaders that are putting the men's livelihoods at risk.

The venom of the Nomura's jellyfish, the world's largest species at up to 2 meters in diameter, can ruin a whole day's catch by tainting or killing fish stung when ensnared with them in the maze of nets here in Wakasa Bay.

"Some fishermen have just stopped fishing," said Taiichiro Hamano, 67. "When you pull in the nets and see jellyfish, you get depressed."

Hamano said this year's jellyfish swarm is one of the worst he has seen. Once considered a rarity occurring every 40 years, they are now an almost annual occurrence along several thousand kilometers of Japanese coast, and far beyond Japan.

Scientists believe climate change — the warming of the oceans — has allowed some of the almost 2,000 jellyfish species to expand their ranges, appear earlier in the year and increase overall numbers, much as warming has helped ticks, bark beetles and other pests to spread to new latitudes.

The gelatinous seaborne creatures are blamed for decimating fishing industries in the Bering and Black seas, forcing the shutdown of seaside power and desalination plants in Japan, the Middle East and Africa, and terrorizing beach-goers worldwide, the U.S. National Science Foundation says.

A 2008 foundation study cited research estimating that people are stung 500,000 times every year — sometimes multiple times — in Chesapeake Bay on the U.S. East Coast, and 20 to 40 die each year in the Philippines from jellyfish stings.

In 2007, a salmon farm in Northern Ireland lost its more than 100,000 fish to an attack by the mauve stinger, a jellyfish normally known for stinging bathers in warm Mediterranean waters. Scientists cite its migration to colder Irish seas as evidence of global warming.

Increasingly polluted waters — off China, for example — boost growth of the microscopic plankton that "jellies" feed upon, while overfishing has eliminated many of the jellyfish's predators and cut down on competitors for plankton feed.

"These increases in jellyfish should be a warning sign that our oceans are stressed and unhealthy," said Lucas Brotz, a University of British Columbia researcher.

Here on the rocky Echizen coast, amid floodlights and the roar of generators, fishermen at Kokonogi's bustling port made quick work of the day's catch — packaging glistening fish and squid in Styrofoam boxes for shipment to market.

In rain jackets and hip waders, they crowded around a visitor to tell how the jellyfish have upended a way of life in which men worked trawlers on the high seas in their younger days and later eased toward retirement by joining one of the cooperatives operating nets set in the bay.

It was a good living, they said, until the jellyfish began inundating the bay in 2002, sometimes numbering 500 million, reducing fish catches by 30 percent and slashing prices by half over concerns about quality.

Two nets in Echizen burst last month during a typhoon because of the sheer weight of the jellyfish, and off the east coast jelly-filled nets capsized a 10-ton trawler as its crew tried to pull them up. The three fishermen were rescued.

"We have been getting rid of jellyfish. But no matter how hard we try, the jellyfish keep coming and coming," said Fumio Oma, whose crew is out of work after their net broke under the weight of thousands of jellyfish. "We need the government's help to get rid of the jellyfish."

The invasions cost the industry up to ¥30 billion a year, and tens of thousands of fishermen have sought government compensation, said scientist Shinichi Uye, Japan's leading expert on the problem.

Hearing fishermen's pleas, Uye, who had been studying zooplankton, became obsessed with the little-studied Nomura's jellyfish, scientifically known as Nemopilema nomurai, which at its biggest looks like a giant mushroom trailing dozens of noodlelike tentacles.

"No one knew their life cycle, where they came from, where they reproduced," said Uye, 59. "This jellyfish was like an alien."

He artificially bred Nomura's jellyfish in his Hiroshima University lab, learning about their life cycle, growth rates and feeding habits. He traveled by ferry between China to Japan this year to confirm they were riding currents to Japanese waters. FULL STORY >>>>

All aboard rescued after ferry that left Tokeyo runs aground

November 14, 2009 - Japan's coast guard has rescued all 28 people who were aboard a ferry that ran aground in the Pacific ocean.

Some of the passengers on board the 7,910-ton Ariake were winched onto a helicopter before the ship rolled onto its side. Others were saved by coastguard patrol ships after jumping into the sea. The ship, a commercial ferry carrying 3,300 tonnes of cargo, started tipping onto its side 20 kilometres off western Japan, leaking fuel and belching black smoke.

Mainichi Japan | Japan's attempt to rely less on U.S. chills bilateral ties

November 10, 2009

The ongoing discord between Japan and the United States over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma has demonstrated that the bilateral alliance has come to a turning point.

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led administration's attempt to rely less on the United States has chilled bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's remarks in his talks with Chinese and South Korean leaders in Beijing in mid-October that "Japan has tended to rely excessively on the United States. We'll work out policies that attach more importance to Asia" have angered the United States.

In a meeting with Senior Vice Foreign Minister Koichi Takemasa two days later, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell criticized Hatoyama for making the remarks without consulting Washington and asked Takemasa about what the prime minister precisely meant.

Hatoyama's remarks, which pleased Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, have raised concern within the U.S. administration that Tokyo is distancing itself from Washington.

The first summit between Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama in New York on Sept. 23 was aimed at demonstrating their efforts to nurture mutual trust rather than negotiate outstanding bilateral issues.

However, Japan-U.S. relations have been strained since then. A senior Foreign Ministry official says bilateral ties have entered a "period of winter-like hardship" while a high-ranking official at the Defense Ministry warns they have worsened to an "alarming level."

The discord is attributable partly to Japan's decision to withdraw Maritime Self-Defense Force troops from missions in the Indian Ocean to refuel foreign vessels engaged in the war against terror and Hatoyama's proposal for the formation of an East Asian Community.

However, the main cause of the discord is the Hatoyama administration's indecisiveness over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.

The Cabinet is divided over the relocation. The prime minister is seeking to postpone a final decision until after the Nago mayoral election in January, in consideration of the DPJ's election campaign pledge to relocate it out of the prefecture, as the city was designated by the previous government as the site for the relocation.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has called for the integration of Futenma base with U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa has urged that the base be relocated to an offshore area of Camp Schwab in Nago within this year in line with the bilateral agreement.

Aides to Hatoyama said the prime minister should make a final decision without narrowing differences within the Cabinet.

"We should leave it until the prime minister makes a final decision. If Japan obeys what the United States says whenever bilateral relations are strained, we can't end our reliance on the United States," one of them said.

Some government officials are even attempting to take advantage of the conflict within the administration to demonstrate the DPJ's efforts to transform the bureaucrat-dominated government into one led by politicians.

The government is also trying to use the Futenma relocation issue as a litmus test for whether it can end its reliance on the United States and achieve an equal partnership between the two countries.

Campbell, who initially chose to take a wait-and-see attitude toward the Hatoyama administration, is now under fire from within the Obama administration for making an error in his initial response to Japan's new administration.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who visited Japan on Oct. 20 and 21, strongly pressured Tokyo to go ahead with the agreed-upon plan to relocate Futenma base in Ginowan to Nago.

However, it only stirred opposition in Japan. "He acted as if he were the commander of occupation forces. He tightened the screw too much, causing it to break," said one Japan-U.S. diplomatic source.

In the upcoming summit in Tokyo, Hatoyama and Obama intend to reconfirm that they will strengthen the bilateral alliance without having in-depth discussions on the Futenma issue. However, it reflects their sense of crisis.

Bruce Klingner, a senior researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation, predicts that Japan-U.S. relations will remain chilled after the two countries settle their dispute over the Futenma relocation. Klingner, a former Central Intelligence Agency official, also pointed out that current bilateral ties are similar to U.S.-South Korean ties under the administration of President Roh Moo-hyun, who was supported by anti-U.S. forces. (By Takashi Sudo and Yu Takayama, Political News Department)

(This is the first part of a three-part series on the Japan-U.S. alliance)

Related articles

• Hatoyama's push to review Japan-U.S. alliance comes from desire for independence
• Hatoyama's calls for independence from U.S. lack vision

Kyodo.co.jp | U.S. agrees to mull base-related environment pact with Japan

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 2009 (AP)

The United States has agreed to discuss with Japan a possible special bilateral pact that would address environmental pollution or destruction at U.S. military bases in Japan, the governor of Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture said Friday.

The agreement emerged when Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa and Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima held separate talks with senior U.S. Defense and State department officials, Matsuzawa told a joint news conference with Nakaima in Washington.

AP | George W. Bush throws out first pitch in Japan - while protestors were throwing shoes at a cutout picture of him

TOKYO — November 3, 2009 - Former President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the Japan Series between the Yomiuri Giants and Nippon Ham Fighters.

Bush, wearing a Yomiuri warmup jacket, took the mound Tuesday at Tokyo Dome and threw a pitch to Giants catcher Shinnosuke Abe that bounced once in the dirt before being caught.

Bush chatted briefly with several players after walking off the field and watched the game in a private box with former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Also in the box were Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh and U.S. Ambassador John Roos.

The Giants won the game 7-4 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, Japan's version of the World Series.

Protesters throw shoes to a cutout of former President George W. Bush near Tokyo Dome where Bush is visiting to watch a Japan Series baseball game in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009.
(AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)


A demonstrator holds up a placard protesting against former President George W. Bush near Tokyo Dome where Bush is visiting to watch a Japan Series baseball game in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Telegraph.co.uk | Japanese fishing trawler sunk by giant jellyfish A 10-ton fishing boat has been sunk by gigantic jellyfish off eastern Japan.

USGS | 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN - 280 km (175 miles) SSW of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan - Fri, Oct 30, 2009

MAP

6.9

2009/10/30 07:03:40

29.154

129.903

35.0

RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN