Japan

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Tokyo Snags the 2020 Olympics

Beats Istanbul, Madrid, despite concerns about Fukushima

(Newser) - Tokyo has been awarded the 2020 Olympics, capitalizing on its reputation as a "safe pair of hands" and defying concerns about the Fukushima nuclear crisis. Tokyo defeated Istanbul in the final round of secret voting today by the International Olympic Committee. Madrid was eliminated earlier after an initial tie...

Japan Moves to Fund 'Ice Wall' Around Fukushima

Government to invest $473M in project

(Newser) - With dangerous radioactivity continuing to plague Fukushima Dai-ichi, Japan is preparing to make good on plans to build a wall of ice around the plant. The country will spend some $473 million on the project, which involves piping coolant through walls of frozen soil surrounding the plant. That should keep...

Radiation Soars to Lethal Levels at Fukushima

18 times worse than previously thought

(Newser) - New tests at Fukushima have found radiation levels around its tanks are up to 18 times worse than previously thought—high enough to kill someone within four hours of exposure, reports the BBC . What's caused the alarming spike? More accurate measuring equipment, says plant operator TEPCO. The previous equipment...

Japan's New 'Smart Rocket' Fails to Blast Off

Launch of self-monitoring Epsilon delayed

(Newser) - Japan's new era of "smart rockets" got off to a less than auspicious start today when the launch of its new Epsilon rocket was canceled seconds before blast-off. The Epsilon, the country's first new rocket in 12 years, is capable of running its own status checks using...

Fukushima Alert Level Gets First Upgrade Since 2011

Meaning it's at its highest since the meltdown

(Newser) - With Fukushima's radioactive leak now leakier , Japan's nuclear agency plans to up the alert level of the problem from a one to a three, reports the BBC —that's from an "anomaly" to a "serious incident," per the UN's International Nuclear and Radiological...

Huge Volcano Blast Showers City in Ash

Sakurajima eruption 'was a bit dramatic, but we are kind of used to it,' says resident

(Newser) - Residents in a southern Japanese city are busy washing ash off the streets today after a nearby volcano spewed a record-high smoke plume into the sky. Ash wafted as high as three miles above the Sakurajima volcano in the southern city of Kagoshima yesterday afternoon, forming its highest plume since...

Japan Debuts Biggest Warship Since WWII Era

Izumo weighs in at 19.5K tons

(Newser) - Japan has unveiled its largest warship since World War II—and China sees the move as the naval equivalent of Japan thumping its chest. The $1.23 billion Izumo is a 19,500-ton vessel equipped with what Time calls "a conspicuously large flight deck" capable of carrying 14 helicopters;...

Tons of Fukushima's Tainted Water Entering Pacific

And we literally mean tons, some 300 a day

(Newser) - Things have gone from bad to worse to this at Fukushima: A government official says roughly 300 tons of contaminated water are leaking from the crippled nuclear plant into the Pacific each day. The New York Times paints a mental picture: That's enough to fill one Olympic-sized pool per...

Japan Wants US Choppers Grounded After Crash

Remains found near crash site

(Newser) - Japan is calling on Washington to stop flying its HH-60 helicopters in the wake of yesterday's crash in Okinawa . "We have asked the US not to fly the same aircraft until they find out the cause of the accident and take preventive steps," says defense minister Itsunori...

Fukushima Leak Now an 'Emergency'

Underground barriers not working, radioactive water now rising to ground level

(Newser) - Just weeks after TEPCO finally acknowledged that radioactive water is leaking from its Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, the head of Japan's Nuclear Regulatory Authority has called the situation an "emergency." Shinji Kinjo tells Reuters that TEPCO's "sense of crisis is weak" and the country can'...

Helicopter Crashes on US Base in Japan

One crew member injured: report

(Newser) - A US military helicopter crashed today on the Japanese island of Okinawa, and Japan's defense minister says three of those in the chopper ejected themselves to safety while one was injured and hospitalized. No locals were hurt in the crash at US Marine Camp Hansen, though Reuters notes that...

Obama Nominates Caroline Kennedy as Ambassador to Japan

She would be the first woman in the job

(Newser) - Caroline Kennedy is finally getting a high-profile thank-you for all the help she has given President Obama over the years: He nominated her to be the next ambassador to Japan today, reports CNN . Assuming the Senate goes along, JFK's 55-year-old daughter will become the first woman to hold the...

Passers-by Push 32-Ton Train Off Woman

Somehow, she walks away basically unscathed

(Newser) - A woman fell into the gap between a Tokyo train and the station platform yesterday during the morning rush hour as she tried to disembark, and got trapped—but fortunately for her, about 40 commuters and staffers came to her aid in a pretty wild way. They managed to push...

Fukushima Leak Finally Declared Reality

TEPCO admits radioactive water likely seeped into the sea

(Newser) - More than two years after disaster struck the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, TEPCO has confirmed what pretty much everybody thought: radioactive water that leaked from the wrecked reactors is believed to have seeped into the underground water system, TEPCO officials finally admitted today at a regular news conference. Japan's...

Japan PM's Party Wins Control of Parliament

Abe's LDP controls both chambers for 1st time since '07

(Newser) - Japanese broadcasters projected that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition won a majority of seats in the upper house of parliament in elections today, giving it control of both chambers for the first time in six years. The win is seen as an endorsement of Abe's economic program,...

Russian War Games the Biggest Since USSR Days

Effort may be aimed at China, Japan: experts

(Newser) - Economic struggles following the Soviet Union's collapse hit Russia's military hard—but today, its power was on full display in the country's biggest war games since the Soviet era. Some 160,000 troops and 5,000 tanks were deployed in Siberia and far eastern Russia, the AP...

Japan Will Sell More Adult Diapers Than Baby Diapers by 2020

Aging population drives incontinence market growth

(Newser) - Hot stock tip: the market for "incontinence products" in Japan is a $1.4 billion-per-year industry, and it's growing at 6-10% a year, thanks to the country's aging population, reports Japanese newspaper Nikkei, per Quartz . Japan has the highest percentage of people over the age of 65...

Australia, Japan Take Whaling Brawl to the Hague

Legal battle in UN court could end annual hunt for good

(Newser) - Japan and Australia have begun battling it out in the UN's International Court of Justice over the former's annual whale hunt. Commercial whaling was banned in 1986, but Japan continues to kill minke and fin whales for what it argues is legitimate scientific research, reports the AP . "...

More Bad Fukushima News
 More Bad Fukushima News 
Jun 19, 2013 12:54 PM CDT

More Bad Fukushima News

Radioactive substances found in groundwater

(Newser) - The fallout from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant disaster continues . The latest: Tests found that groundwater there contained 30 times the legal level of the radioactive substance Strontium-90, and eight times the legal amount of the radioactive isotope tritium, reports the BBC . A TEPCO official says the working theory is...

New Japanese Fad: Eyeball Licking

Not only gross—it also spreads pinkeye

(Newser) - The hot new thing amongst Japanese teens? Licking each others' eyeballs. Also known as "oculolinctus" and "worming," it's a sexual thing, and was probably inspired by a music video clip (it's at 3:30; you know you want to look), reports ABC News . Apparently, an...

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