News Forum

[Isan]

Five dead, two missing as heavy rain hits northern Japan


SANJO, Japan (AFP) - Five people have died and two others have been reported missing as the heaviest rain to strike Japan in six years wreaked havoc north of Tokyo, triggering flooding and landslides, officials said.

The five elderly victims, aged between 72 and 83, were either found drowned or trapped under landslides as torrential rain since Tuesday destroyed their homes, local police and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

Although there was a lull in the rainfall in Niigata prefecture, 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, early Wednesday, the Meteorological Agency said it feared rain would shift further north.

"Caution is still needed and there are still fears of further landslide damage," said agency official Hiroyuki Koba.

"The rain has slowed in Niigata but the rainfall is continuing further north."

In the Niigata town of Sanjo, the rain had stopped and rivers were no longer cresting their banks, but some roads were closed off as local officials tried to repair flood damage, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

Some 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain has fallen since Monday in Niigata, which exceeded the previous record rainfall in the region, in August 1998, the agency said, warning of further rain over the next several days.

An 83-year-old farmer was found dead after a mudslide destroyed his house in Tochio, Niigata prefecture, said a spokesman for the Niigata Police Department.

A 72-year-old housewife was found dead in Izumozaki, also in Niigata, after her house was engulfed by a landslide, the spokesman said.

Another 78-year-old man in Sanjo died after his house was flooded while two women in their 70s were found drowned, police said.

Some 13,700 households were ordered or recommended to evacuate their homes, 22,400 houses experienced flood damage and at least 39 landslides were reported, officials said.

Wed Jul 14, 1:14 PM ET

[maxxam80]

oh dear

Japan's cities sure do take a beating what with earthquakes etc

[Isan]

Passengers have been evacuated from a subway station in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, after a liquid-filled bottle with wires attached was discovered on a platform.

Subway officials say the bottle was found on a bench at Magome Station on Friday morning.

The station was evacuated and the subway service halted for about 25 minutes while the bottle was disposed of by an explosives squad.

The contents of the bottle are not yet known.

Security on Tokyo's subway system was tightened in March after a letter purportedly from al Qaeda named Japan as a possible target.

A 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by the Aum Supreme Truth sect killed 12 people and made thousands ill.


16/07/2004 17:38:18 | ABC Radio Australia News

[Nick]

Scary stuff man.

Landslides.

Im heading up to northern Japan in a few weeks on the skywave for an epic 10 day tour.I hope everything is ok up there when I start snapping with my camera

[Isan]

Major Japanese lenders Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ Holdings say they have agreed to work on a merger to create the world's biggest banking group.

Japan's second- and fourth-largest banking groups have launched talks on management integration.

They say the aim is to reach a basic agreement by the end of this month and to complete the transaction by September next year.

The Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group says through the merger, the companies can dramatically increase their potential to become a globally competitive financial group.

If the plan proceeds, the merged bank would have combined assets of 1.73 trillion US dollars.

The deal would displace Citigroup of the United States as the world's biggest banking group.

17/07/2004 18:36:35 | ABC Radio Australia News

[Isan]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Heavy downpours lashed areas of northern Japan Saturday as they struggled to clean up following torrential rains earlier in the week, taking the death toll to 14, with one person missing.

Flood warnings were issued for areas of Niigata prefecture and the Meteorological Agency warned that some parts of Niigata faced the worst danger of landslides in recent years.

Around 12,000 households were told to evacuate.

Unprecedented downpours on Tuesday caused swollen rivers to burst their banks, set off landslides in Niigata, forced thousands to evacuate and trapped thousands more in their homes, awaiting rescue.

All but one of the 14 dead were people in their 70s and 80s, a Niigata police spokesman said.

About 1.6 inches of rain fell in one hour on some parts of Niigata, the Meteorological Agency said. Up to 5.9 inches was predicted by Sunday evening.

"Given that the rain has grown stronger since dawn on Saturday, the area faces some of the worst landslide danger in years," the agency said.

Nearby Yamagata prefecture was also receiving heavy rain.

Sat Jul 17, 4:33 AM ET

[maxxam80]

Scary stuff man.

Landslides.

Im heading up to northern Japan in a few weeks on the skywave for an epic 10 day tour.I hope everything is ok up there when I start snapping with my camera


any Sapporo???

wish I could join you

enjoy your tour

[Isan]

Big News Network.com Wednesday 28th July, 2004

While foreign visitors to Universal Studios Japan increased from April to June, the number of local fun-seekers hit its lowest point since the park's opening.

Overseas visitors to the Hollywood-style theme park in Osaka during the three-month period more than tripled from the same quarter last year, the park said.

Of 1.89 million visitors to the park, 170,000 were from overseas, mainly from Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Park officials attribute this to increased name recognition in Asian countries and the public's renewed interest in foreign travel with the fading of SARS fears, reported the Yomiuri Shimbun Wednesday.

However, the total number of visitors in the quarter was less than 2 million people for the first time since the park opened in 2001. In the same quarter last year the figure reached 2.65 million. The park has set this year's target as 9.2 million visitors.

[Isan]

Big News Network.com Thursday 29th July, 2004

Japan will raise import tariffs on pork in order to protect its own pork growers, the government said Thursday.

The increase, averaging 25 percent, will be put in place Aug. 1 and continue until the end of March 2005. The government said that a rise in pork imports was in part due to the ban on U.S. beef as a result of an outbreak of mad cow disease, which increased demand for pork.

Japan imported 316,755 tons of pork during the April to June quarter, and tariff increases are allowed when imports exceed 257,004 tons under the current tariff system.

The increase will raise the average price of imported pork by as much as $1.20 per 2.2 pounds.

[maxxam80]

a country that can sustain its self

thats what I like

[Isan]

Sat Jul 31, 4:58 AM ET


TOKYO, (AFP) - A strong typhoon has slammed into southwestern Japan, bringing torrential rain, strong winds and high waves to the Pacific coast.



The Meteorological Agency said Typhoon Namtheum hit Kochi prefecture in the Shikoku region, 600 kilometers (375 miles) southwest of the capital Tokyo, shortly after 4:00 pm (0700 GMT).

It was moving northwest at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour and packing a maximum wind speed of 126 kilometers per hour, it said.

Weather and emergency officials issued warnings for possible landslides and other natural disasters in Shikoku and the Chugoku and Kyushu regions, also likely to be touched by the typhoon as it heads towards South Korea (news - web sites).

In the 24 hours to 3:00 pm Sunday, the agency expected the regions to see rainfall of up to 500 millimeters (nearly 20 inches).

There were no reports of major injuries because of the storm.

In Hyogo prefecture, 450 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, strong wind blew a canopy off an office building and an 86-year-old building manager broke his nose in the accident, police said.

The storm forced more than some 127 domestic flights to be cancelled, national broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) said.

Other major media reported dozens of people in the Shikoku region had voluntarily evacuated their houses and left for schools and other temporary shelters.

[Isan]

Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has unveiled plans to merge with ailing rival UFJ, potentially derailing an existing bid from Mitsubishi Tokyo.

The move casts doubt on the UFJ-Mitsubishi merger, a deal which would create the world's biggest bank.

Sumitomo's president, Yoshifumi Nishikawa, said the bank aimed to table a merger proposal later on Friday.

UFJ said it would continue to pursue a tie-up with Mitsubishi, but would weigh up Sumitomo's proposal.

Talks suspended

"We are willing to listen to what Sumitomo Mitsui has to say," a UFJ spokesman said.

A rival offer from Sumitomo has been on the cards since Tuesday, when the bank won a court order blocking merger discussions between UFJ and Mitsubishi.

Sumitomo argued that the proposed tie-up would breach an existing agreement it had with UFJ to buy its trust banking operations.

Mitsubishi and UFJ had originally hoped that their merger, which would create a combined group with 188.7 trillion yen ($1.7 trillion ; £0.9 trillion), would be complete by the autumn.

Osaka-based UFJ, the smallest of Japan's 'Big Four' banks, is keen to join forces with a larger rival.

Weighed down by bad loans, the bank crashed to loss of 402 billion yen in its most recent financial year, prompting the resignation of senior executives.


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[Isan]

But property costs in prime city locations continue rise

The average price of land along select major thoroughfares was down this year for the 12th straight year, the National Tax Agency said Monday.

As of Jan. 1, the average price of such land had fallen 5 percent from a year earlier to 115,000 yen per square meter. But the margin of decline, based on appraisals by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry at about 410,000 locations across Japan, narrowed from the previous year's 6.2 percent, the agency said.

Tax authorities will use the so-called roadside land price to assess inheritance, gift and land taxes for 2004.

Meanwhile, land prices in prime big city locations continued to rise due to large-scale redevelopment projects. The price of land in the Marunouchi business district in Tokyo, for example, rose 5 percent, and that of a shopping district in Naka Ward, Nagoya, was up 1.5 percent.

But average land prices in all 47 prefectures fell from a year earlier. Yamanashi Prefecture saw the largest decrease at 11.1 percent.

The margin of decline in average land prices in 25 prefectures was wider than that seen the year before.

The average in Tokyo fell 1.5 percent, but the margin of decline narrowed for the fifth year in a row.

A piece of land in front of the stationery store Kyukyodo in Tokyo's Ginza district continued to be the most expensive in Japan, for the 19th straight year, at 13.76 million yen per square meter. That is up 8.2 percent from the previous year.

The prices of the most expensive land in prefectural capitals rose in Tokyo, Nagoya and Fukuoka, while those in Sapporo, Kyoto and Osaka remained unchanged.

However, the most expensive prices in five prefectural capitals, including Akita in Akita Prefecture and Kofu in Yamanashi Prefecture, fell more than 20 percent.

In terms of regions, the rate of decline narrowed to 2.7 percent from 4 percent for the greater Tokyo area, including central Tokyo, and Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures, and to 7.7 percent from 8.7 percent for the Osaka region, comprising parts of Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto and Nara prefectures.

It also narrowed for the Nagoya region, comprising central Aichi Prefecture and part of Mie Prefecture, from 6.5 percent to 6 percent.

The Japan Times: Aug. 3, 2004

[Isan]

August 06, 2004

PRINCESS Kikuko, Emperor Akihito's aunt, was taken to a Tokyo hospital with breathing problems today, the Imperial Household Agency said.

An ambulance rushed the 92-year-old princess to Tokyo's St Luke's International Hospital, agency spokesman Takamitsu Otani said. She was in stable condition, he added.

Doctors were to examine Kikuko to determine whether she needed to be admitted, Otani said.

The princess was hospitalised on July 8 after choking on phlegm. She was discharged on July 20.

Kikuko and her husband Takamatsu had no children.

Takamatsu, the late Emperor Hirohito's younger brother, died of lung cancer in 1987 at the age of 82.

Kikuko is the granddaughter of Japan's last shogun, or feudal lord, Yoshinobu Tokugawa.

[Isan]

The mayor of Hiroshima slammed the United States for continuing to develop nuclear arms, the 59th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing which killed tens of thousands of people in this western Japanese city.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meanwhile pledged at a ceremony here to mark the August 6, 1945 World War II bombing by the United States that Japan would stick to its post-1945 war-renouncing constitution.

"The egocentric world view of the US government is reaching extremes," mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said at the ceremony held against the backdrop of the Atomic Bomb Dome, the preserved ruins of one of the few buildings not flattened by the blast.

"Ignoring the United Nations and its foundation of international law, the United States has resumed research to make nuclear weapons smaller and more usable," the mayor told 45,000 people at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

Meanwhile, a chain of violence and retaliation around the world showed no sign of ending, he said.

"Reliance on violence-amplifying terror and North Korea, among others, buying into the worthless policy of 'nuclear insurance' are salient symbols of our times," he said.

As the clock clicked onto 8:15 am (2315 GMT Thursday), the exact time the United States dropped the bomb code-named "Little Boy", those at the ceremony bowed their heads for a minute's silence in memory of victims of the attack.

Around 140,000 people -- almost half the city's population of the time -- died immediately or in the months after the dropping of the 20 kiloton atomic bomb, from radiation injuries or horrific burns.

During Friday's ceremony officials added to the existing toll the names of 5,142 atomic bomb suffers who died or were confirmed dead during the past year.

The additions brought the cumulative death toll associated with the effects of the bombing to to 237,062.

The Hiroshima bombing was followed by the dropping of a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, leaving tens of thousands more dead.

The appalling loss of life among ordinary Japanese was credited with forcing Japan to surrender six days later, ending World War II in the Pacific theatre.

The mayor also declared the period from Friday to August 9, 2005 to be a year of "Remembrance and Action for a Nuclear-Free World", while calling on Americans to act as "a people of conscience."

Koizumi said at the solemn ceremony that Japan had no plans to change its pacificist constitution.

"We, as the only atomic-bombed nation, will abide by the pacifist constitution under the firm resolve no to repeat the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he said.

The head of a group of survivors of the bombs said they were "boiling with anger" over global stockpiles of nuclear weapons and the spreading violence since the September 2001 attacks on the United States.

"We have a grave duty in today's critical situation ...," Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-Bomb Suffers Organisations head Sunao Tsuboi said.

"We have to pass stories of our suffering from generation to generation and appeal more to the public about the terrible nature of nuclear weapons," he said.

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[Isan]

Beijing is stepping up security to head off any potential violence at a politically charged Asian Cup final between China and Japan.

Security guards late Friday night were combing the neighborhood around the stadium in Beijing, gathering rocks and pebbles that could be used by angry Chinese fans.

Bar owners in the area have been ordered to fully staff their premises, limit the number of patrons and discourage them from drinking hard liquor, the Beijing Times said.

The Chinese government has also urged fans not to let festering political emotions ruin the showpiece Asian Cup final.

At least 6,000 police and security personnel are expected to surround the 66,000-seat Workers' Stadium after Japanese fans and players were harassed by rowdy fans in their preliminary matches in Chongqing and Jinan.

The military's People's Armed Police officers will also be on hand if needed, Beijing newspapers said.

"Personnel who are on duty have predicted what might happen and have made adequate preparation," the China Youth Daily quoted Li DengKe, head of the Beijing division of the People's Armed Police, saying.

The extra security measures come after rowdy Chinese fans booed the Japanese team and national anthem throughout the championship and pelted spectators with plastic bottles as fans bristled about Japan's war-time past, fueled by widespread belief that Tokyo had not faced up to war-time atrocities.

While the players will be trying to focus on the football, the match has assumed political connotations with senior leaders from both countries chipping in with comments about the booing antics of Chinese fans.

Tokyo made a formal protest while China hit back with its own complaints over a gaffe that saw Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its territory, identified as a separate country in the Japanese Football Association's Asian Cup media guide.

A Japanese diplomat Saturday said Japan has also taken measures to ensure the safety of its citizens, including many fans who have travelled to China to support their team.

"We have been in very close contact with the Chinese side, not only the foreign ministry but security departments to make sure nothing happens to the Japanese team, supporters and Japanese people not only in Beijing but other cities," said Hidehisa Horinouchi, a minister at the embassy.

The embassy has issued a notice on its website advising Japanese nationals to avoid crowds and for Japanese fans to sit only in the portion of the stadium set aside for them and not to wear the team strip or colours outside the stadium.

"We ask them not to leave the stadium immediately after the game. The security officials will guide (them) out," said Horinouchi.

In a sign China wants to show good sportsmanship, officials have announced to Japan that a highranking Chinese leader -- a member of the 24-member top Communist Party Politburo -- will likely attend the match and sit beside Japanese ambassador Koreshige Anami in the VIP section, Horinouchi said.

"The two of them will be broadcast on the big screen sitting next to each other," Horinouchi said.

China, which will host the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, also wants to preserve its reputation as a sports game host.

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[jimm]

Congratulation, Japanese, you are the champions of Asia. As i saw this game i liked the secon goal - "Maradona style". :cheers:

[Isan]

At least four workers were killed and seven others were severely burned by a leak of non-radioactive steam at a nuclear plant in central Japan, in the latest blow the country's troubled nuclear industry.

The nuclear power plant at Mihama, 350 kilometres (220 miles) west of Tokyo, shut down automatically when an alarm sounded just before the accident and the plant's operators stressed there was no danger of a radiation leak.

A police spokesman in Fukui prefecture confirmed four people were killed in the accident, which happened in the turbine room of a pressurised water reactor at the plant which is run by the Kansai Electric Power Company.

A spokesman for the local fire brigade said the heart of another worker stopped beating at one stage, but it was not possible to confirm the patient's condition.

An official from Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the leaked steam would not have contained radiation as the turbines in the water reactors do not come into contact with the nuclear reactors.

Monday's incident is likely to further undermine public confidence in Japan's nuclear industry which has been shaken by a series of accidents and scandals in recent years.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed regret at the loss of life and stressed the need for high safety standards in an industry that provides Japan with over a quarter of its energy.

"The cause of the accident must be clarified. Prevention efforts and safety measures have to be fully enforced," Koizumi said.

Hiroshi Matsumura, managing director of Kansai Electric, apologised. "It is extremely regrettable. To those who were injured and to the public, we apologise," he told a press conference.

The latest accident happened when a nuclear reactor and a turbine connected to the reactor automatically stopped because of an alarm, Kansai Electric said in a statement.

Following the shutdown steam at over 200 degrees Centigrade (390 degrees Fahrenheit) filled up the turbine room causing severe injuries to workers trapped inside, the statement said.

The cause of the alarm was under investigation, the company said.

It was the first fatal incident at a nuclear-related plant since September 1999, when two workers were killed at the Tokaimura uranium plant northeast of Tokyo.

More than 600 people were also exposed to radiation after the workers set off a critical reaction by using steel buckets to pour uranium solution into a precipitation tank.

About 320,000 people were evacuated in the incident, regarded as the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Japan's nuclear power industry had only just been recovering from the crisis of confidence caused when Tokyo Electric Power Company, the world's largest energy utility, admitted in 2002 it had systematically covered up inspection data showing there were cracks in its nuclear reactors.

TEPCO was forced shut down all 17 of its reactors last year pending the all-clear from safety inspectors.

Japan, which is the third largest nuclear power producer in the world after the United States and France, is home to 52 nuclear reactors run by 10 private
companies.


Monday August 9, 7:29 PM

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BBC NEWS (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3547828.stm)

[Isan]

Marunouchi Oazo, a multipurpose commercial complex built just north of JR Tokyo Station, opened Tuesday and is expected to be the new face of the neighborhood.

The complex, which takes its name from the Esperanto meaning for "oasis," was developed by Mitsubishi Estate Co. and other developers.

Comprising four brand new buildings and one existing one, the complex is built on the 24,000-square-meter former site of the headquarters of the defunct Japanese National Railways.

A commercial building in the complex houses 24 restaurants and bars from the first basement level to the sixth floor, and a bookstore boasting an inventory of about 1.2 million books, one of the biggest in Japan run by Maruzen Co.

It also houses the 205-room Marunouchi Hotel, which will open Oct. 1, from the seventh floor to the 17th floor.

The area around Tokyo Station had been undergoing a major revitalization recently.

The Marunouchi Building was completed in 2002 in the center of the Marunouchi district. The so-called new Marunouchi Building is slated to open in fiscal 2007 near the station's north entrance. At the Yaesu entrance, which is across the tracks from the north entrance, twin skyscrapers are scheduled to open on a 20,000-square-meter area nearby, one in 2007 and another in 2011.

Tuesday September 14, 9:05 AM

[Isan]

Powerful Typhoon Meari pounded Japan with heavy rain and strong winds, leaving at least two people dead and seven missing, weather officials and police said.

Twenty-six people were injured in the southern regions of Kyushu and Okinawa while mudslides and flooding forced tens of thousands to leave their homes, local police said.

Television footage showed broken banks of swollen rivers and cars churning in flooded roads. The typhoon triggered at least three major landslides in Mie prefecture, western Japan, while troops were deployed to rescue people.

The season's 21st typhoon in the Pacific region, and the eighth to directly hit Japan, landed on Kyushu early on Wednesday.

Packing wind speeds of 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour, the typhoon was over the Shikoku region as of 7:30 pm (1030 GMT), about 600 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The storm forced airlines to cancel more than 200 domestic flights linking the south and west to the rest of the country, the public television network Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) said.

A total of 230 millimeters (9.2 inches) of rain hit Kyushu in the 24 hours to 9:00 am Wednesday.

The rainfall was even harder further to the east, with the typhoon dumping 540 millimeters of rain in the same period in Mie prefecture.

More than 180,000 people were recommended to evacuate, according to NHK.

"Two people, including a 71-year-old man, were found dead and seven others are missing in typhoon-related accidents," a Mie police spokesman said.

A 70-year-old man was found dead in a water-purification tank in the premises of his food company factory in Kyushu's Kagoshima City, police said.

"He may have slipped into the tank after being hit by a gust of wind although we have not determined whether his death was definitely caused by the typhoon," a police official said.

The typhoon was moving northeast at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour and was expected to hit Gunma, 100 kilometers north of Tokyo, by early Thursday.

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[Isan]

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[Isan]

he most powerful typhoon to hit eastern Japan in a decade lashed Tokyo and neighbouring regions, leaving one man dead and three missing while sparking transport chaos amid downpours and landslides.

Typhoon Ma-on hit the Tokyo metropolitan area Saturday afternoon, after slamming into the central Japan prefecture of Shizuoka, the Meteorological Agency said.

It brought about rainfall of 69 millimetres (2.8 inches) for one hour to 6:00 pm (0900 GMT) in central Tokyo, the agency said.

A 55-year-old man died after a mudslide hit his house in Kamakura City, southwest of Tokyo, local police said.

Violent winds and torrential rain caused a blackout for some 180,000 households as of 6:45 pm (0945 GMT) in eastern Japan, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The storm passed near Narita City, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Tokyo, and moved to the Pacific ocean at around 8:00 pm (1100 GMT) at an accelerated speed of 65 kilometres (40 miles) per hour.

Ma-on, a Cantonese word meaning horse saddle, slightly weakened as it passed near the metropolitan area, packing winds of up to 108 kilometres (67 miles) late Saturday.

Television footage showed roofs of Tokyo subway stations leaking badly and cars splashing water as they churned in flooded roads.

A 74-year-old newspaper deliveryman went missing in the town of Onjuku in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, local police said.

"He is feared to have been washed away in a swollen river," a police official said, adding his motorbike had been found turning over on its side near the river.

Another man at sewer work in Tokyo also was missing after gushed away by flush water.

A 60-year-old man went missing in the city of Omaezaki, Shizuoka prefecture, while he was removing flotsam from a stopped-up branch of a neighbourhood river, police said.

A gust of 243.4 kilometres (151 miles) per hour was recorded at a Shizuoka cape of Irozaki, some 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of Tokyo, Saturday afternoon.

The typhoon flooded more than 300 houses and caused 100 landslides, the National Police Agency said.

Several people were injured but none was in a critical condition.

About 6,200 households in central and eastern Japan were ordered or recommended to evacuate, public network Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) said.

"Shinkansen" bullet trains ground to a halt in central and eastern Japan, affecting tens of thousands of passengers. Train station officials with loudspeakers were seen urging holidaymakers to cancel their schedules.

Express roads were partially closed while nearly 200 domestic and international flights were cancelled.

Downpours also disrupted practice runs for Sunday's Formula One Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, on Japan's central Pacific coast.

Race organisers rescheduled Saturday's qualifying sessions for Sunday.

The typhoon is the strongest storm to hit the eastern Japan region centering on Tokyo in 10 years in terms of its atmospheric pressure reading, according to the agency.

It hit Japan just a week after another typhoon, Meari, wreaked havoc over the Japanese islands.

It has left 22 dead, six missing presumed dead, and 89 injured in floods, landslides and other storm-triggered accidents before fizzling out in the northern Pacific, according to the latest count by the National Police Agency.

JAPAN-WEATHER-TYPHOON-6

TOKYO (JAPAN), 10/09 (AFP) - A commuter passes by a flooded road in downtown Tokyo, 09 October 2004, as powerful Typhoon Man-on hits eastern Japan. The most powerful typhoon to hit eastern Japan in a decade was bearing down on Tokyo and neighbouring regions, leaving one man missing and sparking transport chaos amid downpours and strong winds. AFP



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[TRZ]

That Typhoon is not called Ma-on, that's made up! Typhoons are not named in Japan, they are referred to by number (for the year), this was typhoon 22, and Maeri was typhoon 21.

The winds are unlike anything I've ever seen. Through a covered porch, rain water was being blown in under the closed front door. Good thing Japanese entries are sunken. It was raining umbrellas in certain areas too as the winds were too strong to keep hold of your own umbrella if caught outside in the storm.

[Isan]

The most powerful typhoon to hit eastern Japan in a decade fizzled out after causing a trail of destruction which left six people dead and three others missing, police and weather officials said.

Typhoon Ma-on slammed into the Tokyo metropolitan area on Saturday, causing floods and mudslides while paralyzing transport systems in the Japanese capital and surrounding areas.

By 9:00 am Sunday (0000 GMT), Ma-on was downgraded to a temperate depression, the Meteorological Agency said.

The storm passed near Narita City, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Tokyo, and moved to the Pacific ocean at around 8:00 pm (1100 GMT) Saturday.

A 55-year-old man died after a mudslide hit his house in Kamakura City, southwest of Tokyo, local police said.

In Minamiizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, also southwest of Tokyo, a 72-year-old man died after strong winds broke a wooden power poll and fell on him, according to police.

In Izu, Shizuoka, a 80-year-old man died after being rescued from his house, which was destroyed by a mudslide.

A 55-year-old employee of a fish farm in Kamo village in Shizuoka fell to a river near the farm, and his body was found in the river late Saturday, local police said.

Emergency workers found the body of a missing 37-year-old woman at a coast of Shizuoka city in Shizuoka prefecture, local police said.

Meanwhile, in Ohara town in Chiba Prefecture, 75 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Tokyo, police found the body of a 74-year-old newspaper deliveryman at a river in Ohara, local police said.

The man went missing Saturday in the nearby town of Onjuku after he left for morning paper delivery.

Express roads were partially closed while more than 400 domestic and international flights were cancelled Saturday.

"Shinkansen" bullet trains ground to a halt in central and eastern Japan, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

Ma-on, a Cantonese word meaning horse saddle, was the strongest storm to hit the eastern Japan region centering on Tokyo in 10 years in terms of its atmospheric pressure reading, according to the meteorological agency.

The season's 22nd typhoon in the Pacific region was a record ninth to score a direct hit on Japan in the past.

It hit Japan just a week after another typhoon, Meari, wreaked havoc over the Japanese islands.

It has left 22 dead, six missing presumed dead, and 89 injured in floods, landslides and other storm-triggered accidents before weakening in the northern Pacific.




Super-strong Typhoon No. 22 nears
The Asahi Shimbun

The storm is expected to land in central Honshu this morning and arrive in Tokyo by the afternoon, bringing heavy rain, winds.

The Japanese archipelago's battering by typhoons is not over yet. Eastern coastal areas Saturday were expected to face the strongest storm in a decade with howling winds and the prospect of even more torrential rain.

Typhoon No. 22 is approaching less than 10 days after its destructive predecessor.

The typhoon was expected to start pummeling the Kanto region from midday Saturday. On Friday evening, the storm was moving northward at 50 kph from waters east-northeast of Minamidaitojima island, about 360 kilometers east of Okinawa Prefecture.

The typhoon was expected to arrive offshore at Shikoku on Saturday morning, then move to the Kinki and Tokai regions, and on to the Kanto area by the afternoon.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that the Tokyo metropolitan area may become a storm zone with winds of more than 90 kph.

Typhoon No. 22 had an atmospheric pressure near its center of 920 hectopascals as of 8 p.m. Friday. Wind near its center was blowing at a maximum 180 kph.

The typhoon's approach has stimulated the seasonal rain front. Rain has been falling in a wide area from western Japan to the Kanto area since Friday morning.

The expected rainfalls in the 24 hours to Saturday evening: 500 millimeters in the southern Kinki region and Mie Prefecture; 250 mm to 300 mm in the mid- and northern Kinki, Koshin and the Tokai regions; 200 mm to 250 mm in the Kanto, Tohoku and Hokuriku regions; 180 mm on the coast of Shikoku; and 100 mm in the Chugoku, Okinawa and the Daito regions.

If the typhoon touches down on the archipelago, it will be the ninth to do so this year, breaking the record again, trouncing the past six.

The devastation has been massive. So far this year, 128 people have died or are missing due to typhoons and other heavy rains, according to the Cabinet Office. Nearly half of the victims were more than 65 years old.

Seven people are dead or missing in the village of Miyagawa, in Mie Prefecture, which suffered mudslides and floods from Typhoon No. 21. The town is now bracing for the new typhoon.

The village has already seen about 2,000 mm of rain in the past two months, almost double the amount for the same time period in an average year.

The local government is considering establishing a special alert zone and evacuating all residents.

The Mie prefectural government, concerned that evacuation advisories came too late last time, is calling for local governments to issue evacuation advisories quickly.

The Meteorological Agency is also calling for strong alerts because the ground in the region is thoroughly saturated.(IHT/Asahi: October 9,2004) (10/09)

台風２２号被害、死者６人不明３人に

　各地に大きな被害を出した台風２２号は１０日、北海道・襟裳岬南東の太平洋上を東北東に進み、午前９時に温帯低気圧に変わった。直撃を受けた各地の被害はさらに拡大。静岡、千葉、神奈川各県で計６人が死亡。静岡、千葉、東京で計３人が行方不明になっている。

　静岡県では、家の下敷きになるなどで４人が死亡した。また、同県伊東市宇佐美の沢では９日夕、大規模な土石流が発生。１０日午後になり、約２キロ下流の海岸で、消防署員が男性の遺体を発見した。県警は土石流との関係や身元を調べている。

　１０日未明には、家屋の下敷きになって病院に運ばれていた伊豆市上船原、農業鈴木栄さん（８０）が死亡。賀茂村宇久須の宇久須川に転落して行方不明になっていた養鱒場勤務の山本孝一さん（５５）が約１キロ下流で遺体で発見された。静岡市清水三保の海岸で高波にさらわれ行方不明になっていた女性（３７）の遺体も見つかった。

　千葉県内では、増水した川に流されて行方不明になっていた同県御宿町の新聞配達員江沢稲男さん（７４）が遺体で見つかった。転落したと見られる川沿いに江沢さんのバイクが残されていた。

　東京都港区赤坂では、地下約５０メートルにある排水管の敷設工事現場で作業中、大量の水が流れ込んで行方不明になった作業員の星野弘行さん（３２）＝江戸川区＝の捜索が続いた。

　赤坂署によると、星野さんは９日午後５時半ごろ、直径３．３メートル、長さ７００メートルの排水管に入り、たまった水をくみ上げるポンプの点検作業をしていた。

　現場では、管内にたまった約７万トンの水をポンプで抜き取る作業が続けられたが、終わるのは早くても１１日朝になる見通しで、捜索活動は進んでいない。

　神奈川県や横浜市のまとめによると、同県内では鎌倉市で１人が死亡したほか、重傷が５人にのぼった。建物の損壊は約１１０棟、がけ崩れは約１００カ所で起きた。

　交通機関のマヒも続いた。横浜市中区の日ノ出町駅付近の土砂が崩れ横浜―上大岡間で運転を見合わせていた京浜急行は、不通から約２０時間後の１０日午後２時過ぎから、徐行で運転を再開。１１日には通常ダイヤに戻る見込み。 (10/10 21:22)


関連情報 　
# 台風２２号、温帯低気圧に(10/10)
# 台風２２号、首都圏を直撃　３人死亡、５人行方不明(10/10)
# 災害・交通情報

High waves crash against rocks on Katsurahama beach in Kochi, on Friday afternoon.　
http://www2.asahi.com/english/images/TKY200410090096.jpg




Death toll in Japan from powerful typhoon rises to 6; 3 missing, 58 injured
Sunday October 10, 7:26 PM

The death toll from a powerful typhoon that swiped Japan's Pacific coast rose to six on Sunday, as rescuers searched for three people still missing from the heavy rains and flooding.

Ma-on, the record eighth typhoon to strike Japan this year, was the most powerful storm to reach the eastern coastline in a decade. It brought sustained winds of 162 kilometers (100 miles) per hour and sudden downpours that turned streets into rivers, flooded subways and set off landslides.
m passed through Tokyo and Shizuoka prefecture Saturday, it dumped more than 70 millimeters (three inches) of rain in an hour, the Meteorological Agency said. Late Saturday, it turned eastward into the Pacific Ocean, where it slowed and weakened.

As much as 415 millimeters (17 inches) of rain fell in parts of eastern Japan since Friday _ nearly equal to the average rainfall for October of 470 millimeters (19 inches).

On Sunday, workers in Kamakura and Yokohama cleared railway tracks of fallen trees and other debris that had forced the closure of local lines, and subway staff in Tokyo mopped up stations flooded by water that poured in from streets.

On the Izu peninsula, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) southwest of Tokyo, residents and hoteliers repaired tattered roofs, shoveled muddy water that flowed into buildings and cleared the harbor of overturned boats flung into the water by winds.

Flights at Tokyo's Haneda and Narita airports _ where hundreds of flights were canceled the day before _ were on schedule, media reported.

The National Police Agency said four people had died, but Japanese media reported six.

Police said an 80-year-old man was found dead early Sunday, buried along with his home in a landslide on Izu. A 55-year-old Shizuoka resident who was swept away by a river while doing construction was also found dead, they said.

Public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News agency said a 37-year-old woman was found dead at a beach in Shizuoka, while the body of a 74-year-old man who been delivering newspapers turned up in a river in Chiba, east of Tokyo.

Two others were confirmed dead on Saturday. At least three people were still unaccounted for _ including a Tokyo man who had been doing repairs in a sewage drain pipe _ and at least 58 others were injured, police and media said.

Ma-on means horse saddle in Cantonese.

A week ago, Tropical Storm Meari, which was downgraded from a typhoon after hitting the southern island of Okinawa, killed 22 people and injured at least 80 others. This year's typhoons outnumbered the previous post-World War II record of six in 1990.



馬鞍襲日　強風豪雨災情慘7死5失蹤
記者:徐啟芳 外電報導

超級強颱「馬鞍」，星期六下午直撲日本關東，重創東京地區，強風豪雨造成不少民宅受損淹水，各地交通大亂，好幾千人受困車站和機場，甚至造成7死5失蹤，雖然馬鞍已經離開日本，當地氣象廳則指出馬鞍是53年來讓日本關東地區受創最為慘重的強烈颱風。

超級強颱馬鞍為日本關東地區帶來強風豪雨，民眾連傘都撐不住，驚叫連連。星期六一整天，東京街頭下了222.5公釐的雨量，市區淹水，連地鐵車站也遭殃。民眾：「我在想..要怎樣才能回到家。」

土石坍塌造成鐵路交通中斷，強風吹襲讓20幾輛的卡車翻倒在路邊東倒西歪，部分低窪地區積水嚴重，救難人員甚至必須划船才有辦法進行救援。

由於正值三天連休假期，不少民眾攜家帶眷準備出遊，沒想到遇上颱風，陸空交通大亂，新幹線子彈列車從南到北有一百多班列車停駛，近四千乘客被迫在車上過夜。民眾：「至少在新幹線列車上待了大半天時間，就一直都在車裡。」

國內外班機幾乎全面停飛，3200多名旅客只能待在成田機場打地鋪，大家都希望天亮之後能夠順利搭上飛機。民眾：「我要去檀香山，班機停飛我也沒辦法，就算回家去也不能怎麼樣啊。」

馬鞍颱風來去匆匆，目前已經遠離日本本島，威力減弱變成溫帶氣旋，但是短短停留時間卻重創日本東京各地，日本氣象廳表示馬鞍可說是53年來讓關東地區受創最慘重的超級颱風。

http://www.tvbs.com.tw/file_db/newsphoto/suncomedy/200410/suncomedy-20041010135943.gif

http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/newsphoto/suncomedy/200410/suncomedy-20041010135952.JPG

A railway employee asks passengers to cancel their on super express trains at Tokyo station
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/10/10/japan.typhoon.ap/story.japan.typhoon.station.jpg

[Isan]

Wednesday October 20, 9:59 PM

The biggest typhoon to hit Japan in more than a decade roared over the country's main island, with heavy rain and fierce winds leaving at least 16 people dead and 12 others missing, officials said.

Typhoon Tokage also injured at least 62 people, police said, after becoming a record 10th major storm to land on the archipelago in the past year. The typhoons have claimed at least 118 lives.

Packing windspeeds of 144 kilometers (89 miles) per hour, Tokage triggered landslides and sent objects flying while bullet trains between Tokyo and Osaka had to be cancelled.

Nearly 900 domestic flights were cancelled, affecting 103,000 passengers, and tens of thousands of homes lost power as it raced northeast over Honshu Island, with Tokyo in its sights overnight.

Tokage, with an 800-kilometer radius, is the biggest typhoon to batter Japan since 1991 when the Meteorological Agency began classifying typhoons by the size of their storm zones.

The typhoon hit land in southwest Japan's Kochi prefecture, where a 20-meter (22-yard) high dike gave way at Muroto due to high waves, destroying several houses.

"At least three bodies were found in the area. There might be more," a local police official said.

Among the other 13 killed, a 31-year-old man was found dead near a flooded river in Miyazaki prefecture after his vehicle skidded at a bridge, police said.

In southwestern Ehime prefecture, a 24-year-old woman died after being buried by a landslide. Also in Ehime, two elderly men and a woman went missing after separate landslides destroyed their houses.

Other people who went missing included a 75-year-old fishermen pulled into the ocean as he inspected his boat in Kochi, a 63-year-old farmer swept away in a ricefield in Miyazaki and a newspaper deliveryman who disappeared in Oita prefecture.

In Chiba prefecture just east of Tokyo, two workers building an embankment along a coastline were pulled into the Pacific by high waves, a government official said.

Among the injured were four people trapped in an office building which was crushed in Oita, a 68-year-old man in Saga Prefecture who fell from his roof while fixing it and an 83-year-old woman who fell and broke her thigh.

With Tokage moving at some 50 kilometers per hour, authorities have issued evacuation warnings to 17,434 people who live mainly in southern Japan.

By Wednesday afternoon, 4,250 people had voluntarily left for temporary shelters, the disaster agency said.

In the southern island of Kyushu 45,300 households lost power, while 29,713 lost electricity in neighboring Shikoku.

The nine previous typhoons that have hit Japan this year caused a total of 102 deaths and left 13 missing and presumed dead.

Typhoon Ma-on slammed into the Tokyo metropolitan area on October 9, killing six people and paralyzing the capital's transport systems.

Just a week before Ma-on, Typhoon Meari wreaked havoc in the Japanese islands, killing 22 and injuring 89 in floods, landslides and other accidents.

http://sg.yimg.com/xp/afp/20041020/3043432489.jpg

[Isan]

Japan was searching for survivors after the country's deadliest typhoon in more than a decade killed at least 54 people as it crushed houses, overturned trains and left passengers stranded on flooded highways.

Typhoon Tokage, which tore up the archipelago for a day before easing Thursday morning, killed 54 people and left 29 missing, according to public broadcaster NHK. Police said 256 people were reported injured.

Rescuers used boats to search among flooded houses for the missing. Trains that had stopped before the storm were overturned by the fierce winds.

Fifty houses were damaged, with some reduced to rubble, after 281 landslides that took their heaviest toll in southern Japan. Some 7,100 households were flooded, an official with the National Police Agency told AFP.

Helicopters and rafts overnight rescued 37 people, most of them in their mid-60s, who were stranded on top of a tourist bus trapped in floodwater at Maizuru 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Tokyo.

"We were standing on the roof of the bus and I was shaking as the water level went up to my knees. My knees still hurt," one male passenger told NHK.

Sixteen other residents in Maizuru were also rescued by helicopters and boats from the armed forces, Jiji Press said.

Rescue operators including 101 troops dug through the mud for the sole potential survivor of a massive landslide at Tamano in western Hyogo prefecture.

"Four bodies were discovered this morning from the site, where seven houses were destroyed or damaged by the mudslide," said Takashi Obata, an official of the city's anti-disaster office.

"We continued searching for a 52-year-old man believed to have been inside the house when the landslide occurred."

Tokage, which means lizard in Japanese, was the deadliest typhoon to strike Japan since 1991 when 62 people were killed.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi directed the minister in charge of disaster management, Yoshitaka Murata, to visit the worst hit areas.

"There was really terrible damage. I want you to go and inspect the situation," Koizumi told the minister.

Television footage showed cars crushed by a fallen tree in the western city of Hiroshima, while farther south high waves destroyed a concrete breakwater and ripped through walls of seashore houses in Kochi.

Authorities forced some 18,000 to evacuate their homes and another 5,000 households voluntarily went to temporary shelters, NHK said.

Tokage was early Thursday downgraded to a temperate depression and was moving east at 45 kilometers (28 miles) per hour.

The typhoon drenched Tokyo late Wednesday and paralyzed traffic across the nation. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways canceled a total of 95 domestic flights Thursday morning, affecting some 24,200 travelers.

On Wednesday the typhoon halted bullet trains between Tokyo and Osaka and caused the cancellation of nearly 900 domestic flights. Power was temporarily cut off to thousands of homes.

Tokage is a record 10th major storm to hit Japan from the ocean in the past year.

With an 800-kilometer (500-mile) radius, it was the biggest typhoon to batter Japan since 1991 when the Meteorological Agency began classifying typhoons by the size of their storm zones.

The nine previous typhoons that have hit Japan this year caused a total of 102 deaths and left 13 missing and presumed dead.

[Isan]

Japan has determined China will become Asia's top military power and charted out scenarios for a Chinese attack against Japan which could be triggered by disputes over Taiwan or energy resources.

Kyodo News agency says the outline for potential Chinese attacks is part of a confidential report on Japan's defense strategy drawn up by military planners in September.

The report said China would "strengthen its military capability in order to demonstrate its capability to Taiwan and the United States, and will be the greatest military power in the Asia-Pacific region in the future," Kyodo said.

In the case of a clash between China and Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province, China could attack parts of Japan to prevent aid from US forces based in the country, the report said.

Under a second scenario, Beijing would try to take over disputed islands between Taiwan and Japan -- called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China -- to rally support if public criticism challenged the communist leadership.

The report also listed a third scenario in which the Defense Agency believes China could take military action to secure its interests in the East China Sea where Tokyo and Beijing dispute the development of gas fields near their maritime boundary.

A spokesman for the Defense Agency declined comment on the Kyodo report, but confirmed the agency filed a report in September on Japan's defense capability.

According to Kyodo, the defense planners called for diplomatic efforts to avoid conflicts with China.

The report said "economic and technological cooperation from neighboring countries is essential for a stable China," Kyodo said.

In a controversial report last month, an advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan should study acquiring the ability to launch pre-emptive strikes on foreign missile bases.

Japan, which is closely allied with the United States, has had a pacifist constitution since World War II, with its military known as the Self-Defense Forces.

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[Isan]

the Maldives, readies more rescuers



Japan on Wednesday sent disaster relief and medical teams to Thailand and the Maldives, where earthquake-triggered waves have caused widespread damage and thousands of deaths.

Tokyo also readied more medical staff for missions later this week in Indonesia, nearest the epicenter of Sunday's quake.

A team of 50 aid workers and police, fire department and coast guard officials headed for Thailand's Phuket island at the Thai government's request, said Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency spokesman Fumiyasu Koyama.

Ten doctors and nurses left for the Maldives Wednesday, and 20 medical workers were scheduled to fly to southern Thailand on Thursday, said Foreign Ministry official Hisanobu Mochizuki.

By the end of this week, rescuers on Phuket will be joined by two fire department helicopters and a 40-member crew, Mochizuki said.

The expanding relief effort follows Japan's pledge Tuesday of rice and 3.1 billion yen (US$30 million; €22 million) in emergency aid to devastated southern Asian nations.

Tokyo also plans to send three military vessels for a humanitarian mission. Japanese planes began delivering about 50 million yen (US$485,000; €357,000) worth of tents, blankets and other emergency supplies to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia on Wednesday.

Almost 68,000 people have been confirmed dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast, following the tsunami from the Sunday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Indonesia.

At least five Japanese have been confirmed among the dead. The latest, a girl whose identity was not disclosed, was found in southern Thailand on Wednesday, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without giving further details.

A ministry official refused to confirm reports of a sixth Japanese fatality.

Also Wednesday, relatives of 12 others flew to Sri Lanka, where they were to try identifying eight bodies believed to be Japanese travelers, public broadcaster NHK said. At least 88 others in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia remain unaccounted for, it said.

On Wednesday, French and Australian jets carrying critical aid and medical supplies were the first to arrive in Phuket. Greece, Italy, Germany and Sweden all were planning to send aircraft to take their respective nationals home from the island.