to move up and down
Japanese fishing boat lost in tsunami nears B.C. coast
After being flushed out to sea by last year’s massive tsunami and earthquake, a Japanese squid-fishing boat has drifted across the Pacific Ocean and is now moving in on British Columbia’s north coast.
The 150-foot ship is drifting right-side-up about 140 nautical miles (260 kilometres) from Cape Saint James on the southern tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.
“It’s been drifting across the Pacific for a year, so it’s pretty beat up,” said marine search coordinator Jeff Olsson of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre. (Photo: Department of National Defence)
B.C. towns preparing to handle incoming debris from last year’s Japan tsunami
As search crews continue to scour the Japanese coast in search of victims from the March, 2011 tsunami, consular officials have begun preparing B.C. towns for the day briefcases, hairbrushes and photographs begin washing up on their beaches.
“If they are valuable or personal items and they are clearly recognizable as coming from Japan, then we would like to know exactly what they are,” Kinji Shinoda, deputy consul-general of Japan in Vancouver, told Postmedia.
Japanese pop bottles, fishing floats and buoys have always seen washing up along Vancouver Island, but in recent months locals have increasingly reported discoveries of lumber, bottles and fuel drums emblazoned with Japanese characters. “We’ve certainly seen an increase in material coming from Japan,” said Ucluelet mayor Bill Irving.
Strong earthquake hits northeastern Japan, causes tsunami
A tsunami hit Japan’s northeastern coastline on Wednesday, officials said, after a strong earthquake rocked the region almost exactly a year on from the country’s worst post-war natural disaster.
A 6.9-magtinude quake struck 26.6 kilometres below the seabed off the northern island of Hokkaido in the Pacific at 6:08 pm local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
See how Japan has rebuilt since the earthquake and tsunami
Japan’s Reconstruction Agency will be inaugurated Friday, almost 11 months after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the country. The agency will streamline the process to help municipalities, set up special reconstruction zones and provide subsidies for disaster-hit local governments. More photos here.
(Photos via AFP/Getty Images)
25 best nature photos of 2011
Volcanic lightning is seen above Shinmoedake peak, Japan, as it erupts, January 28, 2011. (Photo: Minami-Nippon Shimbun/Reuters)
Japan tsunami debris hitting B.C. shores in ecological red flag for West Coast beaches
Japanese lumber and household goods have begun appearing on the British Columbia coast in what many locals think is the vanguard of a wave of debris from last March’s Japanese tsunami that will eventually clog West Coast beaches with cars, boats and even waterlogged houses.
“I found more debris in 10 minutes than I have in four years … and it’s all Japanese in origin,” said Perry Schmunk, Mayor of Tofino, a community of 1,600 on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
“The ocean’s very turbulent, you can’t just predict where something is going to go. It’s like trying to trace cigarette smoke in a room,” said Jody Klymak, an assistant professor of oceanography at the University of Victoria.
Death of Kim Jong-il
South Korea’s military has been put on emergency alert following the death of Kim Jong-il. Here is a look at the aligned forces.
Japanese government apologizes to Canada’s World War II POWs
The Japanese government apologized Thursday for the mistreatment of captured Canadian soldiers during the Second World War.
Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney acknowledged the apology while leading a delegation of veterans to Japan. It was delivered by Toshiyuki Kato, Japan’s parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs.
“This important gesture is a crucial step in ongoing reconciliation and a significant milestone in the lives of all prisoners of war. It acknowledges their suffering while honouring their sacrifices and courage,” Mr. Blaney said in a statement. (Photo: National Archives of Canada)
Archival photos reveal horror of the Pearl Harbor on 70th anniversary of the attack
Seventy years ago this week, Navy veteran Lou Gore was startled by the muffled thuds of explosions and a burst of commotion while cleaning up from breakfast below deck on the USS Phoenix, a cruiser docked at Pearl Harbor.
Hurrying topside, the 18-year-old seaman first-class was confronted by pandemonium he was unable to immediately comprehend — flames shooting skyward, roiling clouds of dark, acrid smoke, swarms of fighter-bombers buzzing low overhead.
“We didn’t know (at first) those were Japanese planes,” Gore, now 88 and visiting the islands with nine members of his family, recalled in a recent interview. “We didn’t know what was happening. I just did my job.”
Photo: The USS Shaw explodes during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii December 7, 1941. December 7, 2011 marks the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in which over 2,400 members of the United States military were killed. Picture taken December 7, 1941. (Department of the Navy/Naval Photographic Center/Reuters)
$4M car crash in Japan takes out eight Ferraris, one Lamborghini
Speeding was fingered as a possible cause Monday of what is believed to be Japan’s most expensive ever road accident when up to $4-million-worth of supercars ended up in a crumpled heap on a highway.
Eight Ferraris and a Lamborghini — plus a Toyota Prius — were among the vehicles involved in the crash, which witnesses said happened when a speeding car slid across a wet road surface. (Kyodo/Reuters)
Christine Lee of Canada performs on the Beam aparatus during qualification at day one of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Tokyo. Adam Pretty/Getty Images
Photos: Typhoon Roke hits Japan, threatens damaged nuclear plant
A powerful typhoon struck Japan on Wednesday, pummeling the Tokyo area with heavy rain, disrupting public transportation and leaving four people dead, and it was headed towards the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Typhoon Roke, the second big storm to hit Japan this month, was packing winds of up to 220 km per hour and dumped more than 40 cm of rain in parts of eastern and western Japan over the past 24 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. (Photo: JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)
Photos: Japan tsunami, a timeline of the aftermath
Japanese photo agency Kyodo documented several sites of the Tsunami that hit Japan in March, 2011 in three month intervals leading to the six-month anniversary.
Photo: An area of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, March 16, 2011 (top) after the area was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and its aftermath taken June 3, 2011 and Sept. 1, 2011, (bottom). (Reuters/Kyodo)
Body of woman who fell into Niagara Falls recovered
U.S. authorities recovered the body of a young Japanese woman who was swept over Niagara Falls this week from the Canadian side, New York state park police said Friday.
“The body of a woman recovered Thursday morning from lower Niagara River has been identified by the Erie Country Medical Examiner’s office,” a police spokeswoman told AFP.
“It is confirmed that the woman is the one and the same with respect to an incident where a woman was reported falling into the waters of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the border on August 14.” (Photo: Facebook)
Japan Before & After: Five months after Japan was hit by an earthquake & tsunami, the country remains haunted by the disaster.
