竜巻 Tornado Strikes Japan

Tornadoes are very rare in Japan, so it was a shock to hear reports of one hitting the town of Tsukuba in Ibaraki prefecture about 100 miles East of where we live. Please pray for the cleanup efforts and that people are receptive to relief efforts by Christians. Here are some photos of the destruction. Click the photo to navigate the slideshow.

 [watch a video on YouTube]

Choosing Forgiveness

It's no secret that Korea has a history filled with bitterness as it relates to Japan. Hatred ultimately hurts the one who harbors it more than the one it is directed towards. This short documentary made by friends of ours highlights the growing pains felt by both nations as they seek and offer forgiveness. There is a movement happening in Asia right now. Pray God's Spirit continues to purify hearts refined by His love and grace.
[watch on Vimeo]

Check out this Checkout

Toshiba Tec has unveiled the latest in shopping technology - an intelligent scanner that does away with barcodes. Now fresh produce and other grocery goods can be identified by the system that scans it. Hopefully this will make checking out a breeze.
[read full article on DigInfo]

1 Year Before and After

top:1 week after the tsunami, bottom:1 year later

A lot has happened in the last year since the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. Here is a small collection of before and after photos taken in Miyagi prefecture. Follow the link below to explore the photos in more detail including geo-location where you can use Google Street View to see the progress up close and personal. In many ways, you might never realize that such a major catastrophe hit, but there are always constant reminders if you look close enough.
[view larger photos and explore]

Tohoku Celebration Draws Record Crowd

Close to 12,000 people poured into the Grande 21 Arena last weekend after snow that blanketed the area Friday began to melt and the sun burst forth. Nearly 900 others watched from satellite locations elsewhere in Japan. More than 400 people made commitments to Jesus over three days.
[read full article on BillyGraham.org]

Levitating House Stands Still in Quake

While Japan continues to rebuild after last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami, one company has developed an ingenious new method to protect homes from the shaking—let them ride it out on a cushion of air. Air Danshin Systems Inc. has can retrofit existing houses to levitate them in the event of an earthquake. 88 homes in Japan are set to receive the new technology soon.
[read more] [watch video on YouTube]

Knitting Hope

A year after a tsunami destroyed their communities, a group of elderly Japanese women have found a simple way to cope with the past and face an uncertain future - with knitting needles and balls of yarn. WSJ's Yumiko Ono reports from Shichigahama.
[view full article with video on WallStreetJournal]

$67 Billion Lawsuit Against Japan's TEPCO Execs

Shareholders of Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc (TEPCO), operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan, are suing the utility's executives for a record 5.5 trillion yen ($67.4 billion) in compensation, lawyers said. The Fukushima Daiichi plant was wrecked by a quake and tsunami last March, triggering the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century and swamping the firm with huge clean-up, compensation and decommissioning costs.
[read full article on Reuters] [watch BBC's documentary Japan's Children of the Tsunami on YouTube]

The Cure for Being Pretty

Photo booth ads promise Luminous Beauty 

The gaming industry in Japan is no slouch when it comes to marketing to the younger generation. Targeting girls between the ages of 8-28, modern photo booths offer more than basic image editing. They feature bright lights, music, and scads of photo accouterments to doll one's self up as they pose with friends. The results can be rather bizarre at times. An already-cute girl comes out looking like something you might find in an Area 51 movie, although in reality, you're just as likely to find those creatures roaming the streets in the Shibuya or Shinjuku shopping districts. These machines churn out postage-stamp-sized photo stickers for just a couple of bucks and it's not uncommon to see several girls piled into one booth making duck faces for the camera. Recently we saw Japanese girls dressed in Kimono to celebrate Hina Matsuri (Girl's Day) in line for their photo booth shoot.

Crowd-sourced Radiation Readings

Japan Geiger Map lists radiation levels

Since the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused the major radiation problem from the Daiichi Nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the fear of radiation poisoning has forced many people to invest in their own Geiger counter. The problem is those devices are expensive, especially for the good ones that accurately measure deadly alpha radiation. The online Japan Geiger Map is a handy solution to the situation providing detailed readings collected from various sources including goverment-installed sensors. Now we have a central site to get current readings and can check it from our smart phone or laptop.
[source link http://japan.failedrobot.com/]

Silence of the Lambs

If you've ever experienced a Skype call where you can hear your own voice feedback through the other person's computer speaker, then you can imagine the odd effect this latest invention from Japan has on its target. Using a directional microphone, the system plays back the audio with a .2 second delay. Leave it to the Japanese to handle crowd control in a 'polite' way. As you may know, talking on a cell phone while driving or while riding public transportation is a no-no here. I can just envision this technology being used against us gaijin (foreigners) since we tend to be loud talkers. One can only hope.
[full article and video at GizMag.com]

$800,000,000 Tree in Tokyo

Tokyo is now home to the tallest free-standing broadcast tower in the world with the completion of the Tokyo Sky Tree. Watch this video produced by the BBC to learn more.
[video source BBC]

Hina Matsuri 雛祭り

March 3 each year is when hina matsuri (doll festival) is celebrated in Japan. Also known as Girls' Day, ornamental dolls representing the emperor and his royal court are arranged on platforms. Tradition holds that these dolls held the power to lure bad spirits out of the household as they were sent floating down the river in little boats. Given the expense of modern dolls however, this practice of sending them packing has come to an end. Nowadays, these dolls come out of storage long enough for children and grandchildren to marvel at.
[link to wikipedia reference]

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Anniversary

March 11th marks a year since the tsunami generated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake killed more than 15,000 people, displaced thousands more and caused radiation leaks at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Today’s graphic lists the key events during this tragedy. It also shows the locations of the different disasters.
[link to Thomson Reuters article]

Tohoku: Before and After

These comparison pictures show tsunami hit areas of Japan within days after the tsunami hit on March 11, 2011 and how they look nearly one year later in January 2012. The massive tsunami that pummeled Japan, claimed more than 19,000 lives.
[view gallery at DenverPost.com]

Actroid

Since their inception in 1984, Kokoro has created various robots including people-friendly vending machines, massive animatronic dinosaurs and life-like humanoid robots. In this video, Takeshi Mita introduces the female actroids (actor/android) they are currently developing and tells of his hopes for an actroid and human integrated future. What I found most ironic is when the credits start to play at the end, you can hear a voice in Japanese quoting Matthew 7:13. Check it out!
[watch on Vimeo]

Crossing Shibuya

Tokyo's Shibuya shopping district is home to the busiest intersection in the world with tens of thousands of pedestrians crossing here each day. I took a custom-made tripod mount to record an immersive 360 degree video as I crossed this famous crosswalk. In order to view it, you'll need the latest Flash player installed in your browser. Click inside the video to move the camera. See if you spot anyone who noticed me and my antics.

Fukushima boat just discovered by Russian sailors 

An estimated 5 tons to 20 tons of debris sucked into the ocean during Japan's massive tsunami is due to hit U.S. shores, University of Hawaii scientists say.

Read full article on the Chicago Tribune site.

Marked For Life

This National Geographic feature takes a brief look into the underworld that is the Japanese yakuza. If you are squeamish about tattoos and knives, you might want to skip this one.

Arigatou From Japan

Check out the website http://arigatofrom.jp/ to see Japanese people saying thank you in many different languages to those who've shown support during their recovery from the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake.