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Eruption sends smoke into the air over sparsely-inhabited southern island, but there is no evacuation warning.

A volcano has erupted on a remote island in southern Japan, spewing ash and smoke into the air over the sparsely-populated area but causing no damage or injuries.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said Shindake volcano on Kuchinoerabu island, some 1,000km southwest of the capital, Tokyo, erupted at around 9:20am (00:20 GMT).

About 80 residents initially took refuge at a shelter on the island but have since started to return home after an evacuation advisory was lifted.

Live images showed thick black smoke billowing out of the mountain, as the eruption sent rocks flying and hot gas and debris pouring down the crater.

The flows did not reach residential areas.

Public broadcaster NHK said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the eruption. It added that eruptions have taken place intermittently on the island since October last year.

The same peak erupted explosively in 2015, sending ash and smoke thousands of metres into the sky and releasing potentially deadly pyroclastic flows that reached the sea.

The island's entire population was evacuated at the time but eventually returned. Some 100 people now live there.

Japan has 110 active volcanoes and monitors 47 constantly.
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As ICON (ICX) makes it way to Japan, its partnership with Blockchain consulting firm, LayerX, is set to expand its blockchain ecosystem.

ICON (ICX) Partners with LayerX
In bid to boost its Japanese community, ICON (ICX) has announced its partnership with Japanese Blockchain consulting firm, LayerX. Announced via a press release, the ICON foundation announced that it had signed a MOU with the company for a strategic partnership.
The MOU (or Memorandum of Understanding) is to accelerate the global communities within and all around Japan. The MOU is also set to reinforce the integrity of the network via a code audit alliance.

“This MOU aims to vitalize the ICON developer community in Japan as well as ensure the integrity of the ICON Network through a code audit alliance.” ICON Foundation said.

LayerX, according to the foundation, will be providing the code audit for the ICON ecosystem as well as the dApps launched on the public blockchain. Also, the partnership is expected to bring about global adoption of the ICON platform’s smart contract, SCORE, through hackathons, demo days and conferences.

“ICON Foundation is pleased to co-operate with LayerX, a leading company with technological capabilities in Japan. Through our partnership with LayerX, we expect various ICON DApp services to further expand their global presence based on the linkage between public blockchain and enterprise blockchain in the future.” ICON Foundation’s Council member, Jonghyup Kim (JH Kim) said.

Launched in 2017 as global blockchain project, ICON has been on a relatively slow but smooth ride to fame. By strategically partnering with the South Korean government and gradually advancing to companies, ICON began to gain legitimate grounds in the crypto world.
ICON was created to foster a link between diverse blockchain communities and with a public decentralised blockchain, create a means for developers to develop dApps while interacting with the network’s source code.
ICON also aims to establish actual business models through blockchain technology which will in turn bring about reconciliation between the blockchain communities and mainstream. ICON (ICX) took steps towards that already with its partnership with LayerX and the South Korean government.
Speaking on the partnership, CEO at LayerX, Yoshinori Fukushima, while praising ICON’s blockchain expertise, stated that:

“ICON’s core engine ‘loopchain’ has been used to develop a blockchain authentication system, and is already adopted by major securities firms and the insurance industry.”

On partnership with Korean government, ICON has been a leading partner on the development of government initiatives and had received funding from the government alongside regulations. As such, ICON is considered legitimised in certain parts.
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Lawmakers in Japan are looking into bills which could have a significant impact on the cryptocurrency industry in Japan. Japenese lawmaker Tekeshi Fujimaki who is a representative of the political party Nippon Ishin has recommended four amendments to help promote the wider spread of virtual currency into society. The four proposals are as follows:

1. A separate tax rate of 20% for cryptocurrency gains instead of the current maximum of 55%. THis would bring cryptocurrency investing more in line with the way stock and mutual funds are treated and taxed.

2. Make it possible to carry forward losses on cryptocurrency trading to make the system fairer. That is actually a really powerful rule if passed and will make cryptocurrencies more similar to traditional investments.

3. Remove the tax on trading between cryptocurrencies: Currently, for example, if you trade bitcoin for ethereum and make a profit on that you need to pay tax. His proposal would remove the tax meaning that you only pay when cashing out fiat. This would be a massive boom to cryptocurrency investors in Japan and to the whole trading industry as a whole.

4. Removing tax on making small payments in cryptocurrencies: This would be particularly important when you pay using cryptocurrencies for daily life activities such as paying for lunch at a restaurant. This would be massive in terms of adoption and encouraging people to spend their cryptocurrencies. Currently, in Japan, you need to pay taxes twice when you make a purchase using cryptocurrency, once for the crypto tax and again for the sales tax.

This is the second time that Fuji has proposed crypto friendly in the parliament of Japan. Previously his proposal was casually disregarded but let’s hope that this time it is not disregarded that casually. But until we see a signed bill passed into law this is just a proposal and until we see these changes actually happening cryptocurrency enthusiasts in Japan will continue to suffer under an unfair tax regime.
Japan ICO Regulation

The Financial Services Agency of Japan is set to launch updated regulations on the Initial Coin Offering market. The FSA has been holding ICO study groups to access the best ways to handle ICO regulation citing the need to catch fraudulent offerings. The FSA instead of creating completely new rules is looking to widen the application of two existing laws. The first law is the payment services act and the second is called the financial instruments and exchange act.

The financial instruments and exchange act, in particular, provides a regulatory framework for securities and for securities companies in Japan. The new scope of the regulations would include the need for things like disclosure, financial health screening of ICOs being offered and the regulation of distribution channels for tokens as well as possibly limiting the amount of money that investors can commit to any given ICO. Anyone wanting to hold an ICO in Japan would also to be registered with the FSA. Essentially, the FSA wants to let ICOs happen but in a way which helps investors to better understand the trueness of an ICO without causing too much trouble for the ICO itself. But this may end up impacting the number of ICOs in Japan which are being launched and potentially limit the ability for investors in Japan to participate in a wider range of foreign ICOs.
This appears to be the direction that the FSA is heading towards but it still needs to get approval from the parliament and is likely going to be subject to at least some form of provision before we see a final bill. Overall, while many do not like the idea of government regulations, this will actually be a good thing to help provide more clarity and hopefully increase the number of high quality and legitimate offerings available to investors in Japan.

It appears that lawmakers in Japan are continuing to stay at the forefront of the cryptocurrency regulation scene. If all of the rules discussed above are passed, this would be a great indicator for the future of cryptocurrency in Japan which is currently, of course, one of the crypto friendliest countries anyway.
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TOKYO: A Japanese journalist who was held in Syria for more than three years before being freed this week has described his lengthy captivity as “hell.”
Jumpei Yasuda was freed earlier this week and taken to Turkey, where Japanese government officials confirmed his identity before announcing Wednesday that he was free.
He boarded a plane bound for Tokyo on Thursday, speaking briefly to journalists in an interview broadcast by Japanese media.
“It was hell,” he said, sporting a long beard peppered with grey hair.
“Not only physically, but mentally as well. The thought each day that ‘I’m not being released today either’ left me losing control over myself bit by bit.”
Yasuda, who is expected to arrive in Tokyo on Thursday evening, spoke calmly, but appeared slightly overwhelmed and tired, if otherwise healthy.
“For about 40 months, I have not spoken a word of Japanese. Words don’t come to my mind easily,” he said.
“I am happy that I am returning to Japan. At the same time, I have no idea what will happen now and how I should conduct myself. I am at loss and don’t know what to think.”
Yasuda was kidnapped in Syria in June 2015, and was reportedly initially a hostage of the group previously known as the Al-Nusra Front, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
But the group’s current iteration, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, denied any involvement in his kidnapping in a statement earlier this week.
There was only sporadic news of Yasuda throughout his captivity, including a bizarre video that emerged in August showing him and a man identified as an Italian called Alessandro Sandrini.
Both men appealed for their release, dressed in orange jumpsuits, as masked, armed men stood behind them.
Yasuda gave his name as Omar and described himself as South Korean, but his wife Myu confirmed that it was her husband in the video.
The video did not identify who was holding the men or what their demands were. There has been no word on the fate of Sandrini since.
Yasuda told journalists he believed he was held for all of his captivity in Idlib, a province in northwestern Syria that is one of the last parts of the country still held in part by rebels and extremists.
The details of how Yasuda was freed have remained murky, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, saying a ransom was paid.
But Japan’s government has denied that.
In 2015, militants from the Daesh group beheaded Japanese war correspondent Kenji Goto and his friend Haruna Yukawa in Syria.
The Japanese government was criticized for what detractors saw as its flat-footed response to the crisis at the time, including apparently missed opportunities to free both men.
But other Japanese hostages who have been freed and made it home safely have also faced heavy public criticism for what some have deemed reckless behavior.
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In Japan, the springtime bloom of cherry blossoms is an annual rite of celebration, accompanied by picnics and parties under the flowering canopy.

But this week, an odd thing happened: Some of the trees bloomed again. In autumn.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that a weather company had received hundreds of reports of the trees blooming, across an area stretching from Kyushu, in southwestern Japan, to Hokkaido in the north.

The apparent cause? The two typhoons that struck the country in September and early October.
The Picture Show
Pictures Of People Taking Pictures Of Cherry Blossoms

"This year's storms affected wide regions and the strong winds may have caused the blooming," tree surgeon Hiroyuki Wada told the broadcaster. "I have never seen anything like this."

Wada explained that a popular variety of cherry blossom tree, the Yoshino cherry, buds in the summer but does not usually bloom, because a hormone the tree's leaves release stops the buds from developing.

But this year, many leaves were stripped off by those powerful typhoons — bringing strong winds and salt exposure that caused withering. Warm temperatures followed, which further encouraged the buds to bloom.

Fortunately, the out-of-season flowering isn't expected to affect the springtime blooms.

The spring flowering of cherry blossoms in Kyoto has been documented for more than 1,000 years, as The Washington Post reported last year. By poring over diaries and chronicles of emperors, aristocrats and monks, a professor at Osaka Prefecture University named Yasuyuki Aono assembled a data set of cherry blossom flowering dates, stretching back to A.D. 801.

For most of that time, the full bloom dates were pretty consistent. But since 1850, the date of flowering has pushed earlier and earlier. That same trend has been documented by the National Park Service since 1921 in Washington, D.C., home to 3,000 cherry blossom trees given by Japan.

"In both Kyoto and Washington, the warming trends and earlier blooms are most likely due to a growing urban heat island effect and increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," meteorologist Jason Samenow explained in the Post.
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"The story of Tsukiji is quite simply a story about human relationships," Beccat tells AFP as he browses through the market at the crack of dawn in search of prawns and fish for his lunchtime service.

Beccat, 42, is executive chef at Esquisse, a restaurant in the Japanese capital's ultra-chic Ginza district, and he has been making the short journey to the market for the past 12 years.

But all that will come to an end on October 6 when Tsukiji closes after 83 years, moving to a purpose-built site at Toyosu, several kilometres east.

Now a veteran of the market, he says it took several years to establish a trusted relationship with the merchants of Tsukiji.

"I quickly had to get used to the idea that I knew nothing about fish," said Beccat, even though he comes from the French fishing port of Marseille.

At Tsukiji, "it is the fishmongers who choose their clients. Not the other way around," he said, adding that even the top chefs show deference to the vendors and their knowledge.

The market itself, a rabbit warren and tourist magnet of tiny shops selling every conceivable type of produce from the sea, cannot fail to inspire a professional chef, Beccat said.

"Tsukiji is a world unto itself."

He finds inspiration in "the range of produce one finds there, the expertise and advice from the fishmongers" and even "the smell, the movements, the light".

"Coming here, day after day, week after week, month after month, gradually changes the way you cook, even without you noticing it."

- 'So many fish' -

One of Beccat's suppliers, Masatake Ayabe, has enjoyed a 30-year career in Tsukiji and fears that business might suffer when the market moves to Toyosu.

"There is no other market in the world which brings together so much fish, and people do us the honour of coming to shop here," said Ayabe.

"But I am sure we will have fewer customers at Toyosu."

He said he was sad to leave Tsukiji and "was not really looking forward to going to Toyosu".

"It is further away for customers, we wonder how we will have such good relationships with them. There are also quite a few question marks over deliveries, access," said Ayabe, who runs the Kamemoto Shoten fishmongers.

Tsukiji critics say the 83-year-old market is no longer fit for the modern world, pointing to questionable hygiene standards in the narrow streets and insufficient protection against fire.

Tokyo mayor Yuriko Koike, who has championed the move, says the new market, on the site of a former gas plant, will use cutting-edge technology to provide a modern environment for selling fish.

Beccat himself acknowledges "it will be better from a sanitary point of view" and the fishmongers will suffer less from extremes of cold and heat, but he too points to a difference in atmosphere.

"Tsukiji is addictive: if you do not go in the morning, the day is not quite the same," he said.

"It is the place that has taught me most in my life. A page of my professional life is turning."
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Japanese tennis player looks to move on from first major title win marred by dispute between Serena Williams and umpire.

US Open champion Naomi Osaka has said that her landmark victory in New York last month still felt "bittersweet" after a controversial and dramatic final against her childhood idol Serena Williams.

The Japanese player's maiden Grand Slam win was overshadowed by a row between the US tennis star and chair umpire Carlos Ramos, which resulted in the 23-time Grand Slam champion being docked a game and fined $17,000 over a string of outbursts.

The 20-year-old Osaka was reduced to tears during the trophy presentation as an angry, partisan home crowd at Flushing Meadows booed the match officials.

"The memory of the US Open is a little bittersweet," Osaka said after a routine 6-4, 6-3 first round win over Kazakh Zarina Diyas in the China Open on Monday.

"The day after, I didn't want to think about it because it wasn't necessarily the happiest memory for me. I wanted to move on at that point."

Osaka said her feelings after winning a first Grand Slam could be compared to eating green tea ice cream.

"When you bite into it, it's sweet but also strong. That's how that memory feels... of course, I'm happy I won a Grand Slam. I don't think there's anything that can take away from that. But I don't know.

"I feel like, not that when I look back on it that it's a bad memory, but it was so strange, I didn't want to think about it. I wanted to push it to the side."
'Ugly scene'

With the first set under the Japanese player's belt, Williams clashed with the Portuguese official when she was given a warning for receiving coaching - not permissible at Grand Slams.

A few games later, Williams, who was seeking a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title, received a second warning and a point penalty for breaking her racket.

"You owe me an apology," Williams said, arguing about the coaching violation. "I have never cheated in my life!"

The 36-year-old Olympic champion was later docked a game at 4-3 for calling Ramos a "thief", which allowed Osaka to serve for the match and seal the historic victory.

Many tennis fans and commentators said it was a shame that Osaka's win was overshadowed by the controversy around William's on-court "tantrums".

"A shame that the spotlight remains on Serena William's behaviour and not the superior performance of Naomi Osaka," wrote Rebecca Powell on Twitter. "Let's celebrate her win not Serena's loss."

"The ugly scene overshadowed the dominant performance of Osaka, who quietly wept through a championship ceremony that should have been a coronation of a great new star for women's tennis," wrote Tom Perrotta, sports correspondent at the Wall Street Journal.

Osaka withdrew from last week's Wuhan Open in China, hours after losing to former world number one Karolina Pliskova in the Pan Pacific Open final in Tokyo.

"I was lucky Tokyo was so close (to the US Open) because I could immediately focus on the next tournament," Osaka added.

"I didn't think too much about what was going on... so maybe if I did have that time, I'd be overwhelmed... I'm still trying to take my mind off of it."

World number six Osaka is on track to qualify for the WTA's season-ending tournament in Singapore this month.

"I'm really focused on playing the Asian swing," she said. "For me the biggest goal is trying to get into Singapore."


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Two people have been killed in a powerful typhoon that battered Japan over the weekend, officials said Monday, as the storm's aftermath brought travel chaos to Tokyo's morning commute.

By Monday morning, Typhoon Trami had cleared Japan, but its powerful winds and heavy rainfall caused damage that blocked roads and train lines.

Local officials and police said two people had been killed in the storm. One was engulfed by a landslide in western Japan's Tottori and the another drowned in high waters in Yamanashi, west of Tokyo.

Both men were believed to have died on Sunday, when the storm made landfall in western Japan.

Two more people were reported missing, and more than 120 people were injured in the powerful storm, public broadcaster NHK said.

Trami made landfall in western Japan Sunday night, bringing fierce winds and torrential rain to areas already battered by a string of recent extreme weather episodes.

The typhoon sparked travel disruption in the world's third-biggest economy on Sunday, with bullet train services suspended, more than 1,000 flights cancelled and Tokyo's evening train services scrapped.

The turmoil continued Monday, as fallen powerlines and trees blocked railway tracks and around 200 flights remained grounded.

Huge crowds built up at Tokyo train stations, people battling for spots in jam-packed commuter trains.

Over 400,000 households, mainly in eastern Japan, were still without power on Monday morning.

After pummelling Japan's outlying islands including Okinawa, Trami made landfall south of the city of Osaka on Sunday night.

Local residents described "incredible winds and rain" that made it impossible to venture outside.

At its height, Trami packed gusts of 216 kilometres (134 miles) per hour, though it weakened as it moved over land.

The storm's strength prompted rail authorities to take the highly unusual step of cancelling Sunday night train services in Tokyo, one of the world's busiest networks.

The capital avoided a direct hit in the storm, but still saw fearsome winds and lashing rain that left the streets deserted.

Kansai Airport, which is situated on reclaimed land offshore in Osaka and suffered extensive damage in a storm earlier in September, reopened early Monday after closing its runways the previous day as a precaution.

Trami is the latest in a string of extreme weather and natural disasters to hit Japan, which has suffered typhoons, flooding, earthquakes and heatwaves in recent months, claiming scores of lives and causing extensive damage.

Some western regions are still recovering from Typhoon Jebi in early September, the most powerful typhoon to strike the country in a quarter of a century. It claimed 11 lives and shut down Kansai Airport.

Deadly record rainfall hit western Japan earlier this year, killing over 200 people, and the country also sweltered through one of the hottest summers on record.

And last month, a magnitude-6.6 earthquake rocked the northern island of Hokkaido, sparking landslides and killing more than 40 people.
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Bitcoin and other digital currency worth around 6.7 billion yen ($60 million) has been stolen in Japan following a hacking attack, a virtual exchange operator said on Thursday.

Osaka-based Tech Bureau, which operates virtual currency exchange Zaif, said its server had been illegally accessed and money transfered.

"We decline to comment on the details of how this illegal access occurred, as it is a crime and we've already asked the authorities to investigate," Tech Bureau said in a statement.

It added that the virtual currencies stolen were bitcoin, bitcoin cash and monacoin.

"We will prepare measures so that customers' assets will not be affected" by the hack, it said, adding it would receive financial support from major shareholder Fisco Group.

The current management team will step down after returning the lost assets to customers, Tech Bureau said.

Japan's financial services agency on Thursday began on-site inspections into the company, Jiji Press reported.

Japan is a major centre for virtual currencies and as many as 50,000 shops in the country are thought to accept bitcoin.

Earlier this year, Japan-based exchange Coincheck suspended deposits and withdrawal for virtual currencies after it had been hacked, resulting in a loss worth half a billion US dollars of NEM, the 10th biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation.

Japanese authorities later ordered two cryptocurrency exchanges to suspend operations as part of a clampdown following the hack.
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 Thanks, but no thanks: Japanese author Haruki Murakami, a finalist for the "alternative Nobel Literature Prize", has withdrawn his nomination, telling organisers he wants to focus on work and avoid the spotlight.

The New Academy Prize in Literature was founded by more than 100 Swedish intellectuals in protest after the Swedish Academy, which selects Nobel laureates, postponed this year's award over longstanding ties to a man accused of assaulting several women during the peak of last year's #MeToo wave.

The New Academy said in a Facebook post on Saturday that Murakami, the author of Norwegian Wood and who's often tipped for the Nobel Literature Prize, "expressed his gratitude at being nominated, writing 'It... is a great honour for me.'"

"Murakami then said his preference is to concentrate on his writing, away from media attention, and asked that his nomination be withdrawn," in an e-mail, the academy added.

The alternative honour serves to denounce "bias, arrogance and sexism", according to its founders who include authors, artists and journalists.

Swedish librarians nominated 47 authors who were later voted on by 32,000 "people from around the world", leaving four authors on the short list: Vietnamese-Canadian author Kim Thuy, Britain's Neil Gaiman, Maryse Conde of France and Murakami.

Juan Antonio Perez Sobrado, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, commented on Facebook that Murakami withdrew his nomination because "he knows the writer selected" for the alternative prize will lose "the opportunity to win the real Nobel Prize for Literature".

Several other authors tipped for the Nobel appeared on the librarians' list of nominees including Canadian Margaret Atwood, the Americans John DeLillo and Joyce Carol Oates, and the Israeli Amos Oz.

Authors who have never been tipped for the Nobel, including J.K. Rowling, writer of the popular Harry Potter series, and novelists Sara Stridsberg and Kerstin Ekman, who have resigned from the Swedish Academy, were also listed by the New Academy.

Picked by a jury after the popular vote, the winner of the "New Literature Prize" will be announced on October 12th.
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A Japan-led proposal to lift a 32-year ban on the commercial hunting of whales has been rejected by a global body for the conservation of the mammals.

During a bi-annual summit in Brazil, member states of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on Friday voted down the motion by 41 to 27.

Two member states - Russia and South Korea - abstained, while one - Monaco - did not participate.

Norway and Iceland - the only countries to explicitly allow commercial whaling - were among those who backed Japan's bid.

Tokyo said it would undertake a "fundamental reassessment" of its IWC membership following the vote, which guaranteed the body's 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling will continue.

Patrick Ramage, a director of marine conservation for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), welcomed the result as "good news for whales", adding that Japan's "audacious proposal would have been a big step backward".

"[The proposal] could have erased a generation of conservation measures and restrictions on whale hunting," Ramage told Al Jazeera from the summit in Florianopolis, the capital of Brazil's southeastern Santa Catarina state.

"It's increasingly clear that Japan needs to reconcile itself to the emerging global consensus for whale conservation instead of whale killing," he added.

On Thursday, the IWC also passed a non-binding "Florianopolis Declaration" stating commercial whaling is no longer a necessary economic activity by 40 votes to 27.
International controversy

Japan's call for the IWC's moratorium to be lifted formed part of a proposal for wider reform of the organisation, which it suggested should focus on "resource management" and permit species of whales "whose population is healthy enough to be harvested sustainably".

In particular, Tokyo was eager to win a concession allowing for the regulated hunting of Minke whales, a species it has claimed are abundant and in no danger of extinction.

Minke whales, comprising the Common and Antarctic varieties, are not listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

"Minke whaling is an integral part not only of our history, but also of our own lives," the Japanese delegation said in its opening statement to the summit.

"We are proud that Japan's small-type coastal minke whaling has always been a sustainable fishery. Our fishery has not negatively impacted the ecosystem and it never will," the statement added.

Whale meat is a popular foodstuff among certain parts of Japan's population, though demand for it has fallen significantly in recent decades, according to a 2013 IFAW report.

Japan, the current chair of the IWC, officially observes the body's prohibition on commercial hunting but continues to capture hundreds of Minke whales each year under an exception to the ban, which permits the killing of whales for scientific purposes.

In 2014, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Japan to halt its whaling programme in the Southern Ocean, also called the Antarctic Ocean, after determining that the hunting permits granted by authorities were not being used "for purposes of scientific research".

Japan resumed the programme in 2016, under a significantly reduced hunting quota of 333, while Iceland and Norway hunted a combined 637 Minke whales in 2016, the last year for which IWC records are available.
Norway and Iceland are the only countries to explicitly allow commercial whaling [File: AP]

'Many threats'

Under the terms of the 1986 moratorium, certain aboriginal communities are also allowed to catch and kill a regulated number of whales, in line with their historical cultural practices and the mammals' nutritional value.

In 2016, aboriginal catches totalled 361 - which comprised Fin, Humpback, Minke, Gray and Bowhead whales. The hunting took place in Russia, Denmark and the United States.

An estimated 45,000 whales have been killed since the IWC's 1986 ruling, according to the UK-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, including those hunted under its exemptions (scientific purposes and aboriginal catching).

Claire Bass, director of the US-based animal protection organisation Humane Society International, said overturning the moratorium would have risked "robbing future generations of the opportunity to meet, admire and learn from the ocean's giants".

"Japan's proposal to resume commercial whaling would be like jumping from a plane without a parachute," Bass told Al Jazeera.

"Whales are long-lived, slow-breeding animals and this makes them especially vulnerable to over-hunting," she added.

"Whales face so many threats in our increasingly degraded oceans; it's critical that the IWC focuses its time and resources on tackling the many problems that we create for whales, such as entanglements in fishing gear and pollution."

Six of the world's 13 "great whale species" are classified as endangered, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

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The death toll from Thursday's earthquake in northern Japan rose to 35 on Saturday.


The quake, which measured 6.6 on the Richter scale, struck Japan's Hokkaido island, triggering landslides and a power outage, and collapsing a hillside.

Nine people are still missing, and approximately 400 were lightly injured. Police officers and members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) are still searching for survivors.

Approximately 16,000 people are currently housed in shelters.

Most of the victims were from the rural town of Atsuma, which was hit by landslides, RTE reported.

Japan's Meteorological Agency warned of aftershocks, and said buildings near the quake's epicenter are at risk of collapse, Express noted.
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Record typhoons, biblical floods, heatwaves, landslides and earthquakes: this summer, Japan really has seen it all and images of the destruction caused have been beamed around... Continue Reading on Geezgo

A new art exhibition in London depicts Michael Jackson as a savior, a saint, an entertainer, an icon, a monarch, a mask and a mystery.

The National Portrait Gallery show, opening Thursday, reveals the extent to which contemporary artists have been drawn to the late King of Pop, as an artistic inspiration, a tragic figure and a fascinating enigma.




Gathering work by 48 artists from around the world, the show includes Jackson-inspired paintings, photographs, videos, textiles and ceramics. It ranges from 1980s pop portraits by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring to David LaChapelle’s depictions of a Christ-like Jackson and Kehinde Wiley’s vast portrait of the entertainer as a king on horseback.

Curator Nicholas Cullinan said Wednesday that, nine years after Jackson’s death, the show explores “how he could mean so many different things to so many people.”

Jackson had already been a child star when he became an international icon in 1983 with the release of “Thriller,” one of the best-selling albums of all time. His music, moves, style and innovations in staging and video had a huge impact on popular culture. He also struggled with the limelight, and died in 2009 of a prescription drug overdose at age 50.

The exhibition includes works that reflect on what Jackson meant to his fans, his place in African-American culture, the way he manipulated fame — and the way fame manipulated him.

U.S. artist Todd Gray, who worked for Jackson as a photographer in the 1970s and 80s, recalled him as a sweet-natured youth — “If he stepped on an ant, he would cry” — but also someone keenly aware of his image. He remembered Jackson refusing to change his mismatched socks for a photo shoot, saying: “People will talk. That’s what I want.”

Gray has reworked his old photos by layering other pictures over Jackson’s face, including images from Ghana, where the artist has a home.

“It’s my way to place Michael in the African diaspora,” he said.

The show has the support of Jackson’s family, though not all the works are flattering. American artist Jordan Wolfson shows nothing but Jackson’s darting, blinking eyes, taken from a 1993 TV interview in which the star denied child molestation allegations.

German artist Isa Genzken juxtaposes Jackson and Michelangelo’s David. Wiley — who has also painted Barack Obama’s official portrait — depicts Jackson in armor on horseback, in a painting modeled on Peter Paul Rubens’ portrait of King Philip II of Spain. The portrait was the last one Jackson commissioned, and was completed after his death.

One work, filling a whole room, focuses not on Jackson but on his fans. South African artist Candice Breitz filmed 16 German-speaking Jackson fans of myriad ages and races, singing “Thriller.” It’s an engaging and moving work that shows just how much Jackson means to those who love his music.

Scottish artist Donald Urquhart, who created an illustrated Michael Jackson alphabet for the exhibition, thinks Jackson’s “manipulation of fame” has inspired many artists. But he says Jackson will be most widely remembered for his boundary-crossing music.

“Michael Jackson: On the Wall” runs in London until Oct. 21. It moves to the Grand Palais in Paris from November to February, then travels to Bonn, Germany, and Espoo, Finland.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/29907

 




Japan's Taro Daniel fears the wrath of his compatriots after missing the national side's dramatic exit from the football World Cup because he couldn't find the right channel on his hotel TV.

Daniel wanted to watch Monday's roller-coaster match when Japan blew a 2-0 lead against Belgium in the round of 16 in Russia, losing 3-2 with Nacer Chadli scoring a heartbreaking winner in the fourth minute of injury time.

However, Daniel missed the thriller as finding the right channel on the remote control proved elusive.

"I'm not a huge football fan but I was following the score," he told AFP.

"I couldn't find the channel on my room TV, so I was just watching some movies. Probably Japanese people would kill me if I say that! Disappointing, I guess.

"If I would have found it on TV I would have watched it. But, I mean, not super concentrated, either, because I was by myself."

Daniel said the Japanese players try to stick together at Wimbledon, with parties and games on the agenda.

"We always have this... party the Saturday before the tournament starts, and we have dinner all together and play games, card games and whatever. It's always fun," he said.

- Nishikori through opener -

The Japanese tennis contingent tried to salvage some national sporting pride at Wimbledon on Tuesday after the football heartbreak.

Kei Nishikori led the way, beating his good friend Christian Harrison in four sets to kick off his campaign at the All England Club.

However, Daniel lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to Italian 19th seed Fabio Fognini.

And in the women's draw, Kurumi Nara lost 6-2, 6-4 to world number one Simona Halep on Centre Court.

Nishikori, the 24th seed, beat US qualifier and world number 198 Harrison 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2. The pair are mates from their time training together in Florida.

Belgian player David Goffin had room to gloat over the football result during a brief encounter with Nishikori.

"Just saw Kei this morning before his match. I just saw him two seconds. I think he was disappointed about the match," he said, with a grin.

Nishikori, who reached the US Open final in 2014, is hoping to get past the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time in 10 attempts.

He admits he has found it tough to shine on grass in the past, with injuries often hampering his bid to replicate his impressive hard-court play.

"Points finish much faster than the other courts and surfaces. Everybody has to play a little more aggressive," the Japanese number one said.

"If you give them one chance, the game will change soon. So far I don't have a good result yet, but I like to play."

He faces unpredictable Australian Bernard Tomic in the second round on Thursday.

- Crestfallen Sugita -

Meanwhile Yuichi Sugita was left bemoaning the same luck as the Japanese football team.

Sugita, the world number 69, was beaten 2-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2, 6-2 by US qualifier Bradley Klahn, ranked 168, leaving him a dejected figure.

"I was pretty sad because this is my favourite court and it was not a good result. It's not great, for sure," Sugita told AFP.

"I lost big momentum because I had a set point for the second set and I lost easy. I lost confidence and then the momentum.

"I'm sad."

He said of Japan's defeat to Belgium: "They also lost the momentum after 2-0 so it's the same as me, so not good for Japan."

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/29040

It is enough to wake the tired eyes of the groggiest commuter. A striking white and pink bullet train themed around the Japanese cartoon character and marketing phenomenon Hello Kitty.

The bespoke train will begin a three month run between the western cities of Osaka and Fukuoka on Saturday.

It was unveiled by the West Japan Railway firm which hopes the use of a famous local export will boost tourism.



Hello Kitty branding features on the windows, seat covers, and flooring.

In line with the firm's aim to attract tourists, the first carriage will have no seats but will offer passengers the chance to buy regional goods and foods from western Japan.

Another carriage will have a large Hello Kitty doll - adorned in a unique crew uniform - where fans can pose for photos.

The character was created by Yuko Shimizu in 1974 and since then has spread around the world.

It can be found on everything from key chains to motor oil, aeroplanes to toilet paper and the brand is now estimated to be worth billions of dollars.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/28332

 Japan and Indonesia are cooperating in the South China Sea as China has increased militarization on reclaimed islands in international waters.

During a visit that commemorated the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi agreed to a $23 million aid package, Kyodo News reported Monday.

The signed document includes agreements on economic cooperation, maritime security and anti-terrorism policy, according to the report.

Marsudi also agreed North Korea should work toward complete denuclearization and said Indonesia supports Japan's goals of removing weapons of mass destruction.

"We reaffirmed our commitment to the strict implementation of the United Nations Security Council's resolutions and to press North Korea for complete verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges," Kono said.

Maritime security was also discussed, and is part of Japan's "free and open Indo-Pacific strategy."

Japan will assist Indonesia in the construction of ports and fishery facilities on Indonesia's outermost islands, including Natuna Island, located on the edge of the South China Sea.

China has claimed as much as 90 percent of the international waters as its own within what it calls the "nine-dash line" that extends more than 1,200 miles from the Chinese mainland.

The Jakarta Post reported Monday the two sides also agreed to conclude talks on the General Review of the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which began in 2008.

Japan is Indonesia's second-largest investor, and two-way trade reached $33 billion in 2016.


https://www.geezgo.com/sps/28168