Japan - News/General Discussion

Strong Earthquake rocks central Japan

TOKYO – A strong magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit off the eastern coast of Japan on Sunday, rattling buildings across a broad swath of the country, including the crowded capital.

There were no reports of casualties, with only light damage to structures near the epicenter, according to local officials.

The quake hit at 5:08 p.m. and was felt most strongly in central Fukushima prefecture about 130 miles (210 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

"It was fairly strong, but didn't knock over anything in the office," said Ken Yoshida, a town official in Naraha, one of the hardest-hit areas. He said an earthen wall in town was partially toppled.

The earthquake was centered about 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the eastern coast at a depth of about 25 miles (40 kilometers), the meteorological agency said.

The government said there was no danger of a tsunami, although slight changes to ocean levels were a possibility in some areas.

It was strong enough to gently sway large buildings in Tokyo and was felt across a broad stretch of Japan's main Honshu and northern Hokkaido islands.


Hope everybody's okay. :sweat:

^ Seem to be a lot of strong earthquakes this year... Rather unsettling. :sweat:

bmwracer wrote:^ Seem to be a lot of strong earthquakes this year... Rather unsettling. :sweat:

Earthquakes, blizzards, etc. :sweat:

I was thinking of starting an "Earthquake" thread. But I don't want to tempt the gods. :say_oops:

gaijinmark wrote:I was thinking of starting an "Earthquake" thread. But I don't want to tempt the gods. :say_oops:

I understand your trepidation.

I thought there was a sumo thread, but I couldn't find it.

Baruto was recently promoted to ozeki, after his 14-1 record in the latest tournament. He is the second European to become ozeki, joining Kotooshu. I remember seeing Baruto back in 2008 at the LA Sumo Tour.

dochira wrote:I thought there was a sumo thread, but I couldn't find it.

Baruto was recently promoted to ozeki, after his 14-1 record in the latest tournament. He is the second European to become ozeki, joining Kotooshu. I remember seeing Baruto back in 2008 at the LA Sumo Tour.

It's here: http://jdorama.com/viewpost.772109.htm#772109

I dunno if Baruto is as good as Hakuho. He did beat him once, but that may have been a fluke.

gaijinmark wrote:

I dunno if Baruto is as good as Hakuho. He did beat him once, but that may have been a fluke.

Yokozuna Hakuho has a 12--1 career record against Baruto. Baruto's only win however, occurred just this year (January basho), so you could regard that as the Estonian becoming more competitive against Hakuho. And the fact that Baruto did earn ozeki promotion after accruing 35 victories over the last three tournaments also demonstrates his getting better.

It will be interesting to see if Baruto will continue to improve so he can be a consistent and worthy challenger to Hakuho. Hopefully he will be more determined than his fellow ozeki. A troubling perception regarding the other current ozeki is that they seem to be content to maintain their ranking rather than elevating their game both physically and mentally in order to win basho. You'd think that with Asashoryu's retirement they'd be really motivated to try to win the tournament and step up their efforts for promotion to yokozuna, but none of them came remotely close to challenging for the championship. Well, maybe Baruto will be different. The sport of sumo desperately needs someone to challenge Hakuho on a consistent basis. Right now he is so much better than any of the other rikishi that it is hurting the sport.

Dress like a PM, only $500!! http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/05/26/yours-for-500-hatoyamas-multicolored-shirt/

gaijinmark wrote:Dress like a PM, only $500!! http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/05/26/yours-for-500-hatoyamas-multicolored-shirt/

That's hilarious, man.

Breaking news: PM Hatoyama will resign only 8 months after taking power. Who will take over as fashion king in Japan?

gaijinmark wrote:Dress like a PM, only $500!! http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/05/26/yours-for-500-hatoyamas-multicolored-shirt/

Sigh, need to wait for the second run of them, only 50 were made, already sold out. :shamefulcry:

Probably won't be a second run, Hatoyama is going to resign:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100602/ts_nm/us_japan_politics_3

gaijinmark wrote:Probably won't be a second run, Hatoyama is going to resign:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100602/ts_nm/us_japan_politics_3

I guess his yakisoba skills aren't that good...never mind the shirt.


[image]

It's gotta be the sauce.

gaijinmark wrote:Probably won't be a second run, Hatoyama is going to resign:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100602/ts_nm/us_japan_politics_3

Wow, that means they'll be collector's items, soon to be $5,000 on E-Bay. :crazy:

gaijinmark wrote:Probably won't be a second run, Hatoyama is going to resign:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100602/ts_nm/us_japan_politics_3

I saw that on NHK News right after the replay of last night's Dotch Cooking Show... I knew that shirt would do him in. :beaten:

bmwracer wrote:
I saw that on NHK News right after the replay of last night's Dotch Cooking Show... I knew that shirt would do him in. :beaten:

I guess that mean's everybody in Japan isn't colorblind.

Tu_triky wrote:I guess that mean's everybody in Japan isn't colorblind.

And fashion unconscious. :hehe:

bmwracer wrote:
And fashion unconscious. :hehe:

Maybe that guy dressed like a horse jockey can fill Hatoyama's shoes.

Japan's new PM, Naoto Kan, no word yet on what of shirts he wears: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/06/04/japan.prime.minister/index.html