News in Japan - September

GEJET
TEPCO discovers pipe leaking radioactive water at Fukushima plant

The leaking pipe was found to be dripping one drop about every 90 seconds, the company said. Workers tightened 12 bolts to stop the leak and bolstered the repair using special material and plastic tape.

NRA says tainted water may have to be released into ocean

Gov't to spend Y47 bil on Fukushima water crisis

Japan begins scrapping stranded tsunami ship

Filmmaker revisits the children of Fukushima’s ‘Grey Zone’

Japan balked at steps to control Fukushima water in 2011, memo shows

1,130 tons of tainted water dumped in sea after typhoon

Nearly 290,000 people still living in shelters 2 1/2 years after Tohoku disaster

Japan's Close Encounter with Typhoon Pabuk

More boars mean more damage in Fukushima

Japan

Disaster drills conducted nationwide

Tornado rips through eastern Japan, injures dozens

Pictures of tornado damage

Heavy rainstorms hitting many parts of Japan

Married or single, Japan is a desolate country

If you’re jōzu and you know it, hold your ground

1 in 3 single women in Japan want to be housewife: Survey

Netherlands

Again earthquake near Loppersum (Dutch)

Monday's tornado in Japan rated 4th strongest on scale

Heavy rain lashes central Japan

USA

Concepts for Houston, Texas Flood Barrier

Other

Amount of deaths storms in Mexico rises (Dutch)

‘Grandma export’ exposes Germany’s struggle with care

Australian floods of 2010 and 2011 caused global sea level to drop

Glucose levels and risk of dementia.

How to Design a City for Women

China just bought 5% of Ukraine

The play deficit

Putting All the World's Water into a Big Cube

These 20 cities have the most to lose from rising sea levels

Germany is the first European country to recognize a third gender

Why are there so few people over 115 years of age? (One)

Typhoon Usagi: At least 25 die in south China storm

Another small pheasant warning

Again I was cycling through the fields when the pheasants, and even a lone crow, started crying. It did not last very long and seemed less panicked than the previous time. I saw no obvious effects of an earthquake, but with last week fresh in mind, upon arriving at work I checked the JMA records to find that indeed, another small earthquake had occurred. I am seriously considering pheasants as an early warning system, or to check whether other animals with less obnoxious mating calls can perform the same.

More tornadoes in Tochigi prefecture

As tropical storm Toraji is hitting western Japan, today more tornadoes occurred in Tochigi prefecture: Kanuma, Shioya, and Yaita town were affected.

Images. Fuji News Network has a video. No casualties have been reported so far, but 600 houses have no power.

The Japanese word for tornado is 竜巻 (tatsumaki). While there is no English page on the JMA concerning tornadoes, there are records of them across country since 1961. Anything higher than what is now classified as F1 is still rare. Here are some figures from Ibaraki prefecture. Looks like JMA will have no trouble acquiring funding for the new radar development.

Another earthquake warning by pheasants

This morning there was an earthquake. I did not notice it myself, but the pheasants did. I was on my bicycle out in the fields when it occured.

It is not their mating season, so I was highly surprised to hear them cry out in panic for as long as they did. Unlike the previous earthquake where I heard them scream (December 7, 2012), this was a very long lasting screaming, for well over a minute. I immediately checked the power lines for swaying, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Being a rainy day, there were no farmers out in the fields or other people walking around to verify if they were experiencing an earthquake. I thought it must be something else that had startled them. I was wrong.

There had been an earthquake, magnitude 6.9, but only shindou 3 in our area. Apparently it was very long lasting, coming from such a depth (400 km). The pheasants have proved accurate earthquake alarms once again, even if shindou 3 is not noticeable on a bicycle.

Tornadoes in Noda (Chiba prefecture) and Koshigaya (Saitama prefecture)

Noda (30 km from Tsukuba) and Koshigaya (40 km from Tsukuba) experienced tornadoes on September 2nd. Unlike the Hojo tornado in May 2012, which even prompted the JMA to request funding for a new radar tracking clouds every 10 seconds, nobody died.

Previously we had visited the monument of the Dutch civil engineer Rouwenhorst Mulder near the canal he built, close to Noda city. The images now give a different impression. As of now, in both areas combined 67 people are injured and 550 buildings damaged. Some buildings still risk collapsing and 5 shelters are operating.

From the NHK:

Low storm cloud caused tornado

A meteorologist says a tornado that hit parts of eastern Japan on Monday was produced by a supercell -- a thunderstorm containing rotating updrafts of air -- that formed much closer to the ground than usual.

Japan's National Defense Academy Professor Fumiaki Kobayashi said he studied footage of the tornado captured in the Saitama and Chiba prefectures.

The professor said the cloud developed as low as 500 meters from the ground. Such clouds usually form at twice that height.

He said a funnel-shaped airstream appeared under the cloud and grew to at least 100 meters wide.
Kobayashi said the cloud was so large that it maintained power even when the storm lost energy due to rainfall.

He said people in the tornado-hit areas must have thought they could touch the dark cloud. He urged people to be cautious of supercell clouds as they can be a sign that a tornado is coming.

Update: 64 people injured, over 600 houses damaged. More news and videos here. 

At the end of this video there is a commentary by Dr. Takeshi Maesaka, senior researcher of the storm, flood and landslide research unit, monitoring and forecast research department of the NIED in Tsukuba. He gave us a lecture and visit to the radar analysis room at a field trip October 30th, 2012. 

News in Japan - August

GEJET

Trillions for rebuilding Tohoku go unused

Japan city votes to destroy tsunami ship landmark

Fukushima clean-up turns toxic for Japan's Tepco

Foreign nuclear experts blast TEPCO over lack of transparency

TEPCO says it was reluctant to worry public over toxic water leak

High-Level Cesium Found Deep Underground at Fukushima N-Plant

Fukushima evacuees allowed to stay home overnight

Fukushima plant may have leaked huge amount of radioactive tritium

Exclusive: Japan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an 'emergency'

Tokyo Electric can’t stop radioactive flow at Fukushima plant

Japan ponders freezing Fukushima ground to stop leaks

Workers at Fukushima plant suffer radiation

Fukushima plant spilling contaminated water into the sea 'for years'

NRA approves TEPCO's reactor decommission plan

TEPCO: Largest ever tank leak since crisis

Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis deepens, China expresses 'shock'

Leaking tank at Fukushima plant has no water gauge

Fukushima operator to seek foreign advice on toxic water

Japan formally raises Fukushima water leak to INES Level 3 incident

Japan

Fuji erupted 43 times in 2,000 years

One dead, two missing in ‘unprecedented’ west Japan rain

Rescue operations under way in Yamaguchi, Shimane prefs

Local downpours stoke concern

Floods, Landslides Turn Deadly in Japan

Sakurajima volcano erupts in Japan

Heavy rain in northern Japan; too little in south

How giant tunnels protect Tokyo from flood threat

E-map eyed for Nankai earthquake aftermath

Japan launches new emergency disaster warning system

Netherlands

Exceptionally high amount of deaths due to swimming in natural waters (Dutch)

Heavy rain leads to local trouble in the North (Dutch)

Drones help people suffering from heart attacks (Dutch)

USA

Human Activity Muddies Causes of Texas Floods

Social

Grandma on Feeding Tube Without Consent Symbolizes Japan

Japan's Aso refuses to resign over Nazi comment

Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societies

Few foreigners tempted by points system

Prove you’re Japanese: when being bicultural can be a burden

The rich really are different: Their bodies contain unique chemical pollutants

Sheryl Sandberg: Gender equality won't happen unless men speak up

Hikikomori: Why are so many Japanese men refusing to leave their rooms

Japan's Population Drops for 4th Straight Year

Other areas

Wellington shaken by severe earthquake

Planning by Postcode: How Prepared Are Cities for Climate Change?

Pakistan floods affect 300,000: officials

Future flood losses in major coastal cities

Future Flood Losses in Major Coastal Cities: Costly Projections

Russia’s Far East hit by biggest floods in 120 years

Floods leave at least 107 dead in China

Dams Destabilize River Food Webs: Lessons from the Grand Canyon

Highlights: 

Saturday classes could be restarted

The current five-day school week began on a once-a-month trial basis in September 1992, and was increased to twice a month in fiscal 1995. The five-day school week was fully implemented in fiscal 2002. However, education experts have blamed the five-day school week for deteriorating scores among students. They also said students are not spending their Saturdays as initially envisioned, such as participating in community activities.

Weather agency to develop new radar

The Japan Meteorological Agency plans to develop a new weather radar within the next five years to more accurately forecast torrential rain and tornadoes, agency officials said Tuesday.

The agency plans to request ¥995 million for the project in the fiscal 2014 budget, the officials said.

The plan follows heavy rain that hit the Chugoku and Tohoku regions this summer and a powerful tornado in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in May 2012.

Torrential rain and tornadoes can occur with the buildup of cumulonimbus clouds. The envisioned new phased array radar, which comprises a number of small antennas lined up to emit radio waves, is able to record the movement of such clouds every 10 seconds, according to the officials.

Color vision deficiency

You may not be able to see all the text or figures on this website. I have not yet checked all pages for color vision deficiency (CVD) yet, while in fact quite a lot of people have some form of color vision deficiency. The following is based on information mainly from J-fly, an organisation involved with drosophilia melanogaster genes and therefore in need of preparing many colored images, which all people should be able to see.

How many people have colorblindness?

•The frequency of colorblindness is fairly high. One in twelve Caucasian (8%), one in 20 Asian (5%), and one in 25 African (4%) males are so-called "red-green" colorblind. It is commoner than AB blood group.

How could it affect your work related to disaster risk management?

•There is a good chance that the paper you submit may go to colorblind reviewers. Supposing that your paper will be reviewed by three white males (which is not unlikely considering the current population in science), the probability that at least one of them is colorblind is whopping 22%! 

•People reading your publications or website cannot see all your text or figures.

•Flood Hazard Maps or other (disaster) maps cannot be read by all of the target audience.

•The audience of your presentation may not see what you are indicating on the slides, or when you use a red laser pointer. 

How does it work and what do people see?

What can you do?

•Choose color schemes that can be easily identified by people with all types of color vision. Keep the

number of colors to a minimum.

•Use combinations of different symbols with a few, vivid colors rather than a single symbol with various 

colors (see the example below).

•Clearly state color names where users are expected to use color names in communication.

•Avoid indicating objects only by color name. Make it possible to communicate without using color name. Describe shapes and positions.

•Use a green laser pointer, it works for both color blind and non-color blind people.

•Use a website to check if your images are visible: http://www.vischeck.com/examples/ (this site is currently down, please let me know a suitable alternative)

•Test how your website appears to colorblind people: https://www.toptal.com/designers/colorfilter

•Test yourself for colorblindness types: http://www.testingcolorvision.com/

Sources:
http://jfly.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp/color/
http://www.visibone.com/colorblind/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb263953(v=vs.85).aspx
http://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/
wikipedia