Wednesday February 15, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

LHommeQuiMent's past comments

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LHommeQuiMentJan. 15, 2012 - 12:24PM JST

It lowered Italy's and Spain's by two notches and did the same for Portugal and Cyprus.

Portugal and Cyprus were downgraded to junk-bond status and Cyprus risks another downgrade in the short-term future. Although Cyprus was doing good in managing its deficit levels, their exposure to Greek debt seems to be crucial in this downgrade.

If Greece goes through a disorderly default on its debt in 10 weeks from now, the consequences will be huge not only for Cyprus but for the entire eurozone.

Posted in: Noda says Japan must tackle debt to avoid credit rating cut
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LHommeQuiMentJan. 03, 2012 - 01:33PM JST

Not a good sign for the New Year especially if this was on the Tokai fault line?

This one seems to have a different mechanism.

In March 1984 and April 1984 two deep earthquakes like this one occurred near Torishima. On June 13th 1984 an anomalous seismic event followed in the same region.

The earthquake with a body-wave magnitude m (sub b) = 5.5, which occurred near Tori Shima, Japan, on June 13, 1984, (OT: 2:29:25.3 GMT, 31.448 degrees N, 140.036 degrees E, depth = 10 km, mb = 5.5, M (sub S) = 5.5) is anomalous because of unusually large tsunamis associated with it. At Hachijo Is., 150 km from the epicenter, tsunamis were visually observed with peak-to-peak amplitude of 130 to 150 cm. These tsunamis are disproportionately large for the magnitude of the earthquake.

Source: < http://www.mendeley.com/research/an-anomalous-seismic-event-near-tori-shima-japan-a-possible-magma-injection-event/>

On February 26th 2010, a magnitude 7 earthquake with a focal depth of 25 km happened in the same region and caused very small tsunami waves in southern Okinawa islands.

This one was very deep, near the bottom of earth's upper mantle and did not cause any tsunami waves. There might be a submarine volcanic activity in this region.

Posted in: M7.0 quake rocks Tokyo, eastern Japan; no danger of tsunami
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LHommeQuiMentDec. 24, 2011 - 09:11AM JST

I prefer Superman's hendiatris(*): "Truth, Justice, and the American Way".

(*) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendiatris

Posted in: Spiritual reminders
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LHommeQuiMentDec. 23, 2011 - 08:41AM JST

The first kanji of the year was "shin" (quake) in 1995, the year when Kobe earthquake occurred. This year it made 3rd place. If it was not already selected it would make a good choice.

Number two was "sai" (disaster).

Number four was "nami" (wave) as in tsunami, my personal favorite.

Posted in: 'Kizuna' chosen as kanji character of 2011
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LHommeQuiMentDec. 22, 2011 - 11:35PM JST

Now Sarkozy can safely pick up the votes of half a million ethnic Armenians in next year's presidential and legislative elections.

Posted in: Turkey warns of sanctions against France over genocide bill
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LHommeQuiMentDec. 17, 2011 - 01:39PM JST

Governments, corporations and organized religion should never be trusted.

That's what history has taught us. And this is not specific to Japan or to this nuclear accident.

Posted in: Noda's declaration on Fukushima met with cynicism
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LHommeQuiMentDec. 12, 2011 - 01:26AM JST

Most probably his illness is not related to radiation exposure.

Major cause of esophagus cancer is alcohol. Even moderate drinkers can develop esophagus cancer. People who show flushing response to alcohol have an increased risk, this is due to a deficiency in ALDH2 enzyme and it is quite common among North-Eastern Asians.

Smoking and consumption of salty food increase the risk.

Posted in: Ex-chief of Fukushima nuclear plant has cancer: TEPCO
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LHommeQuiMentDec. 11, 2011 - 11:42AM JST

As far as I know, Japan and Germany are only high-income countries where restrictions on tobacco advertising are quite lax.

In both countries governments have traditionally placed economic considerations ahead of public health concerns and tobacco companies can promote their products in various ways.

Posted in: Is Japan's 2020 Olympic bid going up in smoke?
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LHommeQuiMentDec. 03, 2011 - 10:38PM JST

Almost all of of those arrested were Share (a P2P application) users. http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20111201-00000092-zdn_n-inet (Japanese content)

Japanese police mostly concentrates on tracking file-sharing applications popular in Japan, like Winny, Share and Perfect Dark.

Posted in: 30 arrested for illegally sharing manga, music, movies, TV shows online
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LHommeQuiMentNov. 28, 2011 - 09:12AM JST

It seems like Tokyo and Istanbul have equal chances for 2020 games.

Istanbul, Turkey; = maybe, an appeasement for the muslims (but athletes want to wear shorts and singlets and swimmers want to wear swimming trunks) can they deal with the bodily expsosure [sic]?

You're joking, right? Take a short trip to Istanbul and surprise yourself. If you can't afford it, just do a search in YouTube.

Posted in: Noda to support Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid
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LHommeQuiMentNov. 11, 2011 - 11:15PM JST

According to a recent study by Germany's Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research "a man's chances of dying early are cut by a fifth if their bride is between 15 and 17 years their junior". The study also shows that "a man who is between seven and nine years older than his wife has an 11% lower mortality rate than a man whose wife is the same age as him. However, a woman who is between seven and nine years older than her husband has a 20% greater mortality rate than if she were with a man the same age."

Posted in: Joji Takahashi, Mika Mifune chosen as 'Partners of the Year'
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LHommeQuiMentNov. 06, 2011 - 01:05PM JST

Consumers paying too much for fruits and vegetables? Japan joins the TPP and a lot of farmers in Japan will be unemployed. You want that? You want your cheap apples that much?

Yes, yes and yes.

On the average Japanese farmers are 65 years old and most of them do not have successors. Event Japan does not join TPP they don't have a bright future. Japanese agriculture and fishing industry makes only about 1.3% of gross national product but its share of the workforce is about 5%. Farming industry should decline. The sooner the better.

Posted in: Big anti-TPP rally held in Tokyo as deadline for decision looms
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LHommeQuiMentSep. 14, 2011 - 08:05AM JST

It's not just about money.

References to "wartime sex slaves" have been omitted from most authorized school textbooks under LDP rule.

Hopefully they will be back.

Posted in: S Korea to propose sex slave talks with Japan
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LHommeQuiMentSep. 14, 2011 - 07:55AM JST

Another Hinomaru variant.

Posted in: 'Cool Japan'
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LHommeQuiMentSep. 12, 2011 - 01:32AM JST

Turkey that wished to be part of europe getting closer to Iran

Iran is a Shia country and Turkey is predominantly Sunni. So they will never get closer to Iran (Ottoman-Safavid conflict). Actually Turkey is getting closer to Russia.

Posted in: Egypt unrest, Turkey row deepen Israeli isolation
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LHommeQuiMentAug. 29, 2011 - 12:18AM JST

She is obviously malnourished, without muscle mass and not in shape to run 10000 km. She was several laps behind the Kenya women and came last.

Vivian Cheruiyot who won the race is 155 cm tall and weighs 38 kg. Kinukawa is 153 cm tall and weighs 38 kg. She is not malnourished, neither is Cheruiyot, a malnourished person cannot run 10 km.

Long distance runners do not need muscle mass like short distance runners who use glycogen stored in muscle (anaerobic ATP generation). Endurance athletes have very efficient fat burning metabolism and high free fatty acid turnover (aerobic ATP generation). Strong tendons are much important for long distance runners, not muscles.

Being small and having a lean body is a great advantage for long distance running. Less pressure on leg and foot tendons and a better perspiration mechanism; waste products of aerobic metabolism (water & carbon dioxide) need to be effectively removed from the body for best performance.

Posted in: Painful finish
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LHommeQuiMentAug. 28, 2011 - 10:47AM JST

According to Wikipedia she is 153 cm tall and weighs 38 kg. She's a little bit thinner then the average Japanese women in her age group but nothing extreme.

In Japan, average weight for a 153 cm tall women in her early 20's is 44 kg (plus/minus 3 kg).

Posted in: Painful finish
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LHommeQuiMentJun. 11, 2011 - 07:13PM JST

has anyone done the math regarding how much oil would be needed, ...

Germans have done the math, and they are very good at math.

Posted in: Thousands in Tokyo protest against nuclear power
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LHommeQuiMentJun. 05, 2011 - 12:37AM JST

you get more radiation from eating 1,742 bananas a day.

The radioactive isotope found in banana is Potassium-40. Brazil nuts and lima beans have more K-40 than bananas, read meat, carrots and white potatoes have almost the same amount. It poses no threat to humans.

The main radioactive isotopes emitted to environment from Fukushima reactors are Iodine-131 and Cesium-137. They are human produced isotopes and do not exist in nature. Iodine-131 is the major risk for children as Iodine is selectively absorbed by thyroid gland.

This is not the case for naturally occurring K-40.

Basically for living organisms, we cannot compare K-40 and I-131 at all.

P.S. Wikipedia has a good introductory article about this banana equivalent dose (BED) thing.

Posted in: Fukushima's No. 1 reactor building radiation level rises
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LHommeQuiMentMay. 02, 2011 - 02:03PM JST

This time it's real. For DNA testing they have used samples from Bin Laden's dead sister. It seems like they have halted the announcement for a few days (a week?) until the results of DNA tests were confirmed.

Posted in: BIN LADEN BURIED AT SEA AFTER BEING KILLED IN FIREFIGHT WITH U.S. FORCES