Baby dolphin successfully bred at Aqua World in east Japan for 2nd year in row
The aquarium in the Ibaraki Prefecture town of Oarai keeps 10 bottlenose dolphins, and the female calf was born April 29 to Rei and Nick, the only male of the 10. She has now grown to a length of about 130 centimeters. The mother kept the calf close right after she gave birth, but the baby has been swimming alone more -- a sign of healthy growth.
Last year, the aquarium saw its first birth of a bottlenose dolphin since the facility's update in 2002. To continue successful delivery and nursing, they placed Rei with the mother and baby dolphins in the same tank. The staff said dolphins learn how to care for a baby by being near the mother dolphin. She appears to be raising her newborn well, helping it swim and nursing since she gave birth.
The aquarium will continue monitoring the mother and baby dolphins to decide when to debut the baby and announce its name to the public.
(Japanese original by Kazuki Ite, Mito Bureau)
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The Mainichi
30 minutes ago
- The Mainichi
Hiroshima author honors grandfather through illustrated war tale
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The painful war experiences relayed by his grandfather left an indelible mark on a young Shinsaku Nagata. It inspired the now 35-year-old emerging illustrative author to publish "Akaihi" (Red Day), his first work focused on war, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. It is one of more than 30 titles he has created since his 2016 debut. "The most important thing was to share with my readers the shock I felt when I heard my grandfather's story as a vulnerable child," Nagata said, referring to the U.S. air raids on his hometown of Kure -- a former naval port in Hiroshima Prefecture -- and the atomic bombing of the prefectural capital Hiroshima. The 96-page work of fiction is based on his grandfather's stories and intended for readers of all ages. The work is two to three times longer than a typical book of this type. The story largely comes from what Nagata's grandfather told him when he was 9 or 10 years old, while working on a "peace education" school assignment. His grandfather died a few years later. Nagata vividly remembers the account of his grandfather surviving the Kure attacks, only to nearly die of hunger and fatigue on the way to home to Shimane. His grandfather underscored his story with hand gestures to better communicate the harrowing experience. Kure is now a popular tourist destination known for its scenic views of the Seto Inland Sea. During the war, however, it served as a key base for the Imperial Japanese Navy, making it a target of U.S. attacks starting in March 1945. According to the city government, a barrage of heavy bombings of the town center between July 1 and 2 of that year killed 1,869 civilians. The main character in Red Day, Ryuichi, is modeled on Nagata's grandfather. Ryuichi worked as a schoolteacher in rural Shimane Prefecture before being assigned to a military factory in Kure. Ryuichi lost a friend he had grown close to in Kure -- someone who had tried to help him during the massive July air raid. The book also portrays the world's first wartime use of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. Despite being impacted themselves, Ryuichi and other young survivors of the Kure attacks were sent to Hiroshima, more than 20 kilometers away, to assist rescue efforts in the days following the nuclear attack. Nagata said his grandfather never shared what he witnessed in the devastated city after the bombing. Though his grandfather was never officially recognized as an atomic bomb victim, Nagata considers himself a third-generation survivor, called hibakusha in Japanese. "I belong to a generation that still had the chance to hear firsthand accounts from grandparents and others," he said. "After crafting this book, I realized I'm in a meaningful position to pass down war memories." Nagata hopes that readers not particularly interested in war themes will pick up the book, which he illustrated in just over two weeks. The book, published by Choubunsha Publishing Co., known for "Hadashi no Gen" (Barefoot Gen), an iconic Japanese comic depicting the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, was released this month. (By Satoshi Iizuka)
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
'Unspeakable horror': The attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. bomber Enola Gay, nicknamed "Little Boy." Japan this week marks 80 years since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. The first on August 6, 1945 killed around 140,000 people in Hiroshima and three days later another 74,000 perished in Nagasaki. Here are some facts about the devastating attacks: The bombs The first atomic bomb was dropped on the western city of Hiroshima by the U.S. bomber Enola Gay, nicknamed "Little Boy". It detonated about 600 meters from the ground, with a force equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. Tens of thousands died instantly, while others succumbed to injuries or illness in the weeks, months and years that followed. Three days later the U.S. dropped a second bomb, dubbed "Fat Man", on the southern city of Nagasaki. The attacks remain the only time atomic bombs have been used in wartime. The attacks In Hiroshima, the first thing people noticed was an "intense ball of fire", according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Temperatures near the blast reached an estimated 7,000 degrees Celsius (12,632 degrees Fahrenheit), which incinerated everything within a radius of about three kilometers. "I remember the charred bodies of little children lying around the hypocenter area like black rocks," Koichi Wada, a witness who was 18 at the time of the Nagasaki attack, has said of the bombing. ICRC experts say there were cases of temporary or permanent blindness due to the intense flash of light, and subsequent related damage such as cataracts. A whirlwind of heat generated also ignited thousands of fires that ravaged large parts of the mostly wooden city. A firestorm that consumed all available oxygen caused more deaths by suffocation. It has been estimated that burn- and fire-related casualties accounted for more than half of the immediate deaths in Hiroshima. The explosion generated an enormous shock wave that blew people through the air. Others were crushed to death inside collapsed buildings or injured or killed by flying debris. Radiation effects Radiation sickness was reported in the aftermath by many who survived the initial blasts and firestorms. Acute symptoms included vomiting, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, hemorrhaging and hair loss, with radiation sickness fatal for many within a few weeks or months. Survivors, known as hibakusha, also experienced longer-term effects including elevated risks of thyroid cancer and leukemia, and both Hiroshima and Nagasaki have seen elevated cancer rates. Of 50,000 radiation victims from both cities studied by the Japanese-U.S. Radiation Effects Research Foundation, about 100 died of leukemia and 850 suffered from radiation-induced cancers. The group found no evidence however of a "significant increase" in serious birth defects among survivors' children. The aftermath The twin bombings dealt the final blow to imperial Japan, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War II. Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. But those calculations meant little to survivors, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as the stigma that sometimes came with being a hibakusha. Despite their suffering, many survivors were shunned -- in particular for marriage -- because of prejudice over radiation exposure. Survivors and their supporters have become some of the loudest and most powerful voices opposing nuclear weapons, including meeting world leaders to press their case. Last year, the Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of hibakusha, won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2019, Pope Francis met several hibakusha in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decrying the "unspeakable horror" and calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. In 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. He offered no apology for the attack, but embraced survivors and called for a world free of nuclear weapons. Russia is one of around 100 countries expected to attend this year's memorial in Nagasaki, the first time Moscow has been invited to commemorations in the city since the start of the war with Ukraine. © 2025 AFP
8 hours ago
Eight Decades On: Praying for Peace at Hiroshima's Bomb Memorials
Guideto Japan On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima became the first city to experience an atomic weapon attack. Eighty years on, the city is home to a World Heritage site and museum displays that send a warning to future generations about the threat of war in the nuclear age. Still Standing: The A-Bomb Dome The A-Bomb Dome, on the north side of Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park, is one of the few structures left standing near the hypocenter of the August 6, 1945, atomic bomb blast that leveled the city. The dome and the rest of the park are regular stops on the itineraries of field trips taken by Japanese schools across the nation. Since 1996, when it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the A-Bomb Dome has also been a key destination for foreign visitors to western Japan. The A-Bomb Dome viewed across the Motoyasu River. The Orizuru Tower, seen in the background, offers an observation space on its upper floors. (© Much of the structure's brick facade and the copper plating on the dome are gone, leaving the underlying structure plain to see. (© Originally built in 1915 as the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, the modern-looking domed structure was designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzel. The hypocenter of the blast, the point directly below where the Little Boy atomic bomb went off just under 600 meters above ground, lies only 160 meters or so to the southeast. Visitors flock to the site year-round, rain or shine. (© During the years immediately following the war, memories of the more than 140,000 lives lost here were still fresh, and there were frequent calls to tear down the old exhibition hall as a memory of the painful past. In the 1960s, though, as the nuclear arms race between East and West heated up, a consciousness grew of the importance of the structure as a symbolic message to the world about the threat of these new weapons. A movement to preserve the dome gained momentum, and work began on reinforcement to keep the framework from collapsing. A memorial cenotaph erected on the east side of the dome. (© The remnants of a fountain on the lawn to the south of the structure, a space that was once the exhibition hall's Western-style garden. (© Today the A-Bomb Dome is not structurally safe enough to allow visitors inside, but views of the interior can be had from the walkway on the west side, along the river. The lush greenery of the surrounding lawns and trees contrasts sharply with the bruised remnants of the building, serving as yet another reminder of the destruction of that day in 1945. The dome illuminated after dark. (© Rubble lies where it fell in the building's interior. (© Museum Exhibits Drive the Message Home In the south of the park lies the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. For 70 years, ever since its opening in 1955, it has shared messages on the horror of war and nuclear weapons through its exhibits of photos and memorabilia of the victims of the blast. The two main museum structures are connected to the International Conference Center Hiroshima. (© Looking north from the museum toward the Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims and the dome beyond. (© Recent years have seen a resurgence in interest in the Hiroshima site, accompanying the Group of Seven summit that took place in the city in 2023 and the awarding of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyō, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. During fiscal 2024 (April 2024 through March 2025) total visitors to the museum topped 2.26 million, with around a third, or 720,000, coming from abroad—both all-time records. The Introductory Exhibit space shows how the blast impacted the city. (© A new permanent exhibit displays artifacts related to non-Japanese victims of the bombing. (© A major renewal of the museum in 2019 brought fresh angles to its collection and exhibit spaces. The focus is now on stories of the individuals who fell victim to the bomb that day, without respect to their nationality or cultural background, in an effort to paint a full, more human picture of the history of the event. Visitors view personal belongings of people in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945: a charred school uniform, a clock stopped precisely at 8:15 am, when the blast went off, and much more, all accompanied by photos and stories of the people involved. The tales of those who did not die in an instant are also moving, such as that of a woman who died some years later of disease related to the radiation released by the bomb. The exhibits tell personal tales, complete with names, photos, and episodes from the lives of those lost. (© Exhibit information is available in languages including English, Chinese, and Korean, and Japanese sign language is added to much of the video content. (© The Introductory Exhibit space in the museum's east wing launched in 2017, ahead of the full-scale renewal. It includes a massive diorama of Hiroshima as it stood up through the summer of 1945, overlaid with a computer-graphic display of the impact of the blast. Additional museum sections focus on the dangers of nuclear weapons and the history of the city of Hiroshima, from the wartime era up through the antinuclear movement of the present day. Touch-panel photographic displays and video material make for a gripping and highly accessible learning experience. Making their way through the exhibits, visitors can in a brief time experience the broad sweep from the charred earth of the end of the war through the city's rebirth to the present day. Through it all, though, the message remains clear: We must not let such a war happen again. The museum is an encapsulation of Hiroshima as a symbol of this desire for lasting peace. The museum route takes visitors from the Introductory Exhibit through an exploration of the blast's impact and the threat of nuclear weapons (above) and the history of Hiroshima. (© A tactile exhibit allows the sight-impaired to experience the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall as it once stood (at right) and the A-Bomb Dome today. (© Other Sites in the Peace Memorial Park In the plaza to the north of the museum lies the arch-shaped Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims. Designed by the celebrated architect Tange Kenzō, along with the museum itself, this monument houses a chest containing the names of all who perished due to the bomb, and is inscribed with the phrase: 'Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.' The cenotaph's stone chest beneath an arched roof was inspired by Japan's prehistoric haniwa pottery once used to decorate tombs. (© To the north of the cenotaph, with the dome in the background, burns the Flame for Peace, lit on August 1, 1964, and flickering eternally as a symbol of the hope for peace and a world free of nuclear arms. Just to the east of the flame stands the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims; still farther north is the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound, containing some of the remains of some 70,000 unidentified victims of the blast. The park as a whole is a place for mourning and quiet reflection. The memorial hall houses video and written records of the experiences of people who lived through the bombing. (© Visitors' donations of origami cranes hang before the burial mound. (© The Peace Memorial Park occupies more than 120,000 square meters on the northern tip of a river island in the heart of Hiroshima. Once a bustling entertainment district home to around 4,400 people, today it houses the monuments and facilities described above, along with many more—monuments to children, students, Korean residents, soldiers, and others affected by the bombing among them. A leisurely walk around the park brings a deeper understanding of the many ways in which these people continue to tell their stories to this day. From left: the Clock Tower of Peace, which chimes at 8:15 each morning; the Children's Peace Monument, dedicated to young victims of the bombing and the radiation-related sickness that followed; and the Memorial Tower Dedicated to Mobilized Students, memorializing more than 6,000 who lost their lives. (© The Peace Memorial Park Rest House, built around the ruins of a structure destroyed in the bombing, exhibits its still-intact basement area and historical displays, as well as housing a café and gift shop. (© (Originally written in Japanese. Banner photo ©
