Latest news with #Amami
NHK
a day ago
- Climate
- NHK
Japan's southern Kyushu braces for downpours caused by bands of rainclouds
Weather authorities are urging people in the southern part of southwestern Japan's Kyushu region to brace for torrential downpours. They say bands of heavy rainclouds may form over the area through late Monday. The Meteorological Agency notes that warm moist air is moving toward a seasonal rain front that is located south of Japan. It says that is making atmospheric conditions extremely unstable, mainly in western Japan. The agency also says that through late Monday bands of heavy rainclouds may form and cause torrential downpours, especially in Kagoshima Prefecture, which is located in the southern part of the Kyushu region. It notes that the Amami region is unlikely to be affected. The agency says heavy rain accompanied by localized thunder is also expected in the northern part of the Kyushu region. Over the next 24 hours through Tuesday morning 200 millimeters of rain is expected in the southern part of the Kyushu region, and 150 millimeters is expected in the northern part. The rain front is expected to gradually move north through Wednesday. It is then likely to remain over the western and eastern parts of Japan. In the 24 hours through Wednesday morning, 200 millimeters of rain could fall in northern Kyushu, and 120 millimeters could fall in both southern Kyushu and Yamaguchi Prefecture. Weather officials are calling on people to stay on high alert because there may be landslides, floods in low-lying areas, swollen rivers in some places, lightning strikes, gusty winds, and tornadoes.
BBC News
11-05-2025
- BBC News
Japan: Three men held over suitcases stuffed with hermit crabs
Three men have been arrested in Japan for attempting to smuggle hermit crabs out of the suspects, aged 24, 26 and 27, and widely identified in Japanese media as being Chinese nationals, were detained on Amami, a southerly island where the spiral-shelled crustaceans are a protected were alerted to the men's live cargo when hotel staff, who had been asked to look after their luggage, noticed the suitcases making a "rustling noise", police told local subsequently discovered "thousands" of hermit crabs, weighing around 95kg. The third man was found to have a further 65kg in another set of three suitcases. "Our investigation is ongoing to identify whether they had [the crabs] to sell them, or to keep them as pets, or to eat them," a police spokesman told the news agency AFP following the arrests on Wednesday. "We are reviewing all possibilities."Police said the hermit crabs were "a national treasure", being a part of Amami Island's plant and animal crabs - so named because they scavenge shells to live in - can regularly be seen on the beaches of the popular tourist crabs can be worth up to ¥20,000 (£103), according to the Japan Times.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
Three Chinese nationals arrested in Japan after thousands of protected hermit crabs found smuggled in suitcases
Police on a Japanese holiday island have arrested three Chinese nationals after thousands of protected hermit crabs were found stuffed into multiple suitcases. The three suspects – Liao Zhibin, 24, Song Zhenhao, 26, and Guo Jiawei, 27 – were found to have 160 kilograms (353 pounds) of the live crustaceans in their possession on Wednesday, according to police on the Amami Islands, near Okinawa. Police said a hotel worker in Amami, a city on the island of Amami Oshima, alerted environmental authorities after spotting something suspicious about the suitcases the three men had asked hotel staff to watch. 'They heard rustling sounds coming from a suitcase that was being held in storage,' a police officer told CNN. Officers later arrived at the hotel and found the spiral-shelled hermit crabs stuffed into six suitcases, according to police. When they returned to the hotel on Wednesday, the three men were arrested for possessing the crustaceans without proper authorization, Kyodo News reported. It's unknown why the three men were transporting the crustaceans. Police did not provide more detail on the exact species, but told CNN Friday that the hermit crabs seized are classified as 'national natural monuments' in Japan because of their cultural and scientific value, and protected under Japanese law. The Amami archipelago, off southwestern Kyushu and just north of Okinawa, is a popular tourist destination and known to be home to a diverse array of native plants and animals.
CNN
11-05-2025
- CNN
Thousands of hermit crabs seized after being found smuggled in suitcases
Police on a Japanese holiday island have arrested three Chinese nationals after thousands of protected hermit crabs were found stuffed into multiple suitcases. The three suspects – Liao Zhibin, 24, Song Zhenhao, 26, and Guo Jiawei, 27 – were found to have 160 kilograms (353 pounds) of the live crustaceans in their possession on Wednesday, according to police on the Amami Islands, near Okinawa. Police said a hotel worker in Amami, a city on the island of Amami Oshima, alerted environmental authorities after spotting something suspicious about the suitcases the three men had asked hotel staff to watch. 'They heard rustling sounds coming from a suitcase that was being held in storage,' a police officer told CNN. Officers later arrived at the hotel and found the spiral-shelled hermit crabs stuffed into six suitcases, according to police. When they returned to the hotel on Wednesday, the three men were arrested for possessing the crustaceans without proper authorization, Kyodo News reported. It's unknown why the three men were transporting the crustaceans. Police did not provide more detail on the exact species, but told CNN Friday that the hermit crabs seized are classified as 'national natural monuments' in Japan because of their cultural and scientific value, and protected under Japanese law. The Amami archipelago, off southwestern Kyushu and just north of Okinawa, is a popular tourist destination and known to be home to a diverse array of native plants and animals.
South China Morning Post
09-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
3 Chinese men arrested in Japan after 160kg of hermit crabs found in suitcases
Three Chinese men have been arrested in Japan after several thousand protected land hermit crabs were found in their suitcases as police investigate whether the suspects intended to sell or keep the 'natural monuments' as pets. Advertisement The alleged smuggling came to light when staff from a hotel where the visitors stayed in the southwestern city of Amami alerted environmental officials. The guests 'had asked the hotel to watch their suitcases, and the suitcases made a rustling noise' on Tuesday, police told The Japan Times newspaper. Police detected thousands of the spiral-shelled hermit crabs, weighing around 160kg (353lbs) in total, inside the six suitcases they had left behind. Liao Zhibin, Song Zhenhao and Guo Jiawei were arrested for possessing the crustaceans without proper authorisation, following their return to the hotel on Wednesday, Kyodo News reported. Advertisement The land hermit crabs were from a species designated as natural monuments because of their cultural and scientific value, and protected by Japanese law. Each one can sell for up to 20,000 yen (US$137).
