Latest news with #Himawari
Al Jazeera
20-07-2025
- Climate
- Al Jazeera
Typhoon Wipha causes flight disruptions in Hong Kong, southern China
Hong Kong has issued its highest tropical cyclone warning as Typhoon Wipha batters the city, with authorities cancelling classes and grounding hundreds of flights and other transport services. Wipha was located about 60km (37 miles) southwest of Hong Kong at around 1pm (05:00 GMT) on Sunday and was moving west towards coastal regions of southern China, according to the latest satellite reports from the United States weather monitor NOAA and Japan's Himawari. The Hong Kong observatory issued the T10 hurricane alert, saying 'winds with mean speeds of 118kmph (73mph) or more are expected' and pose 'considerable threat to Hong Kong'. 'Under the influence of its eyewall, hurricane force winds are affecting the southern part of the territory,' the observatory said, warning the public to 'beware of destructive winds'. Huge waves were spotted off the eastern coast of Hong Kong Island, according to the Reuters news agency. A representative from Hong Kong's Airport Authority on Sunday said about 500 flights have been cancelled, while 400 others are scheduled to take off or land later in the day. China's Hainan and Guangdong provinces were also put on high alert, according to the state news agency Xinhua. The cities of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Macao cancelled or delayed all daytime flights on Sunday. More than 200 people have sought refuge at government-run temporary shelters in Hong Kong. One man sought medical treatment at the emergency room of a public hospital on Sunday morning, with officials receiving more than a dozen reports of fallen trees. Authorities also suspended Sunday's classes at all day schools and daycare centres, while trains offered limited services. Hong Kong last hoisted the T10 warning signal for Super Typhoon Saola in 2023. Wipha, which in Thai means 'splendour', also passed over the Philippines at tropical storm strength and drenched parts of Taiwan. The typhoon also intensified seasonal monsoon rains in the Philippines, and two people have been reported missing, according to the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. More than 370,000 people in the Philippines were affected by days of stormy weather, including 43,000 who fled to government-run emergency shelters or homes of relatives due to flooding, landslides and fierce winds. More than 400 houses were damaged in the onslaught, officials in the Philippines said.
Yomiuri Shimbun
09-07-2025
- General
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Library with Ukrainian-Language Books for Evacuees Established by Ukrainian Woman
A private library in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, started by a Ukrainian woman and featuring Ukrainian-language books, has become a place of respite for Ukrainians who have fled the war and are now taking shelter in Japan. The books have been collected through various channels. The library was established by Dariia Murakami, 41, of Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture. In 2014, she fled the military conflict occurring in her home country of Ukraine and moved to Japan. Murakami hopes that Ukrainian evacuees in Japan will feel a sense of belonging to their homeland by reading books in their native language, even while living abroad. The library is located in a room of an office building that is about a 10-minute walk from Shibuya Station. It has about 600 books in various genres, including fiction, history, manga and picture books, all written in Ukrainian, which are lined up in the small space and can be borrowed free of charge. One evening in mid-May, Daniel Zahorodnii, a 17-year-old high school student who evacuated from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to Ibaraki Prefecture, was reading a book at a desk in the library. Zahorodnii, a frequent visitor to the library, said: 'I like paper books. It is an important place for me as I can read books written in my native language.' Murakami is from Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, pro-Russian armed forces occupied the city. She moved to Japan that summer at the suggestion of a friend from Donetsk who was already living in Japan. At first, Murakami did not understand Japanese, so she had a hard time with everyday life, such as finding a job and shopping. She gathered necessary information from communities of foreigners on social media and other sources to organize her life, and eventually found a job as a restaurant cook. In Japan, she gave birth to her daughter, Eva, who is now 7. She currently works as a kindergarten teacher. When Russia began its aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Murakami started helping evacuees from Ukraine, such as by distributing daily necessities. 'No one helped me [when arriving in Japan], so I wanted to help people from my country who were facing difficulties,' she said. Upon hearing that many evacuees wanted to read books in Ukrainian, Murakami asked for advice from Mariko Ukiyo, who heads the Japanese Organization of Mental Health and Educational Agencies, based in Shibuya Ward. The organization established a mental care and exchange center for Ukrainian evacuees in May 2022. The center is called 'Himawari.' Since then, the center has organized exchange events for evacuees, given counseling and provided mental health care. Murakami met Ukiyo at an event supporting Ukrainian evacuees. Thinking that reading books helps calm people's mind, Ukiyo decided to cooperate in Murakami's library project, allowing her to use a room in the organization's office. The library opened in the autumn of that year. Murakami asked a friend who works at a bookstore in Ukraine to put a donation box in the store for people to donate money for book purchases. To increase the number of books, she has also called for book donations on social media and purchased books at her own expense. The library has gradually become known among evacuees. Now, even people living outside Tokyo contact the library to borrow books. The library also hosts book clubs as well as events featuring Ukrainian writers that it invites. Three years have passed since Russia's aggression against Ukraine started. U.S. President Donald Trump has stepped in to mediate. Regarding the situation, Murakami said she wants victory and children must never be killed or kidnapped again. Murakami also maintains that Ukrainian literature should not be overshadowed by Russian literature. 'I'll make efforts to make it better known by Japanese people through events and other measures,' she said. The library is located on the seventh floor of the Sanwa Aoyama Building at 2-9-9, Shibuya, Shibuya Ward. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. For inquiries, call Himawari at (050) 3612-7559.
India Today
01-07-2025
- Science
- India Today
Tasked to watch Earth, Japanese satellite makes big discovery on Venus
Tasked to look at Earth, Japan's Himawari-8 and -9 meteorological satellites have been successfully repurposed to observe changes in Venus' cloud-top temperatures, revealing unseen patterns in atmospheric by the University of Tokyo, researchers used data from 2015 to 2025 to estimate brightness temperatures on daily and yearly scales. This study highlights how meteorological satellites can complement future planetary missions and ground-based Himawari-8 and -9 satellites, launched in 2014 and 2016, respectively, were originally designed to monitor Earth's atmospheric phenomena through their multispectral Advanced Himawari Imagers (AHIs). The University of Tokyo team, led by visiting researcher Gaku Nishiyama, identified an opportunity to utilise this sensor data for spaceborne observations of Venus. Nishiyama noted, "The atmosphere of Venus has been known to exhibit year-scale variations in reflectance and wind speed; however, no planetary mission has succeeded in continuous observation for longer than 10 years due to their mission lifetimes."Monitoring the temperature variations in Venus' cloud tops is crucial for understanding its atmospheric dynamics, which include thermal tides and planetary-scale waves. Ground-based observations have limitations due to Earth's atmosphere and sunlight during the daytime. Observing temporal temperature variations in the cloud tops of Venus is essential to understand its atmospheric dynamics. (Photo: Nasa) advertisementThe Himawari satellites appear well-suited to bridge this gap with their extended mission lifetimes, scheduled to operate until 2029. They offer multiband infrared coverage essential for retrieving temperature information from different altitudes. "We believe this method will provide precious data for Venus science because there might not be any other spacecraft orbiting around Venus until the next planetary missions around 2030," said research team established a data archive by extracting all Venus images from the AHI datasets, identifying 437 considering background noise and the apparent size of Venus in the images, they were able to track temporal variations in cloud-top temperature during specific alignment periods of the satellite, Venus, and analysing the data, the team confirmed variations in thermal tide amplitude and changes in the amplitude of planetary waves over time. These findings, although limited by the resolution of the AHI data, suggested possible links to variations in Venus' atmospheric structure. Surface oif Venus as seen by spacecraft from Earth. The study also revealed calibration discrepancies in data from previous planetary sees broader implications for this novel approach, stating, "I think that our novel approach in this study successfully opened a new avenue for long-term and multiband monitoring of solar system bodies. This includes the moon and Mercury, which I also study at present."He expressed hopes that the study will enable assessments of physical and compositional properties, along with atmospheric dynamics, contributing to a greater understanding of planetary evolution.- Ends
Yomiuri Shimbun
29-06-2025
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Final Launch of Japan's H2a Rocket Successful; Rocket Finished Career with 98% Success Rate
Japan's 50th and final H2A rocket successfully launched Sunday and separated from a government satellite that has been put into orbit to observe the Earth. The rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at 1:33 a.m. The successful launch marked a triumphant finish for the rocket, which has supported Japan's space development for more than two decades. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., which took charge of the launch, said the rocket successfully launched 44 consecutive times and marked a success rate of 98% since its first launch in 2001. Of the 50 launches, the sixth was the only one that failed in 2003. The success rate proves the rocket's high technical prowess and reliability. The H2A has carried several important satellites that support social infrastructure. Those include the geostationary meteorological satellite Himawari and the quasi-zenith satellite Michibiki, which is used to enhance positioning accuracy. It has also carried explorers that made significant scientific achievements, such as Hayabusa2, which brought back samples collected from the surface of asteroid Ryugu, and the SLIM lander, which successfully touched down on the moon's surface and made Japan the fifth country to land a craft on the moon. The latest rocket carried the government's GOSAT-GW satellite, whose mission includes measuring greenhouse gas levels and the water cycle. Nicknamed Ibuki GW, the satellite can measure the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on the entire surface of the Earth. It is expected to contribute to countermeasures against global warming. The model will be replaced as the country's mainstay space vehicle by the new H3 rocket, which was jointly developed by the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Due to its high launch cost, which is said to be around ¥10 billion, the H2A rocket struggled to receive orders for commercial launches of overseas satellites. The new H3 rocket aims to offer a lower launch service price — half that of the H2A — to cash in on an increasing global demand for satellite launches.
Time Out
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
This river cruise in Osaka comes with sunset city views and unlimited drinks
Osaka is famous for many things: its amazing street food, its family-friendly amusement parks, and this year, as the host of the World Expo. But few people realise that Osaka is also a city of water. Nestled by the bay and threaded with rivers and canals, the city's waterways are a lesser-known attraction. This summer, you can discover this quieter, more romantic side of Osaka with a sunset cruise aboard the Himawari. The Himawari is an elegant houseboat, inspired by the steamships that plied Osaka's rivers during the Meiji era (1868–1912). It features a classic wooden interior, has an open deck to enjoy the breeze and city views, and is decorated with lanterns to create a festive, old-timey atmosphere. Available only on Fridays and Saturdays from August 1 to September 13, the Himawari Summer Beer Cruise offers a leisurely 90-minute journey along one of the city's main rivers. You'll watch the cityscape shift from golden to sparkling as buildings light up around you. Along the way, you'll also catch Osaka's newest attraction – the Osaka River Fantasy, a riverside water and light show with projection mapping. On board, you get to enjoy all this with a cold one in hand, as the cruise includes unlimited drinks ranging from draft beer, wine and highballs to non-alcoholic options. Your drink is paired with an 'Evening Refreshment Petit Hors d'Oeuvres Set', specially prepared for the cruise by Le Clos de Mariage, a well-regarded French restaurant in Temmabashi. Adding to the ambience are live performances by local musicians. The cruise runs from 6.20pm to 7.50pm, departing from Hachikenyahama Pier, just outside the west exit of Temmabashi Station (Keihan Line). Tickets are priced at ¥8,000 for adults, ¥7,250 for junior high and high school students, and ¥5,250 for elementary school students. Bookings must be made online at least three days in advance. For more information or reservations, visit the cruise website. teamLab is opening a permanent immersive art museum in Kyoto
