Knife law tough shuck for oysters Be careful next time you're about to shuck a fresh oyster at a restaurant - you may be using a knife considered illegal under the Firearm and Sword Control Law. Possessing certain types of oyster knives will be punishable from Sunday, after the moratorium expires on a revision to the law that was implemented in January. (Japan Times) Young adults turn to home sharing Rather than forking out money to rent their own apartments, young people struggling during the economic downturn are increasingly moving in with friends or acquaintances as they try to make ends meet. Many of these young adults used to place priority on having a good time, but are now unemployed or working in low-paying jobs. They appear to be moving toward cheaper, shared accommodation, and with it, finding emotional support in these bleak times. (Yomiuri) Japanese scientists to breed 'super tuna'  Japanese scientists will have bred a new "super-tuna" within a decade that will be stronger, more resistant to disease and taste better than the bluefin presently in the oceans. Stocks of tuna have declined by as much as 90 per cent in some waters and the World Wildlife Fund has warned that the Atlantic bluefin will have been wiped out within three years unless radical measures are taken to protect stocks. (telegraph.co.uk)If Paul Krugman were Japanese Narika Hama, a professor of economics at Doshisha University in Kyoto, is a sort of Japanese version of Paul Krugman -- if Paul Krugman were a woman with a purple rinse, pink jacket, funky blue jeans, black patent leather pumps, and a vague British accent. Hama, who lived in the United Kingdom as a child in the 1960s, is something of an intellectual celebrity in Japan. (NewsWeek) Japan's 1st case of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 influenza detected The health ministry said Thursday it has detected a genetic mutation of the new H1N1 strain of influenza A that develops resistance to Tamiflu, marking the first case of the new influenza in Japan that did not respond to the anti-flu drug. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said the Tamiflu-resistant virus was detected in a woman in her 40s infected with the new influenza in Osaka Prefecture. (AP) Japanese love hotels boom in the recession  In Japan, where the global financial meltdown has especially taken its toll, not all industries are languishing. In fact, one of the most notably resilient industries seems to be 'love hotels' (the kind where one may pay by the hour, rather than by the night), according to CNN. One such establishment, the Bonita Hotel in Isawa, currently enjoys a 257 percent occupancy rate. And the industry as a whole is estimated to take in $40 billion per year. (huffingtonpost.com)NASA, Japan map most of planet  CNN's goinggreen blog has an entry today on the new digital topographical map created by NASA and Japan. It's the most complete map to date.
The map was built from 1.3 million images taken by NASA's Terra satellite. CNN says the images were taken by a Japanese imaging instrument called the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER. (baltimoresun.com)News Wizard |