Climax of Tokyo's "Sanja Matsuri" festival

People in Tokyo have enjoyed the climax of the annual 3-day early summer festival featuring 3 portable shrines. The event was held for the first time in 2 years. The "Sanja Matsuri" is one of the capital's largest festivals with a 700-year history and is held in the Asakusa district of downtown Tokyo. Last year, following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11th, the organizers decided to cancel most parts of the festival, including the parade. On Sunday, men and women wearing "happi" coats carried 3 golden portable shrines on their shoulders to take different routes for the 3 shrines that each weigh about one ton. Thousands of onlookers cheered the participants and took photos of the parade. A woman who carried one of the shrines said the town looked deserted last year. She said she feels even happier than before to take part in the festival after one year's absence. The organizer's representative, Nobuhisa Yoshioka, said the Tokyo Sky Tree will open soon and Tokyo will have a new tourist attraction along with traditional events like this festival. He said he hopes the festival will encourage people to find ways to boost the economy.

Annular eclipse seen across Japan

An annular solar eclipse was visible over a wide area of Japan on Monday morning, giving thrills to observers across the nation. For the first time in 932 years, the rare astronomical event could be seen from a wide area of Japan including Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. It was seen from Kagoshima Prefecture in the southwest to Fukushima in northeastern Japan. An annular eclipse occurs when the sun, moon, and Earth are exactly in line. Instead of obscuring the sun, the eclipse creates a bright ring, called an annular, around the moon's silhouette. In Japan, the moon began sliding in front of the sun from around 6 AM. At Cape Muroto in western Japan, a partial eclipse began at around 6:15 AM, and the "ring of fire" was formed about one hour later. The point where the annular eclipse is visible moved from west to east in a quick succession, from Osaka to Nagoya to Tokyo and then Fukushima. The eclipse was visible in more places than anticipated because the weather cooperated at the last minute, despite forecasts for cloudy skies in many areas. In Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, NHK cameras caught a high-definition image of Baily's beads --- a spectacle only visible during fleeting moments of the annular eclipse. The image shows beads of sunlight shining through rugged valleys on the edge of the moon. Observation events were held on land, sea and in the air. Some elementary schools held viewing parties. Astronomers say the next time an annular eclipse can be seen across such a wide area will be 300 years from now, in 2312

Kyoto: Govt explanation on Ohi insufficient

A Kyoto prefectural official says the government's explanations on the safety of the Ohi nuclear power plant are insufficient to restart its reactors. The official spoke to a senior representative from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Tetsuya Yamamoto, at the Kyoto Prefectural hall on Tuesday. Yamamoto explained that the entire government is dedicated to putting fresh safety standards in place following the Fukushima accident. But the Kyoto official, who heads the crisis management team, replied that it is unclear to what extent the nuclear safety commission was involved in devising the standards. He said the government explanation is inconsistent with the demands of local people. In mid-April, the government decided that the Ohi plant's 2 reactors on the Japan Sea coast need to be restarted to ensure that the Kansai region does not suffer power shortages this summer. The reactors are offline for regular checkups. Tuesday, May 01, 2012 14:53 +0900 (JST)