Japan Sci-Tech News

The government has decided to map out a response plan for the possible occurrence of three massive, simultaneous earthquakes in the nation. It plans to compile detailed estimates of possible damage from such an event and an outline of countermeasures from fiscal 2011. Of all the foreseeable earthquake scenarios that could take place in and around Japan, the most destructive would be the simultaneous occurrence of the so-called Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai earthquakes. (Yomiuri)

The physician to Japanese Emperor Akihito and top scientists have slammed homeopathy as an "absurd" medicine, urging health workers to stay clear of the alternative treatment as it grows in popularity. The controversy has been fuelled by reports that a two-month-old baby girl died last year of a cerebral haemorrhage in Japan after she was given a homeopathic remedy instead of the normal treatment of vitamin K. Homeopathic medicines use materials derived from flora, fauna and minerals, and their preparation includes the heavy dilution of the raw materials, according to the World Health Organization. (AFP)

Sunshine International Aquarium, located atop the Sunshine City building in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, will close for a year beginning Wednesday for large-scale renovations to compete better with other aquariums in the Kanto region. When it opened in 1978, the aquarium was touted as the first in Japan to be build on top of a high-rise. In recent years, the aquarium has suffered a decline in visitors as rival venues opened. (Japan Times)

Perhaps due to the fact that more people are carrying better quality camera phones or perhaps because visiting aliens are becoming more bold in terms of interacting with humanity as possible open alien contact draws nearer, the quality of new UFO footage over the last months has been better than ever. UFOs are commonly seen in Japan and interest in alien / extraterrestrial subjects widespread. No official disclosure of UFO files has, however, occurred in Japan as of yet. (allnewsweb.com)

A company employee in Nagano Prefecture calculated the value of pi to five trillion digits this month using a self-made personal computer, beating the record set by a French engineer who calculated it to about 2.7 trillion digits late last year. To calculate the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, to an undetermined number of digits, Shigeru Kondo, a 55- year-old resident of Iida, assembled a computer with 32 terabytes of hard-drive capacity and used an application made by Alexander Yee, a 22-year-old student at a U.S. graduate school. (AP)

A heat wave continued in Japan on Sunday, with the temperature rising to 35 C or higher at 114 observation points across the archipelago, particularly in western Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The mercury soared to 37.4 C in Osaka, setting a new record for the longest streak of temperatures rising to 35 C or above at 14 days. The weather agency forecast the heat would continue this week and called on people to take precautions against heat stroke. (AP)

Of four intelligence-gathering satellites currently in orbit to observe North Korea, the lone radar orbiter impervious to darkness and cloudy weather has broken down, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center said it detected a glitch in the satellite's radar system Monday and began remote operations to restart the system. However, an official of the center said the outlook for recovery was "extremely grim." The government plans to launch its next radar reconnaissance satellite in fiscal 2011. The failure of the orbiter is expected to badly affect intelligence-gathering activities for Japan at a time when North Korea has tested nuclear weapons and China has built up its military. (Yomiuri)

The Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy, headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, has decided Japan will continue to participate in the International Space Station (ISS) project through 2016 and beyond. The government will officially communicate its decision, made Aug. 27, to other participating countries in the near future. Meanwhile, the headquarters also decided to move ahead with a fiscal 2014 launch timetable for the Hayabusa 2 -- the successor to the Hayabusa probe mission to a near Earth asteroid that concluded this year -- and moon research. (Mainichi)

A team of Japanese researchers has detected the DNA of a leprosy-causing bacterium from archaeological skeletal remains excavated from an 18th century tomb in Aomori Prefecture. The team led by Koichi Suzuki, a senior researcher at the Leprosy Research Center of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo, published its findings Thursday in the U.S. science magazine Plos One. (AP)

Recently discovered grains of sand some 3.75 billion years old -- the oldest ever found in Japan -- may be a key to understanding the formation of the Japanese islands. The discovery, announced by National Museum of Nature and Science on Aug. 25, was made by a team led by Kenji Horie, special researcher at the National Institute of Polar Research, which has been analyzing granite samples collected from the Kurobe Gorge in Kurobe, Toyama Prefecture, since 2006. (Mainichi)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has decided to postpone publication of a detailed analysis of particles collected from the sample container carried by the Hayabusa asteroid probe. The report had been scheduled to come out in September, but now JAXA is looking at December or later. It will take more time than originally expected to collect the particles because they are smaller than earlier assumed, JAXA said. (Japan Times)

Turn on the TV in Japan and you're bound to see someone slicing up a tuna on a cooking show while commentators ooh and aah. It's no wonder, then, that during the current heat wave frying Tokyo, people are heading north for chills and eye candy in the form of giant fish popsicles. The Kori no Suizokukan (Ice Aquarium) in Kesennuma, northeastern Japan, packs about 450 specimens of marine life frozen in large columns of ice bathed in blue light. Some 80 species, including saury, octopuses, crabs, and skipjack, are preserved in lifelike poses. They seem to be swimming in ice. (CNET)

According to traditional belief, Aug. 23 is "shosho," the day when summer's heat begins to wane, but conditions across the nation were still scorching on Monday. At about 2 p.m., the temperature was 36.7 C in Nerima Ward and 35.1 C in Otemachi, both in Tokyo. At the same time, it was 35.4 C in Nagoya and 36.8 C in Osaka. According to the Meteorological Agency, more "extremely hot" days--those that see temperatures of 35 C or more--are expected this week, especially in western Japan. (Yomiuri)

An amateur astronomer in Kumamoto Prefecture said Sunday that he had recorded video of a flash of light that was apparently produced when an astral body collided with Jupiter. Junichi Watanabe, a professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, said the observatory reported the incident to the International Astronomical Union after receiving a report about the video recording taken by Masayuki Tachikawa early Saturday morning. The astral body that hit Jupiter was probably less than 1 km wide because no trace of it was left at the spot where the flash was observed, Watanabe said. (Japan Times)

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Saturday loaded a nuclear reactor in Fukushima Prefecture with MOX, a controversial fuel made with reprocessed plutonium and uranium oxides, as it prepares to become the leading power utility's first facility to go pluthermal. The No. 3 reactor at Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 plant will be the nation's third pluthermal facility, but only the first to be refurbished since the plant was built 34 years ago. (Japan Times)

Hectic modern lives have led to a boom in soft, easily prepared food that can be wolfed down in an instant. These meals may be convenient, but they also may weaken our power to chew. Taeko Kanemoto, a children's dentist in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, pays attention to the mothers who bring their children to her clinic. Mostly in their 20s and 30s, the women often let their mouths hang open while they listen to Kanemoto, and the corners of their mouths become loose when they talk about their children. Kanemoto also said these women do not speak smoothly. When they try to say "ta, chi, tsu, te, to," it sounds like "taa, tei, tou, teh, toh." (Yomiuri)

Eleven out of 25 electronic cigarettes sold in Japan have been found to contain small amounts of nicotine, which is banned in such devices, according to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan. Test results show there is not enough evidence to confirm the safety of the 11 varieties of the devices and consumers are advised to exercise caution, the center said Wednesday. Such devices are generally shaped like a cigarette and allows the user to inhale steam generated with electricity. (Japan Times)

Benizuwaigani crabs, a type of snow crab, cluster around sea floor methane vents, researchers at the University of Tokyo said. The research was conducted in an area 30 to 40 kilometers off the coast of Naoetsu, Niigata Prefecture, at a depth of 900 to 1,000 meters from sea level. The area is known as a fishing ground for the crab, as well as an area containing deposits of methane hydrate, a possible next-generation fuel that has a sherbet-like consistency. (Mainichi)

Only 10 percent of suspicious deaths in Japan underwent forensic autopsies in 2009, mainly because the government has failed to convince people of their importance, according to experts. Japan's autopsy rate is the lowest among advanced nations, compared with 100 percent in Finland and Sweden and 50 to 60 percent in Britain, the United States and Australia. Chiba University Prof. Hirotaro Iwase, director of the Japanese Society of Legal Medicine, said people in other developed countries are aware of the public service role that forensic autopsies play in protecting bereaved families' rights. (Yomiuri)

Japanese researchers have developed a seismograph container able to withstand extremely high pressure, allowing it to be used in the deepest parts of the ocean. The group from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and others produced the container to withstand environments where atmospheric pressure exceeds 1,000 atm. Such environments include the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest, which reaches 10,920 meters. (Yomiuri)