TOKYO - A pair of premium Japanese melons sold Monday for just a slice of the five million yen ($46,000) reached at auction last year, as the coronavirus bites hard.
The melons from Yubari on the northern island of Hokkaido sold for a snip at 120,000 yen at the season's first auction -- 40 times less than last year's record price tag.
An official at the wholesale market blamed the coronavirus for keeping away rich corporate clients who compete to outbid each other for the most expensive fruit.
The virus meant the auction was smaller than usual and mostly made up of lower net worth individuals.
The successful bidder wanted to show gratitude and support for local farmers, according to local news agency Kyodo.
The wholesale market has been closed since April 20 as part of actions to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but held a one-off auction to drum up support for local products.
Hokkaido, the country's northernmost main island and a popular tourist destination, has seen a relatively high number of virus infection cases along with Tokyo, Osaka and other urban areas.
The government is expected to lift a state of emergency for Hokkaido and the Tokyo area later on Monday.
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Agence France-Presse
TOKYO - Japan's coronavirus-hit Hokkaido region on Friday asked residents to stay at home over the weekend as the northern area struggles to contain a fast-spreading outbreak.
Governor Naomichi Suzuki declared a state-of-emergency through March 19.
"I believe it is necessary to take unprecedented, drastic steps," Suzuki told a televised meeting of local government executives.
Hokkaido region, known for ski resorts and vast forests, has seen at least 63 coronavirus cases, including two deaths, and accounts for more than a quarter of all cases in Japan, apart from those on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
The central government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has already dispatched a team of experts and officials to the region to contain the virus.
"I ask for help of all Hokkaido residents to protect lives and health of you and your loved ones and to ensure swift ending of the situation," the governor said.
"To prevent further spread of the virus, please refrain from going out during the weekend," he said.
The region's ski resorts attract many wealthy Asian tourists, including from China.
Suzuki has already asked for local schools to be closed, but he did not announce any further concrete measures to fight the outbreak.
The virus has so far infected at least 210 people across the country, including Hokkaido, and been linked to five deaths.
Abe, who on Thursday also requested nationwide closure of schools, has said efforts during the coming weeks will determine whether the outbreak can be contained, a major concern in the run-up to Tokyo Olympics in July.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
TOKYO - The death toll from a powerful earthquake that rattled the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido doubled to at least 16, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday, with more than half the island's 5.3 million residents still without power.
The 6.7-magnitude quake, which hit before dawn on Thursday, triggered landslides that buried houses and paralyzed Hokkaido with widespread power and transport cuts.
The death toll had been put at eight overnight but NHK cited Abe in reporting the new total soon after he held an emergency meeting early on Friday.
Another 26 people were missing, disaster management authorities said.
The island, a tourist destination about the size of Austria known for its mountains, lakes and seafood, lost all power after the quake when Hokkaido Electric Power Co shut its fossil fuel-fired power plants as a precaution.
The utility had restored power to about 1.31 million of 2.95 million customers by early Friday, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. It could take at least a week to restore power fully, Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko has said.
The quake was the second disaster to hit Japan this week alone after a summer during which the country has been battered by deadly typhoons, flooding and a record heat wave.
Kansai International Airport has been shut since Typhoon Jebi ripped through Osaka on Tuesday, although some domestic flights operated by Japan Airlines (JAL) and ANA's low-cost carrier Peach Aviation resumed on Friday, the carriers said.
At Hokkaido's main airport, New Chitose, JAL was preparing to restart some flights from around 11:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Friday, a spokesman said. ANA cancelled all morning flights but would resume operations as normal in the afternoon, a spokesman said.
JR Hokkaido planned to resume bullet train operations from midday. It was also trying to resume other train services on Friday afternoon, a spokesman said.
However, manufacturers were still being affected by power outages.
Toyota Motor Corp's Tomakomai factory, which makes transmissions and other parts, said operations remained suspended indefinitely until power was restored, a spokesman said.
Toppan Printing's operations at a plant in Chitose, which makes food packages, would remain suspended until it regained power, a spokesman said.
Cultural events were also affected, with a soccer friendly between Japan and Chile scheduled for Friday in Sapporo called off.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
At least nine people were killed and about 300 injured by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that struck Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido early Thursday, destroying houses, ripping apart roads and causing a number of massive landslides, including some that buried parts of towns.
The 3:08 a.m. quake also cut power to all 2.95 million homes and a nuclear power plant in the prefecture, causing the cancellation of flights and disrupting train services to the popular tourist destination, authorities and other sources said. As of 5 p.m., power had been restored to 340,000 households.
About 30 people are missing and more than 6,400 people took shelter at evacuation centers set up at over 500 locations, according to police, rescuers and local authorities.
About 4,900 members of the Self-Defense Forces were quickly dispatched to assist with relief operations, with the number expected to increase to 25,000, according to the Defense Ministry.
The temblor, which occurred in southern Hokkaido at a depth of about 37 kilometers, registered the highest reading of 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale in Atsuma and upper 6 in Abira, both southeast of Sapporo. No tsunami warning was issued.
Smaller aftershocks continued and the Japan Meteorological Agency warned that earthquakes with a similar intensity could continue in the area for about a week.
Quakes with an intensity of 7 occurred in 2016 in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, as well as in March 2011 when a huge M9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami devastated northeastern Japan.
Thursday's quake is the latest in a series of natural disasters in Japan this year, and came just days after a powerful typhoon roared through western Japan, killing more than 11 people, injuring more than 400 and forcing the temporary shutdown of Kansai International Airport, one of the country's key gateways.
A M6.1 quake also rocked Osaka Prefecture in June, killing five people and injuring more than 370.
In the Hokkaido quake, more than 20 houses were flattened in Atsuma and Abira after being struck by landslides. And in neighboring Mukawa, a man in his 80s was crushed by a chest that toppled onto him, local police reported.
Massive landslides altered the landscape of some mountain ranges in the quake-hit area. Hiroyuki Ono, a senior researcher at the Sabo and Landslide Technical Center, said that the ground in the area is loose, consisting partly of volcanic ash or eroded earth.
"It couldn't hold together after being shaken so hard. It had rained beforehand, which may have also made things worse," he said.
The idled Tomari nuclear power plant temporarily lost an external power source, forcing its operator Hokkaido Electric Power Co. to cool a spent fuel pool at its Nos. 1 to 3 reactors by an emergency power supply system, regulators said.
No abnormality has been detected in radiation levels around the plant, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said. And Tohoku Electric Power Co. confirmed no problems at the Higashidori nuclear power plant in Aomori Prefecture south of Hokkaido.
The incident brought back memories of the 2011 quake and subsequent tsunami, which knocked out both the main and emergency power supply at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and caused three reactors to melt down.
The power outage across much of Hokkaido on Thursday was caused by a systemic showdown after the Tomatoatsuma thermal power plant, which produces nearly half of the prefecture's electricity, stopped. The resulting imbalance in power supply and demand forced other thermal power plants to come to an emergency halt, according to the plant's operator.
The blackout, the largest since the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake caused one affecting some 2.6 million households, also affected around 80 hospitals, as well as telephone services and television broadcasts in Hokkaido.
Hokkaido Electric said it would take at least a week to fully restore service.
Following the quake, a fire broke out at a petrochemical complex in Muroran which was later extinguished by firefighters.
Hokkaido has experienced a number of strong earthquakes in its history, including an M8.0 quake in 2003 with an intensity of lower 6 and an M8.2 quake with an intensity of 6 in 1994.
"It messed up my entire house. I've never experienced an earthquake like this," an 87-year-old man in Atsuma said.
Yuriko Nakamura said she evacuated to the gymnasium of an elementary school in Sapporo after the quake left the floor of her home covered in shattered dishes. "I can't live like this. What am I to do?" wondered the 70-year-old, who lives alone.
New Chitose Airport, the main gateway to Hokkaido, was closed throughout the day after part of its terminal building ceiling collapsed, as well as due to a water leak and the power outage, the transport ministry said.
More than 200 flights were canceled, affecting over 40,000 passengers. Power has been restored at the airport and its operator aims to resume domestic flights on Friday, the ministry said. Hakodate and Asahikawa airports are operating.
All train services, including bullet train operations, in Hokkaido are suspended, operators said.
About 2,000 public elementary, junior high and high schools decided to close for the day, according to the education ministry and the Sapporo government.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
TOKYO - A powerful earthquake triggered a landslide that engulfed houses on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido early on Thursday, television footage showed, injuring and trapping dozens of people and cutting power to millions across Hokkaido.
A landslide along a long ridge in the rural town of Atsuma could be seen in aerial footage from public broadcaster NHK. At least 19 people were missing and 120 people were injured in Hokkaido after the magnitude 6.7 quake, it said.
There were no early reports of deaths but a man suffered cardiac arrest after falling down stairs, Japanese media reported.
Japan's Hokkaido Electric Power Co said it conducted an emergency shutdown of all its fossil fuel-fired power plants after the quake, leading to blackouts across Hokkaido.
Efforts to restore power to 2.95 million households were underway but it was not clear when supplies would be restored, a company spokesman said.
Japan's Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said the ministry instructed Hokkaido Electric Power to restart the coal-fired Tomato-Atsuma power plant within a few hours.
Roof tiles and water covered floors at Hokkaido's main airport, New Chitose Airport, which would be closed for at least Thursday.
Kansai Airport, an important hub for companies exporting semiconductors in western Japan, remained closed due to a powerful typhoon earlier this week.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said officials hope to reopen Kansai Airport for domestic flights on Friday.
FIRE, POWER OUTAGES
The quake, which struck at 3:08 a.m. (2:08 a.m. Manila time) posed no tsunami risk, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The US Geological Survey said it struck some 68 km (42 miles) southeast of Sapporo, Hokkaido's main city.
Abe arrived at his office before 6 a.m. and told reporters his government had set up a command center to coordinate relief and rescue. Sounding haggard, Abe said saving lives was his government's top priority.
The Tomari Nuclear Power Station suffered a power outage but was cooling its fuel rods safely with emergency power, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Operator Hokkaido Electric Power Co reported no radiation irregularities at the plant, which has been shut since shortly after a massive 2011 earthquake, Suga told a news conference.
A fire broke out at a Mitsubishi Steel Mfg Co plant in the city of Muroran after the quake but was mostly extinguished with no injuries, a company official said.
A row of houses could be seen slanting at odd angles, leaning against one another in one town, and many schools were closed, NHK said.
NHK footage showed a crumbled brick wall and broken glass in a home, and quoted police as saying some people were trapped in collapsed structures.
Soldiers were shown looking for damage on a rural road that was blocked by fallen trees.
A series of smaller shocks, including one with a magnitude of 5.4, followed the initial quake, the Meteorological Agency said. Agency official Toshiyuki Matsumori warned residents to take precautions for potential major aftershocks in coming days.
Shinkansen bullet trains were halted in some areas of Hokkaido, NHK said.
Japan is situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin and accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, struck on March 11, 2011, under the ocean off the coast of the northern city of Sendai. The quake set off a series of massive tsunami that devastated a wide swath of the Pacific coastline and killed nearly 20,000 people.
The tsunami also damaged the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, leading to a series of explosions and meltdowns in the world's worst nuclear disaster for 25 years.
Saturday marked the 95th anniversary of the Great Kanto earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area. Seismologists have said another such quake could strike the city at any time.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
