Japan
Japan ready to impose crowd control on Mount Fuji
Japan readies crowd control measures on Mount Fuji due to an expected surge of trekkers, including foreign tourists, during a holiday weekend and the volcano’s UNESCO World Heritage anniversary.
TOKYO, JAPAN — Japanese authorities are gearing up to impose crowd control measures for the first time on Mount Fuji this weekend for an expected holiday rush by thousands of sometimes ill-prepared trekkers, officials said Thursday.
Japan’s famous snow-capped volcano outside Tokyo is open to climbers from July to September, drawing hundreds of thousands who often trek through the night to see the sunrise.
Combined with the return of foreign tourists after pandemic restrictions were lifted, this holiday weekend is expected to see a surge, with buses, trains and hotels booked up weeks in advance.
Crowds climbing the 3,776-metre (12,388-foot) active volcano could be also larger than usual due to the 10th anniversary of the peak’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Authorities said the planned measures — a first for Mount Fuji — wouldn’t amount to an outright entry ban but are meant to “guide” hikers on the trails, including temporarily halting their progress.
Under the policy, local police will be alerted and urged to weigh in if trails get busy enough to “heighten the risk of rocks falling and hikers tripping,” local authorities from the Yamanashi region said in a statement.
Last month, around 65,000 hikers climbed the mountain, an increase of roughly 17 per cent from the 2019 pre-pandemic level, official data shows.
Mount Fuji straddles Japan’s central Yamanashi and Shizuoka regions and the starting-off point for climbers is about two hours from central Tokyo by train.
But it can be seen for miles around, and has been immortalised in countless Japanese artworks, including Hokusai’s famous “Great Wave” painting.
— AFP
Environment
Japanese scientists find microplastics are present in clouds
In Japan, researchers confirm microplastics in clouds, impacting climate. Airborne microplastics, 7.1 to 94.6 micrometers in size, found in cloud water, potentially affecting rapid cloud formation and climate systems.
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES — Researchers in Japan have confirmed microplastics are present in clouds, where they are likely affecting the climate in ways that aren’t yet fully understood.
In a study published in Environmental Chemistry Letters, scientists climbed Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama in order to collect water from the mists that shroud their peaks, then applied advanced imaging techniques to the samples to determine their physical and chemical properties.
The team identified nine different types of polymers and one type of rubber in the airborne microplastics — ranging in size from 7.1 to 94.6 micrometers.
Each liter of cloud water contained between 6.7 to 13.9 pieces of the plastics.
What’s more, “hydrophilic” or water-loving polymers were abundant, suggesting the particles play a significant role in rapid cloud formation and thus climate systems.
“If the issue of ‘plastic air pollution’ is not addressed proactively, climate change and ecological risks may become a reality, causing irreversible and serious environmental damage in the future,” lead author Hiroshi Okochi of Waseda University warned in a statement Wednesday.
When microplastics reach the upper atmosphere and are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, they degrade, contributing to greenhouse gasses, added Okochi.
Microplastics — defined as plastic particles under 5 millimeters — come from industrial effluent, textiles, synthetic car tires, personal care products and much more.
These tiny fragments have been discovered inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean peppering Arctic sea ice and blanketing the snows on the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.
But the mechanisms of their transport have remained unclear, with research on airborne microplastic transport in particular limited.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on airborne microplastics in cloud water,” the authors wrote in their paper.
Emerging evidence has linked microplastics to a range of impacts on heart and lung health, as well as cancers, in addition to widespread environmental harm.
— AFP
Diplomacy
Japanese royal couple in Vietnam to mark 50 years of ties
Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko visit Vietnam, marking 50 years of diplomatic ties.
HANOI, VIETNAM — Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko were welcomed Thursday in Hanoi by lines of flag-waving schoolchildren, as they began a visit marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
The royal couple laid wreaths at the mausoleum of late president Ho Chi Minh, before heading to the former home — a traditional stilt house — of the revolutionary leader and feeding fish in a pond outside.
Akishino — the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito — was last in Vietnam, which Japan once occupied, more than two decades ago.
The two nations have maintained close diplomatic and trade ties, with Japan considered one of Vietnam’s most important economic partners.
Close to half a million Vietnamese people are living in Japan, according to Vietnamese state media, citing Japanese government figures.
The couple’s five-day trip will see them tour the central city of Danang, as well as Quang Nam province, where Japanese business people came to trade in the 16th century.
They will also meet the families of former Japanese soldiers who stayed on after World War II to fight for Vietnamese independence from French colonisers.
Vietnam, then part of Indochina, was a French-administered possession of Japan for five years from 1940.
In June, Emperor Naruhito and his wife Masako visited Indonesia, this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
ASEAN and Japan this year also mark 50 years of friendship.
— AFP
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