Japanese government paid 200 million yen ransom to free kidnapped citizen
Months after a Japanese man was freed by his captors in Iran, it has come to light that the Japanese government paid a sizable amount of ransom money to secure his freedom:
Japan paid money equivalent of about 200 million yen to resolve the kidnapping of a Japanese national in Iran, a government source said Monday.
The money is believed to be a de fact ransom for university student Satoshi Nakamura, who was kidnapped in October last year and released in June this year.
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Categories: General Japan
Tracking Japanese manhole covers with Google Maps
Mainichi reports about a new website that uses Google Maps to track the locations of cool and unique manhole covers in Japan:
Contributors can add photos of manhole covers directly from their mobile phones, along with global positioning system (GPS) data to mark its location on the map. While the site features pictures primarily of manhole covers from the Kanto region, those from other regions are also available, and many manhole covers feature locals sights and scenes, such as lanterns from the Kanto Festival in Akita; “gassho-zukuri” (thatched gable roof) farmhouses of Shirakawa in Gifu Prefecture, and scenes from the port city of Kobe.
The website can be seen here (Japanese).
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Categories: Odd / Strange, Technology
Sea Shepherd resumes acid attacks on Japanese whalers
A Reuters video report about the radical animal rights activist group Sea Shepherd attacking Japanese whaling vessels:
In some of their most recent attacks, they brought their ship dangerously close to a Japanese ship and threw bottles of butyric acid onto its deck.
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Categories: General Japan
American sailors rescue man who fell on train tracks
Petty Officers 1st Class Henry Caballero, left, and James Brice rescued a Japanese man who fell onto the train tracks at Shinagawa station in Tokyo:
“He walked off the platform like he saw an invisible step,” said Brice, of Rogersville, Tenn. “He hit the rails and it sounded like something was broken.”
Caballero checked for the next train, then jumped to the tracks and hoisted the man up by his armpits.
He thought about getting the man to the platform, but wasn’t sure if it was possible. He then thought about getting the unconscious man through an underneath passage and to the other end of the tracks.
Meanwhile, Brice had joined Caballero on the tracks.
“Jumping down to the track, I didn’t think about it,” Brice said. “When I saw my friend drop, it was an instant reaction to follow. Once I got down there I saw Caballero, and my first thought was, ‘Where’s the train at?’ ”
The Shinagawa station is one of the busiest in Japan, so they knew it wouldn’t be long.
Caballero saw lights in the distance, somewhere between 500 and 800 yards away, moving toward him.
Hands from the crowd began stretching over the platform and the two sailors passed the unconscious man to them. The crowd then helped Caballero and Brice up.
More details at Stars & Stripes.
[via FG]
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Categories: Foreigners in Japan
