Archive for April, 2009

Suspected case of swine flu in Japan

It is being reported that a woman who came to Japan today on a Northwest Airlines flight from L.A. may infected with the swine flu. Doctors checking all the passengers found that the woman has symptoms matching the flu who tested positive for A-type flu when given a quick test. She has been taken to a hospital for further testing.

Update: Kyodo finally has a story up in English.

The passenger, a Japanese woman, was transported from the airport by ambulance to Japanese Red Cross Narita Hospital. The woman, accompanied by quarantine officers wearing protective suits, walked into the hospital without assistance.

Around 10 other passengers who were seated nearby will be transported to another facility by bus for further examinations, according to the sources.

Update 2: A high school student in Yokohama might also have swine flu:

But it said the second-year student, who stayed in British Columbia, Canada, on a school trip from April 10 to 25, is not in serious condition, adding he walked into a medical ward for infectious diseases on his own at the Yokohama Municipal Citizens Hospital in Hodogaya Ward. None of his family members and schoolmates has shown any flu-like symptoms.

“We have only a small number of samples and cannot deny this is a (suspected) case of the new type of flu, and that’s whey we reported it to the central government,” a Yokohama city official said. Hospital officials declined to give any details of the patient or his status.

Update 3: Further testing has found that the high school student in Yokohama does not actually have the swine [H1N1] flu. (As the first 30 minutes of most of the 5:00PM news reports consisted of scary scenes of streets in Canada with storytelling about how the student probably got swine flu from his host family, the TV networks will probably have to stuggle to use something else to fill up time during broadcasts later tonight.)

This post will be updated when the results of the testing become clear.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Brad Pitt & Musashimaru filming a new Softbank Commercial in New York

Spotted in New York City recently: Brad Pitt and sumo wrestler Musashimaru filming a new commercial for Softbank. Check out a full photo gallery here and here. [via FG]

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Nunchaku master Hiroki breaks cucumbers, blows out candles, plays baseball

The nunchaku master featured in previous posts (Nunchaku Baseball & Nunchaku Badminton) appeared on The Best House last night:

In addition to his baseball and champagne bottle tricks, he also showed some new ones: breaking a cucumber held in a student’s mouth & blowing out candles of uneven length on a b-day cake!

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Orangutan wears masks

An orangutan at a Japanese zoo tries on some masks:

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)