Mobile Suit Gundam tofu mould. Flickr: toyohara
The high seas
- Talk about a bad day: two men from Kanagawa were cruising up the coast to Aomori on a yakatabune when the vessel began taking on water. So they did the smart thing and headed for the nearest spot of land… which turned out to be in the no-entry zone around the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant.
- The US Coast Guard sank a “ghost ship” that was set adrift from its mooring in Hokkaido following the March 11 earthquake. The 50-meter Ryou-Un Maru had approached within 150 miles of the coast of Alaska.
- Officials in Kochi are considering setting up underground evacuation shelters for local residents in the event of a tsunami. The structures would employ “submarine technology” and be large enough to house 200 people each.
- Police in Kanagawa were forced to issue a public apology after a drunk 73-year-old man hopped into an idling patrol car and took it for a spin.
Local heroes
- A box containing 40 toys, including several Star Wars figures, was left by an anonymous donor at a children’s welfare facility in Yokohama.
- A motorcycle-riding thief who snatched a woman’s purse on a street in Fukuoka was arrested after being chased down by a 19-year-old pizza delivery dude on a bicycle.
- The Pakistani military airlifted 77 Japanese tourists from the northern city of Gilgit after they became trapped due to clashes between rival Muslim groups.
- A new brand of tofu whose shape resembles the giant robot in Mobile Suit Gundam has become such a hit that the manufacturer can’t keep up with demand.
stats
- 50 Number of people in Tokyo hospitalized with alcohol poisoning following hanami parties during the first week of April, according to the fire department
- ¥91,300 Average monthly allowance given to Tokyo-area college students by their parents, according to an industry survey
- 82 Age of Shigemasa Igawa, Japan’s oldest mayor, who was elected to a fourth term in Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, earlier this month
- 40,000 Tons of debris from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami expected to reach the west coast of North America by February 2013, according to the environment ministry
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