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Arrived safely in Uji, one of the major tea centers of Japan, really excited to go exploring tomorrow! Travel updates soon. |
Saturday, September 5, 2009 |
Ride Report: Ise |
Total distance: 80km |
Rolled out this morning after about 12 hours of sleep. At 10am it was already quite hot out. The cloudiness from Nagoya has completely dissipated now, and the temperature was around 32C (90F) by the time I stopped for a break around 11am. |
The road, still route 23, was still nicely paved, wide (two lanes each way plus space for bikes) and blissfully free of broken glass. Got some nashi (asian pear) juice during the break -- really refreshing! |
Since this is a round trip, I got to ride without the trailer. (Kind of feels like an engine upgrade, makes it easy to accelerate from a stop or climb up bridges.) Within about two hours I'd cleared the 40km to Ise and was pulling into the outer Ise shrine. |
The Ise shrines are supposed to be some of the holiest places in Shinto, and are dedicated to Amaterasu-omikami (nerd reference -- this is the same as the deity who's the main character in the PS2 game Okami). The shrines are in beautiful condition, partly due to the huge amount of care they put into it, mainly due to ... |
Uncharacteristically for Japan, some areas of the shrine do not allow photography. Although heavily patrolled by security, it was interesting to note that they only wrote "no photography" in Japanese on the signs... I wonder if they just don't get very many foreign tourists here, given that it's out of the way and has ... |
The inner and outer shrines are about 5km away from each other, so once I was done strolling around the beautiful woods surrounding the outer shrine, I headed in the direction of the inner shrine till I found a nice looking italian restaurant that served me some pizza and really icy water and let me sit in the a/c for ... |
Another 4km brought me to the Inner Shrine (Naiku). This one is significantly bigger than the Outer Shrine, although the layout is very similar. The Inner Shrine is also where all the tourists go, apparently, for unlike the Outer Shrine, this one was packed with flocks of tourists (though still hardly any foreigners, a... |
The inner shrine is set along a creek at the foot of the mountains, and although it also has wooded areas, it has much more of a landscape than the Outer Shrine, with gorgeous mountains in the background. I picked up a mango shaved ice from a store that had an absolutely dizzying number of flavors for shaved ice and fo... |
With everyone there, it wasn't a meditative experience, but it was beautiful and nevertheless inspiring. Having been to some of the most important spiritual sites in Europe, I really enjoyed being somewhere so full of light and trees and water and people laughing and generally having a good time enjoying the beauty of ... |
Around 4pm, having made the full rounds, I chugged an iced tea and started on my way back to Ise. The weather was beautiful -- still sunny, but the temperature was already dropping to a more comfortable range (sun sets between 6 and 7pm around here... also rises around 5am). The headwind from this morning was still aro... |
Along the way, tractors tilled the fields with flocks of white birds happily plocking along behind the blades. |
Made it back to the ryokan riding on the tailcoat of the last of today's daylight and headed straight for the bath to scrub off the road grime (the stuff collects really fast on top of sunscreen) and soak my muscles. And now, for some dinner. :) |
Friday, September 4, 2009 |
Ride Report: Nagoya to Tsu |
Total ride distance: 85km |
It was cloudy as I rolled out of downtown Nagoya this morning. Within the city center, the roads were comfortably wide, althogh the traffic lights at every intersection slowed me down a good bit. Early on the ride there was a bit of rain spitting down from the sky, but by lunch time the sky had cleared completely. |
As I found route 1 and followed it southwest out of Nagoya, the road gradually narrowed and the sidewalk turned into the more common collection of potholes, traffic signs, cones and random bumps that characterizes the shoulder of most roads around here, so my pace continued unabashedly slow through largely uninterestin... |
After two long bridges (both of which had nice cycling paths separated from the car traffic by several inches of solid steel), got to Kuwana, where the road widened again and I found a nice cafe to grab some lunch and rest during the hottest hour of the day. |
Right after lunch, found a bike shop and finally got some chain lube. (I'd been borrowing some from the team before, and the suff we had wasn't very water resistant, so it had all washed off in the downpour in Tokyo.) My chain had been quite unhappy, so cleaning and lubricating it made it feel like I was riding a new b... |
Soon after, the path I mapped shifted from Route 1 to 23, which goes along the coast till Tsu. If navigating 1 had been tricky, then (excuse nerd reference) 23 was like doing the Deathstar trench run on a B-Wing. Instead of enemy fire, I was dodging the ridiculous amount of broken glass on the road. The cycling area it... |
Got a nice reprieve when said path dropped completely away from 23 and landed on 6 for a few km. A much nicer route, with less traffic and more space to bike, not to mention less broken glass. By the time I rejoined 23, it had turned into a full highway with a nice, unused frontage road. Also met a stiff headwind at th... |
The last part of the ride went by fairly quickly, and soon I was passing that weird zone just outside a bigger city where all the outlet malls and big chain stores plunk themselves (yea, it's just the same in Japan now as in the US). Stopped for directions a couple of times to zero in on my ryokan and was comfortably i... |
Now for some dinner and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow I head with the bike unloaded to Ise and back. |
Arrived in Tsu |
Beautiful riding weather, though mostly city riding. Now safely in a ryokan, full update soon. |
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 |
The Mexican |
You know you're in Japan when you're at a pub called The Mexican, the waitstaff is wearing black cowboy outfits, the decor involves victorian chandeliers with orange lighting, the beer on tap is Kirin, and Black Eye Peas is playing. :) |
PS: You know you've been in Japan for a while when it takes you 30 minutes to notice the place is actually named "Mexigan". I asked them about it, it's actually on purpose, and apparently the reason why the waitstaff has gun holsters on their belts (filled with those pre-packaged moist napkins used in restaurants here)... |
Puns aside, it's actually a really nice place to hang out. The staff was awesome and gave me all kinds of tips on what to eat and what to see in Nagoya. They just opened a few days ago, so if you're around Nagoya's Sakae area, definitely check them out. :) |
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 |
Going to the Movies |
Since yesterday was such a windy, rainy day, I figured I'd engage in the time-honored tradition of spending part of those days at the movies. Having picked a japanese animation movie, I went up to the cashier, who proceeded to cram about eight paragraphs of information and questions into about two minutes. It roughly b... |
Having my seat already secured, I knew I could take my time, since I didn't need to fight the crowd of about 9 other people who were also watching a movie aimed at kids on what happens to be the first Monday of the Japanese school year. I eventually installed myself on seat H18 just in time to catch the beginning of th... |
As far as flasbacks go, I guess this one is right up there with biking in the rain. Last movie I saw in Japan, twelve years ago, was a japanese animation (Princess Mononoke, from Ghibli Studios; it had just come out, so my seat preference then had been boiled down to "what's still available", which turned out to be a s... |
Robin Newton: Police to investigate Assembly speaker | WorldNewsOffice.com |
Robin Newton rejects claims he misled the Northern Ireland Assembly about his role with Charter NI. read whole article |
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Reuters: Asmaa Waguih |
Pro Morsi protester says more than 16 people have been killed by police |
Supporters of Egypt's ousted president Mohammed Morsi are continuing to protest after security forces reportedly shot several Islamist activists dead and injured dozens. It happened outside a Republican Guard building in Cairo. Mohammed Amr Horeshy is a pro Morsi supporter who says he was simply praying outside the arm... |
Grilling anything but meat can be a painful process, but it's something the Stok Quatrro Grill and its insert system make easy. The interchangeable grill inserts allow you to switch between a grill grate, griddle, pizza stone and vegetable tray. |
You can combine any two inserts to combo cook pizza and vegetables or whatever your mind concocts. The $350 grill also comes with side shelf towel bars, internal spice racks, stainless steel and porcelain construction, a built-in temperature gauge, and electric ignition. If you start saving now you can get one just in ... |
Beyond Vorkuta: What makes Russian mines so dangerous? |
People queue to pay last respects to Vitaly Lavrov, one of the dead miners, during a funeral in Vorkuta, Russia Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. Dozens of people have died at a coal mine where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions and the collapse of the mine. |
An explosion in a mine in Severnaya killed a total of 36 people in the northern Russian city of Vorkuta. The tragedy has again raised the issue of safety within Russia's mines. |
A couple of explosions occurred 748 metres below ground in the Severnaya mine in Vorkuta (1,200 miles northeast of Moscow) on February 25. Of the 111 people who were underground at the time of the accident, 30 died. The others were able to make it to the surface. While search operations were being conducted on February... |
What caused the accidents? |
This is not the first accident to have taken place in Russian mines in recent years (see box). Often they occur because of a rock collapse or fires and floods. However, the most tragic cases are related to explosions of methane and coal dust mixtures, which happen because of safety norm violations, said Alexander Serge... |
In 2013, a violation in the ventilation system in the Vorkutinskaya mine led to an accumulation of coal gas and methane, which resulted in an explosion that killed 19 people. |
Large accidents at Russian mines |
Dec. 1, 1997 - accident at the Zyryanovskya mine (Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Region); 67 deaths. Cause: methane explosion. |
Jan. 18, 1998 - explosion at the Tsentralnaya mine (Vorkuta, Komi Republic); 27 deaths. Cause: methane explosion. |
April 10, 2004 - accident at the Taizhina mine (Osinniki, Kemerovo Region); 47 deaths. Cause: methane explosion. |
March 19, 2007 - accident at the Ulyanovskaya mine (Kemerovo Region); 110 deaths. Cause: methane explosion due to violation of safety rules during mining operations. |
May 8-9, 2010 - accident at the Raspadskaya mine (Kemerovo Region); 91 deaths. Cause: violation of dust regulations, lack of checks on signs of spontaneous heating of coal and unstable electric power supply. |
Feb. 11, 2013 - accident at the Vorkutinskaya mine (Vorkuta, Komi Republic); 19 deaths. Reason: violation of safety rules. |
Accidents often occur in Russian mines because of human interference in the automatic gas control system. As an example Sergeyev cited the biggest accident in the history of modern Russia, at the Ulyanovskaya mine, in 2007. |
The director had ordered for the gas control counter to be altered so that the mine would not be closed due to a violation of the coal gas norms. An explosion resulted, killing 110 people. |
According to a preliminary theory, the accident at the Severnaya mine bears "a natural character and is a mining and geological case." But Sergeyev is not convinced and believes the accident took place also because of violations of safety norms. |
"It is not right to say that natural causes were responsible for the accident. It means admitting your unprofessionalism. The Severnaya mine contained the GITS seismic monitoring system," said Sergeyev. |
Why do miners ignore the dangers? |
Darya Tryasoi, daughter of one of the miners who died in the Severnaya mine in Vorkuta, wrote on social networks that three weeks before the tragedy her father had complained of an excessive level of methane concentration in the mine. |
"Often miners intentionally assume the risk," said a miner who asked to remain anonymous. |
"Our salaries depend on output. That is why we often turn a blind eye to the insignificant safety violations, so that we don't lose working days on various checks. We have to feed our families, pay our mortgages, survive." |
Fewer accidents |
Fortunately, the volume and number of accidents in Russian mines is gradually decreasing. In 2004 there were 33 accidents that took a total of 148 lives. In 2014 the number had declined to 8, with 26 deaths. However, the figures are still far higher than in many other countries (see box). |
According to Sergeyev, in order to reduce accidents in Russian mines it is necessary to regularly conduct preventive operations. He feels that if timely preventive measures had been carried out at the Severnaya mine, which belongs to the category of mines with high risks of rock bursts and sudden methane explosions, th... |
Mining disasters around the world |
Every year around 20,000 people fall victim to mining disasters. |
No country comes close to China in terms of the numbers of mining accidents and miner deaths. In 2015 alone more than 900 people lost their lives in Chinese mines. |
Mining disasters also frequently take place in India, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine. |
The world’s last large-scale mining disaster happened at a mine in the Turkish city of Soma in May 2014, in which 301 miners perished. |
The last significant mining accident in the United States occurred in April 2010 at a mine operated by the company Massey Energy in West Virginia, resulting in the deaths of 29. |
In the UK there have been no mining disasters in the last few decades. |
All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta. |
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I don’t think that a zombie apocalypse is about to happen anytime soon, but should that actually happen, then it would be good to have something hardier to get around in, rather than a pristine looking Hyundai like the ones we see in The Walking Dead TV series. Leonid Khripounov, head of research and development at Rus... |
I am not quite sure just how far this claim of being disaster-proof is able to go, but the Viking-2992 happens to be a massive seven-seater amphibious ride, where it is able to ford through rivers in addition to plough through snow-laden roadways without missing a beat. Specially designed to be a rescue vehicle, Khripo... |
Of course, speed is not its strong suit as sacrifices need to be made, but then again, zombies aren’t going to be able to run very fast in the first place. Capable of hitting a maximum speed of 37 miles per hour, when it floats across a river or lake, the speed will plummet to slightly more than nine miles per hour. Th... |
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