StrangeSights: A cafe for those with deadlines; French nun becomes world’s oldest person; and, ‘Elvis’ returns to Australian town…

DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Updated: Quake in Japan kills two, halts factories, cuts power to thousands of homes

Last updated: 12.30pm, 18th March, 2022 (AEDT) Tokyo, Japan Reuters A powerful earthquake off Japan’s northeast coast left thousands of homes without water and power on Thursday and forced factories to suspend operations, adding to supply chain woes for makers of smartphones, electronics and automobiles worldwide. The magnitude 7.4 tremblor struck just before midnight on Wednesday […]
Tokyo trains crowded but little other damage day after strong quake

Tokyo, Japan Reuters Tokyo area commuters faced packed trains on Friday on some lines due to delays, but there was little other impact after a strong quake rocked the Japanese capital late the night before, although authorities warned of aftershocks for up to a week. The quake struck at 10:41pm, centred just east of Tokyo […]
Rooftops to railways: neighbourhoods race to hit net zero climate goals

Durban, South AfricaThomson Reuters Foundation Tackling climate change at a city level – let alone on a global scale – is time-consuming, but neighbourhoods are being targeted as testing grounds for speedy, community-led climate solutions. Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, engineering company Arup and the C40 Cities network have launched […]
Superstar Osaka lights flame as Japan’s COVID-hit Olympic Games open

Tokyo, Japan Reuters Japan’s global superstar Naomi Osaka on Friday lit the Olympic cauldron to mark the start of Tokyo 2020, in an opening ceremony shorn of glitz and overshadowed by a pandemic but defined by hope, tradition and gestures of diversity. Postponed by a year due to the coronavirus, the Games are being held […]
Christians called to pray for the “spiritual transformation” of Japan during upcoming Olympics

Christians across the world are being called to pray for the “spiritual transformation” of Japan in a “million hours of prayer” during the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games. The push for prayer comes ahead of the games which are scheduled to start on 23rd July and run through until 8th August, originally scheduled to take […]
Host city Tokyo bans Olympic spectators amid COVID-19 emergency

Tokyo, Japan Reuters The Olympics will take place without spectators in host city Tokyo, organisers said on Thursday, as a resurgent coronavirus forced Japan to declare a state of emergency in the capital that will run throughout the Games. The move marked a sharp turnabout from as recently as last week, when some officials were […]
Organisers to ban Olympic spectators as Tokyo declares coronavirus emergency – report

Tokyo, Japan Reuters Olympic organisers are set to ban all spectators from the Games, the Asahi daily said on Thursday, as Japan prepared to declare a state of emergency for Tokyo that will run through its hosting of the event to curb a new wave of coronavirus infections. Organisers were set to formally reach the […]
Lifestory: The story of one Tokyo man evicted twice, 50 years apart, for Olympic construction

ELAINE LIES, of Reuters, reports from Tokyo on the story of Kohei Jinno…
Organisers show off Olympic village a month before Games begin

Tokyo, Japan Reuters Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics opened the athletes’ village to the media on Sunday, showing off apartments and a timber-laced shopping plaza where 11,000 athletes would stay and mingle during the sporting extravaganza. The once-delayed Games are due to start on 23rd July amid concern that the influx of thousands of people […]