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Stay right on top of Typhoon 19 with beautiful and highly useful online weather services

Master Blaster
Oct 12, 2014
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As of this writing Typhoon 19 is just about right on top of Okinawa. Classified as a “Super Typhoon” by NASA it is far greater in size and power than last week’s storm. The typhoon also goes by the name Vongfong, which we assume is Chinese for “killjoy” because of its incredibly bad timing.

If Typhoon 19 veers East and moves across most of Japan, it will do so right over the long weekend. With all the destruction and at very least wet nuisances brought by typhoons, the one sliver of light had always been that they often brought days off work and school with them too. Not this weekend, however, and many wait to see whether the weather will dash their holiday plans or not.

Luckily there is a plethora of online weather services for us to watch Typhoon 19 in near-real-time that are all both very informative and gorgeous enough to make you want to refer to them even after the storm has passed.

Internet, Japan
(maps • technology • Typhoon 19 • Vongfong • weather)

Genius Chinese college students use indoor inflatable pools to beat summer heat

Mike
Aug 11, 2014

I thought summers in America were hot, until I moved to Asia and learned firsthand what a hot summer is really like. In Japan, China and other parts of East Asia, the summer can be brutal to the point that people flock to public pools by the thousands, risking other people’s disgusting mud butt and possible drowning by crowd crush just to enjoy a few moments in the tepid water.

But a number of enterprising Chinese college students have apparently figured out a genius workaround: Just put a pool in your own dorm room.

China
(college • culture • funny • summer • weather)

Perfect rainbow appears over Tokyo like an interdimensional portal, no spirits spotted (yet)

Preston Phro
Jul 13, 2014

While we rarely think about it, the way our atmosphere works is pretty amazing–filtering out all that cosmic radiation and keeping us alive. It also has tons of moisture in it, which, in addition to giving some nifty lightning shows, is also what gives us really cool stuff like sun dogs and rainbows. While it’s nothing special to see a piece of a rainbow or even half of one in the sky after a rainshower, it’s quite another thing to see a full rainbow shimmering in the sky.

But that’s exactly what appeared over Tokyo on Friday, setting Twitter ablaze with photos of the beautiful phenomenon. And because we’re ready for some uplifting fun this weekend, here’s all the photos we could find! Guaranteed to make your day 200% more magical or your leprechaun back.

Internet, Japan
(cool • rainbows • Tokyo • twitter • weather)

Freak hailstorms hit Tokyo in June as winter rises from its icy grave

Casey Baseel
Jun 25, 2014

The weather in Tokyo can be a little unpredictable in June. Spring still wasn’t that long ago, and sometimes we’ll get a day with a cool breeze or nighttime temperatures low enough that you’ll want a windbreaker, or at least a long-sleeved shirt.

On the other hand, midsummer is just around the corner, and steamy, sweltering days with high humidity and temperatures aren’t at all unusual. On just about any day the cloud layer has the potential to turn into a squall, too.

One thing Tokyo usually doesn’t see at this time of the year, though, is hailstorms.

Japan
(snow • Tokyo • weather • weird)

Double upside-down rainbow appears in Ishikawa Prefecture, makes everyone’s day fabulous

Mike
May 26, 2014

Some Japanese Twitter users posted photos of a spherical double rainbow spotted in Ishikawa Prefecture a few days ago, and thank God they weren’t high, because if outdated Internet meme “Double Rainbow Guy” is any indication, it would have literally destroyed their minds with its brilliance.

While Double Rainbow Guy seemed to think his double rainbow sighting was a sign that we aren’t alone in the universe or something, most Japanese Netizens who posted photos seemed to just take it as a sign of good luck, even though this double rainbow is way more awesome because it forms a circle around the sun as though Helios himself were gifting humanity with two giant cosmic frisbees.

Japan
(cool • double rainbow • science • twitter • weather)

NHK has been reporting the wrong weather in Kōchi Prefecture for… four years?!

Angelina Lucienne
Apr 15, 2014

It was announced on April 13 that the Kōchi NHK station’s weekday evening news has been showing the wrong icons for weather conditions in the corner of the screen for four years. Where the following day’s weather forecast for the eastern region of the prefecture should have appeared, the broadcaster had consistently been displaying the forecast for the western region.

Japan
(facepalm • kochi • news • NHK • weather)

Pearl River Delta confirms recent risk ranking with severe hail storm

Master Blaster
Apr 3, 2014

No sooner was it announced the third most at-risk area for natural disasters in the world than the Pearl River Delta in China was hit by extremely severe rain storms with giant hail and damaging winds. The region, which is composed of several major urban centers has experienced flooded subways stations, canceled flights, and destroyed shopping centers due to heavy downpours.

Some of these scenes have been recorded and shared online in video form.

China
(disaster • Pearl River Delta • weather)

Blood money: Yesterday’s typhoon leaves one man in an awkward predicament

Philip Kendall
Sep 17, 2013

Tokyo may have escaped with only minor damage compared to poor old Kyoto during yesterday’s powerful typhoon, but it would appear that there is at least one Twitter user who suffered losses of a truly horrific nature.

Internet, Japan
(funny • photo • typhoon • weather • wtf)

Footage of rare tornado touchdown in urban Japan appears online

Philip Kendall
Sep 3, 2013

At around 2 p.m. on Monday, September 2, a rare sight filled the skies of Tokyo’s neighbour to the north, Saitama Prefecture. From a layer of thick, dark cloud, a twisting grey finger reached down and made contact with the city itself and the word tatsumaki could be heard all around: there was a tornado in the city.

The twister tore through some 14 kilometres of the prefecture within just a few minutes, taking out power lines, ripping the roofs from a number of houses and leaving as many as 33,000 residences across the Kanto region without power. Soon after, dozens of videos appeared online showing the tornado rumbling across the land.

Japan
(news • tornado • video • weather)

NHK gets weather reports backwards, no one notices for months

Preston Phro
Aug 22, 2013

We always suspected that the weatherman didn’t know what he was talking about, but this is just crazy.

It has recently come to light that the NHK Nagoya broadcasting office has been accidentally switching the weather reports for two prefectures. And you’ll never believe how long it took someone to notice.

Japan
(NHK • weather • wtf)

Local 87-year-old Fisherman and Stadium Stalwart to Provide Weather Forecast at Lotte Marines Baseball Games

John Stuart Translations
Apr 2, 2013

Starting April 2, the Lotte Marines baseball club announced that local fisherman and stadium food vendor Taichi Sone, 87, would start providing wind and weather forecasts prior to night games.

Japan
(baseball • forecaster • Lotte Marines • QVC Marine Field • weather • wind)

Six Crazy Things I Did Because I Was Cold 【You, Me, And A Tanuki】

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Jan 15, 2013

You, Me, And a Tanuki is a weekly featured blog run by Michelle, a Californian who is currently one of only two foreigners living in Chibu, a tiny fishing village on one of the Oki islands in Japan. Check back every Saturday for a new post or read more on her website here!

Japan is cold. No, I’m not talking about the people; it’s the weather that sends a chill down my spine. No insulation, central heating, or double-paned windows, and in most public buildings – schools included – there’s no hot water; modern Japanese construction ensures that you will feel every bone-chilling drop in temperature once November rolls around.

When the mercury dips below freezing and there’s nothing to stop the cold from leeching in to your home, sometimes you have to take drastic measures. And when you’re backed into a (freezing cold) corner, it makes you do some crazy things… like wrap your entire house in bubble wrap.

Japan
(climate • cold • weather • You Me and a Tanuki)

We Catch a Glimpse of the Elusive “Shadow Fuji”

Steven
Sep 15, 2012

Back in August, group of our most daring reporters ventured out of Tokyo and into the wilderness to climb Mt. Fuji. Last week, weshared their report of the top 3 meal of Mt. Fuji , but it turns out there was another noteworthy occurrence that day.

At around 6 pm, just as the sun began to set, our heroes gathered their spirits and began the long hike down from the peak of the mountain. As they surveyed the sea of clouds that spread out before them one last time, one of our reporters noticed a dark triangle off in the distance.

The sun setting behind the mountain on one side; a triangular shadow cast over a canopy of clouds on the other side; our reporters were witnessing the fabled “Shadow Fuji!”