Typhoons starting already?!
First of all, a chilling reminder about the power of typhoons/cyclones/hurricanes has been all too evident in Burma this week. 22,000 dead and a potential death toll of over 100,000 has really hit home the power of Mother Nature. Incidentally, a pop quiz for you here: cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes… what is the difference? Will give the answer at the end of this post.
Well, 2 months before the season is scheduled to start, it looks like the first typhoon of the season is heading Japan’s way. Typhoon Rammasun is curling northward in the Pacific and will reach winds of 115kts. This typhoon is highly unlikely to make landfall either in Okinawa or mainland Japan, but this could signal the start of a very busy year for typhoons. Could do without that as I have only recently replaced the wind deflectors off my car following the big typhoon last year! That, combined with a weather front approaching from the west of Okinawa unfortunately means that I reckon no diving will be on the cards this weekend. It would be possible to dive tomorrow I think, but work commitments mean that I won’t be able to get into the water.
Managed to get a dive in last week though at Maeda Misaki. Dived with Brian and a diver I certified last year. The dive was fun and the weather was beautiful (as it is today; can’t see any clouds out of the window and just a slight breeze keeping the edge off the heat). Was good to get into the water again and wanted to continue the trend again this weekend but it looks like it won’t be happening.
Today is a very special event at my school, or so my students tell me. As I was leaving work yesterday a group of them ran up to me shouting, “Sensei! Tomorrow EU is coming!”. Yes, I was as confused as you readers probably are. I enquired a little more and it appears that our school was chosen for something or other, and as part of it some guy from Sweden is going to come to the school and make a speech about Europe and the EU. I sincerely hope he is fluent in Japanese or will use an interpreter as the students’ English can be a little sketchy at times and I imagine their Swedish isn’t much better. The main even is due to kick off in about an hour though so we’ll see what this man has to say.
Just a short update today so here is the answer to that question I posed above. It is all about location, I believe. Typhoons occur in the Pacific Ocean, hurricanes in the Atlantic and cyclones in the Indian Ocean. Simple really!
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It’s scary right now, isn’t it?
First a cyclone in Burma, oops, it’s called Myanmar nowadays, where the local powers that be bury their heads in the sand and pretend to have everything under control, opening the door for hundreds of thousands of citiznes to die. Oops, but they did pull off that referendum, gotta set your priorities staright!
Second an earthquake in China, another contender for getting an honourable mention in the citizen abuse sector.
The Chinese may also use their veto in the UN, besides the Russians, against forced intervention in Myanmar.
It all sucks and as usual it’s the people in the street that suffer.