6.9 earthquake in Northern Japan.

Damn.
"TOKYO - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 struck northern Japan on Saturday, NHK television reported."
LINK

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Rocket attack on Japanese oil tanker in Gulf of Aden.

This is so extra bizarre, and I haven't seen this as a major headline anywhere...

"Retail gas prices reached another new milestone Monday, jumping to an average $3.50 a gallon at filling stations across the country. Crude oil prices, meanwhile, kept setting records of their own, spiking to a record above $117 a barrel Monday after a Japanese oil tanker was attacked in the Middle East.

The attack on the 150,000-ton tanker Takayama came about 270 miles off the Yemen coast in the Gulf of Aden while it was heading for Saudi Arabia, its Japanese operator, Nippon Yusen K.K., said in a statement posted on its Web site.

None of the ship's 23 crew members was injured, but several hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked before a 1-inch hole in the tanker's stern was repaired, the company said. Kyodo News agency reported that the Japanese tanker was fired on by a rocket launcher from a small boat. " LINK to CBS story, April 21

No snow for Tokyo

"The Japanese capital has experienced its first winter without snow for 131 years, weather officials say.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said it had recorded no snow in central Tokyo between December and the end of February, the official winter months.

This the first time no snow has fallen in winter since records began in 1876, the agency said. " LINK

h5n1 in the news again.

In Japan - "TOKYO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The bird flu virus that killed about 3,500 chickens in southwestern Japan last week was determined as the highly contagious and lethal H5N1 strain, Japan's farm ministry said in a statement Tuesday. "

In Thailand - "Laboratory tests have confirmed that four pigeons died after becoming infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus strain, the most virulent one. The four birds were part of a group of wild birds that suddenly died one month ago in the Suphan Buri province, Thailand."

In Vietnam - "Vietnam government issues emergency call to contain bird flu"

In Indonesia - "Concerns grew as four Indonesians died this year after a six-week lull in cases, taking the number of human deaths from bird flu in the country to 61, the highest in the world."