Swarmed with tourists, Japan town blocks off viral view of Mt. Fuji

Swarmed with tourists, Japan town blocks off viral view of Mt. Fuji
Tourists stand nearby as workers erect a barrier to block the view of a popular Mount Fuji photo spot, near a convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan on May 21, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 21 May 2024
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Swarmed with tourists, Japan town blocks off viral view of Mt. Fuji

Swarmed with tourists, Japan town blocks off viral view of Mt. Fuji
  • The mass of visitors and their refusal to obey rules on littering and parking had become a nuisance and traffic hazard

FUJIKAWAGUCHIKO, Japan: Japan’s majestic Mt. Fuji was some 700,000 years in the making, but on one sultry May morning, it was gone.
At least on one side of a busy road, views of the 3,776-meter (12,388 foot) symbol of Japan and the Lawson convenience store beneath it have vanished, as officials finished a 20-meter by 2.5-meter barrier to obstruct a photo spot that had become viral among tourists.
For locals, the mass of visitors and their refusal to obey rules on littering and parking had become a nuisance and traffic hazard.
“I’m really happy that foreigners are coming to our town,” said Kikue Katsumata, 73, a lifelong resident of Fujikawaguchiko. “But when it comes to taking pictures from the Lawson, the road is a bit narrow and it can be dangerous when people dash across without using a crosswalk.”
March and April set all-time records for visitor arrivals, driven by pent-up demand after the pandemic and as the yen’s slide to a 34-year low made Japan an irresistible bargain. That’s been good news for the economy, with travelers spending a record 1.75 trillion yen ($11.2 billion) in the first three months of 2024, according to the tourist agency.
The drastic decision to block the view of Mt. Fuji symbolizes tensions across the country as Japan reckons with the consequences of its tourism boom. The western metropolis of Osaka and the hot spring resort town Hakone are among municipalities considering new tourism taxes to deal with deluge of visitors.
Cyril Malchand, a 45-year old visitor from France, found out about the fence online and made a special trip to be among the last to take in the view. He said he empathized with the locals.
“When I see that there could be problems with people crossing the road without watching cars, I don’t find it that bad that they’re setting up that fence,” he said.


Nine-year-old Thai tattooist makes his mark

Nine-year-old Thai tattooist makes his mark
Updated 17 March 2025
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Nine-year-old Thai tattooist makes his mark

Nine-year-old Thai tattooist makes his mark
  • Tattooing is a centuries-old tradition in Thailand
  • Knight was one of nearly 200 artists at the Thailand Tattoo Expo

Bangkok: Wielding a cumbersome tattoo gun with his small hands swamped in surgical gloves, nine-year-old Napat Mitmakorn expertly inks the pattern of a fanged serpent on a man’s upper thigh.
“I want to be a tattoo artist and open my own tattoo palour,” he told AFP in his booth at a Bangkok tattoo expo, where fascinated attendees paused to film his work. “I like art so I like to tattoo.”
Tattooing is a centuries-old tradition in Thailand, where tattoo parlours are omnipresent and offer designs ranging from the ancient and spiritual to the modern and profane.
Napat’s father Nattawut Sangtong said he introduced his son — who goes by the nickname “Knight” — to the craft of tattooing to swerve the pitfalls of contemporary childhood.
“I just wanted to keep him away from his phone because he was addicted to gaming and had a short attention span,” said the 38-year-old, also an amateur tattooist, who works at a block printing factory.
The father-son duo together learned from TikTok tutorials and practiced on paper before graduating to artificial leather simulating human skin, and then the real thing.
Knight said he swiftly picked up the skills because art is his favorite school subject. Recognizing his son’s talent, Nattawut now coaches him in two-hour sessions three days a week.
“It’s not just tattooing, it’s like meditation,” Nattawut said.
The pair run a TikTok channel together — “The Tattoo Artist with Milk Teeth” — where they livestream Knight’s sessions and sometimes draw hundreds of thousands of viewers with a single clip.
His Saturday session at the Thailand Tattoo Expo was his public debut, as he tattooed his uncle for a second time — marking him with an eight-inch (20 centimeter) mythical Naga serpent.
Unfazed by the techno music blaring from massive speakers, Knight predicts the creature from Hindu and Thai folklore will take 12 hours to complete.
For now, his father insists he only works on family and friends — opening up to public clients would require more rigorous hygiene training.
But Naruebet Chonlatachaisit, Knight’s uncle, is relaxed as the tattoo takes shape on his left leg. “I trust him, and I think he’ll only improve,” he says.
Knight was one of nearly 200 artists at the Thailand Tattoo Expo — but drew outsized attention among the crowds of thousands of visitors this weekend.
Office worker Napat Muangsawang stopped by the boy’s booth to admire his meticulous artistry.
“It’s quite amazing. Tattooing isn’t easy,” he said. “It’s not like drawing on a paper where you can just erase it.”


California man wins $50m in lawsuit over burns from Starbucks tea

California man wins $50m in lawsuit over burns from Starbucks tea
Updated 15 March 2025
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California man wins $50m in lawsuit over burns from Starbucks tea

California man wins $50m in lawsuit over burns from Starbucks tea
  • He has suffered permanent and life-changing disfigurement, according to his attorneys
  • Garcia’s negligence lawsuit blamed his injuries on Starbucks, saying that an employee didn’t wedge the scalding-hot tea firmly enough into a takeout tray

LOS ANGELES: A delivery driver has won $50 million in a lawsuit after being seriously burned when a Starbucks drink spilled in his lap at a California drive-through, court records show.
A Los Angeles County jury found Friday for Michael Garcia, who underwent skin grafts and other procedures on his genitals after a venti-sized tea drink spilled instants after he collected it on Feb. 8, 2020. He has suffered permanent and life-changing disfigurement, according to his attorneys.
Garcia’s negligence lawsuit blamed his injuries on Starbucks, saying that an employee didn’t wedge the scalding-hot tea firmly enough into a takeout tray.
“This jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility,” one of Garcia’s attorneys, Nick Rowley, said in a statement.
Starbucks said it sympathized with Garcia but planned to appeal.
“We disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive,” the Seattle-based coffee giant said in a statement to media outlets, adding that it was “committed to the highest safety standards” in handling hot drinks.
US eateries have faced lawsuits before over customer burns.
In one famous 1990s case, a New Mexico jury awarded a woman nearly $3 million in damages for burns she suffered while trying to pry the lid off a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s drive-through. A judge later reduced the award, and the case ultimately was settled for an undisclosed sum under $600,000.
Juries have sided with restaurants at times, as in another 1990s case involving a child who tipped a cup of McDonald’s coffee onto himself in Iowa.


China deports Japanese tourists over Great Wall buttocks photos

China deports Japanese tourists over Great Wall buttocks photos
Updated 14 March 2025
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China deports Japanese tourists over Great Wall buttocks photos

China deports Japanese tourists over Great Wall buttocks photos
  • Incident at the World Heritage site near Beijing concerned a man who showed his bottom and a woman who took photos
  • Exposing the lower half of the body in a public place is against the law in China, according to the reports

TOKYO: Two Japanese tourists in their 20s were detained for two weeks in China and then deported for taking photos showing one of the traveler’s exposed buttocks at the Great Wall, local media reported.
The incident at the World Heritage site near Beijing concerned a man who showed his bottom and a woman who took photos, NTV and other Japanese media outlets reported on Thursday.
The Embassy of Japan in China said Friday it “confirmed on January 3 that two Japanese nationals were detained by local authorities at the Great Wall.”
They “were released and returned to Japan during January,” it said in a statement.
The tourists were detained on the spot by security guards and held for around two weeks, the reports said, citing sources.
Exposing the lower half of the body in a public place is against the law in China, according to the reports.
The tourists reportedly told the Japanese embassy they did it as a prank.
“Out of protection for individual privacy,” the Japanese embassy declined to comment on specific details, including whether the tourists will be barred from traveling to China or face additional punishment such as fines or jail time.
The reports sparked outrage in China, where memories of atrocities committed during Japan’s colonial occupation of the country in the 1930s and 1940s still inspire strong feelings.
A hashtag translating to “Japanese man and woman detained for indecent behavior at the Great Wall” had been viewed over 60 million times on social media platform Weibo by Friday morning.
Many top-liked comments blasted the tourists for the act, with some using hateful language toward Japanese people.


Stargazers marvel at ‘Blood Moon’, rare total lunar eclipse

Stargazers marvel at ‘Blood Moon’, rare total lunar eclipse
Updated 14 March 2025
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Stargazers marvel at ‘Blood Moon’, rare total lunar eclipse

Stargazers marvel at ‘Blood Moon’, rare total lunar eclipse
  • Stargazers across a swathe of the world marvelled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of Friday morning

BELO HORIZONTE: Stargazers across a swathe of the world marvelled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of Friday morning.
The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa.
The phenomenon happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite.
But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the Moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the Moon glowed a reddish color.
This is because the only sunlight that reaches the Moon is “bent and scattered” as it goes through Earth’s atmosphere, said Daniel Brown, an astronomer at Britain’s Nottingham Trent University.
It is similar to how the light can become pink or red during sunrises or sunsets on Earth, he added.
The more clouds and dust there are in Earth’s atmosphere, the redder the Moon appears.
Brown called the lunar eclipse, which will last around six hours, “an amazing way to see the solar system in action.”
The period when the Moon is completely in Earth’s shadow — called the totality — lasts just over an hour.
This event has been dubbed the “Blood Worm Moon,” after one of the names given to March full moons by some Native Americans.

In North America, the moon started to look like a bite was being taken out of it from 1:09 am Eastern Time (0509 GMT), with the totality from 2:26 am to 3:31 am, according to NASA.
In France, the totality is from 7:26 am to 8:31 am local time (0626-0731 GMT), according to the French Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation.
Only the most western parts of Europe, such as France’s Brittany region, will get any chance to see the totality before the Moon sets.
People in New Zealand have the opposite problem, with the eclipse only partially visible as the Moon rose.
Brown dislikes the term “Blood Moon,” saying it has a negative connotation and “originates from a misinformed theory of the end of the world.”
But not all societies took a negative view of these celestial shows.
Some people in Africa traditionally viewed a lunar eclipse as a conflict between the Sun and Moon that could be resolved by people “demonstrating on Earth how we work together” and laying old feuds aside, Brown said.
He called it “an amazing story that should inspire us all.”
It is the first total lunar eclipse since 2022, but there will be another one this September.
Thursday’s event is a “Micromoon,” meaning the Moon is the farthest away it gets from Earth, making it appear about seven percent smaller than normal, according to the website Earthsky.
This is the opposite of a “Supermoon,” as was seen during 2022’s lunar eclipse.
Some stargazers will be in for another treat later this month — a partial solar eclipse, which is when the Moon blocks out the Sun’s light on Earth.
This eclipse will be visible on March 29 in eastern Canada, parts of Europe, northern Russia and northwest Africa.
Viewing even a partial solar eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous, and people are advised to use special eclipse glasses or pinhole projectors.


Egyptian wrestler, who can pull a train by the strength of his teeth, sets 3 world records

Egyptian wrestler, who can pull a train by the strength of his teeth, sets 3 world records
Updated 13 March 2025
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Egyptian wrestler, who can pull a train by the strength of his teeth, sets 3 world records

Egyptian wrestler, who can pull a train by the strength of his teeth, sets 3 world records
  • Mahrous this week received formal recognition by the Guinness World Records in three categories
  • He says he pulled the two-ton locomotive in under 40 seconds

CAIRO: Pulling a train by the strength of your teeth is no easy task. But for Egyptian wrestler Ashraf Mahrous, also known by his nickname Kabonga, it’s just one of several things he can do to show off his astonishing strength.
Mahrous this week received formal recognition by the Guinness World Records in three categories, including the heaviest rail pull using only his teeth. His two other certificates are for the heaviest locomotive pull and for the fastest 100-meter road vehicle pull.
He says he pulled the two-ton locomotive in under 40 seconds.
On Thursday, crowds gathered at the Ramses train station in downtown Cairo to watch and cheer him on as he pulled a train — weighing 279 tons — with a rope held by his teeth for a distance of nearly 10 meters (33 feet).
He then repeated the feat, pulling the train with the strap around his shoulders to cheering spectators.
Mahrous, who is in his 40s and also is president of the Egyptian Federation for Professional Wrestlers, was previously recognized by the the international franchise for cracking and eating 11 raw eggs in 30 seconds in February 2024, and for pulling a 15,730-kilogram truck with his teeth in June 2021.
One of the organizers of Thursday’s spectacle in the Egyptian capital, Dawlet Elnakeb, who runs a sports company, said Mahrous trained — but not very consistently — for just 20 days before the event.
Mahrous simply has “abnormal strength,” Elnakeb said.