I’ve visited Japan twice. The first time I spent two weeks visiting family in Hobara, a rural town near Fukushima and one week in Sendai. The second time I spent two weeks in the north of Honshu, some time in Tokyo, and then to Kyoto where I visited a museum to see a number of Japanese automata. My plan is still to return to Japan and experience sakura – cherry blossom.
Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge struck by Japanese tsunami
Midway Islands
Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge was home to more than two million birds.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service reported that 1,000 adult and adolescent Laysan albatross and tens of thousands of chicks died when the tsunami generated by last Friday’s powerful earthquake off the coast of Japan struck . Thousands of Bonin petrels are believed to have been buried alive.
Waves reaching 1.5 metres high smashed into the atoll just before midnight local time on 10 March and continued for the next few hours. The waves washed over 60% of Eastern Island, an islet of nearly 150 hectares inside the refuge.
Here are some links:
- Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge US Fish & Wildlife Service
- Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
- Leysan albatross mating ritual
- Banding leysan albatross
Some good news
Wisdom, a laysan albatross survived the tsunami. Aged 60-plus she was recently spotted raising a chick.
