Japan Earthquake Prediction

Stefan Burns is a geophysicist who has been knocking it out of the park recently. He accurately predicted recent volcanic eruptions, and now he's accurately predicted the current earthquake swarms, the worst of which was a Richter 7.6 earthquake off Japan. He blames recent activity of the sun, fascinating stuff.

Japan Excess Deaths Among Vaccinated

Very important this - the jab must be stopped now. See my useful links page for other links to studies on the thing we cannot talk about >>>>>

John Campbell references this article: https://www.vigilantfox.com/p/japan-releases-bombshell-vax-vs-unvax

Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa

I had never seen one of these flying before today. It is good to see these old warbirds being restored, their sound is amazing.

Iran v Israel: Size Comparison

Looking at the two belligerents, many don't seem to understand the size disparity between the two, Israel has a population of 10 million, while Iran a population of 91 million. 

In terms of geographic size, here's a few images to convey scale:

Firstly, Israel if it was an island west of France, and north of Spain in the Bay of Biscay:

Then Iran if it was overlaid Western Europe, it would stretch from Croatia and Slovenia, across Western Europe, taking in most of Germany, northern France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, England, Wales and Ireland:

And if Iran was overlaid the 48 contiguous states of the US:

It becomes obvious that defeating Iran is not a minor exercise, and probably not possible. A war with Iran could also close the Straits of Hormuz, shutting down the supply of oil to much of Southeast Asia and the Far East, but not China. That's because the Iran-China overland corridor is now fully operational and oil from Iran can go via rail to China, arriving much sooner than by sea, and without the Straits of Hormuz and Malacca as pinch points.

The way I see this; a strike on Iran is an act of self-harm. The cost to the western world and its allies would be major, possibly introducing a Depression, while China and Iran would just continue on. Russia appears to be sitting there watching things evolve and rubbing their hands together. 

The thinking now is the US will strike Iran this weekend. Don't do it.

Merger of Hino and Mitsubishi Fuso

I may be drawing a rather long bow here, but I think the proposed merger of truck manufacturers, Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso is a reaction to the growth of China. Their output of trucks and buses have really gathered pace, and this merger of two of the big three truck brands in Japan appears to be a defensive move.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15720057

A new entity will be formed which will be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Hino parent, Toyota and Mitsubishi Fuso parent, Daimler Truck of Germany will each have an equal share.

Chinese Navy Tasman Sea

New Zealand media managed to coax a statement out of the Chinese ambassador about China's naval vessels exercising in the Tasman Sea. The ambassador, when asked what were China doing off the coast of Australia, replied what was Australia and New Zealand doing off the coast of China. These weren't his exact words, but that's essentially what he said.

So, we can conclude that China has not forgotten last year when Japanese, Australian and New Zealand naval vessels sailed through the Taiwan Strait, much to China's objections. Fair enough China, you're making a statement.

I made a blog post last September about this passage through the Taiwan Strait, and reminded my readers that the three nations were allies during the First World War. Heh, China is pissed and their Tasman Sea exercise is their clapback. 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/26/japan-sends-warship-through-taiwan-strait-for-first-time

New Zealand, Japan and Australia - Allies

New Zealand needs to get itself a navy, so this is a good sign; in a move designed to remind China that Taiwan is not on its own, NZ, Japan and Australia have sailed through the Taiwan Strait. This is significant as Japan usually avoids the route, to avoid any confrontation.

History buffs will also be aware that this draws old allies together; in the First World War the three fought together and their ships served alongside one another.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/26/japan-sends-warship-through-taiwan-strait-for-first-time

Japan has sent a destroyer through the Taiwan Strait for the first time, Japanese media reported, amid increasing military activity around Japan by China.

The Sazanami entered the strait from the East China Sea on Wednesday morning, spending more than 10 hours sailing south to complete the passage, public broadcaster NHK and the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported on Thursday.

The passage was conducted with naval ships from Australia and New Zealand ahead of planned drills in the disputed South China Sea, the reports said.

The Chinese military was on “high alert” on Thursday and China said it had lodged a complaint with Japan.

Shinzo Abe Assassinated

Respected former Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe has been shot in the city of Nara, Japan. He was there campaigning for an LDP candidate for Japan's upper house - the House of Councillors. 

I just hope that the gunman is not associated with North Korea or China, otherwise this is the shot that could be heard around the world.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220708_49/

Typhoon Maysak: Ship Lost at Sea

Tragic circumstances, a ship carrying almost 6,000 head of cattle has sunk while sailing through typhoon Maysak off the coast of Japan. The ship was on the way to China from New Zealand. Here's a picture of the vessel:

This ship doesn't look like it would be comfortable to be on board during a typhoon. It does look top heavy. Reports are the ship capsized and that does sound right.

Pure speculation: what would have caused the ship to capsize? Well, as anyone who has experienced a typhoon will soon tell you, water absolutely buckets down. In this storm I'm guessing a lot of that precipitation was coming in sideways. Note the upper decks are open. If enough water was coming down, so much it couldn't drain away quickly enough, together with the weight of the livestock and their water supplies, the ship would become top heavy, unstable, and any large wave side-on would tip it over.

Bad news I know and no consolation to the family of those on board. This looks to have been poor seamanship, the captain should have tried to avoid the weather, but once in it he should look to reduce the amount of time he was sailing side-on to the wind. He needed to be sailing the boat directly into the wind. Maybe his lack of knowledge about how much water you can take on in a typhoon was a factor.

Only one survivor thus far, let's hope the Japanese Coast Guard find more.

WWII: Pearl Harbor Civilian Pilots

A little history note, if you've ever seen the 1970 movie Tora Tora Tora, about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, then you may recall the scene early in the movie where a female flight instructor is teaching a male student how to fly in her trainer biplane, when what do you know, but Japanese warplanes heading in to attack fly right past them. The instructor takes control and dives the plane out of the way. Most of the scenes in the movie are based on fact, this scene is pretty accurate. There were actually two women flying that day, they and other civilian aircraft were attacked, you can read about it here:

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2016/december/07/civilian-pilots-under-fire-at-pearl-harbor

War Looming in the Far East

I have already posted about the massive military build up occurring in Japan right now. You'll remember the US warship that ran into a cargo ship in Tokyo Bay. That likely happened because the US are starting to fall over one another. Also extremely busy are the Kanagawa area US Naval Air Facilities.

Now with President Trump issuing stark warnings to North Korea, I'm predicting war will result. Somewhere along the line the US made the decision and pushed the 'go' button.

This was my post in April 2017:

I've got friends living in Yokohama, Japan and they tell me the US Navy base at Yokosuka is the busiest they've ever seen it. Also extremely busy are the Kanagawa area US Naval Air Facilities. Planes are flying in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Locals are complaining of the noise. Bear in mind all the various crises over the decades, but they say the bases have always just been ticking along despite that. Not now, now they're really ramping up. Based on this evidence I'd say the US is preparing for war and not just talking tough. Who will that war be with? North Korea is my suggestion and anyone else who takes their side.

War in the Pacific

I've got friends living in Yokohama, Japan and they tell me the US Navy base at Yokosuka is the busiest they've ever seen it. Also extremely busy are the Kanagawa area US Naval Air Facilities. Planes are flying in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Locals are complaining of the noise. Bear in mind all the various crises over the decades, but they say the bases have always just been ticking along despite that. Not now, now they're really ramping up. Based on this evidence I'd say the US is preparing for war and not just talking tough. Who will that war be with? North Korea is my suggestion and anyone else who takes their side.

New Zealand: How Big Should It Be?

It depends how you measure it, in land area New Zealand is about the same size as Japan or the British Isles, or if you're American, the same size as the state of Colorado.

Another way of looking at it is to measure the economy. NZ's total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about $185 billion (US Dollars).

Compare that with the largest companies; Walmart has a total revenue of about $482 billion, Volkswagen $237 billion and Berkshire Hathaway $211 billion.

How about comparing staff numbers? Walmart employs 2.3 million worldwide, Volkswagen 610,000, Berkshire Hathaway 331,000; while little old New Zealand has 4.5 million people producing that GDP, in total less than the any of the three companies mentioned.

What about management? New Zealand has approximately 45,000 public servants and another 28,000 local authority employees.  If you accept that these people are roughly equivalent to managers at some level in the corporate world, then NZ has 73,000 of them.

Walmart has fewer than that number of managers for a revenue almost three times the size of NZ's GDP. My guess is Volkswagen will have fewer managers than Walmart and Berkshire Hathaway much fewer still. At the top in Berkshire Hathaway sits an executive team that is very small operating out of the Kiewit Plaza in Omaha, Nebraska.

Am I making my point? NZ is grossly and excessively governed. NZ does not need all these people. The state of Colorado employs about 32,000 at the state level off a population of 5.3 million and a GDP 40% larger than NZ's. I'm not sure what the total head count is if you combine federal, state and local authorities; someone may like to provide the numbers.

California has 204,000 full-time employees and that state on its own would be the world's fifth largest economy with a GDP of $2.4 Trillion; it has 4.5 times the number of government employees but is more than twelve times bigger economically (and much bigger territorially as well).

This is one area where National has failed miserably, they promised to reduce the head count at government level. Where is this going to end, when everyone is working for the government?

Japan Rugby Christchurch Connection

The media are not reporting a Christchurch connection with the Japan team that has upset South Africa 34-32 at this year's Rugby World Cup.

In the team is Kosei Ono, who grew up in Christchurch from the age of three, learned to play Rugby here and played for the Christchurch Boys' High School first XV. He now lives in Japan and plays there professionally. His father is still local to Christchurch, he owns a sports massage business called Ono Seitai Sports Clinic.

Journalists have likely flicked through the roster of this ground-breaking team and tried to spot the foreign names, and in the process missed a local lad doing well.

Kosei Ono at RWC 2015 

[ edit to add - Kosei Ono is now covered on Stuff...The Press got around to doing their job ]