A group of police officers was involved in blocking the balloon launch, Choi told reporters, adding that he would seek permission for another launch. Authorities in Paju, the city near the site of the incident, said entry had been barred for people linked to efforts to distribute the leaflets criticalContinue Reading
The 25-year-old, who used to visit the area in autumn in his childhood, said he remembered how Fuji “was always covered by snow”.
“I’m rocking up in T-shirt and shorts. It kind of doesn’t feel the same,” said Australian traveller Jason Le.
“I think that across the globe it is kind of affecting everybody. We’re from Australia and what you are seeing is it is getting hotter in the summer months and it’s getting colder earlier,” he told AFP.
Last year, snow was first detected on Fuji on Oct 5.
Yutaka Katsuta, a forecaster in the town of Kofu’s meteorological office, told AFP on Monday climate change may play a role in delaying snowfall, with this year being the latest since comparative data became available in 1894.
“Temperatures were high this summer, and these high temperatures continued into September, deterring cold air (bringing snow),” Katsuta told AFP.
Japan’s summer this year was the joint hottest on record – equalling the level seen in 2023 – as extreme heatwaves fuelled by climate change engulfed many parts of the globe.
Warm weather has been affecting other snowy regions across the globe, with many ski resorts increasingly being forced to confront the realities of a warming climate.
In Japan the city of Sapporo in the normally chilly northern island of Hokkaido, has begun discussing scaling down its famous snow festival due to a shortage.
In the Western Pacific basin, where the typhoon season can last until December at lower latitudes, large tropical cyclones such as Super Typhoon Yagi and Tropical Storm Trami have killed more than 1,000 people in East Asia this year. Typhoons are more widely known as a damaging summer weather phenomenon,Continue Reading
TAIPEI: Taiwan shut down ahead of the arrival of Super Typhoon Kong-rey on Thursday (Oct 31) with all cities and counties declaring a day off, financial markets closed and domestic flights cancelled for what is expected to be the largest storm by size in 30 years. The storm is forecastContinue Reading
TAIPEI: Taiwan shut down ahead of the arrival of strong Typhoon Kong-rey on Thursday (Oct 31) with all cities and counties declaring a day off, financial markets closed and domestic flights cancelled for what is expected to be the largest storm by size in 30 years. The storm is forecastContinue Reading
Mr Greg Dingle, a researcher and educator focusing on sport and climate change at La Trobe Business School, questioned the sustainability of indoor ski resorts especially amid China’s climate pledges.
“Producing temperatures indoors that are cold enough for ski activities requires energy, lots of energy,” Mr Dingle said.
“Given the energy-intensity and likely tourist visitation of indoor ski resorts, my assessment is that they are likely not environmentally sustainable.”
Other experts like Mr Liu Daizong, East Asia director at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), noted severe environmental impacts which come with indoor ski resorts that use significantly higher energy and water consumption as compared to traditional outdoor ski lodges and resorts.
“Climate change has a significant impact on the ski tourism industry,” Mr Liu told CNA, adding that indoor resorts were expected to operate all year round and “rely entirely on artificial snowmaking and cooling systems” which could lead to substantial electricity and water consumption.
“Without effective energy-saving technologies, large-scale energy-intensive facilities like this could weaken China’s efforts to achieve its carbon neutrality goals,” Mr Liu said.
Citing the example that if Chinese skiers are required to commute in a carbon-neutral manner to the resort, and stay in carbon-neutral accommodations, Mr Dingle believes it “perhaps is possibly consistent with the 2030 and 2060 climate commitments.”
When asked how L+SNOW resort could serve as a model for sustainable tourism, the operator told CNA that consumers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai previously had to fly to snowfields in Northeast China or even farther abroad, which “generated considerable carbon emissions during the trip.”
“But now, they don’t need to travel far to go skiing, making it more economical and energy-saving.”
Mr Ma, the ski instructor, says he sees a bright future for winter sports in China.
“Indoor ski resorts will have a positive impact … it’s not limited by seasons or weather, allowing more people to experience the joy of skiing at any time,” he said.
“Skiing should focus more on popularising and promoting the sport to encourage greater participation, while simultaneously raising public awareness about environmental protection, contributing collectively to the preservation of our planet.”
SINGAPORE: Chinese youths are getting into the spirit of Halloween by ditching conventional spooky get-ups like witches, zombies and vampires – taking to the streets instead as their favourite celebrities, internet memes and homegrown brands.
Celebrating Halloween has increasingly caught on in many parts of Asia in recent years.
In China, young party goers and trick-or-treaters were seen showcasing their individuality and creativity through their costumes.
A bold choice (or not), one man dressed up as US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, which drew applause on the internet. He was eventually led away by police.
Another creative costume was one partygoer’s decision to go as the new Mate XT phone from Chinese tech giant Huawei. The phone launched hours after Apple debuted its new IPhone in China in September. Its tri-fold design became a popular meme in China, with many netizens comparing it to an emperor’s memorial scroll, which also unfolds in the same manner.
Despite heavy police presence in Shanghai, the usual superheroes, villains, and monsters were out in full force in Zhongshan park, along with popular Japanese anime characters.
Religious figures were also a theme among some this year, which raised eyebrows among local authorities. A man dressed up as Jesus and another partygoer in a Buddha costume, were seen being led away by police officers.
Kong-rey is currently more powerful than the deadly Typhoon Gaemi, which was the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in eight years when it made landfall in July.
“If (Kong-rey) keeps the current wind speed, it will be the biggest typhoon in eight years,” Chang Chun-yao from the state weather forecaster, Central Weather Administration, told AFP.
Classes and work were suspended on the two main islands of Taitung county, where the typhoon looks set to make a direct hit, while dozens of ferry services and domestic flights were cancelled on Wednesday.
Taipei residents planning to hunker down during the storm stocked up on fresh vegetables, while fishers wearing slickers against the rain tethered their boats in the harbour in Yilan county, southeast of the capital.
“Of course I’m worried. All my assets are here,” a fisherman, who gave his name as Captain Chen, told AFP.
Kong-rey was expected to dump the heaviest rain on Taiwan’s eastern and northern coastal areas, and over the mountains in the central and southern regions, the Central Weather Administration said.
Yilan and the eastern county of Hualien were expected to be hardest hit, with accumulated rainfall from Tuesday to Friday reaching 800ml to 1,200ml, forecaster Chang told AFP.
“Based on the projected path of the typhoon, we advise Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung to take precautions against potential landslides and debris flows in areas expected to receive heavy rainfall,” Chang said.
Authorities began evacuating residents from their homes in the southern seaport city of Kaohsiung on Wednesday, as well as in Yilan, Hualien and Taitung, according to the National Fire Agency.
“There is heightened concern as some recovery work from the last typhoon has yet to begin, and extra caution is advised for areas affected by recent earthquakes,” said Chen-yu Chen of the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, who leads a team monitoring disasters in slope areas.
TAIPEI: Authorities in southeastern Taiwan suspended some ferries and advised fishers to return to shore on Tuesday (Oct 29) as the island’s weather forecaster warned approaching Typhoon Kong-rey was “rapidly” intensifying. Packing maximum wind speeds of 155kmh, the storm could make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, the Central WeatherContinue Reading
SINGAPORE: “I got a call from a grassroots (worker) this morning, asking if I was pregnant,” reads a viral post on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
It was liked more than 11,000 times and received thousands of comments – and was just one out of multiple accounts describing similar experiences.
Chinese women shared that they received bizarre phone calls from supposed government workers, asking about family planning and pregnancy.
A Xiaohongshu user by the username Guo Guo, said she received a phone call which was uncomfortably personal and invasive. The working mother of two shared that she was asked when she would be conceiving a third child.
Although shocked, she still responded that she simply “did not have the time” as she was busy working. To which the caller replied: “You can get pregnant first. If your mother-in-law can’t take care of (your children), you can ask your mum.”
“Fertility call checks” was also a topic trend on the Sina Weibo microblogging site, with users questioning the legitimacy of such calls and discussing whether or not it was appropriate to be asking women such invasive and private questions.
“Things are getting desperate,” wrote a Weibo user in a comment that drew hundreds of likes. “I can’t see how effective this type of interrogation will be in the long run. How will it contribute to population numbers?”
“This is even weirder than scam calls,” another user said.
Grassroots government workers were ringing up women across the country as part of “a vigorous campaign organised by district administrative networks”, according to a Oct 28 report published by the South China Morning Post.
“The central government also hopes to learn why so many women are reluctant to have more children and devise new policy options,” the report said.
Workers would record and collect information such as marriage and childbirth statistics, which would then be entered into a central monitoring system, according to Caixin Global, a Beijing-based media group.