Accidents Japan

No one has ever been happier that he didn't hold the mayo. "Thank you, thank you, oh, dear mayonnaise," said frostbitten Eiichi Urata, an amateur mountain climber who survived 15 days lost and alone in the frigid Japanese mountains eating almost nothing but mayonnaise and snow. On May 6, Urata set out for a one-night climbing trip on a 7,700-foot peak near Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.

A 5-month-old girl died from injuries sustained July 21 in a deadly stampede after a fireworks festival in western Japan, authorities said. The death toll now stands at 11. Nina Tada had been in a coma since the tragedy, which occurred on a crowded pedestrian overpass linking the train station and beach in Akashi, a city spokesman said. The bridge, spanning a busy road, was packed with about 3,000 people, some leaving a fireworks show, others heading to the beach.

Work crews in northern Japan finally succeeded today in blasting to rubble a giant rock that had crushed a highway tunnel. But it may still take days of digging to reach a trapped bus and car and their occupants. The rescue drama has captured Japan's attention since Saturday, when a slab of mountain the size of a 20-story building peeled free and crushed the seaside tunnel, trapping a bus with 19 people aboard and a car with one person inside.

Leonard Efron won't soon forget the sense of pride he felt climbing snow-covered Mt. Fuji on his last trip to Japan, because it was exactly that feeling of invincibility that led him to make a mistake that nearly cost him his life. "I got cocky." said Efron, 64. As he descended from the mountain's 12,000-foot summit, he lost his footing and crashed down more than 300 feet. Immobilized with a broken pelvis, he screamed for help.

Leonard Efron won't soon forget the sense of pride he felt climbing snow-covered Mt. Fuji on his last trip to Japan, because it was exactly that feeling of invincibility that led him to make a mistake that nearly cost him his life. "I got cocky." said Efron, 64. As he descended from the mountain's 12,000-foot summit, he lost his footing and crashed down more than 300 feet. Immobilized with a broken pelvis, he screamed for help.

A 5-month-old girl died from injuries sustained July 21 in a deadly stampede after a fireworks festival in western Japan, authorities said. The death toll now stands at 11. Nina Tada had been in a coma since the tragedy, which occurred on a crowded pedestrian overpass linking the train station and beach in Akashi, a city spokesman said. The bridge, spanning a busy road, was packed with about 3,000 people, some leaving a fireworks show, others heading to the beach.

Rage surfaces as I read reports of the world's latest nuclear catastrophe (Oct. 1). A survivor of the Three Mile Island near-meltdown, I know well the terror and confusion that now run through the neighborhoods in Tokaimura. I remember that as I turned the key in my apartment lock preparing to flee Harrisburg, Pa., in March 1979, not knowing if I would ever see that city again, I thought, "No government should make refugees of its own people." Twenty years later the governments still sanctioning nuclear power haven't yet learned they are dancing with the devil.

A Simi Valley sailor who died from injuries he suffered in an explosion aboard the Navy aircraft carrier Midway was remembered Tuesday as "energetic, quietly determined and always wanting to help people." More than 200 friends and family members, including about 13 Naval officers from Point Mugu Naval Air Station, attended a funeral Mass for Robert Shane Kilgore at St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley. Kilgore, 22, died last Wednesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Tex.

A record 212 people were killed in traffic accidents during Japan's "Golden Week" holidays, police said Friday. National Police Agency officials said the death toll, which covered April 29 to May 5 and included four national holidays and a weekend, was 25 higher than last year.

Five people died in snow-related accidents in Japan in one day, taking the death toll from a recent record snowfall to 90 -- the highest in more than 20 years, media said. Warnings of avalanches, flooding and landslides remained in place in parts of the country. Some areas have been buried under snow as deep as 13 feet. About 80% of those who have died in the largely rural areas were older than 60, the government said. Many have fallen to their deaths while clearing snow from roofs.

Rage surfaces as I read reports of the world's latest nuclear catastrophe (Oct. 1). A survivor of the Three Mile Island near-meltdown, I know well the terror and confusion that now run through the neighborhoods in Tokaimura. I remember that as I turned the key in my apartment lock preparing to flee Harrisburg, Pa., in March 1979, not knowing if I would ever see that city again, I thought, "No government should make refugees of its own people." Twenty years later the governments still sanctioning nuclear power haven't yet learned they are dancing with the devil.

No one has ever been happier that he didn't hold the mayo. "Thank you, thank you, oh, dear mayonnaise," said frostbitten Eiichi Urata, an amateur mountain climber who survived 15 days lost and alone in the frigid Japanese mountains eating almost nothing but mayonnaise and snow. On May 6, Urata set out for a one-night climbing trip on a 7,700-foot peak near Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Work crews in northern Japan finally succeeded today in blasting to rubble a giant rock that had crushed a highway tunnel. But it may still take days of digging to reach a trapped bus and car and their occupants. The rescue drama has captured Japan's attention since Saturday, when a slab of mountain the size of a 20-story building peeled free and crushed the seaside tunnel, trapping a bus with 19 people aboard and a car with one person inside.

A Simi Valley sailor who died from injuries he suffered in an explosion aboard the Navy aircraft carrier Midway was remembered Tuesday as "energetic, quietly determined and always wanting to help people." More than 200 friends and family members, including about 13 Naval officers from Point Mugu Naval Air Station, attended a funeral Mass for Robert Shane Kilgore at St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley. Kilgore, 22, died last Wednesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Tex.

China tried to quell panic buying of iodized salt Thursday after grocery stores across the country were emptied of the seasoning by hordes of people hoping to ward off radiation poisoning after the nuclear accidents in Japan. The clamor for salt reportedly started after rumors spread, possibly by cellphone text messaging, that China would be hit by a radioactive cloud from Japan's Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear plant, which had been badly damaged during last week's earthquake and tsunami.

A former president of the company blamed for Japan's worst nuclear accident resigned Friday from a government-affiliated organization to express remorse for the radiation leak. Toshiki Takagi served as president of JCO Co., which ran the uranium processing plant where the accident occurred, from June 1995 until June this year, Kyodo News Service reported. Takagi quit his job as president of the Metal Mining Agency of Japan, Kyodo said.