WEC Class Notes

Sapporo expected to drop out of 2026 Winter Olympic bid race In this Jan 23, 1972, file photo, members of Japan's self-defense ground forces raise Olympic Flags in Sapporo at Makomanai speed skating stadium in a rehearsal of ceremony at the official opening of the Winter Olympics. 1. The Japanese city of Sapporo is expected to stop pursuing the 2026 Winter Olympics, leaving four possible candidates as the IOC struggles to find hosts - particularly for the Winter Games. A city official said Deputy Mayor Takatohsi Machida and Japanese Olympic Committee president Tsunekazu Takeda will meet International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach on Monday.  "We haven't officially announced other items to be discussed with the IOC, however, I understand various matters might come up," city spokesman Akihiro Okumura said Friday. 2. The expected withdrawal - widely reported in Japan - isn't a surprise. It comes a week after an earthquake killed about 40 people...

1. Japan is racing to secure power supplies ahead of winter after a devastating quake left 41 people dead and damaged generating stations on the northern island of Hokkaido, where temperatures regularly drop well below zero in colder months. 2. Although the government has eased an initial 20 percent power-savings target for residential and business customers on the island of 5.3 million, Japan's trade and industry minister Hiroshige Seko has said power supplies on Hokkaido will remain tight and unspecified savings are still needed. 3. Regional utility Hokkaido Electric Power is rushing to repair broken generators and bring on idle power plants, but those efforts will come up against the brutal reality of winter in Hokkaido, where temperatures can reach as low as minus 41 Celsius (minus 42 Fahrenheit). 4.Power demand on Hokkaido in winter is typically more than a third higher than in the warmer months before the quake. "The harsh reality is that we have to ask for power ...

1. The powerful earthquake that hit Japan's popular tourist destination of Hokkaido, the country's northernmost main island, has highlighted a lack of preparedness to provide information to foreign visitors in a time of a disaster. With the number of foreign visitors expected to grow ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the government is introducing multilingual emergency information apps and other tools, but a lot more work is needed to train people who can provide direct assistance to non-Japanese in a crisis, experts say. Hokkaido gets close to 2.8 million foreign visitors a year. 2. "The hotel staff only responded in Japanese," complained a South Korean man, who was among many such foreign visitors seeking information following the M6.7 quake that caused a massive blackout and transportation disruptions in Hokkaido on Sept 6. A Chinese man said most information posted on signs in stations and in other public areas was in Japanese and English. ...

1. A week after a powerful quake rocked Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, people mourned the deaths of 41 people as around 1,600 others remained in shelters as of Thursday.  Self-Defense Forces members offered silent prayers at an evacuation center in the worst-hit town of Atsuma at 3:07 a.m., the same time the magnitude 6.7 quake occurred on Sept. 6, triggering landslides that engulfed homes and killed 36 of the town's residents. A total of 681 others have been injured across Hokkaido. 2. ”It's truly regrettable," 63-year-old Yasuo Sato said while looking at a mound of soil that hit the home next door belonging to his 65-year-old cousin, Masayoshi Sato, who was killed.  Yasuo Sato was taking belongings out of his own home, which was at risk of being hit by another landslide amid continued aftershocks. 3. ”It has already been a week. The victims included a colleague of mine, and it is just sad and regrettable," 57-year-old town official Masato...