Author: Bennett Rieser

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima by the Enola Gay on August 6, 1945. The AP reports 50,000 people gathered in the Hiroshima peace park accompanied by many of the “hibakusha,” or “explosion-affected” and burned incense in honor of the over 140,000 decedents who perished in the inferno.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Hiroshima mayor Kazumi Matsui were both in attendance. Abe spoke about the duty Japan faces as the sole country to be the victim of a nuclear attack while vowing to “do everything in my power to make peace a lasting reality and abolish nuclear weapons.” To some, these comments sounded hollow without even a slight mention of either the dilemma the country is facing over nuclear energy or the thousands who were made refugees by the Fukushima power plant disaster.

The Fukushima disaster of 2011 caused most of Japan’s nuclear reactors to be shut down after a tsunami/earthquake combination set off a series of meltdowns. The dangerous radioactivity displaced many of the people living in the regions of the plants.

Abe is in favor of restarting the plants after putting new safety guidelines in place, but others are not so sure. The Christian Science Monitor notes that after Abe had spoken, Matsui used his time to heavily criticize Abe’s administration on several political points, including its plans to sell nuclear energy technology to India.

“The government’s ongoing negotiations may bring economic benefits to Japan and India, but they will hamper efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons,” Matsui said. “We [The people of Hiroshima] urge the national government to rapidly develop and implement a responsible energy policy that places top priority on safety and the livelihoods of the people.”

Matsui went on to comment of the absurdity of Abe’s plan to restart the reactors, noting that the Tokyo Electric Power Co. has admitted to massive quantities of radioactive materials that are continuously and uncontrollably leaking into the ocean since the disaster.

The Japanese government is considering making modifications to their pacifist constitution and changes to their Self-Defense force. Such changes might even include permitting domestic weapons manufacturers to ship their products overseas. In related news, the Japanese also launched the largest warship they have fielded since WWII.

Tropical Storm Henriette graduated to hurricane status this morning, and is actively heading westward through the central Pacific Ocean. Weather.com is currently tracking the development of the storm.

At last update, the storm was heading west-northwest at approximately 10 mph, and is expected to weaken as it closes on the Hawaiian island chain.

Strong winds of at least 65 mph are expected to accompany the former tropical storm on its journey to the Hawaiian Islands.

Although slightly less windy, Tropical Storm Gil is also wreaking havoc throughout the Pacific, currently located a little over 1200 miles east-southeast of Honolulu. Gil was last reported travelling west at about 9 mph. The Christian Science Monitor reports the U.S. National Hurricane center as saying that Gil is projected to strengthen over the next two days.

The close proximity to the Hawaiian islands has some meteorologists speculating about the possibility that Gil may take a side-track towards Hawaii, like Kristina Pydynowski for Accuweather.com. However, while Gil was labeled hurricane status last week, those same meteorologists noted that tropical storms reaching Hawaii are rare indeed.

“As discussed during Flossie’s existence, just one tropical storm or hurricane reaching Hawaii in a year is a rare feat in itself. The last such time before Flossie was Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Only once since 1950 have two named storms, with tropical storm or hurricane strength, passed within 75 miles of Hawaii. Gilma and Iwa from 1982 make up that rare occurrence,” Pydynowski wrote in her article.

If you want to follow the storm’s path via interactive direct satellite, Weather.com has an excellent map that clearly illustrates the positions of Hurricane Henriette and Tropical Storm Gil.

Image courtesy Weather.com