#(because february 9 is meat day in Japan so. you know)

[schwirrymartz]

Also: there are two characters' birthdays! Stated in the manga! It's two more than in FMA!

Of course, the only ones who have birthdays (a year, a month, and a day!) are background characters, but still.

Makoto's birthday is (I'm 90% sure) a Star Wars reference, because Arakawa couldn't pass up the chance to include a Star Wars reference (valid and respectable). But is Kenichi's birthday a reference to anything? Or a wordplay in Japanese?

[arishamod]

Ultra Jump May 2018: 100 Questions for Komiya Arisa

“I’ll affect you with the magic of love  ♪”

TL: Arishamod QC: Ippi, Yuja

Komiya Arisa (Voice of Kurosawa Dia)

Nickname: Arisha

Birthday: 5th February

Blood Type: B

Hobbies: Reading Manga, Sleeping

Skills: Drawing portraits, Classical ballet

Notable Roles:

Movies: “Love X Doc”, “50 First Dates”, “After School War”, “Yumeji: Ai no Tobashiri”, “Evergreen Love”

Drama:   “Teru Konda's Legal Recipes”, “ Uchu Sentai Kyuranger (Akyanbaa)”

TV: “Tsuukai TV Sukattojapan”, “Tonight’s Nazotore”

1. Favorite food?

Meat.

2. Disliked food?

Hot tofu.

3. Favorite sweets?

Japanese rice crackers.

4. Your number one favorite home-cooked dish?

Although my mom is really good at cooking, and I love all the food she cooks, my favourite is still Ebi Fry (fried shrimp)!

5. Favorite color?

White.

6. Favorite scent?

A slightly sweet floral scent.

7. Favorite season?

Winter.

8. Favorite event of the year?

Birthday.

9. What sport do you like watching?

Figure Skating.

10. What sport do you like playing?

I don’t know how many years it’s been since I’ve played sports. Although I like to watch it, I might not say the same about playing it.

11. Favorite animal?

Dogs, but if it comes to looking at them only, it would be cats.

12. If you were to compare yourself to an animal, what would you be?

I look like a cat.

13. Are you a dog person? Or a cat person?

Dog person.

14. Favorite manga?

“Black Butler”.

15. Favorite genre of manga?

A clichéd shojou manga.

16. First manga you read?

“Ciao (Cha-o)”.

17. First anime you watched?

“Sailor moon”.

18. Favorite movie?

“Les Misérables”.

19. Favorite musical artist?

No one in particular.

20. Song(s) you listen to every day?

I don’t really listen to music…

21. First CD you bought?

A “Morning Musume” CD.

22. Your specialty song at karaoke?

I almost never go to the karaoke.

23. Phone lock screen?

The portrait that was drawn by Kubonouchi Eisaku that was used for my collaboration goods.*

*the same one that was used for her 3rd fan meeting.

24. A clothing brand you often buy?

UN3D and Elendeek.

25. Your best outfit?

None in particular.

26. Favorite place in your house?

Bed.

27. What do you want most right now?

A small Balenciaga purse.

28. What’s something that you’ll always carry in your bag?

My purse and portable charger.

29. What’s something you’ve been collecting unintentionally?

Cosmetics for the lips.

30. What’s your treasure?

The necklace that was given to me by my parents on my 20th birthday.

31. What kind of child were you?

Even now I am a child who has freedom.

32. Your childhood treasure?

The stuffed bear that my grandma gave to me.

33. Your childhood dream?

To be in “Sailor Moon”.

34. Someone you respect?

My parents.

35. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

Domestically, I would want to travel to Shikoku*. If it’s overseas, I would like  to travel to Iceland, where I previously traveled to for work once.

*Shikoku is the smallest major island in Japan.

36. What country do you want to try visiting?

France.

37. Any bad habits?

Recently I feel like I am hunching my back.

38. Do you have a catchphrase?

Demo sa (but).

39. Charm point?

My eyes.*

*I’m pretty sure this is her SFW answer because she has mentioned that her butt is her charm point in her gravure interviews ><

40. A strength you have?

I diligently do what needs to be done.

41. A shortcoming you have?

Frequently changing my mood.

42. Your special skill?

Classical ballet and drawing portraits.

43. Something you’re bad at?

Staying still.

44. A precise weakness of yours?

I am useless when I don’t have enough sleep.

45. What do you want to fix about yourself?

Since I realised that I get lonely too easily, so I want to feel secure when I am by myself.

46. What are you confident you can imitate well?

The faces of people with their eyes wide open from the manga by Mr. Umezu Kazuo.

47. What’s something you could live off of?

Food.

48. Your current obsession?

Since I have received a Kindle, I have been reading.

49. A phrase you’ve been using a lot?

None in particular.

50. Favorite motto?

Do it one way or another.

51. If you could describe yourself with one word, what would it be?

Doing as one wishes.

52. Something you’ve been picky about recently?

When they are doing my partial makeup for our stage costumes for Aqours, I sometimes insist that they “must use this eye shadow”.

53. Fill in the blank with something positive: I’m actually _.

Able to forget anything completely once I go to sleep.

54. Fill in the blank with something negative: I’m actually _.

Lonely.

55. Anything but this!

Being touched randomly by things around me

56. What would the world be better off without?

I do not know.

57. How do you kill time?

Sleep.

58. How do you relieve stress and refresh yourself?

Sleep.

59. What app have you been using often recently?

The calendar app that I use for managing my schedule.

60. What’s something you always do once you wake up?

Brush my teeth.

61. What’s something you always do before you sleep?

Drink water.

62. What do you do when you ride the train?

Things like reviewing Aqours’ dances and checking my Twitter.

63. What do you do to maintain your health?

Food definitely helps.

64. What do you do when you have the day off?

Sleep or go shopping.

65. What do you do when you have time to yourself?

Sleep or lie on my bed and do nothing.

66. What do you do when you hang out with friends?

We go to cafes.

67. Where do you want to go on a ��date?

A meal would be fine.

68. If you were to confess to someone, what kind of situation would you want it to be?

I don’t really intend on confessing...

69. If someone were to confess to you, what kind of situation would you want it to be?

I want them to confess to me in person!

70. Something fun that happened recently?

When I was in Tokyo and Osaka for 3 days for my birthday event, there were many people who came to the event. It was difficult, but together with everyone who came to the event, I did my best! I had fun during this event.

71. Something sad that happened recently?

When I can’t remember what kind of work I did when I return home everyday.

72. Something funny that happened recently?

I often wear my western clothes backwards. I find that funny yet sad (laughs).

73. Something about your past you want to erase?

Nothing! Right now I should use all of it as a source of encouragement…

74. A moment that made you think “This is a miracle!”?

The time when I was heading to the station without checking the schedule, and the train came at a really good time.

75. A moment that made you think “I’m glad to be alive”?

When I am eating a delicious meal.

76. What wish do you want granted in the future?

To appear in a morning drama.

77. What’s something you wished for that came true?

Becoming a heroine.

78. Any fond memories of 2017?

I was able to travel to many different regions through the lives and events.

79. What went wrong in 2017?

I guess the year passed without any failures that was big enough to immediately come to mind...

80. What would you do if you won 100 million yen from the lottery?

Put money into my savings and buy a house.

81. What would you do if you had a time machine?

Since I neither want to know the future, nor do I want to change the past, I wouldn’t use it.

82. What would you want to do if the world were to end tomorrow?

Live a normal day with my family.

83. What would you want to eat if the world were to end tomorrow?

A meal cooked by my mom.

84. If you could bring one thing to a deserted island, what would it be?

“Anywhere Door”*

*The same one used by Doraemon

85. If you were reborn in another world, what would you want to become?

A human with save points.

86. If you were reborn in this world, what would you want to become?

Human.

87. If you were to be reborn, would you want to be male or female?

Female.

88. What’s good about being a girl?

Being able to wear many different cute western clothes each day.

89. What’s something you’d want to try if you were male?

I want be a playboy.

90. A challenge you want to take on?

I want to drive down from a mountain pass…

Though even if I got a license, I definitely wouldn’t do it.

91. A voice role you want to try in the future?

A normal girl. I think that it’s different trying to portray a normal girl.

92. If you could do any job outside of voice acting, what would it be?

Currently, I am doing gravure as part of my actress work outside of being a voice actress. When I was young, aside from the entertainment industry, I wanted to be either a pharmacist or nutritionist.

93. What made you the happiest out of everything you’ve been told?

“You have become such a mature woman”, which was said by a staff member that I’ve have known for some time.

94. Have you been keeping any secrets from the rest of Aqours?

There isn’t anything important enough that I will keep a secret from them…!

95. Where in Numazu would you like to visit again?

The frog museum.

96. Praise yourself as much as possible!

Your skin is so smooth!

97. Memories of your first love?

Around the time when I was an elementary school student?

I have forgotten it, just like how I forgot what I did yesterday. I don’t really remember much…

98. Please tell us a life changing experience.

Right before I turned 18, I had to live on my own, but I did not know how to use a washing machine.

99. Your thoughts on today’s photoshoot?

Since it is the season for spring clothes, being able to have pictures of us taken with the poses from the AZALEA cover with the room filled with balloons, really makes me happy.

        100. Finally, a word for your fans!

There will be many more events, so please do come for them!

Let’s watch out for each other’s health (laughs).

[eatyourheartoutgalaxy-blog]

35 Facts on Mi-ke!

A basic guide to cat kids!

1.     Mi-ke generally only uses the internet for research, and as such in woefully out of date when it comes to social media. In fact, they have never had any kind of social media account.

2.       They grew up on Tashirojima, which is populated mostly by cats and old people. As a result, Mi-ke works much better with the elderly than they do with people their own age.

3.       They have a pet cat named Mao, who is in fact a Japanese Bobtail with the mi-ke colouring

4.       Having grown up on an island, Mi-ke is very comfortable with water, though they are not a strong swimmer.

5.       They have a fondness for all animals, any animal other than humans.

6.       They do not like insects. In fact, they are allergic to bee stings.

7.       Mi-ke was briefly internet famous as a cyptid. Because people would come to Tashirojima to see the cats, they would often cat images of this filthy kid living with them. If you search the internet, you can find forums dedicated to discover the identity of the mysterious Cat Kid. They even have a few fan fictions written about them, based on these theories.

8.       They are actually well liked by several of their neighbours, who keep Mi-ke’s private life and public life separate.

9.       Mi-ke is the younger of two children.

10.   They recently went through a rather large growth spurt, which leaves them still trying to adjust their new height.

11.   They are as tall as they are ever going to get.

12.   Their hands are covered in little scratches from playing with kittens and attempting to climb chicken wire. They are also extremely rough because of this.

13.   Mi-ke is a picky eater. They do not like the taste of fish, and will not eat it unless they have to. As a result, they eat very little meat.

14.   Mi-ke loves sweets, especially gummies.

15.   They are surprisingly muscular, since they spend most of their day running and climbing with the cats, but have a lean build.

16.   Mi-ke wears hand me downs from their older sister, which is why their clothes fit so awkwardly.

17.   Their birthday is February 21nd, but Mi-ke reports their birthday at the 22nd to any that ask because it’s international cat day.

18.   While they write for both the local newspaper and for academic papers, they publish the academic papers far less often due to the fact that they do not get paid for them. They are, however, paid for their job at the local paper.

19.   Their paycheck mostly goes to snacks and animals shelters.

20.   Their pet cat is currently 11 years old and had earned her rest.

21.   They do in fact have a fursona. The fursona is just called Mi-ke and is a tuxedo cat. They are aware of the contradiction.

22.   They did not pick Mi-ke themself. Instead it was yelled at them one day, and they responded to it, so everyone started calling them that.

23.   They rarely call people by their real names. Instead, they use nicknames.

24.   Mi-ke has published some academic papers under their real name, but they do not take credit for those, and will claim that someone else wrote them if asked. This is because they are embarrassed of their early work.

25.   They need glasses for reading, but they don’t like anyone to know this, so rarely read in front of others.

26.   Mi-ke hates the scent of chemicals, and because they have no control of how their clothes are washes at home, will often roll in dirt to kill the scent.

27.   They care very little about their appearance, but refuses to cut their hair. As per their agreement with their sister, they need to keep their hair braided at all times.

28.   Prior to coming to Hope’s Peak, they have never left Japan.

29.   They have a tiger friend named Shiro. Mi-ke helped the zoo where Shiro is kept deal with the tiger’s growing depression.

30.   Mi-ke has a potty mouth, and their editor hates this because they have to try and keep the behaviourist’s voice in tact while editing out their vulgarity.

31.   They like to show their affection physically, but either brushing their shoulder against their friends, or by nuzzling their cheek to those they consider family.

32.   They have absolutely no interest in pop culture, and thus do not have any idea who the famous students are.

33.   They really don’t care too much about keeping their identity secret, as it’s mostly due to keeping their school and home lives separate. They do, however, find it hilarious nobody knows how old they are.

34.   Mi-ke cares very little for rules or laws. They are very much chaotic neutral.

35.   They are mostly nocturnal. Even if they are up all day, they will still roam mostly at night.

[thisweekinjapan]

This week in Japan, January 15, 2018- January 21,2018

Hello everyone! Here’s a picture from the 21st, a nice view of the sunset from my local station. I didn’t venture too far this week, but not every week has to be full of spectacle to be great.

Let’s get started!

On the 15th, after that awesome weekend, I was back at work, with this rather appetizing meal (rice not pictured, as per usual). The sides from bottom left were: unknown purple pickled veggies, tempura veggies, pallet cleansing stuff, salad (unknown ingredients) and veggies with some sort of gray, vaguely breadlike blobs that tasted pretty alright. It’s not that I’ve forgotten what this food was, it’s that I never knew what it was in the first place! The main dish was a “hamburg steak” as they like to say here, and it was pretty above average. I bought myself a little dessert of sweetbread with strawberry stuff on it. Overall a solid 8/10 lunch.

After work, I swung by my local bar, Junk Sweets for some Doritos and guac, and a crepe, because my bartender is a great chef!

The 16th saw me receive this lunch, also full of things I don’t really know the contents of. From bottom left clockwise, we have pink veggie spaghetti, which tastes a bit sour but good, some mashed potatoes (I think) with veggies, customary colored pallet cleansing thing, salad of unknown composition, and mushrooms with veggies. The main dish was a mini-omelette with a croquette. All in all pretty decent, a solid 7.5/10

I also went on a bit of an adventure with some friends to find and acquire special Daruma, which ended up being fun and netting me a Dog Daruma, which is not pictured, but it’s pretty cool!

This is the only picture I took on the 17th, and it turned out quite pretty. The winter sky is a favorite of mine.

I’m not sure what I had for lunch, so I’ll have to say it’s a solid ?/10.

Lunch on the 18th was pretty darn good! From bottom left: Jello cup (shot size), veggies, pallet cleaner, PASTA ALFREDO, and other veggies. The main dish was katsu with bean sauce, eggs, and seaweed topping, very tasty, solid 9/10!

The 19th was a Friday, which means I don’t get my regular bento lunch, but instead buy from Panya san (I think I explained this before...), anyway, no lunch picture. Instead this picture is of the birthday cake my friends got for me. Solid, 11/10 friends I tell you!

We went out to a place called Syabu-yo where we ate various meats and veggies to our hearts’ content, then went to a friend’s place for cake and a friendly game of poker. I wouldn’t have traded that for anything.

The 20th was a lazy day at home. Sunday mostly was too, except, well, I went somewhere that evening, which brings us back to the sunset sky from the station here and the picture at the top of the post.

You see, Gunma has a very special sports team

The Gunma Crane Thunders, who as of this game, were leading the league!

And I got prime seats to see them from a friend (who I didn’t ask for permission to put into this blog, so there won’t be many pics here since they’re in a lot of them). It was a really great game, and very exciting throughout.

I was very excited for tacos, yes, tacos! In Japan! with... hot dog filling?

Well, I can’t say they’re the best tacos I’ve ever had, but they do the job.

The home team (in Yellow) came away with a nice W against the visiting Tsukuba Robots from Ibaraki.

And that’s it for the week! Short and sweet, compared to last week, am I right?

I hope to be back very soon with the next week, and get into February’s awesomeness after that.

See you then!

[alethia000]

TrendsHealth 2017 February Issue No.369 - Cover Star Nichkhun

Nichkhun - A Walking Fresh Meat (Cute Guy), A Hint of Hidden Manliness

[Chn - Eng Trans: Alpaca, Irene] Please share with all credits to KVChuxin Union Soon, on February 24th -26th, March 3rd -5th, 2PM will hold 6 concerts, called “6Nights”, at SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Seoul, it will be the last concert before the other members go into military service. After a year and nine months since they last held a concert in Korea, many fans couldn’t contain their excitement and left their comments on Instagram. Definitely, many of the comments are for Nichkhun. It has been 9 years since he debuted in 2008 and grown up from a piece of fresh meat (cute guy) to a man, he uses his broad shoulders to support the weight of life. Learnt Chinese with Jiang Jinfu and Wei Daxun Recently, Nichkhun has been busy, he’s happy to be a singer and an actor. Although he was debuted as a singer, he also participated in lots of film and television programs. From the drama “High Kick!”, “One and a Half Summer” and “Looking For Aurora” to the film “Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo”, “Seven Something” and “Forever Young, Gardenia in Blossom”, the production groups are from China, Japan and Thailand, helping his career bloom in every field, and become a favourite of many directors. The directors and the actors who worked with him would become his good friends, such as the Chinese actors Jinfu Jiang and Daxun Wei. These similarly aged fresh meats (cute guys) were always getting together, and they worked with each other again after the filming of the drama. When their schedules were free, they would meet with each other; if they didn’t have time, they kept in touch by Weibo. Those people who have browsed Nichkhun’s Weibo would know that although he couldn’t type Chinese characters, he had a good knowledge of Pinyin (pronunciation Romanization system). He interacted with Daxun Wei, Jinfu Jiang and his fans frequently. He even posted a Weibo of himself with a face mask on, and there were more than 50 thousand fans who “liked” and commented, who else could achieve that? If we were to describe the friendship between him and 2PM, we wouldn’t even be able to fit it all within ten A4 pages. They stay together during concerts, albums recording, TV show filmings, and when a member has a solo concert, Nichkhun will never miss a chance to support his members in the audience. When Hwang Chansung, one of the 2PM members, filmed the reality show “If Love” in China, Nichkhun actively joined the program to help Chansung, from the beginning till the end, such a strong bond between them! Even the cutest boy will grow up one day, but when a piece of fresh meat (cute guy) grows into a manly figure, we cannot underestimate him. This year Nichkhun has a hectic schedule, and his rising time is coming! Q&A: TH: Last year you went to Hong Kong and Japan, what are you up to recently? N: Mainly attending 2PM’s schedules, we are busy during the album promotion and the concerts. During the rest of the time, I learn Chinese, and play golf to relax. TH: Could you tell us of your schedule last month? N: The concerts. I went to the solo concerts of 2PM members to encourage them. TH: Which identity do you prefer? A singer? Or an actor? Why? N: Both. When I am a singer, I get good reactions after the performance. Knowing that I can make people happy, I like that job. When I am an actor, I can display another “me”, so I also like it. Actually, I’m just an artist, I hope I can make a breakthrough to let people remember my work. TH: Which is your favorite song? Why? N: “Let it Rain”, because “Let It Rain” was written for my fans, it makes me warm when I listen to it.   TH: Several days before, you said you wanted to collaborate with Jackie Chan? Do you want to act in an action movie? N:  I said that during an event in Hong Kong. Because I admired him when I was a young boy and respected him. I wish to participate in his films and act in an action movie. TH:  What kind of moves (Kungfu) do you know? Thai Boxing? N: Of course. I grew up watching Thai Boxing. I know a little bit. TH: Do you have any plans to release a solo album? N: Absolutely, this year is really busy, there are many schedules and events going on and will be released later. Please be patient. A simple boy, a hardworking man At the end of last year, Nichkhun posted a picture on weibo that soon created an outburst within his fandom. The picture was a beautiful girl kissing his cheeks, this would be a scandalous issue for such a popular idol! Except, people who are familiar with him would recognize, that this girl is his younger sister Cherreen, who is a famous supermodel in Thailand herself. Nichkhun’s family has a simple structure: His father, mother, older brother, and two younger sisters. Therefore because of his ‘middle child’ status, it has gifted him a prince-like temperament; he is polite, he is thoughtful, and has grown into a warm-hearted man. When he talks about his two younger sisters, Nichkhun is full of delight, “I make calls to my sisters almost every day, and sometimes they would even come over to my home in Korea to visit me. They are very close and comforting family.” Care from his family has become the warmth of his world. When Nichkhun has time, he would go back to Thailand to visit his family, even if there is nothing much to do, he would still do some housework, or lay in the sun with them; to him these are joyful things to do. Nichkhun is also well-known for being nice to his fans. Not only is he polite and thoughtful, he is always concerned for their safety. Once he attended an event in Beijing, and his fans waited for him at the airport and followed him to the event venue. Every time Nichkhun appears in public, he would bow and greet the audience, once the staff around him could even see his eyes tear up. When we asked him why, his answer was, “I don’t know what good deeds I did in my past life, to have so many people love me and support me now. Really, every time I hear them call out my name, see their smiles, my heart gets filled with love.” Nichkhun who has not held a fanmeeting for a long time is eagerly preparing for one, and hopefully in the near future, he will be able to meet everyone face to face, to express his gratitude. “I really hope that my fans don’t spend their money mindlessly. Sometimes I have fans that donate under my name, then they would give me the certificates as presents, and this really touches my heart.” Many Chinese fans first met Nichkhun through the universally popular reality show “We Got Married.” The seemingly realistic love show has drawn many under its spell, and became fond of this Thailand fresh meat (cutie). As this reality show became popular within China, one’s real personality and behaviour is more or less exposed through the camera lens. From what we see of Nichkhun’s reactions, we are more certain, that when he is in love, he will show a simple and natural side of himself, and even sometimes a bit foolish. When we asked, “Which type of girl do you admire the most?” He answered, “Warm-hearted, kind and knows how to respect family members.” This answer should get a perfect score, since he has high standards for others, he must also follow these standards as well. When we asked if he can remember anniversaries in the relationship, such as birthdays and other important holidays, he mischievously answered, “I don’t think I can!” Those who have met Nichkhun in person will appraise him as “a simple boy, and a hard-working man.” Perhaps he can’t remember so many precise dates, since his schedule as an artist is so hectic, but if you remind him, he would definitely arrange everything well, no matter how busy he is. Q&A: TH (Trends Health): What’s your favourite colour? N: Red. It’s my fanclub’s support colour, I like it a lot. TH: What is the first thing you do when you wake up? N: Drink water. TH: What’s your favourite dish? N: Chinese hotpot, Korean samgyupsal, and Thai spicy stir fried pork. TH: How frequent do you work out? N: I have to work out every day. TH: What’s your favourite sport? N: Golf, and badminton. TH: Do you have an 8-pack and V-line muscles? N: You should look at this issue’s cover. TH: Do you like travelling? Which places have you been to? N: I’ve been to many countries for work, but haven’t leisurely travelled many times. TH: Do you read when travelling? Which books do you read? N: Sometimes I read, usually I read books on self-development. TH: What do you do before you sleep? Listen to music, or read? N: Exercise. TH: What do you do when you’re alone? N: Play games, listen to music, watch movies, and drink wine… TH: What is the current ringtone on your phone? N: A normal ringtone. TH: What is your wake-up alarm ringtone? N: A normal alarm sound, like “ding ring ring ring”. TH: What is your favourite genre of movies or drama? N: Romantic comedy. The above shows the real Nichkhun, sometimes confused, sometimes cute; sometimes filled with a royal prince-like temperament, and sometimes acts as a polite and well-mannered gentleman. In the era of nation-wide cuties as idols, to hold a place in this field is not very easy. Not only should you have your own uniqueness, but also should have an open global perspective and a good attitude. Luckily, Nichkhun has it all. [Chn - Eng Trans: Alpaca, Irene] Please share with all credits to KVChuxin Union

[bountyofbeads]

How many of you think Donald Trump and his minions can handle a global pandemic. Trump has attacked the scientific community, taken money away for research and development at WHO and CDC, we also have a huge brain drain in the federal bc of Trump. So to answer my own question, I don't have any confidence what so ever in Trump handling of a global pandemic.

Strengthening coronavirus surges across China as authorities mobilize response; third case confirmed in U.S.

By Gerry Shih and Simon Denyer | Published January 26 at 9:03 AM EST |

Washington Post | Posted Jan 26, 2020 |

Chinese health authorities are struggling to deal with a skyrocketing rate of infection in the country of the new coronavirus with the number of cases increasing 50 percent in just 24 hours.

China's leader Xi Jinping has warned of an "accelerating spread" of the coronavirus, adding to worries about the scope of a health crisis that has claimed at least 56 lives and triggered emergency health measures in cities across China.

More than 50 million people were ordered on lockdown in central China with a travel ban covering 16 cities in the central Hubei Province, where the virus was first encountered. Here’s what we know:

●A third infection was announced in the United States, a Chinese traveler from Wuhan. Infections have been confirmed in France, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and Australia and the United States. We’re mapping the spread here.

●Health Minister Ma Xiaowei said Sunday that the transmissibility of the virus is increasing, while the vice minister of industry, Wang Jiangping, said the country could not produce enough medical supplies to address demand.

●The sale of wild animals has been banned for the duration of the crisis. A wild animal market in Wuhan is widely seen as the epicenter of the current outbreak.

●Travel bans were extended in central China to put tens of millions of people effectively on local lockdowns. In Wuhan, where the virus was first detected, workers are racing to build at least three pop up 1,000-bed hospitals. The situation is especially dire in the countryside where the medical infrastructure is poor. Beijing said there were no plans for a travel ban in the capital.

●Manufacturers are reporting an international shortages of face masks.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS :

BEIJING — Chinese health authorities are extending the holidays and deploying more than a thousand doctors and military personnel to the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak as the number of infections skyrocket and desperation grips the quarantined province of Hubei, where more than 50 million people are stranded with a severe shortage of medical supplies.

The United States, meanwhile, announced a third case of the coronavirus — a Chinese traveler from Wuhan who took ill in Orange County, Calif. Authorities say he is under care in isolation and the "risk of local transmission is low."

China’s national health commission said early Sunday that the number of confirmed infections had soared 50 percent over the prior 24 hours to 1,975 people across 30 provinces. Fifty-six deaths have been reported, including in major metropolitan areas such as Shanghai. Several doctors in Beijing, the capital, also reported being infected.

“Transmissibility is increasing,” Chinese Health Minister Ma Xiaowei told reporters Sunday. “The outbreak has come to a severe and complicated situation.”

He added that there could “still be new developments” as the virus mutates. “We still don’t know the risks of transformation,” he said.

Scientists have already noticed that the virus is adapting to humans much faster than its predecessor, the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak, which killed more than 750 people in 2002-2003.

It took SARS three months to mutate into a form that spread easily between humans, but the related Wuhan coronavirus took only one month, George Fu, a top Chinese epidemiologist told reporters.

“Why is it transmitting so fast?” he said. “The two species are like the cartoon Tom and Jerry: viruses are continually adapting to humans, but human also adapt, and the virus’s ability to make people ill also goes down.”

A government group led by Premier Li Keqiang handling the epidemic response on Sunday proposed a “reasonable extension” of the New Year holiday in order to weather a “vital phase in epidemic prevention and control.” Cities are already rolling out such measures: Beijing’s education officials said schools will resume classes in mid-February, while the manufacturing hub of Suzhou prohibited large businesses from reopening earlier than Feb. 8.

At the heart of the outbreak, in central China’s Hubei Province, a travel ban extended to a total of 16 cities and covered approximately 51 million people. Video distributed by state media showed local officials in adjacent regions taking extreme measures, including using excavators to destroy and block roads, to discourage residents from traveling to infected areas of Hubei to visit stranded relatives — as per Chinese tradition — inside the quarantine zone.

Authorities have also announced the banning of the sale of wild animals after evidence emerged that the disease was transmitted to humans through a market in the city of Wuhan that traded in game meat.

The spread of the virus — and travel bans extending to several major hubs around China — threatened to paralyze the country for an indefinite period, with uncertain implications around the world. Officials in Beijing said Sunday they “have not and will not close the city because of the epidemic” in response to online rumors suggesting an imminent lockdown of the capital, which has a population of 22 million, with a significant fraction traveling this week to visit family.

On Saturday — China’s New Year’s Day — numerous Chinese government agencies said they had summoned workers back to their posts as President Xi Jinping warned of a “grave” situation as the virus “accelerated its spread.”

Two teams of British epidemiologists released studies over the weekend estimating that each infected person was spreading the disease to two or three other people. A team from Lancaster University projected that infections in Wuhan could explode to 190,000 cases by as early as next week.

The Chinese central government said it is mustering manufacturers to send 100,000 hazardous materials suits and millions of face masks to Wuhan, where hospitals reported overfilled beds and doctors collapsing from exhaustion. Videos on social media from Wuhan hospitals showed patient queues stretching around the block and nurses surmising that the true number of cases — based on what they were witnessing — far exceeded what was being officially reported.

The vice minister of industry, Wang Jiangping, said Sunday the country was facing a significant shortage of medical supplies including protective suits for medical workers. Hubei Province alone required 100,000 suits a day but Chinese manufacturers could only produce 30,000 a day, he said. “There’s a prominent gap in supply and demand,” he said, adding that China was hoping to purchase supplies on the international market.

Masks in particular have been in short supply, with shortages now being reported abroad as well. In Japan, Chinese tourists have been emptying the shelves of face masks, according to local news reports, while supplies are also running out globally.

Michael Einhorn, president of Dealmed, an independent medical supply distributor in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, said prices of masks jumped as soon as news of the virus spread, while sales volumes tripled through retailers such as Amazon.

Dealmed typically carries at least 90-days’ supply, and but said the company currently only has about two weeks’ worth left.

If demand continues, the availability of masks will be “very limited” within the next 10 days, and of the virus continues to spread there will be “extreme shortages” as early as three weeks’ time, Einhorn said in a statement.

Authorities in Wuhan and another hard-hit Hubei city, Huanggang, have announced the construction of three pop-up hospitals with thousands of beds to be built within the next few days. Ma, the health minister, said 5,000 new beds should be available by midweek while hundreds of medical professionals are preparing to deploy to the region.

Days after ordering the departure of all non-emergency U.S. personnel, the U.S. Embassy said Sunday it would charter a single flight on Jan. 26 out of Wuhan for remaining consulate staff and American citizens.

Japan has also said it is readying flights to bring home more than 700 Japanese stranded in Wuhan.

Meanwhile, Chinese citizens stranded inside the vast quarantine zone, locked down by paramilitary police checkpoints for the fourth day, took to social media to describe a sense of surreal desperation during a week when families should otherwise be celebrating the new year with dumplings, fireworks and presents.

One Wuhan resident described sharing her dwindling groceries that she had purchased to last for three days with an elderly couple whose food supplies were down to nothing. She said she worried about her food lasting one more day and the population of stray animals abandoned throughout the city.

“I don’t know how to solve this food problem,” wrote the user “Guapidawushi. “Right now I really, really don’t know what to do. I’m completely helpless.”

Some users shared videos of once-buzzing streets in Wuhan’s historic, European-style riverside district lying empty. Others posted more lighthearted pictures of women playing Mah-jongg with masks and transparent grocery bags over their heads.

The situation appeared to be more dire in the vast Hubei countryside outside of Wuhan, where rural authorities were struggling to cope.

The Chinese magazine Caijing reported that some smaller village clinics were only rationed six masks, and large hospitals were within one or two days of running out of supplies. In Jingzhou city, a short distance up the Yangtze River from Wuhan, doctors told reporters they were wearing rain ponchos because they lacked protective suits.

Deng Anqing, a Beijing-based writer who was visiting family in rural Hubei for the New Year holiday, said the hidden crisis was in the countryside.

“The media is focused on Wuhan but we know absolutely nothing about the current situation in the countryside,” Deng wrote in a post. “Large numbers of workers are returning here from Wuhan, but the capabilities of village hospitals are awful. Villages don’t have masks, and it’s hard to convince the elderly to wear them.”

Infections have been confirmed in France, Australia and the United States, but countries in Asia have been especially concerned as millions of Chinese people fan out across the region for the Lunar New Year.

An online petition asking South Korean President Moon Jae-in to ban Chinese nationals from entering the country has drawn more than 280,000 signatures over four days. South Korea confirmed a third case of coronavirus infection on Sunday, a 54-year old man who returned from Wuhan.

North Korea’s official party daily Rodong Sinmun posted prevention advice on Sunday and called for stronger border controls in a piece headlined “We should thoroughly contain the new coronavirus.” Earlier this week, North Korea banned all foreign tourists, most of whom come from its biggest neighbor and ally China. Flights between Beijing and Pyongyang have also been canceled, the Russian Embassy in North Korea said in a statement on Friday.

Japan confirmed it’s fourth case of the virus, a middle aged man from Wuhan who arrived on Wednesday for vacation.

In Hong Kong, where a sixth case of the virus was confirmed Sunday, pressure is mounting on the government to tighten border controls with China over fear of contagion. One hospital workers’ union threatened a five day strike if more measures weren’t taken.

Protesters in the evening attacked a building that has been set aside for quarantine and set its lobby alight with molotov cocktails, police reported.

______

Denyer reported from Tokyo. Min Joo Kim in Seoul, Shibani Mahtani in Hong Kong, Lyric Li in Beijing, Paul Schemm in Dubai contributed to this report

*********

What we know about the mysterious, pneumonia-like coronavirus spreading in China and elsewhere

By Lena H. Sun and Miriam Berger | Published January 25 at 8:16 PM EST | Washington Post | Posted Jan 26, 2020 |

The World Health Organization (WHO) held an emergency meeting in Geneva on Wednesday on whether to designate the outbreak of a mysterious, pneumonia-like virus that originated in China as a global health emergency. By Thursday, the WHO announced that it would hold off, saying that it’s too early to make such a decision.

The WHO designating the outbreak a global health emergency would help countries coordinate their responses. In the meantime, it remains a scary time for people in China and beyond as the virus and fears of contamination spread.

On Tuesday, the United States confirmed its first case: A man who flew from China to Washington state is in stable condition. On Friday, U.S. authorities reported a second case of an infected woman, a Chicago resident, and France confirmed its first three patients as well. Travel bans in central China have left tens of millions of Chinese people effectively on lock down.

As the news continues to develop, keep calm and catch up on what is known so far.

WHAT IS A CORONAVIRUS?

According to the WHO, coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from the common cold to much more serious diseases. These diseases can infect both humans and animals. The strain spreading in China is related to two other coronaviruses that have caused major outbreaks in recent years: Middle East respiratory syndrome, also known as MERS, and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

Symptoms of a coronavirus infection range from respiratory problems, difficulties breathing, fever and cough, to the much more severe cases of pneumonia, kidney failure, acute respiratory syndrome (when fluid builds up in the lungs) and death. The elderly, young and those with an already weakened immune system are at a higher risk of developing severe lower-respiratory tract diseases, such as bronchitis and pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials haven’t identified this latest strain in humans before. That’s why, for now, it has the generic name of “a novel coronavirus” while they investigate. As it’s a virus, antibiotics won’t work in treating it.

HOW DOES IT SPREAD?

In rare cases, coronaviruses can spread from animals, such as camels and bats, to humans. (Household pets are not a threat.) Health officials report that’s what they believe has happened here. In even rarer cases, that same virus can then start to spread from human to human. That’s what happened with MERS and SARS.

WHO officials are investigating suspected cases of that now. In a worrying development, Chinese officials said Monday that they have documented cases of human-to-human transmission, meaning it can spread to humans through airborne droplets. The exact ways its spread and the incubation period are still under investigation.

Chinese health authorities said they first detected the new strain of the virus Dec. 31 in Wuhan, a city in central China. They initially linked it to a dirty food market where seafood and mammals were sold for human consumption. Officials closed the market the next day. What probably happened, scientists said, is that people ate something infected with the virus or touched something and then became infected.

The next set of patients are those who reported that they did not come in contact with that market but had gone to other markets, or had contact with others in Wuhan. Chinese officials have also documented patients and health-care workers who had no contact with Wuhan.

In cases of human-to-human transmission, the disease can spread through coughing and sneezing, personal contact with an infected person, touching an infected surface and then the mouth, nose or eyes, and, in rare cases, through fecal contamination.

HOW DO YOU PROTECT AGAINST IT?

To protect against infection, the CDC recommends basic hygiene techniques for respiratory viruses such as constantly washing hands, staying hydrated, avoiding contact with one’s face or anyone who’s sick, sanitizing surfaces, and coughing into one’s arm or a tissue. If there’s a fear of animal transmission, CDC officials urge people to wash hands after contact with animals and thoroughly cook any meat before consumption.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HOW NEW CASES HAVE SPREAD?

One challenge to investigating — and stopping — the virus: Public health experts say that Chinese authorities have not provided full information about how the disease is spreading.

To control the outbreak, it’s critical to know whether cases being found in other cities are all related to Wuhan. If the disease has been circulating independently in other parts of the country, that information will not only affect how China acts to contain it, but how other public health agencies in the world seek to prevent its spread, said Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

The Post’s Anna Fifield has reported from Beijing on cases of people dying with pneumonia-like symptoms but not being included in the death toll, suggesting “that the coronavirus could be far more prevalent than Chinese health authorities have acknowledged.”

Most people sickened and killed by the virus have been elderly, had preexisting health conditions, and lived in Hubei Provence -- specifically its capital, Wuhan.

But Chinese health authorities announced that a 36-year-old man from Wuhan died Thursday: He had no chronic diseases or other previous health problems and had been treated with anti-virus medications since checking into the hospital on Jan. 9.

WHERE HAS IT SPREAD?

As of Sunday in China, officials said that at least 56 people have died of the virus and more than 1,900 have been confirmed infected. That number is way up from the more than 70 infections reported on the previous Monday. Experts expect the number to keep rising, amid claims that China has been underreporting cases.

So far, most cases have been in Wuhan, though there are confirmed cases all across China.

Officials in Thailand and Japan were the first outside of China to reports cases of infected travelers from Wuhan on Jan. 13 and 15.

“These cases did not report visiting the large seafood and animal market to which many cases in China have been linked,” the CDC reported last week, a factor that initially raised further concerns among health officials of human-to-human contamination.

Australia and the Philippines are investigating suspected cases. By Wednesday, Hong Kong and Macao confirmed their first infected patients, joining South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal, France and Taiwan, which have each reported cases of the virus.

WHAT’S BEING DONE TO STOP IT IN CHINA?

On Tuesday, Chinese health authorities initially imposed a quasi-quarantine on Wuhan, limiting travel to the city, which is home to 11 million people. They did so in part because the upcoming Lunar New Year is a time when people often travel to their hometowns. That’s also why Chinese authorities may be hesitant to impose a total travel ban; they are reluctant to entirely disrupt the holiday, which is also a time of heavy commerce important to China’s economy.

Just two days later, however, Chinese authorities announced a more extreme step: Starting 10 a.m. Thursday morning there, they would ban all outbound travel from Wuhan, which remains the center of the outbreak.

Also on Thursday, Chinese authorities announced the closure of all large-scale Lunar New Year events in Beijing. One of China’s top tourist attractions, the Forbidden City in Beijing, said it would close “to avoid cross-infection caused by the gathering of people.”

The WHO has praised China for imposing the quarantine in an effort to contain the disease. But other public health experts have questioned the effectiveness and warned that there could be negative repercussions.

“In the eyes of some public health experts, the quarantine could also cost time trying to contain the virus,” reported The Post’s Marisa Iati and Reis Thebault. “Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said that people fleeing Wuhan to escape the restrictions make it hard for authorities to track where the virus may have spread. People who experience symptoms may also hesitate to come forward because of the government’s extreme measures to control the illness, she said.”

Their reporting continued: “Past efforts at large-scale quarantines have been largely unsuccessful. Nurses had to tend to the every need of health-care workers who were quarantined in Taiwan during the SARS outbreak, using a tremendous amount of resources, Nuzzo said. A quarantine in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 resulted in mass upheaval, and the government quickly pivoted to a milder approach, Nuzzo said.”

WHY DIDN’T THE WHO DECLARE IT A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY?

After deliberating, the WHO announced Thursday that while there was “an emergency in China,” the outbreak did not yet rise to the level of a global health emergency, given the limited information about the severity of illness and the extent of human-to-human spread.

“The fact that I’m not declaring a [public health emergency] today should not be taken as a sign that WHO does not think the outbreak is serious or that we’re not taking it seriously,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday. “Nothing could be further from the truth. WHO is following this outbreak every minute of every day at country, regional and global levels. We’re working to prevent human-to-human transmission.”

Tedros reported that one-fourth of the infected went on to develop severe symptoms, while the majority of those who died had underlying health problems, such as hypertension or diabetes, which can weaken immune systems.

WHO officials said they could reconvene to make a decision based on additional information.

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT AIRPORTS?

Chinese authorities are screening people at airports for coronavirus symptoms. Other airports in Asia are doing the same. North Korea has entirely banned foreign tourists, the majority of whom are Chinese nationals and travel via China, as a precaution.

Federal health authorities in the United States announced Friday that they would immediately begin screening passengers for the virus who are flying into three international airports popular with Chinese travelers — Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York’s John F. Kennedy. On Tuesday, they added international airports in Chicago and Atlanta to the list.

The screening includes taking temperatures; those with high temperatures could be singled out for additional tests. While screening for a common virus usually takes just hours, health authorities told The Post’s Lena H. Sun that people with suspected cases could miss their connecting flights as the testing could take up to a day.

WHAT ABOUT FACE MASKS?

Masks intended to filter out airborne particles, like surgical masks, are useful but have a limited effect, according to public health officials. In the United States, where the threat of contracting the virus is low, they are not needed; but in China, health officials are recommending people wear them.

“Wearing a mask walking around isn’t going to do any good, but if you’re in a situation where you’re highly exposed, a mask is helpful,” said Colleen Kraft, associate chief medical officer for Emory University Hospital. “You may wear a mask when someone is going to cough directly on you or [in] a place with a lot of ill people. In a hospital, we wear a mask with patients who have influenza.”

Infectious disease experts stressed that masks need to be properly put on and off in order to be effective.

In Asia, wearing face masks is socially acceptable and common when people don’t feel well, he said. Chinese authorities have urged everyone to wear them. But their effectiveness also depends on the pathogen. For tuberculosis and measles, which are spread through very tiny droplets, face masks may not be helpful because the droplets can reach through the gauze or slip in around the mask.

“There is this concern, though,” said Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “If someone coughs on you, and you get a gob of virus on your mask, and then you take off your mask, put it on your finger, and then you touch your nose, you could get infected.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that any health-care workers interacting with coronavirus patients or suspected cases wear a stronger kind of mask, known as the N95 respirator, along with other gear such as gloves and eye protectors.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH SARS and MERS?

In November 2002, the SARS epidemic began spreading through China: Over eight months, it moved to more than two dozen countries, killed 774 people, and infected more than 8,000 people. Health authorities say that the “Patient Zero” came in contact with an animal in China’s Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong.

The virus was finally contained in summer 2003. Health-care workers made up about 20 percent of victims in areas heavily hit with the disease, according to the WHO. There’s still no cure for the disease, but the initial outbreak was contained by isolating suspected patients and screening passengers traveling from infected areas or those suspected of having symptoms.

One factor hindering initial efforts to contain the virus were the limits on coverage of the epidemic implemented by Chinese authorities.

MERS started spreading in the Middle East in 2012. Scientists say the first infection moved from a camel to human in Saudi Arabia. The disease is associated with the death of 790 people since 2012, the CDC reported in 2018. The outbreak was similarly contained by isolating patients. Health officials also warned against contact with camels and camel meat during the scare.

*********

THE NEW VIRAL THREAT: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

By Andrea Sachs, Lena H. Sun, Miriam Berger and Yasmeen Abutaleb | Published January 25 at 8:09 PM EST | Washington Post | Posted Jan 26, 2020

The newly identified coronavirus that emerged last month from Wuhan, China, sickening more than 1,900 people worldwide and killing at least 56, has sparked growing anxiety and questions: How lethal is the virus? How can it be avoided? Is travel, especially to China, suddenly risky?

HERE IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR.

WHAT IS A CORONAVIRUS?

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from the common cold to much more serious diseases, according to the World Health Organization. They can infect both humans and animals. The newly emergent strain in China is related to two other coronaviruses that have caused major outbreaks in recent years: MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, and SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. The new virus hasn’t been named yet; it’s referred to as “a novel coronavirus.”

HOW DO CORONAVIRUS SPREAD?

In rare cases, coronaviruses can spread from animals, such as camels and bats, to humans. (Household pets are not a threat.) The new virus is believed to have originated from a live animal market in Wuhan. But now it’s clear, health authorities say, that the virus is spreading from person to person — likely through coughing and sneezing or touching an infected surface and then the mouth, nose or eyes, or coming into contact with contaminated fecal matter.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF INFECTION FROM THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS?

Symptoms range from fever, muscle aches, dry cough, runny nose and shortness of breath to much more severe problems such as pneumonia, kidney failure and acute respiratory syndrome. The elderly, young and people with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk of developing acute problems, such as bronchitis and pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

HOW DEADLY IS THIS VIRUS AND HOW IS IT TREATED?

So far, the virus appears more serious than the common cold but less dangerous than SARS, public health experts have said. It does not appear to be anywhere near as deadly as Ebola, which is harder to transmit because it requires direct contact with an infected person’s blood or bodily fluids.

Antibiotics don’t work on viruses. There’s no medication for the new coronavirus, though the National Institutes of Health said human vaccine trials could begin within three months. Currently, health-care professionals are focusing on providing “supportive care,” including ensuring patients get plenty of liquids and oxygen.

SHOULD PEOPLE AVOID TRAVELING TO CHINA?

The situation is fluid but getting worse.

The CDC has urged travelers to avoid Wuhan. Several other Chinese cities also are essentially on lockdown. Even places that aren’t quarantined are experiencing disruptions and closures that could affect where travelers go and how they get around. For example, Beijing’s Forbidden City and Shanghai Disneyland have been shuttered, as have many theaters and temples.

Would-be travelers can stay abreast of developments by checking the CDC website and monitoring alerts issued by the State Department and U.S. embassies.

Beijing authorities are restricting the movements of their own people. Officials said all inter-province bus services to and from Beijing would be halted in an effort to contain the outbreak, according to local news reports. In addition, officials are suspending domestic and overseas Chinese group tours, state media reported.

Elsewhere in Asia, cases of infection appear isolated. Nevertheless, more vulnerable travelers, including those who have health issues or are older, should be cleared by a medical professional before departing.

IF SOMEONE CANCELS A TRIP, WILL TRAVEL INSURANCE REFUND THE EXPENSES?

Yes, if the insurance was purchased with the “cancel for any reason” benefit. This optional upgrade for the policy usually has several restrictions, but if the traveler meets the criteria, he or she can recover up to 75 percent of their trip costs. People with standard travel insurance who cancel because of fear of contracting the virus will have to absorb the losses, however. When traveling outside the United States, travelers should be sure they have travel medical insurance that will cover hospital costs if they fall ill while abroad or need to be taken back to the United States.

ARE AIRLINES, HOTELS AND TRAVEL OPERATORS WAIVING CHANGE OR CANCELATION FEES?

Some airlines are. Cathay Pacific passengers who reserved a ticket on or before Jan. 21 can rebook, reroute their flight or receive a refund without penalty for travel through March 31. Air China is also waiving change and cancellation fees for tickets issued by Jan. 31 for travel by March 29. Other airlines that are loosening their rules include United, China Eastern, China Southern and Hainan. Some carriers, however, are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Some hotels also are making it easier to rejigger plans: Hilton, Accor, InterContinental Hotels and Hyatt are easing restrictions, and not just on Wuhan hotels. The waiver covers changes and cancellations at properties throughout China, for travel through early February. To qualify, the booking must have occurred directly through the hotel; otherwise, the third-party agent should be contacted.

Policies vary among tour operators and should be checked.

WHAT'S THE SITUATION AT AIRPORTS?

A large number of airports around the world have established enhanced screening procedures for passengers arriving from Wuhan, and a few countries, including India, are testing passengers arriving from any destination in China. South Korea’s Incheon International Airport is employing ear thermometers. In Japan, arriving passengers must fill out health forms. Australia is distributing pamphlets.

In the United States, the CDC and Customs and Border Protection are overseeing the process at five international airports in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago. Screening for symptoms and elevated temperatures may add a few minutes to the arrival process. Passengers who test positive for coronavirus will be quarantined for further testing by the CDC.

WHAT'S THE BEST WAY FOR TRAVELERS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES BEFORE GOING TO CHINA?

The CDC recommends that everyone get a flu shot and other required vaccinations for their destinations. Any meat consumed should be fully cooked, and hands should be washed frequently and vigorously with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Jesus Gonzalez, a physician with MedStar Health in Washington, recommends that travelers wear medical masks in crowded areas, such as train and bus stations and airports.

WHAT WAS CHINA'S EXPERIENCE WITH SARS AND MERS?

The SARS epidemic began in November 2002, and the virus moved to more than two dozen countries over eight months, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing 774. Health authorities say that “Patient Zero” came in contact with an animal in China’s Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong. The virus was finally contained in summer 2003. Health-care workers made up about 20 percent of the victims in areas hit hard by the disease, according to the World Health Organization. There’s still no cure for the disease, but the initial outbreak was contained by isolating suspected patients and screening passengers traveling from infected areas or those suspected of having symptoms.

MERS emerged in the Middle East in 2012. Scientists say the first infection moved from a camel to a human in Saudi Arabia. The disease has been associated with the death of 790 people since 2012, according to the CDC. ­Authorities contained the outbreak by isolating patients and warning against contact with camels and camel meat during the scare.

*********

Coronavirus outbreak underscores potential health risks in China’s wild animal trade

By Simon Denyer | Published January 26 at 2:43 AM EST | Washington Post | Posted January 26, 2020 |

TOKYO — China failed to learn one of the most important lessons of the SARS outbreak 17 years ago, that wild animal markets are a potent breeding ground for disease with the possibility of ailments jumping to humans, health experts say.

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, was thought to have originated in masked palm civets, tree-dwelling mammals native to parts of Asia. The trigger point for the current coronavirus remains unclear, but China has linked the outbreak to the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, which despite its name also appeared to be selling live cats and dogs, wild chickens, snakes and marmots.

China implemented controls on wildlife markets after the SARS epidemic, but those controls soon evaporated. The country remains a major consumer of wild and endangered animals for meat, as well as in traditional medicine.

Yuen Kwok-yung at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, one of the authors of a new study on coronavirus and a leading authority on SARS, said the wild animal or game meat trade had obviously been rekindled since the SARS outbreak ended in 2003. The SARS outbreak claimed more than 750 lives in China and other countries.

“This is understandable that change of food or eating culture is always a difficult issue,” he wrote in an email. “But the lesson of this major epidemic is that the life, ecosystem and habitat of wild life must be respected.”

Viruses from wildlife can easily mutate and jump from animals to humans, and then from humans to humans, he said.

“The price of such an epidemic is staggering, and this should not be allowed to happen again.”

Struggling to contain the outbreak, the Chinese government has imposed travel bans on 15 cities in the central Hubei province — effectively placing 48 million people on lockdown — and granted itself wide-ranging emergency powers across the country to enforce blockades, requisition housing and transport, and close businesses and schools.

China has been praised for reacting more swiftly and more transparently to this latest outbreak than with SARS in 2002, when it was widely accused of initially trying to cover up the epidemic.

A study published in the Lancet medical journal Friday confirmed the current outbreak is a new form of coronavirus, which is closest to the SARS-related coronaviruses found in Chinese horseshoe bats.

Some scientists say they believe another species was involved in transmitting the disease to humans, but no consensus has yet emerged on which animal, with theories ranging from snakes to mink.

“Wild animal markets are a petri dish for an epidemic and an unacceptable risk that should be consigned to history as soon as possible,” said Peter Knights of WildAid, a San Francisco-based group that works to end wildlife trade.

“Stress, dehydration, malnourishment, filthy conditions, mixing of species, wild and domestic, are the perfect cocktail to create a new deadly disease, and basing them in urban centers ensures a quick and wide dispersal to a wider world,” he said.

The trade represents a massive risk to human health and economies in parts of Asia as well as in Africa, he said.

“After SARS and now this, China urgently needs a strictly enforced ban on these markets and a massive awareness campaign to reduce demand for bushmeat,” he said.

China has shown it is capable of regulating the illegal wildlife trade when it wants to, banning the ivory trade at the end of 2017 and enforcing a customs crackdown on ivory smuggling.

But a strong lobby within the government, led by the State Forestry Administration, sees wild animals not as something to be protected but generally as a resource that can be utilized.

The Wuhan city government closed the seafood market at the beginning of January after the first cases of coronavirus emerged in people working there.

On the Weibo social media platform, a user posted that the market sold live cats, dogs, wild chickens, snakes and marmots. “There was even a signboard saying that they have live monkeys and deer for sale,” the post said, according to China Daily.

This provides “ideal conditions for the e­mergence of new viruses that threaten human health, economic stability, and ecosystem health,” Christian Walzer, executive director of health for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said in a statement. “The ­re-assortment and exchange of viral components between species at live animal markets is seen as the major source of new viruses.”

Walzer cited avian influenza, swine influenza, SARS and MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, as examples of diseases originating in animals and subsequently transmitted between humans, “creating the conditions for a rapid global pandemic spread.”

______

CORRECTION: An error during the editing process meant that an earlier version of this article stated the SARS crisis was eight years ago, the article has been corrected to show that it was 17 years ago.

*********

CHINA BANS WILD ANIMAL TRADE UNTIL CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC ELIMINATED

By Simon Denyer and Lyric Li | Published January 26 at 6:40 AM EST |

Washington Post | Posted Jan 26, 2020 |

TOKYO — China banned the trade in wild animals on Sunday until the coronavirus epidemic has been eliminated across the country, after evidence emerged that the disease was transmitted to humans through a market in the city of Wuhan that traded in game meat.

Experts say the country is paying a heavy price for the government’s failure to learn one of the most important lessons of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic 17 years ago, that diseases can easily mutate and spread to humans in markets where wild animals, farmed animals and domestic animals are mixed.

The new restrictions ban the transport and sale of wild animals, specifically banning markets, supermarkets, restaurants and e-commerce platforms from trading in any form.

It said inspections would be stepped up, gave a hotline number for members of the public to report illegal wildlife trade and said violations would be dealt with “severely” in accordance with the law.

“Consumers should fully understand the health risks of eating wild animals, stay away from ‘game’ and eat healthily,” said the regulations, which were jointly issued by the Agriculture Ministry, the State Forestry and Grasslands Administration and the State Administration of Market Regulation.

But the regulations will only remain in place while China grapples with the epidemic, raising the question of whether the wildlife trade will be allowed to bounce back later, as it did after an initial clampdown following the SARS outbreak.

Christian Walzer, chief global veterinarian at the Wildlife Conservation Society called the measure an “important first step” but said the ban needs to be permanent.

“The pattern will keep repeating itself until we ban, not only in China, but in other countries, the sale of wildlife, specifically for food and in food markets,” he said in a statement.

SARS was thought to have originated in masked palm civets and traced to a market in southern Guangdong province. It ended up killing more than 750 people in China and elsewhere.

Chinese scientists say the latest coronavirus outbreak appears to have spread from the Huanan Seafood Market in the central city of Wuhan.

Despite its name, the market was selling a huge variety of wild animals for consumption, including live cats and dogs, turtles, snakes, rats, hedgehogs and marmots. Menus and signboards posted online showed a huge variety of wild animals available to eat, including foxes, wolf cubs, monkeys and masked palm civets.

The city government closed the seafood market at the beginning of January after many of the first cases of coronavirus emerged in people working there.

China remains a major consumer of wild and endangered animals for meat, as well as in traditional medicine. But medical and wildlife experts hope this epidemic will help to change attitudes.

In a commentary published Friday, state China Central Television condemned the consumption of wild animals and called the new coronavirus a “game meat virus.”

“It rankles that some people out there are obsessed about game meat and eat to their heart’s content because of gluttony and greed,” it said. “They harvested this evil fruit, making a whole city, a whole country, and even the entire human race pay such a heavy price; and the worst is yet to come.”

The strongly worded piece asked if those “who love to eat, poach, and trade wild animals have been shaken by this, are feeling the least guilty conscience, or have confessed to their wrongdoing deep down,” and lamented the failure to close the illegal trade in wild animals after SARS.

“Some people are still taking chances and opening the Pandora’s box again and again,” it added. “How can we be so forgetful?”

Studies published in the Lancet medical journal on Friday confirmed the disease was closely related to the coronaviruses found in Chinese horseshoe bats, but experts believe another species was involved in transmitting the disease to humans.

Past diseases that have originated in animals and then jumped to humans include Avian Influenza, Swine Influenza, SARS and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).

______

Li reported from Beijing.

*********

[williamsjoan]

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Hoffmann’s Top 10

As 2018 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2018 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2018 releases — can be considered.

This year had a lot of great releases, but I still play many games that were released before 2018. Some I play to shrink my giant backlog a bit, while others, like Street Fighter V, I continue to play because they are still getting updates and are a lot of fun online.

It was difficult to choose just ten personal games for me in 2018, especially since I played many older ones. I bought way too many great games on PC in the last two years, thanks to Humble Monthly, and many other bundles alongside individual purchases.

Now, here are my Top 10:

10. GemCraft: Chasing Shadows

This tower defense game was released back in 2014, and it’s already the fourth game of the series. It is a true beast of a game with almost 200 levels and each of them can be a mighty challenge..IF you use the different options and battle traits + difficulty modes to make them one.

It is my most played game according to Steam so far, with over 330 hours. This year I took on the Iron Wizard challenge mode, which removes many features that made the game easier in its normal mode. The developer is currently working on the fifth game in the series that might come with many new features, but will also continue to build on the surprisingly deep and dark story of the GemCraft games.

9. Batman: Arkham Asylum

Yup, I am playing really old games that most people played years ago already sometimes. I love to play many good games, but the majority of my time is usually for fighting games and single-player adventures as the exceptions.

Sometime this summer, I finally started Batman: Arkham Asylum on PC and was…well, hooked. It took me some days and nights to get through it, but they were an awesome experience. The game still looks nice and plays well in 2018, and I am looking forward to playing and beat Arkham City in 2019.

8. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend

First of all, the BlazBlue games are a wonderful series of technical fighting games, but they also have a story mode that kicks ass. Unlike the big cinematic experiences in the Netherrealm Studios fighting games like Mortal Kombat X and Injustice, they are going for the visual novel style which can be boring for those that want to see action instead of reading or listening to it, especially the sometimes cringy dialogue.

But if you like this type of story-telling, the BlazBlue games are doing a damn fine job. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend especially has a big main story but also individual story modes for the over 20 characters, and also a few extra stories. I played both the arcade mode and all the story stuff this year and believe that the BlazBlue universe can cause you even more headaches than the Kingdom Hearts ones.

But…I laughed often and that means it was worth the around 50 hours!

7. Grim Dawn

Grim Dawn is a hack & slash (& shoot) action-RPG by the TitanQuest developers, released in 2016 and one of the games that are constantly getting free updates and additions alongside purchasable expansions. Beside its grim setting, it is as addicting to me as Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was many years ago.

Even today and after many hours of playtime I did not see all the skills of every class or discover all the additional parts of the big world this game offers. I stopped playing Diablo 3 years ago as it was just not my thing, but this game is my favorite Diablo-like game now since its launch. It is still getting content, including a big second expansion soon that comes with another character class. Oh well…

6. DOOM

I loved the old DOOM games and also the fantastic Brutal Doom Mod, but I had just too many other games to play in 2016 and 2017. In June this year, I eventually started 2016’s DOOM and did not play another game before I beat this damn gem of a first-person shooter, which took around 15 hours for me.

Everything in this game just screams “TESTOSTERONE,” from the awesome industrial metal soundtrack to the fast and very brutal gameplay, and being a protagonist that is more dangerous than even the Cyber-Demon himself. Can’t wait for DOOM Eternal now.

Check out the DualShockers review of DOOM.

5. Earth Defense Force 4.1

To save our mother Earth from any alien attack From vicious giant insects who have once again come back We’ll unleash all our forces, we won’t cut them any slack The EDF deploys!

Play it…love it. This is one of the best video games ever created, and for me personally in the same league as Tetris, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Street Fighter II and Alien 3 on the SNES.

I can’t wait to play Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain next.

E.D.F! E.D.F!!! E.D.F!!!!!!

4. Dungeon Warfare 2

Dungeon Warfare 2 is basically a tower defense game but instead of towers, the player has a ton of different (over 30) traps to use against the masses of humans that want to enter the dungeon. The game has a ton of maps to defend, and the player has to learn strategies and also how to use runes that raise the difficulty of the enemies. But, this also results in bigger rewards for clearing the map and is accompanied by a super fitting metal soundtrack.

I bought this indie game at launch on Steam in July and played almost 60 hours so far. If you like defense-like games, being the evil guy, using traps, and you just love to listen to the death screams of your enemies…Dungeon Warfare 2 is something for you.

3. Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0 was first released on the PlayStation 3 in Japan back in 2015 already, but it is also the first Yakuza game released for the PC. It took SEGA three years to port it, but the game did not feel old or anything to me since I did not play the current-gen Yakuza games like Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6 yet.

The graphics in Yakuza 0 look greater than ever before on PC, and the game itself is just like a rollercoaster ride through Japanese culture and the Japanese Mafia that the series gets its name from. The two absolutely lovable main protagonists, Kiryu Kazumi and Goro Majima, are a highlight in the sometimes funny, but sometimes also very sad main story.

This game illustrates how video games can be a perfect platform for a combination of an emotional story, relatively simple beat’em up gameplay, a sightseeing tour through Tokyo, and many short stories that are helping both main protagonists to express their very different personalities. I played it for around 40 hours to beat the main story, around 45 of the over 80 side stories, and I am now getting motivated to beat the complete Yakuza game series someday.

Check out the DualShockers review of Yakuza 0.

2. Super Meat Boy

This wonderful game starts so easy…and becomes a nightmare as soon as you meet the first boss. Super Meat Boy truly made me appreciate difficult level design more than any other video game I know about. I beat it by playing only 1-3 levels per day to not lose my mind in the last worlds.

This is one of the best 2D platformers ever made, and if you like a “meaty” experience get it, play it, and try to bat it completely, including all the extra characters and stages.

Good luck.

Check out the DualShockers review of Super Meat Boy.

1. Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition

I originally bought Street Fighter V on February 16, 2016 but returned it after only a few days, since I was absolutely not happy with the game and how problematic it was, especially the online matches. However, I got a good deal with the PC version in December 2017 instead and also bought the first two season characters.

While I had some fun already with the story mode in the original version of Street Fighter V, I was looking forward to the Arcade Edition and since then, it has not disappointed. The Arcade Edition would add a real arcade mode as well as weekly Fight Money based challenges in the form of Shadaloo Soldiers, and the option to “unlock” extra costumes like the really cool Captain Commando costume for Nash.

To make it short, Street Fighter V is an excellent fighting game that has really a ton of content for both single players and weirdos like me that love to fight world warriors from everywhere and show them some #PsychoPower. And since I first played the game, the Arcade Edition shows it has come a long way.

I have played this game for over 300 hours off and online now since December 2017, and have some fun with it almost every day. Grab it and challenge me : )

Check out the other DualShockers’ staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 17: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2018 December 18: Lou Contaldi, Editor in Chief // Logan Moore, Reviews Editor December 19: Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor // Tomas Franzese, News Editor December 20: Scott Meaney, Community Director December 21: Reinhold Hoffmann, Community Manager // Ben Bayliss, Staff Writer December 22: Ben Walker, Staff Writer // Chris Compendio, Staff Writer December 23: Eoghan Murphy, Staff Writer // Grant Huff, Staff Writer December 26: Iyane Agossah, Staff Writer // Jordan Boyd, Staff Writer December 27: Max Roberts, Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Staff Writer  December 28: Noah Buttner, Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Staff Writer  December 29: Steven Santana, Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer December 30: Travis Verbil, Staff Writer // Zack Potter, Staff Writer

The post DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Hoffmann’s Top 10 by Reinhold Hoffmann appeared first on DualShockers.

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Hoffmann’s Top 10 published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[yfdgarts]

LUCY FORD | YFDG INTERVIEW

For those who don't know you, who are you, where are you from & what is it that you do ? My name isn't Lucy Ford. I am a black, Filipino, Hispanic and Caucasian creative. I'm 25 years old from earth and born in Kailua, Oahu for people that want specifics. I do artworks and have been for as long as I can remember.

How would you describe your childhood ?

Confusing. I didn't know my true identity because my mom was adopted into a Hare Krishna religious cult society in the 70's so I grew up Hindu.. I didn't realize that was a problem until I moved to California in predominantly christian neighborhoods. Nobody cares what you are in Hawaii, it's all family oriented and I didn't have a "social life" when I was younger. I spent time with my mom. My dad went to jail when I was 5 and didn't get out until I was 15. By that time I was already an adult doing adult things. I spent my time as a child making art. My mom tried to interest me in sports and other things but she always said I just wanted to "color". My first art studio I was six or seven. My momma cleaned out the pantry so I could have one room to myself to paint. When did you first get into art ?

Probably in a past life. I've always been inclined to make something even with or without the means. It's like, if you're at the beach: Some want to play soccer and some want to build castles and draw in the sand. What is the overall ideology/message that you represent as a person/artist ? I really think that I make art as a reflex rather than a message. So my art is just a moment in my time here as an intelligent lifeform. As an artist and person I am sensitive and compulsive.

Do you think people are born artist ?

Everyone is an artist.

What matters more to you recognition or quality & why ?

Quality. Recognition is nice but without it I would still make art. Recognition is out of the question. I don't miss when I was more "famous". My hero is Jim Morrison, during his time he was loved and shredded by the media and he still kept to himself while doing what he felt was his purpose. Who would you like to collaborate with/ work with ?

Kanye West. I've worked for a lot of people and he's that last on my list. Who are some people (dead or living) that inspire you ?

Jim Morrison. All day and everyday I think to myself, what would Jim Morrison do?If you don't know who that is and you're a sonic or visual person I suggest watching The Doors live at the Hollywood Bowl 1968. Others include Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin and Andy Warhol. What role do you feel art plays in society ? entertainment of the senses

How has art impacted your life ?

I don't know life without making art. I've never thought about it. What is your favorite color ?

Grey. It will compliment any color you put next to it.

What are your favorite foods ? Lol. I love Asian food. When I wake up I want rice or yaki soba. I'm definitely conditioned to my childhood in Hawaii. I need my rice and I need my noodles. I could do with or without meat. I was raised vegetarian because of my Hindu background but I do eat meat now. I know it's bad for the environment. I do choose alternatives and prefer a veggie burger over a beef burger. I applaud vegans and would love to be one someday.

What is your favorite movie ?

Movies is a beautiful form of art I would love to work on someday. Anything by Tim Burton is on my favorite movies list. I think specifically though, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

If you could recommend a book to anyone, what book would you recommend & why ?

Most books I buy are poetry books. Poetry is so powerful in ways that storylines can never compete. Poetry is interpreted by the reader so it is much more interesting to me than a guided narrative. Lords and the New Creatures by Jim Morrison..The Prophet by Khalil Gibran is also great.

What do you like to do when you are not creating ?

That's the irony about doing art as a job is that I have to paint.. I'd like to create my own idea's when I'm not creating for others. I do love to write. I'm designing a cut and sew collection to debut on runway in March. It's very exciting for me I have sketches from when I was 9 designing cars and clothes. Specifying materials, color ways and such. I would like to start directing film and doing set design as soon as possible. Where do you want to go that you have never been to yet & why ?

Japan. I used to do my hair and makeup like the Japanese street wear blogs in middle school. Cellphone charms, mini skirts, fishnets, tu-tu's, ponytails, chunky shoes, all that. Street-wear is much different now than it was in 2005 but I'd still love to go to Japan. What advice would you give to an aspiring artist or general advice you would give to a person ?

Talent is pursued interest and fuck the population if they don't feel you. What can we expect from you in the future ? Next week I am apart of a charity event for the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, CA that left 12 dead in Borderline Bar & Grill. It's impossible for me to not do my part. I've been there so many times It's been my main focus to help in any way I can. The rest of the world see's the headline, tweets a thing or two and goes on about their lives but we are here still remembering our family and family friends. By definition I am a humanitarian. In February / March I have my first show at Fashion Week and it is my first time being a designer, I can't wait to see what happens. In the further future though I would like to become an art director for feature films... I don't know. I want to do everything I've ever wanted to do. Sing, dance, act, play instruments, direct, sculpt, design. I feel as if I can be good at anything. I always have been conditioned to believe that no matter what I wanted to do I was good enough to get better. I will always believe that I can do anything, so that's exactly what the people can expect from me in the future.

-

You can keep up with Lucy Ford via social media

SITE

https://lovelucyford.com/

INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/lovelucyford

TWITTER

https://twitter.com/lovelucyford

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 30. Move II. Part I. Japan

Well, it was the long route, but we finally made it to Sydney. Things are relaxed: I’m beachside. It’s 80 degrees in late February. I’m in sandals, shorts, and a tee shirt, and I’m sipping down back-to-back açaí smoothies.

Three months ago, on December 12, I knew this day was eventually coming. Back then, I even knew exactly how the next twelve weeks would play out: absolute madness. In our indirect and unusual move from London to Sydney, Chelsay and I fit in trips to Tokyo and Kyoto, Dallas for Christmas, Seattle for New Years, a one-month-only busy season reunion with EY US, before catching our 24 hour flights to 'Strayaaa.

It was the absolute madness I predicted, but now, several months late (and with my third açaí smoothie in hand), I can finally present: Chelsay and I’s three-part moving post. Part I: Japan.

To begin, I need to rewind three months to early December. We were pulling together visa applications and arranging our London move (see last post), so I didn’t have much time to plan Japan. That said, I was too excited for the trip to not look into a few things.

I’d watched YouTube travel videos and developed a broad idea of the places I wanted to see. Instead of exact sites or temples though, my list was made up of unique Japanese experiences. In Tokyo, I wanted to experience the 21st century city: neon-lit streets, overwhelming density, and arcade-inspired quirkiness. Think Lost in Translation.

In Kyoto, I wanted to experience the opposite: Japan’s 9th century temples and shrines. Removed from the big city and hidden deep in maple and gingko tree forests, I wanted to walk through peaceful and perfectly manicured Japanese Zen gardens. Think The Last Samurai.

Luckily June’s family lives in Tokyo, so even though I didn’t know the exact sites to visit, she knew exactly where we could get the above experiences. That said, not only were we getting June’s insider tour, but we’d also get to spend time with June’s family, especially Chelsay’s cousin Yuka, and her daughter Sayaka.

Juju (a family nickname I’ve adopted) clearly knows me well, because the first place she took Chelsay and I was a katsu place for lunch. With all respect to the international city London is, this was our first good katsu in two years. Our Christmas trip was off and running right from the very start.

After lunch, June took us around Tokyo’s many unique neighborhoods, including the bizarre Tsukiji fish market, the jaw-dropping city views from Roppongi Hills, and the charmingly nerdy arcades of Akihabara. Small side story from the arcades: Chelsay shockingly beat me in Need for Speed. I’m not sure how she won, but it was a perfect showcase for her mixed background: the Asian side had the video game advantage, while her white side handled the driving.

For dinner, we met June’s mom and sister in trendy Ginza for shabu shabu, thinly sliced meats that you self-swish (“shabu” in Japanese) in boiling broth at your table.

This is going to be a long post, so I’ll just list my Day 1 takeaways in bullet form:

First, I don’t understand how Tokyo can be so clean. In any other major city, trash cans are over flowing and dirty newspapers are blown up against the sides of buildings. Not in Tokyo though. Despite being the largest city by population (36 million), Tokyo keeps things tidy.

Second, I’ll just repeat that last line: there a 36 million people in Tokyo. There are only ~15 million in New York City. There are only 24 million in ALL OF AUSTRALIA! I remember feeling crammed in London (8 million), so Tokyo was bound to be a circus, right?... Not so fast my friend. The difference between London and Tokyo is that Tokyo was built vertically, with retail and restaurants filling 20+ stories in each endless block of skyscrapers. London’s a relatively short city given most of the buildings were made in the early 1800s. Tokyo, on the other hand, was leveled during WWII, so city planners were able to rebuild a taller city using more modern methods.

Third, things are strange. White strawberries, square watermelons, pour-over coffee filters, massive tunas, crazy gamers, and Tweety bird giving the finger (see below). We hadn’t even cracked into some of the weirder neighborhoods (Shinjuku and Shibuya would come a few days later), but I’d already started to experience the unique, quirky, Lost in Translation-y side of Tokyo.

So, to summarize, Day 1 was a success. For Day 2 and 3, we’d be taking a bullet train to Kyoto before returning to Tokyo for Days 4 and 5. As a reminder, my goals for Kyoto were pre-turn-of-the-(first)-century temples and shrines. See, unlike Tokyo, Kyoto was not a target for the Allies, so the city’s temple parks have maintained that Last Samurai feel for 1,000 years.

Our journey back in time actually started with one of the most modern modes of transportation: Japan’s bullet trains. Topping out at 375 MPH (though only 200 MPH with passengers) Chelsay and I covered over 300 miles of Japanese countryside in less than two hours.

It might have been a futuristic commute, but our first stop in Kyoto, Daigoji Temple, immediately pushed us into the past. I’d never even heard of this place, but Juju’s insider tour proved valuable because this ended up be my favorite memory in Kyoto. Daigoji is tucked into a neighborhood on the outskirts of Kyoto, shrouded in quiet privacy behind a rows of maple and gingko trees. It was the exact experience I was hoping for in Kyoto: peaceful Japanese Zen gardens, precisely manicured bonsai trees, creaky but colorful timber shrines. It was Tom Cruise’s temple in the Last Samurai.

Daigoji was certainly a June-insider-special, but our next destination has gone slightly more mainstream: Fushimi Inari. Founded in the 700s, this temple ground is massive. It takes up an entire hillside just outside Kyoto, and its famous 10,000 torii gates weave through the surrounding fall colored forest. These bright red shrines are built by the temple’s Shinto followers, each displaying a prayer inscribed in the gate’s frame. Sayaka was starting to get hungry as we set off through the shrines, so she led our rather quick 2.5 mile trek to the top.

The sun set on our descent, so we made our way from Fushimi Inari to Gion for dinner. Gion, Kyoto’s most historic neighborhood, is lined with machiyas (traditional wood townhomes with paper interior walls), but is best known for its secretive geishas. For being entertainers, geishas are actually very discrete and hard to spot. ... we were on an insider tour though.

June and Yuka kept their eyes peeled and pounced once they saw one. Yuka sprinted down a tiny back alley after the geisha, yelling in Japanese: “Wait, we’re showing around Americans!” She actually caught up to the geisha, but apparently our American-ness has its limits: the geisha said she was “working”, so we let her carry on with her evening.

After our high-speed geisha chase, Saya finally got her dinner wish. We met Chelsay’s non-English speaking cousins at a small yakitori restaurant hidden in the back alleys of Gion. As Chelsay’s family seemingly beat boxed at each other, I politely nodded and laughed when it seemed appropriate while enjoying grilled chicken heart and beef tongue.

I should note somewhere in this post that I barely slept while in Japan... We were crossing quite a few time zones going from London to Japan to Dallas to Seattle and finally to Sydney, and I did not get off to a good start. I think my nights ranged from 2 to 5 hours while in Japan, and this night specifically was closer to 2. I guess this was also part of the Lost in Translation experience.

The next day’s schedule certainly kept me awake though. We started by banging gongs at Kiyomizudera, one of the 21 finalists for UNESCO’s New Wonders of the World because of the fact that the timber temple is built WITHOUT A SINGLE NAIL. We then took a stroll down the historic Three Years Hill, picking up tasty Malebranche matcha cookies as well as other various rice-based snacks. Next, we visited the Earthy Ginkakugi temple, hidden among a mossy, natural Japanese garden that reminded me of Iceland’s terrain, followed by the more superficial Kinkakugi temple, whose walls are plated in gold leaf. Finally, to close out the day, we walked through the Arashiyama Grove, where flood lit bamboo trees grow up to 90 feet tall.

This didn’t turn out to be too bad a day given I’d only slept 2 hours. It might be the most anyone’s ever accomplished with that little sleep. Who’s to say. Either way, I (finally) slept like a rock that night.

The next day, Chelsay and I grabbed a return bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo. ...back to the weird stuff (in the most charming and culturally unique sense). Our first day in Tokyo included white strawberrys and Tweety bird giving the finger, but somehow this day would be even more bizarre.

After arriving back in the city, Chelsay and I’s first stop was the Shibuya crossing, labeled as the busiest intersection in the world.

Every three minutes, the great migration begins. As soon as the traffic lights change from green to red, 1,000 travelers take their first step in an arduous journey from one side of the road to the other. It is a chess match navigating this cross walk, but each delicate dancer somehow manages to weave around one another without colliding.

After witnessing this miracle of nature, Chelsay and I headed up to Shinjuku for a miracle of mankind: the Robot Restaurant. Restaurant is actually a misnomer, because there really wasn’t food. I’ll more accurately refer to it as the Robot Spectacle.

The Spectacle began in a bizarre technicolored waiting room that can only be described by the picture below. Really, no more needs to be said because you already have an idea where this night was heading. It was sensory overload, starting with the waiting room. 

After about 20 minutes, the Spectacle was ready, and we were taken to our seats. We descended a few sets of clown-puke staircases before arriving in a dark, basement-level arena. Was this actually just a drug trip? Was the waiting room an ecstasy high and this basement the crash?  If so, the buzz soon returned, as the dark arena was illuminated in a seizure-inducing rainbow of neon lights. The black curtains were pulled and the Spectacle was on!

For the next hour, Chelsay and I were completely sober but tripped balls. There were flashing lights, robots, dinosaurs, a Michael Jackson tribute, a cabaret, and a Kung Fu Panda rip-off. It was a non-stop, 60 minute sensory overdose. I don’t know of any other way to describe this point in my life (nor do I want to, given how long of a post this is), so I’ll just let the videos do the talking.

After the Spectacle, we needed fresh air and open space. We exited the arena into the cold Tokyo night, unsure whether it was the same evening or several days had passed during our long drug trip. I joke about the overload of the Robot Restaurant, but it was actually one of the exact experiences I was hoping to have in Tokyo. Neon-lit, overwhelming, quirky. It had everything, but now we needed to decompress.

It was our last night before heading to Texas, so we decided a wintery walk through the city’s illuminated streets was the perfect way to unwind. Starting in nearby “Piss Alley” (a series of “Old Tokyo” restaurants and sake houses where the patrons used to step into the small outdoor alley for… relief), we walked through the colorful, skyscraper-lined neighborhoods of Shinjuku, Harajuku, and finally, Shibuya.

To end the evening and our bizarre but exciting week in Japan, Chelsay and I stumbled into the perfect exclamation mark for our trip: a yakiniku grill. Over the past few days, Chelsay and I had enjoyed almost all of her favorite treats from summers in Japan: shabu shabu, katsu, raman, bento lunches, vending machine coffee, senbei from the local conveni, mochi balls, onigiri (no doubt), matcha cookies, yakitori, takoyaki (grilled octopus balls), and genuinely dozens of rice-based snack variations. The one type of food we hadn’t found yet though: yakiniku, a beef dish served similar to Korean BBQ, with grills in each of the tables.

There are 36 million people in Tokyo, and genuinely thousands of yakiniku options to feed them. This means you can’t really research because any TripAdvisor search for "best Tokyo yakiniku" comes back with 100 results. Instead, we Google searched for nearby options and just went to the first result with a high rating. I don’t even know the name of the place we chose because it was in all Japanese characters.

It was located on the ground floor of a large residential building, and was tucked about 100 feet in from the street. The entrance certainly didn’t suggest this place was anything special: plain, dimly lit, and with beer casings stacked up beside the door.

Thank god we opened the door though, because this place was phenomenal! The interior was still dimly lit and cramped, but from the entrance, we could see the perfect, copious, thinly-sliced, deep red, marbled beef. In the same night we witnessed the Robot Spectacle, dinner might have provided the greatest sensory overload. We were hooked at first sight, and the scent of the grilled meats on each large wooden table’s barbeque reeled us in. What’s that we hear?  Harry Potter playing on the restaurant’s TV? This place really was the perfect finale for our trip to Japan.

As we grilled the succulent, thinly-sliced hunk of beef, Chelsay and I reflected on the weird and wonderful week that was. As I wrote earlier, I didn’t have exact sites that I wanted to visit, but rather unique Japanese experiences I wanted to enjoy. In Tokyo, I wanted the Lost in Translation experience of neon-lit streets, overwhelming density, and arcade-inspired quirkiness. In Kyoto, I wanted to walk through the temples of The Last Samurai, peacefully reflecting beside Zen gardens and underneath colorful shrines.

To sum up our few days in Japan, all I can say is that it was exactly as I expected. This is the highest compliment I can give for this trip, a perfect Part I in our three part move to Australia.