A Japanese Artist Launches Plants Into Space

Plant in Space Image by Azuma Makoto

Plant in Space Image by Azuma Makoto

“#Flowers aren’t just beautiful to show on tables,” said Makoto Azuma, a 38-year-old artist based in #Tokyo. His latest installation piece, if you could call it that, takes this statement to the extreme. Two botanical objects — “Shiki 1,” a Japanese white pine bonsai suspended from a metal frame, and an untitled arrangement of orchids, hydrangeas, lilies and irises, among other blossoms — were launched into the stratosphere on Tuesday in Black Rock Desert outside Gerlach, Nevada, a site made famous for its hosting of the annual Burning Man festival. ”I wanted to see the movement and beauty of plants and flowers suspended in space,” Azuma explained that morning.

To accomplish this mission, titled Exobiotanica, Azuma and his 10-person crew teamed with Sacramento-based JP Aerospace — “America’s Other Space Program” — a volunteer-based organization that constructs and sends vessels into orbit. JP’s owner and founder, John Powell, started launching things into the upper atmosphere in 1977, when he was still a teenager. “The best thing about this project is that space is so foreign to most of us,” says Powell, “so seeing a familiar object like a bouquet of flowers flying above Earth domesticates space, and the idea of traveling into it.”

The expedition started in the dead of night, at 2 a.m. One hour later, Azuma was already building a bouquet with about 30 varieties of flowers. He started with an aerial plant tied to a six-rod axis and studiously added peace lilies, poppy seed pods, dahlias, hydrangeas, orchids, bromeliads and a meaty burgundy heliconia. “I am using brightly colored flowers from around the world so that they contrast against the darkness of space,” he said. The scent of the flowers was stronger and more concentrated in the dry desert breeze than in their humid, natural environments, and the launch site was redolent with their perfume. Azuma worked quietly, until the metal rods were covered completely with plants. Then he directed his attention to his bonsai. For this particular project, Azuma chose a 50-year-old pine from his collection of more than 100 specimens, and flew it over from Tokyo in a special box. While readying it for space, he kept it moist and removed a few brown needles with a tweezer.

Makoto’s floral arrangement began to disintegrate during its flight; though the vessel was found on the ground, the flowers were not. Azuma Makoto

Flowers in Space Image by Azuma Makoto

Using Styrofoam and a very light metal frame, Powell and his volunteers had created two devices to attach the bonsai and the flowers, which would launch separately. JP’s volunteers and Azuma’s team worked to calibrate still cameras, donated by Fuji Film for this project, and six Go Pro video cameras tied in a ball that would record the trip into the stratosphere and back in 360 degrees. There were two different tracking systems on each device, one a Spot GPS tracker that would help locate the vessel once it fell down back to Earth, and the other that recorded altitude and distance traveled from the launch site. A radio transmitted the data to a computer array in a van. While the crew waited, a member of Azuma’s team took a red carnation, drilled a hole in a crack of the arid, sandy soil and planted it there. It was his nod to the huge red sun that had started to come up. The Exobiotanica team posed for photos. None of them had ever seen a landscape like this.

At 6:30 a.m., the first helium balloon that would launch Away 101, as JP Aerospace named the device, was ready, and the frame with the dangling bonsai was carefully brought to the launch site. Once it was attached to the vessel, Powell and his volunteers went through a final checklist, a cord was pulled and a giant balloon emerged from underneath a tarp. An hour and a half later, the flower bouquet, or Away 100, was off too. Both devices had roughly the same flight path. Away 101 went to 91,800 feet, traveling up for 100 minutes until the helium balloon burst. It fell for 40 minutes; two parachutes in baskets opened automatically when there was enough air in the atmosphere to soften impact. Away 100, which held the arrangement, made it up to 87,000 feet. Both devices were retrieved about five miles from the launch site. The bonsai and flowers, though, were never found.

After both pieces went up, Azuma embraced his team warmly and smiled. “I always wanted to travel to space,” he said. “This is a dream come true.”  TMagazine

'Stop war': Thousands protest in Japan over military expansion law change

Protesters holding placards shout slogans at a rally against Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to expand Japan's military role in front of Abe's official residence in Tokyo June 30, 2014 (Reuters / Yuya Shino)

Thousands gathered outside the #Japanese prime minister's office to protest constitutional changes that would expand Japan's #military role and allow overseas deployment. It comes one day after a man set himself on fire in protest against a proposed law.

Protest organizers have estimated that 10,000 people – including students, pensioners, and women – attended the rally outside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office in Tokyo. However, police put the number of participants at “several thousand.”

The demonstration comes on the eve of a cabinet meeting, where lawmakers are expected to endorse a resolution that would expand the use of Japan's military by reforming the constitution.

Chanting “Don’t destroy the Constitution” and “We absolutely oppose reinterpretation of the Constitution,” as well as “We don’t need the right to collective self-defense,” demonstrators expressed their opposition to what they say is a “historical turning point,” the Japan Times reported.

A protester holding a placard shouts slogans at a rally against Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to expand Japan's military role as police officers refrain him in front of Abe's official residence in Tokyo June 30, 2014 (Reuters / Yuya Shino)

Protesters are angered by the fact that Abe’s government is making changes to the constitution – not by the democratic process of referendum, but by changing the interpretation of it in a Cabinet meeting.

"Protect the constitution!" the demonstators shouted, according to AP. "Stop war. Stop Abe. Abe quit right now!"

The change will significantly widen Japan's military options, as it will end the ban on "collective self-defense," or aiding a friendly country under attack.

Protesters holding placards shouts slogans as they gather at a rally against Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to expand Japan's military role while police officers stand guard in front of Abe's official residence in Tokyo June 30, 2014 (Reuters / Issei Kato)

Since the end of World War II, the Japanese constitution has forbidden the use of military force against other nations. It may only use its armed forces in self-defense. Japan's military has not engaged in combat since 1945.

But the prime minister says the change is needed because of regional tensions – particularly China's military expansion, and missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.

The move, however, is opposed by at least half the population, according to the latest polls.

A recent survey published on Monday by Nikkei Asia Review shows that 50 percent of respondents oppose dropping the ban, while 34 percent support the change.

In a dramatic act of protest, a middle-aged man set himself on fire on Sunday to express his opposition to the government’s plans to change Japan’s pacifist constitution.

As the activist finished his speech, he doused himself in what appeared to be gasoline and set himself ablaze in front of hundreds of onlookers. A video showing the protest appeared on YouTube.

Abe’s cabinet could finalize a resolution as early as Tuesday, as his ruling Liberal Democratic party [LDP] has secured the support of its junior coalition partner, New Komeito, which has a strong pacifist tradition and was previously against the change. RT

Man sets himself on fire in Japan in defense protest: witnesses

(Reuters) - A man in #Japan set himself on fire at a busy intersection in #Tokyo on #Sunday in an apparent protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to ease limits of the country's pacifist constitution, police and witnesses said.

A demo: Google Image

Japan is poised for a historic shift in its defense policy by ending a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War Two.

Abe's cabinet is expected to adopt as early as Tuesday a resolution revising a long-standing interpretation of the U.S.-drafted constitution to lift the ban after his ruling party finalizes an agreement with its junior partner.[ID:nL4N0P810Z]

It was not immediately clear whether the man survived.

A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident, which took place near bustling Shinjuku station, but would not provide further details.

Witnesses said the man, seated on pedestrian bridge, used a megaphone to protest plans to end a ban on exercising "collective self-defense", or aiding a friendly country under attack.

"He was sitting cross legged and was just talking, so I thought it would end without incident. But when I came back to the same place 30 minutes later, he was still there. Then all of a sudden his body was enveloped in fire," said Ryuichiro Nakatsu, an 18-year-old student who witnessed the incident.

"He was yelling against the government, about collective self-defence," he said.

Witnesses said the man was hosed down and carried away.

The planned change in defense strategy marks a major step away from post-war pacifism and widen Japan's military options. [ID:nL4N0P810Z]

Conservatives say the charter's war-renouncing Article 9 has excessively restricted Japan's ability to defend itself and that a changing regional power balance including a rising China means Japan's security policies must be more flexible.

The change will likely rile an increasingly assertive China, whose ties with Japan have chilled due to a maritime row, mutual mistrust and the legacy of Japan's past military aggression, but will be welcomed by Tokyo's ally Washington, which has long urged Japan to become a more equal partner in the alliance.  Reuters 

Japan says North Korea missile launch violates UN resolution

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga prepares to leave a news conference at PM's official residence in Tokyo. PHOTO: REUTERS

TOKYO: Japan’s top government spokesman said on Monday North Korea’s missile launch the previous day violated a United Nations resolution and that Tokyo would respond in cooperation with other nations, such as the United States and South Korea.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also told a news conference Japan and North Korea would hold talks in Beijing from Tuesday as scheduled.

North Korea agreed last month to reopen an investigation into the fate of Japanese citizens it kidnapped decades ago. In return, Japan will ease some economic sanctions when the probe starts and consider humanitarian aid later.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea east of its coast on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, defying a UN ban on the isolated North testing such weapons.

Japan girl group AKB48 attacked by male fan with saw

Anna Iriyama was one of two AKB48 members injured in Sunday's attack

Two members of popular Japanese pop group AKB48 were injured after a fan attacked them with a saw.

Rina Kawaei, 19, and Anna Iriyama, 18, were meeting with fans in the northern city of Takizawa on Sunday when a man lunged forward and slashed them.

They sustained cuts on their hands and heads, reported Kyodo. A male staff member was also cut on his hand.

The group holds the Guinness record for being the world's largest pop group.
The police have arrested the 24-year-old man, identified as Satoru Umeta.

AKB48's manager was reported as saying the two #girl's surgery was successful and they would be able to leave the hospital by Monday.

A Tokyo concert scheduled for Monday night and other fan events have been cancelled.
News of the attack was covered widely in national media. AKB48, which was founded in 2005, is hugely popular in #Japan and other #Asian countries.

Rina Kawaei, seen here in a June 2013 photo, reportedly suffered injuries to her right thumb

AKB stands for Akihabara, the technology district of Tokyo, where the group has its own theatre. Members perform there almost every day.

The number 48 reportedly refers to the original number of members in the group, although it has since expanded.

The current line-up on the group's website, spread over four main teams and other smaller ones, lists 140 names.

Every year tens of thousands of fans vote on who gets to join the group from a pool of more than 200 candidates, in an event that is widely covered by national media.

Members have to abide by strict rules set by their management, and are not allowed to date.
The band made international headlines last year when one of its members, Minami Minegishi, shaved her head and apologised to fans in a video posted online. She had been caught spending a night with her boyfriend.

The incident sparked debate on whether pop idols in Japan have the right to lead normal lives.