Many web companies and individuals are now running a nation-wide, virtual and real (Kyoto, Okayama and Fukuoka in West Japan) hackathon (collaborative programming marathon, see Wikipedia) named “Hack for Japan” [J] through this three days weekend (Monday is holiday, Spring equinox day, in Japan). Several companies are offering APIs, cloud hosting and data for the… Continue reading All Star Developers Running Hackathon To Build Disaster Info Services
Month: March 2011
Earthquake Relief – Feeding Info On Maps And Twitter
For the victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, there have been many food and water distribution supplied in all prefectures in Tohoku and Ibaraki pref. To make suffered people know the info, volunteers are collaborating on making and maintaining database by using Google Maps. The name is Takidashi Map (Takidashi = feeding, soup run… Continue reading Earthquake Relief – Feeding Info On Maps And Twitter
Acima Provides Hotline Over IM For Non-Japanese Disaster Victims
Japan based international-business consulting company Acima is offering emergency hotline over Skype and MSN Messenger for 24 hours in 15 languages, by using its own resource and forming volunteers from around the world. Acima has set up a hotline for non Japanese speaking Disaster Victims of Tohoku district – off the Pacific Ocean Earthquake. We… Continue reading Acima Provides Hotline Over IM For Non-Japanese Disaster Victims
Roppongi Hills To Offer In-House Generating Electricity To Suffering Tokyo
Mori Buildings announced [J] that Roppongi Hills, office/shopping-mall/residents complex, one of the center of Tokyo and Japan’s web industry, where currently Google Japan and Gree reside, once Yahoo! Japan, Rakuten and Livedoor had their offices, is going to provide electricity from its private gas turbine generator to Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) to make up for… Continue reading Roppongi Hills To Offer In-House Generating Electricity To Suffering Tokyo
Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) Starts Twitter To Provide Updates
Another new Twitter account follows to the Prime Minister’s Office’s English version Twitter comes tonight around 9 p.m. by Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO), who has been tackling two difficult problems, Fukushima nuclear plant radiation leak and possible blackout of greater Tokyo, after the Japan’s earthquake. This Japanese Twitter account quickly got over 50,000 followers, which… Continue reading Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) Starts Twitter To Provide Updates
Colopl Visualizes Where People Checking-In East Japan
Japanese Location based service Coropura(Colopl.jp) makes a map of east Japan to show where its users checked in the day before [J]. The hex displayed on the map means there were at least one check in yesterday. The map has a choice of cellphone carriers, Docomo/au/Softbank. Docomo must have more users and good coverage. The… Continue reading Colopl Visualizes Where People Checking-In East Japan
Google Opens Evacuation Info Portal For Japanese Cellphone
Google built a dedicated page which is tailored for Japanese cellphone web browsers (i.e. i-mode and others) to help people suffering Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis [J]. Compact web page for cellphone browser is in higher demand for many refugees at evacuation shelters. This is good move as well as other Google’s latest help like Person Finder,… Continue reading Google Opens Evacuation Info Portal For Japanese Cellphone
Japan Ministry of Education Now Reports Radiation Level Across Japan
[Update] Volunteer-made chart [J] comes based on the MEXT data. (Fukushima line is not drawn. see below for why) So far, some prefecture around the Fukushima plants show a bit higher numbers, but still very low, under 1μGy/h. Japanese government has worked on another information disclosure to resolve people’s free-floating anxiety. As traditional media, especially… Continue reading Japan Ministry of Education Now Reports Radiation Level Across Japan
Japan Prime Minister’s Office Begins English Twitter, To Inform Disaster Information
Prime Minister’s Office of Japan has just annouced that they opened an official Twitter account @JPN_PMO in English. This is the official English twitter account of Prime Minister’s Office of Japan. Most of the information provided here will be translation of @ Kantei_Saigai. http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html The first tweet was “The Prime Minister’s Office of Japan has… Continue reading Japan Prime Minister’s Office Begins English Twitter, To Inform Disaster Information
Japanese Artists Draw Catfish To Encourage The Earthquake Sufferers
Drawn by shigeokahide. Many Japanese artists drew Namazu-e(鯰絵) to encourage earthquake sufferers on Twitter. What is Namazu-e? Namazu-e is a motif drawn in ukiyoe (Wikipedia) during Edo period (Wikipedia). “Namazu” means a catfish in Japanese. In old days, Japanese believed that the earthquake occurs because of a catfish behaves violently in underground. In 1855, earthquake of magnitude 6.9… Continue reading Japanese Artists Draw Catfish To Encourage The Earthquake Sufferers