Aomori, Japan News

I assumed the winter sky in Okutsugaru, in the western part of Aomori Prefecture's Tsugaru region, would be drab.

Last week, I spent several days cycling around the Hokuso countryside of northern Chiba Prefecture.

More than 500 vehicles were stranded on a section of National Highway Route 279 in Yokohama, Aomori Prefecture, on Wednesday night after a large truck and a bus skidded and became stuck on the road due to a blizzard, according to police.

Thomas W. Hargett, 77, of Stockton, passed away on January 18, 2012, at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento, surrounded by his family.

At least three magnitude-9 level earthquakes may have occurred at intervals of 1,000 to 1,200 years in the Pacific Ocean along coastal prefectures from Aomori to Iwate, a Hokkaido University researcher concluded in study published in Kagaku magazine on Thursday.