Tokyo's Yoyogi Park Reopening

Above, Yoyogi Park as seen from Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. The
 park is the big green area at the upper right. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There's good news for joggers and others who use Tokyo's Yoyogi Park.

According to the Mainichi Shimbun:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo will reopen to the public Friday after nearly two months of closure due to the low possibility there are still mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus, the Tokyo metropolitan government said Thursday. 

A large part of the park premises was closed on Sept. 4 after visitors to the park developed dengue fever and virus-carrying mosquitoes were found there. The virus, which causes the fever, can be transmitted by mosquitoes. 

The decision to reopen the park comes as the mosquito population there has fallen due to cold temperatures and no mosquitoes caught there have tested positive for the virus since Sept. 18, according to the metropolitan government.

The article states that as mosquitoes have a lifespan of  30 to 40 days, the government felt it unlikely that any carrying the dengue fever virus remain.

To read more, go here.

Additional Pick-ups

The last blog post told of the blog post pick up by the Daily Travel Health Tips on the redback spider and dengue virus-carrying mosquitoes in Tokyo.

The good folks at The Japan Daily have also picked up that blog post and one on The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.

To read The Japan Daily, go here.

Daily Travel Health Tips Picks Up One

A different online newspaper has picked up a blog post from yesterday.

Daily Travel Health Tips picked up the blog post on "Deadly Creatures Are Attacking Tokyo!" The post wasn't about giant monsters (kaiju), but on the dengue virus-carrying mosquitoes and the venomous redback spiders.

To read Daily Travel Health Tips, go here.

Deadly Creatures Are Attacking Tokyo!

Above, a redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti). Photo: Australian Museum.

First, it was mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus (that can be fatal to humans) have been attacking people in Yoyogi and Sumida Parks (and elsewhere) in Tokyo.

Now it is deadly redback spiders!

According to Japan Today:

TOKYO —Venomous redback spiders, which are indigenous to Australia, have been found in Tokyo for the first time. 

Ten spiders were found in a park in Mitaka on Thursday, NTV reported Friday.

What will it be next?

Perhaps Tokyo needs a savior to save the populace from these creatures:

Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros.

To read more, go here.

Dengue Fever Suspected In Sumida Ward of Tokyo

Above, the Tokyo Skytree and Asahi Beer Hall in Sumida Ward. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Another person has possibly come down with dengue fever after being bitten by a mosquito at Sumida Park in the Sumida Ward of Tokyo.

The Japan Times reported:

The health ministry said Thursday that dengue fever infection may have spread to Sumida Ward, Tokyo, relatively far from where recent infections with the mosquito-borne tropical disease are believed to have occurred. 

A woman in her 20s from Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, was bitten by a mosquito while at Sumida Park for about two hours on the afternoon of Sept. 14, the ministry said. 

She began to show dengue fever symptoms on Sept. 19 and is still hospitalized. She has not traveled overseas recently nor visited Yoyogi Park or other places in Tokyo where infections happened.

The infections started in Yoyogi Park, which is near Shibuya. Other infections have been reported from other areas of Tokyo. Sumida Ward is miles away from Yoyogi Park and is across the Sumida River from Asakusa. The Asahi Beer Hall and Tokyo Skytree are in Sumida Ward.

To read more, go here.

Yesterday's Blog Post Pick-ups

The good folks at The Japan Daily shared some blog posts from yesterday's output.

They include:

To read The Japan Daily, go here.

Dengue Virus Forces Closure of Tokyo's Yoyogi Park

Above, a view of Yoyogi Park from Mori Tower. The park is the large green area at the upper right. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan has had its problems these past few years.

Earthquakes, torrential rains, landslides, nuclear radiation leaks, typhoons and now a mosquito-spread virus has forced the closure of Tokyo's massive Yoyogi Park near Shibuya.

According to The Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun):

Tiny insects have forced the nearly complete closure of Tokyo’s sprawling Yoyogi Park, a “last resort” taken for the first time in the nearly 50-year-history of the park.  

Metropolitan authorities on Thursday closed the northern section of the Shibuya Ward park, or about 80 percent of its total area, after mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus were discovered over a wide area in the park.

What's the dengue virus? An article from Japan Today explains further:

TOKYO —The Tokyo government on Thursday closed most of Yoyogi Park, a popular green spot in the Japanese metropolis, after dengue-carrying mosquitoes were found there, an official said. 

The outbreak is the first in 70 years in Japan and has so far infected 59 people in 12 prefectures, including a young model who has posed for Japanese Playboy and had been sent to the park for a photo shoot. 

The disease, also called “tropical flu”, is spread by the tiger mosquito, a species endemic to Japan. 

No one has so far died in Japan from the disease, which claims scores of lives every year in other, more infected parts of the world. 

For more on the dengue virus, here is a link for information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.