DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
A tourist tries to take photos of Mount Fuji appearing in the background of a convenience store in Fuji-Kawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, on 2nd May, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Akiko Okamoto
• Officials in a Japanese town are erecting a 2.5-metre high barrier to block a view of Mount Fuji and obstruct a photo spot that has been attracting so many visitors they have become a nuisance for locals. Visitors have been flocking to Fuji-Kawaguchiko town, about 50 kilometres south-west of Tokyo, to capture the coupling of two symbols of Japan: the majestic, sloping inclines of Mount Fuji and the convenience store, a view which has gone viral on social media. The crowds have led to complaints of litter, danger to road traffic and illegal parking. The 20-meter-wide black barrier to obscure the mountain is due for completion in the middle of this month. The barrier is the latest sign of Japan’s struggle to accommodate an unprecedented surge in visitors to the country amid a slump in the nation’s currency to a 34-year low. At the site on a recent Thursday, there were people running into streets, jay-walking and climbing poles to get a better view. At one point, a convenience store worker stormed out of the shop yelling at the tourists to shoo them away. “I’ve seen people walk into roads, people using electronic kickboards without following traffic rules and get into accidents. There are many accidents involving foreign tourists recently,” said 49-year-old local resident Haruhito Tsuchiya. Mt Fuji, a 3,776-metre volcanic mountain worshipped as sacred by the Japanese, has long been a popular site for domestic and foreign visitors. But locals and officials decried a surge in pollution, accidents, and environmental damage during an overcrowded climbing season last summer. – AKIKO OKAMOTO and MARIKO KATSUMURA, Fuji-Kawaguchiko/Reuters
Baguettes on sale a French bakery. PICTURE: Jas Rolyn/Unsplash
• France has won the title for the world’s longest baguette with a bread stick measuring an astonishing 140.53 metres long. Eighteen bakers reportedly joined in baking the bread at the Suresnes Baguette Show to the west of Paris. The baguette, which defeated the previous record holder – a 132.62 metre-long baguette made in Italy in 2019 – by more than seven metres, was officially declared the world’s longest by a Guinness World Records judge before being covered in Nutella and served to those attending the show.
A drone view shows a a centuries-old sunken town that reemerged amid extreme heat in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, on 2nd May, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Adrian Portugal
• Ruins of a centuries-old town have emerged at a dam parched by drought in northern Philippines, giving residents a rare spectacle and an extra source of income in a region dependent on rice-growing. Following a prolonged spell with little rain, the dried-up dam has revealed parts of a sunken church and foundations of old structures from the old town in Nueva Ecija province in recent weeks. “When I heard about the sunken church of old Pantabangan town resurfacing, I got excited and wanted to see it,” said 61-year-old retired nurse Aurea Delos Santos. Some locals have cashed in on the attraction, ferrying tourists to the island. “Back then, I was only earning 200 pesos ($US3.50) from fishing, but when the tourists arrived, I’m earning 1,500 to 1,800 per day,” said fisherman Nelson Dellera. The old town was relocated in the 1970s during the construction of a dam, which now serves as the main irrigation and water source for Nueva Ecija and nearby provinces, according to the local government. The Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia have been grappling with extreme heat, prompting schools to suspend classes and governments to urge people to stay indoors to prevent heat stroke. – ADRIAN PORTUGAL and PETER BLAZA, Nueva Ecija, The Philippines/Reuters
