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Millions look skyward as rare eclipse crosses Asia

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Yokohama is overcast. Poor animals.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japan’s Meteorological Agency is predicting mostly cloudy weather in the country’s eclipse viewing areas.

dashing cold water on excitement & anxious moments detailed in this article.

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There is live video from the top of Mt. Fuji. Courtesy of Panasonic. But it's cloudy and sucks.

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That was interesting. After being told over and over not to look at the sun directly, it turns out the only way to see the eclipse was to do precisely that. Through my 200 Yen super-duper eclipse filters I could see: Nothing. Through the cloud cover: a perfect image. So much for conventional wisdom.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Wow. It gets dark for a couple of minutes when it shouldn't.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

The skies here cleared maybe ten minutes or so before the ring appeared. Saw it clearly through my home-made pinhole-in-a-piece-of-foil thingumajig. Very nice.

WilliB; conventional wisdom isn't that the eclipse can't be seen directly, it's that looking directly at the sun will damage your eyes. Ever trained a magnifying glass on a piece of paper as a kid, and watched it burn a hole through? The magnifying glass is the lens in your eye, the paper is the fundus (back of the eye). You don't feel the damage because there are no nerve endings there to transmit pain. If the image remained quite a long time in your vision after you looked away, you could be in trouble. Looking at the sun through cloud cover can be dangerous, if there's a sudden break in the clouds.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Too cloudy :(

0 ( +0 / -0 )

That was great!

Had a perfect view from west Tokyo.

Cloud only slightly covered the event once.

Really, really good.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Though I might have liked to see it clearly, the natural filter of the cloud cover made it look pretty cool and mysterious.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

That was awesome! Saw it clearly in Akasaka with only occasional clouds

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Yes, view from west Tokyo was good. Cloud cover was an advantage... lovely mysterious-looking misty eclipse appeared several times :-)

1 ( +1 / -0 )

cloudy here in N.Chiba but you cud catch views without the specs when the clouds thinned, if they thinned more then use the specs!

Pretty neat all in all!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I saw it... it wasn't that great. Now I want to see a total eclipse.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I thought it was cool. But I remember from one we had back home about 12 years ago, it didnt go as dark as I think people were expecting. The cloud cover made it kind of spooky - it was there, but not enough to obscure it.

I thought it was a great educational opportunity, so my 5 year old was carted off to the planetarium last week, we have been researching eclipse on the internet, reading books, drawing pictures.....and for the whole thing, he sat glued to the TV watching Pokemon! sigh !

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Cloudy here in Yokosuka so really couldn't see much of anything. But what I did see which was more interesting was the people in my normally quiet neighborhood outside for a change all looking up. Each held the little glasses in hands and were just staring at the clouds with nothing to see. I think they felt really let down. Along the drive to work, I saw people actually out and looking up for a change and taking a few moments out of the hustle of commuting just to stop and look.

So it may have been a "bust" as far as viewing the eclipse, but at least some of the people actually got out or stopped for a few moments and looked at something rather than just trodding along.

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Watch the Solar Eclipse from the Shooh Space Camera http://events.slooh.com/

Just watching this now. These guys are hilarious! It's a gong show!

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My wife and kids loved it! We paid 30 yen for these nerdy glasses but they did the trick!! Such a beautiful sight from western Tokyo!!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It was interesing, but not quite as dramatic as I expected. It did not get dark. It just got a little dim.

I viewed it two ways: using a pair of binoculars, I focused the light on a black piece of paper. At about 7:15 I started with this and was surprised to realize the moon was already half way across, because it was not apparent to the naked eye at all with quick glimpses up. After that I began using a pin hole in a sheet of cardboard while wearing three pairs of sunglasses and also holding two sunglass lenses together with my free hand. Believe me, one pin hole is not enough. You still need something else to dim it. I got an excellent view, but with a pink tint because one of the pairs of sunglasses was tinted blue. Oh well.

I also noticed the cresent effect on shafts of light shining through tree leaves. That was interesting because I had no idea that would happen.

You don't feel the damage because there are no nerve endings there to transmit pain.

True, but you do feel the pain of the muscles in your eyes straining to close your pupil. Even looking at headlights in the dark will do that.

Another thing about cloud cover is that it does not block out UV as much as visible light. That UV will do some damage.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The clouds made for perfect viewing, without glasses, here in Nagoya! :-)

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

awesome view this the 2nd time have seen it while in Japan, last time was in Oita a few years ago.

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Nobody told me about the special glasses!! Now I am blind dammit! Lousy Monday

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I also expected to become dark, but it didn't really happened. back to sleep

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I had excellent view for about 10 min. Saw a perfect ring with those special glasses and also a couple of pinholes on cardboard paper did the trick. Good show. Hope the next one comes soon so that these glasses won't be wasted!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Saw it fine in Kobe, didn't need to shell out for fancy lenses either.... my neighbour's daughter is in high school and they made perfectly good viewing lenses in science class.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

“It was a very mysterious sight,” said Kaori Sasaki, who joined a crowd in downtown Tokyo to watch event. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” (sic)

That's probably because you're usually looking down at your Keitai...

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

That's probably because you're usually looking down at your Keitai...

There were no keitais around when the last annular eclipse occurred, in 1839.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Before you die, you see ringu.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

watched some Japanese special this morning with SMAP as a guest panal, complete with song and dance diectly after the eclipse. Now I regret not burning a hole in my retina when I had the chance.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Was great here in the western U.S. Occurred as the sun was setting, rather than as rising there, which gave it a beautiful golden aura to it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Up here in Tochigi the skies were clear and the eclipse was breathtaking. I saw it through high grade welders goggles and I even took pictures. Thumbs up for this event, the next golden circle eclipse is going to take place here in about 300 years from now. I can't wait......

2 ( +3 / -1 )

People out there saying... it wasn't that great...I wanna see another one... I wanna,,, these people are so spoiled and unappreciative to celestial events. Those are people that can't get happy with simple things. Those are the people that always shoot too far and never really reach their goal. Shallow people...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

my neighbour's daughter is in high school and they made perfectly good viewing lenses in science class.

Pretty loose with the word "made" there. I don't know where they bought it, but you can get sheets of dark plastic transparent enough to safely view eclipses. You can cut into into any flat shape desired.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Millions of Asians

Wow, I can't believe that a news organization just lumped everyone in Asia who may have seen this as Asian. I mean there are other nationalities in Asia. This would be like saying that if this event had occured over the African continent, "Millions of Blacks" watched the event.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

No, it would be like saying 'millions of Africans' and, as in this case, it would be completely true. That non-Asian people (like me - a 'Black' - for instance) saw it doesn't mean that 'Millions of Asians' is untrue.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

This would be like saying that if this event had occured over the African continent, "Millions of Blacks" watched the event.

More like saying "Millions of Africans". Sometimes people are just too touchy about labels. I'm not Asian by descent or birth or nationality, but I'm in Japan now and Japan is in Asia; I have no problem being counted among the 'millions of Asians' who saw the eclipse. If they'd said 'millions of Asians and one blonde-haired blue-eyed lady who stuck out like a sore thumb and has a UK passport,' I think I'd take issue, though technically it might be more accurate.

Of course they could have said 'millions of people in Asia', but that would upset the lemurs.

You're in Asia, you're Asian. You're in Manchester, you're a Mancunian. It's no big deal.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

As I looked upward from Tama Plaza station. clear skies were on the left and gray skies were where the eclipse was happening. It was a bit frustrating, but with cloud coverage I felt I could look a bit longer. My best photo was a reflection from a building's window! I am glad I saw this even and made my train ride a bit more comfortable as I looked at the photos I had taken. It certainly did not get dark. I was surprised it did not.

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Can nothing happen in this country without the need to SELL something? Tours, glasses, donuts(??) or some other crap. Consumerism was probably trendy back in 1964, probably felt good to be able to buy things you didn't really need, but while many countries evolved, it feels like time stands still in the archiepelago.

Why not just enjoy a solar eclipse and say: "Holy Batman, this is pretty cool", and be done with it? Does every event need to be tacky?

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

was too cloudy out here in the boonies known as sagamihara

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Here in Okinawa it was slightly cloudy. The sky dimmed only slightly making it appear as though I was looking outside through tinted glass. Back in 1987 it was much better!

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Really an enjoyable event here in Sumida/Ryogoku. Neighbors on the streets with all manner of viewers and camera lenses. People pouring off the train whipping up their purchased shades and sharing with friends. People clustered at the eastern end of the platforms to catch a view.

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@Cleo I'm gonna go out on a limb here and hazard a guess that Kaori Sasaki wasn't around in 1839 either...

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The neighbor came out with those translucent plastic folders! At least it was pink.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

In extreme northern Saitama, almost to the Gunma border, it was cloudy to the west but (despite weather predictions to the contrary) entirely clear to the east throughout the entire event. I'm very happy to have been able to observe it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Almost as good as a total eclipse we saw.

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