Google installing first-of-its-kind undersea cable connecting Vancouver Island and Japan for faster service
Google says the investment into the first-ever subsea fibre-optic cable between Canada and Asia is to allow faster access to services such as Gmail and YouTube when it ultimately begins service in 2023.
The cable, which is called Topaz, will run from Vancouver to Port Alberni and then across the Pacific Ocean to the prefectures of Mie and Ibaraki in Japan.
Google is spearheading the construction of the project but will also be linking up with a number of local partners on either side of the Pacific Ocean in order to complete the task. Once finished, the tech giant says that other network and internet service providers will be able to benefit from the additional capacity of Topaz, whether for their own use or to provide to third parties.
The undersea fibre cable is about the width of a garden hose and will house 16 fibre pairs that will stretch across the floor of the Pacific Ocean, offering a total capacity of 240 Terabits per second.

NHK - Jul 01
Japanese researchers say they have successfully filmed a giant rare deep-sea fish in the Pacific called the "yokozuna iwashi."

NHKn - Jun 29
People around Japan have reported seeing what appeared to be a fireball blazing across the night sky.

South China Morning Post - Jun 29
With temperatures across Japan soaring and the government imploring the public and businesses to limit their consumption of energy, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has signalled that nuclear power plants not used since 2011’s Fukushima disaster will be brought back online.

phys.org - Jun 28
Owing to the high competition and the prevalence of natural selection, many male insects must develop alternative tactics to mate with a female.

Nikkei - Jun 26
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 shook Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan on Sunday, but no tsunami warning was issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Paolo fromTOKYO - Jun 25
This is how Japan Recycles Plastic Trays. I’m at the Ibaraki Kanto recycling factory of Japan’s largest plastic food container producer, FPCO.

sci-news.com - Jun 24
Scientifically named Stylobates calcifer, the new sea anemone species lives in a symbiotic relationship with a species of hermit crab called Pagurodofleinia doederleini.

NHK - Jun 22
Japan's communications ministry has drawn up a report on possible impacts of large-scale eruptions on the surface of the sun called "solar flares," such as disruptions in wireless communications.

NHK - Jun 21
Staff at a hospital in Tokushima Prefecture, western Japan, are unable to access electronic medical records after the hospital became the target of a ransomware attack.

NHK - Jun 20
Drone owners in Japan are obliged to register their craft with the government under a revised aviation law that took effect on Monday.

Artificial Intelligence News - Jun 20
Japan just released fully functioning female robots. For many years, Japan has been at the forefront of robotics technology, and its robotics innovation has astounded the rest of the globe.

NHK - Jun 20
A strong earthquake has hit the Noto region in central Japan. No tsunami alert has been issued.

NHK - Jun 20
The Japan Meteorological Agency is warning that another powerful earthquake could hit the Noto region on the Sea of Japan in the coming week.

arabnews.jp - Jun 19
Japan’s National Police Agency has started making full-fledged preparations for a possible eruption of Mount Fuji, the tallest peak in the country.

Kyodo - Jun 15
A train station in Tokyo on Wednesday started reproducing platform announcements and the sounds of train arrivals and departures onto a screen in the form of text and sign language to help the hearing impaired on their journeys.

Nikkei - Jun 15
Microsoft bids farewell to Internet Explorer on Thursday, stirring a sense of panic among many businesses and government agencies in Japan that waited to update their websites until the last minute.