North Carolina roller coaster closes after discovering crack on pillar

A North Carolina amusement park closed one of its roller coasters Friday after park personnel became aware of a crack on the top of a steel support pillar on the ride, park officials said.

Carowinds said the park’s maintenance team is conducting a “thorough inspection” of the Fury 325 roller coaster and it will remain closed until repairs have been completed, the amusement park said in a statement sent to USA TODAY.

“Safety is our top priority and we appreciate the patience and understanding of our valued guests during this process,” Carowinds said in the statement. “As part of our comprehensive safety protocols, all rides, including Fury 325, undergo daily inspections to ensure their proper functioning and structural integrity.”

Carowinds advertises the Fury 325 ride as the “tallest, fastest, longest giga coaster in North America,” the park says on its website.

Carowinds:Boy rescued from claw game at North Carolina

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Shiroiya Hotel Leads the Revitalization Movement in Maebashi

Qthe story of Shiroiya Hotel started during the Edo period, when Maebashi was best known as a strategic castle town. When Japan opened its ports to foreign trade in the mid-19th century, Maebashi flourished as a leading manufacturer and exporter of silk. The city’s prosperity drew the exclusive clientele to the then-called Shiroiya Ryokan, including members of the former Imperial family, and influential artists such as novelist Ogai Mori. This continued until the 1970s, when Shiroiya Ryokan pivoted to the hospitality business.

In 2008, the establishment closed its doors, putting an end to its 300-year history. The landmark was to be completely torn down and possibly replaced by a condominium tower. Some community-minded youths reached out to Maebashi native and current CEO of Jins Holdings Hitoshi Tanaka to see if he could help. He decided to buy the ryokan with his own money — and without any hospitality experience.

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Minobusan: A Sacred Mountain and a Peaceful Mountainside Retreat

For over 700 years, worshippers have visited Minobusan, one of Japan’s most sacred mountains. An imposing sanmon gate welcomes visitors to Kuonji, the heartland of Nichiren Buddhism, while the scent of towering cedar trees helps relieve the arduous climb up the 287 “steps of enlightenment” to the temple’s main hall. Guests staying at nearby Kakurinbo, a popular temple lodging, and its sister property, Guest Villa Ebisuya, are encouraged to take this same pilgrimage, if only to savor the view from Kuonji’s extensive grounds and catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji from the mountain’s peak.

Elements of Tradition

As an important satellite temple, Kakurinbo has accommodated visiting priests and pilgrims for over 550 years. Today, Kakurinbo offers a place of relaxation for tourists and worshipers alike while maintaining a traditional environment in which guests may enjoy local cuisine and cultural experiences. Visitors to Minobusan can also choose to stay at

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Namale Resort & Spa Named a Top Resort in the Travel + Leisure Luxury Awards Asia Pacific 2023

SAVUSAVU, Fiji, June 21, 2023 /CNW/ — Namale Resort & Spa, a leading luxury resort in the South Pacific, is thrilled to announce its outstanding recognition in the prestigious Travel + Leisure Luxury Awards – Asia Pacific 2023. The resort received accolades ranking in the top South Pacific Resorts and received #1 in South Pacific Resort Pools, a testament to its unparalleled commitment to excellence and guest satisfaction.

Namale Resort & Spa Logo (PRNewsfoto/Namale Resort & Spa)

Namale Resort & Spa Logo (PRNewsfoto/Namale Resort & Spa)

With sweeping ocean views and world-class amenities that include award-winning spa hydrotherapy and a 4:1 staff-to-guest ratio, Namale Resort & Spa is a haven for travelers seeking relaxation, adventure and luxury in a tropical paradise.

“We are deeply honored to be recognized as one of the top resorts in the South Pacific,” said Co-General Manager Nowdla Keefe. “These awards showcase the hard work and dedication of our entire team who consistently went

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Tourism Sudbury welcomes hundreds of travel media for the annual conference

Tourism Sudbury welcomed close to 200 travel writers and bloggers to the northern Ontario city last week for a national conference held at Dynamic Earth.

“It’s amazing!,” said Lara Fielding, Tourism Sudbury’s manager of tourism and culture.

“We are excited to welcome our Travel Media Association of Canada. We did win this big back in 2019 to host in 2020 and unfortunately due to COVID it was not able to happen. So, we are very happy to finally have our guests here to experience and explore Sudbury.”

Fielding said he believes this event will help grow and expand tourism in the city.

“It’s a great opportunity to look at the offerings we have and do some product development and test it during this week,” she said.

“So we can develop experiences for tourists on a regular basis.”

Among the guests were David Anderson and Skylar Macdonald, travel bloggers known as

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Japan Book Review: Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda

How do you describe the indescribable? Riku Onda’s Honeybees and Distant Thunder makes a valiant attempt to do just this when portraying the universal language of music and its effect on listeners. While music is something that everyone can understand, it can be hard to pin down and put into words. Onda’s book does this with rich poetry (if occasionally a little verbose), creating a strong emotional connection from the start.

From Murders to Music

Onda’s musical novel Honeybees and Distant Thunder was a smash hit when it first came out in 2017, snapping up both the Naoki Prize and Japan Booksellers’ Award the same year. Its popularity sparked the production of the 2019 film Listen to the Universewhich was well received by domestic audiences. Honeybees and Distant Thunder is Onda’s third book to be translated into English, this time with Haruki Murakami veteran Philip Gabriel taking the

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Japan Falls Nine Places in Latest Gender Gap Report

In this week’s news roundup we report on the latest Gender Gap Report as Japan slides further down the table. There are more problems with the government’s My Number card system. Five people are tragically killed in a traffic accident in Hokkaido. Carlos Ghosn sues his former employer for more than $1 billion. And there’s outrage as a report on Japan’s now defunct eugenics law reveals that children as young as 9 were sterilized.

Japan Falls to 125th in the Gender Gap Report

The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Gender Gap Report 2023 on Wednesday with Japan again ranked near the bottom. It fell further down the table to 125th out of 146 countries, nine places lower than last year. That’s the nation’s worst position since the WEF started publishing the report in 2006. The index ranks countries according to four key areas: health, education, politics and economic participation.

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The Most Influential Travel Brands Right Now

Donald Wood
by Donald Wood
 Last updated: 1:20 PM ET, Thu June 22, 2023

The American magazine company TIME released its annual list of the 100 most influential companies in the world, with several travel-related brands making the list.

The list comprises five categories—Leaders, Disrupters, Innovators, Titans and Pioneers—by TIME editors who evaluate each company based on key factors, including impact, innovation, ambition and success.

In the Leaders category, adventure tour operator Intrepid Travel made the annual list, with the magazine highlighting the brand’s environmentally and socially responsible options. Intrepid “saw record-breaking booking days after launching a flight-free program (and more than 100 Indigenous-led tours) last year.”

SpaceX also found itself listed among the Leaders category, partly due to the company’s dedication to the emerging space tourism market. Elon Musk’s company launched 61 Falcon 9 flights last year, “making it the world’s workhorse rocket.”

“It’s fantastic to see that TIME focused on

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Two Soldiers Killed as GSDF Recruit Opens Fire on Colleagues

This week’s news roundup is dominated by crime. At a Japanese military base in Gifu Prefecture, two soldiers are killed and another one injured after a GSDF recruit opens fire on his colleagues. There’s another watch store heist, this time in Kawasaki, with one of the men being appreciated. And in Tokyo, a Vietnamese student is arrested for cutting people’s hair without a license.

In non-crime-related news, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decides against a snap election before the end of the current Diet session. North Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of ​​Japan as American, Japanese and South Korean national security advisors meet in Tokyo. And in sport, Shohei Ohtani moves to the top of the American League’s home run leaderboard.

Suspect in GSDF Shooting Targeted Instructor

Two Ground Self-Defense Forces (GSDF) members, Yasuchika Kikumatsu, 52, and Kosuke Yashiro, 25, died on Wednesday after a recruit

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Highway 4 to remain closed for at least another 10 days

Single-lane alternating traffic is expected to be moving along the highway by the weekend of June 24-25, the Transportation Ministry says

Highway 4 is not expected to be open again to motorists until at least June 24, and even then it will be for single-lane alternating traffic only at first, the Transportation Ministry says.

The ministry said crews were working flat-out to prepare for a staged reopening after the highway was shut down June 6 because of debris, including trees, falling from the Cameron Bluffs wildfire.

The shutdown has cut off paved road access to west coast communities such as Port Alberni, Ucluelet and Tofino.

Only an unpaved forest service route via Lake Cowichan is available to motorists who need to get to and from the west coast.

Provincial officials say it could be mid-July before the highway linking the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island is fully reopened.

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