This morning in Japan, kids and adults alike paused momentarily. They wore funny glasses and turned their eyes to the skies. This Monday morning, just as a new week started, a solar eclipse was visible. And Japanese television chronicled the whole thing the best way it could: sometimes serious and sometimes anything but.
For several minutes, people could witness an annular solar eclipse at locations across Asia as well as North America. As The Mainichi Daily News pointed out, this was the first time in over 900 hundred years that a solar eclipse of this sort was visible across Japan.
It wasnât visible everywhere in the country (or Asia, for that matter)âAFP reported that in some parts of Japan and China, it was too hazy or cloudy.
The eclipse was a big deal, and that certainly didnât escape Japanese morning television. To get people hyped, there were countdownsâcomplete with comedians, idols, and boy band concertâand live feeds. Not everyone had eclipse fever, though, and some channels ignored it completely in favor of their regular programming.
In the above gallery, have a look at this morningâs festivities (via 2ch) as well as some of the photos snapped by regular folks across Japan (via Gigazine).
The next annular solar eclipse in Japan will be in 2030. See you then!
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