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Japan

Japan Orders Nationwide Probe After Deadly Highway Tunnel Collapse

THE JAPAN TIMES, ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan), BBC NEWS (UK)

Worldcrunch

TOKYO – The Japanese government has ordered emergency inspections of road tunnels across the country after a roof collapse in the Sasago tunnel, on a highway west of Tokyo, killed nine people.

BBC News says that emergency inspections of at least 20 tunnels of a similar age and design will now be carried out, at the request of Japan’s ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism.

On Sunday morning, concrete panels collapsed and started a fire in the 4.7-kilometer-long Sasago tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture; the police have confirmed on Monday morning the deaths of nine motorists trapped in three vehicles in the tunnel, The Japan Times reports.

#Police vehicles are parked at the entrance as smoke billows out of the Sasago Tunnel on the #Chuo#Expressway intwitpic.com/bidmc3

— architect-modrnINDIA (@archbhoo) December 2, 2012

It is suspected that one of the rods to which the collapsed concrete panels were fixed came loose and triggered a chain reaction. Although Central Nippon Expressway, the operator of the expressway, said it did not detect any defects during a regular check in September, BBC News confirms that an inquiry into the collapse has been launched.

"Based on the fact that the accident occurred 36 years after the tunnel was completed, we believe aging was the reason," Ryoichi Yoshikawa, executive officer of Central Nippon Expressway told Japan’s Asahi Shimbun.

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LGBTQ Plus

My Wife, My Boyfriend — And Grandkids: A Careful Coming Out For China's Gay Seniors

A series of interviews in Wuhan with aging gay men — all currently or formerly married to women — reveals a hidden story of how Chinese LGBTQ culture is gradually emerging from the shadows.

Image of two senior men playing chinese Checkers.

A friendly game of Checkers in Dongcheng, Beijing, China.

Wang Er

WUHAN — " What do you think of that guy sitting there, across from us? He's good looking."

" Then you should go and talk to him."

“ Too bad that I am old..."

Grandpa Shen was born in 1933. He says that for the past 40 years, he's been "repackaged," a Chinese expression for having come out as gay. Before his wife died when he was 50, Grandpa Shen says he was was a "standard" straight Chinese man. After serving in the army, he began working in a factory, and dated many women and evenutually got married.

"Becoming gay is nothing special, I found it very natural." Grandpa Shen says he discovered his homosexuality at the Martyrs' Square in Wuhan, a well-known gay men's gathering place.

✉️ You can receive our LGBTQ+ International roundup every week directly in your inbox. Subscribe here.

Wuhan used to have different such ways for LGBTQ+ to meet: newspaper columns, riversides, public toilets, bridges and baths to name but a few. With urbanization, many of these locations have disappeared. The transformation of Martyrs' Square into a park has gradually become a place frequented by middle-aged and older gay people in Wuhan, where they play cards and chat and make friends. There are also "comrades" (Chinese slang for gay) from outside the city who come to visit.

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