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Either it's Turning Japanese, or just having a fit of The Vapors, but for the current fortnight, it's Semana Temática de Japón (Japanese Theme Week) in La Laguna.

(Yes, we worked out that's 2 weeks too. We don't know the reason, except that this is Tenerife! :)

Mayoress of La Laguna, Ana Oramas and the Japanese Consul in the Canary Islands, Takeshi Mochizuki, opened the third edition of this exhibition, that runs until May 25th, at the former convent of Santo Domingo, on Monday.

The exhibition, according to the town hall's communiqué, provides a tour of Japanese culture, with free workshops in writing, traditional costumes, music, manga (comics), Ikebana (flower arranging), traditional Japanese games, as well as concerts, film projections, conferences and exhibitions of shiatsu massage or martial arts. There is also an exhibition of valuable kimonos, traditional dolls and manga comics on display.

Of note is a concert of traditional Japanese music with Satomi Morimoto in the former convent of Santo Domingo, on Saturday, May 17th at 8.30 p.m.

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A minor earthquake, with an epicenter 24 kilometers to the east of Tenerife, off the coast of the island's capital, Santa Cruz, was felt in some areas of the island this morning, although there have been no reports of any damage.


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The epicenter of today's earthquake has been located at 28.44 degrees north, 16.01 degrees west and, at a depth of 33 kilometers.

The earthquake, which measured 3.4 on the Richter scale (classed as minor), occurred at 08.45 hours local time today (07.45 GMT). Immediately afterwards, the emergency line 112 received multiple calls from residents in the area, from Santa Cruz to Tacoronte, saying that they had felt the tremor.

The director of the Canary Islands' Geophysical Center, María José Blanco, told Spanish newsagency, EFE, that seismic movements of moderate intensity, such as today's, occur several times a year in the fault system that lies between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, but that this time it had been felt by more people, because the epicenter was closer to the Tenerife coast than usual.

In October 2007, an earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale, was recorded 50 miles to the south of La Gomera and was noticed very lightly in some areas of La Gomera and the west of Tenerife. María José Blanco had again underlined then that tremors of around the 3 level are relatively frequent.

The biggest earthquake in recent history affected La Laguna and Santa Cruz, on May 9th, 1989, reaching a magnitude of 5.2. Although it was reportedly felt in the whole of Tenerife and parts of Gran Canaria, again, there are no reports of damage having been caused. Nevertheless, we are told that it was largely in response to that event that a budget was obtained to set up a network of scientific measurement to keep an eye on seismic activity on the islands.

Movimiento sísmico de 3'4 grados a 25 kilómetros de la isla de Tenerife
Un terremoto de 3,4 grados sacude Tenerife sin causar daños
La tierra tiembla en algunas zonas de la isla de Tenerife

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On Friday, the Canarian Government was busy denying that they had planted the idea in Europe over limiting or regulating the acquisition of second homes in the Canary Islands, but continues the report, they do not discount doing so in the future.

Although, territoriosred point to an article in La Provincia which says that the European Union won't permit limitations on the purchase of second homes, except in very specific cases, they go on to give examples of how, a Canarian (and presumably any other foreigner) wanting to buy a property in Denmark, for instance, would have to be resident in that country to be able to do so. There's potentially nothing rotten about this; the same condition is expected of a Dane.

In Malta, the government demands a period of legal establishment of at least 5 years, before purchasers can buy a summer home on the Mediterranean island.

The EU is reported not to like words like limitation and restriction (especially when they would go against the free movement and free establishment principles that the EU is all about), but based on those examples, it may still be unlikely, but it's not impossible to imagine that some sort of special rule might, at some point, be allowed in the Canary Islands, based on the size and limitations of the territory. Some of the Greek islands, I believe, allow EU citizens to purchase property, but disallow those from outside the union from setting up there.

And, don't forget that there may be precedents in the facts that the Canary Islands already have special status for taxes; enjoy special concessions because of their "ultra periphery" (being a long way from everything) and are also treated as being outside of the EU for Duty Free and Customs purposes.

Anyway, I didn't catch the run up to this, nor what might have been said to make them have to react with a denial, but it's one to watch as, clearly, if a change were to take place, it could seriously affect foreign property owners.

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The Australian women's water polo team are amongst those expected to qualify for the 2008 FINA Women's Water Polo World League Super Final that takes place in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, from June 10 to June 15, 2008. (I'll avoid all the obvious jokes about how water polo is a bit unkind on the horses!)

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A psychologist, biologist and ecologist (one person, but three "ists" must count for something), has classified Spain's urban and resort building model as being "pan para hoy y hambre para mañana", a common saying in Spanish which basically means "sacrificing long-term gain for short-term benefit." (Via)

Photo: ahisgett

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At the XI International Tourism Forum, celebrated on May 9th at the luxurious Gran Hotel Bahía del Duque, in Costa Adeje, experts are reported to have said that renovation is fundamental for Tenerife's fate and that the sector can overcome the current crisis through the generation of new products.

There was general agreement amongst attendees, apparently, that as a destination, Tenerife has become somewhat obsolete and renovation would create a better image in both the national and international markets. Currently, 25% of the island's accommodation is more than 25 years old and, it's proposed to spend 840 million euros (around £675 million) on bringing it up-to-date.

Although, Joan Molas, President of the Spanish Federation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation, has said that it was all very well renewing the hotels, but that it was also necessary to improve what he calls the "third division connections" that Tenerife has, referring to airlines and routes that serve the island.

That same article reports that UK visitors this summer look to be "following a stable line, in relation to previous years," 1.9% up on forecast.

Meanwhile, in another report from the forum they're saying that Tenerife should promote itself in the Nordic market, after wearing it's image out in the United Kingdom and point to the "frankly difficult" economic situation in the UK.

There's almost an inference in there that we Brits will be considered too cheap and poor for the "new and improved" Tenerife. (They may have a point.)

Quoting Ignacio Vasallo, the Director of the Spanish Tourist Office (OET) in London, explains, "Tenerife is the top tourist destination for British tourists, with almost as many visitors annually as the whole of Italy; it's a love story, but it also produces fatigue, so there are motives to be preoccupied."

What he is saying, makes it clear that Tenerife still wants British business, but he realizes that the island needs to smarten up and also to hedge its bets against the risk of this tiredness setting in, in epidemic proportions.

Tenerife hasn't had a crisis in the Nordic market, yet, although it needs to take care, because deficiencies do not go unnoticed. For instance, as Susanne of the Scandinavian Country & Western band, who play in Los Cristianos, points out on her blog, tourists complain or feel cheated when bars serve cheap, immitation spirits in place of well-known brands in an effort to make more profits.

Others are, rightly, saying that the Government, the Island Corporation and Town Halls, etc., as well as the hoteliers, need to be involved. I'd agree, it's a complicated issue in which attitudes, as well as images, need to change.

Photo: leemcarthur

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At the risk of sounding like I'm making a cheap joke, nocturnal surfing sounds like it could be related to horizontal jogging and, if you Google the term (at your own risk), I think you'll find that I was not the only person, with my mind in the sewer, to make such connection. :)

The Waves and Stars event, by complete contrast, is an exhibition of surfing (good clean fun in water), done in the after dark hours.

There's also going to be a Greenpeace film about climate change shown, a concert, an exhibition of dancing, fire jugglers and more ...

Saturday, May 17th, from 7.30 p.m.

Playa Martianez, Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife.

Exhibición de surf nocturno Waves & Stars

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One of the world's top experts in hurricanes, Cuban-American, Dr. Lixion Ávila, president of the committee on tropical cyclones and tropical meteorology, part of the American Meteorological Society and, longest-tenured senior specialist weather forecaster with the US National Hurricane Center in Miami, has made a "profound" study of the storm, Delta, that hit the Canaries in 2005.

Recently in Madrid for a meeting on subtropical cyclones, organized by the Spanish Meteorological Agency, La Opinión de Tenerife took the opportunity to interview Lixion Ávila (read chapter and verse there, in Spanish.)

The take away is in the headline, in that Ávila says "The Canaries must be prepared for storms like Delta." They happen, sometimes. They aren't a mystery. And, Ávila doesn't put them down to global warming either.

What seems to be at odds with the ability to be prepared (like Boy Scouts) - the article mentions - is the tendency that the local administrations have to "mutism" from the fear that talking openly about it will affect tourism.

Meanwhile, while we're talking about Tenerife weather, yet again, comes the news that the Canaries beat the temperature records in April.

As tourists, that might sound wonderful to you, but in some parts of Tenerife, that early heatwave saw off up to 80% of the potato crops.

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The chimpanzee who went out to a bar, has returned to routine at the zoo, reports Diario Tenerife.

Their report also tells us it was the daughter who spent a couple of hours in a nearby bar on Friday, after escaping from the Oasis del Valle zoological park in La Orotava, in company of her mother.

Adolescent vandals, huh? :)

One of the staff from the park told Spanish news agency, EFE, that the chimp is fine and has returned to normality, commenting that the injuries the two year old suffered, after burning herself on a grill in the bar's kitchen, are minor.

The mother, apparently, took her carer by the hand and presented no problems in being taken home. The daughter probably felt lost and scared without mum and, may have chosen that bar as it's the same colour as the zoo center.

This is the first escape of a similar nature from Oasis del Valle in the more than 20 years it's been open, this employee underlined. Until a couple of years ago, they did have tigers, panthers and other wild animals, but the owners are moving towards making it into a farming school, in which there are mostly domestic animals, although they also keep ostriches, camels and llamas.

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Europeans get drunk 'to have sex', reports Captain Obvious at the BBC, which seems like no news at all!

Of course, that's followed up with the grim pronouncement that "the UK has one of the worst reputations for binge drinking and underage sex." And, we see plenty of them doing it in Tenerife, don't we?

The British do have this reputation, not entirely undeservedly from some things I've seen and heard, from which it is frequently assumed here (though the assumptions are frankly ignorant) that we're all loose / willing.

Therefore, I was most interested to read the results of this study, carried out in 9 European cities, which found that in Liverpool, 30% had drunk alcohol and had sex by the time they were 16 compared with 37% in Palma, Spain.

Pot, kettle, black, huh? (Well, unless that merely means 7% more youngsters in Palma, Spain are honest about it!) Even more interesting to note, though is that Diario Tenerife have chosen to run the same news report, in Spanish.

What neither version does is to give the percentages for all of the cities, but on what is given, it looks like the British are the least offenders of the lot!

Cars multiply in Tenerife

While looking for a suitable image for the above story, I was presented with this other option (right).

So that's how come there are 690 cars per 1,000 inhabitants in the Canary Islands? Or maybe if I say that there are 69 cars per 100 people, you'll get the irony? :)

Actually, sexual innuendo aside, it's a disgusting statistic, when looked at alongside the world average of 164 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants.

The average in Spain is 471 vehicles per thousand inhabitants, on a par with the European average of 472. Tenerife is worse with 720 vehicles per 1,000 people, not far behind the United States' appalling number of 765, though at least we haven't reached Lanzarote's level of 875, where we have to assume that even dogs have their own cars and toddlers drive themselves to nursery.

Of course, we have a large car hire fleet, but that surely is not the only answer, because other tourist destinations must too. The good news is that vehicle registrations have dropped recently on the island. The bad news is that this is usually reported as being a negative thing, related to the economic crisis.

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