Counting Down to Eclipse Live from FUJIYAMA by Panasonic's Solar Power

OSAKA, Japan - Saturday, May 19th 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- It's only days away from a rare solar eclipse and Panasonic is counting down to the special day! http://news.panasonic.net/archives/2012/0419_10352.html

For the residents of the main "Honshu" island of Japan, to be able to observe the solar eclipse is really a rare opportunity with the last full eclipse visible only in the scattered southern Okinawa islands on September 23, 1987 and the next full eclipse expected to be visible in Hokkaido on June 1, 2030, or in other words eighteen years later!

To make sure we and all our fans will be able to view this year's solar eclipse on May 21, Panasonic will broadcast this rare opportunity live from the peak of Mt. Fuji, Japan's highest and most prominent mountain (as well as the area that will be right smack in the middle of the path of the eclipse). And better yet to give this challenge an ironic twist, the electricity used by the equipment for the live filming will only be powered with electricity generated by the sun using Panasonic's HIT solar panels.

Currently, the base camp is being set up at the fifth station of the mountain, steadily preparing for the big day, including generating and storing the electricity for the challenge at the peak.

[Video] Setting Up for Eclipse Live from Mt Fuji by Panasonic Solar Power About This Project

During the live broadcasting, HIT solar panels situated at the base camp will charge the mobile power supplies which will then be shouldered up to the peak by the climbing expedition where the live broadcast will take place.

And even if the clouds decide to play "hide and seek" with us, our climbing expedition at the peak of Mt. Fuji, which boasts a height 3776.24 m (12389 ft), will be able to bring you the experience from (hopefully) above the clouds.

Filming the Sun, Using the Sun. Have fun with us!

http://panasonic.net/eclipselive Official facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/PanasonicEclipseLive Official twitter account: https://twitter.com/#!/FujiyamaEclipse #PanasonicFujiyamaEclipse PressKit: http://news.panasonic.net/presskits/eclipselive_by_solarpower

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50282936&lang=en

Contacts

Contact Details (regarding the project, including photos)

Panasonic Corporation

PR Contact: Anna Kihara

TEL: +81-3-5572-6316 (Japanese inquiries)

EMAIL: a-kihara@vectorinc.co.jp(Japanese and English inquiries)