Wherio #10 — July 22nd, 2026

A magnitude-9 earthquake off Japan’s Tōhoku coast, the strongest ever recorded in the country, sent a massive tsunami into the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma. The wave knocked out the electrical grid and nearly all backup power, leaving operators unable to cool the reactors; containment failed and radioactive material escaped into the surrounding area. The UN’s radiation science committee rates it the worst nuclear incident since Chernobyl, though it has documented no adverse health effects among residents from the radiation itself. The disaster reshaped nuclear policy worldwide.

Geography clue given: Its flag shows a single red disc representing the rising sun.

New Zealand entrepreneur A. J. Hackett opened the world’s first commercial bungy jumping site at the historic Kawarau Bridge near Queenstown. Inspired by the land diving ritual of Vanuatu, Hackett had grabbed global headlines the year before by leaping from the Eiffel Tower. The Kawarau operation turned a daredevil stunt into an industry, helped brand Queenstown the adventure capital of the world, and made bungy jumping a signature of New Zealand tourism. Jumpers still hurl themselves from the same bridge today.

Geography clue given: It is famous for having far more sheep than people.

Soviet scientists drilling on the Kola Peninsula near the Norwegian border reached a depth of 12,262 meters, making the Kola Superdeep Borehole the deepest human-made hole on Earth, a record it still holds. The purely scientific project, begun as part of a decades-long Soviet program to probe the crust, ultimately stopped when extreme temperatures made the rock behave plastically, closing the hole around the drill. Along the way it upended assumptions about the deep crust, finding water and microscopic fossils far below where expected.

Geography clue given: It is the largest country in the world by area.

William Blake, the visionary English poet, painter and printmaker, died in London largely unrecognised, reportedly singing on his deathbed. Dismissed as mad by many contemporaries for his idiosyncratic mysticism, Blake produced a symbolically rich body of work, from the Songs of Innocence and of Experience to his self-printed ‘prophetic books’, that embraced imagination as ‘the body of God’. Later generations rediscovered him as a seminal figure of the Romantic Age, and he is now ranked among the greatest artists and poets Britain has produced.

Geography clue given: It has just one land border, running across a neighboring island.

The Treaty of Karlowitz, signed in the town now known as Sremski Karlovci in Serbia, ended the Great Turkish War and marked the Ottoman Empire’s first major territorial losses in Europe. After the crushing defeat at the Battle of Zenta, the Ottomans ceded most of Hungary and other lands to the Holy League powers, reversing nearly three centuries of expansion. The settlement established the Habsburg monarchy as the dominant power of Central Europe and is remembered as the moment the long Ottoman retreat began.

Geography clue given: The Danube flows through this landlocked Balkan country's capital.