Google Maps goes “underground” in Japan’s radioactive zone

This is not a place you’d want to hang around for too long Google is producing “underground” street maps of Japan’s nuclear exclusion zone. The radiation levels near the Fukushima site are spiking to record levels, but that hasn’t stopped Google’s StreetView from entering one area of the ‘forbidden’ zone. The images are from 17 … Read more

Number of school trips to Tohoku disaster areas rises

“We want to continue activities that allow us to share the experiences of the disaster,” a member of the town’s tourism exchange section said. Many students also visit places in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, including the Kadanowaki Primary School building, which was ravaged both by tsunami and fire. According to the Ishinomaki tourism association, the town … Read more

Couple share woodworking skills with Tohoku kids

The Yomiuri ShimbunOITA—A couple running a wood processing company in Oita Prefecture will continue to hold woodworking workshops for children at day care centers in disaster-hit Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, despite having a subsidy terminated. Eiichi Watanabe, 49, president of Kyushu Daito in the city of Nakatsu, Oita Prefecture, and his wife Michiko, 44, are determined … Read more

New disaster warning system

The Meteorological Agency on Aug. 30 started a system to use a “special warning” (tokubetsu keiho) designation for natural disasters that are very likely to cause heavy damage. As Mr. Mitsuhiko Hatori, director general of the agency, said, a special warning means that a life or death situation is imminent. Once such a warning is … Read more

Donated books help students in quake-affected Tohoku region

Plus Alpha, a cram school in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, is one of the recipients of those books. It uses the secondhand books in English grammar class, which were donated from all across the country and collected by Sankousho Takkyubin. “Those books are really helpful because it’s hard for me to buy them,” said Kana Ishii, … Read more

FUKUSHIMA: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

FUKUSHIMA: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW     By: Devvy August 25, 2013 NewsWithViews.com The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster came as a result of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. A truly horrible disaster almost beyond words. Naturally, it dominated news media, electronic and print, for many weeks. The death and destruction … Read more

Aftershocks Could Raise Earthquake Risks for Vulnerable Cities

NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images Devastation from the 1923 quake that leveled Tokyo. A similar earthquake today could cause $1 trillion in damages As catastrophic as the 2011 northern Japan quake and tsunami was—killing more than 15,000 people and causing more than $200 billion in economic damages—in a way, the country was lucky. … Read more

The Fukushima nuclear complex is still not under control

The Fukushima nuclear complex is still not under control | GlobalPost Follow us: <!– PRIMARY NAVIGATION –> Richard SmartAugust 23, 2013 10:38 New revelations of serious radioactive contamination haunt Japan. Enlarge TOKYO, Japan — More than two years after the massive Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, high levels of radiation are escaping into the ground and … Read more

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake shook northeastern Japan, unleashing a savage tsunami. The effects of the great earthquake were felt around the world, from Norway’s fjords to Antarctica’s ice sheet. Tsunami debris continues to wash up on North American beaches two years later. Japan still recovering In Japan, residents are still recovering from … Read more

What’s important to the elite?

As William Pesek makes very clear in his Aug. 14/15 article “Fukushima replaces economy as Abe’s legacy issue,” it is truly mind-boggling that Japan’s most senior leaders don’t seem to be able to acknowledge the worst crisis in their nation’s history since the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. This is no time for economic miracles … Read more