Although Japan has not yet made a decision on whether it will join the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a recent announcement by Prime Minister Abe that he is seriously considering joining talks as a prelude to possible membership to the free trade bloc has sent shock waves through some parts of Japan, chiefly the...
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Where is it all going to go? Tsunami wreckage poses problems nationwide. TOKYO (majirox news) — Mariko Tanaka travels across the areas that were devastated by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami last year, auditing small banks and credit unions. The tsunami knocked out the trains from her home, which is near Sendai Airport, for...
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IWATE (majirox news) — A man’s body has been recovered and identified in Kamaishi City, Iwate prefecture, eight months after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Officials said the man, who was 35 years old at the time, was discovered November 2 inside his car, which was piled up in the rubble with other vehicles...
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Slightly built and soft-spoken, at first glance, Dr. Suimei Morikawa does not appear a likely candidate to carry hope to a place that hasn’t much of it. Yet that’s exactly what he’s doing for Otsuchi, an Iwate Prefecture town among the most devastated places struck by the March 11 disasters. Morikawa raced to Otsuchi...
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MORIOKA, Iwate (majirox news) — Fisheries industry figures from the devastated Iwate prefecture town of Otsuchi have online fundraising to rebuild from the destruction inflicted upon them by the March 11 tsunami. All 17 marine-related businesses in Otsuchi were wiped out when the massive wave destroyed about 90% of the town and only four...
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TOKYO (majirox news) — TV Tokai is under increasing pressure after having received more than 10,000 complaints for running an onscreen caption saying that rice from Iwate prefecture was tainted with radiation, network officials said Aug. 6. As reported earlier in Majirox News, the regional network broadcast captions referring to produce from Iwate prefecture...
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TOKYO (majirox news) — Sixteen people committed suicide in connection with the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake in Japan during June, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Aug. 5, the first time the government has disclosed information about suicides related to the disasters. Miyagi prefecture accounted for half of the 16 victims, Iwate prefecture...
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NAGOYA (majirox news) — Regional network TV Tokai apologized Aug. 4 after it broadcast a caption calling a prize of the national staple from Iwate prefecture “risky rice, made with cesium” and “contaminated rice, made with cesium.” “We have caused a tremendous nuisance for everyone who has been harmed by the nuclear reactor accident,...
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TOKYO (majirox news) — Only one out of 70,000 pine nut trees survived in the city of Rikuzentakada at Iwate prefecture. The other black-and-red pine trees were scattered and washed away by Japan’s March 11 tsunami. About 10 percent of the city’s population is dead or missing and large parts of the city lie...
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