Washed-up dock stirs awareness in Oregon

Mar 20, 2013

Washed-up dock stirs awareness in Oregon

by Rene Chen

When a massive dock drifted across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to the U.S. West Coast after the Great East Japan Earthquake, it brought along more than the invasive “wakame” kelp and mussels that were attached to it. The city of Newport, Oregon, where ...

Mar 19, 2013

30% of nuclear evacuee families live apart: poll

Two years into the nation’s worst nuclear plant crisis, members of more than 30 percent of families that evacuated from four towns around the Fukushima No. 1 complex are still fragmented. The figure reflects radiation fears that are preventing them from returning to their ...

Tomodachi program lets youths dream anew

Mar 16, 2013

Tomodachi program lets youths dream anew

by May Masangkay

Three young women had simple aspirations before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and nuclear crisis altered the landscape of the northeast and their lives on March 11. “I lost everything I had and my life was totally changed,” said Ayaka Ogawa, who became the ...

Ramen chef, 75, rebuilds by example

Mar 16, 2013

Ramen chef, 75, rebuilds by example

A 75-year-old ramen shop owner near one of the evacuation zones in Fukushima Prefecture is hoping his experience rebuilding businesses after two disasters will send a positive message to those who survived the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. Born in the town ...

Tokyo doctor adds disaster zone to practice

Mar 13, 2013

Tokyo doctor adds disaster zone to practice

by Ayako Mie

Ever since the 9-magnitude earthquake rocked the Tohoku region two years ago, Tokyo doctor Naoko Ishii and her husband, Hajime, have been quasi-residents of the Ogatsu district of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Just a day after the havoc began on March 11, 2011, the couple ...

Aceh observes 3/11 anniversary

Mar 13, 2013

Aceh observes 3/11 anniversary

About 600 people in Indonesia’s Aceh Province, which was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2004, participated in a ceremony Monday to commemorate the second anniversary of a similar catastrophe that ravaged the Tohoku region in 2011. Schoolchildren, representatives of society and ...

3/11 students vow leadership roles

Mar 13, 2013

3/11 students vow leadership roles

by May Masangkay

Students from the Tohoku region devastated by the March 11, 2011, disasters have vowed to draw from their experiences and take on new roles on the global stage. “We were given opportunities to examine global issues and think about how to address them,” Atsuko ...

Kan cites 'God's help' in containing nuclear crisis

Mar 12, 2013

Kan cites 'God's help' in containing nuclear crisis

Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a videotaped message shown Monday at a symposium in New York that the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was “one step away from the worst situation” and that catastrophe was avoided with “God’s ...

Work resumes on Aomori's new Oma nuclear plant

Mar 12, 2013

Work resumes on Aomori's new Oma nuclear plant

by Chico Harlan

At the remote northwestern tip of a snowy peninsula, beyond a small road of fishing shacks and empty one-story homes, 600 construction workers and engineers are building a brand-new nuclear plant for a country still recovering from the most severe atomic disaster since Chernobyl. ...