Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Crime & Legal Sep 17, 2013
More Japanese nuclear refugees sue Tepco, government
A total of 171 people from Fukushima Prefecture who had to flee their homes because of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant sued Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the central government Tuesday for ¥1.62 billion in damages. The plaintiffs, from 60 ...
Editorial Sep 13, 2013
Housing help for evacuees
The central and local governments must be ready to help both evacuees who want to return home and those who want to settle in new places.
National Sep 11, 2013
Tohoku still in dire need of medical support
Thirty months after tsunami devastated the Tohoku coast, residents are still facing a lack of medical services because of delays in restarting damaged hospitals and clinics and the closures of others. To overcome the shortage of medical staff in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, ...
National Aug 25, 2013
Hot-zone subsidies for retailers in works
The industry ministry will launch a subsidy program in fiscal 2014 to attract retailers to evacuation zones around the radioactive Fukushima No. 1 power plant, sources said. The program is aimed at paving the way for nuclear evacuees to return if and when nuclear ...
Crime & Legal Aug 20, 2013
Evacuees, residents to sue for ¥1 in neglected aid
Fukushima residents and evacuees plan to sue the government for ¥1 each over its failure to enforce a law to support those affected by the nuclear crisis sparked by the March 2011 natural disasters, their lawyer said Tuesday. Twelve evacuees who voluntarily left the ...
National Mar 15, 2013
Communities grapple with breakups
It is often said that natural disasters destroy communities three times — once by evacuation, twice by moving residents into temporary housing and a third time by issuing public housing by lottery.
National | TOHOKU TRAPPED IN TIME Mar 11, 2013
Residents failed by fitful rebuilding
by Mizuho Aoki
Two years after thousands of Fukushima residents fled to escape the radiation from the No. 1 power plant meltdowns, many are gradually returning as more areas are deemed safe.
National Mar 11, 2013
Unable to return, Futaba residents fear becoming lost tribe
by Mami Maruko
Makiyasu Matsumoto, 82, worries he may never be able to return to his hometown of Futaba, which was rendered uninhabitable by the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 power plant. “I want to go back, because Futaba has been my home almost all my life. But ...
National Mar 6, 2013
LDP gives victims disaster relief pitch
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is striving to ensure that evacuees from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami can mark the second anniversary of the disasters with hope for the future, former LDP Vice President Tadamori Oshima said. Nearly two years after the disasters ...
National Mar 6, 2013
Student to speak at U.N.
An 18-year-old high school student who plans to attend a special U.N. session in New York told reporters in Tokyo that she hopes to convey her desire to rebuild her quake- and tsunami-hit community, which was devastated by the March 2011 disasters. “Reconstruction has ...