Tickets for a public lottery whose revenue will partially fund reconstruction from the March 11 disasters are on sale, with the top three prizes worth a record ¥500 million.
The first prize in the Green Jumbo Lottery, which is helping to fund reconstruction in nine prefectures and two cities ravaged by the quake and tsunami, was set at a record ¥300 million. The two prizes for adjacent numbers will fetch ¥100 million each, according to organizer Mizuho Bank.
Twenty-two jackpots and 44 prizes for adjacent numbers are being offered in the period through March 14. There will be 44 second prizes of ¥10 million each and 220 third prizes of ¥5 million, the bank said.
This year's jackpot is double the top prize of ¥150 million in the 2011 Green Jumbo Lottery, it said.
A total of 220 million tickets will be sold at ¥300 each. Revenues are expected to total ¥28.8 billion, with ¥8.8 billion to be allocated to municipal governments in the disaster-hit prefectures and cities.
Some 700 people braved the rain Tuesday morning to line up for tickets at the Nishiginza Chance Center, a ticket booth in central Tokyo. The tickets went on sale at 8:30 a.m.
"If I win the lottery, I will donate the full amount to an area ravaged by the earthquake," said a man in his 50s from Yokohama.
"Misfortune could befall anyone at any time, so as I cannot make any major contribution to the quake-hit area, I would like to contribute in this manner," he said.
The lottery will be drawn March 23 at a public hall in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi — one of the worst-hit prefectures.