Tokyo restaurants have started giving their patrons a chance to support Tohoku reconstruction by serving up traditional food and drink from the region and buying produce from farmers and fishermen there.
An "izakaya" pub in the Ginza district, which used to specialize in traditional Akita Prefecture dishes, reopened in January as a nonprofit eatery based on the cuisine of badly hit Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.
Meanwhile, an Italian restaurant that opened in late December in Chiyoda Ward's Jimbocho area is serving dishes with chicken and vegetables from a farm in Fukushima Prefecture and seafood from Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, to support producers whose reputations have been tarnished by the Fukushima nuclear crisis.