Search - tohoku-

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 1, 2015

In lycra and online, foreigners are doing their bit for Tohoku

Four years on from the catastrophic events of March 2011, Lifelines introduces two examples of how foreign nationals are pitching in for Tohoku and having fun in the process.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Mar 1, 2015

Educator brings fresh learning opportunities to Tohoku youths

For Kumi Imamura, 35, an award-winning educator, setting up a place of learning for children in the disaster-hit Tohoku region was the natural next step in her career.
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Apr 17, 2016

Tohoku prefectures huddle to find ways to woo, cater to foreign tourists

To attract more foreign visitors to Tohoku, governors from the six prefectures in the region have agreed to establish a comprehensive sightseeing route and develop other promotional measures.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LIGHTING THE OLYMPIC FLAME
Sep 24, 2013

Tokyo puts Tohoku on games map, but will it be enough?

As Tokyo wrapped up its winning bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, one speech during the final presentation resonated with members of the International Olympic Committee.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 10, 2019

A new approach to volunteering in Tohoku

When Angela Ortiz describes what it felt like to return to Aomori Prefecture five days after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, she uses words like "horror," "incredulous disbelief" and "intense curiosity."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
May 30, 2015

Angela Ortiz: 'I'd like to see Tohoku contributing to Japan and the world'

NGO founder on aid initiatives and the Knights in White Lycra.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2014

Tohoku students showcase area's products at New York fair

Students from Tohoku University in Sendai on Saturday showcased artifacts and other products from the disaster-hit Tohoku region at the Japan Block Fair in New York's West Village to help companies in the recovering region drum up more business overseas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Aug 8, 2013

Supporting Tohoku one glass at a time

On a Saturday evening in late July, Wine Aid for East Japan began, appropriately, with a toast. Now in its third year, the event, organized by professionals in the wine industry to raise money for charities in the Tohoku region, featured over 100 premium wines and a buffet showcasing ingredients from...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 16, 2018

The Michinoku Coastal Trail: Tohoku's recovery in action

The Michinoku Coastal Trail is a 2013 initiative by Japan's environment ministry to rejuvenate disaster-stricken Tohoku through ecotourism. At 700-kilometers long, it winds through protected forest, bucolic villages and along dramatic coastlines.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Nov 23, 2016

For 'student of life' Angela Ortiz, lessons from family and 'Grit MBA' from Tohoku led to dream job

'Being a single parent and main role model for my daughter, I have often wondered: What am I showing my daughter by what I do with my life?' says Angela Ortiz.
Japan Times
JAPAN / 3/11 STILL BEING FELT
Mar 9, 2015

Some Tohoku disaster areas on fast track to rebuilding while others stuck in slow lane

A 3-km-long conveyor belt system is spearheading the reconstruction effort in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, but other areas aren't so lucky.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2021

Photo essay: The seawalls of Tohoku

Since March 11, 2011, more than 350 kilometers of seawalls have been built along the Tohoku coastline.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 28, 2018

From Tohoku to Tokyo, Acchi Cocchi NPO offers healing through art

Acchi Cocchi brings music, dance and the visual arts into everyday life in Tohoku and the greater Tokyo area.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 10, 2018

Seeking solace in Tohoku's poets of old

On Oct. 11, 2011, seven months to the day after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami struck the Tohoku region, I stood beside the sole surviving pine tree from a 350-year-old forest of approximately 70,000 similar trees on the coastline of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. In the months following the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 27, 2016

Does Tohoku's disaster tourism exploit or educate?

Disaster tourism can be an unsettling descent into voyeurism as visitors ghoulishly gawk at, and photograph, those caught up in catastrophe as if they're at a petting zoo. The concept has prompted widespread condemnation of insensitive tourists and travel companies exploiting disasters as marketing opportunities....
JAPAN / THREE YEARS AFTER 3/11
Mar 5, 2014

Tohoku finding real recovery hard to come by

Yumiko Onodera is a survivor. She saw her town of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, devastated by gigantic tsunami and ensuing fire from damaged heavy oil tanks at the major fishery port on March 11, 2011.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 2, 2013

Housewife takes time to make a difference volunteering in Tohoku

Sometimes making a difference just means making the time. Kerry Shioya, 49, travels two or three times a month to the Tohoku areas hit by the March 11, 2011, disasters. Sometimes setting out alone, sometimes bringing one of her five children, interested English students or other volunteers, Shioya continues...
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2022

Tohoku Electric seeks government approval for household rate hike

After the rate increase, the monthly electricity bill for a standard household consuming 260 kWh will rise by u00a52,717 from the current level to u00a511,282.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 25, 2017

Gaffe-prone minister Imamura bows out over Tohoku remark

Masahiro Imamura, minister in charge of reconstruction of the disaster-hit Tohoku region, resigned Wednesday in the wake of controversial comments about the disaster.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 27, 2016

'Five-year rule' triggers 'Tohoku college massacre' of jobs

I have discussed the "five-year rule" several times before in this column — the revision of the Labor Contract Law (Rodo Keiyaku Ho) enacted in 2013. Under the amendment, any worker employed on serial fixed-term contracts (yūki koyō) for more than five years can give themselves permanent status....
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 2, 2013

Rock band Monkey Majik provides positive vibes for Tohoku, enjoys passionate following for Golden Eagles

There was magic in the air before Game 6 of the Japan Series.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 17, 2013

Tohoku coast faces man-made perils in wake of tsunami

One day in October 2011, marine ecologist Masahiro Nakaoka donned his scuba gear, paddled into the waters of Funakoshi Bay in Iwate Prefecture, and braced himself for his first glimpse of its underwater communities since a massive tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake swept through seven...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2012

Tohoku in rebuilding bubble

As Tohoku struggles to rebuild from last year's quake and tsunami, money continues to pour into the region in the form of central government subsidies for cleanup, repair and reconstruction.
JAPAN / Society / EXPLAINER
Nov 18, 2020

As nuclear worries linger, Tohoku plant heads for landmark restart

The restart, the first in the northeast, comes amidst controversial restarts in the country's west and debates over the energy source's role in a carbon neutral target.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2018

Reconstruction Agency to help Tohoku tourism industry market the region abroad

The Reconstruction Agency will help travel firms in Tohoku market themselves overseas to bring more tourism to the disaster-hit region, informed sources say.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2018

Japan to promote LGBT tourism in disaster-hit Tohoku

The Reconstruction Agency is launching an initiative in the hopes of drawing LGBT tourists to the Tohoku region as it looks to attract more foreign visitors.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb