National | Regional Voices: Tohoku May 29, 2020
Most Iwate 3/11 memorials canceled, with next year’s under threat
Charity events and victim support projects put on hold due to coronavirus pandemic.
National Apr 3, 2020
3/11 survivors face loneliness after moving into public housing for disaster victims
In a recent poll of people in the March 2011 disaster-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima who moved to public housing for survivors, nearly half said they feel that interactions with neighbors have decreased since they moved to the housing complexes from temporary ...
National / Social Issues | Regional Voices: Tohoku Apr 3, 2020
Iwate 3/11 survivors face isolation as wait to leave makeshift houses drags on
About 40 households who survived the March 2011 earthquakes and tsunami in the coastal areas of Iwate Prefecture are still stuck in makeshift housing, waiting to move into new homes. As more temporary housing units become vacant in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, some of the elderly ...
Business Apr 3, 2020
Nine years after 3/11 earthquake, Tohoku sake brewers revived with help of young workers
Despite being battered by the March 11, 2011, massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, a total of 110 sake brewing companies continue to operate in the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima in the Tohoku region. Young workers are bringing new life to the regional ...
National Mar 20, 2020
Sanriku Railway, icon of 3/11 recovery, back to full service after typhoon
All sections of Sanriku Railway Co.'s Rias Line in Iwate Prefecture resumed operations Friday, about five months after the regional train line was hit hard by a powerful typhoon. Last October, Typhoon Hagibis caused damage — including a mudslide that flowed into a tunnel — ...
National Mar 11, 2020
Japan marks ninth anniversary of 3/11 disaster quietly as virus concerns halt events
Japan marked the ninth anniversary Wednesday of the massive earthquake and tsunami that rocked the Tohoku region and killed more than 15,000 people in 2011, as health fears over the spread of COVID-19 prompted the cancellation or scaling down of a number of events. A ...
National Mar 11, 2020
Nine years on, monuments in Tohoku pass on lessons and memories from 3/11
The public, industry and academic sectors in four northeastern prefectures hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami are collaborating on a project to highlight disaster-related monuments and remains across the region. Dubbed the "3.11 Densho Road," the initiative aims to link disaster-related sites across ...
National Mar 9, 2020
Tohoku land-reutilization project breathes new life into 3/11 danger zones
Towns and cities in the three Tohoku prefectures damaged most by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami are moving forward with plans to reuse abandoned land plots under a group relocation program aimed at disaster prevention. With the central government designating such plots as disaster ...
National Mar 9, 2020
Japan's reconstruction minister vows to assist small firms hit by 3/11
The government will put particular focus on small and midsize companies in its provision of recovery assistance following the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, Cabinet minister Kazunori Tanaka said Sunday. The measures will focus on areas such as agriculture and tourism, Tanaka said ...
National Mar 5, 2020
Tohoku communities scaling down 3/11 memorial events due to coronavirus
Some municipalities have already postponed or canceled their own events.
National Mar 2, 2020
Almost 25% of those who died due to illness or stress after 3/11 had disabilities
Nearly a quarter of those who died of illness or stress linked to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the hardest-hit prefectures were people with disabilities, a Kyodo News survey released Sunday showed. Disabled people accounted for 24.6 percent of total "disaster-related deaths" in ...
National | Regional voices: Chubu Feb 10, 2020
Aichi students send Hanshin quake-linked sunflowers to disaster-hit areas
Sunflowers that students in Aichi Prefecture cultivated from seeds originally grown at the home of a 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake victim were displayed during a memorial ceremony on Jan. 17, marking the 25th anniversary of the disaster. Students of Chisato Junior High School and Shinshiro ...