Minamata disease victims struggle to find closure
More than 60 years after first raising awareness about a neurological disease caused by industrial mercury poisoning, photojournalist Aileen M. Smith still wants answers.
Peanuts grown in an area hit hard by powerful typhoons last year are being used to make distilled shōchū spirits in another prefecture affected by torrential rains in July this year. The product, connecting typhoon-hit Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, with deluge-affected Kumamoto Prefecture in ...
479 leprosy patients at Kumamoto sanatorium were dissected after death
Of some 2,400 patients at Kikuchi Keifuen who died between 1911 and 1965, 291 were dissected by the sanatorium and 98 by a university, the report said.
From Fukushima to Kyushu, disaster victims have mixed reaction to Abe news
Residents in areas hit by natural disasters responded to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's announcement Friday of his decision to resign with words of gratitude and concern. "The current administration supported us well, and we were able to speedily push forward with reconstruction," said Yoshihide Abe, ...
Scrapped dam may have limited flood damage from Kumamoto rains
The estimations showed that the dam, called the Kawabegawa dam, may have reduced the peak river flow rate to two-thirds in the city of Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto.
Pandemic hampers efforts to rebuild in Kumamoto one month after deadly rains
Only local volunteers are being sought, after a nurse and a news photographer who traveled to the flood-hit region both tested positive for the virus in July.
Many living away from home areas month after southern Japan deluge
At least 230 households are living in temporary accommodations outside their home areas one month after heavy rains caused massive floods in southern Kumamoto Prefecture. The prefectural government is building temporary housing, with over 1,400 people still living in evacuation centers. Demand for housing is ...
Japan's nursing care facilities face challenge of safely evacuating during disasters
Only 24 percent of nursing homes in Kyushu have evacuation plans in place
Northern and southern Kyushu will see 300 millimeters of rainfall during the 24 hours through 6 a.m. Saturday.
‘#Handball Strive’: The team may be fake, but the film is a winner
Daigo Matsui’s comedy about a sham high school handball team feels more like the real deal thanks to a younger cast.
Two weeks after torrential rains in Kumamoto, 2,000 people still in shelters
About 2,000 people are living in shelters set up in Kumamoto Prefecture as of Saturday, about two weeks after the southwestern prefecture sustained widespread damage due to flooding and landslides caused by torrential rains. The disasters destroyed or partially damaged 592 houses in the prefecture, ...
'#Handball Strive' digs into the pitfalls of performing for the 'likes'
Daigo Matsui’s comedy is about a fake handball team that chases Instagram fame and falls victim to online perils.
