Miyagi Prefecture

National / Science & Health Dec 3, 2020

'The diversity of nature': Rare 9-tentacled octopus found in northeastern Japan

The unusual creature has been put on display at the local nature center in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture.

Olympics Oct 25, 2019

Olympic icons Tadahiro Nomura, Saori Yoshida to unveil Tokyo 2020 flame in March

Three-time Olympic gold medalists Tadahiro Nomura and Saori Yoshida will deliver the 2020 Olympic flame from Greece and unveil it in Japan at a ceremony in March, the organizing committee of the Tokyo Games said Friday. Nomura, a former judoka who captured his first of ...

National Aug 2, 2018

Japanese government aims to have all evacuees in Miyagi and Iwate secure new homes by 2021

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that by March 2021 the government will aim to complete the building and securing of houses for those forced to evacuate due to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in two of the three hardest-hit prefectures in Tohoku. The government ...

Food & Drink Apr 13, 2018

In Tohoku, samurai cuisine is racking up Michelin stars

by Ross Kenneth Urken

In the town of Shiogama in Miyagi Prefecture, there's a residential neighborhood overlooking Matsushima Bay, the epicenter of Japan's catastrophic March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. On a quiet street there, chef Hideyuki Irakawa and his wife, Michiko, have been serving samurai food from ...

National Aug 11, 2017

Japan's young farmers pin hopes on technology to revitalize agricultural industry

by Kaori Kaneko

A new breed of younger, business- and tech-savvy farmers is transforming Japan's shrinking agriculture sector with cutting-edge techniques and marketing strategies, giving new hope to an industry in slow decline. Hiroki Iwasa, a 40-year-old IT entrepreneur with an MBA, grows strawberries in seven high-tech greenhouses ...

National Jun 12, 2017

Sendai teen's body recovered off beach in Miyagi

The body of a Sendai high school student who vanished during a failed dinghy outing off Miyagi Prefecture has been found, the Japan Coast Guard said Monday. The body of Rui Sakai, 16, was found 620 meters off Kitakama Beach in Natori, the Coast Guard's ...

National May 9, 2017

Bonfire may be cause of Miyagi fire that forced 400 people to flee homes, investigators say

Police said Tuesday that a bonfire may be the source of a forest fire that broke out Monday in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, which temporarily forced nearly 400 residents from 117 households to evacuate. According to police officials, a resident alerted firefighters around noon Monday to ...

National / Crime & Legal Oct 28, 2016

Ishinomaki to appeal ruling over tsunami deaths of school students

The city’s mayor says it will appeal a court ruling ordering it to pay, together with Miyagi Prefecture, ¥1.4 billion in damages.

National / Crime & Legal May 25, 2016

Settlement reached over student deaths at tsunami-hit driving school

The families of 25 teens killed in the 2011 tsunami while they were at a driving school in Miyagi Prefecture reached a financial settlement with the school on Wednesday in a deal that also includes an apology from the latter over the deaths. In the ...

Food & Drink Mar 11, 2016

Winemakers plant seeds of tourism in Japan's disaster zone

by Stephen Stapczynski and Emi Urabe

Making wine is difficult anywhere in Japan, but try doing it in a part of the country that has been rocked by an earthquake and tsunami, and spurned because of a nuclear disaster. Akiu Winery, near Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture that's about 300 ...