A building rush linked to the 2020 Tokyo Games has been affecting rebuilding efforts in some areas devastated by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, despite the government's push to brand the event the reconstruction Olympics. Shortages of construction materials such as steel beams ...
Organizers to build recovery monuments for disaster-hit areas
The Tokyo Games organizing committee said Wednesday it will oversee construction of three Olympic monuments made out of materials recycled from temporary housing provided in the wake of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The Tokyo 2020 Recovery Monument project is the latest effort ...
Tohoku residents try to keep memory of 3/11 quake and tsunami alive through VR and wreckage
Conveying the fear of when a massive earthquake and tsunami strike is no easy feat. But eight years on from the disaster that shook the nation to its core, schools, municipalities and museums in the Tohoku region devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in ...
Stray fishing boat turns up eight years after Japan's devastating tsunami
A fishing boat swept away from Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, by the March 2011 tsunami was discovered recently off Kochi Prefecture, about 900 kilometers from its home port, officials said. A patrol vessel operated by the Kochi Prefectural Police found the capsized boat adrift 2.3 kilometers ...
Japan to tighten checks on South Korean fishery products in apparent Fukushima ban tit-for-tat
The health ministry said Thursday that it will strengthen inspections on flatfish and some other fishery products from South Korea starting Saturday. The ministry characterized the measure as an effort to safeguard the health of Japanese people ahead of summer, when food poisoning cases tend ...
JR East shinkansen ALFA-X prototype hits 320 kph in test run in northeastern Japan
A prototype of Japan's new shinkansen conducted a trial early Thursday, reaching 320 kilometers per hour, the maximum speed for existing shinkansen models. The prototype, dubbed ALFA-X, is designed to travel at 360 kph when it is put into service by the spring of 2031, ...
Body from March 2011 disaster identified from decade-old stamp
The Miyagi Prefectural Police have said that a corpse discovered in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami has been identified as that of a 60-year-old woman from the Miyagi town of Onagawa. The identification was made with DNA samples from a ...
Japan pitches safety of food from Fukushima and Tohoku in wake of WTO ruling for South Korea
Japan will seek to reassure other countries about the safety of food produced in areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis, officials said Friday, after the World Trade Organization supported South Korea's import ban on some Japanese seafood. Fishermen in Tohoku, the region hit ...
Abe sacks gaffe-prone Olympics minister Sakurada after 3/11 remarks and gives predecessor job back
After effectively removing gaffe-prone Olympics minister Yoshitaka Sakurada Wednesday night, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed Shunichi Suzuki, Sakurada's predecessor, as the next Olympics minister Thursday. "I want (Suzuki) to regain trust and bring the Olympics to a success," Abe told reporters Thursday morning. Sakurada submitted his ...
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Monday hosted a group of students from the Tohoku region to discuss its recovery from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, as well as preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Games. The five teenage "reconstruction ambassadors" from Iwate, ...
Tokyo Paralympic Games get a cherry blossom torch with new color and braille text
The organizing committee of the 2020 Tokyo Games has unveiled the Paralympic version of the official torch, which uses the braille alphabet and differs from the Olympic torch in color. Both the Paralympic and Olympic torches for next year's games make use of Japan's iconic ...
Tsunami-hit railway in northeast Japan resumes regular services
A railway line stretching more than 160 kilometers along Iwate Prefecture's Pacific Coast resumed regular services Sunday for the first time since sustaining heavy damage caused by the 2011 tsunami and massive earthquake that devastated the Tohoku region. The service between Miyako and Kamaishi stations ...
