Tag - tohoku

 
 

TOHOKU

JAPAN / REVISITING 3/11
Mar 8, 2016
Five years on, joint disaster training a legacy of U.S. military's Operation Tomodachi
In the wake of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, a range of U.S. troops and civilian rescue workers joined the relief effort. The scale of the disaster led to unprecedented logistical challenges on both sides and calls for more joint training specifically for disaster relief.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2016
Funassyi character lends support and product license to Tohoku recovery groups
The pear-like character Funassyi may seem at first glance to be from another world, but the unofficial mascot of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, is starting to make a real difference in this one.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 6, 2016
Immigration: the missing piece in the Tohoku recovery puzzle?
Entrepreneurship, reconstruction and tourism still may not be enough to save rapidly depopulating Onagawa.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 5, 2016
Our new school's on song despite cabals
Almost exactly five years ago, on March 11, 2011, an earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami wreaked havoc in the northeastern Tohoku region. Here where I live amid the faraway mountains of Nagano Prefecture, all of us connected with the C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust wondered what we could do to...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 5, 2016
Tohoku is literally still waiting to move on
Earlier this month, the NHK travel series, "Tsurube Toasts Families," in which rakugo (traditional comic storyteller) performer Shofukutei Tsurube and a guest visit a town and talk to residents on an impromptu basis, went to some new communities in the area destroyed by the Great East Japan Earthquake...
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....
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Feb 22, 2016
Wasteful spending in Tohoku
The amount of wasteful government spending in the Tohoku reconstruction effort is truly staggering.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 13, 2016
Onagawa is on the rebound from devastation
On March 11, 2011, the magnitude-9 Great East Japan Earthquake propelled a powerful tsunami through the port of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, claiming 827 lives — nearly 10 percent of the town's population — and destroying 70 percent of all of its buildings. It was the most severely damaged town in...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 6, 2016
A Tohoku father seeks accountability for his daughter's death
As the fifth anniversary of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami approaches, the tragic story of 74 schoolchildren and 10 teachers who drowned near Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, continues to resonate painfully.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 6, 2016
Swans, and us, at risk as wetlands shrink
Soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, and the huge tsunami it triggered that killed almost 16,000 people and left more than 2,500 missing in the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu, our C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust contacted the many towns affected and invited survivors to...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 1, 2015
Medecins du Monde brings health care to Tohoku, Tokyo and the world
Now marking its 20th year in Japan, MdM works with local partners to develop medical practices with the aim of providing universal access to health care.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Oct 23, 2015
Unexpected places step in to fill the role of live house venues in Japan's north
When I made the decision to embark on a largely bicycle-based tour of every prefecture in Japan to investigate music scenes outside the industry mother-brain of Tokyo, I made a point of not having any expectations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 19, 2015
Kakunodate town: Looking back on historical charm
Despite the fact that we've arrived on a weekend, the parking lot along Kakunodate's river is relatively empty. From our spot under the shady branches, my friends Felicity and Nori and I haul our convenience-store-purchased picnic up to the edge of the walking path that hugs Hinokinai River. The cherry...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 2, 2015
Moriumius project brings young life and learning back to the Tohoku disaster zone
A unique educational project aims to revitalize the Miyagi town of Ogatsu, which lost around 80 percent of its buildings and 10 percent of its 4,300 population to the 3/11 disasters.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Jun 22, 2015
Nebuta float heads to Milan Expo
A Nebuta Festival float from Aomori is heading to Italy to participate in a 'Japan Day' parade at the 2015 Milan Expo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jun 6, 2015
Osamu Dazai's travel guide 'Return to Tsugaru' is more concerned with people than place
In the northernmost reaches of Honshu, Japan's largest island, lies Tsugaru, an area isolated even from its neighbors in Aomori Prefecture, let alone the rest of Japan. As a celebrated author and son of Tsugaru himself, Dazai Osamu must have seemed the perfect choice for this 1944 volume in Oyama Shoten's...
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
Apr 6, 2015
Innovation helps Tohoku's tsunami-hit farmers bounce back
Even before a tsunami swamped fields east of Sendai in March 2011, Chikako Sasaki and her husband, a rice farmer, had dreamed of starting a business selling food made from their own produce.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2015
Sendai conference aims to muster 'political weight' to reduce disaster risks
An upcoming United Nations conference in Sendai aims to raise awareness and galvanize political will to reduce risks posed by natural disasters, a visiting high-ranking official with the world body said Wednesday.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Mar 11, 2015
Murofushi, Miyagi Prefecture students team up to clean 1964 Olympic Cauldron
Koji Murofushi secured a permanent place in the annals of track and field by capturing the men's hammer throw gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the bronze eight years later at the London Summer Games.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji