Tag - fukushima

 
Menu
Search
 
April 01, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

FUKUSHIMA

Storage tanks of contaminated water at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2025
Tepco completes treated water discharge in Fukushima for fiscal 2024
Tepco started the treated water discharge in August 2023, releasing about 85,800 tons so far.
Yoko Suetsugu at Haco, her gallery in New York
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Mar 17, 2025
Sculptor connects Fukushima to U.S. through New York gallery
Yoko Suetsugu is aiming to launch a program inviting U.S. artists to hot springs in the city of Fukushima for a creative retreat.
Blue pipelines to transport seawater, part of the facility operated by Tepco where treated radioactive water is released from the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant into the sea, are seen during a treated water dilution and discharge facility tour for foreign media in the town of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, in August 2023.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2025
Tepco releases treated water from Fukushima plant for last time in fiscal 2024
The operator of the nuclear plant plans to discharge 7,800 tons of treated water containing tritium, a radioactive substance, into the Pacific during the current release.
Protesters demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court in Tokyo on Tuesday against court rulings acquitting two former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings over the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2025
Acquittal of two former Tepco executives finalized
Lawyers acting as prosecutors did not file an appeal against the Supreme Court's decision last week that upheld the not-guilty verdicts against the executives.
Naohisa Hoshikawa, chief executive officer and founder of Ookuma Diamond Device, in Sapporo in February. Hoshikawa says the potential of diamond semiconductors goes beyond decommissioning work, likening them to the U.S. Apollo manned lunar landing program, which gave birth to technological innovations affecting everyday life.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 12, 2025
Diamond chips could be key to decommissioning of Fukushima nuclear plant
Made with artificial diamonds, such chips are regarded as the "ultimate semiconductors" — they can withstand high levels of radiation as well as high voltages and temperatures.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who said he would do everything he could to reduce active nuclear reactors to close to zero, changed his stance once he became prime minister.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 12, 2025
Government does about-face on nuclear policy 14 years after triple meltdown
The government cited the need to ensure stable electricity supplies and secure carbon-free energy sources.
Bookshelves storing disaster-related documents at the Sendai City Archives in Sendai in February
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2025
Local governments struggle to preserve records of March 2011 disaster
Fourteen years later, securing storage space has become a growing obstacle as the volume of records continues to increase.
People observe a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. on Tuesday in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, when the Great East Japan Earthquake hit 14 years ago. Behind them is a pine tree dubbed "the miracle tree" that survived the tsunami.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 11, 2025
Japan marks 14 years since 3/11 earthquake, with over 27,000 still displaced
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he will pass down the lessons of the disaster to future generations.
A woman visits a grave in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, on Tuesday on the 14th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Populations in the hardest hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima are sharply falling.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2025
Post-disaster Tohoku struggles with population decline
The number of people aged 20 to 39 in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures fell by about 20% to 30% between 2010 and 2024.
Junko Yagi, a professor at Iwate Medical University, speaks during an interview on Jan. 10 in the town of Yahaba, Iwate Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2025
Experts urge ongoing mental health care for families in 3/11 disaster areas
"Parents and children alike are carrying heavy emotional burdens," one expert said.
Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori says he wants the central government to clarify and accelerate the plan for disposing of soil from radiation decontamination work.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2025
Governor urges contaminated soil be disposed of outside Fukushima by 2045
A law states all contaminated soil must be disposed of outside Fukushima by March 2045.
Aizawa Concrete employees work in the Namie factory in Fukushima Prefecture in January.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Mar 11, 2025
14 years after 3/11 disasters, Fukushima vies to become a startup hub
Part of the goal is to attract a more permanent workforce to Fukushima to support the development of the prefecture as a whole.
Every year, there is heightened interest in commemorating the 3/11 disaster around the time of the anniversary. But memorial facilities and operators are increasingly struggling to keep their activities going all year round and as time passes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2025
Preserving the memory of 3/11 is becoming more difficult
Despite a peak in interest around the 3/11 anniversary, disaster memorial facilities and operators are facing mounting challenges in keeping their activities going as time passes.
A town hall meeting with residents of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the municipalities evacuated in the aftermath of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. More dialogue is needed to foster truly participatory energy democracy in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2025
Japan needs collective public support to reach its nuclear goals
Over a decade after 3/11, Japan has the chance to foster truly participatory energy democracy by engaging its civic environmental organizations in nuclear policymaking processes.
The Ukedo Elementary School Ruins in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in January. The Fukushima Prefectural Government offers training sessions for new prefectural government recruits to visit the school, the prefecture's sole preserved disaster-hit structure.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025
14 years on, prefectural governments work to pass on lessons to new hires
Many prefectural officials who were involved in front-line operations in the immediate aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami are retiring.
Personal items that were collected after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 are on display at a facility in the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2025
Municipalities to end storage of personal items collected after 3/11
When asked what is needed to continue storing collected personal items, 16 municipalities cited the need for storage and display space, while 10 mentioned budget constraints.
Former Executive Vice President Ichiro Takekuro enters the Tokyo High Court for the appellate court ruling in January 2023 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2025
Acquittal of two former Tepco executives to be finalized
The Supreme Court supported the lower courts' decisions that the accident was unpredictable and decided to dismiss an appeal by lawyers acting as prosecutors.
Minister for Reconstruction Tadahiko Ito responding to a question at a group interview on Monday at the Reconstruction Agency
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2025
Reconstruction minister vows to address Fukushima soil reuse
"It's natural that Futaba residents are concerned," Tadahiko Ito said of the envisaged plan to first consider reusing the decontaminated soil in the town.
Toru Akama cares for dogs and cats left behind in the March 2011 Fukushima meltdown disaster, at his home in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2025
Former Fukushima plant worker continues caring for pets left behind
The 62-year-old was driven by a sense of responsibility for the pets being abandoned as “it came about because of the meltdown at our plant.”
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Yamagata’s Zao Onsen Ski Resort is a classic beauty
Yamagata’s Zao Onsen Ski Resort is a classic beauty

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER