Latest News By GaijinPot

  • Cabbages, broccoli added to list of 11 tainted vegetables
    March 23rd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    Radioactive materials drastically exceeding legal limits set under the food sanitation law have been found in 11 types of vegetable grown in Fukushima Prefecture, including broccoli and cabbages, the health ministry said Wednesday. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry called on consumers not to eat the 11 vegetables, also including spinach and the ‘‘komatsuna’’ leaf vegetable, produced in the prefecture, where a troubled nuclear power plant ... » Continue Reading
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  • Managing companies through a crisis
    March 23rd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    While Tokyo has so far escaped relatively unharmed from the triple blow of the 9.0 mega-quake, devastating tsunami and ongoing Fukushima nuclear saga, for anyone involved in business here in the capital, events have brought a different kind of challenge. With the world media panicking and some foreign governments advising their citizens to evacuate, large numbers of Japanese and foreigners alike have fled the capital for other areas of Japan o ... » Continue Reading
  • Over 300 interpreters ready to help quake-affected foreigners
    March 23rd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    A volunteer group is set to send more than 300 Japanese-speaking interpreters to help foreigners in the areas of northeastern and eastern Japan that were stricken by the devastating earthquake, among other movements aimed at providing linguistic support there. The Japan Guide Consortium Volunteer Interpreters Bureau based in Tokyo keeps on standby interpreters, both in and outside Japan, in more than 10 languages including English, Chinese, Ko ... » Continue Reading
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  • Missing U.S. teacher’s body located in Ishinomaki
    March 22nd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    A Virginia couple is mourning the death of their daughter after learning that her body was found in disaster-ravaged Japan, where she had been teaching English. Taylor Anderson, 24, could be the first known American victim in the Japan disaster as authorities continue the daunting task of finding and identifying almost 13,000 people believed to be missing. Anderson’s family said in a statement that the U.S. Embassy in Japan called them Monday ... » Continue Reading
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  • No. of dead or missing tops 21,000; bodies buried in rare measure
    March 22nd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    The number of people killed or reported missing as a result of the March 11 devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan topped 21,000 on Tuesday, the National Police Agency said. Some identified bodies in a rare move were buried in parts of the quake-stricken areas in the absence of fuel at many crematorium. The number of deaths in 12 prefectures came to 9,079 as of noon and that of people reported missing by their relatives clim ... » Continue Reading
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  • Online tools to navigate the next few weeks
    March 22nd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    During the earthquake and the immediate aftermath, social media sites, whether it was Twitter, Google's crisis response page or other sources, were invaluable tools, both for discovering what was going on (especially in light of the international press reaction) or simply finding out how you can help. This week you can expect to see further news come out of Fukushima, plus rolling blackouts in the Kanto region and a number of ways in which you ... » Continue Reading
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  • U.S., British teachers help evacuees in Iwate shelter
    March 22nd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    Three teachers of English from the United States and Britain have earned the thanks of evacuees at a shelter in tsunami-ravaged Iwate Prefecture in northeastern Japan after deciding to stay in the area to offer their help. The three men’s relatives in their own countries suggested they leave Japan home but they chose to work at a shelter in the village of Tanohata, helping to move things and cook meals for several hundred evacuees, because the ... » Continue Reading
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  • 4 prefectures in Japan to suspend some food shipments
    March 22nd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    The government ordered Fukushima and three other prefectures Monday to suspend shipments of spinach and another leaf vegetable following the detection of radioactive substances in the produce at levels beyond legal limits, while trace amounts of radioactive substances were detected in tap water samples collected Sunday and Monday in nine prefectures. High levels of radioactive substances were also detected in seawater near a troubled nuclear p ... » Continue Reading
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  • Haneda, Narita airports create web pages with daily radiation level updates
    March 22nd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    In the wake of escalating radiation fears brought on by the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant crisis, Haneda and Narita airports have created public web pages with twice-daily updates on radiation levels near their facilities. Emphasizing the continuing safety of the areas, and with the goal of curtailing misinformed rumors, the two sites update the radiation level at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. in both English and Japanese. Narita airport set up ... » Continue Reading
  • Japan Earthquake: Interactive images of the effects
    March 22nd, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    As a startling reminder of how destructive and dramatic the earthquake and resulting tsunami actually were, CBC news in Canada has put together a series of interactive maps. People from the affected areas started arriving in Tokyo and Saitama while rehousing programs are launched and the government starts the long process of rebuilding – something which the BBC has explained, could take up to 5 years. We will be publishing updates on how you ... » Continue Reading
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  • Construction of temporary housing starts in Iwate coastal town
    March 19th, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    Construction of some 200 temporary housing units started Saturday in the coastal city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture, which was severely damaged in the mega earthquake and tsunamis. The 30-square-meter prefabricated houses capable of accommodating two to three people will be built on the grounds of a junior high school. A date for completing construction has yet to be set. Mayor Futoshi Toba told construction workers, ‘‘We need to go fo ... » Continue Reading
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  • Kan thanks public for acting calmly, but says crisis not over
    March 19th, 2011By Category: Uncategorized
    Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday that Japan’s nuclear crisis still does not warrant optimism, but he believes the problems at the Fukushima Daiichi power station following last week’s calamitous earthquake and tsunami will be resolved soon. In a nationally televised address a week after the magnitude 9.0 quake, Kan thanked the public for acting calmly, despite the unprecedented scale of the twin natural disasters and great concern over the ... » Continue Reading
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