Today's print edition Home Delivery The Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse aerobatics team will make a performance flight for the World Exposition in Osaka on its opening day of April 13 "This is a crucial opportunity to show our performance to people around the world," Lt "We want to make this flight something in which people can feel the themes of the Expo."googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Blue Impulse flew for the 1970 World Expo in Osaka Prefecture as well during which the team drew "EXPO 70" in the sky In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division By Linsey Dower Editors' PicksEducation COURTESY KAITO FUKUDA / ODYSSEY NATURE JAPAN TOMODACHI Kibou for Maui students at the program’s opening reception in Higashimatsushima M Jee Abara and Zean Lagpacan; and in front Students learn about an oyster farm that was rebuilt after the 2011 tsunami to use sustainable practices Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading After returning from their weeklong stay in Higashimatsushima the 11 Maui students who participated in the TOMODACHI Kibou for Maui program their families and program organizers reunited for a final gathering April 28 at the Sheraton Maui Coral Reef Room all of whom were affected by the Maui wildfires while those from Japan met the students’ families and saw the town “I was really happy to see them again in Lahaina and I was especially glad I was there because we’re going to have a second cohort,” said Miku Narisawa co-director and founder of the organization that put together the students’ itinerary “From what I saw in Lahaina … my perspective has also changed.” a program created in partnership with the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii the TOMODACHI Initiative and Odyssey Nature Japan sent a group of high school students to the Tohoku region’s town of Higashimatsushima The program provided the high schoolers with the opportunity to network with those who are active in the recovery from the 2011 tsunami was in middle school when the 2011 tsunami struck the Tohoku region she had the opportunity to participate in a program called Rainbow for Japan Kids which brought her and other young survivors from the area on a trip to Hawaii to give them an outlet for their grief inspiring her to found Odyssey Nature Japan Now the organization helps Japanese and international youths gain self-confidence while teaching them about various types of farming and agriculture Upon hearing about the idea to create TOMODACHI Kibou for Maui Narisawa immediately knew that she wanted to help “I just wanted to give something back to them because I knew that those educational programs will eventually be part of their life somehow,” Narisawa said “I wanted to show that there will be adults who are supporting them and who are there for the kids.” In Japan the Maui students met tsunami survivors in forestry and aquaculture who rebuilt their businesses from the ground up They also connected with survivors of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and visited nearby cities that had redesigned the layout of their infrastructure to better prepare for future natural disasters said JCCH President and Executive Director Nate Gyotoku “They were just really inquisitive and asking them about the personal experiences that those people went through,” said Gyotoku “With all the different layers of learning I could see many of these Lahaina kids starting to change and see that there is hope.” a Lahai­na­una High School senior described a small town called Onagawa that was rebuilt after the tsunami in sections Sections farthest from the ocean now hold schools and hospitals ensuring that the town’s most vulnerable populations wouldn’t have trouble getting to higher ground in the event of another tsunami “Most of the people that died were younger kids and the elderly and that was similar to what happened in Lahaina,” Steiner said “They made me have a new perspective that we can rebuild in a better way so the next time this happens Efficient coordination between communities affected by the tsunami and the government also played a big role in the recovery process The communities in Tohoku also held a shared value to care for the land and oceans and rebuilt with sustainable practices in mind Lahainaluna junior Taika Swearingen remarked on the perseverance shown by many of the people he met on the trip Those whose shops or farms were destroyed not only recovered After seeing and speaking to the survivors of the 2011 tsunami firsthand Swearingen said that he hopes to perpetuate their stories alongside his own While uncertain about what he’d like to do after high school Swearingen added that he hopes to one day find a way to pass on the joy and kindness that those behind the program have given him “After all that JCCH and Nature Odyssey Japan and the people at TOMODACHI did to support us 11 students,” Swearingen said “I want everyone who helped me go on the trip to know that I appreciate them immensely.” TOMODACHI Kibou for Maui is accepting applications for a second cohort of students to take to Japan in July. To learn more or to apply, visit shorturl.at/uxAKS Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities A high court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that ordered the city of Higashimatsushima in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture to pay 26.5 million yen ($238,000) in damages to the family of a schoolgirl killed by tsunami in 2011 The Sendai High Court recognized the city-run Nobiru Elementary School to which the 9-year-old girl had evacuated was partly to blame for her death but rejected the damages claim by the family of an 86-year-old woman who was engulfed by an earthquake-triggered tsunami at the same school The school was a designated evacuation site in the coastal city in Miyagi Prefecture While a slew of lawsuits have been filed against administrators such as schools and firms over deaths by tsunami following a major earthquake on March 11 the latest ruling is the first by a high court holding an administrator responsible "The school had the responsibility to keep (the girl) under its protection," Presiding Judge Masato Furukubo said while noting the school's rule of only handing over its students to registered personnel in case of emergency The girl was engulfed by tsunami after her peer's parent sent her home The school gave consent to the peer's parent to take her home as an exception to the rule "The school principal breached the duty to continue protecting the girl," Furukubo said plaintiffs claimed the school should not have allowed the peer's parent to pick up the girl and it should have foreseen the tsunami engulfing her home They also said the school should have evacuated people to the second floor of the school building rather than the gymnasium where they had actually gathered and claimed it failed to collect information on tsunami through radio The 86-year-old woman in the case died along with a dozen others as a 3.5 meter tsunami reached the gymnasium which was packed with roughly 340 people at the time The Sendai District Court in March 2016 ordered the city to pay damages to the girl's family while rejecting the damages claim by the families of two residents including the woman prompting the city and her family to appeal Among similar lawsuits filed against administrators is the case of Okawa Elementary School in Miyagi in which 74 students were killed by tsunami To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription Please check your inbox for a confirmation email Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible Keywords:　Civil Society / Local Issues　Newsletter　Policy / Systems　 and governments around the world have continued working to create new models for cities and communities launched its environment-friendly "FutureCity" Initiative (FCI) in 2011 To follow up on previous stories on the FCI in the JFS newsletter this issue gives an overview of the FCI's fourth-year efforts based on updated information from Japan's Cabinet Office The basic concept of the FCI is to create cities that embrace new people-friendly values in order to deal with environmental issues and an aging society Its goal is to solve problems faced both in Japan and around the world -- such as resource and energy constraints and aging societies -- by establishing more sustainable social and economic systems and restoring a sense of social connectedness Its aim is also to increase peoples' quality of life and turn cities into places where anyone would want to live and enjoy their vitality as new sources of value continually come into being a total of 34 cities -- 11 "Future Cities" and 23 "Eco-Model Cities" -- had been selected by the Japanese government as of March 2015 Towards Cities Where Anybody Would Want to Live: The "FutureCity" Initiativehttp://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id034802.html Overview of the goals and activities of eleven Japanese cities selected as Future Cities a total of 23 cities have been selected as Eco-Model Cities Japan's Cabinet Office and Cabinet Secretariat have annually held the "FutureCity" Initiative International Forum with the aim of increasing understanding and expanding support of the initiative sharing leading case studies from Japan and the world and building and strengthening an international network the international forum was held in Johor Bahru The forum in Johor Bahru was the first forum held overseas   FutureCity International Forum Held in Higashimatsushimahttp://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035192.html The international forum in Higashimatsushima was held on December 6 under the theme of "Improving Resilience and the FutureCity Initiative." The keynote speakers were A a country with which Higashimatsushima has a close relationship seven guest speakers were invited from Japan and abroad and about 250 people from home and abroad participated delivered a presentation about the city's reconstruction efforts and the importance of people being connected with each other in the community during ordinary times In the panel discussion sessions in the afternoon representatives from participating cities and experts held discussions along certain themes ending up with the common understanding that efforts aimed at the FCI that embrace both the "hardware" side a discussion of future challenges was shared among the participants The international forum held in Johor Bahru had the theme of "Building the Sustainable City and the FutureCity." About 300 participants gathered from over 10 countries including Dato' Haji Abd Rahman bin Mohamed Dewam Director-General of Federal Department of Town and Country Planning Malaysia (JPBD) The Malaysian state of Johor is currently the venue of Iskandar Malaysia an ongoing national development project aiming to develop a sustainable city using different approaches from fields such as architecture Malaysia is striving for a 40-percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020 compared to the 2005 level speakers introduced case studies from Malaysia and Japan and panelists discussed the potential of adopting the FCI model to develop Malaysian and other Asian cities Business matching between both countries played a big role at the international forum bringing about fruitful outcomes towards future collaboration among participating cities FutureCity Initiative Holds International Forum Overseas for First Timehttp://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035202.html Featured Articles about Future CitiesThe FCI published some more articles about Future Cities based on interviews and site visits followed by the ones about the cities of Toyama and Higashimatsushima in fiscal 2013 These articles cover their advanced efforts and are intended for use as references for other cities to launch similar initiatives They provide not only the FCI efforts in detail but also focus on key players at the forefront also helping to publicize the attractions of each city The cities of Kashiwa and Yokoyama will provide useful case studies of smart cities that use advanced technologies The article about the city of Kitakyushu can be useful as it covers how the city shares its experiences and technologies with the world The city of Toyama is already known for its efforts to be a compact city while it also actively promotes the use of micro-hydro electricity generation the case studies of the Kesen Region and town of Shimokawa which promote forest-based energy production initiatives of the Higashimatsushima Organization for Progress and Economy Education Energy (HOPE) and a collective relocation plan in the Tamaura Nishi District in the city of Iwanuma present different approaches to community reconstruction Minamisoma Solar Agripark in the city of Minamisoma emphasizes training for future generations not just current community reconstruction efforts is trying to utilize information technology not only for visualizing the volume of electricity generated from solar but also for environmental education for children the Kesen Region established an association to improve medical and health care as well as public welfare in an aging neighborhood The city of Kamaishi will provide a good example of comprehensive welfare in a community from its industrial welfare coalition of health and welfare and nursing care based on the life support center These articles are available in Japanese in the section of "Ways to Develop Sustainable Cities" on the website of Future City, Eco Model Cities.http://future-city.jp/torikumi/ the FCI estimated the economic impacts on surrounding areas from the cities' initiatives the circumstances in the selected cities are changing the FCI and selected cities will continue to review their progress aiming to produce outcomes that are relevant for the world Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License. Feb 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – On March 11 local official Shuya Takahashi was in Higashi-Matsushima city hall when a towering tsunami struck the scenic partially or fully destroyed almost three out of four residential homes and left some 1,100 people – 3 percent of the city’s population – dead or missing including Takahashi’s university-age daughter (and I ) happened to be in charge of reconstruction of the city,” he told a two-day conference this week bringing together researchers environmentalists and government officials from East Asia to discuss ways to make the region’s cities safe “(The) tsunami reached a school which was a designated evacuation site The railway line was swept away… The residents did not know what to do,” Takahashi recalled or anywhere – disasters can happen anytime,” he added in an interview on the sidelines of the gathering in northern Thailand triggered a massive tsunami which knocked out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant causing the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier Higashi-Matsushima was one of the areas worst-hit by the tsunami that killed some 18,000 people in total Tasked with leading the city’s reconstruction Takahashi said he was determined that “we should not allow what we experienced to be repeated again” two-track recovery programme: rebuilding a better city and taking part in the national government’s “Future City Initiative” to tackle environmental issues and an ageing society But developing a “new city” is no easy task “It needs very careful planning and very good consensus among the citizens,” Takahashi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that meant holding multiple meetings until a consensus was reached that 7,000 people would relocate to seven sites on higher ground Particular attention was paid to proximity to public transport and the ability to move entire communities so their close bonds could be retained There is now a 2-km (1.24-mile) no-build zone along the shoreline The city has also gone on a renewable energy drive It has built a large-scale solar power plant at the site of a park that was swept away by the tsunami installed solar panels on the roof of its emergency evacuation centre and set up a subsidy system for residents who want to install solar panels at home Higashi-Matsushima’s production of solar power is now 20 times greater than in 2011 the city also launched a disaster-resilient “eco-town” comprising 85 public housing units with a micro-grid powered by solar energy and biodiesel plus battery storage which can be linked to the local hospital in case of an emergency These projects and activities are managed by the Higashi-Matsushima Organization for Progress and Economy an association set up to provide support during the tsunami recovery period the devastated area where Takahashi himself comes from They were previously living in a zone of 230 hectares (568 acres) but their new location is far smaller at 92 hectares It is “very compact” but much safer While critics have derided Japan’s recovery from the 2011 crisis as slow and incomplete all Higashi-Matsushima’s relocation sites were ready in five years and it is now embarking on bigger infrastructure projects including building sea walls and better road systems It will take another two to three years for these to be completed He credited the city’s relatively quick recovery to the high level of civic mobilisation by its citizens before the disaster it was community groups that sprang into action – setting up soup kitchens organising the search for missing persons and discussing recovery plans Residents also sorted the enormous amount of waste and rubble – 100 years’ worth – by hand help from the national government was crucial citing measures such as a temporary tax increase of 2.1 percent to fund the reconstruction Asked if he had entertained the thought of leaving the city after such a personal tragedy editing by Megan Rowling for the Thomson Reuters Foundation JapanTsunami The above article was originally published by trust.org / Thomson Reuters Foundation and was republished here in accordance with Trust.org guidelines Mozambique – Building a Future Above the Floodwaters Australia – 1 Dead, 1 Missing, Crops Destroyed After Floods in Western Australia Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList Please activate JavaScript function on your browser Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting Miyanomori Elementary School in Higashimatsushima City (1) Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting a shopping center in Minamisanriku Town (1) Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting a shopping center in Minamisanriku Town (2) Photograph of the Prime Minister observing the building of the former disaster prevention center from a shopping center in Minamisanriku Town Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting a commercial area in Onagawa Town (1) Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting a commercial area in Onagawa Town (2) Photograph of the Prime Minister offering a silent bow in front of the “Ganbaro Photograph of the Prime Minister observing the “Ganbaro Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting the planned site for the Ishinomaki-minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park (1) Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting the planned site for the Ishinomaki-minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park (2) Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting Miyanomori Elementary School in Higashimatsushima City (2) Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting Miyanomori Elementary School in Higashimatsushima City (3) Photograph of the Prime Minister visiting Miyanomori Elementary School in Higashimatsushima City (4) Photograph of the Prime Minister offering flowers in the Yuriage area of Natori City Photograph of the Prime Minister offering a silent bow in the Yuriage area of Natori City Photograph of the Prime Minister observing a land readjustment project in the Yuriage area of Natori City Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Miyagi Prefecture The Prime Minister visited a shopping center that has made a fresh start after moving from a temporary facility to a permanent facility in Minamisanriku Town and then visited a redeveloped commercial area in Onagawa Town the Prime Minister offered flowers and a silent bow in front of the "Ganbaro (Let's do our best) and observed the planned site for the Ishinomaki-minamihama Tsunami Memorial Park the Prime Minister visited Miyanomori Elementary School which has been built on a plateau in the Nobiru Hokubu Kyuryo area the Prime Minister offered flowers and a silent bow at a memorial in the Yuriage area of Natori City "Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake has been a top priority since the inauguration of the Abe administration With many people still facing difficult circumstances I have made my 34th visit to the disaster-affected region this time with Minister for Reconstruction Yoshino We will continue to pay the utmost attention to the frontlines and take into consideration the sensitivities of disaster victims we will steadily deliver results one by one to regain the trust of the people Today I was able to see once again bright happy faces at the renovated Sun Sun Shopping Village in Minamisanriku and at Hama Terrace in Onagawa The passion and efforts of everyone in the communities have given rise to the establishment of new centers and new flows of people It makes me happy to see for myself that reconstruction is making steady progress March 13, 2011JPEG The March 11 earthquake caused severe damage to oil refineries, some of which caught fire. In the aftermath oil floated on the surface of Ishinomaki Bay sunglint—the mirror-like reflection of the Sun on the ocean's surface—highlights the oil slicks; oil smoothes the surface and makes the water more reflective patches of oil tend to appear lighter than oil-free areas View this area in EO Explorer this astronaut photograph shows the Japanese coast north of the city of Sendai in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami a magnitude 9.1 quake struck off of eastern Japan triggering large tsunami waves that inundated Japan's coast and spread effects to the Americas and Antarctica Ribbons of oil that have leaked from the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico are silver against the light blue color of the adjacent water in this image of the tip of the Mississippi River Delta on May 24 this natural-color image shows the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico appeared large and sprawling in this natural-color image from May 25 this natural-color image shows an apparent oil slick southeast of the Mississippi Delta Please help us improve PreventionWeb by taking this brief survey Your input will allow us to better serve the needs of the DRR community See the survey According to a research conducted by Reuters in the city of Higashi Matsushima a ‘silent’ revolution has been happening in Japan in the wake of the 2011 fatal earthquake and tsunami with more and more municipalities setting up distributed energy systems to reduce reliance on the main grid and secure electricity supply during natural disasters The city of Higashi Matsushima is a northern Japanese city which was highly affected by the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 - the city suffered the loss of 1,100 and nearly 75 percent of the city’s homes were gone the Japanese Government set up the “National Resilience Program” which would fund the reconstruction of the cities affected by the disaster and would focus on building back-up capabilities in the event of another natural disaster Higashi Matsushima took advantage of the available funding to build micro-grids and de-centralised renewable energy generation facilities to reduce its dependency on the national grid by producing approximately 25 percent of its electricity needs - the utility that Higashi Matsushima created to manage the local generation facilities and the grid said: “At the time of the Great East Japan earthquake we couldn’t secure power and had to go through incredible hardships” The disaster shed light to the fact that under a large-scale power system a blackout in one area leads to power outages all over the country the National Resilience Program sparked the creation of distributed energy systems to reduce municipalities’ dependence on large power plants The distributed energy systems usually use small-scale power generation fuelled by natural gas and/or solar and wind arrays and they use the internet to connect appliances and meters to better direct electric power depending on the needs Higashi Matsushima’s system is comprised of an independent transmission grid solar generating panels and batteries that can secure enough electricity to power the city for three days a Professor of Energy Policy at Rikkyo University in Tokyo commented: “Since Fukushima there has been a gradual elaboration of policies to realize that kind of local autonomy The whole ‘autonomous’ electricity grids idea was conceived and designed by Takao Kashiwagi a Professor at the International Research Centre for Advanced Energy Systems for Sustainability at the Tokyo Institute of Technology Takao Kashiwagi said: “We are moving towards a day when we won’t be building large-scale power plants where small power supply systems are in place near the consumption areas” Reuters indicate that it constitutes a ‘quite energy revolution’ and that companies are shifting their focus in response to this demand Sekisui House constructed Higashi Matsushima’s smart micro-grid for 85 housing units in 2016 one of Japan’s biggest construction companies established an energy strategy division during 2017 to take advantage of the hype of smart energy systems and is expecting to double energy-related orders over the next five years focusing on renewables energy efficient buildings and off-grid communities Japan’s cabinet office announced last month that the country’s ministries were seeking to raise the budget for the Program by an extra 24 percent for the fiscal year starting in April 2018 Please note: Content is displayed as last posted by a PreventionWeb community member or editor. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of UNDRR, PreventionWeb, or its sponsors. See our terms of use Thank you. If you have 2 minutes, we would benefit from additional feedback (link opens in a new window) PreventionWeb is the global knowledge sharing platform for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience Following the destruction caused by the Tōhoku tsunami in 2011 the Japanese city of Higashi Matsushima decided to rebuild its energy infrastructure using microgrids and decentralised power More and more cities are following in its footsteps so could microgrids provide the resilience Japan needs For over a decade an energy revolution has been underway in Japan spurred on by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami microgrids have sprung up in their dozens around the country in a number of different guises to help Japan meet its energy needs and build resilience Microgrids consist of interconnected distributed energy resources They can act both as part of the wider grid system or separately and so are particularly useful during grid outages Grids such as this are being built around the world to combat a number of energy dilemmas as well as easing the introduction of renewable energy sources and are usually deployed together with smart grid technologies such as blockchain “Japan faces multiple challenges that require smart planning,” says Andrew DeWit “Its energy self-sufficiency is dangerously low at only 8% of all primary energy And its ageing and depopulation mean that locational choices have to be shaped in order to maintain viable communities that have sufficient density to deal with rising costs of infrastructure maintenance a particular draw is the flexibility of microgrids the country established the National Resilience Programme predominantly to build backup capabilities should another disaster befall Japan This has led to the development of several microgrids the most notable being the first microgrid community The first microgrids in Japan were New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization-financed projects initiated in Aichi and their success was demonstrated in the years that followed “[Microgrids] were firstly demonstrated in Aichi Expo in 2005,” says Takao Kashiwagi microgrid designer and Tokyo Institute of Technology professor at the International Research Centre for Advanced Energy Systems for Sustainability “This demonstration is very important following the increasing share of renewable energy.” Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis The total number of microgrids in use in Japan is currently unclear though Kashiwagi puts the number of areas using the technology at close to 40 because there is poor governance on the PR side This is complicated by the tendency to label every microgrid project as ‘first’ in order to attract attention.” the number of grids has undoubtedly been growing caused vast amounts of damage to Japan’s energy infrastructure increasing the need for the project roll-out “It has been accelerated due to the 2011 Great East Japan disaster and about JPY45bn of funding has been granted” for further development of microgrids Japan’s energy sector was decimated as the tsunami caused the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant leading to the shutdown of all of Japan’s 50+ nuclear plants The country is currently reliant on fossil fuel imports for 94% of its power and despite plans to restart many of its reactors One of the most notable projects to rise from the devastation of 3/11 is the decentralised microgrid in Higashi Matsushima Higashi Matsushima was badly damaged by the tsunami with 65% of the city flooded and 1,130 residents killed Higashi Matsushima City Smart Disaster Prevention Eco Town was built and officially opened in June 2016 Using concepts first put forward by Kashiwagi who is head of the New Energy Promotion Council the town was built jointly by the city and housing developer Sekisui House It was funded by the Ministry of Environment as part of the National Resilience Programme The town consists of 70 houses and 15 apartment buildings that were used to rehouse those who lost their homes in 3/11 All the buildings are earthquake-resistant and it will be a Net Zero Energy City by 2022 “Smart meters on all local facilities provide a real-time tracking of energy generation storage and consumption,” explained DeWit in the Sustainable Communities Design Handbook: Green Engineering of which 400kW is an array that overtops a regulating pond This regulating pond is itself part of disaster-resilience as it was built to accumulate rainwater and thus alleviate flood risks there is 480kWh of battery capacity along with a 500kW biodiesel generator to provide backup capacity.” the Higashi Matsushima microgrid can supply energy to the whole town for several hours it can redirect power from residential buildings to hospitals and the community hall for several days a minimum of about 30% of distributed energy system is required and Higashi Matsushima has been designed following that,” says Kashiwagi The entire city’s renewable capacity has grown alongside the microgrid town the amount of renewables in Higashi Matsushima increased nearly 20 times and the city plans further advances with the aim of producing 120% of power demand by 2026 the energy has been managed by HOPE Electricity a local power company run by Higashi Matsushima that reinvests profit back into the city “The Higashi Matsushima project is indeed a flagship initiative emblematic of post 3-11 Japan’s inclusive governance and commitment to advanced technology centred on the city,” said DeWit The success of projects such as Higashi Matsushima eco city has increased the popularity of microgrid systems in Japan the Cabinet Office announced it would be increasing National Resilience Programme funding by 24% Lessons from the eco town along with the microgrids that came before it will be taken on-board as more cities move towards independent The essential elements of the Higashi Matsushima concept present a template that can be replicated nationwide “That template links local energy endowments -such as rooftop and utility solar – with smart energy management systems to decarbonise while maximising disaster resilience,” says DeWit “The template also seeks to encourage as much local involvement as possible to bolster local organisation and business opportunities Japan’s approach emphasises smart governance as much as it does the deployment of smart infrastructures.” they will play an increasingly important role alongside the grid system to deliver clean and reliable power Japan is currently aiming for 22%-24% of its energy to be produced by renewable sources by 2030 “Microgrids and other localised solutions appear to be a major part of the country’s approach to multiple challenges,” says DeWit “But the meso and macro grids will also be important Transport and Tourism has started a ‘Dam Revitalisation’ project that aims to bolster the country’s dam network as well as increase power from it.” For Japan to move forwards towards greater energy independence collaboration will be essential for the country to meet its full energy potential “There are so many unknowns and externalities involved that integrated policymaking is crucial no matter the generalised sense – in the Anglosphere –  that government is useless In a context where it’s crucial to choose and focus the effective use of scarce fiscal with all stakeholders compromising for the greater good.” Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network Crows cawed overhead as tsunami survivors in devastated towns along Japan’s northeast coast buried their dead in makeshift graves en masse yesterday as workers at Fukushima’s overheated nuclear plant struggled to cool down the crippled facility officials have abandoned cremation in favor of quick simple burials in a show of pragmatism over tradition Some are buried in bare plywood caskets and others in blue plastic tarps The bodies will be dug up and cremated once crematoriums catch up with the glut soldiers lowered bare plywood coffins into the ground as families watched from a distance and -helicopters occasionally clattered overhead Some relatives placed flowers on the graves “I hope their spirits will rest in peace here at this temporary place,” said Katsuko Oguni the struggle to stabilize the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant suffered another setback yesterday after a spike in radiation levels forced officials to pull workers and suspend restoring power to the reactor 2 a Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) official said in Tokyo The setback showed how tenuous the situation remains nearly two weeks after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out power to the complex allowing radiation leaks that have seeped into vegetables Broccoli was added early yesterday to a list of tainted vegetables that already includes spinach The nuclear crisis has complicated the government’s response to the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that swallowed up villages along the coast The number of bodies collected stood at more than 9,400 with more than 14,700 people listed as missing gymnasiums and other community buildings in the northeast are still packed with survivors many of them elderly suffering after days without heat relief after the lights went on late on Tuesday in the control room of reactor 3 made way hours later for concern over radiation levels in reactor 2 putting on hold plans to try restarting the plant’s crucial cooling system The sprawling nuclear complex has six reactors In the first five days after the disasters struck the Fukushima complex saw explosions and fires in four of the plant’s reactors and the leaking of radioactive steam into the air progress continued intermittently as efforts to splash seawater on the reactors and rewire the complex were disrupted by rises in radiation elevated pressure in reactors and overheated storage pools Missions to dump seawater into one storage pool holding spent nuclear fuel went well and firefighters continued to spray water on spent fuel pools in two other units TOKYO (AP) — The Olympic flame has arrived in Japan from Greece Next comes the torch relay around the country which is scheduled to start on Thursday cture in northern Japan Organizers have asked crowds to be restrained but have been imprecise about what that means Greek officials last week stopped a relay there on the second day and did not resume because of crowd size In the face of the coronavirus pandemic Japanese organizers and IOC President Thomas Bach say that the games will open on July 24 at the $1.43 billion national stadium in central Tokyo Bach has said repeatedly it's too early to announce a final decision saying he's taking advice from a task force that includes the World Health Organization mostly from athletes and former Olympians who are complaining: they can't train and the chaos is sure to favor some over others Then there's the question of bringing 11,000 athletes and staff together in the Olympic Village Getting the flame to Japan represents a minor victory for both organizers and the IOC Its symbolic presence could give the IOC space to postpone the Tokyo Olympics leaving the symbol behind as a reminder of what's still to come Q: What is the deadline for making a final decision In an interview with The New York Times Bach said “cancellation is not on the agenda." That leaves only going ahead A: It will be made jointly with the IOC, the city of Tokyo, and the Japanese Olympic Committee. They are the three that signed the 81-page Host City Agreement which spells out in enormous details all games contingencies though it will have to honor WHO suggestions and the interests of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe The IOC has a reserve fund of about $2 billion and insurance to cover losses The contract says termination can occur ".. if the IOC has reasonable grounds to believe that the safety of participants in the games is seriously threatened or jeopardized for any reason Tokyo is officially spending $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics, but a national audit says it's at least twice that much A: The most recent pushback has come from USA Swimming and USA Track and Field Olympic and Paralympic Committee to push for a postponement As swimming executive Tim Hinchey put it: “Everyone has experienced unimaginable disruptions which calls into question the authenticity of a level playing field for all Our athletes are under tremendous pressure and their mental health and wellness should be among the highest priorities.” Another voice earlier in the week was from IOC member Hayley Wickenheiser “I think the IOC insisting this will move ahead is insensitive and irresponsible given the state of humanity," she said “This crisis is bigger than even the Olympics." Japanese Olympic Committee member Kaori Yamaguchi told the newspaper Nikkei that the IOC “is putting athletes at risk.” Yamaguchi is a former Olympic bronze medalist in judo "Even if there is a reason that prevents the IOC from making a decision right now (the IOC) should indicate a deadline." She was critical last year when Bach abruptly moved the marathon out of Tokyo to Sapporo She said such a sudden move was “not acceptable.” Olympic committees in Norway and Brazil are also asking for delays Q: How important is the torch relay to the IOC and local organizers A: It's important symbolism for the Japanese government and Prime Minister Abe. Abe is Japan's longest-serving premier and hopes to use the Olympics to argue that the Fukushima area has recovered from the disaster nine years ago The government has dubbed these “The Recovery Olympics.” However many residents are still living in temporary quarters after the earthquake tsunami and meltdown of three nuclear reactors in 2011 Getting the relay started from Fukushima also helps major IOC sponsors Coca-Cola and Toyota who pay millions to give their brands exposure during the relay This will not keep the images of the relay from being transmitted daily around the globe on television Bach is expected to watch the relay when it reaches Hiroshima on May 18-19 A: Irish bookmaker says 1-7 that the Olympics will not open as scheduled on July 24 A poll by Japanese news agency Kyodo this week showed nearly 70% of Japanese questioned do not believe the games will begin on time Read the full story on Japan 2 Earth - Disaster Waste: Miyagi Prefecture Shares Cleanup Expertise in the Noto Quake Aftermath Despite suffering devastating damage from the massive tsunami the city of Higashi-Matsushima employed a miraculous disposal method to achieve an early recovery.  "Not only did we manage to clean up and dispose of the waste, but we also linked this to employment for locals. Our methods applied an approach that is now associated with the SDGs We want to share Higashi-Matsushima's know-how." governor of Miyagi Prefecture at a press conference on February 7 The prefecture has dispatched four employees with expertise in disaster waste disposal to the area affected by the recent quake The Higashi-Matsushima method was originally implemented in Higashi-Matsushima A total of 1,110 people from the city lost their lives in 2011 with about 65% of the city area inundated by the tsunami Continue reading the full story on Japan 2 Earth to learn more about innovative methods for treating disaster waste And find more great articles on the environment and the challenges of achieving the SDGs on our affiliated website Japan 2 Earth (J2E) sparking a transition to a sustainable future (Read the article in Japanese.) You must be logged in to post a comment ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " pitch black and drizzling as Yasuhiro Otomo steers his small fishing boat and crew of four — all clad from head to toe in waterproof gear — out into Ishinomaki Bay where his fishing nets are set Otomo comes from a long lineage of fishermen and has over 20 years’ experience navigating the waters off the Hamaichi coast.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); “This may be one of the last times we go out this season,” Otomo says as he explains that the onset of the warmer summer months usually brings an end to the sea bass fishing season the salmon catch has decreased dramatically.” Otomo attributes the cause of these plummeting numbers to climate change which has pushed the Kuroshio Current — a warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin — about 500 kilometers further north by his estimation The collapse in salmon numbers is just one of the ways in which Otomo has experienced unprecedented change to the local environment — changes which led him to engage more with his local community spreading awareness about fishing practices and the impacts of climate change However, it was only upon reconnecting with another Higashimatsushima resident, Miku Narisawa, in 2021 that it was decided to give the communication efforts a more structured approach. Together, they joined forces to found Odyssey an educational organization that provides children with nature-based programs that revolve around activities such as fishing and farming participants — who can vary from elementary school students to adults — start by contemplating nature in silence and honing their senses as they practice skills such as nature-based navigation The idea is that interacting with nature will foster an ability to think critically about current socioenvironmental issues and planting rice was a family activity which brought us all together,” says Narisawa “Farming taught me the value of natural resources and nature as a tool for humans to communicate.” student in marine environmental anthropology at Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Environmental Studies She is investigating the reciprocal relationship between the natural world and the identities of people living in coastal areas Her mission with Odyssey is to help children experience the natural environment that surrounds them Narisawa’s relationship with nature hasn’t always been an easy one the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami engulfed her hometown and upended her community She only survived the tsunami by taking refuge on her elementary school’s top floor The loss of her home and damage to her community changed her perception of the ocean drastically and was also a determining factor in her decision to study the concept of environmental peacebuilding in Europe and then the United States I realized that the Earth is breathing and that as humans we must try to understand and adapt to its natural pace,” she says “There is a growing distance between nature and young generations and when it comes to natural disasters and climate change it is important that we grow up understanding what is going on with our environment and how we interact with it.” a key component to understanding this reciprocal relationship is contained in the concept of satoumi which describes coastal areas where biological productivity and biodiversity have increased through human interaction in a mutually beneficial relationship an example of this concept plays out in nori (seaweed) farming an important staple crop of the local economy “Nori relies on precious nutrients such as nitrogen which flow into the sea via rivers,” explains Futoshi Aizawa a third-generation nori farmer and collaborator with Odyssey’s educational projects “The ocean acts as a mirror for the wellbeing of coastal ecosystems and communities.” it is important that Odyssey’s educational programs reveal these deep interconnections that characterize coastal ecosystems this is not done in classrooms but through experiences where children engage with nature on their own terms and make their own choices without adult interference “Nature can be a source of play and knowledge Taking children out into the ocean or rice fields and allowing them to make their own decisions helps them develop the ability to think for themselves,” says Narisawa “As we face a growing environmental crisis future generations need to be equipped with true leadership skills and confidence so that they can take action and adapt to a world where natural disasters and climate change will be ever more common.” Yuto Naganuma looks silently as the cold sea breeze sweeps over the crumbling walls of the school where his little brother was lost in Japan’s devastating 2011 tsunami Naganuma and others like him form a generation whose young lives were shaped by what is known in Japan as the triple disaster: a powerful earthquake that sparked a terrifying tsunami and the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl and for some the experience sparked a drive to work in disaster awareness or help children like them who have lived with tragedy I felt the tsunami carved away half of my body,” he said outside the Okawa Elementary School in northeast Japan where his eight-year-old brother was killed He was among 74 children and 10 school staff killed in one of the worst tragedies of the disaster that left around 18,500 people dead or missing swept away after staff failed to evacuate to higher ground Two days before the 9.0 magnitude quake struck he felt a major 7.3 tremor on a local beach “I feel maybe my brother did not have to die maybe they didn’t have to die,” he said as he gazed at gutted classrooms His grandmother and great-grandmother were also killed in the tsunami as they waited for his brother’s school bus “I let the day come without taking any action.” He enrolled in a teaching course at a university in another region but eventually moved to a school closer to his home to study disaster management He now gives tours at the school and lectures on disaster preparedness “all of us are living in the time between disasters,” he said “How we spend this time significantly changes the probability of survival when we face the next disaster.” has also gradually come around to speaking about his experience of the tsunami He took shelter at his school with his mother and sister after a tsunami warning was issued following the quake but Ganbe went to retrieve his outdoor shoes which Japanese students leave at the entrance As he held open the door for five men still coming towards the school a torrent of water mixed with oily sludge and carrying debris and vehicles knocked the men over and pulled them down Ganbe was on slightly higher ground but the water “thick like mayonnaise,” quickly flooded round him “It was like the water grabbed my ankles,” he said A man being carried away shouted and stretched his arm towards Ganbe “When his finger tips were completely submerged The aftermath of the disaster was barely less traumatic — Ganbe recalls finding a body days after an experience not uncommon for children in the area at the time Media coverage emphasized polite evacuees and national solidarity For several days after the tsunami he ate nothing Pupils were discouraged from talking about “missing” friends and some experienced panic attacks it became normal not to talk about it,” he said he was asked to deliver a talk and began to process his memories investigating what makes people more likely to take the right steps to save themselves when crisis hits in part to preserve memories that he fears are fading the subject is becoming something that you see in textbooks,” he said He feels those who were adults at the time are often reluctant to stir up painful memories while younger people like his little sister remember only fragmented feelings of fear “Give it 20 years and we may see 20-year-olds who will leave home without knowing about it.” The tsunami marked not only children caught up in its direct path but also those affected by the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi a few kilometers from the reactors that went into meltdown after the tsunami overwhelmed the plant’s cooling system She fled her home with her mother and sister on March 12 “I was literally torn apart,” the 27-year-old recalled of watching the unfolding disaster from afar her family was kept in the car park and monitored for radiation with Geiger counters when they came to register her for a new school And her new classmates were silent about the disaster “I just didn’t know why people were not talking about this.. she moved back to the coastal region and now works for a group helping preserve memories of the tsunami I learned that it was very hard,” said Shimizu who has also worked with groups offering children tutoring and community spaces “There are so many people who are experiencing sorrow and struggles,” she said “We need to hear their voices and stand by them.” Astronauts in space have snapped photos from orbit of the effects of the massive earthquake and tsunami that have devastated Japan "Our thoughts are with our friends in Japan," Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli one of the three astronauts staying at the station wrote in a Twitter post on March 13 – the same day one of the newly released photos was taken The March 13 photo captured by the astronauts shows how the region north of the coastal city of Sendai  appeared from the station's altitude of 220 miles (354 kilometers) Naruse river and part of the city of Higashimatsushima The Ishinomaki Bay can also be seen coated in oil which leaked from oil refineries damaged by the earthquake and tsunami Another photo shows the coastline of Sendai and other nearby regions as they appeared yesterday (March 14) from a slightly lower altitude of about 215 miles (345 km) JAXA built the space station's largest single laboratory It is named Kibo ("Hope" in Japanese) and includes a huge bus-size main module a small airlock and a robotic arm to move new experiments onto the outer porch Japan also provides unmanned robot cargo ships to deliver tons of supplies and hardware for crews on the space station is currently docked at the space station.  one other JAXA facility is closed and two others have had some services impacted JAXA officials said on the agency's website Astronauts saddened by quake newsJapan has trained eight astronauts to fly in space with three more currently undergoing training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston One of Japan's spaceflyers – astronaut Naoko Yamazaki – has posted a reassuring note via Twitter to answer public inquiries of her safety "Thanx for caring messages for the earthquakes in Japan Lost electricity last night," Yamazaki wrote just after the earthquake "Sincere prayers to those who are still suffering station astronauts expressed their heartfelt sympathies to Japan as they prepared to return to Earth "Our hearts go out to our partners in Japan that have suffered greatly," the station's returning commander Scott Kelly of NASA said during a televised statement "We really feel for them and hope and know they will recover from this the station's Expedition 26 mission commander spoke during a ceremony to transfer control of the space station to Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev Kelly and two crewmates are returning to Earth Wednesday leaving behind three other crewmates who will stay on the space station Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi thanked his NASA counterparts and the entire world for the outpouring of public support for Japan and its citizens "Thanks for the kind words from all over the world," Noguchi wrote on Twitter "Our thoughts and prayers to victims of disaster." Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. NASA astronauts prep ISS for new solar arrays on 5th-ever all-female spacewalk Watch 2 NASA astronauts perform the 5th-ever all-female spacewalk today NASA's Artemis 2 moon rocket gets 2nd stage even as Trump tries to scrap Space Launch System (photos) Family of Natsuko Okuyama ‘extremely happy’ after remains identified as those of 61-year-old woman who went missing 10 years ago Skeletal remains found on a beach have been identified as those of woman who went missing 10 years ago in the 2011 Japan tsunami. Dental and DNA analysis this week revealed the remains to be those of Natsuko Okuyama, a 61-year-old from Higashimatsushima in the north-eastern Miyagi prefecture who disappeared when the waves swept in on 11 March 2011, a police spokesman said. The remains, including a skull, were found on 17 February on a beach in the north-eastern region of Miyagi, he added. Read moreThe confirmed death toll in the magnitude 9.0 quake tsunami and nuclear meltdown stood at 15,899 in December 2020 according to Japan’s national police agency But more than 2,500 are officially still considered missing 10 years after the disaster feeling unable to fully process the loss of loved ones whose bodies were never retrieved Local media quoted Okuyama’s son as thanking the person who found the remains “I’m extremely happy that my mother was found as the 10th anniversary is coming up,” Kyodo news agency quoted him as saying “This will allow me to get my emotions in order and move forward.” Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders Complete digital access to quality analysis and expert insights complemented with our award-winning Weekend Print edition Terms & Conditions apply Discover all the plans currently available in your country See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times Patients being transferred to the hospital by helicopter (Gotenshita Ground the University dispatched a disaster medical assistance team (DMAT) to Miyagi Prefecture to provide medical services at locations including the Sendai Medical Center and at the Kasuminome base of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force the hospital also began dispatching medical support teams composed of doctors The initial destination of the teams was the Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital in Miyagi Prefecture but they were subsequently sent also to the Shizugawa district of the town of Minamisanriku in response to increasing medical needs at the first-aid center because it was clear the center would need to offer medical support services for a long period a relay system was adopted among three medical support teams and Gunma University were dispatched to Kesennuma City and Obstetrics and Gynecology also provided medical services in the affected areas until Wednesday dispatching a total of 138 departmental members (The Department of Neuropsychiatry is still providing support.) The aftermath of the disaster in Higashimatsushima City the hospital accepted 12 dialysis patients from Fukushima Medical University and on Friday March 18 took in another four patients on artificial respiration from Miyagi National Hospital and Fukushima Medical University The hospital thus accepted a total of 16 patients from the affected areas who were transferred in by microbus or Self-Defense Force helicopter We would like to thank everyone who helped us send the medical teams to the affected areas and express our heartfelt sympathies to all the victims of the disaster (Labor Safety and Health Management Office Japan’s own Blue Impulse aerobatic demonstration team will fly over Tokyo for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23 the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) announced on June 24.  they will be using smoke in five colors ー blue and red ー to depict the interlaced rings symbolizing universality on the opening day Detailed flight routes and time zones will be revealed at a later date The Blue Impulse is based at Matsushima Air Base (JASDF) in Miyagi Prefecture’s Higashimatsushima City I covered a training session aboard the aircraft used by the aerobatic team I photographed the squad doing the so-called "Delta Roll," watching as the group of sleek aircraft executed somersaults and circular movements in unison above the sea athletes and show business personalities like Ayako Imoto have been allowed on board it was unprecedented for ordinary people to ride in the plane It took me more than six months of negotiations with the Air Self-Defense Force to get their approval I had to undergo a "chamber test” (a decompression pressurization test) at a designated hospital The test is required by Tachikawa Air Base to make sure you’re physically fit enough to fly in the jet fighter.    The pilot was in the front seat of the T-4 an outfit worn by aviators to prevent blacking out when subjected to significant levels of gravitational force from flying at high speed.  "Do not pull the yellow lever between your legs no matter what It turns out the yellow lever is for emergency escape and will be operated by the pilot in an extreme situation if you throw up while wearing an oxygen mask the tube will be blocked and the aircraft cannot be used for several days while it undergoes a special cleaning giving me an incredible feeling of being in space such as I had never experienced before.  the lever positioned between my legs made small movements repeatedly and I could clearly see the pilot carrying out maneuvers in the front seat.  I felt increased pressure all over my body It was a completely different sensation from the momentary force one gets riding a roller coaster It was a valuable experience for me as a news photographer to observe the Blue Impulse so closely as they moved in unison as their wings swayed gently a special flyover to thank medical personnel throughout Japan who dedicated themselves to caring for the sick as the world became enveloped in the COVID-19 pandemic: For the Tokyo Olympics torch arrival ceremony In March 2020: the last game at the old National Stadium before it was torn down to make way for the New National Stadium for the Tokyo Games: Flying for the Kizuna Fesstival to aid in the recovery of the Tohoku region 8 years after the 2011 triple disaster of the Great East Japan Earthquake What is your hidden wonder of Japan? Upload your picture here (Read The Sankei Shimbun article here in Japanese.)  You must be logged in to post a comment. hollows were dug in the muddied field of a former recycling center unceremonious trenches were tunneled in a vegetable patch tracts of forest have been razed to expose enough bare land for a makeshift cemetery that will accommodate its share of the 11,000 confirmed dead in the three weeks since an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan’s northeast coast As Japanese towns pitched into near nonexistence by the convulsions of earth and sea collect what dead can be found they are also holding the first mass burials in local memory From the silenced shore now come the sounds of heavy machinery scraping out wide ditches that will receive The national custom of cremation — 99.9% of the Japanese who passed on in 2009 were cremated according to the Health Ministry — is unsustainable when faced with the vast human toll There is not enough kerosene to burn the departed dry ice to preserve them or petrol to carry them to places less debilitated which has likely lost over half its inhabitants has the resources to cremate but seven a day a number of survivors have taken their dead home (See TIME’s full coverage of Japan’s triple disaster.) In a manifold catastrophe that ruined the coast’s most solid structures Japan’s delicate mortuary rites could not have hoped to endure the deceased receives an elaborate wake and funeral ceremony the body is surrendered to the furnace for cremation pick out with chopsticks and transfer gently to a waiting urn The foot bone is the first to be contained called the “Adam’s apple” in Japanese is a chip of the upper spine whose shape suggests a Buddha seated in meditation The urn will often spend a month in the home before being interred in a family grave As land becomes scarcer and relations less reliable for the upkeep of plots people’s remains are increasingly gifted to the wind That Japan will not but burn its dead is a lesson in the fickleness of tradition Just as full-body burial is now unseemly — and banned — so was cremation once controversial The 17th century Confucian scholar Kaibara Ekken considered the long-standing practice of incinerating the deceased more shameful than “abandoning the body in the fields and making it food for the foxes and badgers.” During the late–19th century Meiji period tied to Buddhist influence and by which the body of Siddhartha Gautama himself is said to have been disposed was called foreign and barbaric and nationally outlawed Opponents of the interdict launched a noisy protest accusing it of exposing people to decaying corpses and squandering valuable land (See pictures of Japan in crisis.) Improved crematoria with ventilation systems and smokestacks took shape and cremation was championed as a product of postindustrial Japan by the very Meiji establishment an urban elite taken with its own education and hygiene “It is remarkable how quick custom can change in a country,” says Durham University professor Douglas J co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Cremation more than half of Japan’s dead were still buried whole cremation had overtaken burial in the cities two of the prefectures worst stricken by last month’s cataclysms only made the transition to body burning between 1960 and 1970 But even for survivors of the earthquake and tsunami who can recall a time of ritual interment Most of the earthly pits that now follow the curve of the northeastern coast are so cavernous as to hold thousands of strangers interchangeable coffins and sometimes just partitions of plywood sheets and plastic tarps The government has sworn to exhume all of the remains for proper cremation in no more than two years and already some furnaces are smoldering again The ones they cannot help are the 17,000 still missing for whom the rubble or calmed water may act as a final resting place See TIME’s Pictures of the Week. See the Cartoons of the Week. Contact us at letters@time.com View the discussion thread. Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser Japanese version Major South Korean newspapers splashed a photograph of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a military trainer jet on their front pages yesterday saying it was a reminder of Japan’s colonial-era atrocities The picture in question showed a smiling Abe giving a thumbs-up while sitting in the cockpit of an Japan Air Self-Defense Force T-4 training jet emblazoned with the number 731 The number evoked memories of Unit 731 — a covert Japanese biological and chemical warfare research facility that carried out lethal human experiments during the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War and World War II The unit was based in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin and it held prisoners from China The press in Seoul suggested the Abe picture was an intended affront to countries such as China and South Korea “Abe’s endless provocation,” said a picture caption on the front page of the country’s largest daily “Abe’s pose resurrects horrors of Unit 731,” ran the headline in the English-language Korea JoongAng Daily The picture was taken on Sunday at an air force base in Miyagi Prefecture Abe was visiting the base as part of a tour of areas affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami The Japanese Ministry of Defense suggested the number on the trainer was simply coincidental “There was no particular meaning in the number of the training airplane the prime minister was in on Sunday Other than that there is nothing we can say,” a ministry spokesman said in Tokyo South Korean Ambassador to Japan Shin Kak-soo said he knew of nothing that indicated there was any intent behind the use of a plane numbered 731 but that Japan needed to pay attention to perceptions Likening Japan’s sticky relationship with its neighbors to that between a school bully and his victims he said: “There is a gap between the perception of a victimizer and that of a victim.” He said Japanese empathy toward Koreans on history “would prompt a faster curing of wounds.” The prominence given to the photo will likely fuel public anger in South Korea which has already been aroused by the recent visit by Japanese Cabinet ministers and lawmakers to the Yasukuni Shrine Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information Over half of Japanese firms believe the Tokyo Olympic Games should be canceled or postponed a survey by think tank Tokyo Shoko Research showed on Monday casting further doubt over the fate of the troubled Games Japan is struggling to contain the coronavirus and lags behind western countries in rolling out vaccines even as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga vowed to get conditions in place to host the once-postponed Summer Olympics from July 23 showed 56.0 percent of the companies polled feel Japan should cancel or postpone the Games up from 53.6 percent in the previous survey in August Only 7.7 percent of the firms surveyed said the Games should proceed in full form as scheduled this year down from 22.5 percent in the previous survey Nearly 20 percent said the Games should be held with a limited number of spectators while another 17 percent said it should proceed with no spectators Over 70 percent firms said cancelling or postponing the Games will barely have any impact on their earnings was conducted before Friday’s resignation of Tokyo 2020 Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori over sexist remarks that left the Olympics searching for a chief five months from the opening ceremony Information on the latest cherry blossom conditions Please right click to use your browser’s translation function.) A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II In-house News and Messages No reproduction or republication without written permission Japan on Sunday marked the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis in the country Tributes were paid to the 15,800 victims; another 3,300 people are still listed as missing revisited the spot where her house in Higashimatsushima used to stand Kumagai's father Kazuyuki called his wife Yoshiko just after the March 11 earthquake to tell her to take the children to Omagari Elementary School which was serving as a shelter Yoshiko said his dead body was found near the shelter four days later See the first anniversary of the disaster through the eyes of a child Japanese version     Back to the top page A HOT TOPIC: Three-time Olympic gold medalists Tadahiro Nomura and Saori Yoshida light the Olympic Flame at the Olympic cauldron during a ceremony at Japan Air Self-Defense Force Matsushima Base in Higashi-Matsushima Japan - An Olympic cauldron was ignited in Japan on Friday with a flame carried from Greece with officials again pledging the Tokyo 2020 Games will proceed despite mounting pressure to halt the world’s biggest sporting event due to the coronavirus pandemic The flame arrived at Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Matsushima base but no spectators were present for the ceremony “We originally planned to have children here to welcome the flame we’ve decided to do without them,” Tokyo 2020 chief Yoshiro Mori said We will do our utmost in preparing for a safe and secure event.” but as the rapid spread of the virus brings the sports world to a virtual standstill fears are growing that the Olympics may be postponed or canceled has killed more than 10,000 people worldwide Japan is grappling with pressure to avoid a health crisis among 600,000 expected overseas spectators and athletes at an event that could see $3 billion in sponsorships and at least $12 billion spent on preparations evaporate The plane with the torch arrived nearly empty after the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee decided not to send a high-level delegation that was originally to have included Mori and Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto I hope the torch relay will bring people vigor and hope,” Saori Yoshida The flame will tour the Tohoku region hit by the tsunami and earthquake in 2011 in what the organizers call a “recovery flame” tour before the official kickoff ceremony in Fukushima on March 26 Organizers have urged the public not to crowd the relay route canceled many events along the way and restricted public access to others Runners and staff will have their temperature and health monitored The torch relay in Greece was canceled to avoid drawing crowds including reigning Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi said the International Olympic Committee’s decision to go ahead was putting their health at risk when entire countries have shut down to curb the virus a soccer training center in Fukushima that served as an operations base for workers who battled triple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after the 2011 tsunami It is due to pass many of Japan’s most famous landmarks over a 121-day journey to Tokyo’s Olympic stadium Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park and Kumamoto Castle NEW YORK - The International Olympic Committee is considering various scenarios for the Tokyo Games amid the coronavirus pandemic but cancella… Poll results are published every Monday in The Guam Daily Post Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Public Relations Office, Government of Japan Home > Highlighting JAPAN > Highlighting Japan OCTOBER 2011 > Open Architecture for All No article or any part there of may be reproduced without the express permission of the Cabinet Office. Copyright inquiries should be made through this form Japanese version このサイトを利用するには、コンテンツブロック機能（広告ブロック機能を持つ拡張機能等）を無効にしてページを再読み込みしてください。 地球環境の変化や、エネルギー問題など様々な課題に直面する現代において、課題解決に向けたイノベーションを世の中に発信することで、持続可能で豊かな暮らしを続けるための手がかりを提供します。本サイトはこちら。 The city of Higashi-Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 While the pace of the recovery remains slow plans are underway in the Nobiru district to relocate buildings to higher ground Part of the recovery effort is a project to merge two primary schools into one (Miyanomori Primary School) and transform that school into a “School in the Forest.” Nicol has been an inspirational force in this project He is known for beautifully restoring in his native Wales the “Woodland of Afan” --an area that was left to ruin after extensive mining He also has developed a deep relationship with Japan that began with reviving the dead woodland of Kurohime in Nagano Prefecture in 1986 and the subsequent creation of the Afan Woodland Trust to continue the project The trust welcomed children traumatized by the Great East Japan Earthquake to its Afan Nature Centre The opportunity to play in the woods and commune with nature restored smiles to the faces of those children Even the city employees and teachers accompanying the children felt revitalized after their visit saying “Higashi-Matsushima city can be restored just like the forest in Kurohime As Higashi-Matsushima city and the Afan Woodland Trust developed a closer relationship Higashi-Matsushima city launched a project in 2012 that would combine the revival of the woodland around the city with Nicol’s idea for a school in the forest Nicol suggested that it was possible to build such a school without the traditional school buildings and grounds So a tree house—symbol of the “school in the forest” was built in 2013 Two years have passed and moss and flowers cover the tree house roof With time the structure has blended in with the landscape A careful look shows that the timber for the tree house retains the original shapes of the branches Wood weakens through forcing it into a shape by stretching and shaving,” Children use the tree house as their base while they play observe nature and learn to interact with a variety of living creatures They directly experience the fact that human beings like all living things are simply part of a greater thing we call Nature A “horseshoe observation deck” was created in 2014 from which children could gaze at the sea This was followed by a “Sound Shelter” in 2015 where they could commune with the forest Even though the city of Higashi-Matsushima initiated this project it was the Afan Woodland Trust that organized the funding and construction of it building facilities and sourcing materials was a challenge With generous help from the students of Professor Nobuaki Furuya at Waseda University the deck and shelter were built From concept to design and final construction of the deck and shelter the students lived in makeshift accommodation while getting to know the children and the local community The trust will hand over the School in the Forest to the local community after it has formulated a curriculum and set of guidelines If the city of Higashi-Matsushima is successful this project will serve as a prototype for restoring woodlands all over Japan as well as establishing a strategy for post-quake recovery and revival for affected people and towns