Japan tsunami | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education

Archives

This cute couple are site-seeing, again from inside a stroller, around Asakusa's Sensouji Temple. Picture: Anna Watanabe

Just how important are pets in Japan?

By Anna Watanabe Fri, May 04, 2012 10:20PM UTC View Comments

In Western countries, the image of the cat lady is as infamous as it is feared by unmarried, childless women. But in Japan, a country with a birth rate of 1.3 children per woman, pets are becoming a popular addition to many families – perhaps even more popular than the children themselves. In 2009, the...

Read Full Story ›

US Coast Guard sinks Japanese tsunami ghost ship

By AP News Fri, Apr 06, 2012 11:38AM UTC View Comments

OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a Japanese vessel set adrift by last year’s tsunami has sunk in the Gulf of Alaska, ending its long, lonely voyage across the Pacific Ocean. Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow in Juneau says the ship sank about four hours after a Coast Guard...

Read Full Story ›

Japan to push anti-terror measures at nuke plants

By AP News Sun, Mar 25, 2012 1:10PM UTC View Comments

The Ikata nuclear power plant in Ikata, western Japan. The facility is one of the world's most seismologically risky plants. Many in Japan have grown uneasy with nuclear power since the March 11, 2011 tsunami, which sent the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant into meltdown. Pic: AP

TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. had repeatedly warned Japan about vulnerabilities at its nuclear plants in case of a Sept. 11-style terror attack. It turned out Washington was right about the soft spots, but wrong about the enemy that would strike them. When nature unleashed its own fury on Japan last year with a devastating...

Read Full Story ›

Japan slow to improve nuclear regulatory system

By AP News Fri, Mar 09, 2012 4:36PM UTC View Comments

Reactor buildings of Unit 6, left in center, and Unit 5, right in center, at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is seen through a bus window in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan. Pic: AP.

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Right after three reactors in northeastern Japan sank into meltdowns, the government vowed to crack down on the cozy relations between the nuclear industry and its regulators. One year later, it has yet to even appoint committee members to scrutinize the “revolving door” of officials landing jobs in the very industries...

Read Full Story ›

Japan planned review of tsunami risk, but too late

By AP News Wed, Feb 15, 2012 4:10PM UTC View Comments

TOKYO (AP) — A Tokyo Electric Power Co. briefing paper indicates that the utility was planning a reassessment of tsunami risks just before last year’s tsunami devastated its Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. TEPCO presented the paper to Japan’s nuclear regulators on March 7, 2011, four days before the tsunami. It promised a new risk assessment by...

Read Full Story ›