Daily Japan Headlines: Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011
Photo Source: Wall Street Journal.
Wall Street Journal: Crippled Nuclear Plant Largely Meets Three-Month Goals
The nine-month road map for Fukushima Daiichi, announced on April 17, was plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s answer to criticism that its response to the crisis was too ad hoc. The plan’s first-stage goals were to achieve stable cooling of the heavily damaged reactor cores, secure storage space for the highly radioactive water and prepare countermeasures against any new quakes or tsunami.
“Most of the objectives have been accomplished,” Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared Saturday when he visited local leaders.
*****
Reuters: Japan to announce new nuclear watchdog
Japan will unveil plans as early as this week for a new atomic safety regulator which is expected to lead to tougher safety standards and higher costs for nuclear power operators.
*****
BBC: Japan’s parliament approves Tepco compensation plan
According to the plan, a new fund will be set up to pay damages to victims affected by the nuclear crisis.
Tepco, which reported a loss of $15bn (£9.2bn) earlier this year, may have to pay more than $100bn in compensation.
*****
BBC Video: Rebuilding lives in Japan ‘may take decades’
When Japan was struck by a devastating earthquake and tsunami it was hard to imagine how people there would begin to rebuild their lives.
Nearly five months on, residents are still trying to recover.
*****
Wall Street Journal: A Home Radiation Counter Goes on Sale
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the country’s equivalent of NASA, said that it has also developed an easy-to-use radiation measuring device for homes, in cooperation with machinery maker Tsubakimoto Kogyo Co.
*****
UPI: Japan justice minister says no executions
Japan’s justice minister says he does not intend to approve any executions as the number of prisoners on death row has reached a record 120.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reports the last execution in Japan came in July last year and Justice Minister Satsuki Eda has made clear he doesn’t plan to authorize more executions anytime soon.
*****
Reuters: Japan takes steps to keep elderly from dying alone
Tokyo’s Shinagawa ward, where last year at least 25 elderly died alone in their homes, in August began a venture with Japan Post in which postmen check up on people over 65 once a month by handing them seasonal greeting cards.
*****
Washington Times: Independent women lead social change in Japan
After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, a group led by mothers from hard-hit Fukushima province gained public attention by going to Tokyo to dump soil from Fukushima in front of the Education Ministry to demand more testing of children and stronger measures against rising levels of radiation.
*****
Reuters: Govt stake in Japan Tobacco could be cut to a third -DPJ official
Japan’s government could cut its stake in Japan Tobacco to one-third from one-half to help finance post-quake reconstruction efforts, a senior ruling party official said on Wednesday.
*****
BBC: Sakhalin memories: Japanese stranded by war in the USSR
Ms Furihato, who now lives in the Japanese city of Sapporo, cannot talk about her father and mother without bursting into tears.
She spent most of her life living on Sakhalin – a 1,000km-long (600 miles) island that Japan ceded to the Soviet Union after the war. The southern half of the island was part of Japan from 1905 to 1945, a thriving outpost of the empire, and home to hundreds of thousands of Japanese.
*****
Wall Street Journal: Japan Stars on Track for Gold at World Athletics?
While Japan came through the previous championship at Berlin in 2009 with a disappointingly small haul of just two medals, Tokyo’s official athlete commentator for the event, 400-meter hurdler Dai Tamesue, is confident about the crop of athletes for this year’s event, taking place at Daegu, South Korea.
*****
LA Times: Japan players in shock as Matsuda battles for life
Japan’s top players were in shock Wednesday after former international team mate Naoki Matsuda was rushed into intensive care after he collapsed during training.
Medical personnel rushed to the 2002 World Cup player’s aid early Tuesday after he collapsed with suspected heatstroke. His JFL team Matsumoto Yamaga later said he had gone into cardio-respiratory arrest.
*****
No related posts.
