Daily Japan Headlines: Saturday, Sept 24, 2011

Written By: guyjin on September 29, 2011 No Comment

BBC: Japan earthquake: Tokyo loses skyscraper passion

None of Japan’s skyscrapers fell in the massive earthquake that hit the country in March, but they shook violently – and with experts saying a big quake under Tokyo is overdue, the city’s love affair with the high-rise lifestyle may be coming to an end.

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ABC News: Japan Finds Radiation in Rice, More Tests Planned

Japan is ordering more tests on rice growing near a crippled nuclear plant after finding elevated levels of radiation, government officials said Saturday.
A sample of unharvested rice contained 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, they said. Radioactive cesium was spewed from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant after it was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
Under Japanese regulations, rice with up to 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram is considered safe for consumption.

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Washington Times: Youths wonder whether to stay or leave Fukushima

“I am very scared of the radiation,” the 18-year-old told The Washington Times while waiting with friends near the city’s train station. They discussed whether to stay or leave a region devastated by the meltdown of a nuclear power plant that was crippled by a killer tsunami six months ago.
“I want to be tested [for radiation levels] to know more about my true physical condition, but they are not doing that yet,” he said. “I want to go to Sendai, because I fear radiation levels in Fukushima are higher than they are saying.”

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Wall Street Journal: Pro-Nuclear Japanese Mayor Wins Re-Election

A pro-nuclear-power mayor of a town known for a long-stalled reactor project defeated his antinuclear opponent Sunday in a blow to the antinuclear movement that has grown in Japan since the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
According to officials in the southwestern town of Kaminoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture, incumbent Shigemi Kashiwabara, 62, scored 1,868 votes in the closely watched election, more than twice the 905 votes recorded for his challenger, Sadao Yamato. About 88% of the town’s 3,206 voters took part.

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Sydney Morning Herald: Start at the bottom: a lesson in restoring the fortunes of Japan Inc

Long before 2010, when China surpassed it to become Asia’s biggest economy and Apple unleashed the iPad, Japan fancied itself a nation fated for global primacy. Its technology was second to none, its banks dominant, its car assembly lines envied and imitated.
Deflation and political paralysis have changed that narrative in a manner that was made clear last week. For the first time, Japan was shut out of Forbes magazine’s ranking of the top 50 Asian companies.

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