Japan Update
Stars and Stripes reporters across Japan and the world are sending disaster dispatches as they gather new facts, updated in real time. All times are local Tokyo time. Japan is 13 hours ahead of the East Coast. So for example, 8 a.m. EDT is 9 p.m. in Japan.
For extended coverage, see the Earthquake Disaster in Japan page.
See previous Japan Update postings.
Casualty update
3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Tokyo time
More than 27,000 people either have been confirmed dead or remain unaccounted for as of Wednesday, according to the Japanese Police Agency.
Latest updates show that 14,013 people died, while 13,803 remain missing.
The agency too released the causes of death of the victims in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, the three prefectures hit the hardest by the March 11 disaster. The police report states that overall, 92.5 percent of the people died from drowning, while 4.4 percent were killed after being trapped underneath buildings, 1.1 percent died due to fire, and 2 percent from unknown causes.
In Miyagi, drowning accounted for 95.7 percent of the death toll; in Iwate 87.3 percent of the victims died from drowning; and 87 percent in Fukushima.
The recorded highest tsunami wave measured 38.7 feet at an observation point near the shore in Ofunato City of Iwate, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
- Chiyomi Sumida
Army health team testing for toxins amid tsunami debris in Japan
8:20 p.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time
The stench from piles of grimy tsunami debris that soldiers were shoveling from the roadside here last Tuesday was overpowering at times.
Spc. Brent Meadors took the precaution of wearing a face mask as he shoveled the trash but most of his comrades didn’t bother to cover their mouths.
“The mask is just a precaution,” said Meadors, like other Logistics Task Force 35 soldiers working to clear debris from last month’s deadly tsunami, was also wearing a dosimeter that measured the amount of radiation to which he has been exposed.
“There is lots of black tar and muck on the ground and dirt and debris flying and I’d rather not have any accidents,” the 25-year-old Medford, Ore., native said.
In Iwate prefecture, one of the areas badly damaged by the tsunami, the amount of debris is estimated at 6 million tons, according to the prefecture’s Resource Recycling Promotion Division.
Read more here
- Staff reports
USS George Washington to return to Yokosuka on Wednesday
8:20 p.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time
The USS George Washington Is expected to return to its home port Wednesday, one month after the ship left Yokosuka amid radiation concerns stemming from the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.
The crew will arrive at a much quieter place than they left, as the roughly 4,500 family members and others who left the base in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami are just starting to make their way back.
The ship left March 21 despite having all of its major systems in a state of disassembly when the initial earthquake struck. It had been undergoing scheduled maintenance and upgrades since January. Elevated radiation levels in Yokosuka caused by winds blowing from the Fukushima plant, located nearly 200 miles to the north, led Navy officials to order the George Washington to sea.
Read more here
- Staff reports
Nuke plant starts pumping out radioactive water
3:50 p.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time
The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant has begun pumping highly radioactive water from the basement of one reactor's turbine building to a makeshift storage area - a key step in stabilizing the complex, The Associated Press reports.
Removing the 25,000 tons of contaminated water that has collected in the basement of Fukushima Dai-ichi's Unit 2 will allow access for workers trying to restore vital cooling systems that were knocked out during the March 11 tsunami that left more than 27,000 people dead or missing.
The step Tuesday was one of many in a lengthy process to resolve the crisis, AP writes. Tokyo Electric Power Co. projected in a road map released over the weekend that would take up to nine months to reach a cold shutdown of the plant.
- Sandra Jontz
Japan taps U.S. robots for reactor cleanup help
8:18 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
In a country of break-dancing androids and artificially intelligent pets, nuclear cleanup crews on the tsunami-ravaged northern coast of Japan are depending on U.S.-made robots to enter damaged reactor units where it is still too dangerous for humans to tread, The Associated Press writes.
Utility workers seeking to regain control of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are deploying robots from Bedford, Mass.-based iRobot Corp. to measure radiation levels, temperatures and other conditions inside the reactors.
With its tractor-like base and wiry frame topped by cameras and sensors, the so-called PackBot robot vaguely resembles the metallic protagonist of the 1986 film "Short Circuit" - minus the wisecracks. AP reports. An earlier version of the PackBot was used a decade ago in the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
Takeshi Makigami, an official with Tokyo Electric Power Co., which is the operator of the crippled nuclear plant, said humans must still do the sophisticated engineering needed to stem the radiation, but robots can go in first to monitor when it will be safe for people to enter.
Read more here
- Sandra Jontz
U.S. Embassy stops distributing iodide pills to citizens in Japan
6:03 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo is no longer supplying potassium iodide to U.S. citizens as a precautionary measure in the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis.
The embassy had offered the tablets, used to treat radiation poisoning, to Americans who were worried and could not get doses from employers or elsewhere. But it had warned against taking the medicine because of health risks and stopped providing the pills on Friday because there is no significant danger of radiation outside a 50-mile radius of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors, according to the embassy.
“We do not recommend that anyone should take [potassium iodide] at this time. There are [health] risks associated with taking (the tablets),””the embassy said in an announcement on its website. “It should only be taken on the advice of emergency management officials, public health officials or your doctor.”
The medicine can damage the thyroid gland, especially in newborn infants, and produce side effects that include an upset stomach, severe allergic reactions, rashes, and inflammation of the salivary glands, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Staff reports
Navy creates handbook to aid military families returning to Japan
6 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
The U.S. Navy has created a handbook to aid returning military families who fled Japan’s natural disaster and subsequent nuclear crisis.
Last week, the Department of Defense ended the voluntary evacuation program that flew families back to United States in the weeks following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami when many feared the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant could spew radiation across central Japan.
The Navy handbook for those who will now be returning includes sections on processing travel claims, legal matters, dealing with pets and schooling procedures.
The handbook can be viewed online here.
- Staff reports
Robot in Japanese reactors detects high radiation
5:33 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
Readings Monday from a robot that entered two crippled buildings at Japan's tsunami-flooded nuclear plant for the first time in more than a month displayed a harsh environment still too radioactive for workers to enter, The Associated Press reports.
Nuclear officials said the radiation readings for Unit 1 and Unit 3 at the tsunami-flooded Fukushima Dai-ichi plant do not alter plans for stabilizing the complex by year's end under a "road map" released by the plant operator Sunday.
Workers have not gone inside the two reactor buildings since the first days after the plant's cooling systems were wrecked by a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami on March 11. Hydrogen explosions in both buildings in the first few days destroyed their roofs and littered them with radioactive debris, according to AP.
Read more here.
- Sandra Jontz
Japan sends robots in to stricken nuclear plant
3:26 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
Nuclear safety officials say the first radiation measurements taken inside two reactor buildings at Japan's crisis-stricken nuclear plant show a harsh environment but not one that will be impossible for humans to work in, The Associated Press reports.
Nuclear safety agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama said Monday the measurements taken by two robots sent in to units 1 and 3 of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant mean that workers trying to restore plant systems will only be able to stay for short intervals inside the reactor buildings, AP writes.
He said the radiation would not delay progress toward achieving a cold shutdown of the plant within nine months.
- Sandra Jontz
Clinton announces partnership to help Japan
8:58 p.m. Sunday, Tokyo time
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with senior Japanese leaders Sunday to express sympathy with Japan's people and support for its economy after last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami, The Wall Street Journal reports.
On the second stop of a weekend trip to Asia, Clinton announced in Tokyo a public-private partnership to help Japan's economic prospects and sounded a note of optimism about the Japanese business community's ability to rebound in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude quake on March 11.
"We are very confident that Japan will recover and that it will be a very strong economic and global player for years and decades to come," WJS quoted Clinton as telling Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
For his part, the Japanese leader voiced a "sincere appreciation" for U.S. military efforts to provide aid to disaster evacuees and also for advice from U.S. nuclear experts sent to Japan.
Five weeks after the quake, Tokyo has struggled to contain radiation being emitted from a nuclear power plant that was damaged by tsunami waves, WSJ writes.
Kan also said he was encouraged by Washington's decision on Friday to end travel advisories which had cautioned Americans to avoid Japan in the wake of the nuclear crisis. The U.S. kept a ban on travel within 50 miles of the plant, but lifted a general advisory about travel to Japan.
Japan has seen a rapid decline in the number of foreigners visiting since mid-March, something that has come as a major blow to its tourist industry and threatens to harm its broader business climate. Japanese government and business leaders have criticized such fears of radioactive contamination as an overreaction. Tokyo lies about 200 kilometers south of the crippled power plant.
- Sandra Jontz
Top Japanese official heads to disaster-stricken towns
5:45 p.m. Sunday, Tokyo time
A top Japanese official headed to towns now slated for evacuation Sunday after safety officials warned of a possible new leak of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, CNN reports.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano met with workers at the command center for efforts to stabilize the damaged reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi on Sunday and held talks with the governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan's government reported. He was scheduled to stop in Minamisoma, a largely evacuated city in the outer belt of the 30-kilometer danger zone drawn around the plant, and in Iitate, a village outside the zone where elevated levels of fallout from the accident have been detected, CNN reports.
Both Minamisoma and Iitate now are scheduled to be evacuated in the coming weeks due to concerns about the long-term effects of radiation on their residents. Radiation levels recorded in both cities are not high enough to cause immediate health effects, but prolonged exposure could cause an increased risk of cancer, CNN cites government data and reports from outside researchers.
- Sandra Jontz
Japan's TEPCO plans timeline to end nuclear crisis
3:53 p.m. Sunday, Tokyo time
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday that its chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, would soon explain a plan to end the nuclear crisis affecting Japan after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was damaged by the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami on March 11, The Associated Press reported.
Details of the plan were not immediately available.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Tokyo Sunday to express admiration and sympathy for the Japanese and was to meet with senior Japanese officials, including the prime minister, emperor and empress.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, fighting criticism over his administration's handling of the disaster, has called resolving the nuclear crisis his "top priority," according to the story.
Read more here
- Sandra Jontz
Radioactivity rises in sea off Japan nuclear plant
10 p.m. Saturday, Tokyo time
Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, The Associated Press writes, citing government officials.
The announcement came after a magnitude-5.9 earthquake jolted Japan on Saturday morning, hours after the country's nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their quake preparedness systems to prevent a recurrence of the nuclear crisis.
There were no reports of damage from the earthquake, AP reports, and there was no risk of a tsunami similar to the one that struck the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant March 11 after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake, causing Japan's worst-ever nuclear plant disaster.
Since the tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, workers have been spraying massive amounts of water on the overheated reactors. Some of that water, contaminated with radiation, leaked into the Pacific. Plant officials said they plugged that leak on April 5 and radiation levels in the sea dropped.
Read more here.
- Sandra Jontz
244,000 foreigners leave Japan in week after quake
4:43 p.m. Saturday, Tokyo time
A total of 531,000 foreigners left Japan in the four weeks from March 12 to April 8, including 244,000 in the first week after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Kyodo news service reporting, citing the Justice Ministry.
The number of foreigners who left Japan in the first week after the disaster increased sharply from the 140,000 who left in the week before the calamity, reflecting the recommendations of their home country governments, the ministry said.
Of the foreigners who left Japan during the four weeks, 302,000, or almost 57 percent, obtained reentry permits.
The total included 185,000 Chinese, 107,000 South Koreans and 39,000 Americans, Kyodo reported.
The ministry also said 302,000 foreigners entered Japan during the four-week period, including 58,000 in the first week after the disaster in comparison with 157,000 in the week before.
- Sandra Jontz
Japan authorities order nuke plants to check outside power links, improve disaster readiness
4:38 p.m. Saturday, Tokyo time
An aftershock jolted Japan on Saturday hours after the country's nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their earthquake-preparedness systems to prevent a recurrence of the nuclear crisis roiling the region north of Tokyo, The Associated Press reports.
There were no initial reports of damage from the magnitude-5.9 aftershock, and there was no risk of a tsunami similar to the one last month that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing Japan's worst-ever nuclear plant disaster. Japan has been hit by a string of smaller quakes since the magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit the country on March 11.
Meanwhile, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun, citing no sources, reported that a secret plan to dismantle Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the radiation-leaking Fukushima plant, was circulating within the government, AP reported. The proposal calls for putting TEPCO, the world's largest private electricity company, under close government supervision before putting it into bankruptcy and thoroughly restructuring its assets. Most government offices were closed Saturday, and the report could not be immediately confirmed.
In the wake of the nuclear crisis, the government ordered 13 nuclear plant operators to check and improve outside power links to avoid earthquake-related outages that could cause safety systems to fail as they did at the Fukushima plant, Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told reporters late Friday. The operators, including TEPCO, were to report back by May 16.
- Sandra Jontz
A subdued Tokyo Disneyland reopens
9:05 p.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
A subdued Tokyo Disneyland reopens. Read about it on Asahi Shimbun's website:
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104150287.html
- Dave Ornauer
U.S. Forces Japan statement on departees
9:00 p.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
Official statement regarding voluntary departees from AFN Okinawa's Facebook page.
- Dave Ornauer
Pacific students turn creative efforts into earthquake aid
1:45 p.m. Thursday, local Tokyo time
In the week before the school’s spring break, students at Misawa labored through a project to raise money for the Japanese communities hardest hit by last month’s deadly earthquake and the tsunamis it spawned.
Children worked at home, gave up recess and spent hours in after-school care programs meticulously folding Japanese origami paper cranes — a traditional symbol of hope and good fortune in Japan.
Project organizer Susan Blake, a counselor at Sollars Elementary School, said the goal was 1,000 cranes from Misawa. They would be mailed, along with thousands other from various schools across the United States, to the Bezos Family Foundation, which had pledged a $2 donation per crane, up to $200,000.
Blake said that just before the deadline to mail last Friday, a Japanese woman showed up at the school with 4,000 more cranes, “strung in a beautiful cascade,” that local Japanese day-care students in Misawa City made. That brought the total from Misawa to 19,920 cranes – or $39,840 that would go to the coastal communities that suffered so much loss.
“The amount of positive energy with the children was amazing, just the upbeat ending of school we needed before the vacation week,” Blake said in an e-mail message.
Read full story here.
- Tim Wightman
Japan's nuclear crisis continues to hit economy
1:42 p.m. Thursday, local Tokyo time
From Reuters:
Japan's nuclear crisis sent corporate confidence plunging to a record low in April and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned the risk to the world's third largest economy is firmly on the downside, with no end in sight to its nuclear disaster.
See full story here.
- Tim Wightman
Casualty update
4:33 p.m. Wednesday, local Tokyo time
The number of casualties from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and at least two major aftershocks rose to more than 28,500,
The death from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and at least two major aftershocks rose to 13,357 as of Wednesday afternoon and 15,148 people remain unaccounted for, according to the Japanese Police Agency.
Tremors continue in widespread areas of Japan’s eastern regions more than a month after the 9.0-magnitude Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. Nearly 140,000 people remain displaced, taking shelters in school gymnasiums and other private and public facilities.
- Chiyomi Sumida
U.S. troops clear way for reopening of Sendai Airport
2:48 p.m. Wednesday, local Tokyo time
Once a tangled, muddy mess of vehicles, dead bodies and crushed buildings, Sendai Airport is once again open for business.
Sendai resident Hideki Sato, 38, snapped a photograph and clapped his hands in excitement when the first 737 Japan Airlines passenger jet touched down at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The jet had a message painted in red on its side: Ganbatte (Good Luck) Japan.
A crowd of travelers, Japanese and international media and a few U.S. troops were at the airport to greet the first passengers as they walked into a gleaming arrival hall. The parking area in the front of the airport was still surrounded by mountains of wrecked cars, piles of debris and shattered buildings, but there was no trace of a large U.S. military camp that had been there as recently as last week.
The Americans played a major role in clearing the runways.
“When the Americans started work here, there must have been a lot of damage,” Sato said of the U.S. military’s effort after the deadly earthquake and tsunami devastated the area March 11. “I wonder how they felt when they saw how much work was needed.”
Read full story here.
- Tim Wightman
Analysis: After Japan, nuclear accident ratings reform sought
9:59 a.m. Wednesday, local Tokyo time
From Reuters:
The declaration that the Fukushima crisis ranks at the same level as the Chernobyl disaster on the international nuclear accident scale has some experts calling for radical reform of the system.
Read full story here.
- Tim Wightman
Japan baseball opens to relief and cheer
10:38 p.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time
Against a backdrop of the deadly earthquake and tsunami and worsening radiation leak, the Japan Pro Baseball season opened to relief, empathy and cheers with the Rakuten Eagles beating the Chiba Lotte Marines 6-4 on Tuesday, The Associated Press reports.
The Eagles' home of Sendai was one of the hardest hit by last month's earthquake and tsunami, and they're unable to use their own badly damaged stadium until April 29.
An earthquake in Chiba early Tuesday and another felt in the stadium during the game didn't deter the 22,525 hardy fans who gathered at QVC Marine Field, the home of the Japan Series champions, for the Pacific League opener.
- Sandra Jontz
Japanese PM says nuclear plant stabilizing
10:28 p.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time
Japan's prime minister says the situation is stabilizing at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, even though his government has elevated the level of the crisis on an international scale, Voice of America reported.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan offered the assurances Tuesday in a nationally televised news conference, hours after his government designated the accident as a level 7 - the highest level on the nuclear incident scale formulated by the International Atomic Energy Agency. That puts it on the same level as the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl.
A series of strong aftershocks is hampering efforts to repair systems at the Fukushima plant, including a 6.0-magnitude quake Tuesday that forced workers to evacuate the site for the second time in two days, VOA reports. The plant's operators said there were no immediate signs of new damage from the aftershock, which followed a 6.2-magnitude quake on Monday.
Officials raised the crisis from a five to a seven on the international scale, indicating a major accident with widespread health and environmental effects. But they stressed that radiation released since an earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant's cooling systems on March 11 is only 10 percent of what was released at Chernobyl.
- Sandra Jontz
Casualty update
6:28 p.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time
The Japanese Police Agency said Tuesday that 13,228 people were killed and 14,529 people remain missing one month after the 9.0 magnitude quake that hit Japan’s eastern coasts.
The death toll includes three who were killed in a 7.4-magnitude aftershock Thursday and another three people who died Monday in a 7.0 aftershock, the agency said.
Meanwhile, the Japan Meteorological Agency on Tuesday warned the public to continue to be vigilant because of ongoing aftershock activities. In recent days, Japan has sustained five aftershocks measuring greater than 7.0, 68 measuring greater than 6.0, and 408 aftershocks measuring 5.0 or more, the agency reported.
“At least for the next month or so, the aftershock activities will continue with occasional major ones,” said Shinzaburo Nishi, spokesman for the agency’s Earthquake and Tsunami Observation Division.
- Chiyomi Sumida
More quakes rattle northeastern Japan; trigger deadly landslide
4:50 p.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time
A fresh round of tremors, including one with a magnitude of 6.3, shook northern Japan on Tuesday afternoon, CNN reporting, citing the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The quake was centered in Fukushima Prefecture, near Japan's Pacific coast and about 40 miles southwest of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Workers retreated to earthquake-resistant shelters during the event, but there was no loss of power at the plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company told CNN.
It followed a magnitude-6.4 quake earlier Tuesday morning that killed at least six people when it triggered a landslide in Iwaki, north of Tokyo, CNN reported.
The earlier quake buried three homes, the Iwaki fire department said. Three people were rescued and hospitalized, and fire officials were working to rescue an unknown number of others believed to be trapped, the department said.
The quake struck at about 8:08 a.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It had a depth of about 8 miles and was centered about 77 miles east-southeast of Tokyo.
Monday night, one person was killed in Iwaki and several others were trapped when a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake triggered landslides there, the fire department said. It happened exactly one month after the country's devastating 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami.
- Sandra Jontz
Second major aftershock in a day hits Japan
3:29 p.m. Tuesday, Tokyo time
A second major aftershock measuring 6.3 rocked northeast Japan on Tuesday, Reuters reports, swaying buildings in central Tokyo.
The latest aftershock struck the area of Fukushima, near the crippled Dai-ichi nuclear plant, said the Japan Meteorological Agency. A 6.3 aftershock hit Chiba prefecture, neighboring Tokyo, earlier on Tuesday.
- Sandra Jontz
Japan ends dumping of nuclear plant's radioactive water into sea
10:43 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, said Monday that it has stopped releasing releasing low-level radioactive water into the sea, Reuters reports.
The ending of the discharge, which TEPCO said ended Sunday, comes amid concerns from neighboring China and South Korea over the spread of radiation from Fukushima, the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
Nearly 10,400 tons of low-level radioactive water have been released into the sea, a TEPCO official told a news conference.
- Sandra Jontz
Japan orders extra nuclear safety step as aftershocks jolt
10:30 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
Japan has ordered nuclear plant operators to put in place new safety measures by April 28, in addition to steps imposed late last month. The changes are due soon so authorities can check to ensure they have been implemented, Reuters reports.
So far, there has been no serious damage reported at five nuclear plants in northeast Japan, including the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, as a result of Monday's 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan shortly after 5 p.m.
The order came after a 7.4-magnitude aftershock on Thursday, the biggest since the deadly March 11 quake, which had disable temporarily all three power lines supplying offsite power to Tohoku Electric Power Co's Higashidori plant, Reuters reported. The plant had been shut for regular maintenance since February.
The ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) on Saturday ordered nuclear power companies to install at least two emergency diesel engines even at reactors that are not in operation and are kept at low temperatures, such as at the Higashidori plant.
- Sandra Jontz
Tsunami warning lifted
9:30 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
A 3-foot tsunami warning issued Monday after a massive aftershock hit the northeast coast of Japan has been lifted.
Japanese officials reported the aftershock at 7.1 before downgrading it to 7.0, but the U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was closer to a magnitude 6.6.
- Sandra Jontz
Concert in Hawaii raises $1.6M for tsunami victims
8:53 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
The sold-out Kokua for Japan concert held this weekend in Hawaii featured acts like the Brothers Cazimero, Na Leo and Society of Seven, Jack Johnson, Mick Fleetwood and Willie Nelson; and generated $1.6 million in tickets, food and T-shirt sales to help Japan recover from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and continuing problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
All 2,700 seats were sold out for the daylong concert, which was broadcast live on local radio and television stations, streamed live on the Web and also broadcast on Japanese radio.
- Sandra Jontz
Fukushima nuclear plant evacuated following aftershock
6:12 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
Workers battling to contain a crisis at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant were ordered to evacuate after the powerful aftershock, operator TEPCO said, as quoted in London's Telegraph.
"The company ordered workers to withdraw and stay in a quake-proof building," a spokesman for the operator said. "We don't know many workers were involved."
A magnitude 7.1 aftershock has rattled Japan on the one-month anniversary of the magnitude 9 earthquake that spawned a deadly tsunami.
- Sandra Jontz
External power cut to nuke reactors
6:02 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
External power has been cut to reactors 1 and 2 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant after the 7.1-magnitude aftershock that struck shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, according to the Japan Times.
The Fukushima Nuclear Power Station sustained heavy damage following the March 11 quake and tsunami.
- Sandra Jontz
Strong aftershock shakes Japan
5:26 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time
A 7.1 magnitude aftershock struck Japan on Monday afternoon, prompting officials to issue a tsunami warning for the Ibaraki prefecture, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency website.
The quake struck the Fukushima-ken Hamadori region.
Follow advisories and warnings from here
- Sandra Jontz
Japanese police update death toll
12:20 p.m., Tokyo time
The Japanese National Police Agency announced that the casualties of the March 11 earthquake rose to more than 27,000. The agency said that as of Monday, 13,116 people were confirmed dead while 14,377 people are still considered missing.The death toll includes three who were killed in a 7.4-magnitude aftershock that occurred in April 7, the agency said.
Monday marks one month since the 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the fourth largest recorded quake that the earth has ever experienced, struck Japan. Restoration of highways and major infrastructures are underway. The Tohoku Expressway that connects Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Japan’s main island, and Tokyo was fully reopened Sunday, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Meanwhile, about 8,000 temporary housing units have been either completed or are near completion, according to the ministry’s housing bureau. The ministry estimates that a total of 60,000 units of temporary homes are still needed. More than 140,000 people remain in shelters after they either lost homes in the earthquake and tsunami or were forced to evacuate because of the subsequent and ongoing nuclear crises in Fukushima.
Improvisation, frustration mark Japan's nuclear crisis at 4 weeks
9:35 p.m. Sunday, Tokyo time
Beneath the cherry blossoms of A week before, a similar protest - though in a chilly drizzle, not on a warm, sunny day - drew about 250.
And a month of frustration, desperation and anger boiled over at Tokyo Electric Power Company's headquarters Friday as officials from towns around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant demanded to know when the crisis that has besieged their farming communities would end, CNN reports
"The nuclear plant situation needs to be resolved as soon as possible. If not, we farmers will die," one of the officials, Iwao Suzuki, told the utility's executives.
To read more, click here:
- Sandra Jontz
Japanese PM thanks U.S. troops during visit to devastated region
6:18 p.m. Sunday, Tokyo time
Stars and Stripes' Seth Robson and Nathan Bailey accompanied Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Sunday as the leader priased U.S. troops for their efforts to help people recover from last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.
“The U.S. military is working alongside the Japanese Self-Defense Force,” Kan told a group of Japanese reporters. “I’m happy to see that happen here at this high school.”
Check out their story and photos here.
Japan, in wake of nuclear crisis, orders summer energy cutbacks
12:58 p.m. Sunday, local Tokyo time
From the Washington Post:
The Japanese government ordered businesses and residents last week to cut their energy use by as much as 25 percent this summer to avoid power outages after the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a decision lawmakers acknowledged could have economic ramifications.
Read the full story here.
-Tim Wightman
U.S., Japanese troops tackle giant task of removing tsunami debris
11:09 a.m. Sunday, local Tokyo time
It’s everywhere. In all shapes and sizes. And it will take years to dispose of it all.
Despite a unified effort by Japanese and U.S. troops, officials estimate it will take three to six years to rid Japan of 20 million tons of debris scattered by the March 11 tsunami.
“We’ve been moving debris that ranges from trash to cars - anything that is in the way that doesn’t need to be there,” said Army Spc. Gary Pritt, 22, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., while shoveling a tar-like substance from behind a school baseball diamond in Ishinomaki on Thursday.
The tsunami debris is strewn across six prefectures, from Aomori in the north to Chiba in the south, according to Japan’s Environment Ministry.
Read full story here.
- Tim Wightman
Troops launch new search for Japan tsunami dead
11:03 a.m. Sunday, local Tokyo time
From The Associated Press:
The Japanese and U.S. militaries are launching another all-out search for the bodies of earthquake and tsunami victims along Japan's ravaged coast.
About 22,000 Japanese troops, along with 110 from the U.S., will search by land, air and sea on Sunday. They'll skip the evacuation zone around the damaged nuclear complex that is spewing radiation. Troops and police officers have also been searching within the evacuation zone, but it is dangerous, painstaking work.
As many as 25,000 people are feared dead in the March 11 disaster, but only 13,000 deaths have been confirmed. Many bodies have likely been washed out to sea and will never be found.
Defense ministry spokesman Norikazu Muratani says the troops want to do their best to find bodies for the families.
Read full story here.
- Tim Wightman
'Ten years' to decommission nuclear plant
9:08 p.m. Saturday, Tokyo time
Japanese reactor maker Toshiba says it could decommission the earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in about 10 years, a third quicker than the US Three Mile Island plant, the BBC reports.
Radiation has been leaking from the Fukushima plant since a 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami on 11 March.
Its operator said it would stop pumping radioactive water into the sea on Sunday, a day later than expected, reads the online BBC story.
Meanwhile Banri Kaieda is set to become the first cabinet minister to visit.
Kaieda has responsibility for all of Japan's nuclear power stations and is scheduled to visit on Saturday, the network reported.
He is expected to don a full protective suit for a tour inside the plant to inspect the work to stop radiation leaking from the site.
To read more, click here:
- Sandra Jontz
U.S. Marine nuclear rescue team stands ready in Japan
4:08 p.m. Saturday, Tokyo time
Wearing gas masks and baggy gray suits, a special U.S. Marine Corps unit trained to rescue people in chemical, biological or nuclear emergencies held drills Saturday with Japanese counterparts, standing ready to help out if needed around the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.
The 145-member Chemical Biological Incident Response Force, based at a naval support facility in Indian Head, Maryland, near Washington D.C., flew to Japan on April 2 to offer its assistance to Japan, officials said.
It is the unit's first overseas deployment, but it does not signal heightened alarm in Washington about the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, members said. It also has no plans to go north, closer to the nuclear plant, where operators are trying to bring reactors under control after their cooling systems were knocked out by last month's tsunami.
"We're here to solve a complex problem if called upon," said mission commander Maj. Mike Johnson.
Read more here:
- Sandra Jontz
Japan to stop dumping radioactive water into ocean
11:45 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
From Reuters: Japan expects to stop pumping radioactive water into the sea from a crippled nuclear plant on Saturday, a day after China expressed concern at the action, reflecting growing international unease at the month-long nuclear crisis.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. is struggling to contain the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, with its engineers pumping low-level radioactive seawater, used to cool overheated fuel rods, back into the sea for the past five days due to a lack of storage capacity.
Read the Reuters story
-Pary Smith
Tsunami-hit Japan airport to reopen next week
11:14 p.m., Friday, Tokyo time
AFP reports that the disaster-hit Sendai Airport, which was closed after being inundated by the March 11 tsunami, will reopen next week.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines on Friday said they would restart flights next week to and from the airport, which will reopen to some commercial services on Wednesday.
Teams of U.S. service personnel who specialize in re-opening stricken airstrips have been at the airport since a few days after the tsunami hit.
Read the AFP story
- Pary Smith
Nearly a million homes without power
10:29 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
Nearly a million homes suffered blackouts in Japan's northeast Friday after a new earthquake killed three people and piled more misery on a region buried under the rubble of last month's devastating tsunami.
Gasoline was scarce again, and long lines formed at stations. Stores that had only recently restocked their shelves sold out of basics Friday and were forced to ration purchases again.
Read The Associated Press story
- Pary Smith
Massive islands of debris spotted in Pacific
10:04 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
From The Telegraph newspaper: Massive floating rubbish islands of houses, cars and bodies almost 70 miles in length from the Japanese tsunami are causing chaos in the shipping lanes of the Pacific Ocean as it heads for the west coast of the United States.
Cars, tractors, boats and the occasional entire house have been spotted floating on the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The largest "island" of debris stretches 69 miles, according to the US Navy's 7th Fleet.
- Pary Smith
Officials to monitor ship radiation
9:57 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
From Reuters: Japan's transport ministry will start measuring the radiation levels of ships and containers leaving the Tokyo Bay area for foreign ports, it said on Friday, in a bid to alleviate concerns about contamination from a nuclear plant crippled by an earthquake.
- Pary Smith
Some food restrictions lifted
9:25 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
CNN reports: Japan's government has lifted restrictions on vegetables and milk from some parts of the country's north after inspections found radiation levels below legal limits for three straight weeks, a top government official announced Friday.
- Pary Smith
Returning to normal at Misawa
6 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
Life slowly came back to normal across Misawa Air Base on Friday. Commercial power was fully restored in the afternoon after being knocked out by a 7.1 earthquake that rattled the region late Thursday. Members of the 35th Civil Engineer Squadron were still disconnecting generators from some buildings early Friday evening, switching them over to the commercial power, according to base officials. There were no reported injuries for base personnel, and officials said that on-base housing remained structurally safe.
- T.D. Flack
Japan says economy in 'severe' condition after disaster
3:55 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
Reuters online:
* No damage reported at Fukushima plant.
* Tsunami warning lifted, workers return.
* Power cut in north Japan shuts factories
Japan said on Friday its economy was in a severe condition following last month's triple disaster triggered by one of the biggest earthquakes on record, with sentiment in its service sector registering the sharpest fall ever.
Underlining the ferocity of the damage to the economy from the disaster, in which a nuclear power plant was crippled by the giant tsunami following the March 11 quake, the government also asked major companies to cut electricity use in the peak summer months by up to a quarter.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange said the power cuts meant it would have to delay plans to extend trading hours.
- Matt Orr
Death toll from Japan aftershock rises to 3
3:48 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
CNN online:
Authorities on Friday blamed three deaths and more than 130 injuries on a fresh earthquake that struck northern Japan a day earlier, shaking up a region already devastated by March's historic temblor. The dead included an 85-year-old man who collapsed and died while trying to get to a shelter with his family and a 79-year-old man who was reported dead on arrival at the Red Cross hospital in the coastal city of Ishinomaki, doctors there reported.
Further inland, in Yamagata Prefecture, a 63-year-old woman died after a power outage caused by the quake stopped her oxygen, the prefecture's government told CNN.
- Matt Orr
Rolling blackouts dropped
2:50 p.m. Friday, Tokyo time
The Tokyo Electric Power Company said the rolling blackouts will be discontinued.
According to TEPCO, current demand had fallen by 20 percent of that of an average year, and based on the current trend, it is expected that the supply-demand balance can be maintained.
The rolling blackouts therefore will not be implemented “in principle,” said the company’s announcement posted on its website, adding that there could be a situation in which power outage is unavoidable in future due to sudden climate change or unexpected troubles at (conventional) power plants.
Meanwhile, power shortage is expected during the summer. TEPCO asks for continued public cooperation for conservation on electricitity.
-Chiyomi Sumida
Navy Federal to advance servicemembers paychecks through April 15
3 p.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – Navy Federal Credit Union will advance servicemembers a week’s pay if the government shuts down, according to a credit union news release.
Active-duty servicemembers belonging to the credit union would not see any change in their April 15 paychecks, even if the government fails to pay them, the release stated.
Congress has until midnight Friday to strike a deal that would keep the federal government funded. If it cannot, 800,000 government workers would be furloughed and non-essential services would be halted.
Servicemembers would still be expected to show up for work and would accrue deferred pay.
Read full story here.
- Erik Slavin
Power returns to Misawa City, parts of base
2:36 p.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
Power was restored off-base in Misawa City early Friday afternoon. As of 2:15 p.m. some areas on base had electricity. Base spokesman Capt. Darrick Lee called it a great success. He said power had not been restored to 100 percent of the housing units yet but that civil engineers were working to hit that goal.
- T.D. Flack
Power out, but no damage reported on Misawa
11:13 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
Air Force officials at Misawa said there were no reported injuries or facility damage following Thursday night’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake that shook residents awake.
“We are looking at this as a big earthquake that knocked the power out and we’re trying to get folks back to normal ASAP,” said 35th Fighter Wing spokesman Capt. Darrick Lee on Friday morning.
The base and local community remained without power Friday, but 35th Civil Engineer Squadron personnel were working the issue on base.
“Hopefully we get power up soon,” said Lee.
Lee said the Emergency Operations Center – which had been put on minimal staffing – was once again fully operational.
Unit commanders are conducting personnel accountability checks and had been given authorization to release personnel as they see fit given the lack of power.
Both the shoppette and commissary were open for business Friday.
- T.D. Flack
2 killed in latest quake to hit Japan, 130 injured
10:51 Friday, local Tokyo time
From The Associated Press:
TOKYO (AP) -- Authorities say a strong aftershock that hit Japan's tsunami-battered northeast has killed two people and injured dozens more.
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck late Thursday, the strongest aftershock since a massive quake and tsunami pulverized hundreds of miles (kilometers) of the northeastern coast.
Fire department spokesman Junichi Sawada said Friday two people were killed. A 79-year-old man died of shock. A woman in her 60s was killed when her oxygen tank failed because of power outages.
The national police agency says 132 people have been injured.
The quake was centered in roughly the same area as the March 11 9.0-magnitude tremor.
-Tim Wightman
Why more shaking is in Japan's near future
10:30 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
From National Public Radio Online:
Japan was rocked Thursday by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake just off its coast. Technically, that strong shaking was an aftershock of the devastating 9.0 temblor that hit the nation nearly a month ago. But it wasn't a shocker, says Volkan Sevilgen, an earthquake researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. He explains the science of aftershocks and why more shaking is sure to follow soon.
What is an aftershock?
Sevilgen says that whenever there is a large earthquake, there is a big change in stress along the fault line. That change triggers other, smaller quakes in the same region.
How big can the aftershocks get?
"Large earthquakes have more, larger aftershocks," says Sevilgen. "The basic rule is if you have one magnitude 9 earthquake, you can have 10 magnitude 8s, 100 magnitude 7s, and a thousand magnitude 6s."
Read the complete story here.
- Matt Orr
U.S. military Japan aid/relief operations continue despite quake
10:06 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- The latest major earthquake in Japan has not hampered U.S. military aid operations underway across the country, U.S. Forces Japan said Friday morning.
The 7.1-magnitude temblor knocked out electricity at Misawa Air Base, the closest U.S. military installation to the quake’s epicenter off the northeastern coast of Japan.
Generators were powering flight operations and other essential functions at the fighter base Friday morning as it carried on with aid and relief missions for Japan, Misawa spokesman Master Sgt. Matthew Osborn told Stars and Stripes.
Besides the outage at Misawa, U.S. military bases and personnel elsewhere in Japan were unharmed by the quake and Operation Tomodachi continued uninterrupted, USFJ spokesman Sgt. Major Steven Valley said.
While the Air Force worked to get power back up at Misawa Friday morning, it was still unclear when electricity would be restored outside the gates, Osborn said. The quake and subsequent power outage triggered gridlock in the streets surrounding Misawa just after midnight as many Americans who live off-base tried to get on.
The 11:30 p.m. aftershock was the biggest yet to follow the unprecedented magnitude-9.0 earthquake on March 11. It struck about 40 miles east of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, prompting tsunami warnings along the already-battered northeastern coastline that were lifted 90 minutes after the quake, according to Associated Press reports.
- Charlie Reed
Misawa still without power
10:03 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
As of 9:30 a.m., power was still down on and off base in Misawa area, except for those places with emergency power.
- T.D. Flack
Latest assessment of radiological effects from Fukushima
8:40 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
View the latest data from the National Nuclear Security Administration's Aerial Measuring System and Consequence Management Response Teams deployed in Japan here.
- Tim Wightman
Strong aftershock rattles disaster-weary Japan
7:41 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
A big aftershock rocked quake-weary Japan late Thursday, rattling nerves as it knocked out power to the northern part of the country and prompted tsunami warnings that were later canceled.
Read full story here.
- Tim Wightman
Stocks fall after quake
3:30 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
Stocks fell Thursday after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Japan. The losses moderated slightly after a tsunami warning was lifted. The Dow Jones industrial average fell as many as 96 points in morning trading before recovering some of its losses. Japan's stock market had already closed by the time the earthquake struck. The quake rattled investors, partly since it struck near the same area as the massive earthquake that triggered devastating tsunami on March 11. Stock indexes pared their losses after the impact of the latest quake appeared to be less than initially feared. The Dow fell 56 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,367 in afternoon trading. The broader S&P 500 fell 5, or 0.4 percent, to 1,330. The Nasdaq composite index fell 5, or 0.2 percent, to 2,795.
-Chris Carlson
Latest on nuclear plants
2:45 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
From The Associated Press: The operator of the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant said there was no immediate sign of new problems caused by the Thursday 7.4-magnitude aftershock, and Japan's nuclear safety agency says workers there retreated to a quake-resistant shelter in the complex. None were injured. The crisis there started when the tsunami knocked out cooling systems March 11. Workers have not been able to restore them.
Thursday's quake knocked out several power lines at the Onagawa nuclear power plant north of Sendai, which has been shut down since the tsunami. One remaining line was supplying power to the plant and radiation monitoring devices detected no abnormalities. The plant's spent fuel pools briefly lost cooling capacity but an emergency diesel generator quickly kicked in.
-Chris Carlson
Misawa CO not ordering mandatory recall
1:55 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
From Misawa Stars and Stripes reporter T.D. Flack: Col. Michael Rothstein, 35th Fighter Wing commander, took to the AFN airwaves at 1:35 a.m. to address the current situation following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that hit around 11:30 p.m. Thursday. Rothstein said he was not ordering a mandatory recall of base personnel. He said if the power was still out in the morning, he expected personnel to report to duty as usual. He said that, if needed, the base dining facility would be open for all as needed. “Our engineers will have a long night” ahead of them, Rothstein said. “Go back to sleep … help each other out” as you can.
Shortly before the CO went on the air, the power off base flicked on for about 5 seconds before going dead again. Residents off base were able to listen to the CO on battery-operated emergency radios.
-Chris Carlson
Misawa doing recall of personnel
1:35 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
From Stars and Stripes reporter T.D. Flack who lives in Misawa: “Base officials are doing a recall of all personal to ensure all are of safe. No injuries reported. No electricity on base except for generators at emergency essential positions. Base commanding officer was going live on AFN radio around 1:35 a.m. to update residents on situation.
-Chris Carlson
Dollar falls versus yen after latest quake
1:28 a.m. Friday, local Tokyo time
From The Associate Press: The dollar is falling against the yen after another earthquake hit northern Japan.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake triggered tsunami warnings along the northern coast of Japan, which was already devastated by an earthquake and tsunami last month.
During midday trading Thursday, the dollar fell to 84.78 Japanese yen from 85.47 yen late Wednesday.
-Chris Carlson
12:56 a.m. Friday
Tsunami warning lifted for all areas in Japan, according to Japanese TV.
-Chris Carlson
12:43 a.m. Friday
Misawa Air Base officials said they are recalling personnel to staff up the emergency operation center.
- T.D. Flack
12:30 a.m. Friday
From Stars and Stripes reporter T.D. Flack, who lives off base in Misawa: “I loaded my three daughters and wife into the car and tried to head to the base. Couldn’t go anywhere. Complete gridlock. Looks like everyone is headed toward the base. Pitch black outside. No electricity. Sat for 20 minutes on road and turned around and headed home. Listening to emergency radio to get updates. Not sure what is going on.”
-Chris Carlson
12:20 a.m. Friday
Tsunami warning lifted for all area in Japan, according to Japanese TV.
-Chris Carlson
Report: Nuke plants stable
12:20 a.m. Friday
Japanese TV is reporting that the nuclear plants in Fukushima are stable.
-- Chris Carlson
Power outage in Misawa
11:50 p.m. Thursday, Tokyo time
From T.D. Flack living off base in Misawa:
"It really shook here. Power is off for at least those living off base in the area."
Another aftershock
11:45 p.m. Thursday, Tokyo time
Yet another aftershock, this one a big one off the northeast coast. 7.4 preliminary magnitude, 40 kilometers deep off the coast.
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/2/20110407233637384-072332.html
-- Dave Ornauer
See previous Japan Update postings.
