The shattered remains of a reactor building loom against a lowering sky, smoke or steam pouring from a gaping roof in the days after a huge tsunami smashed into Japan, crushing a nuclear power plant.

[credit provider=”TEPCO/AFP”] Japanese police have arrested a high-ranking yakuza over claims he sent workers to the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant for the clean-up without a licence.Officers in northern Yamagata prefecture were quizzing Yoshinori Arai, a 40-year-old senior member of a local yakuza group affiliated to the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate, a […]

[credit provider=”AP Photo/David Guttenfelder”] SENDAI, Japan (AP) — About a quarter of the $148 billion budget for reconstruction after Japan’s March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster has been spent on unrelated projects, including subsidies for a contact lens factory and research whaling.The findings of a government audit buttress complaints over […]

Fish from the waters around the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan could be too radioactive to eat for a decade to come, as samples show that radioactivity levels remain elevated and show little sign of coming down, a marine scientist has warned.

[credit provider=”Havana Houseboats” url=”http://www.havanahouseboats.com/home/tsunami-survival-pod”] Do you know what you would do if a tsunami hit?If you’re lucky, you’d be inside one inventor’s Tsunami Survival Pod.

[credit provider=”AP Photo/Koji Sasahara” url=”http://www.apimages.com/OneUp.aspx?st=k&kw=japan%20nuclear%20reactors&showact=results&sort=relevance&intv=None&sh=10&kwstyle=and&adte=1347467695&pagez=60&cfasstyle=AND&rids=90f8e824536d4465b4d5e0e145089905&dbm=PThirtyDay&page=1&xslt=1&mediatype=Photo”] Japanese government sources have reportedly revealed plans to completely phase out nuclear power by the 2030s, according to Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun.Hints of a similar plan were made Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda earlier today, the AP reports.

[credit provider=”Republished with permission from Aaron Hobson” url=”http://aaronhobson.com/tohokustatement.html”] Nearly a year and a half after a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the coast of Japan, citizens are still dealing the the devastation.Photographer Aaron Hobson saw the destruction and beauty of the Tohoku region, which was hardest hit, while “touring” […]

[credit provider=”Wikipedia” url=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fukushima_I_by_Digital_Globe.jpg”] TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese nuclear power company hesitated before using corrosive seawater to cool the No. 2 reactor at the stricken Fukushima plant because it hoped it could be used again, video released by the company shows, contradicting official findings.The Fukushima Daiichi plant, run by Tokyo […]

[credit provider=”(Photo by Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images)”] MANY in Japan were taken aback recently by the news that, for the first time since 1985, Japanese women have lost their crown as the world’s longest-living people–their average life expectancy fell to 85.9 years in 2011, just under a year less than […]

[credit provider=”Paula Bronstein / Getty Images”] TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese women lost their longevity crown last year after 26 years at the top of world life expectancy rankings, the government said on Thursday, blaming the 2011 earthquake and tsunami for the drop.The health and labour ministry said the disaster, which […]

[credit provider=”AP Photo/Petr David Josek” url=”http://www.apimages.com/OneUp.aspx?st=dl&id=e44de6b614e8da11af9f0014c2589dfb&showact=results&sort=relevance&sh=10&kwstyle=and&dbm=PY2006&adte=1339611703&ish=x&pagez=60&cfasstyle=AND&rids=e44de6b614e8da11af9f0014c2589dfb&page=1&xslt=1&mediatype=Photo”] TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government on Saturday approved bringing the country’s first nuclear reactors back online since last year’s earthquake and tsunami led to a nationwide shutdown, going against wider public opinion that is opposed to nuclear power after Fukushima.The decision paves the way […]

[credit provider=”Flickr/Stewart Butterfield” url=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewart/2473047026/”] For the first time, scientists say they have found low levels of radiation in bluefin tuna swimming in California waters, Justin McCurry of The Guardian reports. Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134 detected in 15 bluefin caught by San Diego fisherman last August is believed to be from […]

[credit provider=”Youtube”] You gotta give Japan some credit for being innovative on this one.The country’s Ministry of Finance has brought on girl pop group AKB48 as part of a promotion campaign to sell “reconstruction bonds,” which are being used to finance rebuilding in the areas of Japan hit hardest by the […]

[credit provider=”(Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images) “] Japan will shut down the last of its 54 nuclear power reactors this weekend, a little over a year after the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima that left 16,000 dead and 3,000 missing, Reuters reports.But the move, which leaves Japan without nuclear […]

A Japanese derelict that’s been aimlessly roaming the ocean since last year’s tsunami has been sent to Davy Jones’ Locker at last.

[credit provider=”en.wikipedia.org” url=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Farallon_Islands_at_inferior_mirage_no_mirage_and_superior_mirage.jpg”] WASHINGTON (AP) — Wait — haven’t we seen this movie before?Companies are generating waves of jobs, and unemployment is down.

[credit provider=”Kyodo News/AP/AP/dapd “] On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan, triggering a tsunami that wiped out entire towns, leaving behind a trail of destruction.  One year later, Japan is still recovering from the natural disaster that killed almost 20,000 people, led to a meltdown at a nuclear […]