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Japan earthquakes: 100,000 forced from homes

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Authorities struggle to provide services to tens of thousands of people in areas worst hit by two deadly earthquakes.

Japan's Self-Defence Force search for missing persons at the site of a landslide in Minamiaso, Kumamoto [Takuya Inaba/Kyodo News via AP]

Japan’s Self-Defence Force search for missing persons at the site of a landslide in Minamiaso, Kumamoto [Takuya Inaba/Kyodo News via AP]

by Al Jazeera

Authorities were struggling to get aid to parts of southern Japan after at least 110,000 people were forced from their homes in the wake of two powerful earthquakes.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday he wanted to officially designate the southern region a disaster area in a move that would allow the government to spend more on reconstruction.

About 30,000 rescue workers were scouring the rubble for survivors and handing out food to those unable to return to their homes after the quakes that struck Kyushu island from Thursday.

Some 42 people have been killed and 10 are missing. At least 110,000 people have been displaced, according to the Reuters news agency.

About 80,000 homes in Kumamoto prefecture – the worst hit area – still did not have electricity on Sunday, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

The US military prepared to join relief efforts as many areas were cut off by landslides and damage to roads and bridges. Forecasts for heavy rains, which would make collapsed buildings more unstable, added to the urgency of the searches.

Some evacuees said that food distribution was just two rice balls for dinner.

“We are doing our best,” Abe told MPs when challenged by the opposition over his handling of the relief effort. “We are striving to improve living conditions for the people who have sought refuge.”

“Today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, we will be working toward a full recovery,” Abe said.

Gradually, some roads were being reopened, and men in security guard uniforms were helping to direct traffic in drizzly weather.

Economy rattled

Many whose homes were not seriously damaged looked for shelter as the area was rocked by more than 500 aftershocks.

Local media said most of those missing were from Minamiaso, a mountain village southwest of 1,592-metre Mount Aso, the largest active volcano in the country.

Earthquakes on successive nights struck Kumamoto city and the surrounding region late last week. Nine people died in the first earthquake, and 33 in the second.

The parts of Kyushu affected by the quake include technology hubs and other industrial areas, and the disruptions to transport and logistics were expected to ripple through the economy.

Toyota Motor Corporation said it would shut down most of its vehicle production in Japan over the course of this week because of parts shortages stemming from the earthquakes. Nissan Motor Corporation also halted production at some facilities.

Other companies, including Sony, have announced stoppages at some of their factories in Kyushu.

Japan earthquake forces evacuation of 40,000

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At least nine killed and nearly 1,000 injured after 6.2-magnitude earthquake strikes 11km east of Kumamoto city.

Japanese media showed residents, some of them wrapped in blankets, huddling in a parking lot [Kyodo News]

Japanese media showed residents, some of them wrapped in blankets, huddling in a parking lot [Kyodo News]

by Al Jazeera

At least nine people have been killed and nearly 1,000 injured after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake knocked down houses and destroyed roads in the southwestern Japan.

The tremor struck 11km east of Kumamoto on Thursday, according to the US Geological Survey, and strong aftershocks continued to shake the area around the city on Friday.

More than 40,000 people were evacuated to schools and community centres, some spending the night outside after the first quake hit around 9:30pm local time.

Roads cracked, houses crumbled and tiles fell from the roof of Kumamoto Castle in the centre of the city.

More than 3,000 troops, police and firefighters were dispatched to the area from around Japan, and Shinzo Abe, prime minister, said more would be sent if needed.

One of the victims in Mashiki died after being pulled from the rubble, and the other was killed in a fire.

Footage from public broadcaster NHK showed firefighters tackling a blaze in a building in Mashiki, a town of about 34,000 people near the epicentre of the quake.

About 16,500 households in and around Mashiki were without electricity, according to Kyushu Electric Power Company.

There were no irregularities at three nuclear plants on the southern major island of Kyushu and nearby Shikoku, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.

The plant is 130km south of Kumamoto. The operator restarted the reactors last year, the first two units under updated regulations.

In March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake led to a devastating tsunami that killed 18,000 people along Japan’s northeast coast.

The wave struck the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing a major radiation leakage.  

More than 100,000 displaced people are still unable to return to their homes near the nuclear plant because of the contamination.

 

Japanese journalist missing in Syria appears in video

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Junpei Yasuda is reportedly being held by al-Nusra Front after he entered Syria from Turkey last summer.

Yasuda, a freelance journalist, was seen in the video reading a message to his family and country [Reuters]

Yasuda, a freelance journalist, was seen in the video reading a message to his family and country [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A video has surfaced online showing a missing Japanese journalist, reportedly held by an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, reading a message to his family and country.

Dressed in a dark sweater with a scarf, Jumpei Yasuda mostly seemed calm as he spoke in English in the one-minute video, which was posted on Thursday.

Yasuda, sitting at a table in front of a white wall, said he missed his family but could not be with them.

“Hello, I am Jumpei Yasuda. Today is my birthday, 16 March,” he said.

Japanese media said Yasuda was captured by al-Nusra Front after entering Syria from Turkey in June.

Public broadcaster NHK said it had spoken by phone with the man who posted the video, who said he had received it from someone seeking Yasuda’s release.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the man in the video appeared to be Yasuda but he would not confirm the authenticity of the footage.

“The safety of Japanese citizens is one of our most important duties and we are gathering information and making all possible efforts to respond,” Suga told a news conference, declining to give details.

He added that the government was not aware that any ransom request had been made.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group beheaded two Japanese nationals – a self-styled security consultant and a veteran war reporter – early last year.

The gruesome executions captured the attention of Japan but the government said at the time it would not negotiate with the fighters for their release.

 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came under fire for his handling of hostage cases, something he would like to avoid with an election looming this summer. Critics say his more robust security stance risks getting Japan involved in more international conflicts.

The journalist in the video did not give any information about who was holding him or any demands they had. He said “they” allowed him to say what he wanted.

After saying he wished he could hug his wife, father, mother and brother, he said: “I have to say to something to my country: When you’re sitting there, wherever you are, in a dark room, suffering with the pain, there’s still no one. No one answering. No one responding. You’re invisible.”

Yasuda, a freelance journalist since 2003, was held in Baghdad in 2004 and drew criticism for drawing the Japanese government into negotiations for his release.

Tricolour upside down as Modi, Abe shake hands before bilateral

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modi-abe

Kuala Lumpur: In an embarrassment for India, the tricolour was seen hoisted upside down during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo-op with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe before bilateral talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit.

The national flag was in the background of Prime Minister Modi and Abe’s customary handshake at the Summit and was hoisted on a stand next to that of Japan.

The flag is seen with the green at the top and the saffron below as the two leaders met for the second bilateral on the sidelines of 13th ASEAN-India Summit here.

“It was an inadvertent mistake in the rush of things. It was unfortunate,” official sources requesting anonymity told PTI.

Modi arrived here on a three-day visit to Malaysia during which he will attend two high-profile meetings at the ASEAN- India and East Asia Summits besides addressing the Indian diaspora tomorrow.

(Agencies)

Scientists from Japan, Canada win Nobel Prize in Physics

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Takaaki Kajita Arthur B McDonald

by Don Melvin, CNN

London: Two scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking work showing that neutrinos — electrically neutral subatomic particles — have mass, contrary to what had been thought.

The prize was awarded to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald, the Nobel Committee said Tuesday, “for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass.”

Kajita works at the University of Tokyo, in Kashiwa, Japan. McDonald works at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Canada.

The Nobel Committee said the discovery — arcane to nonscientists — has changed our understanding of matter, and may yet change our view of the universe.

“The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015 recognizes Takaaki Kajita in Japan and Arthur B. McDonald in Canada, for their key contributions to the experiments which demonstrated that neutrinos change identities,” the Nobel Committee’s statement said. “This metamorphosis requires that neutrinos have mass. The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our view of the universe.”

A neutrino is “an elementary particle which holds no electrical charge, travels at nearly the speed of light, and passes through ordinary matter with virtually no interaction,” according to the physics.about.com website.

Scientists say that neutrinos, because they interact weakly with other particles, can probe environments that other kinds of energy, such as light or radio waves, cannot penetrate.

Last year’s Nobel winners in physics were two scientists in Japan and one at the University of California, Santa Barbara for helping create the LED light, a transformational and ubiquitous source that now lights up everything from our living rooms to our flashlights to our smart phones.

Since 1901, the committee has handed out the Nobel Prize in Physics 108 times. The youngest recipient was Lawrence Bragg, who won in 1915 at the age of 25. The oldest physics laureate was Raymond Davis Jr., who was 88 years old when he was awarded the prize in 2002.

John Bardeen was the only physicist to receive the prize twice, for work in semiconductors and superconductivity.

In the coming days, the Nobel committee also will announce prizes in chemistry, literature, peace and economics.

On Monday, three scientists shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on parasitic diseases.

Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel created the prizes in 1895 to honor work in physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize, established in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, was first awarded in 1969.

Dramatic rescues as tsunami-like flood hits Japan city

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More than 100,000 flee homes after Kinugawa river breaks banks, leaving houses submerged and residents stranded.

The building of an open-air spa, right, that belongs to Kinugawa Plaza Hotel, falls into the rapid stream of the Kinugawa River swollen by heavy rainfall in Nikko, northeast of Tokyo [Kyodo News/AP]

The building of an open-air spa, right, that belongs to Kinugawa Plaza Hotel, falls into the rapid stream of the Kinugawa River swollen by heavy rainfall in Nikko, northeast of Tokyo [Kyodo News/AP]

by Al Jazeera

Military helicopters have plucked residents from the top floors of their homes after raging floodwaters poured in and inundated a wide swath of a city north of Tokyo.

As heavy rain pummelled Japan for a second straight day, the Kinugawa River broke through a flood berm on Thursday, sending a tsunami-like wall of water into Joso, about 50km northeast of Japan’s capital.

The flooding has forced more than 100,000 people from their homes, at least 17 people were injured. Two people were missing.

A 63-year-old woman was missing in a landslide that hit her home while a man in his 70s in Joso was feared trapped when water engulfed his home, NHK national television said.

Earlier, NHK showed aerial footage of rescuers lowered from helicopters and clambering onto second-floor balconies to reach stranded residents.

In one dramatic rescue by a military helicopter, the rescuer could be seen descending four times over about a 20-minute period to take four people up one-by-one, as a deluge of water swept around the home.

Yuko Yoshida from the Japanese Red Cross told Al Jazeera that the exact number of those in need of emergency rescue was not known because many people had evacuated before the rains came in.

“From our assumptions, the government has managed this situation well. Medical facilities are operating,” Yoshida said.

Woman missing

Elsewhere in the region, one woman was missing hours after a landslide hit houses at the foot of a steep, wooded incline. Bullet train services were partially suspended.

Others waved cloths from their veranda as torrents of water around them washed away cars and knocked buildings off their foundations.

Tokyo was also drenched with rain, but the hardest-hit area was to the north in Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures.

The rain came on the heels of Tropical Storm Etau, which caused similar flooding and landslides Wednesday as it crossed central Japan.

The Fire and Disaster and Management Agency said 15 people were injured by Etau, two seriously. Both  were elderly women knocked over by strong winds.

Al Jazeera’s weather forecaster, Everton Fox, said the worst of the rains would clear within the next 12 to 18 hours, adding that by Friday the downpour will have largely stopped.

“The floods are likely to peak for some time because the run off from the higher ground will seep through for a couple of days and then we can expect a gradual improvement in the situation,” Fox said.

A man carries belongings through a flooded street in Oyama, northeast of Tokyo on Thursday [Kyodo News/AP]

In Japan, tens of thousands anti-war protesters reject return to militarism

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‘Instead of enacting such pro-war bills,’ said one demonstrator, ‘I want Japan to exert leadership roles in facilitating world peace.’

Protesters hold up banners reading 'No To War,' during a rally to protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to enact two controversial security bills on Sunday in Ogimachi Park in Osaka's Kita Ward. (Photo: KYODO)

Protesters hold up banners reading ‘No To War,’ during a rally to protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive to enact two controversial security bills on Sunday in Ogimachi Park in Osaka’s Kita Ward. (Photo: KYODO)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

Tens of thousands of people gathered outisde the Japanese parliament building on Sunday to reject plans put forth by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that would see an aggressive expansion of the nation’s armed forces despite a long-standing constitutional mandate for a “defense only” military posture.

The enormous crowd—estimated by organizers as more than 120,000 people—is opposing a set of bills moving through the country’s legislature which would allow the country’s military to engage in overseas fighting and ratchet up spending on new weapons systems. Despite loud public protest against the plan, Abe has continued to defend the plan. Demonstrators carried banners reading “Peace Not War” and “Abe, Quit!”

“Sitting in front of TV and just complaining wouldn’t do,” Naoko Hiramatsu, a 44-year-old associate professor in French and one of the Tokyo protesters, told Reuters. Holding his four-year-old son in her arms, she continued, “If I don’t take action and try to put a stop on this, I will not be able to explain myself to my child in the future.”

As the Asahi Shimbum reports:

In one of the largest postwar demonstrations in Japan, tens of thousands of protesters swarmed in front of the Diet building in Tokyo on Aug. 30 to oppose the Abe administration’s contentious security legislation.

Following a wave of weekly protests near the Diet building in recent months, rally organizers had worked to mobilize 100,000 participants from across the nation.

Amid the gloomy and rainy weather, protesters held up placards and banners and chanted slogans against the legislation, which is being pushed through the Diet.

A huge banner hanging from dozens of balloons read: “Abe, Quit!”

Opponents blasted the security bills on concerns that they would drag Japan into unwanted conflicts overseas.

Organized by a union of three different anti-war citizens’ groups, the Japan Times reports Sunday’s rally was arguably the most massive in a string of similar protests in recent months.

The Times spoke with several people in the massive crowd who rejected Abe’s arguments that Japan must return to a war footing more than half a century after the carnage that resulted from the Second World War:

Yamada, who at 5 years old witnessed the Great Tokyo Air Raid in 1945, said he was still haunted by the horrifying scene in which his neighbors in the Ryogoku area of northeast Tokyo jumped into the Sumida River in a desperate bid to escape the deadly blast and ensuing inferno.

“With the advance of technologies (over the past seven decades), war is likely to be more deadly than it used to be,” Yamada said. “In this age of nuclear weapons, you will never know how massive a death toll is going to be. The danger is far bigger than before. “We should never let it happen again,” he added.

A 38-year-old mother, who only gave her first name, Naoko, said she was worried about possible consequences of the bills that her children would have to face.

The bills, which she said ran counter to the pacifist policies Japan has adhered to over the past 70 years, could see her children embroiled in wars.

“Instead of enacting such pro-war bills, I want Japan to exert leadership roles in facilitating world peace as has done (since World War II),” she said.

Translator Hiromi Miyasaka, 49, said she resented the way the government was trying to steamroll the bills into enactment despite widespread public concerns.

“The way the government brushes aside public worries . . . it’s as though Japan is slipping back into its pre-World War II state,” she said.

Demonstrators opposing the security bills pack the streets near the Diet building in Tokyo on Aug. 30. (Photo: Asahi Shimnum/Shiro Nishihata)

People protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s security bill outside the parliament in Tokyo August 30. (Photo: Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Protesters hold up banners reading ‘No To War,’ during a rally to protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive to enact two controversial security bills on Sunday in Ogimachi Park in Osaka’s Kita Ward. (Photo: KYODO)

Prayers held as Hiroshima marks 70 years since bomb

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Japanese city marks the 70th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing that killed 140,000 people in 1945.

NukeHiroshima

by Al Jazeera

Bells tolled and thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Hiroshima at ceremonies in the Japanese city marking the 70th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing.

On Thursday at 8:15am (23:15 GMT, Wednesday), the exact time when the bomb, dropped by the US B-29 aircraft, the Enola Gay, exploded on August 6, 1945, the crowd stood for a moment of silence.

In the heavy summer heat, cicadas shrilled, the Peace Bell rang and hundreds of doves were released into the sky.

Many of those gathered for the ceremony renewed their calls for peace, while survivors recalled agonising memories that continue to haunt them 70 years on.

Eighty-nine-year-old Keigo Miyagawa spoke to Al Jazeera of the terror and the trauma his 19-year-old self went through.

“It felt like lightning. I saw this strong flash, and it was followed by this sound, and it swept me off my feet. I lost consciousness,” he recalled. “When I woke up … I was injured and bleeding.”

For the last five decades, Miyagawa has been committing images imprisoned in his mind to canvas. Read his story here .

The Hiroshima bombing, which killed 140,000 by the end of the year, was followed three days later by the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, which killed about 40,000 instantly. The war ended on August 15.

Al Jazeera has drawn a timeline of the events from the day German chemist Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission, through to the day the Nobel prize winner saw his discovery used to instigate the attack.

The effects of the bomb blast outlived its survivors.

The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki became known for cancers, premature births and malformed babies.

About 90 percent of the city was destroyed, which is why it looks so new today.

The black-and-white photo gallery reveals a glimpse of the suffering.

The US demonstrated unprecedented power when it dropped the atomic bombs. Days later, Japan surrendered and World War II was over.

The bombings remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history.

Seventy years on, many with memories of the war and its aftermath are scathing about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to pass security bills that could send troops into conflict for the first time since World War II, sparking massive protests around the country.

Critics who see the measures as a derailment of Japan’s pacifist constitution lambasted Abe at a meeting after the commemoration ceremony. Abe said the legislation was essential to ensure Japan’s safety.

An excerpt of former US president Harry Truman’s announcement that the US had dropped an atomic bomb for the first time in history is shown in this video below.

WikiLeaks: US spied on Japanese government and companies

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WikiLeaks published what it says are four NSA documents showing the US spied on Japan

WikiLeaks published what it says are four NSA documents showing the US spied on Japan

by Independent

The WikiLeaks website has published documents that allegedly show the US government spied on Japanese officials and companies.

The documents include what appear to be four US National Security Agency (NSA) reports marked top secret that reveal internal Japanese discussions on international trade and climate change policy.

A notation on one of the reports indicates it was shared with Australia, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand.

WikiLeaks also posted an NSA list of 35 Japanese targets for telephone intercepts including the Japanese cabinet office, Bank of Japan officials, Finance and Trade Ministry numbers and fossil fuel departments at Mitsubishi and Mitsui.

The Japanese government had no immediate response.

WikiLeaks has released similar reports of US spying on Germany, France and Brazil.

7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes off Japan’s Bonin Islands

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Japan Bonin Islands

by RT

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the ocean off Japan’s remote Bonin Islands at 11:23 GMT on Saturday, USGS reports. There have been no immediate reports of casualties or damage, nor any tsunami alert.

The populated area closest to the quake’s epicenter is the Japanese island of Chichi-Shima with a population of about 2,000 people. It is 189 kilometers from the impact point.

The quake hit at a profound depth of almost 677 kilometers below the ocean bed. The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a statement saying “a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is no threat to Hawaii.”

Tremors are being felt as far as Tokyo, 870 kilometers from the epicenter, witnesses report. No casualties or damage were reported, but subway trains in the Japanese capitalwere briefly halted, Japan Today reports.

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