記者の目：震災１年 風化繰り返した過去の悲劇＝熊谷豪

　三陸沿岸部は、明治維新以降に限っても、明治（１８９６年）、昭和（１９３３年）、チリ地震（１９６０年）と３度、大津波に襲われてきた。だが、「海辺に住むな」「高台に逃げろ」というそれぞれの津波が残した教訓は、早急に風化し、十分には生かされてこなかった。東日本大震災では約１万９０００人が死亡したり行方不明になったりした。今度こそ、震災の悲劇と、その教訓を忘れまい。

　３３年の昭和三陸津波の後、宮城県が今日でも通用するような、さまざまな復興政策を実施したことはあまり知られていない。

　◇復興記念館も次々取り壊し

Hình ảnh tái sinh thần kỳ của người dân Nhật Bản

11/03/2012

CÁC TIN LIÊN QUAN

Nhật Bản - Vững tin đứng lên giữa chốn hoang tàn
Động đất và sóng thần cùng sự khủng hoảng hạt nhân không quật ngã được người dân Nhật, họ tin tưởng mãnh liệt đất nước sẽ hồi sinh.

Người Việt ở Nhật ổn định cuộc sống sau thảm họa 
Đại sứ đặc mệnh toàn quyền Việt Nam tại Nhật Bản Đoàn Xuân Hưng khẳng định cuộc sống của người Việt Nam tại Nhật về cơ bản ổn định.

• "Người hùng Fukushima" bên lò phản ứng hạt nhân
• Cầu siêu cho nạn nhân động đất-sóng thần ở Nhật
• EAST LOOP - vực dậy niềm tin sống nơi thảm họa

Sau trận động đất - sóng thần kinh hoàng ngày 11/3/2011, việc dọn dẹp những đống đổ nát là một công việc đòi hỏi nỗ lực cực kỳ lớn lao, cả về tiền lực lẫn vật lực cũng như thời gian.


Vậy nhưng, người Nhật còn làm được nhiều hơn thế, bởi chỉ sau một năm, những đống đổ nát khổng lồ không những đã được dọn sạch, mà trên cái nền đó, mầm sống mới đã thực sự nở hoa,


Tiền bạc cũng không phải là yếu tố quan trọng nhất giúp người Nhật thực hiện được những điều thần kỳ ấy, mà điều quan trọng nhất vẫn là nằm ở yếu tố con người.

07/10 Phòng khám đặc biệt cho nạn nhân sóng thần Nhật Bản

THẾ GIỚI

> CUỘC SỐNG ĐÓ ĐÂY

Thứ sáu, 7/10/2011, 11:44 GMT+7

Bác sĩ Shinsuke Muto đang điều hành một phòng khám đặc biệt ở thành phố bị sóng thần tàn phá Ishinomaki, nơi mọi người đến để xao dịu những vết thương tâm lý.
> Nạn tự tử sau thảm họa ở Nhật
> Robot an ủi nạn nhân sóng thần

Các bệnh nhân đến phòng khám của ông để chữa trị chữa lành các vết thương sau khi cơn sóng thần cao 15 mét quét qua nhà họ hôm 11/3. Tuy nhiên, cũng có nhiều người đến đây để được chữa trị về tâm lý, xoa dịu những vết thương tinh thần, sự cô đơn và cảm giác bị cô lập. Những người già sống cả đời ở Ishinomaki đã chứng kiến nhà cửa, gia đình, bạn bè và láng giềng của mình bị cuốn trôi.

"Người già cần được chữa trị, nhưng họ cũng cần một nơi để gặp gỡ, trò chuyện", ông Muto nói. Trung tâm chữa bệnh của ông mở ra nhằm mục đích đó.

30/09 Tsunami survivor won't return home near the sea

BY YOICHIRO KODERA STAFF WRITER

2011/09/30

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Toshiko Matsumoto, 65, far right, prays in front of her home in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, less than 2 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, on a brief return on Sept. 1. The bodies of her husband, Shuhei, and grandson, Eiji, were discovered near their home in late May. (Hiroshi Kawai)

Wearing protective clothes, caps, masks and gloves, Toshiko Matsumoto looked from her home where cedar trees were swept away in the March 11 tsunami. With little left to block her view, she could now see the sea.

"I don't like looking at the sea from here," Matsumoto, 65, said, and turned her eyes.

A transceiver dangling from her neck announced that an hour had passed since Matsumoto and other residents returned to their homes in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, for the first time on Sept. 1. They were forced to evacuate because they lived within a 3-kilometer radius of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Matsumoto's dosimeter showed radiation levels above 30 microsieverts, the accumulated total of her radiation exposure since she returned to Okuma. She called the minibus that had taken them to the town, even though she still had 40 minutes left in the two-hour visit to collect belongings. She waited patiently for the bus to take her away from Okuma, perhaps for the last time.

Her brief visit to Okuma allowed Matsumoto to try to bring a sense of closure to all the misery she suffered in the aftermath of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. But it also gave her painful reminders of all she had lost and the current torment she suffers.

After the bus arrived in Okuma, Matsumoto headed to her home, which is uphill and a 10-minute walk from the coast. It was also less than 2 kilometers from the nuclear plant.

She had trouble walking through the knee-high grass and weeds that had grown after the town was abandoned soon after the quake.

When she finally reached the front of her home, she pulled out a bundle of incense sticks and burned them for her husband, Shuhei, 68, and her 4-year-old grandson, Eiji. They were swallowed up by the tsunami when they fled to the garden after the magnitude 9-0 earthquake struck.

Matsumoto only learned in late May that their bodies had been found. At that time, she was taking refuge at a relative's house in Chiba Prefecture. She and her sons could not search for the bodies because the nuclear accident had forced them to stay away from Okuma.

After lighting the incense in front of the house, she gave offerings for the two--a can of sweet coffee for Shuhei, which was his favorite drink, and a red miniature car for Eiji.

"It must have been lonely to be left in a place like this for three months," Matsumoto said, while putting her glove-covered hands together to pray.

She was cleaning up the mess in her house caused by the earthquake when she heard a roar around 3:30 p.m. She raced upstairs and saw a wall of water pour over the cedar trees, the height of a four-story house, that surrounded her home. She called out to Shuhei and Eiji, but received no reply. The tsunami struck the house, throwing broken trees and electricity poles into the first floor.

March 11 was Matsumoto's birthday. Shuhei was the kind of person who would realize it was her birthday usually a couple of days after the date. But on that day, he remembered it correctly and took her out for lunch at a revolving sushi bar. She said it was a real treat for her.

"(You died in the tsunami) because you did something you usually didn't do," she had said to her husband's remains, now in her apartment in Aizuwakamatsu in the prefecture. "But why did you take Eiji with you?"

It was something that kept bothering her.

But in August, Matsumoto learned what actually happened when her sister-in-law asked for details from the Self-Defense Forces member who had discovered the bodies.

The sister-in-law called Matsumoto to inform her that Shuhei was found holding his grandson. Matsumoto burst into tears.

"You tried to protect him to the end," she said to the remains. She felt slightly relieved.

When Matsumoto returned to her home on Sept. 1, she was accompanied by her oldest son, the father of Eiji.

"Fifty-five microsieverts (per hour)," her son, holding a dosimeter, shouted upstairs. "It is impossible to take out clothes (due to high radiation levels)."

When the quake hit, her son was working at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Despite the disappearance of his father and son, he has continued to work on a schedule of four days on and two days off since the nuclear disaster started.

In late August, he told his mother that he was being transferred to a section handling clerical work. He would not tell her why.

Matsumoto wanted to ask her son many things, like how much radiation he had been exposed to at the plant, and if he was getting enough sleep.

But he would never talk about the nuclear disaster. And Matsumoto said she has never seen tears in the eyes of her son, despite the loss of his child and father. He often appeared absent-minded.

He sat silent for a while in front of the remains of his father and son.

"I sometimes get disoriented and cannot tell where I am," he whispered.

Matsumoto did not know what to say to her son.

She followed him upstairs, where she spotted a black leather wrist watch, a gift her two sons and a daughter-in-law had given her on her 60th birthday.

She also found her diary. The last entry was on March 10.

The two items were under collapsed drawers. She hesitated for a bit due to the high radiation readings. But she retrieved them and put them in a plastic bag.

The last item she took from her home was a photo album kept in an upper closet. On the first page of the album was a message: "Be happy ever after." When she turned another page, she found a photo of her and Shuhei on their wedding ceremony.

Before she boarded the bus, Matsumoto looked around at what had become of her home and showed little emotion.

"I will never feel like building a home here again," she said. "I am afraid this is it."

She had never said such things when I interviewed her in late March.

16/09 Mountain washed away by March 11 tsunami

The Yomiuri Shimbun


SENDAI--Mt. Hiyori, regarded as the nation's second-lowest mountain at 6.05 meters high, was washed away by the March 11 tsunami, it has been learned.

The tsunami washed away not only the shortest official mountain in Miyagino Ward, Sendai, but also a reed field in the Gamo wetlands where wild birds such as snipes and plovers rested. Consequently, numbers of wild birds in the area have fallen sharply since the disaster.

According to a civic group working to protect the Gamo wetlands, about 50 species of bird are usually observed at this time of year. However, only 28 species were recorded in a survey on the area they took on Sunday.

According to the Sendai municipal government and other sources, Mt. Hiyori was the second-lowest mountain in the nation, behind the 4.53-meter-high Mt. Tempo in Osaka, based on a map issued by the Geospatial Information Authority.

A Geospatial Information Authority official said the body would decide what course of action to take regarding the mountain being featured on its map after checking aerial photos and information from local governments.

The mountain, which was quite easy to walk around, was believed to have been made by local residents around 1909. It overlooked Sendai Bay and was loved by local residents as a place to relax. Some residents have expressed disappointment for having lost the mountain.

An 81-year-old man from Miyagino Ward who used to live near Mt. Hiyori said: "I've not come here for a long time and I'm so surprised to see [the mountain] is totally gone. I regret the loss of the mountain, which made for the best playground when I was a child."

(Sep. 16, 2011)

11/09 6 MONTHS ON FROM MARCH 11 DISASTER / Consideration given to how to preserve bldgs

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A two-story police box in Onagawacho, made of reinforced concrete, that was knocked over by the tsunami.

Onagawacho's reconstruction plan calls for the preservation of four tsunami-hit buildings, including a toppled police box and an office building owned by dietary supplement maker Onagawa Supplement. Surrounding areas will be turned into a memorial park.

"We want there to be two major aspects to the preservation: passing on a record of the damage caused by the disaster to future generations and promoting tourism," Takuro Kimura, 62, managing director of the Glocal Empowerment, Support and Aid Institute, said at the third meeting of the reconstruction committee.

Yet a committee member chosen from among local residents said, "I couldn't object when a scholar talked about the 'academic value' [of preserving damaged structures]."

Some building owners have turned down proposals to preserve the structures and some residents at a public hearing on the subject said it was painful to see them.

"We'll think carefully about how to preserve them," Kimura said.

"I hope the plan doesn't end up as a pipe dream," Takanobu Takahashi, 67, head of a buyers' cooperative association at the Onagawa fish market, said at his prefab office late last month.

Despite the many blueprints for post-disaster reconstruction, Onagawacho currently has no prospects of securing the necessary funds.

Regarding the procurement and development of plots of land for communities to relocate their houses en masse, there is a plan whereby the central government bears 94 percent of the cost through subsidies and other means.

However, there is a upper limit on subsidies, making it highly likely local municipalities will bear a heavy financial burden.

The Miyagi prefectural government did a tentative calculation in June of a post-disaster reconstruction project, including the relocation of residents' homes. It envisioned a municipality on essentially the same scale as Onagawacho, with about 10,000 people and an initial budget of about 6 billion yen in fiscal 2010.

The prefecture estimated such a project would cost 210.7 billion yen to implement, of which the local government would have to shoulder 116.5 billion yen.

According to these figures, Onagawacho would have to pay about 20 times its actual annual budget for the reconstruction project.

Many local municipalities are drawing up their post-disaster plans based on the steps to be taken by the central government, but Onagawacho drafted its plan fairly quickly.

"I wanted to show the will of our residents early, rather than taking a wait-and-see approach," Mayor Nobutaka Azumi said.

"With the existing framework, the town's finances will collapse. We want the central government to respond to our wishes through such measures as creating a new system whereby local municipalities have a small [financial] burden," he said.

(Sep. 11, 2011)

19/07 放出放射線量、４か月で２００万分の１に減少

　政府と東京電力は１９日、福島第一原子力発電所の事故収束に向けた工程表の最初の３か月（ステップ１）がほぼ達成できたとして、最終目標の「冷温停止状態」を目指す来年１月までの新工程表を発表した。

　放射性物質の放出量は、事故直後の２００万分の１に減少、当初目標の「放射線量の着実な減少」は達成したとの見方を示した。同時に発表された政府の被災者対応の工程表には、仮設住宅の建設などの進展状況が示されたのみで、住民避難の解除などについては明示されなかった。

　東電が発電所内で採取した大気中の放射性物質の量をもとに計算した暫定評価によると、福島第一原発からの放射性物質の放出量は現在、毎時１０億ベクレルで、３月１５日時点の放出量（毎時約２０００兆ベクレル）の２００万分の１。敷地境界での年間被曝ひばく線量に換算すると１・７ミリ・シーベルトとなる。

　今後、来年１月までの最長半年間を想定した新工程表（ステップ２）では、この線量を年間１ミリ・シーベルト以下に抑えることを目指す。汚染水を処理し原子炉の冷却水に再利用する「循環注水冷却」を継続し、原子炉が安定に停止する冷温停止状態を達成する。

　政府・東電統合対策室は、冷温停止の条件として、〈１〉圧力容器底部が１００度以下〈２〉格納容器からの放出量を管理し、被曝線量を大幅に抑制する――との見解を初めて設定した。

（2011年7月19日21時20分  読売新聞）

12/07 石巻漁港に活気戻る…スルメイカは２倍の値

震災後初めて行われた競りでにぎわう魚市場（１２日午前、石巻市で）＝野本裕人撮影

　全国３位の水揚げ量を誇る宮城県石巻市の石巻漁港で１２日朝、震災後初めて水揚げがあり、競り人の威勢の良い掛け声が久々に魚市場に響き渡った。

　水揚げされたのは、スルメイカやカレイ、銀ザケなど約２トンで、地元の漁船９隻が近海で漁獲した。スルメイカの競りでは、５キロあたりの最高値が震災前の２倍の４５００円をつけるご祝儀相場となった。

　同漁港は津波にのまれ、冷凍施設なども損壊。この日揚がった魚は、護岸に設けた仮設テントに並べられ、水揚げ用の氷は、近くの製氷会社から提供を受けた。

　地盤が７０～８０センチ沈下したため、満潮時には荷さばき場が水浸しになるが、競り人の末永信幸さん（５４）は「これをきっかけに市場を震災前と同じように盛り上げていきたい」と話した。

（2011年7月12日12時55分  読売新聞）

10/07 大震災後初の津波観測、福島第一原発異常なし

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津波注意報が発令され、高台に避難した人たち（１０日、宮城県石巻市の日和山公園で）＝関口寛人撮影

　１０日午前９時５７分頃、三陸沖を震源とする地震があり、盛岡市や宮城県石巻市、福島県田村市などで震度４を観測した。

　気象庁によると、震源の深さは３４キロ、マグニチュードは７・３と推定される。同庁によると、午前１１時１１分に福島県相馬市、同２０分に岩手県大船渡市で、それぞれ１０センチの津波を観測した。東日本大震災後、津波が観測されたのは初めて。

　同庁は岩手、宮城、福島県沿岸に津波注意報を出したが、午前１１時４５分に解除した。東日本大震災の余震と考えられるという。

　東京電力によると、福島第一原子力発電所の原子炉への注水や外部電源などに異常はない。

　ほかの主な各地の震度は次の通り。

　▽震度４　宮城県栗原市、登米市、岩沼市▽震度３　青森市、仙台市、水戸市、東京都荒川区

（2011年7月10日13時24分  読売新聞）

10/07 「お墓に避難します」…南相馬の９３歳女性自殺

　東京電力福島第一原子力発電所事故の影響で、緊急時避難準備区域に設定された福島県南相馬市内に住む９３歳の女性が６月下旬、自宅の庭で自殺していたことが９日、女性の親戚らへの取材でわかった。

　遺書には、「足手まといになる」「お墓に避難します」との趣旨が記されていた。

　親戚らによると、女性は、息子夫婦と孫２人の５人暮らし。足が不自由だった。原発事故を受け、家族と離れ、同県相馬市の別の親戚宅に身を寄せたが、体調を崩し入院。退院後は自宅に戻った。亡くなる数日前には「今度はお墓に避難するんだ」と漏らしていたという。

　同区域では、原発の状況が悪化した場合にすぐに避難することが求められている。親戚は「事故が起きなければ、こんなことにはならなかった」と話した。

（2011年7月10日01時34分 読売新聞）

08/07 福島第一原発の津波は１３ｍ…６か所から集中

　東京電力は８日、東日本大震災の際に太平洋岸の各原発を襲った大津波の高さについての詳しいコンピューター分析の結果を発表した。

　福島第一原子力発電所を襲った津波の高さは最大１３・１メートル、約１０キロ離れた第二原発で同９・１メートルだった。

　東電の分析によると、第一原発では、地震発生から約２６～３０分後に、沖合約３０キロ・メートルの地点で６か所の断層の破壊に伴って発生した津波が次々と重なった。その後、津波は水深が浅くなるにつれて高さを増し、海岸に押し寄せた５１分後に１３・１メートルに達した。一方、第二原発沖合では、個々の津波の高さは、第一原発とほとんど同じだったが、重なった時間帯が２４～３１分後と少し長く、津波のピークが微妙にずれたため、相対的に低くなった。

（2011年7月8日20時42分 読売新聞）

06/07 復興相交代に被災地「現状変わると思えない」

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平野氏の復興相起用を伝えるニュースに見入る被災者（５日午後５時５５分、宮城県気仙沼市で）＝稲垣政則撮影

「復興の歩みが止まってしまうのでは」「政治家は自分のことばかり」――。

東日本大震災を巡る発言で復興相を辞任した松本龍氏（６０）の後任に５日、復興担当の内閣府副大臣だった平野達男氏（５７）が就任した。６月の内閣不信任決議案提出を巡る混乱に始まり、ようやく決まった復興相もすぐに交代するというドタバタ劇に、被災地では失望と怒りの声が相次いだ。

◆平野氏が昇格◆

「一日も早く復興への実感が得られるよう（被災地の）皆さんと力を合わせていきたい」。５日午後９時４５分、東京・霞が関で記者会見に臨んだ平野復興相は、落ち着いた口調で決意を述べた。

岩手県選出の参院議員である平野氏は震災直後に岩手入りしたといい、「体が震えるような感じは鮮明に残っている。私自身、復旧復興に特別の思いで臨んできた」と強調。復興計画の策定については「各市町村の意気込みを大事にしたい」と抱負を述べた。

会見では額や口元に汗を浮かべ、記者らに「暑いな」と笑いかける余裕も。よどみなく質問に答えた会見の中で、唯一、言葉に詰まったのは同じく岩手選出で地元に絶大な影響力を持つ小沢一郎民主党元代表に（大臣就任を）相談したかどうかを問われた時だ。「相談していない」と答えた後、「電話だけは秘書官を通じてしました」と汗をぬぐった。

◆被災者◆

松本氏が先月５日、防災相として俳優の菅原文太さんと訪れた宮城県丸森町。福島県南相馬市から避難しており、松本氏と言葉を交わした主婦佐藤英子さん（３７）は「震災に関わる大臣がこんなにすぐ代わるなんて。復興の歩みが止まる気がして心配」と、わずか９日での大臣交代が信じられない様子。福島県浪江町から福島市に避難中の田中直美さん（３２）は「政治家は自分のことばかり考えている。新しい人になっても政治には期待できない」と不信感を口にした。

新大臣の選挙区の岩手県。大槌町の避難所で暮らす飲食店経営阿部嵬たかしさん（６３）は「岩手は広い。県出身といっても海岸沿いではないし……」と話し、度重なる閣僚の交代劇に「現状を変えてくれるとは思えない。行き詰まればまた辞めるのでは」とあきれた表情で話した。

（2011年7月6日02時53分  読売新聞）

06/07 「県民として恥ずかしい」…辞任復興相の地元

「被災者の気持ちが分かっていなかったのか」「県民として恥ずかしい」――。

福岡県選出の松本龍衆院議員が「放言」をきっかけに復興相を辞任した５日、県内の有権者らからは厳しい批判や落胆の声が相次いだ。

「担当大臣にふさわしくなかった」と指摘するのは糸島市でギャラリーを営む長岡秀世さん（６１）。「東北の人たちの悲しみをくみ上げる気持ちがあれば、ああはならなかったはず。国がやってあげるという気持ちがうかがえるが、（考え方が）根本的にずれている」と批判した。

「県民として恥ずかしい」と訴える有権者も。太宰府市吉松の自営業福澤愛子さん（６０）は「岩手、宮城県知事を格下に見たような、ちょっとひどい物言いだった。人の上に立つ方は、誰に対しても、言い方を考えるべき。同じ福岡県民として恥ずかしい」

福津市津屋崎の柴田富美子さん（７７）は「大臣の発言が福岡の声だと思われたのなら、被災地の方々には本当に申し訳ない」とも。「本当に最近の政治には不信感ばかり。民主党にはしっかりした人材はいないのかしら」とため息をついた。

手腕に期待していた人からは、落胆の声が上がった。福岡市南区の会社員松下雄三さん（２５）は「一連の発言を報じるニュースを見た時、そこまで言うならどれほどの手腕を発揮できるのかと注目していたが、失言で辞任とは残念。県出身の大臣として、被災地を支えてほしかった」と残念そうに話した。

２００９年の衆院選で松本氏に投票したという福岡市博多区のタクシー運転手中島純孝さん（６２）は「被災地での態度にはがっかり」としながらも、「民主党が世の中を変えてくれるという期待で投票し、地元から大臣が誕生した時はうれしかった。またチャンスはあるだろうから、頑張ってほしい」と話した。

福岡市の高島宗一郎市長はこの日の定例記者会見で、「日本を救うために頑張ることを市民も期待していた。発言を元に辞任し、非常に残念」と述べた。

（2011年7月6日10時26分 読売新聞）

Disaster in Japan News on the biggest earthquake to hit Japan in 140 years.

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• Aftershock Rattles Disaster-Weary Japan; 2 Dead

  A strong aftershock ripped through northeastern Japan, killing two, injuring dozens and piling misery on a region still buried under the rubble of last month's devastating tsunami.

• Few Signs of Life in Japan Nuclear Evacuation Zone
  The Odaka neighborhood seems frozen in time since it was abandoned after the tsunami nearly a month ago: Doors were left hanging open and bicycles were abandoned. A lone taxi sits in front of the train station. Mud-caked dogs roam empty streets, their barking and the cawing of crows the only sounds.
• Japan Stops Leaks From Nuclear Plant: Facility Operator
  Engineers have stopped highly radioactive water leaking into the sea from a crippled Japanese nuclear power plant, the facility's operator said on Wednesday, a breakthrough in the battle to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
• Tokyo Tiptoes Toward Normality as Disaster Impact Lingers
  Life in the metropolis of 13 million people is tiptoeing towards normality from the early post-disaster days when train service was patchy, workers stayed home and groceries were bare of necessities such as bread, milk, toilet paper and diapers.
• Japan Under Pressure to Expand Nuclear Evacuation
  Pressure grew on Thursday for Japan to expand an evacuation zone round its stricken nuclear plant where radiation hit 4,000 times legal limits in nearby sea and hindered the battle to contain the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl.
• Japan March Manufacturing PMI Hits 2-Year Low After Quake
  Japanese manufacturing activity slumped to a two-year low in March and posted its steepest monthly decline on record as a devastating earthquake and tsunami disrupted supply chains and production operations, a survey showed on Thursday.
• Tokyo Electric Chief in Hospital as Pressure Mounts
  The head of Tokyo Electric Power was hospitalized on Wednesday amid mounting concerns his utility may collapse under the strain of paying for Japan's worst nuclear disaster.
• Tech Firms Fret Over Length of Japan Disruption
  Disruption of the production and delivery of components used by the global technology sector continued to weigh, more than two weeks after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan.
• France, US to Help Japan in Nuclear Crisis
  France and the United States are to help Japan in its battle to contain radiation from a crippled nuclear complex where plutonium finds have raised public alarm over the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.
• Japan Finds Plutonium at Stricken Nuclear Plant
  Plutonium found in soil at the Fukushima nuclear complex heightened alarm on Tuesday over Japan's battle to contain the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years, as pressure mounted on the prime minister to widen an evacuation zone around the plant.
• Greenpeace: Radiation Outside Japan Evacuation Zone
  Greenpeace called on the Japanese government to extend an evacuation zone around the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, saying it had found high radiation levels outside the zone.
• Radiation, Bad Readings Plague Japan Nuclear Effort
  Emergency workers struggling to pump contaminated water from Japan's stricken nuclear complex fled from one of the troubled reactors Sunday after reporting a huge increase in radioactivity -- a spike that officials later apologetically said was inaccurate.
• Engineers Toil to Pump Out Japan Plant; Radiation
  Japanese engineers struggled on Sunday to pump radioactive water from a crippled nuclear power station after radiation levels soared in seawater near the plant more than two weeks after it was battered by a huge earthquake and a tsunami.
• China Finds Two Japanese Entering With High Radiation
  China found two Japanese travelers arriving with high radiation levels on Friday in the latest consequence of contamination from a crippled nuclear plant two weeks after the Asian nation's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
• A Radical Kind of Reactor
  While engineers at Japan’s stricken nuclear power plant struggle to keep its uranium fuel rods from melting down, engineers in China are building a radically different type of reactor that some experts say offers a safer nuclear alternative, the New York  Times reports.
• Japan Tsunami Losses Felt in Mud-Covered Pictures
  On sprawling blue plastic tarps in a small public hall lie a mass of mud-covered photographs that may be the only remaining printed memories for tsunami victims in the fishing town of Yamada.
• Radiation in Tokyo Water; US Curbs Japan Food Imports
  Japanese authorities advised against allowing infants to drink tap water in Tokyo due to raised radiation levels and the United States became the first nation to block some food imports from Japan.
• Japan's Fish Market Reflects Human Tragedy, Economic Cost
  The tsunami that hit Japan this month took such a huge toll on people, equipment and fish that supplies of some seafood could be cut off for a year or more, industry workers said on Tuesday.
• Japan Sees Quake Damage Reaching Up to $300 Billion
  The Japanese government expects total damage from a devastating earthquake that hit northeast Japan this month to reach 15 trillion to 25 trillion yen ($185-308 billion), the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday.
• Diplomas, and an Uncertain Future, for Japanese Pupils
  Schools in Japan begin class in April and hold graduation ceremonies in March; like spring, they represent renewal and rebirth. On Tuesday morning, in a school meeting hall in the tsunami-ravaged seaport of Kesennuma, it became something else: an act of defiance. The NYT reports.
• Nuclear Industry in Russia Sells Safety, Taught by Chernobyl
  It was truly a trial by fire — one that has now become part of Russia’s nuclear marketing message.  How Chernobyl made Russia the most safety-conscious nuclear proponent. The NYT reports.
• Japan Parts Paralysis Spreads as Firms Cut Output
  Sony cut output at five more plants and Toyota Motor delayed restarting assembly lines, as the global supply of parts and products began to feel the full impact of Japan's catastrophic earthquake.
• Tsunami Puts Rare Spotlight on Japan Soldiers
  Japan's worst crisis since World War Two has put its military under a rare spotlight as soldiers search for survivors, clear away rubble, deliver aid and help exhausted engineers avert a nuclear catastrophe.
• Japan Tsunami Victims Back Home, Searching for Memories
  In a devastated landscape of splintered homes, rotting bodies and twisted cars, an elderly man walks with stooped shoulders searching for any object that can bring back memories of his daughter.
• Advantest-Verigy Deal Looks Set to Go Ahead Despite Quake
  Japan's Advantest appeared on the verge of clinching a $908 million acquisition of U.S. chip tester Verigy on Tuesday, in a fresh sign that Japanese firms remain eager to push through deals even after this month's catastrophic earthquake.
• Japan Lost Autos Output to Hit 338,000 Through Friday
  Japan automakers in the first two weeks after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami will lose about 65 percent in light vehicle production, industry consultant IHS Automotive Insight said Monday in a report.
• Japan Disaster To Delay US Nuclear Energy Plans: Buffett
  The nuclear disaster in Japan is likely to have major effects on US energy policy, according to billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
• WHO: Radiation in Food in Japan Is 'Serious Situation'
  The World Health Organization said on Monday that radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was a "serious situation," eclipsing clear signs of progress.
• Putin Offers to Help Japan by Boosting EU Gas Supply
  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed freeing up energy for Japan by increasing gas supplies to Europe and offered Japanese companies a slice of Siberia's gasindustry.
• Japan PM Considers 'Grand Coalition' to Tackle Quake Disaster
  Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan plans to sound out the opposition on joining a grand coalition to handle reconstruction policy following last week's quake and tsunami and amid the ongoing nuclear crisis.   
• Japan Officials Say No Plan for BOJ to Underwrite Debt
  Japan has no plans to ask the central bank to underwrite bonds Tokyo may issue to fund relief and reconstruction after last week's deadly earthquake, top government officials said on Friday, denying an earlier newspaper report.
• Backroom Talks, Secret Protocol Mark G7 Intervention
  The Group of Seven nations have agreed to a secret protocol to guide their coordinated intervention and won’t reveal it in order to keep currency markets guessing, according to people familiar with the matter.
• Central Banks Move To Weaken Yen, Calm Markets
  Japan bought billions of dollars to restrain a soaring yen on Friday, backed by action from European central banks as the world's richest nations moved to calm markets made nervous by Japan's nuclear crisis.
• US Flights Over Plant Gather Crucial Data
  Readings from American flights over the stricken nuclear plant show that the worst of the contamination has not spewed past the 18-mile range established by Japan. The NYT reports.
• Japan Retailers Rocked by Quake, Aftermath
  Japan's retailers were struggling with sluggish sales before Friday's earthquake and tsunami. Now their challenge is more daunting with heightened uncertainty about the economy set to squeeze consumer spending further. 
• In Detail: The State of Each of the 6 Reactors
  Tokyo Electric Power and the Japanese government are battling to cool not just the 3 reactors operating at the time of the disaster, but also cooling pools at 3 others that were down for maintenance. So, which reactors are most at risk?
• Industry’s Pause Raises Supply Chain Concerns
  Many companies outside Japan remain uncertain, or decline to say, whether supplies of crucial components from Japan will be interrupted, the New York Times reports.
• ATM Glitches, Power Outages Jolt Stressed Tokyo
  Malfunctioning bank machines and threats of power outages on Thursday jolted a stressed Tokyo where millions stocked up on rice and other essentials, stayed indoors or crowded into airports during Japan's nuclear crisis.
• BoJ Injects Another 5 Trillion Yen to Calm Market
  The Bank of Japan on Thursday offered to inject a further 5 trillion yen ($61 billion) into the banking system, continuing its effort to calm markets in the wake of the yen's spike to a record high against the dollar.
• Japan Heading Back Into Recession, Strong Yen Weighs
  Japan's economy seems to be in a state of almost suspended animation as its nuclear crisis shows no sign of ending, sorely testing analysts' hopes for a swift rebound led by reconstruction efforts.
• Japan's Yosano: No Need for G7 Intervention
  Japanese markets have not become destabilized enough to warrant joint G7 currency intervention or government purchases of shares, Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said on Thursday.
• Scientists Project Path of Radiation Plume
  A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday. But scientists see little risk, the NYT reports.
• Mizuho Says ATMs Back Up After Nationwide Shutdown
  Mizuho Bank said its automatic teller machines were back up and running across Japan after a shutdown earlier on Thursday, the latest disruption to business and daily life in Japan after last week's devastating earthquake.
• For Japan Tsunami Survivors, Woes Keep Mounting
  Nearly a week after their home town was annihilated in a catastrophic tsunami, the 1,000-plus survivors of the small Japanese fishing town of Otsuchi are hanging by a thread.
• Japan Exodus Clogs Airports as Carriers Scramble
  Airlines raced on Wednesday to clear Tokyo's airports of a backlog of passengers and help those wanting to leave as fears grew that quake-stricken Japan was losing control of a steadily growing nuclear crisis.
• Japan Scrambles to Pull Nuclear Plant Back From Brink
  Japan's nuclear crisis appeared to be spinning out of control on Wednesday after workers withdrew briefly from a stricken power plant because of surging radiation levels and a helicopter failed to drop water on the most troubled reactor.
• Japan Nuclear Crisis Now Seen Worse Than Three Mile
  Conditions at a stricken nuclear power plant in Japan have deteriorated so much that there is a growing consensus the crisis is greater than the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, and there are fears that it could get significantly worse.
• Last Defense at Troubled Reactors: 50 Japanese Workers
  A small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became the only people remaining at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday — and perhaps Japan’s last chance of preventing a broader nuclear catastrophe, the New York Times reports.
• Japan Races to Avert Disaster; Radiation Drifts Into Tokyo
  Japan raced to avert a catastrophe on Wednesday after an explosion at a quake-crippled nuclear power plant sent radiation wafting into Tokyo, prompting some people to flee.
• Foreign Bankers Are Fleeing Tokyo As Nuclear Crisis Grows
  Foreign bankers are fleeing Tokyo as Japan's nuclear crisis worsens, scrambling for commercial and charter flights out of the country and into other major cities in the region.
• Japan Supply Chain Risk Reverberates Globally
  With many Japanese factories facing temporary or partial closure, the earthquake has left investors facing an uncomfortable truth: in the modern world, it can be tough to assess how convoluted cross-border linkages really work, in manufacturing as in finance, the Financial Times reports.
• Foreign bankers flee Tokyo as nuclear crisis deepens
  By Nachum Kaplan and Denny Thomas
• Reactor Design in Japan Has Long Been Questioned
  The type of containment vessel used in the stricken reactors in Japan has long been thought susceptible to failure in an emergency. The NYT reports.
• Authorities Grapple With A Potential Nuclear Crisis
  Japan warned radioactive levels had become "significantly" higher around a quake-stricken nuclear power plant on Tuesday after explosions at two reactors, and the French embassy said a low-level radioactive wind could reach Tokyo within hours.
• Japan's Nuclear Crisis: A Timeline of Key Events
  Japan is struck by the largest recorded earthquake in its history off the coast of the northeastern city of Sendai, putting in motion a series of events that led to a nuclear crisis. The Christian Science Monitor reports.
• Japan government losing public trust as nuclear crisis worsens
  Public trust in the Japanese government faces its biggest test since World War Two over the handling of the nation's nuclear crisis, raising concerns that a breakdown in confidence could fuel panic and chaos if appeals for calm go unheeded.
• Will Japan Crisis Spark Global Markets Correction?
  There is another problem building, and some fear it could lead to a much more widespread crisis in financial assets.
• Impact on World Economies 
  Japan is the second-largest trading partner at the Port of Los Angeles, second only to China, reports CNBC's Jane Wells.
• Japan's Nuclear Reactors: What's Happening Inside?
  The key to averting a nuclear disaster at the quake-stricken Fukushima power complex in Japan is ensuring the thick protective steel walls around the reactor cores remain intact.
• "Get out now": Japan nuclear crisis triggers online panic
  The Internet had one overwhelming message for the world from Japan on Tuesday -- we're terrified of a nuclear meltdown and desperate to get out.
• History Shows Rebuilding Spurs Economy
  A few years ago, a senior official at Japan’s finance ministry shocked a foreign guest by making a deliberately provocative statement. “What Japan’s economy needs is a really good earthquake,” he said. Now, tragically, his tongue-in-cheek wish has come true, the Financial Times reports.
• Analysis: Japan faces five-year road to reconstruction
  Japan will take at least five years to reconstruct its earthquake and tsunami afflicted regions as it balances the need to rebuild houses, roads and power grids with planning for disaster-proof infrastructure.
• Quake Could Pull Japan Out of Deflation: Analyst
  Having eased monetary policy in the wake of the disastrous earthquake and tsunami, the focus now turns to whether Japan will ease fiscal policy to shore up its economy. Jesper Koll, MD & Head of Japanese Equity Research at JPMorgan Securities Japan expects the government to take aggressive fiscal steps.
• Japan Quake's Financial Impact: Five Things to Watch
  While commodity and currency markets took the biggest immediate hit from Friday's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the damage will be felt throughout the world's economy and the US.
• Is a Japanese Banking Crisis Next?
  The exposures of various insurance companies to the economic devastation of the Tsunami may be dominating the financial discussions in the tragedy's wake – but Japanese banks may be at the most risk.
• Fears of a Nuclear Meltdown 
  After a second hydrogen explosion at a Japanese nuclear plant, an analysis of nuclear power's problems in Japan as well as where the rest of the world stands when it comes to nuclear power, with CNBC's Simon Hobbs.
• BoJ Doubles Asset-Buying Pool to 10 Trillion Yen
  Japan's central bank doubled its asset buying scheme to 10 trillion yen and pumped record funds into the banking system on Monday to shore up confidence in the economy hit by a triple blow of a massive quake, a tsunami and a nuclear emergency.
• Earthquake Will Increase Japan's Debt Burden: Rating Exec 
  The economic impact from the tsumani that slammed into eastern Japan following one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, 8.9 magnitude, will be felt in the near future, Sean Egan, founder partner and president of Egan-Jones Ratings Company, told CNBC on Friday.
• France Is World's Biggest Nuclear Power Producer
  The world's biggest nuclear power is France, where 58 plants generate 75 percent of the nation's electricity.
• Rescuers Struggle to Reach Survivors
  Japanese authorities continued to struggle to respond to the aftermath of Friday’s earthquake and tsunami as thousands remained missing and nearly half a million survivors huddled in temporary shelters, the Financial Times reports.
• US Investors Poured $1 Billion Into Japan Just Before Quake
  Japan's earthquake couldn’t have come at a worse time for US investors, who poured over $1 billion into Japanese exchange-traded funds last month, second only to US energy funds.