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Photo from Sakurai san.

Daruma Tourist Boat
stranded in Sendai after the tsunami

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Gabi reports:

New videos of a worker at Sendai airport where shown, when he took a video while evacuating to the roof of the building. Cars were floating by in droven, then small airplanes and helicopters, like toys in the fastmoving waves. Lots of debris between the cars ... and now, after less than 50 days, the airport is already functioning again! Well done, Sendai!
. . . CLICK here for Photos ! 仙台空港 大津波


The Tohoku Shinkansen, which was badly damaged, is also up and running for Golden Week, a row of holidays which starts today. More than 3000 workers from all over Japan were involved in the rapair activities.

Yet trains are not fully booked and the highway is not as blocked as usual during this time. Many prefere to stay home and save fuel and energy.

The fifth station on Mount Fuji was opened for the holidays. Usually there are about 100 buses with Chinese tourists, but today, there was none.
And only a few Japanese tourists, the restaurant was empty . . .
A hotel with beautiful view to Mount Fuji has all empty rooms ... now is the time to go!
The fried noodle shops in Fuji, where usually you have to wait for one hour before it is your turn, are empty and not all seats are taken yet, no waiting of course today.

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The Hamaoka nuclear reactor in Shizuoka will be reopening in July to help ease the summer supply of electricity. Still, programs about how to save energy at home abound and all are willing to live through a hotter summer, get up earlier to have their private "summer time" or do whatever it takes to keep cool. The temperatures rose to almost 30 degrees centigrade in Tokyo the other day - giving a glimpse of the hot summer yet to start.

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It was life broadcast from London during early evening.
Prince William and Miss Catherine "Kate" Middleton.


royal wedding -
so many people
without TV



source : www.cnngo.com/tokyo
see also comment below


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Bulletins from NHK Online

source : www3.nhk.or.jp

Thursday, April 28, 2011 17:54
Gov't warns of risk from quake-caused subsidence
Japan's land ministry has found that areas of land below-sea-level in the Sendai plain, Miyagi Prefecture, have increased 5-fold after the March 11th earthquake.
It warns that these areas are highly vulnerable to flooding from high tides and typhoons.
The ministry on Thursday released the findings of its aerial probe using an ultra-sensitive, laser-equipped camera to check subsidence across the Sendai plain.
The areas below sea level, shown in blue on the released map, spanned 16 square kilometers.
Before the quake, the plain had only 3 square kilometers of such low-lying areas.
The map also shows, in green, areas lying at full-tide levels. The amount of such areas has increased to 56 square kilometers from the pre-disaster total of 32 square kilometers.
Colored yellow are areas lying below the highest-ever tide level recorded in 1980. These areas have grown to 111 square kilometers from the pre-quake total of 83 square kilometers.
Many river banks and seawalls were damaged by the disaster. The ministry is calling on residents in these areas to be on the alert, and is sandbagging the broken banks.

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Friday, April 29, 2011 05:05
Fukushima Daiichi's shoreline to be sandbagged
As aftershocks of the March 11th earthquake continue, the operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will sandbag its shoreline as a temporary measure against another possible tsunami.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company moved emergency power generators to higher ground in order to prevent the reactors' cooling systems from failing in case a major tsunami hits the plant again.
The utility firm decided to sandbag the shoreline at the plant to a height of several meters.
Priority will be put on the area near the waste processing facility, where highly radioactive water is being moved from around the reactor buildings. The facility will also serve as a workplace for reprocessing contaminated water from June.
The firm fears that if the facility is hit by another tsunami, highly contaminated water may run into the ocean and damage the reprocessing facility.
Tokyo Electric is also planning to build a breakwater on the shoreline, as the sandbags cannot stand as the fundamental solution for possible tsunami. The tsunami that hit the plant on March 11th reached 15 meters at its height.


Friday, April 29, 2011 10:38
NRC: Fukushima plant situation "improved"
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan has "definitely improved" but still requires close monitoring.
Commission members met on Thursday in Washington to assess the nuclear emergency in Japan.
One of the members said that US nuclear experts continue to provide support in Japan, adding that private US companies have joined the effort.
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Moves on int'l nuclear safety rules
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the president of France have agreed that compiling international safety standards for nuclear power plants should take place as soon as possible. ...


Friday, April 29, 2011 11:35
Amano reveals Syria's nuclear reactor construction
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says a target destroyed by Israeli warplanes in Syria in 2007 was a nuclear reactor under construction.
Director General Yukiya Amano spoke to reporters in Paris on Thursday about the facility in Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria. ...


Friday, April 29, 2011 13:34
Seabed rose by 7m near quake focus
Researchers have found that the seabed off northeastern Japan surged by as much as seven meters, and shifted about 50 meters southeastward, in the March 11th earthquake.
The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, sent a deep sea research vessel, 'Kairei,' to the focus area after the quake.
The ship probed the seabed using sound waves.
Earlier, the Japan Coast Guard, using GPS data, concluded that the seabed had surged about three meters while a research team from Tohoku University said it rose by about five meters based on data from a water-pressure gauge installed on the seabed.
JAMSTEC says the seven-meter surge shows the earthquake and subsequent tsunami were more powerful than the earlier estimates.
The agency says it will further analyze the data and expand the research area to find out more about the mechanism behind tsunami.


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Voices from around


. Daily Radiation Levels . 　

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Japan Times :

School that lost 70% of its pupils mourns
An elementary school that lost 70 percent of its students to the March 11 tsunami remembers them with a Buddhist service on the 49th day since they were taken.
84 victims — 74 children and 10 teachers — from the Okawa Elementary School
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110429a1.html



Rubble cleanup bares asbestos
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110429a3.html

378 students killed, 158 missing in disaster
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110429a4.html

DisneySea reopens for holiday
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110429a5.html

Kan eyes 10 years for repairs
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110429a6.html

Economy took bigger hit than estimated
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nb20110429n3.html


Evacuee mayor's community torn
Katsutaka Idogawa, mayor of Futaba town, Fukushima
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110429f1.html

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quote
His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Tokyo

Tokyo, April 29 : His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with Japanese and foreign media this afternoon before presiding over a mass prayer at Gokokuji Temple. His Holiness said that he was deeply saddened that Japan was struck with three cataclysmic natural disasters one after another – earthquake, tsunami and threat from the damaged nuclear plant. Japan being a Buddhist country, images of the Buddhist monasteries and the Japanese friends came before him and he felt sad, he said. “I am happy to have this opportunity to be with the people here and share their sorrow and pray for those who have lost their precious lives.

“But the tragedy has happened; there is no use worrying about it. Just as Japan has overcome the tragedy of World War II, I’m quite sure the people of Japan can overcome this tragedy and move forward to rebuild what has been lost in this disaster. You should not lose heart, you need to face the reality with determination,” His Holiness said.
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Regarding his decision to relinquish formal responsibilities, he said that the world belongs to humanity; it does not belong to religious leaders and governments. “Japan belongs to Japanese people; China belongs to 1.3 billion Chinese, not to the communist party. Since 2001 we have a directly elected leadership and I was in semi-retirement. Now, after ten years, I see that with maturity of democracy among Tibetans in exile, the day has come to handover the political authority to the people. But this does not mean that I am resigning from being the Dalai Lama.
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Ven. Okamoto, Chief Abbot of the Gokokuji Temple expressed his happiness over being able to pray for the victims of the recent disaster with His Holiness. He thanked His Holiness for taking time out to share the grief and sorrow of the people here. Chief Abbot of Tsurumi Sotoshu Temple Ven. Eigawa also thanked His Holiness the Dalai
Lama for his prayers and encouragement.
source : www.phayul.com


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だるまチャリティ募金プロジェクト
Daruma Charity Donation Project



source : yuka


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