Reconstruction and land development in coastal areas of the Tohoku region are nearly complete, 13 years after the destruction caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, but populations have not recovered.
Seafood distribution companies scrambling to get around China’s blanket ban on imports of Japanese seafood are turning to Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia for help.
Seafood suppliers are struggling to get their products to market after China banned Japanese seafood imports in response to the discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged an additional 20.7 billion yen ($141 million) to help the fishing industry cope with China’s blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports, but the plan was immediately met with skepticism.
The scorching heat this summer is threatening the rice crop in parts of eastern Japan and may lead to water shortages in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area for the first time in seven years, authorities warn.