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☆ Dogs and Cats Linked to Reduced Child Food Allergies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Josh Ulick | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Children with dogs and cats in their homes were less likely to develop food allergies than other children, a study published Wednesday shows. The study, led by Dr. Hisao Okabe of Fukushima Medical University, followed more than 66,000 children who were part of the Japan Environment and Children’s Study. Analyzing questionnaires, researchers tracked pet exposure from prenatal development through early infancy, and measured the incidence of allergies in children up to 3 years old.

☆ Japan discusses security in first foreign minister visit to Solomon Islands
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, March 19 (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi discussed global security and China's presence in the Pacific with the leader of the Solomon Islands on Sunday, in what was the first visit by a Japanese foreign minister to the island state. Hayashi said Japan was "watching the developments" of a security pact the Solomon Islands signed with China last year, and discussed the current global security environment with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, according to a statement by Japan's foreign ministry. The visit took place a year after the security pact between China and the Solomon Islands prompted concern from the United States and Australia as China seeks to extend its influence in the region. Japan said it was ready to provide assistance in maritime security, as it seeks partnerships in Pacific Island countries in promoting regional peace and stability through its Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, according to Japan's foreign ministry. Sogavare said he hoped Japan will ensure the safety of the release and be open about the process, according to the statement.

☆ Highlights of the 95th Oscars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Dave Lucas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant plans to soon start releasing more than a million tons of radioactive water from the plant into the sea. A fisherman fears it will kill his business.

☆ Style at the Vanity Fair party
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Jillian Kumagai | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant plans to soon start releasing more than a million tons of radioactive water from the plant into the sea. A fisherman fears it will kill his business.

☆ China's Two Sessions: Xi Jinping secures third term
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Jillian Kumagai | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant plans to soon start releasing more than a million tons of radioactive water from the plant into the sea. A fisherman fears it will kill his business.

☆ Fukushima water release stokes fresh fears for fisherman
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Dave Lucas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Fisherman Haruo Ono, 71, untangles nets after returning from work at sea for the night, at Tsurishihama fishing port in Shinchimachi, about 55 km away from the disabled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, March 1, 2023. "It's been 12 years and fish prices are rising, we're finally hoping to really get down to business," Haruo said. "Now they're talking about releasing the water and we're going to have to go back to square one again. It's unbearable." REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonClose

☆ Rice into low-carbon plastic: bringing hope to a struggling Fukushima town
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Elaine Lies | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Last November, Tokyo-based firm Biomass Resin opened a factory in Namie to turn locally-grown rice into pellets. "Even now, we can't sell it as Fukushima rice. The same wave slammed into the nuclear plant, setting off meltdowns and explosions. "Namie was hit by four disasters - the quake, the tsunami, the reactor accident and then rumours about radiation danger," said Takemitsu Imazu, president of Biomass Resin Fukushima. The plastic isn't biodegradable, Imazu said, but using rice cuts the petroleum products involved - and growing more rice in Namie reduces overall atmospheric CO2.

☆ Pacific islands tap Taiwan ally Nauru for next top diplomat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The top Pacific islands diplomatic post will pass to Taiwan ally Nauru next year, the 18-member regional bloc agreed Friday, as it resolved to face climate change and superpower rivalry as a united "family". The Pacific Islands Forum, meeting in Fiji, also said it would hold more talks with Japanese scientists and the International Atomic Energy Agency over Japan's plan to release treated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. Some Pacific islands fear the water release could contaminate fish stocks but Tokyo has said it does not pose a risk, and the meeting agreed that "science and data" should guide political decisions on the issue. Nauru has diplomatic ties with Taiwan and not China, and Waqa has previously clashed with Chinese diplomats. The leaders agreed to consider establishing a special envoy's office in the United States, which has pledged to triple aid to the region.

☆ Remember the 2011 quake: Berlinale film's message to Japan's young
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Director Makoto Shinkai attends a news conference during the promotion of 'Suzume' at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 23, 2023. The result was "Suzume", an animated feature that has been a blockbuster in Japan and which held its international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Thursday. In touring sites of recent trauma and wreckage, the film has triggered painful memories, and not all in Japan have welcomed this, Shinkai said. "I personally think a Japanese society which is able to accept this kind of a movie is a better society," Shinkai said. Additional reporting and writing by Thomas Escritt, editing by Emma-Victoria Farr and Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fukushima wastewater release would have limited impact on South Korean waters - study
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Ju-Min Park | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The release of waste water from Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant would have a negligible effect on South Korean waters, according to a government study published on Thursday. "That change would be too small to detect," an official at the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology said. The analysis comes as South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol is seeking to improve relations with Japan after years of tensions. The water release has raised concerns from neighbouring countries, including China and South Korea. The simulation study has "no connection" to normalising relations between South Korea and Japan, said Oh Haeng-nok, an official at South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

☆ Death toll rises to more than 21,000, rescues dwindle in earthquake aftermath
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Ahmet Izgi | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesEmergency crews made a series of dramatic rescues in Turkey on Friday, pulling several people, some almost unscathed, from the rubble, four days after a catastrophic earthquake killed more than 21,000. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the border region between Turkey and Syria, an area home to more than 13.5 million people, early Monday morning. Mustafa Turan rushed to his hometown of Adiyaman from Istanbul hours after the quake struck to check on his relatives. Aerial footage from over the earthquake zone in Turkey revealed entire neighborhoods of high-rises reduced to twisted metal, pulverized concrete and exposed wires. A woman sits next to the body of her nephew in Kahramanmaras, on February 9, 2023, three days after a 7,8-magnitude earthquake struck southeast Turkey.

☆ Utility company executives acquitted of negligence in Fukushima nuclear disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power plant after a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 14, 2011 in Futaba, Japan. DigitalGlobe | Getty ImagesA Japanese court on Wednesday found three former utility company executives not guilty of negligence over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster and the subsequent deaths of more than 40 elderly residents during their forced evacuation. watch nowThe acquittal disappointed and angered dozens of Fukushima residents and their supporters who attended the ruling or rallied outside the court. It's so irresponsible," said Yuichi Kaido, a lawyer representing the Fukushima residents. The Supreme Court in June, however, said the disaster was unforeseeable and dismissed compensation demands by thousands of residents.

☆ Pacific islands urge Japan to delay release of Fukushima waste over contamination fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Pacific island nations are urging Japan to delay the release of water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant over fears fisheries will be contaminated, the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) said on Wednesday. Japan had approved the future release of more than 1 million tonnes of water from the site into the ocean after treatment in April 2021. The United States conducted nuclear testing in the Pacific islands in the 1940s and 1950s and the Marshall Islands continues to campaign for more compensation from Washington over lasting health and environmental effects. France conducted atomic testing between 1966 and 1996 at Mururoa Atoll in French Pacific territories. Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Tokyo court upholds not guilty verdict for ex-Tepco execs over Fukushima disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Wrongful judgment" after the The Tokyo High Court upheld a not guilty verdict for former Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) executives of negligence over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power station disaster, in front of the court in Tokyo, Japan, January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Issei KatoTOKYO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a not guilty criminal verdict by a lower court that cleared former Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) (9501.T) executives of negligence over the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power station disaster. The ruling on Wednesday to uphold the not guilty verdict sits at odds with a separate civil case brought to the Tokyo court by Tepco shareholders, which found four former executives responsible for the 2011 nuclear disaster. Judges ordered the former executives to pay 13 trillion yen ($99.14 billion) in damages in the civil lawsuit. The court judged that the executives could have prevented the disaster if they had exercised due care.

☆ Japan's JERA signs ammonia supply MOUs with Yara, CF Industries
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FILE PHOTO: The logo of JERA Co., Inc., the world's biggest LNG buyer, is displayed at the company office in Tokyo, Japan July 14, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato(Reuters) - Japan’s biggest power generator JERA signed ammonia supply memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with CF Industries of the United States and Norway’s Yara Clean Ammonia Norge AS, as it aims to co-fire ammonia to reduce emissions, it said on Tuesday. Under the MOUs, JERA agreed with Yara and separately with CF Industries to look at the possibility of buying up to 500,000 tonnes of clean ammonia per year for the 20% co-firing operations at the Hekinan Thermal Power Plant Unit 4 in Japan. As part of the agreement, JERA and CF Industries, the world’s top ammonia producer, would study ‘potential supply options, including an equity investment alongside CF Industries to develop a greenfield clean ammonia facility in Louisiana, as well as a supplementary long-term offtake agreement from CF Industries’ Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana, the U.S. company said separately. Yara and JERA also plan to collaborate on blue ammonia production in the U.S. Gulf and to produce more than 1 million tons per annum, according to a separate statement issued by Yara on Tuesday.

☆ Japan estimates Fukushima water release to start in 'spring or summer'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

In April 2021, the government approved the release of more than 1 million tonnes of irradiated water from the site after treatment into the ocean. It said the release would happen "in about two years" at the time. read moreJapan's foreign ministry said in July that regulators deemed it safe to release the water, which would be filtered to remove most isotopes but would still contain traces of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen hard to separate from water. The plan has met stiff resistance from local fishing unions over the impact the water release may have on their livelihoods. Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FDA warns Japan's Olympus units over testing violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday said it has issued warning letters to manufacturers of medical scopes used in surgical procedures, citing violations found during inspections of facilities in Japan. Warning letters pertain to a category of devices known as endoscopes, which allow doctors to see and access the urinary tract, gastrointestinal tract, and respiratory tract, during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The health regulator released the letters on Monday, which were sent to units of Japan's Olympus Corp (7733.T) - Olympus Medical System Corp and Aizu Olympus Co -in December and November, respectively. The agency added that Olympus Medical did not develop medical device reporting procedures as mandated and did not submit them to the regulator in the required timeframes. These warning letters add to a history of the U.S. FDA's compliance actions against Olympus related to testing and manufacturing requirements.

☆ German minister reignites coalition row with call to review nuclear exit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Germany's transport minister called for an expert committee to examine whether the lifespan of the country's nuclear plants should be extended, reopening a row within Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition. But Free Democrat Transport Minister Volker Wissing reignited the argument, telling the Frankfurter Allgemeine that the environmental benefits of electric cars would be reduced unless they were charged using nuclear energy, which is emissions-free. Critics of the nuclear exit say it could force Germany to rely more than planned on coal, which is more polluting than gas, during the transition to renewable energy. The Greens strongly oppose revisiting Germany's nuclear exit, which was introduced in response to the 2011 disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. Advocates of the policy say an extension would be costly and that more can be achieved by building out renewables.

FRANKFURT, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Coal has made a comeback in Germany this year, as Europe's largest economy turns to the dirty fuel to power it through an energy crisis. Gas generation rose slightly, despite high prices, as wind and hydro power output were low, and domestic nuclear output also fell in July-Sept. This has increased coal power generation in the European Union, which is expected to remain at these higher levels for some time," the IEA's annual coal market report said. This includes 1.9 GW of lignite and 4.3 GW of hard coal power plants which are allowed to return to the market until 2024, the IEA report said. The decommissioning of 2.6 GW of hard coal power capacity and 1.2 GW of lignite capacity has been postponed.

☆ Japan turns back to nuclear power to tackle energy crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan confirmed a major nuclear power policy shift on Friday to tackle an energy crisis more than a decade after the 2011 Fukushima disaster prompted it to idle most of its reactors. Public opinion has been hostile towards nuclear energy since a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, but the mood has shifted due to soaring energy costs amid the prolonged war in Ukraine and repeated power crunches in both summer and winter. Quake-prone Japan, which previously said it had no plans to build new reactors, will now seek to replace decomissioned ones and extend the lifespan of others, the industry ministry said. Under a strategic energy plan approved by the Cabinet last year, Japan aimed to reduce its dependence on nuclear power as much as possible. Further details will be discussed in parliament next year, an official at the industry ministry said.

☆ Tokyo makes solar panels mandatory for new homes built after 2025
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Kantaro Komiya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - All new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions, according to a new regulation passed by the Japanese capital's local assembly on Thursday. The mandate, the first of its kind for a Japanese municipality, requires about 50 major builders to equip homes of up to 2,000 square metres (21,500 square feet) with renewable energy power sources, mainly solar panels. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike noted last week that just 4% of buildings where solar panels could be installed in the city have them now. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2000 levels. "In addition to the existing global climate crisis, we face an energy crisis with a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war," Risako Narikiyo, a member of Koike's regional party Tomin First no Kai, said at the assembly on Thursday.

☆ Japanese capital requires solar panels for new homes built from 2025 amid efforts to address climate change
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

All new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions, according to a new regulation passed by the Japanese capital’s local assembly Thursday. The mandate, the first of its kind for a Japanese municipality, requires about 50 major builders to equip homes of up to 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet) with renewable energy power sources, mainly solar panels. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike noted last week that just 4% of buildings where solar panels could be installed in the city have them now. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2000 levels. “In addition to the existing global climate crisis, we face an energy crisis with a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war,” Risako Narikiyo, a member of Koike’s regional party Tomin First no Kai, said at the assembly Thursday.

☆ Solar sharing helps farmers in Japan adopt sustainable methods — and earn additional money
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Freya Graham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Solar sharing, or agrivoltaics, is a system where solar panels and farming are on the same land. His family business, Hattori Tea Farms, situated in the Shizuoka prefecture in Japan, had been growing sencha green tea for over a century. He landed on a solution: Rather than growing regular green tea, the farm would specialize in high-quality matcha. "Big solar farms can be very disruptive because the land use is only for harnessing solar energy. While the increased amount of shade can reduce a farm's productivity, solar panels can bring benefits to the crops, too.

☆ Welders wanted: France steps up recruitment drive as nuclear crisis deepens
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Benjamin Mallet | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

EDF estimates that France's nuclear industry needs to recruit between 10,000 and 15,000 workers a year over the next seven years. Despite relatively high unemployment, France's manufacturing, construction, engineering and IT industries complain they can't get the workers they need. These people work with molten metal at 1,500 degrees Celsius, and sometimes have to stand upside down," said one welder in the nuclear industry, who asked not to be identified. Before the war in Ukraine, successive administrations sought to reduce France's reliance on nuclear energy, not build new reactors, they say. For a long time, France was Europe's nuclear energy champion - and its biggest electricity exporter.

☆ U.S. grants $1.1 bln to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear plant open
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Diablo is the last operating nuclear plant in California. The Biden administration believes nuclear power is critical in curbing climate change and wants to keep plants open ahead of the development of next-generation reactors. Poppe said the plant is also ordering more uranium fuel for the reactor, and dry casks for storing nuclear waste. Some politicians who have been wary of problems associated with nuclear waste have come out in support of the Civil Nuclear Credit program. Holtec International, which in May bought the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, said on Friday that DOE rejected its application for funding.

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