Miyagi Governor Murai proposes deregulation in 8 areas

In a Sunday meeting of the Cabinet Recovery Commission on 29 May, Miyagi Prefecture Governor Yoshihiro Murai proposed an "East Japan Recovery Zone." The proposal calls for a 10-year period of tax breaks and national support in eight areas including town and city building, agriculture and seafood industries, and medicine.

[Fish farming new tech] DNA bar coding for fish

"Scientists aiming their gene sequencers at commercial seafood are discovering rampant labeling fraud in supermarket coolers and restaurant tables: cheap fish is often substituted for expensive fillets, and overfished species are passed off as fish whose numbers are plentiful."


The article is about European and North American markets, but this technology should affect the vitality of Japanese fish farms and seafood processors.

Damage to Ibaraki Prefecture public facilities: JPY 133 billion ($ 1.64 Billion)

The Great East Japan Earthquake damaged 1587 prefecture government facilities and caused JPY 133.2 billion ($1.64 billion) in damages. This total is only for prefecture facilities and does not include damage to national and municipal facilities.

The largest single category was fishing harbors: 16 harbors received JPY 42.5 billion in damage. Another 209 cases of harbor damage total JPY 32.9 billion, and 223 cases of damage to rivers total JPY 15.6 billion.

Source:
The Ibaraki Shimbun, online edition, 2011/5/26, (ja), http://www.ibaraki-np.co.jp/news/news.php?f_jun=13063342937913 (accessed 2011/5/26)

Sendai City initial recovery plan calls for building up highways to make double seawall

Almost a month after Miyagi Prefecture released initial reconstruction plans for its other coastal municipalities, Sendai City released its initial concept and began hearings.

Sendai's "Recovery Vision" calls for moving about 2,600 families away from the coast into new municipal development zones. A double seawall system will replace them. A traditional seawall on the oceanfront will be backed by forested barriers laced with drainage canals. Behind them, two existing major highways will be built up into seawalls using rubble left by the earthquake and tsunami. Farmland will take up the space between these highway-cum-seawalls.

Fukushima recovery headquarters set up more than 2 months after disaster

Hit by a triple punch, earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, Fukushima Prefecture's recovery headquarters got underway yesterday, 20 May, more than two months after the earthquake and tsunami.

Sea Shepherd activist returns to Otsuchi

Assisted after the tsunami by local Japanese, many of whose homes and livelihoods had been washed away, anti-whaling activist Scott West from Sea Shepherd returned in May to Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture to further photograph the destruction.

Watari to recruit personnel experienced in Hanshin recovery

Consistent with Miyagi Prefecture's seeking recovery expertise from all over Japan, Watari has announced that it will recruit personnel from Hyogo Prefecture who experienced recovery efforts after the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995. The intent is to hire this person or persons under Japan's traditional seconding practices.

Source: Kahoku Online Network, 2011/5/21, http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2011/05/20110521t11027.htm

Miyagi and Iwate recovery commissions - radically different planning models

Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures are next door neighbors in Tohoku and were both severely damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Including Fukushima Prefecture to the south, the coastline of the three hardest hit prefectures is home to 270 fishing harbors. All were devastated by the tsunami. To rebuild their coastlines, both prefectures created recovery commissions, but of radically different nature and operation.

[Miyagi Recovery Commission] 27 fishing harbors managed by prefecture to continue

Miyagi Prefecture will focus its recovery efforts on 27 fishing harbors managed by the prefecture. The rest of the 142 locally managed fishing harbors are expected to shrink to fewer than a third.

(ja)http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2011/05/20110517t11016.htm

[Miyagi Recovery Commission] Fisheries Recovery Zone - Fishermen oppose opening to corporate fish farming

2011/5/15. A dispute is forming between the Miyagi Recovery Commission and Ishinomaki fishermen over opening local fish farming to large corporations.

Basic census data for Tohoku cities & towns

Below is a table of basic statistics for cities and towns along the coast starting with Higashidori at the northeast corner of Aomori Prefecture and running to Tateyama at the southern tip of Chiba Prefecture. The listing is in geographical order north to south.

The main spreadsheet is at Google Docs.

Cities and towns on the coast are highlighted with light blue.


Compiled from http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/eStatTopPortal.do