Minamisanriku, a town on Japan’s coast, may suffer the biggest losses of the whole tsunami, with a possible 10,000 dead. This raw footage showing the tsunami pouring through the town.
Japan
Crikey Says: Staring down the geiger counter
As we go to press, a resident in Tokyo live streams their geiger counter and all eyes watch the radiation levels rise.
Japan: another explosion as toll rises
Crikey media wrap: Another explosion occurred this morning at Japan’s troubled number 2 reactor, just hours after the plant restarted its attempts to inject seawater to cool the reactor. And the death toll could be 10,000 in just one city.
No power, no trains, no work: life in quake-hit Tokyo
Power outages have come into effect. Three-hour rolling power outages will take place across Japan, town by town, affecting over a million people at a time, trying to reduce our need for power by more than 30%, writes Paul Johannessen from Tokyo.
Japan’s monster quake
Crikey media wrap: Japan is struggling to cope after a devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck off the north-west coast on Friday, causing a tsunami up to ten metres tall and travelling kilometres inland.
Japan earthquake 
Have Australian TV networks failed to adequately cover the Japan earthquake?
Finding live coverage of the Japan earthquake on the weekend was no easy task. ABC News 24 dropped the live feed and the commercial channels offered very little, writes Dan Barrett.
A win for Sea Shepherd and the anti-whaling activists?
It seems there is a limit to the price the Japanese Government is prepared to pay to have more and more whale meat put into cold storage. The anti-whaling activists might just have made harpooning too difficult, writes Richard Farmer.
Waking up from a ‘dreadful dream’: US lessons in Japan’s downgrade
The surprise decision by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Japan’s credit rating for the first time in nine years should send a strong warning to the United States of the dangers of ballooning budget deficits, says Business Spectator’s Karen Maley.
Why the WikiLeaks whale story is a fizzer
When it comes to the latest WikiLeaks embassy cables about Australia and whaling, there is nothing shocking or revelatory about them, suggests Tim Stephens.
travel Chicken hearts for dinner
It looks like beef, but when you don’t speak the language and can’t read the menu, the food can be a bit of a mystery. Rebecca Arnold takes a nibble on some chicken hearts and makes some new friends in Hiroshima, Japan.
Kicking Kyoto around in Cancun
The negotiations in Cancun need a path towards a comprehensive, fair, ambitious and binding global deal, and there are many obstacles to overcome. One of the hot topics is the Kyoto Protocol and Japan’s denouncement of it, reports Phillip Ireland from Mexico.
The financial cost of suicide in Japan
The Japanese government, which grapples with one of the highest rates of suicide in the world, has for the first time released figures estimating how much suicide and depression cost the economy. The verdict? Around US$32 billion last year alone.
The rising star of Renho
In a country almost entirely bereft of female politicians, 42-year-old Japanese cabinet member Renho stands out amongst her peers. Renho chalked up a record number of votes to became the party’s most recognizable face, though critics argue she’s all style and no substance.
Living in the whaling nations: white lies, whale-meat and weirdness
The best advice that Paul Johannessen got when moving to Japan is that everyone tells white lies. Especially when it comes to lodging forms with the government. And no one wants to talk about the dolphins.
The winter wonderlands of Japan
Alex the Crikey intern interviews his housemate on her solo travelling through Japan, where a blizzard meant being stuck on a Japanese island of exile for four days.
Meet Japan’s new PM
Japan has been thrown into disarray with its PM quitting this week and now all eyes are on finance minister Naoto Kan. Will he be the first Japanese PM to come to power without a political family dynasty?
Japan PM resigns, Obama to blame?
Has Japan PM Yukio Hatoyama — who announced he’s stepping down as PM — crumbled under Barack Obama’s icy glare? Steve Clemons examines Obama’s very different relationships with the PMs of Japan, Israel and China.
The dreaded fake Asian politeness
Japanese has a lot of obligatory politeness built into it. But each culture has its own set of manners and one joy of cross-cultural communication is the hilarious misunderstandings that it causes, explains Aung Si.
The ugly shirt that stopped a nation
Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama wore a rainbow checked shirt that was so horrendous, it’s created international ridicule. With just a 24% approval rating, is this fashion faux pas Hatoyama’s last straw?
The US military base that could bring down Japan’s PM
A US military base in Okinawa is proving to be political poison for Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. The locals loath it and everything it represents, but the US won’t relinquish such a strategically important station. Could the PM be felled by a single tiny airstrip?
Can we really save the whales by killing them?
The International Whaling Commission is proposing to allow commercial whaling in Japan if it adheres to strict quotas. Has it sold out, or is it worth sacrificing a few whales to kill off the black market?
Garrett: Save the whales
Peter Garrett hits out against the International Whaling Commission’s proposal [PDF] to allow Japan, Norway and Iceland to permit commercial whaling under quotas: “it would set whale conservation back by decades.”
Fishing for a new diet
Japan’s love of sashimi may be healthy, but it’s making the environment sick. Overfishing of seafood like Atlantic tuna has become such a serious global issue that some estimates say there will be no commercial seafood left in just 38 years.
China trumps Japan in race for global growth
If the World Bank’s forecasts of 9% GDP growth for China this year and next are proven to be accurate, then China will move past Japan this year into second slot behind the US, and extend the lead on Japan in 2011.
Bartlett: Do we as say, not as we’d do
Whilst holding a government to its promises has a lot going for it, urging the government to do something that you believe yourself is a bad idea just because you are the Opposition is a bit of a non-sequitur, writes Andrew Bartlett.
