TRAVEL

A charity established by a talent agency to support reconstruction in the northeast expects to shoulder several billion yen of the cost of leasing giant pandas from China for a zoo in Sendai. Singer Masahiko Kondo, 47, who represents the Marching J charity set up by Johnny & Associates Inc., said it will cover the expenses estimated for the initial five-year period. "We want to bring back smiles to as many children as possible," Kondo said. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has expressed a willingness to lease two giant pandas to the Sendai zoo in an effort to brighten the lives of children in Tohoku. (Japan Times)

Rakuten Eagles pitcher Masahiro Tanaka is set to tie the knot with TV celebrity and singer Mai Satoda. The Sendai-based baseball team announced Thursday that 23-year-old Tanaka and Satoda, 27, plan to submit marriage papers in late March before the professional baseball season starts. "I would like to excel in my career so that my most important person can live her life in comfort and smiles," Tanaka, who won the 2011 Sawamura Award for outstanding pitching, said. (Japan Times)

Jin Sato is the mayor of a town that no longer exists.

Minamisanriku, a quiet fishing port north of Sendai in northeastern Japan, disappeared last March 11. Sato nearly did too. The disaster started at 2:46 p.m., about 80 miles east in the Pacific, along a fault buried deep under the seafloor. A 280-mile-long block of Earth's crust suddenly lurched to the east, parts of it by nearly 80 feet. Sato had just wrapped up a meeting at the town hall. "We were talking about the town's tsunami defenses," he says. Another earthquake had jolted the region two days earlier-a precursor, scientists now realize, to the March 11 temblor, which has turned out to be the largest in Japan's history.

When the ground finally stopped heaving, after five excruciating minutes, Minamisanriku was still mostly intact. But the sea had just begun to heave. Sato and a few dozen others ran next door to the town's three-story disaster-readiness center. Miki Endo, a 24-year-old woman working on the second floor, started broadcasting a warning over the town's loudspeakers: "Please head to higher ground!" Sato and most of his group headed up to the roof. From there they watched the tsunami pour over the town's 18-foot-high seawall. They listened to it crush or sweep away everything in its path. Wood-frame houses snapped; steel girders groaned. Then dark gray water surged over the top of their building. Endo's broadcasts abruptly stopped. (National Geographic)

"At the end of December, we sold a Piaget watch costing 2.4 million yen," says a 78-year-old male owner of a long-running watch store. "Since last summer, each day we have been selling an average of five Rolexes, ranging in price from a half-million to 1.5 million yen. The last time we had such a rush was during the bubble two decades ago." Indeed, a surprising claim in the current economic climate, but then again maybe not when one learns the shop is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tohoku region to be impacted by last year's Great East Japan Earthquake. Shukan Jitsuwa (Jan. 5) says the boom is due to the government's second supplementary budget to reconstruct stricken areas. (Tokyo Reporter)

From next year, Internet users may be able to have domain names ending with .tokyo, .sendai or .canon in e-mails and Web sites, according to sources. At least five local governments and two Japanese companies--Canon Inc. and Hitachi Ltd.--have indicated they plan to register their names for top-level domains under a plan to massively increase the number of available domains on the Internet. Domains are a set of Internet addresses that come after an "@" mark. The ones installed in the root zone of e-mail and website addresses are called top-level domains. There are only 22 top-level domain categories, including one for countries, such as Japan's .jp. Companies typically use the .com category, while .org is for nonprofit organizations. In 2008, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a U.S. nonprofit organization that manages domains across the globe, decided to liberalize the usage of top-level domains. It will begin receiving applications for the new domains from Thursday to April and then examine whether it will allow them to be registered ahead of their expected use next year. (Yomiuri)

The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11 left a big scar on the nation in 2011. Yet this year will truly be about recovery, believes Shukan Asahi Geino (Jan. 12) - albeit with the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant continuing to be a concern. Shigeru Aoyama of Japan's Independent Institute finds the government's announcement in December that "a state of cold shutdown" had been reached regarding the three damaged reactors at the plant to be ridiculous given that mere cooling had taken place. (Tokyo Reporter)

With reconstruction proceeding slowly in the Tohoku region's coastal areas, businesses in the city of Sendai, the economic hub of the area, have seen booming sales since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Sendai department stores and shopping malls have been packed with shoppers, and reconstruction workers from other prefectures are frequenting local restaurants and bars. Economists believe that in addition to a special economic boom prompted by reconstruction work, spending has been boosted by disaster victims' wish to lift themselves out of their depressed feelings after the disaster. Salespeople shouted energetically during a recent visit to Fujisaki Department Store in central Sendai. "We've got fatty fish," one called out. Luxury seafood items such as prawns and crabs were set out in the fresh food area, which was packed with so many people they could barely move around. (Yomiuri)

At the end of October, the STS Pallada discovered a 20-million-ton mass of tsunami debris from the mega 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Sendai, Japan in March. Since this discovery, scientists have been studying, and tracking the contents of the giant floating mass, and now, they are inviting the public on an exclusive ride to see the floating spectacle aboard a 72-foot sailing yacht. Very few people have seen the tsunami debris trolling the ocean except for scientists and ship crews. The mass being tossed by ocean currents in the North Pacific is laden with remains from houses, entire motor vehicles, household appliances, and televisions is potentially as large as the US state of California. And in May of 2012, Pangaea Explorations along with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and 5 Gyres Institute will launch a two-leg tour of ocean debris to paying customers aboard the 72-foot sailing yacht, the Sea Dragon. (maritime-executive.com)

Japan's embattled tourism leaders have delivered a fresh appeal to stay-away consumers by insisting the country is safe and free of radiation risk. The Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) took the step at the Japan Travel Mart yesterday of producing radiation readings in key Japanese cities - although significantly not Sendai, one of the closest cities to the Fukushima power station - and comparing the levels to six other cities around the world. The JTA claimed the levels of airborne radiation in Japan "are well within safe levels and in fact lower than many other destinations". According the Japanese Government, all cities measured in Japan on October 3 - Sapporo, Chiba, Tokyo, Osaka and Okinawa - had levels below that of New York, Beijing, Berlin, Seoul and Singapore. (Travel Weekly)

A Colorado School of Mines chemical engineering student remains in a Japanese jail after a friend of his says he mailed the student three cookies and four pieces of candy infused with marijuana. Japanese prosecutors appear to be using the country's very strict anti-drug laws to go after 25-year-old Tim Wilson. Wilson was attending Tohuku University in Sendai, Japan, as an exchange student when he was arrested back in August. He's remained in custody ever since. Tim Wilson was registered as a medical marijuana patient with the State of Colorado when the marijuana edibles were sent, although federal and state laws prohibit the mailing of such items. He was given a medical marijuana card for pain in his back. (9news.com)

As one nears the airport here, an hour's drive from the city center, one can notice backhoes in open spaces near the coast just as often as seeing carabaos or threshers in rice fields along the North Luzon Expressway in the Philippines during the harvest season. Not far from the backhoes are mounds of debris, an indication of the relentless drive to clean up the wreckage and detritus left by the earthquake-induced tsunami that swamped this city on March 11 this year. Roads and basic infrastructure have been repaired, and the evacuees housed in newly built rows of prefabricated housing units. In some respects, the Sendai airport, a regional transportation hub a kilometer from the coast, symbolizes the quickness by which Japan has gotten back on its feet. (inquirer.net)

Boards of education in prefectures that have been supplying teachers to primary, middle and high schools in Miyagi Prefecture following the March 11 disaster are finely tuning support programs after reports of stress due to working in an unfamiliar environment. The nine education boards that assigned the teachers have provided various support measures, including training for driving on snowy roads, a manual on how to communicate with emotionally disturbed children and an e-mail-based consultation service. In mid-October, driver training sessions for teachers from other prefectures were held at four locations in Miyagi Prefecture, including Sendai. (Yomiuri)

The remains of three people who may have been dead for up to a year after a suspected family suicide were found in a house in central Sendai, police said Thursday. The police are trying to identify the remains, which were discovered Wednesday in a two-story house where a 62-year-old man was living with his 55-year-old wife and their 19-year-old daughter. The home is in a residential area of Aoba Ward. The autopsies suggest the three died six months to a year ago, but the cause of their deaths remains unknown, the police said. (Japan Times)

By day, Kenichi Watanabe runs an insurance agency. By night, he's an arm wrestler -- and on a recent Saturday, he's preparing to do battle.

Under a moonlit sky, Watanabe and his opponent face off across an arm wrestling table in a bustling pedestrian street in Sendai, a northern Japanese city hit hard by the March quake. Watanabe is lean and cut, like a lightweight boxer, but his rival looks a couple of weight classes bigger.

They grip hands and adjust elbow positions. Biceps bulge, forearm veins pop. Lights from arcade and karaoke signs dance across their faces as they lock eyes and await the "Go" signal.

"Come on, you can do it!" says a female voice among the crowd of some 30 onlookers.

Welcome to "Street Arm," an event held in the middle of Sendai's entertainment district, in which anyone from beginner to pro can step up and take a shot at arm wrestling. (AP)

On October 30, the central police station in Akita City informed a 31-year-old high school teacher from Sendai City he was under arrest on a charge of theft. Tokyo Sports (Nov. 1) reports that the police took action after a teenaged "delivery health" (out-call sex service) worker charged the man from stealing 16,000 yen from her handbag last August, after he had phoned a service and requested she be dispatched to his hotel room in Akita City for a sensual sex session. (Tokyo Reporter)

Prosecutors demanded a 30-year prison term Monday for a 39-year-old man charged with killing a high-school teacher in Sendai last year and attempting to cash in on a life insurance policy on the victim. The Sendai District Court court will hand down its verdict Thursday in the lay judge trial of Tetsuji Matsuyama, a former company executive. Matsuyama stands accused of conspiring with Miyo Matsumoto, 45, with whom he was having an affair at the time, and acquaintance Kei Umehara, 28, to kill Hideo Matsumoto, his lover's husband, by striking him in the head with a metal bat in the parking lot of the victim's home on April 30 last year. (Japan Times)

One of my cousins spent four weeks in a hinanjo (evacuation shelter) after the Tohoku disaster, and during that time she experienced the moteki (a time when one is gloriously attractive to the opposite sex) of her life. Now in her 40s and divorced for some time, this cousin had always been pretty and hadezuki (having a penchant for all things glittery, or just plain flamboyant) - to use one of my grandmother's phrases. When her marriage fell apart, my cousin took it in all her stride and moved out of her damp, gloomy house into a light-filled apartment just outside Sendai city. She got a job at a big discount store to shiwake (dividing and categorizing) the stock, a skill which she later deployed to full use within 30 hours of the Great East Japan Earthquake when supplies from well-wishers started coming in from all over the country. (Japan Times)

Not far from JR Sendai Station is a hotel that was used as an evacuation center after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March. Yet even now, seven months later, the mood inside its cafe is still rather dark. Three groups of men in suits are seated, facing one another. One member casts a stern glance over at a reporter for weekly tabloid Shukan Post (Oct. 14). "Don't make eye contact as they will likely start something," says a local construction company employee. "This place is becoming a yakuza hangout." (Tokyo Reporter)

Smoke and a burning smell filled the air in central Sendai Sept. 16. It was caused by a fire more than 10 km away at a debris storage site in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, that burned for more than five days. Tons of debris from the March 11 disasters are spontaneously catching fire at storage sites in the Tohoku region, adding to the headaches of local authorities. Miyagi Prefecture says it alone has had 15 such blazes. In late August, a storage site near a fishing port in Kesennuma caught fire, burning about 25,000 cu. meters of debris. Although most of the sites are far away from residential areas, locals have been voicing strong concerns. (Japan Times)

A marriage counselor in the disaster-ravaged city of Sendai says many people are rushing to seek advice on whether to get a divorce following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Many marriages are apparently coming under considerable strain amid the ensuing hardship, according to the counselor. The number of those seeking advice on divorce began increasing from April and totaled well over 100 by mid-September, up nearly 40 percent from a year earlier, according to the counselor, Tokiko Nakahata. "Many of them were already in a strained relationship with their spouses before the quake," she said. (Japan Times)

The second major typhoon in a month made its way out of Japan on Thursday after triggering landslides and floods that left at least 16 people dead or missing but sparing a crippled nuclear plant from major damage. There had been concerns that Typhoon Roke could pose more problems for the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which was sent into meltdown by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but officials said the plant weathered the storm without major incident. Hiroki Kawamata, spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said several cameras set up to monitor the plant were damaged, but there had been no further leaks of radioactive water or material into the environment. (AP)

Mt. Hiyori, regarded as the nation's second-lowest mountain at 6.05 meters high, was washed away by the March 11 tsunami, it has been learned. The tsunami washed away not only the shortest official mountain in Miyagino Ward, Sendai, but also a reed field in the Gamo wetlands where wild birds such as snipes and plovers rested. Consequently, numbers of wild birds in the area have fallen sharply since the disaster. According to a civic group working to protect the Gamo wetlands, about 50 species of bird are usually observed at this time of year. However, only 28 species were recorded in a survey on the area they took on Sunday. (Yomiuri)

The government in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, is promoting the adoption of stray kittens born in Sendai following the March 11 quake and tsunami. The first 15 kittens were brought to Tokyo on July 21 and owners for most of them have already been found, with Chiyoda Ward hoping that about 50 kittens will be accepted in the capital or its vicinity by the end of the year. Volunteers are caring for them. (Japan Times)

In a public and personal show of support, Vice President Joe Biden told the Japanese people Tuesday that their resilience in the wake of an unprecedented natural disaster was an inspiration to the world. In meetings in Tokyo and a visit to an area ravaged by the March earthquake and tsunami, Biden said that as an ally and friend, the United States would continue to do all it can in the nation's time of need, because he knew "you would do the same." "The disaster met its match in the legendary industriousness and relentless perseverance of the Japanese people," Biden said in remarks at the Sendai airport, where area residents took shelter after the March catastrophe. Biden, winding down a nine-day tour of Asia, also used the visit as another opportunity to express confidence amid uncertainty about America's future. (Los Angeles Times)

Sales of engagement and wedding rings have risen sharply at major department stores in Sendai since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Fujisaki, a Sendai department store founded in 1819, said an increasing number of customers have bought rings since the store fully reopened on April 22, with May-July sales rising roughly 30 percent from a year earlier. (Japan Times)