Special Report: Eighteen Months after the Disaster

Sake Brewery Shows the Way 

Anyone in the food industry in Fukushima has had to struggle to do business since the meltdown at the nuclear plant. Radiation fell onto nearby farmland. Consumers, however, have been wary of products coming from anywhere in the prefecture. 

Government agencies, as well as agricultural organizations, are conducting tests and allowing only food confirmed safe to reach the market. Even so, Fukushima vegetables and beef sell for about half what they did before March of 2011. 

A sake brewery in the city of Nihonmatsu has succeeded in reviving sales to pre-disaster levels. Immediately after the nuclear accident, the company sealed its warehouse to prevent outside air from coming in. It also has been carrying out its own checks for radiation. The brewery is confident enough of its products to be promoting their safety in English and Dutch as well as Japanese. 

Struggle to Restore Medical Services

A lack of medical services is further complicating the lives of people still suffering from the earthquake and tsunami. Residents of the town of Minamisanriku, for example, lost all of their medical institutions: one hospital and six clinics.

The local government has not yet produced a plan for restoring them. Masafumi Nishizawa, deputy director of the ruined Shizugawa Public Hospital, has been struggling to fill the gap.
Nishizawa recently rented a facility in the nearby city of Tome to keep medical personnel working and make hospitalization and surgery available. He also has set up a temporary outpatient clinic in Minamisanriku. Because of a shortage of physicians, he works both day and night shifts. 

Other news: 
- Japanese government purchases Senkaku Islands from private owner.
- Okinawa residents protest deployment of US Osprey military transport aircraft.