Japan News

Since arriving in Japan, I had resisted taking a classic Japanese vacation at a hot-spring mountain resort.

Japan's Emperor Akihito, left, along with Empress Michiko, heads to the University of Tokyo Hospital, by car, in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Feb.

As air pollution crept back up to hazardous levels in the Chinese capital, smog was probably the most talked about environmental story of the year.

TOKYO — A Hawaiian theme park that for 45 years propped up the economy of a rural Japanese town was forced to close after the March 11 earthquake. Structural damage from the magnitude-9 temblor and concerns about radiation leaking from the Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the north closed the resort, a semi-roofed complex six times the size of Tokyo Dome and surrounded by rice fields and hot springs. Now, almost a year later, the hula girls have returned. The Spa Resort Hawaiians in Iwaki will open its indoor pools and host wedding parties and Hawaiian luaus in a new hotel beginning Wednesday. The spa, featured in the Japanese award-winning 2006 film 'Hula Girls,' shows a community bouncing back from a catastrophe that left almost 20,000 dead or missing in the Tohoku region of northeast Japan and forced about 160,000 to evacuate areas within 30 kilometers of the plant. The disaster accelerated a trend toward shrinking and aging populations in the countryside as big cities grow. 'The spa's return to business is a symbol of recovery in a sense that it can cheer up the local community and provide huge economic support,' said Hiroyasu Ishikawa, chief researcher at Mizuho Research Institute. The resort in Fukushima prefecture contributed 1.7 trillion yen ($22 billion) to the region's economy in the first 40 years after it opened, Ishikawa said. While not economically significant to the nation as a whole, Spa Hawaiians is a symbol of resilience in a pocket of the country that has been in decline for decades. Iwaki was a coal-mining town until a shift to oil-fueled power generation led to mining closures in the 1960s. With few other options, the town council voted to transform Iwaki into a tourism destination by using natural hot springs to supply a spa, initially called the Joban Hawaiian Center, in 1966. The vacation spot, managed by Joban Kosan Co., now employees about 700 people. The town could be a model for other rural communities facing possible extinction. While Tokyo's annual gross domestic product grew 2.2 percent to 89.7 trillion yen over the 11-year period ended in December 2008, Fukushima's shrank by 7.2 percent in the same period to 7.7 trillion yen, according to Cabinet Office data. Fukushima, Japan's fourth largest rice-growing region in 2010, accounts for less than 2 percent of the national economy. 'A shrinking population means we need to attract lots of people from outside or sell local goods outside for growth,' said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Research Institute. 'All of rural Japan faces this problem. With a lower birth rate and aging population, we have to rely on tourism or agriculture. Fukushima would be a good model and will be watched closely.' Almost 2,800 villages may be in danger of disappearing, according to a report released last March by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Sixteen percent of the villages reported that more than half their populations were ages 65 or older. The number of people in Fukushima prefecture fell to 1.9 million as of Jan. 1 from 2.1 million in 1990. A report released in July by the ministry showed that the number of towns and villages threatened with depopulation was 44.9 percent in 2010, up from 32.3 percent in 1972. In 1960, Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka accounted for 15 percent of Japan's population. As of 2010, more than half of the nation lived in those three cities, and the number of people in Tokyo rose to a record 13.2 million as of Jan. 1, according to census data. The troupe of dancers went on a five-month nationwide tour after the quake to reassure the public that the city and resort are safe from radiation. In the four months since the leisure complex opened partially in October, visitor numbers are down 60 percent from levels a year ago. Visitor numbers will return the pre-disaster level of 1.45 million a year by 2014, said Eisuke Suzuki, a spokesman for the resort. 'I have absolute faith that the grand opening of Spa Hawaiians will revitalize tourism in the surrounding areas and help the industry regain its role as a driver of the broader economy,' Kazuhiko Saito, president of Joban Kosan, said in an e-mail last week. The first wedding since the closure is scheduled for Feb. 25, according to the spa's website. 'I feel like we're finally able to take our first step toward reconstruction,' hula dancer Rie Omori said. 'Though the full recovery may be still far away, I'd like to walk hand in hand with others toward our future.'

Holding "No Nukes" signs, people march demanding Japan abandon atomic power in Tokyo, Saturday, Feb.

What a comeback! Eleven months after the tsunami ravaged Japan a collection of pictures reveal the incredible progress being made in the huge multi-billion pound clear up When Japan was hit with both an earthquake and tsunami in quick succession in March last year the images of devastation gripped the world.

I once took a ferry from Kagoshima on the southernmost tip of Kyushu to Amami Oshima, halfway to Okinawa.

Not on board: A demonstration is held Wednesday outside the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to protest the government's decision to endorse the results of stress tests on reactors at the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture.

Datin Seri Paduka Hj Hayati presents her opening remarks at the 1st Meeting of Heads of Intellectual Property Offices of Asean and the Japan Patent Office.

The Arctic cold snap that has hit Europe brought air travel chaos to London and dumped snow as far south as Rome and north Africa.

Emperor Akihito of Japan attends the memorial service for the war dead of World War II at Nippon Budokan on August 15, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan.

The commanding officer of the Yokosuka, Japan-based cruiser Cowpens was fired Friday "while an investigation into inappropriate personal behavior is conducted," a George Washington Carrier Strike Group spokesman said - the cruiser's second CO fired in two years.

Students from a Japanese university will do a community service project with St.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says Japan is trying to negotiate a waiver from U.S. penalties on companies doing business with Iran.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says Japan is trying to negotiate a waiver from U.S. penalties on companies doing business with Iran.

Plans for a new idol group, "HotSpots," have been called off and the auditions have been cancelled for young women living in the radioactive Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo and downwind from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown according to reports in the Japanese press .

The nuclear industry is celebrating the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision to give the go-ahead for a utility company to build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, the first license to be granted for a new reactor in the U.S. since 1978.

An operator -- wearing a special HMD and a pair of gloves -- controls the "Telesar V" that was developed by Keio University's Graduate School professor Susumu Tachi at his laboratory in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo.

Any good caterer knows that garnishes should be fresh. But it would be a reckless understatement to call Sylvan Mishima Brackett "good." For a casual dinner with friends, the owner of Oakland, California-based Japanese catering company Peko Peko makes a 40-minute detour to a friend's backyard in Berkeley.

I'm here with master artist Jonathan Wakuda Fischer a powerhouse in many of Seattle's art scenes-but especially the underground and street art movements.