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The <keyword id="1154824" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="japan-atomic-energy-agency" source="Orion">Japan Atomic Energy Agency</keyword> (JAEA) has confirmed the detection of <keyword id="74416" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="radioactive-material" source="Orion">radioactive material</keyword> leaks in one of its <keyword id="98276" type="General" weightage="40" keywordseo="nuclear-fuel" source="Orion">nuclear fuel</keyword> research facilities but reported no adverse effects on the health of the staff or the surrounding environment, local media reported on Wednesday. In its report, Kyodo News citing the JAEA said that the leaks were detected within the Plutonium Fuel Development Room No. 3 at the JAEA's Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, located in Tokai village, <keyword id="590723" type="General" weightage="30" keywordseo="ibaraki" source="Orion">Ibaraki</keyword> prefecture, reports Xinhua news agency. On September 8, the Plutonium Fuel Development Room No. 3 identified pollution caused by radioactive materials at four locations within the facility. The pollution was discovered during a routine inspection of the glovebox equipment, which is designed to be airtight. The contamination was found both above and below the glovebox, with the highest level of radioactive activity measuring approximately 33 becquerels. Although the glovebox contained nuclear fuel materials, it had not been in recent use and was solely undergoing a biennial routine inspection, said the JAEA. The JAEA has reassured the public that the leak of nuclear material has not had any negative consequences for the health of the facility's four staff members or the surrounding environment. At present, the cause of the radioactive material leak is under investigation. Authorities at the laboratories suspected that the radioactive materials may have seeped out of the equipment.

Radioactive material leaks detected at Japan's nuke fuel research facility

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Japan has more than 8 million abandoned homes, with no restrictions on foreign buyers.</li><li>Foreigners have bought and renovated them cheaply, freeing them from pricey real estate elsewhere.</li></ul>Take Kurosawa spent summers in Japan as a kid, and always dreamed of owning property there. He found a kindred spirit in Joey Stockermans.They spent $42,000 on a rural, abandoned home — known in Japan as an akiya — with plans to renovate the space and use it as an Airbnb and personal getaway.Kurosawa, 33, and Stockermans, 35, pooled their money and bought the roughly <a target="_blank" href="https://vimeo.com/878142072?share=copy">1,000-square-foot abandoned house</a> in Beppu, a city of 113,000 people on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's main islands, this past June.<div type="image" title="A living area in a Japanese home." height="1228" width="1818" msid="106837628" hostid="261" sizebytes="274876"></div>Currently, Kurosawa lives in a mobile home in Santa Cruz, California, and Stockermans lives with his parents in Nova Scotia, Canada.Many people are turning to markets worldwide, from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-bought-a-cheap-house-in-italy-sicily-listings-2023-7">Italy</a> to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-moving-to-europe-cheaper-homes-2022-8">Portugal</a>, where less expensive homes are bountiful, as buying properties in pricier places — especially California — can be unrealistic for many. Plus, there's a growing desire to lead a more adventurous life— or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/live-abroad-cheap-low-cost-living-high-quality-life-2024-1">escape the problems that plague their home countries</a>.In Japan, the country's shrinking population led to a record 8.49 million akiya in 2018, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.stat.go.jp/data/jyutaku/2018/pdf/g_gaiyou.pdf">Japan's Housing and Land Survey</a>. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-ghost-towns-population-vacancy-rates-akiya-banks-2021-6">Akiya are creating a "ghost village" problem</a>, but they present an opportunity to those who are eager to buy. Plus, unlike in other countries, Japan has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.japan-property.jp/guide-to-buying-properties1">no restrictions on foreigners purchasing property</a>.<div type="image" title="A man sitting on the floor of a home in Japan." height="1875" width="2500" msid="106837631" hostid="261" sizebytes="219824"></div>"It's a perfect storm," Kurosawa said.In January, Kurosawa and Stockermans launched <a target="_blank" href="https://www.akiya-mart.com/">Akiyamart</a>, a website to help foreigners find and purchase abandoned homes in Japan. It's just the newest tool to help folks navigate a foreign market, though many have made the leap without it.Eric McAskill, a 38-year-old from Canada, who formerly lived with his family in Bali, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-home-restoration-diy-foreigner-akiya-japan-family-slow-life-2023-9">bought an akiya in Nagano Prefecture in 2021 for $23,600</a>. The purchase was in pursuit of a lifelong dream to restore a house in the Japanese countryside, he told BI in September. McAskill and his family plan to move into the home full-time after renovating.Jaya Thursfield, 46, and his wife, Chihiro, bought <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-house-renovation-japan-diy-before-after-photos-2021-8">an abandoned farmhouse in Ibaraki Prefecture in 2019 for $30,000</a>, with plans to renovate it into their dream family home. They wanted a large plot of land for an affordable price, something they didn't think they could get in London, they told BI in 2021.<div type="image" title="The renovated exterior of the akiya that McAskill bought. Although it was considered abandoned, the property was in relatively good shape." height="1080" width="1920" msid="106837633" hostid="261" sizebytes="274998"></div>Anton Wormann, a 30-year-old Swedish model, took <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-japan-abandoned-home-flipped-airbnb-2023-9">buying and renovating property in Japan</a> a step further by flipping homes solely for the purpose of Airbnb, a process he started in 2022. It's a money-maker that has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/opened-three-airbnbs-one-year-advice-getting-started-2022-6">worked in the US</a> but isn't necessarily a surefire way to generate income in Japan."Moving from America to Japan presents a very different culture. It's a different real-estate market," Bethany "Bitsii" Nakamura, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-japan-abandoned-home-homeownership-cultural-shift-2023-7">who left the US to live in an akiya in Japan she acquired for free</a>, told BI this past July. She said homeownership in Japan is "not necessarily the way toward financial freedom."She added, "In America, homeownership is seen as the ticket toward long-term stability, and here it's not."<div type="image" title="The exterior of a house in Japan." height="1875" width="2500" msid="106837635" hostid="261" sizebytes="378364"></div>For Kurosawa and Stockermans, making money from their property would be nice, but that's not why they bought it or started Akiyamart. Their goal was to spend more time in Japan and show foreigners that homeownership can be achieved with a lower barrier of entry."I have so many friends my age who are frustrated that they can't buy a house," Kurosawa said. "It's kind of waving to my generation like, 'Hey, there's another alternative.' It's not in America, unfortunately, but it's a really comfortable place that you could live and raise a family and live a very high quality of life without the financial stresses of living in the US."Have you bought a cheap home in Japan— or anywhere abroad? Business Insider wants to hear from you. Reach out to reporter Jordan Pandy at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="mailto:jpandy@businessinsider.com">jpandy@businessinsider.com</a>.

People are buying cheap, abandoned homes in Japan and living their dreams free of financial burden

<ul class="summary-list"><li>More than 8.5 million abandoned homes in rural Japan are creating a "ghost town" problem. </li><li>A push into the city and population decline are two reasons these homes sit empty.</li></ul>Japan has millions of abandoned rural houses for sale.The glut delights foreigners who've been able to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-buy-abandoned-home-akiya-japan-tips-as-foreigners-2023-9">buy one for as little as $23,000</a>. But underlying the surplus are meaningful shifts in Japan's culture. Demographic and economic patterns — including a shrinking population and migration from the countryside to cities — are combining to create a "ghost town" problem in Japan.There are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-government-selling-rural-homes-cheap-akiya-banks-2021-5">more than 8.5 million akiya</a>, or abandoned homes, in rural Japan, according to the country's 2018 Housing and Land Survey, its most recent on record. By some counts, there are many more. The Nomura Research Institute, or NRI, pegs <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nri.com/en/journal/2017/0420">the number closer to 11 million</a>. The institute predicts akiya could exceed 30% of homes in Japan by 2033.For foreigners looking for a change of scenery, akiya are an opportunity to be a homeowner abroad on the cheap. Some foreigners have even turned to akiya to enrich themselves by launching <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-japan-abandoned-home-flipped-airbnb-2023-9">short-term-rental businesses</a>.Why people are buying them is an easy answer — they're cheap. But why so many have sat empty for so long is more complicated.<h2>Why are there so many abandoned houses in Japan?</h2>Business Insider's Singapore bureau reported on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-ghost-towns-population-vacancy-rates-akiya-banks-2021-6">Japan's "ghost town" problem</a> in 2021. At the core of the issue, they found, is that Japan's population has been steadily migrating into cities for several decades, leaving an increasingly empty countryside behind them.As Richard Koo, the chief economist at NRI, told them at the time, the Japanese countryside has been hollowing out since the mid-'90s.There's also the matter of a shrinking population. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/youran/aramashi/syussyou.pdf">Japan's fertility rate declined</a> for a seventh consecutive year in 2022, falling to 1.26 births per woman from 1.30 births per woman in the previous year.According to Chris McMorran, an associate professor in the department of Japanese studies at the National University of Singapore, the vacancy issue will only get worse "because the core of the problem is there aren't enough people to go around in Japan."<h2>Why aren't more Japanese people buying abandoned countryside homes?</h2>The Japanese prefer new builds to pre-owned homes, Koo said. Part of this is due to the lack of a strong DIY renovation culture in the country, Douglas Southerland, the senior economist responsible for OECD monitoring of the Japanese economy, told BI at the time.Structural safety is also a major concern: Many akiya were built before a 1981 Building Standard Law amendment that required better earthquake resistance.Finally, most young people simply don't want to live in the countryside, McMorran said. Apart from limited opportunities, the akiya themselves are a huge deterrence."The fact that there are so many empty houses is a blight on the landscape, and a further deterrent, because people don't want to live in a terminal village surrounded by 'ghost houses,'" McMorran said.Natasha Durie, a PhD student from the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at Oxford University, is conducting fieldwork in Gifu, Japan. While she knows of young Japanese people who have bought and renovated akiya, she says most locals still aren't quite ready to try it out for themselves."There is this drive in Japan to have new things, and a lot of these houses aren't seen as inhabitable or desirable. I think that a lot of people see it as something that other people do and not something that they do, since renovating a house is a lot of effort," Durie told BI.<h2>Why can't the Japanese government demolish these homes?</h2>Japan's property rights laws make it hard for the government to interfere. Before 2015, the government had no right to get akiya owners to manage their homes properly, McMorran said.It's also tricky to locate the owners of houses that have been left vacant for a long time."It's an enormous effort to trace down who the house belongs to, so most of the time, the government just gives up," Koo said. "So the akiya sits there for years with the government unable even to take it down."<h2>Some foreigners say renovating an akiya is more affordable than buying a home in their own country</h2>For some buyers, like Eric McAskill, who grew up in Vancouver, Canada, the money saved on renovating an akiya instead of buying property in their home country is too good to pass up.According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, the benchmark price for residential properties in the metro area of Vancouver, Canada was $1,168,700 CAD, or $866,620, in December 2023. McAskill told BI in September 2023 that he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-home-restoration-diy-foreigner-akiya-japan-family-slow-life-2023-9">purchased a five-bedroom akiya</a> for $23,600 in Nagano Prefecture and has spent $7,400 on renovations with another estimated $7,400 left to spend.<div type="image" title="A man in a protective suit painting the walls of an abandoned home in the Japanese countryside." height="956" width="1690" msid="107109145" hostid="261" sizebytes="42258"></div>"I'd say that's on the high end," he told BI of his renovation. "I could get away with doing it for cheaper because I can do some of the work myself, or I have friends who work in the trades here as well."Married couple Jaya Thursfield and his wife, Chihiro, moved from England to Japan and bought <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-house-renovation-japan-diy-before-after-photos-2021-8">a $30,000 akiya in Ibaraki Prefecture in 2019</a>. The two put more money into their renovation than McAskill — about $150,000 — but still view it as a more affordable option than buying a home in London.Take Kurosawa and Joey Stockermans, who can't afford homes in their native North America, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-moving-buying-abandoned-homes-japan-let-foreigners-own-home-2024-1">bought an akiya in a city on Kyushu for $42,000</a> in June 2023. The friends plan to use it as a vacation residence and a short-term rental.<div type="image" title="Two men sitting down in the middle of a home renovation in Japan." height="1536" width="2048" msid="107109146" hostid="261" sizebytes="369766"></div>They also saw a business opportunity and founded <a target="_blank" href="https://www.akiya-mart.com/">Akiyamart, an online listing site</a> to make it easier for foreigners to find one for themselves.However, the influx of foreign demand has done little to change local perceptions toward akiya, Durie said."A lot of the people I speak to are from this area and have grown up here. And I'd say a lot of them don't even really know about the foreign interest in akiya," Durie said. "They find that quite surprising."

Why Japan has more than 8 million cheap abandoned houses that people are renovating into dream homes

The Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent was given a grand welcome as it landed at the Hyakuri Air Base, about 80 km northeast of Tokyo, on Tuesday for the inaugural joint Air Exercise between India and <keyword id="6355311" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="japan" source="Orion">Japan</keyword> that kicks off on January 12. A traditional water cannon salute was given to the IAF's frontline Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft, four of which are participating, along with two C-17s and one IL-78, in Exercise 'Veer Guardian-2023' to be held till January 26. The Indian contingent also includes Squadron Leader Avani Chaturvedi who is the first IAF woman fighter pilot to participate in an air exercise abroad. Hyakuri Air Base Commander Major General Ishimura Takahisa, who welcomed the IAF contingent along with India's Ambassador to Japan Sibi George, affirmed that both countries will continue to promote <keyword id="32723" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="defence" source="Orion">defence</keyword> cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) region. The Japan Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) will be represented by four Mitsubishi F-2 multirole fighters and four F-15 aircraft in the joint exercise. The Hyakuri Air Base, located in the Omitama City of Ibaraki Prefecture, is the only base in the Tokyo metropolitan area that has a combat air wing. It was home to the former Navy Hyakurigahara Air Corps, which was established in 1938. In 2010, Hyakuri Airport was shared and the Ibaraki Airport terminal building was completed. In 2019, Japan Air Force's 302nd Squadron (F-4) was moved to Misawa Air Base and upgraded to the F-35A. One year later, the reconnaissance squadron was abolished and the 3rd Squadron (F-2) moved from Misawa Air Base to Hyakuri Air Base. As India and Japan celebrated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, Chief of Air Staff <keyword id="11374039" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vivek-ram-chaudhari" source="Orion">Vivek Ram Chaudhari</keyword> visited the key JASDF base in May last year at the invitation of JASDF chief <keyword id="16031512" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shunji-izutsu" source="Orion">Shunji Izutsu</keyword>. Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari was given a detailed presentation by Base Commander Ishimura on the units, equipment, etc. during his visit. As reported by IndiaNarrative.com earlier, both countries had decided to hold their first air combat exercises following the 90-minute bilateral between visiting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Japanese counterpart <keyword id="2878170" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="yasukazu-hamada" source="Orion">Yasukazu Hamada</keyword> in Tokyo on September 8. Held at the headquarters of the Japanese Defence Ministry ahead of the second India-Japan 2 + 2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial, the discussion finalised a roadmap to step up bilateral defence cooperation and engage in more military exercises. This also included the holding of the first joint fighter jet drills, reflecting the growing security cooperation between the two sides. "This exercise will thus be another step in deepening strategic ties and closer defence cooperation between the two countries," the Indian Defence Ministry said in a statement last week. The inaugural exercise will include the conduct of various aerial combat drills between the two Air Forces. They will undertake multi-domain air combat missions in a complex environment and will exchange best practices. Experts from both sides will also hold discussions to share their expertise on varied operational aspects. "Exercise 'Veer Guardian' will fortify the long-standing bond of friendship and enhance the avenues of defence cooperation between the two Air Forces," said the Defence Ministry. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/imf-sees-india-as-bright-spot-in-global-economy-says-pm-modi/articleshow/96905302.cms">IMF sees India as 'bright spot' in global economy, says PM Modi</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/delhi-hc-reserves-order-on-suit-seeking-stay-on-release-of-web-series-based-on-uphar-cinema-tragedy/articleshow/96909071.cms">Delhi HC reserves order on suit seeking stay on release of web series based on Uphar cinema tragedy</a>

Indian fighter jets welcomed in Japan with water cannon salute

<ul class="summary-list"><li>There are millions of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-japan-abandoned-home-homeownership-cultural-shift-2023-7">empty houses in the Japanese countryside</a>.</li><li>These houses, called akiya, are often sold for low prices, attracting buzz from foreign buyers.</li></ul>Japan has millions of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-giving-away-abandoned-homes-free-2018-12">abandoned houses</a> in the countryside, and the country is struggling to fill them. With the population in Japan shrinking and Japanese buyers vastly preferring new over used homes, older homes are often abandoned when owners die or younger generations refuse to inherit them. Sitting empty, these homes can fall into disrepair. In an effort to revitalize rural areas and attract buyers, some regional governments are subsidizing renovations and offering these <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-ghost-towns-population-vacancy-rates-akiya-banks-2021-6">akiya</a> — the Japanese term for "empty house" — for around $25,000 for sale or auction, and sometimes for as little as $500.These houses can be found listed in "akiya banks," pages operated by local governments as part of a program launched by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The Japanese government estimated in 2018 that there were nearly 8.5 million abandoned homes in the country. <a href="https://www.akiyabanks.com/about-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Akiyabanks.com</a>, a website with information in both English and Japanese, provides a collective directory of all known municipal akiya banks in Japan. These incentives and low prices have attracted some Japanese urbanites looking for a change of pace, and have also increasingly attracted the attention of <a href="https://www.insider.com/japanese-government-selling-rural-homes-cheap-akiya-banks-2021-5">foreign buyers</a>.Jaya Thursfield and his wife, Chihiro, moved from London to Japan after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-house-renovation-japan-diy-before-after-photos-2021-8">buying an abandoned Japanese farmhouse</a> in Ibaraki, a Japanese prefecture about an hour's drive northeast from Tokyo. The couple said they bought their house for around $30,000 at auction in 2019 and have spent about $150,000 on extensive renovations, documenting the process of turning it into their dream home on their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TokyoLlama" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube channel</a>. They cleaned out the previous owner's belongings, which included two cars, a tractor, and farm equipment, redid all the plumbing and electrical wiring, installed new flooring across the house, and completely renovated the kitchen and bathrooms.<div type="image" title="The Thursfields' kitchen when they first bought the abandoned house." height="704" width="1272" msid="102435074" hostid="261" sizebytes="55782"></div>Extensive cleaning and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/old-houses-for-sale-japan-akiya-prices-fixer-upper-2023-4">renovations</a> may be necessary to make an akiya livable. Many older akiya are considered structurally fragile according to the Building Standard Law in Japan, which was first introduced in 1950, and has since been amended to improve the sturdiness of older buildings.With many Japanese buyers preferring newly built houses, some homes are demolished after only 20-30 years. And while houses in the US typically appreciate in value, houses in Japan tend to gradually depreciate in value over time. Richard Koo, the chief economist at Japan's Nomura Research Institute, previously told Insider that in Japan, once a home is more than 10 or 15 years old, its value is "worse than nothing" because of the cost of demolishing it."Land without anything on it has a higher value than land with a pre-owned house on it," Koo said.Bethany Nakamura moved from the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-japan-abandoned-home-homeownership-cultural-shift-2023-7?mrfhud=true">US to Japan</a> to teach English in 2021. In 2022, she found an opportunity to live in an akiya for free, only paying utilities. Although the house was in good condition, she said she chose not to buy it. "I personally don't think that it's a good idea for foreign people to jump into homeownership in the Japanese countryside right away," Nakamura previously told Insider for an as-told-to essay about her experience. "Moving from America to Japan presents a very different culture. It's a different real-estate market. People may not know right away if it's a good fit for the long term. And once you own a home, it's very difficult to get rid of it."The low costs of these houses create buzz, but Nakamura said that it's not necessarily a step towards financial freedom or long-term stability, and that cultural differences can be difficult to adapt to. "It might take two or three years for someone to really have a solid understanding of how they interact in the community, what their expectations are, and how the community will react when they do things that they don't understand," she said.

Japan has millions of cheap abandoned homes. Here's what to know before you buy one.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="japan" source="Orion">Japan</keyword>'s health ministry temporarily suspended the use of 1.63 million <keyword id="11901412" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="moderna" source="Orion">Moderna</keyword> <keyword id="11894310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vaccine" source="Orion">vaccine</keyword> doses.</li><li>It said foreign substances were found in 39 vaccine vials at eight vaccination sites across five prefectures.</li><li>The doses were distributed to 863 vaccination centers, but the facilities have been instructed not to use them.</li></ul>Japan halted the use of 1.63 million Moderna doses in its vaccination drive after its health ministry reported foreign substances in some unopened vaccine vials.Medical workers across the country reported 39 instances of foreign substances floating in unused vaccine vials, per <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/08/7fb949bf9198-urgent-unused-moderna-vaccine-doses-may-contain-foreign-materials-japan.html">Kyodo News</a>. The vials were found in eight vaccination sites across five prefectures - Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Gifu, and Aichi.The Japanese health authorities say the 1.63 million doses of Moderna vaccine are from three vaccine batches produced in Spain under the lot numbers 3004667, 3004734, and 3004956, per the <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/08/26/national/science-health/moderna-vaccinations-suspended/">Japan Times</a>. The use of vaccines from these batches has been suspended temporarily as a safety precaution.The substances found in the vaccine vials were tiny particles several millimeters in size, though it is unknown what exactly these particles were made of. "Moderna confirms having been notified of cases of particulate matter being seen in drug product vials of its COVID-19 vaccine," the vaccine maker told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-withdraws-16-mln-moderna-covid-19-vaccine-doses-over-contamination-nikkei-2021-08-25/">Reuters</a>. "The company is investigating the reports and remains committed to working expeditiously with its partner, Takeda (Pharmaceutical), and regulators to address this." Moderna did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider on what the foreign substances found in the vaccines were. Japan is employing three vaccines as part of its nationwide vaccination rollout - the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines. Japan has <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/japan/">vaccinated 48.4% of its 126 million residents as of August 24</a>. The Moderna vaccine was <a href="https://www.takeda.com/newsroom/newsreleases/2021/takeda-announces-approval-of-modernas-covid-19-vaccine-in-japan/">approved for use in Japan on May 21.</a>The inoculation process has, however, been relatively sluggish. In May, the Japanese government saw tens of millions of <keyword id="8764262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid" source="Orion">COVID</keyword> vaccines go to waste because municipal governments were unable to set up supply lines swiftly to cope with the rollout, reported <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/08/national/coronavirus-rollout-bottleneck-japan/">Japan Times</a>. And in February, the Japanese government was forced to discard millions of Pfizer vaccines after the country's health authorities realized they did not have the right syringes to use with the vaccine vials, per the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/10/japan-pfizer-vaccine-doses-wrong-syringes">Guardian</a>. Several snafus have also been reported in Japan's vaccination drive. In May, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/19/flaw-in-japan-covid-vaccine-booking-system-causes-chaos">COVID vaccine booking system</a> used for the Japanese public allowed people to make reservations using completely false information. Japan this week hit a record number of COVID-19 infections, per <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/japan/">Reuters</a>. The country is reporting an average of 23,016 infections per day.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also announced on August 25 that the <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/08/25/national/japan-coronavirus-emergency-expansion/">government would expand the state of emergency from 13 prefectures to 21</a>. On Friday, a state of emergency will be imposed on the Hokkaido, Miyagi, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Okayama, and Hiroshima prefectures and will last until September 12.This is in addition to the current state of emergency that is active in the prefectures of Tokyo, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Fukuoka, and Okinawa.

Japan temporarily halted the use of 1.63 million Moderna vaccine doses over claims that tiny particles were found floating in unused vials

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A magnitude 6.0 <keyword id="6362774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="earthquake">earthquake</keyword> struck the coast of Japan on Wednesday morning local time.</li><li>Journalists in the area said it lasted between 20 seconds and 3 minutes.</li><li>The Japanese Meteorological Association said there was no threat of a tsunami.</li></ul>A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the coast of the Ibaraki prefecture in Japan, with shaking <a href="https://twitter.com/willripleyCNN/status/1422659876736622594?s=20">felt</a> by some attending the Olympic Games in Tokyo.The earthquake hit about 5:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, according to reports from the Japan Meteorological Agency, which monitors seismic activity.The JMA suggested the earthquake's epicenter was 40 km - or about 25 miles - deep off the coast of Japan. The agency added that there was no threat of a tsunami.Journalists in Japan said the earthquake lasted between 20 seconds to 3 minutes. Each reported <a href="https://twitter.com/jtoneysbeat/status/1422658514229481477?s=20">mild rumbling</a>.Japan is no stranger to earthquakes, as the country rests over three converging tectonic plates. When just one of those tectonic plates shifts, an earthquake can occur.Japanese officials specifically created Tokyo's Olympic venues to withstand earthquakes and natural disasters. According to <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/sports/tokyo-olympics-2020-besides-covid-19-games-brace-for-typhoons-earthquakes-9798221.html">Firstpost</a>, the Ariake volleyball arena contains "shock-absorbing giant rubber cushions" to curtail shaking while the Olympic Village is protected by sea walls that can protect against tsunamis reaching 6.5 feet.Several volunteers at the games have set out to <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/tokyo-summer-olympics/volunteers-at-tokyo-olympics-strive-to-tell-their-earthquake-tsunami-stories/3193228/">retell their experiences</a> from a 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 18,000 people. Some have handed out business cards with their tsunami stories, while others set up storytelling centers near bus stations to share their experiences.

Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes off coast of Japan, rattling the Tokyo Olympic Games

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Video shows a Japanese woman shooting the Olympic torch with a water gun. </li><li>The woman was reportedly arrested for the act. </li><li>Japanese citizens have protested the Tokyo <keyword id="6360967" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="olympics">Olympics</keyword> this year over public health concerns</li></ul>A Japanese woman has reportedly been arrested and accused of shooting the Olympic torch with a water gun.The 53-year-old Kayoko Takahashi is accused of being the woman seen in a viral video shooting a small water gun at the torch while being carried through Sinba Park, Mito, the capital of <keyword id="6355311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>'s Ibaraki prefecture.The woman was heard saying "No Olympics" and "Stop the Games" in Japanese while shooting the torch. A member of the security team held up a protective surface to deflect the water. The sprays that did hit the torch but seemingly did not affect the flame, and the torchbearer continued on the route unfazed. The security guard detained the woman, and she was later arrested on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business around 7:40 pm JST, according to Toru Morinaga of <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210706/p2a/00m/0na/002000c">The Mainichi</a>. According to the report, Takahashi admitted to the allegations and said that she did it to <keyword id="6359715" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="protest">protest</keyword> the Olympics being held. Japanese Citizens have been protesting the Olympics over the public health concerns that come with hosting the Olympics through the ongoing <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> pandemic. Over 70% of the country thinks the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were originally scheduled for last year, should either be postponed yet again due to the pandemic or canceled entirely, according to a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/70-japanese-want-tokyo-games-cancelled-or-delayed-poll-2021-04-12/#:~:text=More%20than%2070%25%20of%20people,while%2032.8%25%20favour%20another%20delay.">Kyodo News poll</a>.An online petition to cancel the Olympics, which went live last Wednesday, has so far garnered more than <a href="https://www.change.org/p/%E8%8F%85%E7%BE%A9%E5%81%89%E9%A6%96%E7%9B%B8-%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%85%E3%81%AE%E5%91%BD%E3%81%A8%E6%9A%AE%E3%82%89%E3%81%97%E3%82%92%E5%AE%88%E3%82%8B%E3%81%9F%E3%82%81%E3%81%AB-%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E4%BA%94%E8%BC%AA%E3%81%AE%E9%96%8B%E5%82%AC%E4%B8%AD%E6%AD%A2%E3%82%92%E6%B1%82%E3%82%81%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99-04a29b1b-b19d-4582-9b7b-7b29f030ccc3?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_28685503_ja-JP:0&amp;recruiter=1199662576&amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;utm_medium=copylink&amp;utm_campaign=share_petitionn=share_petition">310,000 signatures</a>.Japan has been under a state of emergency since April 25 and is expected to extend its state of emergency until August 22, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/japan-considering-barring-all-fans-olympic-events-paper-2021-07-07/">Reuters</a>. That would extend the state of the emergency throughout the duration of the entire Olympics.

A Japanese woman was reportedly arrested for shooting the Olympic torch with a water gun

<keyword id="4741" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tokyo">Tokyo</keyword>, At least 30 people were injured after a <keyword id="505091" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="massive-earthquake">massive earthquake</keyword> measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck <keyword id="6355311" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>'s Fukushima prefecture, authorities said on Sunday. The quake which struck late Saturday night was preliminarily measured with a magnitude of 7.1 and was later revised up to 7.3, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The injuries were reported in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, Xinhua news agency quoted the authorities as saying. The temblor occurred at 11.08 p.m., with its epicentre at a latitude of 37.7 degrees north and a longitude of 141.8 degrees east, and at depth of 60 km, according to the JMA. So far no tsunami warning has been issued. The quake logged Upper 6 in some parts of Fukushima prefecture on the Japanese seismic <keyword id="10760158" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="intensity-scale">intensity scale</keyword> which peaks at 7. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said about 950,000 households were left without electricity following the strong earthquake. The blackout affected 860,000 homes under the area covered by <keyword id="589499" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tokyo-Electric-Power-Company">Tokyo Electric Power Company</keyword> Holdings Inc. and 90,000 homes under Tohoku Electric Power Co., Kato said. Following the quake, the Japanese government set up a task force at the Prime Minister's Office. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga instructed the government to quickly survey the damage from the quake, conduct rescue efforts in areas necessary, and to relay information to the public as soon as possible. The quake was also felt in the capital Tokyo where an intensity scale of 4 was logged, with many reporting that their houses and furniture underwent strong shaking and some saying they felt dizzy because of the quake. Tokyo Electric Power Company said it has found no abnormalities with the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants after the quake. Meanwhile, no abnormality has been found at Japan Atomic Power Co.'s inactive Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in the village of Tokai in Ibaraki prefecture, according to the operator. The quake is believed to be an aftershock of the earthquake that triggered a massive tsunami in 2011 in the same area, said Kenji Satake, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute. "Because (the 2011 quake) was an enormous one with a magnitude of 9.0, it's not surprising to have an aftershock of this scale 10 years later," Satake said. According to the professor, although the quake was relatively large in scale with the focus off Fukushima prefecture, it was unlikely to cause tsunami because it had a deep epicentre of about 55 km below the sea surface. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/why-grofers-may-allow-an-american-blank-cheque-firm-to-buy-it-out-instead-of-fighting-ambani-and-bigbasket-for-ipo/articleshow/80874979.cms">Here’s why Grofers may allow an American “blank cheque” firm to buy it out instead of fighting Ambani and BigBasket for IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/spicejet-and-indigo-stocks-take-off-as-a-2-hour-flight-could-now-cost-up-to-13000/articleshow/80873865.cms">SpiceJet and IndiGo stocks take off as a 2-hour flight could now cost up to ₹13,000</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/centre-earned-100-crores-by-sharing-vehicle-registration-data-with-companies-such-as-bmw-axis-bank-bajaj-allianz-lt-and-others/articleshow/80879638.cms">Centre earned ₹100 crores by sharing vehicle registration data with companies such as BMW, Axis Bank, Bajaj Allianz, L&amp;T and others</a>

30 people injured in massive earthquake in Japan

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Issei KatoHouses are pictured amid flood waters at a residential area inundated by the Kinugawa river, caused by typhoon Etau, in Joso, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan, September 10, 2015.</div></div></div>Typhoon Etau has hit Japan, bringing with it torrential downpours and severe flooding across vast swathes of the country. Over the past two days, more than <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-floods-spark-evacuations-as-japan-is-deluged-2015-9">100,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes</a> after up 60 centimetres (2 feet) of rain fell in under 48 hours, the AFP reports. Towns and villages are being destroyed as houses are ripped out of their foundations and carried away. But that's not the only danger. Drainage pumps at the Fukushima nuclear have been unable to handle hundreds of tons of contaminated water, which is now flowing into the ocean. Reuters has documented the disaster with these devastating images of the scenes.

Startling images of floods wreaking havoc on Japan

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Here is what you need to know.The IEA is forecasting a huge drop in oil supplies outside of OPEC. The International Energy Agency thinks <a href="http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/news/2015/september/iea-releases-oil-market-report-for-september.html">the drop in oil prices will cause the biggest decline in oil supplies outside of OPEC in more than two decades</a>. The IEA says oil supplies will fall by about 0.5 million barrels per day due to lower output in the US, Russia and North Sea. "US light tight oil, the driver of US growth, is forecast to shrink by 0.4 mb/d next year," says the IEA.Goldman Sachs thinks oil prices could be headed a lot lower. Global Commodities Research head Jeffrey Currie says although it's not their base case, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-huge-supply-and-weak-demand-could-send-oil-prices-plunging-to-20-per-barrel-2015-9">oil could fall to as low as $20 per barrel</a>. According to Currie's latest note, "The oil market is even more oversupplied than we had expected and we now forecast this surplus to persist in 2016 on further OPEC production growth, resilient non-OPEC supply and slowing demand growth, with risks skewed to even weaker demand given China's slowdown and its negative EM feedback loop." For their most likely scenario, Goldman sees $38 per barrel in a month and $45 per barrel in 12 months. Currently, West Texas Intermediate crude oil is trading lower by 2.4% at 44.79 per barrel.Russia's central bank held policy steady. The Central Bank of Russia <a href="http://www.cbr.ru/eng/press/pr.aspx?file=11092015_133009eng_keyrate2015-09-11T13_05_22.htm">kept its key interest rate unchanged</a> at 11.00%, as expected. Friday's meeting marked the first time all year the central bank left rates unchanged as it looks to navigate the Russian economy out of recession. The central bank said, "Inflation and inflation expectations were showing a clear upward trend, impacted by the exchange rate dynamics." It continued, "The depreciated ruble will continue to put pressure on prices in the next few months." Going forward, the central bank believes the economy's fate will be determined by oil prices and its ability to withstand external shocks. Russia's ruble is is weaker by 0.6% at 68.0955.The Bank of Korea kept policy on hold. South Korea's central bank <a href="http://www.bok.or.kr/contents/total/eng/boardView.action?menuNaviId=634&amp;boardBean.brdid=16873&amp;boardBean.menuid=634&amp;boardBean.rnum=2">held its benchmark interest rate at 1.50%</a>, as expected. The central bank noted, "although the recovery in domestic demand activities such as consumption and investment has continued, the trend of declining exports has persisted while the improvement in economic agents' sentiments has been inadequate." South Korea's won ended stronger by 0.8% at 1184.46 per dollar.New loans in China slowed. Chinese <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1857271/chinas-new-yuan-loans-fall-8096b-yuan-august-below">banks loaned 809.6 billion yuan in August</a>, missing the 850 billion yuan that economists were anticipating. The number was well shy of the 1.48 trillion yuan that was loaned during the prior month. The China's M2 money supply increased 13.3% versus the prior year, slightly outpacing estimates. China's yuan ended little changed at 6.3749 per dollar.General Electric might relocate. GE is <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/ge-nears-decision-on-relocating-its-headquarters-1441931084">considering moving its headquarters</a> out of Connecticut, its home for more than 40 years, due to an "inhospitable clime for business," according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is reportedly considering bids from Georgia and New York, as well as other states, who not only give tax advantages but also align with GE's political needs. The WSJ says bids from Cincinnati and Dallas have been ruled out because of their states' refusal to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank.John Paulson had a bad August. John Paulson's flagship fund, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/10/hedgefunds-paulson-returns-idUSL1N11G2PH20150910">Paulson Partners lost 4.2% in August</a>, dropping its year-to-date gain to 6.5%. The volatile month produced a loss of 4.9% for the Paulson Advantage Fund, which is now down 3.6% so far this year. According to Reuters, Paulson's bets on healthcare names such as Shire and Valeant are at least partially responsible for the bad month.Stocks around the world are weaker. Australia's ASX (-0.5%) paced the overnight losses while Spain's IBEX (-1.0%) leads the decline in Europe. S&amp;P 500 futures are down 9.50 points at 1930.25.US economic data flows. PPI is due out at 8:30 a.m. ET while University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment is released at 10 a.m. ET and the Treasury budget crosses the wires at 2 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 3 basis points at 2.19%.Earnings reports are light. Kroger and Mattress Firm report ahead of the opening bell. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-donald-trumps-youngest-daughter-tiffany-2015-8">Forget Ivanka - here's the Trump daughter nobody's talking about</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="E1cXN4djreB4iDr6m7ZyR3yB13JhnGpM" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "ibaraki" and got 11 results

Radioactive material leaks detected at Japan's nuke fuel research facility

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Japan has millions of cheap abandoned homes. Here's what to know before you buy one.

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Japan temporarily halted the use of 1.63 million Moderna vaccine doses over claims that tiny particles were found floating in unused vials

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Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes off coast of Japan, rattling the Tokyo Olympic Games

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30 people injured in massive earthquake in Japan

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