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Fukushima nuclear disaster and water release

Wang Yi’s talks with Japanese official suggest a Xi-Ishiba meeting lies ahead

Foreign ministry says both sides agree to leaders’ dialogue as Japanese media report plans for Japan’s new prime minister to meet Xi Jinping.

5 Nov 2024 - 12:11AMvideocam

Robot retrieves 1st melted fuel from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor

3 Nov 2024 - 12:32AMvideocam

Hong Kong takes aim at outgoing Japanese envoy in thinly veiled Fukushima attack

31 Oct 2024 - 11:58PM

Editorial | Deal on monitoring Japan’s Fukushima water best way forward

Hong Kong to follow up agreement between Beijing and Tokyo over nuclear plant discharges that brought seafood ban.

4 Oct 2024 - 6:15AM

Japan began releasing treated radioactive water into the sea from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant more than a year ago. Photo: Kyodo

Japan urges Hong Kong to make ‘correct decision’ by lifting seafood ban

Call from Kenichi Okada, country’s consul general in Hong Kong, in response to progress in talks between Tokyo, Beijing about lifting curbs.

25 Sep 2024 - 7:11PM

Hong Kong to seek more information before any easing of Japan seafood import ban

Beijing earlier said it had agreed to ‘gradually resume’ imports of Japanese seafood following rounds of talks between the two countries.

20 Sep 2024 - 11:20PMvideocam

China to ‘gradually’ lift ban on Japanese seafood imports

27 Sep 2024 - 6:00PM

02:32

Finding a future in Fukushima

In this video series, the Post travels to Japan’s Fukushima coast to see first-hand efforts to rebuild a region decimated by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. We meet with mothers, fishermen, surfers, grandfathers and former mayors all committed to building a life in the shadow of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.

17 Sep 2024 - 12:57PM

Japanese fishing towns wary of nuclear water release

13 Sep 2024 - 5:31PM

Japan’s nuclear ghost towns are planning a comeback

12 Sep 2024 - 9:31AM

06:06

‘Extremely concerned’: Japan’s plan to reuse Fukushima soil sparks unease

The IAEA claims the soil meets safety standards, but critics argue spreading the contamination is dangerous and could lead to increased cancer risks.

12 Sep 2024 - 8:00AMvideocam

Japan’s plan to reuse Fukushima’s contaminated soil in infrastructure projects has been approved by the IAEA, despite concerns from environmental groups. Photo: Getty

In a Japanese city swept away by a tsunami, the future waits

11 Sep 2024 - 9:31AM

‘Enjoy the taste’: peaches from Fukushima, once feared, now sold at Harrods

The fruit is now available at the luxury London department store, in a Japanese push to address safety concerns amid a global campaign to restore trust.

11 Sep 2024 - 6:00AMvideocam

At Fukushima, a high-stakes recovery of deadly radioactive debris resumes

The mission is part of a decades-long effort to decommission Fukushima, where an estimated 880 tonnes of fatally radioactive fuel remain.

10 Sep 2024 - 4:29PM

Tepco workers rearrange pipes for the recovery mission at Fukjushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Photo: Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings via AP

Waves of uncertainty: radioactive ripple effect clouds Fukushima’s comeback

As Fukushima towns painstakingly rebuild, the toxic legacy of 2011’s nuclear disaster casts doubt on their hard-won revival.

25 Aug 2024 - 6:00PM

Haruo Ono, a Fukushima fisherman, opposes the plan to release water from the crippled nuclear plant. Photo: Jonathan Vit

Hong Kong vows tougher curbs on Japanese food imports if contamination worsens

Environment authorities say they will track nuclear effluent discharge development and data released by Japan, International Atomic Energy Agency.

24 Aug 2024 - 10:40PM

Japan suspends clearing nuclear debris from Fukushima plant

23 Aug 2024 - 6:30PM

Japan to use special robots to remove nuclear debris from Fukushima reactor

The debris has radiation levels so high that specialised robots had to be developed to function inside a battered nuclear reactor.

19 Aug 2024 - 8:38PMvideocam

Reactor buildings of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. Photo: AP

Video | Finding a future in Fukushima after Japan’s worst nuclear accident

Along the Fukushima coast, towns are in the middle of a building boom 13 years after the area was hit by a devastating nuclear disaster.

19 Aug 2024 - 11:46AM

Finding a future in Fukushima

Thirteen years after the Japanese prefecture of Fukushima was rocked by an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, towns that were once deemed too radioactive for long-term habitation are in the midst of a building boom. But as Japan struggles with a falling population, will people move to an area that remains blighted by the threat of radiation and ongoing release of treated water from the Daiichi nuclear power plant? In this edition of SCMP Films, we visited towns along the Fukushima coast, where residents continue rebuilding their lives under the shadow of one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents.

13 Sep 2024 - 5:15PM

Hong Kong rejects call from Japan to drop seafood import ban

Japanese fisheries minister Tetsushi Sakamoto says city’s ban imposed over discharge of waste water from nuclear plant has no scientific basis.

17 Aug 2024 - 11:34PM

Seafood for sale at Sogo in Causeway Bay. In 2022, mainland China and Hong Kong were the largest and second-largest markets for Japanese seafood. Photo: Jelly Tse

‘True horror’: Japan’s atomic bomb survivor campaigns for a nuclear-free world

Bun Hashizume, 93, who has written poems about her descent into “hell” after the bombing, has travelled the world to spread her message.

3 Aug 2024 - 2:46PMvideocam

Atomic bomb survivor Bun Hashizume near the Dome in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Photo: Kikkawa Hikaru

Japan police hunt man who spray painted ‘toilet’ on Yasukuni Shrine

In a video on Chinese social media, a man identifying himself as Iron Head said he would give the Japanese government ‘some colour to see’, before urinating on a stone pillar and spray-painting ‘toilet’ in English.

4 Jun 2024 - 12:36PMvideocam

Can Japan, China resolve Fukushima water tensions? Experts say it’s unlikely

Accepting Japan’s position of compliance with IAEA standards would make China seem it is capitulating to Tokyo given its earlier tough stance, analysts say.

27 May 2024 - 7:30PMvideocam

Japan fumes at China, Russia for calling released water ‘nuclear-contaminated’

Tokyo said it was ‘extremely regrettable’ that Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had made an assertion ‘contrary to the facts’.

17 May 2024 - 11:52AMvideocam

The crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in northern Japan. Photo: Kyodo News via AP

Hard-up town in Japan fears nuclear waste dump will turn it into a ‘graveyard’

Genkai town already receives billions of yen in subsidies every year to host a nuclear power plant. Now, the government wants to build an underground disposal site for high-level nuclear waste there, too.

12 May 2024 - 2:00PM

Residents of Saga prefecture protest against the resumption of operations at the Genkai nuclear power plant’s No 4 reactor in 2018. Photo: Kyodo

A Chinese drinks firm cashed in on nationalism, until it was hit by a backlash

In a pointed post promoting fruit tea, Xiang Piao Piao exploited anger over Tokyo’s decision to release treated waste water from Fukushima nuclear power plant.

12 May 2024 - 1:00PMvideocam

Japan: experts met in China to ease concerns over Fukushima water

Discharges of treated radioactive wastewater from Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea have been opposed by fishing groups and nearby countries, especially China, which banned imports of Japanese seafood.

1 Apr 2024 - 1:28AM

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Fukushima nuclear disaster and water release

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, following a devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, which claimed nearly 19,000 lives. Japan is now looking to dump the treated radioactive waste water into the sea, stirring debates and boycotts at home and abroad.

last updated:

9 September, 2024