This special section is designed to provide readers with the Internet's most comprehensive, archival coverage of Japan's tragic earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Life and Death Read More

November 23, 2013
Panel decides to pay additional damages to long-term Fukushima evacuees
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September 28, 2013
Rakuten cheerleader keeps disaster victims in her thoughts
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September 26, 2013
Trial fishing operations restart off Fukushima coast
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September 26, 2013
Underwater robot developed for work at Fukushima nuclear plant
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September 17, 2013
Aichi art festival examines a 'shaky Earth'
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September 13, 2013
Fukushima fishermen to resume test operations by month's end
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September 12, 2013
PHOTO: Families of tsunami victims visit school monument to mark 2 and half years
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September 11, 2013
2011 disaster survivors stuck in housing limbo
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September 05, 2013
Google Street View goes inside Fukushima evacuation zones
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August 31, 2013
Tohoku hotel makes fresh start under new name
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August 23, 2013
After tsunami loss, sailor wins yachting race to overcome grief
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August 22, 2013
TEPCO tries to have lawsuit seeking compensation for farmer's suicide thrown out
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August 18, 2013
Remains of 114 victims still unidentified from 3/11 disaster
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August 11, 2013
Father erects statue for daughter missing since 2011 tsunami
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August 01, 2013
Guardian of children on the road marks his 40th birthday
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July 29, 2013
Volunteer divers continue search for victims of 3/11 disaster
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July 26, 2013
Stress in evacuees drives up child abuse cases in disaster-affected region
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July 25, 2013
PHOTO: Seedlings of ‘miracle pine’ sprout
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July 12, 2013
Otsuchi presented with new altar for 3/11 survivors
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Quake and Tsunami Read More

November 19, 2013
Coastal community that heeded tsunami lessons of the past still around to pass on story
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November 13, 2013
Hundreds of hectares of coastal dunes and forests lost due to tsunami
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October 19, 2013
Student-designed app for emergencies wins industry ministry’s top honor
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October 15, 2013
Survivors debate whether to preserve symbols of 3/11 disaster
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October 11, 2013
Work to remove reminder of 2011 tsunami more than halfway done
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October 07, 2013
20% of fire stations at risk of collapse in major earthquake
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September 17, 2013
Court rules kindergarten liable for sending children home who died in tsunami
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September 12, 2013
With no closure from tsunami, fisherman prays before empty grave of his wife
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September 10, 2013
PHOTO: Workers begin removal of ship washed inland by 3/11 tsunami
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August 13, 2013
Japanese city votes to destroy tsunami ship landmark
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July 30, 2013
Makeshift emergency foods helped people survive disaster
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June 06, 2013
Easter Island statue lookalike emerges in sea off tsunami-hit town
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Recovery Read More

December 07, 2013
Tsunami failed to keep Kamaishi’s 'last geisha’ off the stage
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November 28, 2013
JAPEX to build LNG terminal in Fukushima
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November 26, 2013
PHOTO: Fukushima dried persimmons being readied for market
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November 25, 2013
Kennedy in Japan tsunami zone, highlights U.S. ties
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November 07, 2013
Shunned at home, Fukushima fruit farmers turn to Southeast Asia for turnaround
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November 04, 2013
Debate begins for governments over Ishiba's no-return remark
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October 23, 2013
Noh performers dedicate play in front of memorial tree to disaster victims
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October 19, 2013
Massive LNG tanks being built in Sendai
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October 19, 2013
Spanish artist's exhibition symbolizes sounds in Tohoku disaster
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October 17, 2013
3/11 aftermath: Famed Miyagi raw oysters finally back
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October 09, 2013
Rice harvesting starts again in former Fukushima no-entry zone
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October 08, 2013
PHOTO: Giant inflatable concert hall playing to a packed house
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October 02, 2013
Japan fast-food chain to grow food 100 km from wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant
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September 28, 2013
Utility heightening tsunami breakwater at most vulnerable nuclear plant
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September 26, 2013
Bureaucrat suspended for calling Tohoku reconstruction 'unnecessary' in 2011 blog post
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September 26, 2013
PHOTO: Lantern maker lighting up festivals again in Fukushima
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September 23, 2013
German wood quintet lifts spirits of children in quake-ravaged city
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September 23, 2013
Fearing exodus, disaster-hit towns compete to offer highest subsidies
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Fukushima nuclear crisisRead More

Over 60% of evacuees from Fukushima towns don't...
The main shopping street in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 11 still features a sign that says, “Nuclear energy is the energy of a bright future.” (The Asahi Shimbun)
December 07, 2013
More evacuees from the two towns that co-host the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have given up hope of returning home, a government survey found Dec. 6.
Record outdoor radiation level detected at...
An exhaust stack is seen between the No. 1 and No. 2 reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 15, 2011. (Provided by TEPCO)
December 07, 2013
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Dec. 6 it detected the highest estimated radiation level for an outdoor location at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

AnalysisRead More

Scientists: 2011 tsunami originated from slip in...
Tsunami generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake tears through Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2011. (Provided by a reader)
December 06, 2013
The towering tsunami created by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 originated from a slip in a clay layer along a plate boundary beneath the seabed off the Pacific coast...

OpinionRead More

INTERVIEW/ Peter Bradford: Independent watchdog...
Peter Bradford during a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun in Peru, Vermont (Shiro Namekata)
December 07, 2013
PERU, Vermont--An independent watchdog should oversee the daunting task of decommissioning the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and combating the contaminated water...
FUKUSHIMA LESSONS: Government admits failures in Fukushima crisis
June 08, 2011
FUKUSHIMA LESSONS: Government admits failures in Fukushima crisis
The main shopping street in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 11 still features a sign that says, “Nuclear energy is the energy of a bright future.” (The Asahi Shimbun)
An exhaust stack is seen between the No. 1 and No. 2 reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 15, 2011. (Provided by TEPCO)
Peter Bradford during a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun in Peru, Vermont (Shiro Namekata)
Chikano Fujima, the "last geisha" of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, performs "Sutakora Ondo," a song to tell lessons from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, in Aomori's Asamushi Onsen. (Teruto Unuma)
Tsunami generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake tears through Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2011. (Provided by a reader)
Allison Macfarlane, second from right, the chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, listens to Richard St. Onge, director of Nuclear Regulatory Affairs for Southern Cal Edison, third from right, speak during a tour of the troubled San Onofre Nuclear Power Station in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. on Jan. 14, in this file photo provided by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (AP Photo/Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
Juan Carlos Lentijo, left, head of an IAEA expert team to review Japan's plan to decommission the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, during a news conference at the Foreign Press Center Japan in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Dec. 4 (Akira Hatano)
Allison Macfarlane (Photo by Yuko Lanham)
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as seen on Oct. 28 (The Asahi Shimbun)
Yuji Onuma and his wife, Serina, return to Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 9, wearing mourning attire on top of their protective clothing, to entomb his aunt's ashes. The banner above them says, “Nuclear energy is the energy of a bright future,” the slogan Onuma created in his elementary school days. (Provided by Yuji Onuma)
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, third from right, inspects radioactive water storage tanks at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in September. (Pool)
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry main building in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
U.S. military and Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel during recovery efforts after the Great East Japan Earthquake at the JR Senseki Line’s Nobiru Station in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, on April 21, 2011 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. said it will build an LNG terminal here in Soma Port in Fukushima Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A total of 150 kilograms of plutonium is stored in 10 metal containers in an MOX fuel manufacturing factory in Marcoule, France, on Oct. 17. (Jun Ueda)
Workers hang peeled persimmons inside a farm building to dry the fruit. (Satoru Sekiguchi)
Industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi, third from left, attends a meeting Nov. 14 of a government task force on decommissioning and the radioactive water problem at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Workers remove nuclear fuel assemblies using special equipment at the No. 4 reactor building of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Nov. 18. (Provided by TEPCO)
Caroline Kennedy with the calligraphy for "tomo" (friend) at the Mangokuura Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on Nov. 25 (Pool)
Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture (The Asahi Shimbun)
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant sits on the Pacific Ocean coastline. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
An evacuee from the town of Hirono in Fukushima Prefecture, whose home was washed away by the March 2011 tsunami, walks through the temporary housing complex where she now lives in the city of Iwaki, of the same prefecture, on Nov. 11. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Work to remove nuclear fuel assemblies starts at the No. 4 reactor building of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, background, on Nov. 18. The building in the left foreground is a storage pool for common use. (The Asahi Shimbun)
Yoshiaki Kawata, vice president of the Hyogo Earthquake Memorial 21st Century Research Institute, gives a lecture during a symposium in Tokyo on Nov. 20. (Makiko Ikenaga)
A dosimeter lent to Fukushima Prefecture residents during a temporary visit to an evacuation zone (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A study is under way on nuclear waste disposal in a 140-meter-deep tunnel in Horonobe, Hokkaido, in 2012. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Workers move nuclear fuel to a cask in the storage pool at the No. 4 reactor building of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Nov. 18. (Provided by Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
Workers going about their tasks near the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
TEPCO's company name plate at the utility's head office in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Yoshihama district in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, faces the Pacific Ocean. The tsunami generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 reached right below the road in the front. (Kazumasa Sugimura)
A study is under way on the disposal of radioactive waste from decommissioning at an underground facility in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture. (Provided by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.)
The No. 4 reactor building of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant Nov. 18 (Jun Ueda)
Kaoru Kobayashi celebrates his win in the Fukushima mayoral election with his wife on Nov. 17. (Soichiro Yamamoto)
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant sits on the Pacific Ocean coastline. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
TEPCO's company name plate at the utility's head office in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
After 3 months, rescued tsunami baby is happy and healthy
June 14, 2011
After 3 months, rescued tsunami baby is happy and healthy
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Asahi Shimbun
Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi delivers a speech opposing nuclear power at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Nov. 12. (Hikaru Uchida)
One of the children evacuated from the Fukushima Prefecture area undergoes ultrasound thyroid scanning in Kyoto in 2012. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
This map shows an area that was a tidal flat or swamp in 1908. (Provided by the Environment Ministry)
Junichiro Koizumi speaks at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Nov. 12. (The Asahi Shimbun)
Etsuko Oura shows a photo of her home in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, that was swept away by the 2011 tsunami. (The Asahi Shimbun)
Contaminated water is kept in storage tanks at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. (Asahi Shimbu file photo)
Decontamination workers remove weeds in a planned area for an intermediate storage facility in Hirono, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 6. (The Asahi Shimbun)
TEPCO's company name plate at the utility's head office in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A research member explains geographical layers showing signs of tsunami in three different periods in the Shimonogo district of Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on Nov. 10. (Hideaki Ishibashi)
A temporary housing complex in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, where about 400 evacuees from Naraha live (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Fukushima Mirai wind turbine floats 20 kilometers off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture in early October. In the background is the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Workers remove radioactive debris near Usuishi Elementary School in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, on July 17. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Workers set up a piping system at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in June. (Pool)
A fuel hoist has been installed to remove nuclear fuel from a storage pool in the No. 4 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. (Soichiro Yamamoto)
Workers remove rainwater from behind a barrier, center, that surrounds radioactive water storage tanks on the grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant amid a downpour from Typhoon No. 26 on Oct. 16. (Provided by Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
Peaches from Fukushima Prefecture line the shelves in a Bangkok department store on Aug. 30. They were all sold out in two days. (Provided by the Fukushima prefectural government)
Medical personnel receive training on how to treat patients affected by radiation exposure at the University of Fukui in March. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Asahi Shimbun
Workers decontaminate a graveyard in a difficult-to-return zone in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, in July ahead of temporary visits by residents. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A house hit by the tsunami spawned by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, is located in "the areas to which evacuation orders are ready to be lifted" in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture. The photo was taken in May 2013. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Oct. 31 (Satoru Sekiguchi)
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in August (Asahi Shimbun file photo)