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/ 31 January 2008
Dozens more people in Japan on Thursday said they fell sick after eating Chinese-made food, a day after Japanese food companies recalled pesticide-contaminated dumplings from China that made 10 people sick. The food scare has triggered a nationwide probe into possible additional cases of food poisoning.
Hawkish Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to stay in his post despite a crushing defeat for his ruling camp in an upper house election, but policy gridlock loomed and Abe’s grip on his job was still uncertain. Voters outraged at a string of government scandals and gaffes and the bungling of pension records stripped Abe’s coalition of its upper house majority.
More than 12 000 people took refuge in evacuation centres in north-west Japan on Tuesday after an earthquake the previous day flattened homes, killing nine people and injuring more than 1 000, and triggered a leak of contaminated water from a nuclear plant.
A scandal-tainted minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet committed suicide on Monday, compounding problems for the Japanese leader whose support has slumped ahead of a July election. It was the first suicide by a Japanese Cabinet minister since the days after Japan’s defeat in World War II, according to officials at the national library.
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/ 17 November 2006
Hardly any Japanese felt the earthquake in the distant north Pacific this week, but anyone watching television saw a tsunami warning and thousands evacuated to higher ground. While the waves that rolled ashore were only about 40cm high, a network built up over decades has made possible the swift dissemination of information vital to saving lives.