Noda visits disaster-hit Miyagi areas

SENDAI — Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda traveled to Miyagi Prefecture on Saturday to gauge conditions after the area was ravaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Damage control: Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda inspects a fishing port in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on Saturday. KYODO PHOTO

Noda met with Deputy Gov. Shuichi Miura and Shigeru Sugawara, the mayor of Kesennuma, and pledged further support for the region's reconstruction.

"I would like to reflect your requests in the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011," Noda said.

He visited a Kesennuma fish market that was devastated by the tsunami and was asked by local officials to rebuild seafood-processing facilities.

"There will be no reconstruction of the affected areas without job creation," Noda replied, adding he will try to finance the necessary steps through the third extra budget.

Later in the day, the prime minister was scheduled to visit Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, also hit hard by the tsunami, to inspect the damage and meet with senior officials.

Noda, in office since Sept. 2, has vowed to speed up reconstruction of the areas stricken by the catastrophe and the nuclear crisis.

On Thursday, he visited Fukushima Prefecture, home to the radiation-leaking Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

Noda also traveled Friday to the prefectures of Wakayama, Mie and Nara, which were devastated by heavy rain dumped by Typhoon Talas last weekend.

OSAKA — The typhoon that ravaged western Japan last weekend caused an estimated ¥2 billion worth of damage to the farming, forestry and fishery industries in Wakayama Prefecture, according to a tally the prefectural government released Saturday.

The survey did not include damage to the livestock industry, and the final total may turn out to be much larger.

Nara Prefecture, which was also hit hard, is conducting its own survey of the damage.

Typhoon Talas, the 12th typhoon of the season, left 57 people dead and 44 missing across the country.

It caused around ¥880 million in damage to farm production in Wakayama, including oranges and Japanese apricots.

Damage to the fishery industry is estimated at ¥160 million, while damage to the forestry industry is put at around ¥520 million.

The natural disaster also caused an estimated ¥490 million in damage to farmland, irrigation channels and other facilities, according to the prefecture.

MATSUE, Shimane Pref. — The city of Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture, which is known for it's comic dance based on scooping up loaches, is gearing up for an influx of visitors to its annual festival thanks to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's remark on the mud-loving fish.

Now that the city of 43,000 has found itself unexpectedly in the limelight, it is receiving a flood of inquiries about local loach cuisine and souvenirs.

The city and a local tourism association have printed tourist maps showing restaurants that serve loach.

"We want women, in particular, to try loach dishes rich in the kind of nutrition that is good for their beauty," said Hiromi Sakuno of the local tourism association. The fish is rich in calcium and iron.

Expecting a sharp increase in visitors to the Yasugi "Dojo" (Loach) Festival next Sunday, the city has opened a souvenir shop near the Yasugi railway station to sell processed loach food items and novelty goods related to the fish.

Noda compared himself to the humble fish in a speech during the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election earlier this month.

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