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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Sumo wrestlers lift disaster-hit city's spirits (Reuters)

SOMA, JAPAN (Reuters) – The pale, glistening bodies of two mammoth sumo wrestlers slammed together amid piles of wreckage, charred boats in the background, in this Japanese port district, eerily silent after many residents died in the March earthquake and tsunami.

A loud thud broke the silence and the victorious wrestler lifted his sweat-drenched body as the scorching summer sun rose out of the ocean at a summer training camp in an oceanside area of Soma, devastated by the March 11 disaster.

The wrestlers wanted both to give back to the community, some 270 km northeast of Tokyo, that has hosted their summer training for 20 years -- and also redeem their ancient sport, tainted by recent scandals.

"I'm still scared of aftershocks, but I want to fight my heart out for my family and make people in Soma smile again," said winning wrestler Oazuma, 21, wiping his wide forehead.

A metal roof was the only thing left of the sumo summer gym, or "stable," after the massive 9.0 quake triggered a tsunami that left parts of Soma a pile of rubble and set off the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at a nuclear plant just 50 km away.

Some 80,000 have been forced to leave their homes near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which continues to leak radiation -- including the family of wrestler Oazuma.

"My dad and mum lost their jobs, and although I'm just a sumo beginner I ended up as the sole family breadwinner," he added, noting that his family remains in temporary housing.

Having the wrestlers return as if it was any other summer is seen by many as a vital step to lift morale as survivors make fragile attempts to rebuild their shattered lives.

"We live in the shadow of Fukushima. Many people have already left this area, others are pondering such a move," said Hiroko Mori, 29, as she cheered on the wrestlers with her daughter asleep in a pram beside her despite the heat.

"I love sumo and come to see them practice here every year. It's great to have them back," added Mori.

Between the stable and the shore the land was unnaturally flat, with weeds growing amid shattered house foundations and bald cement slabs. Some 460 residents and over a thousand houses were swept away throughout Soma -- with around 20,400 dead or missing across Japan.

"Mori is right. Our wrestlers are like 'Nadeshiko Japan'," shouted a pensioner in his seventies, referring to women's soccer team that became a nation-wide sensation and gave the country a sense of unity after winning the World Cup in July.

MAKE OR BREAK

Stable founder Hayao Shiga, himself a former sumo wrestler, said he stared in shock at satellite photos of the area -- a vast stretch of nothing but debris -- just after the disaster.

"I couldn't believe my eyes, but as soon as I saw the metal roof of the stable still there I thought we can return to Soma, pick up the pieces and start all over again," he added.

Sumo training is steeped in tradition and due to its ties to Japan's ancient Shinto religion, some aspects -- such as throwing salt to the earthen ring for purification -- take on a ritual flavor. Wrestlers build strength through primitive methods such as lifting stone and pushing against each other.

"Faster, faster! Hold the body lower, or you'll get pushed out immediately!" shouted the former stable master as the wrestlers threw their bodies against each other.

But rebuilding is far from an easy task, with sumo as a whole at a critical make-or-break point on top of everything Shiga's stable faces.

The sport, already struggling with a declining fan base as young people desert it for baseball or soccer, was hit by a corrosive succession of scandals including match-fixing, drugs and drink, and the hazing death of a trainee.

"As our sport slowly licks its wounds, we want the people here to carry on fighting with us," said Yukihiro Kimura, a sumo referee, as around him wrestlers energetically shared their post-training breakfast with local residents.

In another show of support for the area, which has taken an economic hit with the shipment of many agricultural products banned due to radioactive contamination, the traditional "chanko" stew was filled with local radishes and Chinese cabbage, which the wrestlers devoured.

"I traveled through the quake-affected areas with other wrestlers and one thing was true time and again," Kimura said.

"We were there to cheer up the survivors, but their resilience and determination to carry on against all odds ended up inspiring us."

(Editing by Elaine Lies)

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