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Earthquake swarms are most commonly composed of small‐magnitude earthquakes. However, a recent study by Yoshida, Uchida, et al. (2023, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL106023) analyzed a swarm beneath the Noto Peninsula in Japan that, after more than two years of moderate‐magnitude seismicity, triggered the moment magnitude (Mw) 6.2 Suzu mainshock in May 2023. Based on high‐precision earthquake locations and a slip inversion of the mainshock, these authors found that the Mw 6.2 Suzu earthquake occurred on the updip extension of a fault that was active during the swarm, likely driven by increased fluid pressure. After publication of that paper, a much larger and more destructive Mw 7.5 event occurred nearby on 1 January 2024. These events underscore the potential for swarms to be precursors to large, damaging earthquakes. Forecasting the eventual evolution of swarms is currently very challenging but could be aided in the future by new observations and models. Plain Language Summary: Although earthquake swarms often only contain small earthquakes, occasionally they can trigger large, damaging earthquakes. Yoshida, Uchida, et al. (2023, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL106023) examined the triggering of a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in Japan, which caused extensive damage, following two years of smaller earthquakes. This sequence, like many swarms, may have been driven by elevated fluid pressure migrating upwards within the crust. After publication of that paper, a much larger and more destructive Mw 7.5 event occurred nearby. Forecasting the eventual evolution of ongoing swarms is currently very challenging but could be aided in the future by new observations and models. Key Points: Earthquake swarms can be precursors to damaging earthquakes, including the 1 January 2024, Mw 7.5 Noto Peninsula, Japan eventFluid pressure changes often drive swarm activity, and their degree of confinement may influence swarm evolutionDirect observations of fluids in fault zones combined with numerical modeling may aid swarm forecasting in the future [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When discussing Buddhism in practice, we should first note that the word practice has a multilayered meaning in Buddhism. For the purposes of this paper, I would like to simplify things considerably, and divide those multiple meanings into two groups. The first involves the training of one's mind and body. By engaging in such training, the practitioner is said to draw closer to Buddhist enlightenment. This practice takes various forms depending on the time and place, such as observing the precepts or engaging in meditation, and is referred to as 'benefiting the self' (jiri 自利). Second, there is the practice that consists of Buddhists' activities vis-à-vis society. Even Buddhists, whose fundamental orientation is towards leaving the secular world (shusseken 出世 間), have engaged in activities in society that have taken a variety of forms. There are records of Śākyamuni having given various pieces of advice to rulers during ancient times. We also find many records of later Buddhists engaging in missionary and charitable activities. This is referred to as 'benefiting others' (rita 利他). In particular, Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes the inseparability of 'benefiting the self' and 'benefiting others'. Although Buddhist practice is traditionally divided into two categories: self-interest and altruism, it would not be true to say, in fact, that 'benefiting others' has always been as much of a primary concern as 'benefiting the self.' Rather, it can be said that concern for others has always been a weakness of Buddhism, overshadowed by concerns with 'benefiting the self.' Thus, Mahayana Buddhism's emphasis on the importance of benefiting others, on the contrary, could be said to imply that this was a weakness of the Buddhism at the time of the Mahayana arose. My paper focuses on recent developments surrounding Buddhism and its practice in contemporary Japan, particularly the element of 'benefiting others.' The question of how Buddhists should contribute to society has continually and repeatedly appeared from the origins of Mahayana Buddhism to the present. Against this backdrop, an event occurred in Japan in recent years that marked a major turning point in the issue of Buddhist contributions to society. That event is the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. In this paper, I consider the issue of 'benefiting others' in Buddhism in light of the effects of the tragic earthquake disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake caused radionuclide 137Cs be directly released into the ocean from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants. A high-resolution global-coastal nesting ocean model was established to simulate the initial spread of 137Cs as conservative tracer over the shelf of Japan after the accident. The major advantage in the current model system is to use unstructured grids to resolve the power plant and the coastal geometry with a grid resolution much higher than that used in previous modeling experiments. Therefore, it gives us an opportunity to examine the necessity whether the detailed structure of the Power plant should be considered for numerical experiment of 137Cs dispersion or not. This could provide us an alternative insight into the physical processes that lead to its spread of 137Cs over the shelf of Japan. Our results suggested that to resolve the dispersion process from the source point to the south and north discharging canal is critical for an accurate prediction of the spread of 137Cs to the 30 km sites off the coast. Moreover, a 2 km grid resolution along Japan coast is probably not high enough to resolve the plume correctly. Finally, the model- data comparison suggested that the physical process associated with the transfer of dissolved 137Cs into the sediment phase could potentially be important and should be considered in the future tracer modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent geodetic measurements have detected recurrent slow slip events (SSEs) in many subduction zones. Numerical simulations suggest that the recurrence intervals and magnitudes of such SSEs decrease in the later stage of the interseismic period. Therefore, activities of SSEs and their temporal variations in recurrence intervals and magnitudes provide important clues for evaluating future large earthquakes. However, our knowledge of recurrent SSEs before the establishment of dense observation networks is limited. Here, we report a possible SSE in 1973 beneath the Kii peninsula along the Nankai subduction zone, southwest Japan, where magnitude 8 class earthquakes such as the 1944 Tonankai and 1946 Nankai earthquakes repeatedly occur. The possible SSE was detected by a horizontal pendulum tiltmeter installed in 1947 at the Kishu observatory. We recovered and converted the original tilt records from 1969 to 1974 drawn on bromide (light sensitive) papers to digital tilt records. In late-November 1973, there was a slow transient signal down to the northeast of about 1.4 μrad, lasting about 1–3 days. Assuming this crustal deformation was due to an SSE, we searched for a possible fault model by adopting the already-known SSE models occurring from 1996 to 2012 as template models. Among the 42 template fault models, five models were able to qualitatively explain the direction of the observed tilt change. The centroids of these fault models were located about 30–60 km to the west of the observatory. In the source region, two magnitude 5 class earthquakes occurred before the initiation of the transient signal, and thus may be related to the occurrence of the possible SSE. In contrast, the magnitude of the calculated tilt change was about 1–2 order smaller than that of the observed tilt change. This discrepancy could be partly explained by a slip amount larger than that in the template models, which suggests that the possible SSE in 1973 was larger than those detected by recent observations. Further investigation of historical data on crustal deformation will reveal more about the temporal change in the recurrence intervals and magnitudes of SSEs during earthquake cycles of large earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnitude of the 9.0 Tohoku earthquake and the ensuing tsunami on 11 March 2011, inflicted heavy damage on the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (FNPP1). Fission products were emitted, falling over a broad range in the northern hemisphere, and water contaminated with radionuclides leaked into the ocean. In this study, we described the horizontal distribution of the Fukushima-derived radiocesium in zooplankton and in seawater in the western North Pacific Ocean (500-2100 km from the FNPP1) 10 months after the accident. 134Cs and 137Cs were detected in zooplankton and seawater from all the stations. Because of its short half-lives, 134Cs detected in our samples could only be derived from the FNPP1 accident. The highest 137Cs activity in zooplankton was same order of magnitude as that one month after the accident, and average activity was one or two orders of magnitude higher than 137Cs activities observed before the accident around Japan. Horizontally, the radiocesium activity concentrations in zooplankton were high at around 25°N while those in surface seawater were high at around the transition area between the Kuroshio and the Oyashio Currents (36-40°N). We observed subsurface radiocesium maxima in density range of the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water and occurrence of many diel vertical migratory zooplanktons. These suggested that the high activity concentrations in the subtropical zooplankton at around 25°N were connected to the subsurface radiocesium and active vertical migration of zooplankton. However, the high activity concentrations of radiocesium in subsurface seawater did not necessarily follow the higher radiocesium activity in zooplankton. Biological characteristics of zooplankton community possibly influenced how large was contamination of radiocesium in the community but it is still unknown what kind of biological factors were important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fukushima power station in Japan was affected by a major earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, inspecting the primary containment vessel remains difficult due to high radioactivity. Long-reach robot arms are useful in inspecting such hazardous environments, and a coupled tendon-driven mechanism enables realizing a long, light-weight, and thin manipulator. However, high elastic elongation of tendons due to gravity may lead to unstable joint control. In this paper, we introduce dynamics-based control as a feasible strategy for a long-reach tendon-driven robotic arm. Additionally, a planning method to identify the joint angle path ensuring stability is proposed. Considering stability analysis, the potential due to the tendon elasticity and gravity is evaluated and used as an index of joint stability. The rapidly exploring random tree is used as the planning algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed method was demonstrated through the successful manipulation of a 5-kg payload by a 10-m long robotic arm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the trends and challenges of Taiwanese studies in Japan, focusing on political history. The first section reviews Taiwanese studies in Japan in recent years, with a focus on political research. The second section discusses the issues to be worked on for this discipline's future, especially pertaining to the discussion on "external" and "internal" legitimacy for the postwar Republic of China (ROC) government in Taiwan. The third section examines ways to comprehend the changes in the ROC's status in Taiwanese politics and society after the political transformation began in the 1970s. Taiwanese studies in Japan have long emphasized revealing the characteristics of Taiwanese society and history. Although such an attitude is still quite important, this paper highlights that knowing how to value the "Chineseness" of the ROC government in Taiwan is also an important subject. Further examination of the link between international and internal politics in Taiwan will be one of the most important subjects for future Taiwanese studies in Japan on politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After World War II, Japan became a major recipient of foreign aid from the USA. As Japan's economy improved in the 1960s, it played a significant role as a global aid donor in world politics through its Official Development Assistance (ODA). This commitment continued into the 1990s when Japan, as one of the leading proponents of the concept of human security, began providing humanitarian aid to more countries across the globe. To better understand the notion of human security in international politics, this paper examines Japan's endorsement of the concept in its foreign policy strategy. This paper provides an overview and critical assessment of Japan's Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects (GGP) in the state of Sabah in East Malaysia from 2000 to 2021. This paper argues that different contexts and circumstances in the state of Sabah require further study, especially for understanding Japan's focus and concern in the area of basic human security needs, as enshrined in the GGP philosophy. Despite Japan's GGP objective as part of its foreign policy to promote human development, the execution of its foreign aid in Sabah does have issues. This paper concludes that the implementation of Japan's GGP necessitates greater inclusion, particularly for other vulnerable groups and underdeveloped areas in Sabah. Despite Japan's GGP objective as part of its foreign policy to promote human development, the execution of its foreign aid in Sabah does have issues. This paper concludes that the implementation of Japan's GGP necessitates greater inclusion, particularly for other vulnerable groups and underdeveloped areas in Sabah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The significance of mutual-help in communities for disaster management is a fundamental important concept. However, the current societal state does not reflect this lesson. S&G (Simulation and Gaming) has the potential to overcome the challenges faced in promoting community-based disaster management. No scientific research is currently present that reviews their achievements in Japan. Aim. This paper analyzes the current achievements of S&G in enhancing community resilience against large-scale earthquakes in Japan. Method. The paper clarifies the theoretical advantages of S&G in enhancing community resilience in coping and adaptive capacity plus proposes a conceptual contribution framework of S&G in improving community resilience. Based on this framework, the paper analyzes some major games that tackle community resilience against earthquakes in Japan. Results. The paper demonstrates the achievements through the S&G spectrum that stresses the disastrous experience with specific resilience views on one side, while decision making for critical reflection from other players with more comprehensive resilience views on the other side. Conclusion. The paper showcases the current S&G achievements in enhancing community resilience against large-scale earthquakes in Japan using the proposed framework, which can be utilized by other disaster-prone countries to develop and evaluate applications of S&G for increasing community resilience against earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordinating a wide range of organizations is crucial for disaster management. This paper reviews the coordinating mechanisms of disaster management in Japan, in particular focusing on the relationship between national and local governments. While local governments have the principal responsibility of managing disasters, they often have limited capacity and experience in disaster management. Furthermore, they are often overstretched with the various tasks of response and recovery. Supporting local governments from the outside and coordinating such support activities are essential in mitigating disaster damage. This paper examines (1) coordination mechanisms, and (2) actual coordinating efforts of response and recovery in recent disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011. It was found that Japan is evolving in coordinating mechanisms by learning from disasters. The national platform of coordination was established over 50 years ago. Similar platforms were established at the local level as well. Each national agency has established and strengthened the supporting teams of response and recovery efforts in affected areas. Local governments outside the affected areas also provide support to affected governments according to pre-agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, we analyze laser strainmeter data for the period from 2014 to 2022 to identify deformation anomalies that led to the generation of tsunamis in the area of the Japanese Islands. It is impossible to determine the main characteristics of a tsunami from the deformation anomaly registered by the laser strainmeter, but it is possible to calculate the seabed displacement in the epicenter of a tsunami formation, which causes the tsunami. We have established that the relationship between the registered deformation anomalies and the seabed displacement in the tsunami source in the area of the Japanese Islands is similar to the same relationships found in other regions of the Earth (Indonesia, Latin America, and the West Coast of North America). This result allows us to assert that such a relationship should be typical of any region of the Earth. The obtained results are aimed at solving the problem of reliable short-term tsunami forecasting, which allows for the avoidance of false alarms that lead to significant socio-economic damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining pre-disaster optical and post-disaster synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data is regarded as desirable for timely damage assessment, which is essential for the prompt rescue operation. Due to the extreme differences between the two data, however, this combination has not been practically used in the previous research. In this paper, a method to assess the various types of damage caused by disasters using the desirable data combination, particularly pre-disaster very high resolution optical data and post-disaster polarimetric SAR data. The proposed method is a rule-based classification, and uses diverse components derived from the two data such as normalized difference vegetation index, polarization orientation angle, SPAN, and entropy. The proposed method was applied to the case study of the 2011 tsunami in Japan. The experimental results demonstrated the potential of the proposed method to assesses the types of tsunami-induced damage in urban and vegetated areas. The achievement in this paper is expected to facilitate efficient and fast disaster-induced complex damage assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the relationship between the vertical ground motion and ionospheric disturbances before the Kumamoto earthquake on 16 April 2016, in Kyushu, Japan, using the vertical ground motion measured by slant gauges widely distributed in Kyushu, and the NmF2 observed by ionosondes in Japan and another region. We provide evidence that vertical ground motion excites internal gravity waves (IGWs) that disturb changes in the ionospheric plasma density. From the spectral analysis results of the vertical ground motion data, the summation of various period (frequency) components analyzed from the original data of the slant gauge shows a possible correlation with the change of NmF2 before the earthquake. On the other hand, the influence of the geomagnetic disturbance on vertical ground motion seems to exist. However, we cannot confirm that vertical ground motion is influenced by the geomagnetic disturbance (Kp index) and that the earthquake is triggered by the geomagnetic disturbance. There are two conditions for the vertical ground motion to disturb variations in the ionospheric plasma density: (1) The effective vertical ground motion period should be shorter than 5 h. In addition, (2) vertical ground motion should continue to exist so that wave energy can be continuously injected into the atmosphere. A possible mechanism with which to modify the ionosphere is discussed. The results of this study can provide a basis for the future ionospheric precursors of earthquakes by using the vertical ground motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 70% of global tsunamis are generated within the pan Pacific Ocean region. This paper reports on detailed analysis of civilian video footage from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, Japan. Comprehensive scientific analysis of tsunami video footage can yield valuable insights into geophysical processes and impacts. Civili22an video footage captured during the 2011 Tohoku, East Honshu, Japan tsunami was critically examined to identify key tsunami processes and estimate local inundation heights and flow velocity in Kesennuma City. Significant tsunami processes within the video were captured and orientated in ArcGIS Pro to create an OIC (Oriented Imagery Catalogue). The OIC was published to ArcGIS Online, and the oriented imagery was configured into an interactive website. Flow velocity was estimated by quantifying the distance and time taken for an object to travel between two known points in the video. Estimating inundation height was achieved by taking objects with known or calculable dimensions and measuring them against maximum local inundation height observations. The oriented imagery process produced an interactive Experience Builder app in ArcGIS Online, highlighting key tsunami processes captured within the video. The estimations of flow velocity and local inundation height quantified during video analysis indicate flow speeds ranging from 2.5–4.29 m/s and an estimated maximum local run-up height of 7.85 m in Kesennuma City. The analysis of civilian video footage provides a remarkable opportunity to investigate tsunami impact in localised areas of Japan and around the world. These data and analyses inform tsunami hazard maps, particularly in reasonably well-mapped terrains with remote access to landscape data. The results can aid in the understanding of tsunami behaviours and help inform effective mitigation strategies in tsunami-vulnerable areas. The affordable, widely accessible analysis and methodology presented here has numerous applications, and does not require highly sophisticated equipment. Tsunamis are a significant to major geohazard globally including many Pacific Island states, e.g., Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tonga. Video footage geoscientific analysis, as here reported, can benefit tsunami and cyclone storm surge hazards in the Pacific Islands region and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of an earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011 considerable amounts of radioactive materials were accidentally released into the sea off Fukushima-Daiichi, Japan. This study uses a three-dimensional eddy-resolving oceanic general circulation model to explore potential pathways of a tracer, similar to 137Cs, from the coast to the open ocean. Results indicate that enhanced concentrations meet a receding spring bloom offshore and that the area of enhanced concentrations offshore is strongly determined by surface mixed layer dynamics. However, huge uncertainties remain. Among them are the realism of the simulated cross-shelf transport and apparently inconsistent estimates of the particle reactivity of 137Cs which are discussed in a brief literature review. We argue that a comprehensive set of 137Cs measurements, including sites offshore, could be a unique opportunity to both evaluate and advance the evaluation of oceanic general circulation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Escalation of great power rivalry resulting from China's rise and Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted Japan to align its foreign and security policies more closely. This paper analyzes how ODA policy, which the Japanese government regards as a crucial diplomatic instrument, has been modified in the face of these changes. The most significant transformation is the securitization of ODA, or the deployment of ODA to advance Japan's national security interests. This trend is evident in the emergence of a new type of ODA that aims to contribute to Japan's security interests by strengthening the deterrence capabilities of developing countries involved in territorial disputes with China. Notably, Japan is justifying this new ODA trend in the name of upholding the universal value of the international rule of law. In other words, Japan is shifting the focus of assistance away from domestic issues of democracy and human rights in each recipient country toward the rule of law in international relations. This is a manifestation of Japan's effort to strike a careful balance between upholding universal values and avoiding the risk of offending incumbent governments in recipient countries with questionable domestic governance records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation of this study stems from a retaining wall made of waste tires. The wall did not suffer any earthquake or tsunami-induced damage during the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake, Japan. This paper deals with a case study on this tire retaining wall. Results from a series of field and laboratory investigations are first described. A numerical simulation is also described in which whole tires were used as protective layers in an embankment. The results show that confining effect of each tire, friction between the tires, ductility, and damping inherent in tires contribute towards the excellent performance of the retaining wall during the earthquake loading. The case study also reveals that it is the isolation mechanism due to the vibration absorption capability of rubber particles in tires, which could protect tire retaining structure during the earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the reconstruction progress and future of local communities in tsunamiaffected areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Mental problems have been cited as a long-term issue affecting victims in the areas. At the same time, these areas have also seen the withdrawal of supporters. These withdrawals are unavoidable as reconstruction progresses because most of the supporters come from outside the region. Therefore, the local communities must build a foundation to support victims' lives. Thus, we must ask, what kind of process has been followed? I would like to focus on the loss and regaining process of "ikigai" (=the reason for existence) of victims, based on the contents of my book, The Sociology of Post-Earthquake Reconstruction and of the reason for existence. This paper will discuss three cases in Iwanuma City and Watari Town. In the case of farmers in Iwanuma, the damage caused by the tsunami and the reconstruction policies of building "strong agriculture" changed the area's industrial structure. Most elderly farmers accepted the policies and decided to retire, but were troubled by the loss of their daily habits, and having "nothing to do." To overcome this, they restarted farming as a way of life, which was opposite to the planned policy. However, not all victims could address loss of livelihood by themselves, therefore, the support activities conducted by non-profit groups (NPOs) were successful. The "Healthy Agriculture" program in Watari provided an opportunity to overcome the loss of the way of life. However, when supporters withdrew in 2016, after 5 years from the disaster, the continuation of the activities became problematic. Another NPO led by residents then took over, and a sense of community was created among the inland and coastal residents, who had little to do with each other before. Based on these results, I would like to suggest discussion themes for future research on regions and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake produced the most well-recorded postseismic deformation of any megathrust earthquake in the world. Over the last decade, researchers have used a dense and widespread geodetic network of more than 1300 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations inland, as well as the about 50 stations on the seafloor, to investigate the various deformation sources responsible for the observed crustal deformation. One of the contributing mechanisms to this crustal deformation is the stress relaxation of the viscoelastic mantle beneath the Japanese arc. As evident in experimental rock physics and geophysical observations, ambient mantle conditions and related rheology are expected to be heterogeneous in space. However, the contribution of such rheological heterogeneities to the postseismic deformation is still poorly understood. Here, we piece together several rheological heterogeneities inferred from the decade-long postseismic deformation of the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake. We reviewed more than twenty postseismic models to understand how viscoelastic earth can influence the postseismic surface deformation observed after the Tohoku-oki earthquake. Besides, we employed several synthetic models to tease out the contribution of individual rheological heterogeneities such as depth-dependent rheology of mantle wedge, oceanic asthenosphere, and low-viscosity zone beneath the volcanic front. We demonstrate that the vertical postseismic observation is the key to unravel rheological complexity beneath northeastern Japan. The broader vertical deformation pattern reveals the major viscosity contrast between backarc and forearc, and small-scale subsidence detects the presence of low-viscosity bodies related to arc magmatism. In short, this review paper provides a vista of three-dimensional heterogeneous rheology of viscoelastic earth. These rheological heterogeneities may play a crucial role in bridging the gap between our understanding of different phase of subduction zone earthquake cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical engagement with endings in relation to formulations of crisis and futures through two sites that stage an encounter with the end. The first is the permanent exhibit at Japan's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo. This site, I show, asks us to reflect on how we think about the end of civilisation as an immanent crisis to be overcome through an innovation that allows us to escape accountability for conditions in the present. As such, I argue, it ultimately encourages us to cultivate attention and accountability toward material and conceptual problems in the present. The discussion then takes the idea of cultivating attention to the present to northeast Japan. I show there how an ending inflicted on the coastal residents by the tsunami of March 2011 has made space for precisely this kind of attention and accountability to the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slow earthquakes are episodic slow fault slips. They form a fundamental component of interplate deformation processes, along with fast, regular earthquakes. Recent seismological and geodetic observations have revealed detailed slow earthquake activity along the Japan Trench—the subduction zone where the March 11, 2011, moment magnitude (Mw) 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake occurred. In this paper, we review observational, experimental, and simulation studies on slow earthquakes along the Japan Trench and their research history. By compiling the observations of slow earthquakes (e.g., tectonic tremors, very-low-frequency earthquakes, and slow slip events) and related fault slip phenomena (e.g., small repeating earthquakes, earthquake swarms, and foreshocks of large interplate earthquakes), we present an integrated slow earthquake distribution along the Japan Trench. Slow and megathrust earthquakes are spatially complementary in distribution, and slow earthquakes sometimes trigger fast earthquakes in their vicinities. An approximately 200-km-long along-strike gap of seismic slow earthquakes (i.e., tectonic tremors and very-low-frequency earthquakes) corresponds with the huge interplate locked zone of the central Japan Trench. The Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake ruptured this locked zone, but the rupture terminated without propagating deep into the slow-earthquake-genic regions in the northern and southern Japan Trench. Slow earthquakes are involved in both the rupture initiation and termination processes of megathrust earthquakes in the Japan Trench. We then compared the integrated slow earthquake distribution with the crustal structure of the Japan Trench (e.g., interplate sedimentary units, subducting seamounts, petit-spot volcanoes, horst and graben structures, residual gravity, seismic velocity structure, and plate boundary reflection intensity) and described the geological environment of the slow-earthquake-genic regions (e.g., water sources, pressure–temperature conditions, and metamorphism). The integrated slow earthquake distribution enabled us to comprehensively discuss the role of slow earthquakes in the occurrence process of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake. The correspondences of the slow earthquake distribution with the crustal structure and geological environment provide insights into the slow-earthquake-genesis in the Japan Trench and imply that highly overpressured fluids are key to understanding the complex slow earthquake distribution. Furthermore, we propose that detailed monitoring of slow earthquake activity can improve the forecasts of interplate seismicity along the Japan Trench. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the challenges of hazards impacting coastal communities, demand is growing for more equitable coastal natural hazard adaptation and disaster mitigation approaches, supported by co-productive research partnerships. This review paper outlines contemporary advances in hazard adaptation and disaster mitigation with attention to how an equity and justice framework can address the uneven impacts of hazards on marginalized and underserved communities. Drawing upon the allied concepts of distributive, procedural, systemic, and recognitional equity and justice, we illustrate how these concepts form the basis for equitable coastal resilience. To demonstrate how equitable resilience can effectively advance contemporary adaptation and mitigation strategies, we present two vignettes where collaborative partnerships underscore how equitable coastal hazard planning and response practices complement these processes in coastal zones subject to large earthquakes and tsunamis. The first vignette focuses on disaster response and takes place in the Tohoku region of Japan, with diverse gender and sexual minority community members' experiences of, and responses to, the 2011 Tohoku disasters. The second vignette centers on hazard planning and takes place on the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast along the Cascadia Subduction Zone to demonstrate how principles of distributive, procedural, systemic, and recognitional equity can inform the co-production of alternative coastal futures that prioritize equitable resilience. From this discussion, we suggest applying an equity lens to research processes, including alternative futures modeling frameworks, to ensure that the benefits of hazard adaptation and disaster mitigation strategies are equitably applied and shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the Western Pacific subduction impact on the geodynamics of the Asian continent. The data on migration of slow strain and earthquakes from the Nankai, Japan and Kuril-Kamchatka segments of the Western Pacific subduction zone deep into mainland Asia are analyzed. The calculations performed on five profiles, crossing the Kuril Islands, the Japanese Archipelago and Sakhalin Island toward the Asian continent, have revealed the transverse migration of earthquakes from the Japan–Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone. The velocities of hypocenter migration of M ≥ 4.5 earthquakes from the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench via northern and central Sakhalin vary from 6 to 17 km/year, on average, at different depths. The profiles crossing the islands of Hokkaido and Sakhalin show the M ≥ 4.earthquake migration from the Kuril and Japan trenches at velocities of 8–27 km/year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovery of ground displacements from strong motion accelerographs alone is still performed in an empirical way. This paper starts with a theoretical description of strong motion instruments. Then, based on observations from the non-tilt 2-D shake table tests, this paper proposes a baseline correction procedure with a cumulative correction pattern. The procedure is validated by recorded displacements of the shake tables. The paper also extends the baseline correction procedure to deal with 3-D strong motions by introducing a tilt correction pattern. The results from the proposed baseline correction procedure are compared with those from an existing empirical baseline correction procedure as well as nearby GPS measurements. The accuracy of the proposed procedure is studied considering 41 accelerographs and the corresponding GPS stations that recorded the 2011 M w 9.0 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. We find that the corrected displacements from recorded accelerations alone are not always consistent with the GPS measurements. In this specific Tohoku event of which the primary direction of motion was eastward, the ground displacements derived from strong motion stations using the proposed baseline correction procedure achieve the best agreement in the east–west direction. Meanwhile, the proposed procedure is computationally efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crustal earthquakes are generally recognized as having recurrence periods of more than 1000 years. However, in northern Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, two moderate-sized earthquakes occurred on almost the same fault plane in 2011 and 2016. Moreover, it has been reported that the slip distributions derived from crustal deformation data from these two events are almost identical. We performed a near-field waveform inversion analysis to estimate the details of the spatiotemporal distribution of the co-seismic rupture. Our results reveal large slip areas during each earthquake at different locations across the bend of the fault plane. These results indicate that the shear stress of the fault area where the main slip occurred during the 2011 event was not rebuilt in such a short period, a phenomenon that had not previously been discussed for this sequence. Our results also suggest that the fault geometry affected such complex fault ruptures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is a country with one of the highest incidences of sediment disasters, which will become more severe and more frequent as a result of climate change. This paper reviews the recent occurrence of sediment disasters caused by heavy rainfall affected by climate change in recent years, challenges in adaptation measures, and recent policies targeting such sediment disasters in Japan. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has been conducting non-structural and structural measures based on legislation. Recently, climate change has resulted in more severe and frequent disasters along with damage caused by sediment movement phenomena that are not covered by the present system for warning and evacuation. Efforts to establish assessment methods concerning the risk of these phenomena are shown as examples of current challenges of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scheduled transportation service is a proper system for mass transportation and it is adopted by wide range of transportation modes, such as railway, airline, maritime container shipping and bus. The providers of the service are required to generate effective routes and networks. For this issue, this paper tackles the problem of generating Public Transport Network for stranded commuter in a disaster. The stranded commuter problem in the Tokyo Metropolitan area was posed by the Great East Japan Earthquake in the year 2011, where several millions of commuters had difficulties to return their homes due to the out of service of the railway's transportation system. In such a situation, bus and waterbus are expected as alternative transportation modes and transportation networks should be generated from scratch for bus and waterbus. In particular, the hub-spoke network is effective for a mass transportation. However, it is a tough problem to design trunk lines and branch lines simultaneously from scratch. As the first step towards the goal, this paper starts to focus on the local transportation network (branch lines), which connect to the trunk line. The method in this paper is based on a network evolution model that is investigated actively in the research field of complex networks. The characteristic and capability of the developed method are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the experience of two severe disasters (the Hanshin Awaji Earthquake disaster of 1995 and the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster of 2011), I wish to consider 'subsistence' as human life, existence equaling the basic activities of life, an essential mutual act-like existence economy. In this paper, I pursue a positive development of 'disaster-time economics' as a research object under the larger framework of the formation of a 'moral economy,' as part of a critical process. In this paper, in order that a stricken area and society may aim at the realization of a new methodology about 'creative revival' for newly developing independent research involving the state of the revival fund of a wide sense is carried out. Nevertheless, there is an overall understanding of who, in what areas, and using what methodology, has conducted research in the restoration and revival process, as well as the weak points that tend to hinder the process. There is no research on the rationality and function of public finance expenditures or national sources expenditures. Therefore, in this paper, the term 'disaster-time economy' is newly prepared. From this concept, many activities of the project, service, support, self-efforts etc. of a social and private domain are grasped from a public sphere in connection with the process of maintenance/restoration under the disaster. The feature and subject point of the process are clarified. The market economy order that is going to be produced in this process does the basic work and determines the economic order for another self-subsistence over life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that determines the high resolution tomographic images of the crust and upper mantle in and around the area of the 2011 Iwaki earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. It reveals that the Iwaki earthquake was triggered by the ascending fluids from the Pacific slab dehydration and the stress variation induced by the Tohoku-oki mainshock. It suggests strengthening the security of the nuclear power plant site to withstand potential large earthquakes.

Wildland fires and wildland–urban interface (WUI) fires quite often become the focus of discussion among fire researchers whenever large outdoor fires are the topic, especially because of their global occurrence and their potential for causing serious damage. But at the same time, large urban fires have been occurring in Japan especially after major earthquakes or with high winds, at densely built urban area consisting of old wooden houses. Normally, fire spread is caused by three mechanisms: flame, radiation, and firebrands, especially in the cases of wildland fires, WUI fires, and large urban fires. And what is common between WUI fires and large urban fires is structure–structure fire spreading. In Japan, "Taika" (large urban fire) is a fire when the total burnout floor area is 33,000 m2 or more. The present paper first discusses the history of large urban fires in Japan, then examines the national standard regulations for fire safety in Japan aimed at mitigating the damage caused by those fires. Finally, an overview of current scientific research in methods of controlling urban fires in Japan is provided. This paper compiles such impotent information on large urban fires in Japan, which is the novelty and merit in this work. Furthermore, the contents in this paper will be contributing to the progress of new project ISO/TR 24188 on "Large outdoor fires and the built environment—Global overview of different approaches for standardization", at ISO/TC92/WG14 "Large outdoor fires and the built environment". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores two groups of factors, individual and institutional, that have influenced return migration since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan on 11 March 2011. Based on an analysis of statistical data on evacuees, a questionnaire completed by 289 people who migrated, and 19 semi‐structured interviews with disaster‐affected people, the research found (apropos of institutional factors) that while the lifting of the government's evacuation order has had no immediate effect on return decisions, the termination of monetary compensation and housing subsidies has had a significant bearing on them. As for individual factors, a strong sense of attachment to home and the possession of property, job obligations, and having family members in the home location are key determinants of return decisions. Moreover, the paper suggests that there could be differing opinions among Japanese government officials and evacuees regarding radiation exposure risk and the degree to which infrastructure and social services have been rehabilitated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the nature of Japanese non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in international disaster response and analyzes their distinctive characteristics.Design/methodology/approach A literature review was conducted of secondary English and Japanese sources including peer-reviewed journals, books, and non-academic journals published by government and NGOs.Findings First, Japanese disaster response NGOs are relatively young compared to Western ones and they continue to increase in number. Second, the scale of disaster response NGOs is much larger than that of other NGOs in the development field not only because of the availability of government funds but also because of the presence of internationally affiliated NGOs and religious-based organisations with strong fundraising programs. Third, Japanese disaster response NGOs have a long-term engagement with the local community, not only during the emergency phase, but also during the recovery and development phases in various fields. Finally, coordination NGOs play an important role in networking, advocating and supplementing NGOs that often lack financial and human resources.Research limitations/implications The limitation of this study is the definition of Japanese NGOs in the context of international disaster response; therefore, this paper adopts MOFA’s definition, which includes NGOs engaged in overseas activities through direct intervention.Originality/value There has been little research in English on the scale and nature of Japanese NGOs involved in disaster response activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major limitations of using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) in time series analysis is the low-phase coherence associated with rough terrain and vegetated areas, which results in limited spatial coverage in such regions. Permanent scatterers technique was introduced to overcome this limitation using time-series analysis. However, identifying major scatterers within a pixel requires the single-looked pixels oversampling which can be a demanding process especially with large interferometric stacks and vast study areas. Therefore, using multilooked temporal coherent pixels was proposed to increase processing efficiency and coverage by utilizing distributed targets, but this technique may exclude pixels with reliable phase returns because of their temporal varying neighboring pixels. In this paper, we propose a technique to identify multilooked temporal stable pixels with reliable phase returns independent of their neighboring pixels. We conduct a simulation analysis to relate the spatial coherence of a pixel with its expected temporal correlation in the time series analysis module. We found that a liberal temporal correlation threshold of 0.53 in multilooked pixels stack is equivalent to a spatial coherence threshold of 0.2 when using number of looks of 9, which is considered acceptable in temporal coherent pixels, in terms of phase standard deviation. Applying these findings to study the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in the northeastern part of Japan resulted in increasing the number of usable pixels and spatial coverage index by nearly 50.4% and 36.8%, respectively, compared to the temporal coherent pixels. Furthermore, we propose an approach to integrate GPS observations with InSAR time series analysis, which resulted in deformation maps of the megathrust 2011 Tohoku earthquake with mean RMSE of 11.4 mm and a correlation of 98% in comparison to GPS observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural hazards have a potentially large impact on economic growth, but measuring their economic impact is subject to a great deal of uncertainty. The central objective of this paper is to demonstrate a model--the natural disasters vulnerability evaluation (NDVE) model--that can be used to evaluate the impact of natural hazards on gross national product growth. The model is based on five basic indicators--natural hazards growth rates (αi), the national natural hazards vulnerability rate (ΩT), the natural disaster devastation magnitude rate (π), the economic desgrowth rate (i.e. shrinkage of the economy) (δ), and the NHV surface. In addition, we apply the NDVE model to the north-east Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 to evaluate its impact on the Japanese economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1930s Hollywood enjoyed a popular following in the Japanese film market, accounting for almost 90 per cent of imported sound films. Against a backdrop of emerging political tensions and war in China, the Japanese government announced in 1937 that it would place a ban on Hollywood film imports. This was a move that ushered in a new era of protectionism for Japan's emerging film industry. Following this decision, Hollywood studios engaged with Tokyo and sought an agreement to ease the new restrictions. After a period of intense discussions, the Japanese government agreed to lift the ban albeit with certain conditions. This paper examines protectionism in the Japanese film market and considers the impact of political forces, both domestic and international, on the decisions made. It will show that economic factors were mostly behind the decision to implement the ban and therefore facilitated the reaching of an agreement between the two sides. Furthermore, the interests of the domestic film industry who would benefit from the import of Hollywood films helped lift the ban. The lesson of Japan and Hollywood is that protectionism in the cultural industries can provoke strong reactions as this sector is often closely associated with forging the country's national identity. Yet, the economic function of this industry should not be forgotten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster, the medical team's responses in Iwate Prefecture Disaster Emergency Operations Center experienced various difficulties, especially during the first 9 days. In this paper, we propose to objectively reveal problems of response activities from the viewpoint of operational information processing by the After Action Review, focusing on the activity logs in the time series (chronologies). By using Essential Elements of Information (EEI) as a framework of our analysis, we clarified the gap between the task that should be performed and the actual conditions in the operation of Japan Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), from the hyperacute phase to the subacute phase of medial responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, the world will remember the 75th year of the end of the Second World War. During the last seventy four years, very few studies on the cultural implications of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines had come out. And glaringly left out in past narratives was the role music played as war propaganda. The three centuries of Spanish and the four decades American colonization of the archipelago brought about Hispanization and Americanization of the Filipino consciousness, respectively. The succeeding three years of Japanese invasion effected comparable efforts at cultural manipulation and active propagandizing to sway the Filipinos' minds to readily accept the state they found themselves in--on the verge of "Asianizing" and "Filipinizing"--under the banner of the much publicized, Japan-led Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Behind the glamorized sloganeering of the imperial Japanese, the Filipinos were caught choosing between pro- and anti-Japanese outward stance while nurturing their lingering pro-American consciousness. This research will look into the historical and cultural role music played between the years 1942 and 1945. A critical/bio-political framework will set the underlying tone of the paper. Music books published and prescribed for basic education use will be considered as primary data source. Gunka, or Japanese military/war music, will be analyzed to understand how the Japanese soldiers viewed the war they waged against the Filipinos. This paper will also look into the contribution of some renowned Filipino musicians/composers that helped the Japanese localize the sensibility of their propaganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan and the EU formally agreed on the outline of The Japan-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on 7 July 2017 and finalized on 17 July 2018. Despite such major shifts in the relationship between Japan and Europe, it is unfortunately true that Japanese society does not have a high level of interest in establishing a cooperative relationship or negotiating agreements such as the SPA with the EU, in fields other than economics. However, this low level of interest does not mean that strengthening a political relationship with the EU is unimportant. Rather, confirming that Japan and the EU share the basic values promoted by the SPA is even more important now than it was in 2011, when both leaders decided to initiate SPA and EPA negotiations. The international order—based on values such as liberty, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, the market economy, and free trade—which has been built up by Western countries, including Japan, since the end of the Second World War, is being challenged not only by emerging countries such as China but also by the Trump Administration in the United States. Japan-Europe relations after World War II have historically been dominated by economic friction, especially in the 1960s–1980s. But the experiences involved in resolving the economic friction enabled the relations to evolve from economic interests to the other area. There was a qualitative transformation of the relationship between Japan and Europe in the 1990s. This paper assesses the importance of cooperation with the EU for Japan in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs an evacuation decision-making model that takes cognitive dissonance into consideration. The purpose of this construction is to clarify the psychological mechanism for the evacuation behavior of residents during an emergency, based on Akerlof and Dickens (Akerlof and Dickens Am Econ Rev 72:307–319, 1982) "The economic consequences of cognitive dissonance". Specifically, we empirically explore people's psychological mechanism (e.g., cognitive dissonance) for evacuation behavior when a tsunami disaster occurs. As a result, we show that the level of anxiety depends on the area where residents live and that the average anxiety of residents is mostly correlated with the level of damage of past disasters, and that it is affected also by the ages of residents. Since the level of anxiety largely affects an individual's evacuation behavior, this result can indicate for what kinds of people intervention and assistance are required based on the level of anxiety. A high level of anxiety basically promotes evacuation. Since our results show that anxiety is increased by the experience of tsunamis, education having people virtually experience tsunamis may increase evacuation rates efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The amount of disaster waste is one of the most important performance indicators in quantifying the resilience of a community. In fact, disaster waste can have significant negative impacts on the environment in affected regions and hinder the postdisaster recovery process. Appropriate disaster waste management should be developed in Japan before the occurrence of the Nankai Trough earthquake. It is expected that the seismic and tsunami intensities caused by the anticipated Nankai Trough earthquake will be substantially larger than those caused by the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. In this paper, a risk‐based methodology is presented for estimating the amount of disaster waste generated by both the ground motions and the tsunami due to the anticipated Nankai Trough earthquake. First, Monte Carlo simulation‐based probabilistic hazard analyses are performed to obtain seismic and tsunami hazard curves considering the uncertainty associated with fault movement along the Nankai Trough. Structural damage data associated with past earthquakes are used to develop seismic and tsunami fragility curves. The amount of disaster waste generated from a single structure is defined as the generation unit and is determined based on past disasters. Finally, with the aid of a geographic information system, the risk of disaster waste can be estimated using the hazard and fragility curves and the generation units. As an illustrative example, the risk curves and expected values associated with disaster waste in Mie Prefecture, Japan, are estimated based on the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we deal with evacuation decision making of people in the disaster area. By threshold model, we discuss whether all agents decide to evacuate or not. It is reported that not all people in the affected area evacuated during the Great East Japan Earthquake. But, many evacuation simulations treat that all people evacuate. In the previous work, on the assumption that all people decide to evacuate, we dealt with the needed time to make all people evacuate if psychological conditions exist at the time of disaster. In this paper, we deal with the condition that not all people decide to evacuate and focus on contagion of evacuation decision making on real map. We found that for contagion of evacuation decision making, local neighborhood and connection of sub network is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the domestic response to the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in March 2011. The demand to (re)build a new ‘community’ in Japan was triggered by the fatal destruction of towns by the earthquake and the tsunami, and the uncertain future of these towns – and of Japan – due to the subsequent prolonged crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Drawing on the political theory of Jean-Luc Nancy, the paper examines what kinds of communities were realised in the aftermath of the disaster. It argues that two distinctively different types of communities emerged. The first type of community was based on the inside/outside logic, whereby Japan was imagined as one unified entity surrounded by a boundary which separated the safe inside from the dangerous outside. The second type of community was based on sharing. Immigrants in Japan identified themselves with the survivors since both of them shared the experience of losing home and the same home (called Japan). In this way, the immigrants challenged the idea of community as one unified entity and realised a new form of community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Post-disaster governance is a popular discussion topic in disaster research, but in practice understanding of the issue is limited. This paper discusses recovery governance since the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, focusing on two dimensions: decentralisation and citizen participation in local governance. Regional Japan's socio-spatial vitality has been shrinking and weakening under the developmental state system. The 2011 disaster exposed vulnerabilities in the sociopolitical system. For a short time it appeared that local political space had been opened for alternative governance systems; however, only limited improvements have occurred in decentralisation reform and civic participation systems. Tsunami recovery was constrained and delayed by predisaster trajectories, although socio-spatial inequalities increased. The paper suggests the implications of this for the developmental state and argues that drastic action should be taken to rectify the faults of the socio-political system, to stop the disaster-affected area's decline, and to promote regional and community recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Seafloor Observation Network for Earthquakes and Tsunamis along the Japan Trench (S-net) is presently the world's largest network of ocean bottom pressure sensors for real-time tsunami monitoring. This paper analyzes the efficacy of such a vast system in tsunami forecasting through exhaustive synthetic experiments. We consider 1500 hypothetical tsunami scenarios from megathrust earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from Mw 7.7–9.1. We employ a stochastic slip model to emulate heterogeneous slip patterns on specified 240 subfaults over the plate interface of the Japan Trench subduction zone and its vicinity. Subsequently, the associated tsunamis in terms of maximum coastal tsunami heights are evaluated along the 50-m isobath by means of a Green's function summation. To produce tsunami forecasts, we utilize a tsunami inversion from virtually observed waveforms at the S-net stations. Remarkably, forecasts accuracy of approximately 99% can be achieved using tsunami data within an interval of 3 to 5 min after the earthquake (2-min length), owing to the exceedingly dense observation points. Additionally, we apply an optimization technique to determine the optimal combination of stations with respect to earthquake magnitudes. The results show that the minimum requisite number of stations to maintain the accuracy attained by the existing network configuration decreases from 130 to 90 when the earthquake size increases from Mw 7.7 to 9.1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of the storytelling of disaster response experiences at a disaster-stricken local government on listeners (receivers) has not always been well evaluated and analyzed. In this paper, a project to listen to the storytelling of disaster response experiences at the Miyagi Prefectural Office, which suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake, is taken as an example, and the empathy and change of knowledge caused by the storytelling and the attention obtained from it are clarified based on questionnaires of 48 listeners. As a result, the following effects are confirmed: many listeners actually feel that they acquired knowledge that would be useful for a disaster response in the future; the story in the interview is connected to reality and the listeners can imagine the situation at that time so that the story influences their feelings; moreover, the story offers the listeners the opportunity to understand an "unexpected actual situation" and "the background and the cause of why such situation developed," which cannot be found in existing written reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper focuses on the post-Great East Japan Earthquake narratives and discourses related to various types of energies currently in use in East Asia. Methodologically, interpretive study and textual analysis of collected secondary literatures, media reports as well as some policy resources was conducted. It examines the factional interests, narratives, discourses and schools of thought influencing the outcome of energy issues or decisions as they are reported in the media or trade publications. It argues that decision-makers and policy implementers are not a hegemonic singular entity but encompass many factional interests and contesting agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]