S. Korea downs Japan in women's handball replay

S. Korea downs Japan in women's handball replay

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's Mineko Tanaka (C) scores a goal during the first half of a replay of the women's handball Olympic qualifying tournament at Yoyogi national gymnasium in Tokyo on Jan. 29. S. Korea beat Japan 34-21, securing a place in this summer's Beijing Olympic Games. At right is S. Korea's Hong Jeong Ho.

Evacuation order lifted for residents near Mt. Usu

Evacuation order lifted for residents near Mt. Usu

DATE, Japan - Returning home July 18, Mineko Tomiyama looks up at the ceiling of her living room which has been heavily damaged by volcanic rocks from Mt. Usu. The town of Abuta in southwestern Hokkaido, where her house is located, lifted the evacuation order for 285 residents of the west side of the Toya hot-spring district at the foot of the 732-meter volcano.

S. Korea downs Japan in women's handball replay

S. Korea downs Japan in women's handball replay

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's Mineko Tanaka (C) scores a goal during the first half of a replay of the women's handball Olympic qualifying tournament at Yoyogi national gymnasium in Tokyo on Jan. 29. S. Korea beat Japan 34-21, securing a place in this summer's Beijing Olympic Games. At right is S. Korea's Hong Jeong Ho. (Kyodo)

Evacuation order lifted for residents near Mt. Usu

Evacuation order lifted for residents near Mt. Usu

DATE, Japan - Returning home July 18, Mineko Tomiyama looks up at the ceiling of her living room which has been heavily damaged by volcanic rocks from Mt. Usu. The town of Abuta in southwestern Hokkaido, where her house is located, lifted the evacuation order for 285 residents of the west side of the Toya hot-spring district at the foot of the 732-meter volcano.

Locals lament prolonged sales ban on wild mushrooms due to nuke crisis

Locals lament prolonged sales ban on wild mushrooms due to nuke crisis

Mineko Tsukuda, owner of a mushroom shop in Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture, laments in an interview on Oct. 23, 2015, that business has dropped about 80 percent due to a ban on sales of local wild mushrooms imposed for fear of radioactive contamination from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant some 80 kilometers away. With little she can sell except cultivated mushrooms, Tsukuda said she is considering closing down the two-decade-old shop. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo