Although power and water supply services are gradually recovering, many evacuees from the Kumamoto earthquake disaster are too traumatized to return to their homes.
A high court here rejected an appeal by Kyushu residents seeking to shut down the only two nuclear reactors operating in Japan, ruling that it is impossible to secure absolute safety with nuclear energy.
Huge numbers of visitors arrived in Japan this year for the traditional sakura viewing season, and Japanese and Chinese tourism agencies scrambled to offer package tours that raised their enjoyment factor to the maximum.