News stories by Suvendrini Kakuchi, page 7

As of July, Japanese minors will no longer be able to buy comic books featuring children portrayed as violent or as sexual objects, under an ordinance enacted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government last December.

At the foot of the pristine Yanbaru forest at the northern tip of Okinawa, Japan, a small cluster of tents gives shelter to a group of protestors guarding the area against the planned construction of six new military helipads for the U.S. forces on the island.

More than a hundred young nursing mothers living in Fukushima and nearby areas have signed up to get themselves checked for radiation contamination, but they would rather do it on their own, with no help from the Japanese government.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s decision to stop the building of new nuclear power plants and explore solar and wind energy signals a drastic turn in Japan’s energy policy that has brought a sigh of relief to wary scientists, anti-nuclear groups and an increasingly anxious public.

Tadanori Anzai and his wife Michiko left their town in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture, more than a month ago to escape the radioactive contamination spewing from the earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant located close to their home and tiny eatery.

When the massive 9.0 magnitude quake and tidal waves hit their little coastal village on March 11, Mariline Shoji and her husband lost everything they owned.

Civil society organisations in Japan have traditionally been on the sidelines in influencing mainstream policy, but the massive Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of Mar. 11 is becoming a catalyst for important change.

Since the horrific Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated her coastal town of Minato, in Ishinomaki city, Masami Endo’s three-year-old daughter has been crying and clinging to her every night.

April has traditionally being the time for ‘hanami’ or cherry blossom festivals here when millions of Japanese hold parties under the pink flowering trees in parks and streets lit up gaily by lanterns.

My decision to visit Fukushima - the area worst hit by the massive quake, tsunami and nuclear power accident on Mar. 11 - was taken one afternoon last week after a long meeting with scientists.