ASIA / PACIFIC
April 7, 2014
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
U.S. first lady meets Chinese
rural students via the web
By Didi Tang
The Associated Press
EIJING — U.S. first lady
Michelle Obama spoke to
rural Chinese students
via web conferencing last month
on the last stop of her six-day
China tour focusing on education
and cultural exchange.
She was visiting Chengdu
No. 7 High School in the south-
western province of Sichuan, an
elite school known for its use of
distance learning technology to
bring quality education to
impoverished remote regions in
the mountainous province.
Mrs. Obama has largely
avoided thorny, political issues
on her China trip, although she
made a statement that free ex-
pressions, choice of religion, and
unfettered access to information
are “universal rights” in a speech
at the Stanford Center at Peking
University in Beijing.
China has some of the world’s
tightest restrictions on internet
discourse. Mrs. Obama’s remarks
did not call out China directly
and have not drawn any govern-
mental protest, but that part of
her speech has been kept out of
all official Chinese media reports.
While in Beijing, she also
visited an elite high school, where
more than 30 American students
are studying as exchange stu-
dents, and she held a private dis-
cussion with a handful of Chinese
professors, students, and par-
ents.
In addition, Mrs. Obama met
with Chinese President Xi
Jinping before Xi flew to The
Hague for a nuclear security
B
RETURNING HOME. Toddlers play at a nursery school in Tamura, Fukushima
prefecture, northeastern Japan after authorities allowed residents to return to live in their
homes within a tiny part of the 12-mile evacuation zone around the Fukushima plant for
the first time since Japan’s nuclear disaster three years ago. The decision, which took ef-
fect April 1, applies to 357 people in 117 households from a corner of Tamura city after
the government determined that radiation levels are low enough for habitation. (AP Photo/
Kyodo News)
Japan lets first evacuees
live in nuke no-go zone
By Yuri Kageyama
AP Business Writer
OKYO — For the first
time since Japan’s nu-
clear disaster three years
ago, authorities are allowing
residents to return to live in their
homes within a tiny part of the
12-mile evacuation zone around
the Fukushima nuclear plant.
The decision, which took effect
April 1, applies to 357 people in
117 households from a corner of
Tamura city after the govern-
ment determined that radiation
levels are low enough for habita-
tion.
But many of those evacuees are
undecided about going back
because of fears about radiation,
especially its effect on children.
More than 100,000 people were
displaced by the March 11, 2011
nuclear disaster, when a huge
earthquake and ensuing tsunami
damaged the Fukushima Dai-
ichi plant, causing meltdowns in
three reactors. Many of the dis-
placed people live in temporary
housing or with relatives, and
some started over elsewhere.
T
Areas within the evacuation
zone have become ghost towns,
overgrown with weeds.
Temporary visits inside the
zone had previously been al-
lowed, and about 90 people were
staying with special permission,
according to Tamura city hall.
New stores and public schools
are planned to accommodate
those who move back.
“People want to go back and
lead proper lives, a kind of life
where they can feel their feet are
on the ground,” said Yutaro Aoki,
a Tamura resident who works for
a nonprofit organization oversee-
ing the city’s recovery.
Much of Tamura lies outside
the evacuation zone. The city has
a population of 38,000, including
evacuees living in temporary
housing.
Evacuees now receive govern-
ment compensation of about
100,000 yen ($1,000) each a
month. Those who move back get
a one-time, 900,000-yen ($9,000)
payment as an incentive. The
monthly compensation will end
Continued on page 11
FOCUS ON EDUCATION. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, left, is greeted by Ti-
betan students and presented with a traditional Tibetan ceremonial long white scarf upon
arrival at a Tibetan restaurant for lunch in Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan prov-
ince. Mrs. Obama, accompanied by her mother and two daughters, completed her six-
day China tour last month. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)
summit and held a meeting with denigration of the Tibetans’
President Barack Obama.
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Mrs. Obama ended her week- President Barack Obama recent-
long trip with a Tibetan theme, ly met with the Dalai Lama over
having lunch in a Tibetan the objections of Beijing, which
restaurant, meeting students, reviles him as a separatist.
and tapping Tibetan prayer
As Mrs. Obama entered the
wheels.
Zangxiang Teahouse in Chengdu,
Her staff said the restaurant she tapped 11 metal prayer
choice in Chengdu city in south- wheels that lined an entry bridge
west Sichuan province, which to the restaurant. Mrs. Obama,
borders the Tibetan region, was her mother Marian Robinson,
in accordance with the American and daughters Malia and Sasha
first lady’s interest in the rights were greeted by a group of stu-
of minorities in China.
dents who presented the four
The rights of Tibetans is a with traditional Tibetan cere-
touchy one between the Chinese monial long white scarves.
and U.S. governments.
Mrs. Obama toured the former
More than 100 people have Imperial Palace, the Great Wall
self-immolated in ethnic Tibetan in Beijing, the Terra Cotta Muse-
areas, including parts of Sichuan, um in the ancient city of Xi’an,
since 2009 to protest Chinese and the Chengdu Panda Base
restrictions on Buddhism and the during her trip.
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