March 11, Monday, 2024

1. Thirteen years have passed since the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. Repairs of damaged of infrastructure in the disaster area are nearly complete. But the human costs continue to mount as population outflow and a graying demographic take a toll on the region.
2. Japanese animation master Miyazaki Hayao’s “The Boy and the Heron” has won the 2024 Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. It is the second time Miyazaki has taken the prize in the category. “The Boy and the Heron” is a fantasy film about a boy who moves to the countryside after his mother’s death during World War Two, and wanders into a mysterious world guided by a talking grey heron.
3. The Japanese movie “Godzilla Minus One” has won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. This is the first time a Japanese movie has won an Oscar in the category. In the latest work, the giant monster unleashes chaos in post-war Japan. Godzilla appears without warning and relentlessly destroys the city that is in the process of rebuilding. The monster and the people fighting it are depicted using VFX technology.