March 12, Tuesday, 2024

1. Two students have graduated from a school in a town on the Noto Peninsula that was heavily affected by the powerful New Year’s Day earthquake. Many people attended Tuesday’s graduation ceremony at the integrated elementary and junior high school in Ohtani Town, in the city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture.
2. A government survey shows business sentiment among major Japanese companies turned negative for the first three months of this year, the first pessimistic reading in four quarters. The gloomy view was mainly attributed to shipment suspensions at automakers due to safety test violations.
3. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is due to inspect the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Wednesday during is visit to Japan. Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi is making a three-day trip to the country at the invitation of the Japanese Foreign Ministry. He is expected to meet with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa on Tuesday, the first day of the visit.