The impact of disaster on Japan’s economy

It’s two weeks since the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and 10-metre tsunami struck the northeast coast of Japan.

Hundreds of thousands of people are still homeless, more than half a million households do not have water, and workers are still battling to gain control of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Fears of contaminated food are spreading overseas as officials report traces of radiation in milk products, seawater and 11 kinds of locally-grown vegetables.

How will Japan recover from the disaster? Will it be able to regain the world’s confidence, and how long will it take?

Inside Story presenter Laura Kyle is joined by guests: Andrew Leung, Asia economist and business strategist; Ger-hard Fasol, chief executive officer of Euro-technology in Japan; and Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Centre.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Thursday, March 25, 2011.