LIKE Australia, Japan’s cruise industry has not yet returned, and this week, that may be a godsend.
A number of Japan’s ports have been damaged and beaches have been covered by pumice pebbles after the eruption of a submarine volcano.
The eruption has prompted the Government of Japan to establish a task force to deal with the situation as a natural disaster.
Fukutoku-Okanoba, part of the volcanic Bonin Islands, has so far damaged 11 ports in Okinawa and 19 others in the Kagoshima prefecture, and ferry services connecting Japan’s remote islands have been temporarily suspended.
It is feared the pebbles are moving farther north, and could affect the entire Japanese coast, the government said.
The total cost of damages from the pebbles is still unknown.