Japan to pay U.S., Canada $6 mil compensation as Tohoku debris nears coast

From what funds is this $6M gonna come from? Better not be from the victim fund! Japan needs to take care of its people first!

Canada and the U.S. should do the right thing and tell Japan not to worry about it. We got ya covered on this one.

Onniyama: No they should not; they should graciously accept this money -- which will not even close to cover the actual costs, I might add -- and thank the J-government profusely. Personally I'd rather see the government dispatch the SDF or some professionals to assist on the ground with clean-up, or perhaps both that and the money, but at least they are doing something. Ideally no one would have to give any money and the clean up costs would be nothing, but that's not the reality of the situation. At least the money is being better spent than on contact lens factories, highways, or for whaling far away from Japan.

6mil??...man that's a paltry sum...they got ripped off

6 million dollars? wow that's a lot of money and that is what we are all paying through our taxes and tax hike to come. This was a natural disaster. Japan was not at fault in any way. Why is Japan playing the fault-card? This is ridiculous.

At least what USA and Canada can do is donate it back to the victims of the 3/11. But if they think with their hearts that they deserved to be paid for the debris that I am sure no one wanted it to drift to their country , so be it.

@Onniyama.... I salute you.

I say pay up or help clean up. I know if this was the other way around Japan would be asking for a bow...

This is a great symbolic value. Our friends americans spent at least ten times more in operation tomodachi. Japan should stop giving money to ODA for china/korea and reverse this money to countries like canada, europe and usa or other countries more friendly to Japan.

i do not understand. this is an act of god why would Canada expect compensation for an act of god the yanks yes but not the civilized Canadians i am guessing this payment will come out of donations from other countries this should not be allowed

Japan shouldnt pay for that debris. But oh well. If people thinkblike chinese. Japan should apologise for that ddbris and pay compensation to the poor americans.

Why wouldn't Japan pay? It's a token gesture that says " We appreciate your support". Governments pay more for tourism advertising every quarter than 6 mil. The symbolism here will gain Japan more sympathy and goodwill on the West coast of N America than any ALT program ever would. Plus: If it's an act of God then tax everyone except the atheists. It's the believers collective fault for not praying hard enough to stop disasters.

Given past tsunami on the historical record Japan is somewhat culpable for ignoring the past and building infrastructure on the tsunami impact zones. Proper sensible planning would have lessened the impact a great deal.

While it is a "nice" gesture, I don't believe it is necessary and as both a Canadian and American will be ashamed if our governments accept the money.

The ministry says that it is under no obligation to retrieve the debris, but that it intends to offer the U.S. and Canada compensation amounting to $6 million to help with the clean-up,

Sure they're under no obligation, and I doubt anyone even ask them, considering how it was caused, obviously way beyond their control. Not to mention it's just all around good business, and a great bang for their publicity buck, $6-million is a drop in the bucket for what they might expect to spend on advertising.

Thank you Japan! As Canadians we do not expect any compensation. Items found in the debris that have sentimental values are treated with utmost respect and returned to owners if possible.