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Following the Impact of the Japanese Earthquake: Using Global Insight and Factiva

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by Colleen Mullally
March 17, 2011

On March 11, the northeastern region of Japan was devastated by one of the largest earthquakes on record. The resulting tsunami, with its 30 foot waves, wiped out whole coastal areas and currently a difficult search and rescue mission is underway in towns made isolated and nearly inaccessible by the path of destruction.  Meanwhile, the world is watching as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was hit by the 9.0 earthquake, struggles to avoid a nuclear meltdown after numerous emergency failures resulted in structural damage to the reactors and left spent fuel rods exposed. In light of the unfolding crisis in Japan, the library is featuring two databases to track and monitor the events in Japan and their impact.  Use Factiva to track global news stories and Global Insight for analysis and forecasting of how Japan's crisis may impact the global economic and political scene.

Factiva

A major provider of news with over 28,000 sources from more than 200 countries in 23 languages and nearly 600 continuously updated newswires, Factiva provides a diverse offering of news content. To read news stories about Japan in Factiva try the following search from the Search > Search Builder menu at the top left corner of the database home page:

  1. Click on Region.
  2. Click on the + icon next to Asian Pacific Countries/Regions.
  3. Click on the + icon next to Eastern Asian Countries/Regions.
  4. Click on the + icon next to Japan .

The above search will find articles about Japan from all Factiva's news sources; however, it is also possible to search individual news sources and Factiva provides some Japanese news sources of interest:  

  • ACN Newswire (English language - daily real-time updates from Tokyo)
  • Akita Sakigake Shimpo (Japanese language)
  • Electric Daily News (English language - articles on the Japanese energy and electricity industries)
  • Japan Energy Scan (weekly publication in English -articles on energy scene in Japan and renewable energy; includes statistical data on imports and consumption)
  • Japan Times (English language Japanese daily newspaper)
  • Japanese World (English language continually updated text feed of news and fundamental data primarily about companies listed on the Tokyo and other Japanese Stock Exchanges)
  • M Data TV Watch-Tokyo (covers nine major programs of Japanese TV )
  • Nikkin (weekly publication with comprehensive financial news Japanese language)
  • Yamagata Shimbun (Japanese language daily)

Global Insight

Use Global Insight to read analysis on the disruption, risks and outlook following the earthquake.   The database contains a special In Focus report which provides ongoing analysis of the operational situation, the implications for economic growth, the political consequences, and the dangers of a major nuclear disaster.  Below are some tips to get started.

  1. The database is currently featuring quick access to its In Focus report on Japan.  From the database homepage, look for the link to Japan's Post-Quake Recovery: In Depth on the right side of the page.
  2. Additionally, there is a comprehensive report about Japan in the list of Country Reports on the left side of the page. The country report provides a summary of key issues to watch and outlines the six-factor country risk.

For additional information about using Global Insight, please refer to our earlier article on this database.  A complete listing of the Bentley Library’s databases is available here.