Highlights of Japan-related events for March 11-17:

March 11 (MON)

— 8th anniversary of Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear crisis at Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The quake-tsunami disaster left more than 15,000 dead and recovery efforts continue. More than 50,000 people still live as evacuees nationwide.

— Memorial ceremony for victims of Great East Japan Earthquake to be held at Tokyo’s National Theatre.

March 12 (TUES)

— Emperor Akihito to visit the Imperial Palace Sanctuaries to declare the date of his abdication, kicking off a series of succession rituals through 2020. The sanctuaries include a shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu, from whom the imperial family is said to be descended.

March 13 (WED)

— Major automakers to respond to labor union demands in annual wage negotiations. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been calling on companies to raise wages to spur private consumption and beat chronic deflation.

— Cabinet Office to release machinery orders data for January.

— Tachikawa Summary Court to hand down ruling in trial over Kobe Steel’s decades-long fabrication of product quality data.

March 14 (THURS)

— Bank of Japan to hold policy meeting through March 15. Board members are expected to maintain current monetary easing but may downgrade their assessment of economic conditions amid recent weakness in exports and industrial production.

March 15 (FRI)

— Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to hold press conference.

— Tokyo District Court to hand down ruling in trial of bankrupt bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox’s former CEO Mark Karpeles, accused of embezzlement in 2013. Prosecutors have sought a 10-year jail term for the French-born defendant, who has pleaded not guilty.

— Iwakuni branch of Yamaguchi District Court to issue judgment over a request for provisional injunction to halt the operation of the only active reactor at Shikoku Electric Power’s Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture.

March 16 (SAT)

— East Japan Railway to start a new system that allows female train drivers and conductors who are raising children to set their working hours more flexibly. The move is intended to reduce the number of female workers who quit jobs to prioritize family.

— Opponents of plan to transfer a key U.S. air base within Okinawa to hold rally in the prefectural capital of Naha.

March 17 (SUN)

— Akashi mayoral election to be held. Fusaho Izumi, 55, is seeking re-election after resigning in February to take responsibility for verbally abusing a city official.