SENDAI, Aug 26 (Kyodo) – Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, on a weeklong visit to Japan through Sunday, visited areas hit by the March earthquake and tsunami on Thursday and expressed his readiness to help rebuilding efforts under way in northeastern Japan.

Speaking to reporters after a visit to Natori, a city inundated by the quake-triggered tsunami, and a meeting with Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai in Sendai, the former leader said he was shocked by the magnitude of the devastation wrought by the forces of nature.

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