Sunday May 27, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Silence as Japan marks six months after tsunami

National Sep. 11, 2011 - 06:40PM JST ( 29 )

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29 Comments

4

zichiSep. 11, 2011 - 04:31PM JST

Such a power of destruction with many loved ones torn away without even so much as a goodbye.

We will never forget you just like in Kobe City every year we remember those lost to the 1995 quake.

All of Japan shares in your pain.

I still hope a beautiful flower can grow out of the mud of disaster bringing new light and hope to all those who survived.
1

gogogoSep. 11, 2011 - 05:38PM JST

The government has been at pains to stress the lack of an “immediate” health risk.

immediate health risk.... but very serious long term... they can't come out with the truth because they government has already admitted they don't have anywhere to put these people.
8

southsakaiSep. 11, 2011 - 06:20PM JST

Last month i was watching tv and they showed a father with 2 daughter's, very young still at primary school age. He lost his wife and 7 year old son in the tsunami. Now it's just him and his 2 little daughter's. It was supposed to be his wife's birthday on the day when the tv company did the interview with him and he was sitting in his little home with the 2 daughter's singing happy birthday with a picture of his beloved wife on the table before cutting the cake. One of the most difficult things i had to watch in my life. I guess his only reason to live now is because he still has his 2 daughter's.

We take too many things for granted. Take everyday as a blessing.
1

CrickySep. 11, 2011 - 06:23PM JST

It's one thing to be extinguished by nature, to be killed by social norms and government inaction that's obserd, really Japan try to be proactive. All can see what's going to happen, food and air pollutants, make a plan and put it into action. I ask too much maybe?
4

hatsoffSep. 11, 2011 - 06:42PM JST

All this week there have been many programs showing how people have been coping. I was particularly moved by the story of one high school boy who lost his immediate family. He said he had wanted to run away from his town, and then he realized if he did, that he could never go back with his head up. It seemed to me to be a part of that long process of healing, where cherishing what he had meets the sorrow of what he has lost. And then I came across this anonymous poem, which I hope others will feel is not misplaced here. I post it here not out of affected emotion, but simply because I feel it is fitting and reflects what I felt was happening to this boy as he started to laugh with his classmates again and continue with his life.

They are not dead, Who leave us this great heritage of remembering joy.

They still live in our hearts, In the happiness we knew, in the dreams we shared.

They still breathe, In the lingering fragrance,windblown, from their favourite flowers.

They still smile in the moonlight’s silver, And laugh in the sunlight’s sparking gold.

They still speak in the echoes of the words we’ve heard them say again and again.

They still move, In the rhythm of waving grasses, in the dance of the tossing branches.

They are not dead; Their memory is warm in our hearts, comfort in our sorrow.

They are not apart from us, but part of us,

For love is eternal, And those we love shall be with us throughout all eternity.

Anon
0

lostrune2Sep. 11, 2011 - 07:05PM JST

9/11, 3/11.......... 11 seems to be a sorrowful day today.............
-2

smithinjapanSep. 11, 2011 - 07:07PM JST

How very sad. Let's hope those who survive their lost loved ones find some peace, and here's hoping the government actually does something for them instead of turning their backs and waiting until the 365 days in or so in office are finished and they can fob it off on the next guy.
1

Christina O'NeillSep. 11, 2011 - 07:11PM JST

The poem submitted by hatsoff, thankyou.
0

Samantha Zoe AsoSep. 11, 2011 - 08:03PM JST

@ Hatsoff. Thank you for sharing those incredibly beautiful words.
-2

tigerguySep. 11, 2011 - 08:17PM JST

God bless all the people who died in the tsunami and will die from the radiation still spewing out from Fukushima.
-3

BessonovYanSep. 11, 2011 - 09:39PM JST

@lostrune2Sep. 11, 2011 - 07:05PM JST

9/11, 3/11.......... 11 seems to be a sorrowful day today.............

That is very strange sorrowful. What mathematical probability events of 11/09 and 6-th month 11/03?
-1

BessonovYanSep. 11, 2011 - 09:42PM JST

@tigerguySep. 11, 2011 - 08:17PM JST

God bless all the people who died in the tsunami and will die from the radiation still spewing out from Fukushima.

Many time russian specialists told that no one will not die from radiation. Don't panic please.
-4

BessonovYanSep. 11, 2011 - 10:02PM JST

@zichiSep. 11, 2011 - 04:31PM JST

We will never forget you just like in Kobe City every year we remember those lost to the 1995 quake.

I will never forget about victims of 11/03 like victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All Japanese can told about me as cynic but I can't believe that in 11/03 USA not used geophysics weapons.
3

Darren BrannanSep. 11, 2011 - 10:22PM JST

I am sure a lot of my views are pretty unpopular, but they are my views.. Silence is golden they say.. Never so apt as in Japan. Six months ago my heart wasn't even tbinking about radiation.. I devoted myself to trying to reunite families in the tsunami zone and succeeded. Many others of all races and creeds and cultures did and are still doing so much more every day. They earn true accolades. When the situation turned from the natural disaster to the Tepco/ Jpn gvt. Disaster I found myself in a position in which I had to protect my own family from deceit and provide any info I could to people who cannot read Japanese. Sometimes I get things mixed up but I spend many hours a day poring through data that I wish I didn't Six months on. The government here spends more time on itself and internal squabbles than on the needy in Tohoku.

The government keeps selling false hope to people in certain areas of Fukushima and beyond, providing scientists to assure the population that they are Ok and that scrubbing and digging will allow them to live healthy happy lives. In some areas of Fukushima and Uwate and Miyagi it is doubtful that this is ever going to be posdible. 7.6 trillion bq of plutonium emissions should make anyone scared. Why did the govt. Release guidelines for plutonium, uranium in food if there was no such risk? Why does Maff and mext release data one month after the fact, and the govt. Itself ignore the SPEEDI data it set up to protect Japanese people? Why is Japan Agriculture relying on farmers to test their own produce and even allowing it to be sold until 'caught out' ? Shizuoka and Saitama Tea.. The prefectural govts KNEW and have apologised for knowingly removing these products from testing lists. Why does the government actively encourage education boards and distributors to sell foods it knows isn't being as rigorously tested as they should be? Milk, meat and rice. Why are prefectural govts dissuading or banning people in Tohoku from having whole body count radiation tests in other prefectures? Why is it that a country that produces so much electronic innovation having to distribute cheap and unreliable geiger counters to the people? Why are people led to believe that living in Namie and Iidate and places near Fukuichi can scrape away the radiaton and be safe? Why are people not being relocated and recompensed?

Is that land so important for security and the eyes of the world that people must be tricked into staying there regardless of the human cost? Is Japan more important than the Japanese?

So sorry to sound like a broken record. Six months on and has really that much bern done to secure a future for those who lost so much in Tohoku?

I might be a scratchy whiny broken record, but silence?

The silence is deafening.
0

BessonovYanSep. 11, 2011 - 10:47PM JST

@Darren BrannanSep. 11, 2011 - 10:22PM JST

Your panic and dark emotions are not good. Really people need Geiger counters for own test at all and help to government by test at all. Because only Geiger counters can get help to people and make sure for current situation and future.
0

DisillusionedSep. 11, 2011 - 10:49PM JST

lostrune2 - 9/11, 3/11.......... 11 seems to be a sorrowful day today.............

And, 11/11 is Armistice Day and a minute silence is held at 11am.
0

Darren BrannanSep. 11, 2011 - 11:11PM JST

Sorry Bessonov> i am not sure I understand you. I agree that geiger counters are important.. But The gvt. Gave out dosimeters which show what dose was accumulated after the fact. I am saying that Jpn should have provided geiger counters and manufactured them so that ppl could see where hotspots were and made decisions. Relying on gvt. Data didn't help the people because the gvt. Themselves didn't read it and the emergency warnings sent ppl into danger. I don't think tears, memorials or prayers can do much until those unfortunate ppl are given timely, genuine info and the government can match what the NPO's are doing and better it.

Dark.. Yes, unfortunately. Panic? No. That was six months ago.
0

BessonovYanSep. 12, 2011 - 06:24AM JST

@Darren BrannanSep. 11, 2011 - 11:11PM JST

Japan many time have not extremal situations. Also PM not wizard - he can't find many devices for short time. I think that Geiger counters must be in all mobile devices: mobile phone, smart phone and others. That is need not only in Fukushima and Chernobyl area. We live not stable period of world. We must be ready for all extremal situations like 'dzanshin' in kendo.
0

globalwatcherSep. 12, 2011 - 07:10AM JST

This is a sad day for all humanity.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow,

I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain,

I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush,

I am in the graceful rush

Of beautiful birds in circling flight,

I am the starshine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom,

I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing,

I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there. I do not die.

Writer unknown
0

Darren BrannanSep. 12, 2011 - 09:11AM JST

hmm..I was in a 'dark mood' yesterday..I better get back on my happy pills.lol. I would just like to see some transparency and closure for the people in the affected areas. I think it is the extreme cost of relocating them and compensating them for their business that is the reason that the government encourages them to stay..I wouldn't object to a disaster tax but I would want to know that it was being used to really help the people of Tohoku and not line the coffers of other public works.
0

Samantha Zoe AsoSep. 12, 2011 - 10:46AM JST

@DarreBrannan. I can totally identify with what you said. You arent in panic mode. Why is it that when a comment is made that doesnt cast an angelic halo over the radiation situation or the government, people are accused, whoever lightly, of panicking? I am extremely concrened with it all. I am not running around foaming at the mouth screaming. Neither am I stood on a crate in the centre of town trying to stir up a debate.

Thanks Darren for all your info!
1

realdollSep. 12, 2011 - 10:48AM JST

Japan's 3-11 was much worse than Americas 9-11. Nature isn't to be messed with.
0

Heda_MadnessSep. 12, 2011 - 11:33AM JST

Why are people led to believe that living in Namie and Iidate and places near Fukuichi can scrape away the radiaton and be safe?

I'm not sure where you're getting your information from but I've driven through Iitate on a number of occasions and it's a ghost town. Minami Soma, on the other hand, is just outside the exclusion zone and they are encouraging people to move back there. And the radiation in that area, on every one of our trips, has been pretty much what you've been experiencing in your kitchen.
-2

JapanGalSep. 12, 2011 - 02:24PM JST

No radiation in my kitchen, except from the Fukushima Peaches I bought.
-1

Darren BrannanSep. 12, 2011 - 03:57PM JST

I am getting my info from the Japanese press and government releases,Heda. Like from Fukushima Prefecture's own webpage. http://www.pref.fukushima.jp/j/zennken189.pdfI didn't mention Minami Soma, but Minami Soma, at 0.45, is 3 times higher than what I have in my kitchen. http://www.pref.fukushima.jp/j/zennken189.pdf admittedly,some places in Fukushima have similar rads to here in Osaka at around 0.18, but the difference is that Osaka always has had this background radiation from the granite of Mt. Rokko, whereas I would assume the elevated readings in Fukushima are from the nuclear fallout,since 0.05is quaoted as the normal background radiation. Even low contamination of cesium over protracted periods of time can damage the heart cells and muscles of young kids, so that they will more likely eventually die from heart disease and not cancer. In fact this will likely be one of the biggest manifestations of the cesium fallout.People will suffer heart damage and it will be very hard to prove that it was Fukuichi related... Belarus is still having massive problems with fallout related heart diseases that are potentially just as fatal as cancer. I think a lot of people really are doing their best to help ppl up north but I don't know if I would include the govt. in that description. Incidentally, Urine tests will begin in Minami Soma next week for littlies so that is great news..owing to the nature of Whole Body Counts they are unsuitable and difficult with restless children. These tests are needed too, because out of the 10 kids who had cesium in their urine, the ones who fled fukushima saw that cesium drop 78% or so and the one kid that stayed behind has had an 18% increase in the concentration of Cesium in his pee.
1

Heda_MadnessSep. 12, 2011 - 05:25PM JST

Funny. When you used the figure of 0.15 the other day, I can't remember you saying it was because of background radiation. You pretty much implied it was because of the Fukushima incident.

The figures of 0.45 in Minami Soma is much higher than we have independently recorded on three seperate occasions with three seperate climatic conditions. And is still, much lower than people would have you believe. 0.45, just outside of the exclusion zone and yet people are still demanding that the exclusion zone should be 50 km. There may be some areas that should be evacuated because of high levels (as has been mentioned before, Iitate is a ghost town and not an area that would appear that the government is encouraging people to go back to).

And finally, tests in that whole area should be carried out on a regular basis. And hopefully they will pick up all cancers at an early stage and they can be treated quickly and effectively. TEPCO should pay for it. Whether the cancers can be directly attributed to this disaster or not.
0

Darren BrannanSep. 12, 2011 - 07:27PM JST

Heda you have been there and seen things with your own eyes. I am not trying to discredit you and I applaud you for the good work you are obviously doing. The pdf is a daily measurement done by the environment agency I guess. I also find the official figures hard to explain. According to non official reports 0.15 is fairly typical in Western Japan and even higher in Tottori due to the uranium mines there. I have called the city office to ask about the background radiation and they referred me to the same kind of page. Osaka is listed as 0.04 at 1m using a survey meter that I imagine is more sensitive than my Soeks. However I get no lower than about 0.14 even after 30 minutes. I have found a lot of places in kobe and near my house that showed 0.24 and once I got an alert very briefly of 0.54 and a 'high radiation' warning. Just for a second or two so I just put it down to possible stray isotopes in the air. I couldn't recreate the event. I try very hard to find accurate info from mainstream press or official reports but I don't have eyes on the ground. My friend and his world vision friend got consistent 2.0 readings in Iwate using two geiger counters even in a vehicle, but especially certain rivers up there. His friend is doing the same kind of NPO work that I guess you have been doing. I think we both agree that the official figures vary quite a lot from our own testing. As you say, I imagine there are many places even in Fukushima that have escaped the brunt of it and are probably safe to live in. I doubt that Iitate and Namie are so lucky. Likewise, if I was to believe the official figures for Osaka, my own readings indicate elevated radiation levels. My geiger counter says it is well in thE normal range so I assume the non official stats to be correct. Who knows? I didn't even know what a bequerel was in March. :)
0

globalwatcherSep. 12, 2011 - 10:45PM JST

Japan's 3-11 was much worse than Americas 9-11. Nature isn't to be messed with.

realdoll, this kind of thinking has to be discouraged. Both of them were pretty bad.
0

Heda_MadnessSep. 13, 2011 - 10:22AM JST

Thnaks for the compliments, but I'm not doing anything special - many people contribute to the trucks I drive up and that's all I do. Drive a truck and deliver some food to people who have suffered so much.

If you're saying that your friends got high readings in the rivers then they're using their geiger counters incorrectly. I've seen people get excited over high readings on the ground but the readings mean nothing as the geiger counters aren't designed to test for that. And that came from someone who built them.

2.0 is high, but as you probably remember that was during a very bad storm and as such rain will seriously affect the readings so unless they go back and get a second, identical result the figures mean nothing. And I seriously doubt that they will given the readings that I, and others have had in Iwate.

I've said on more than one occasion that this is a very serious localised issue and the fact that you live in Osaka and have such low readings would show just how localised it is.

I've also stated on a number of occasions that Iitate is a ghost town. No body is living there from what I've seen so I'm not sure why you keep questioning whether it's safe to live there.