Professor Hayakawa's Fukushima-Chernobyl Comparison Map, Updated (and Updated Again Already...)

and the radiation contour map version 5 have arrived. And after the reprimand, the professor seems more invigorated than ever.

From his blog, Fukushima-Chernobyl comparison map (which he has already revised it since the original posting):

(Here's the PDF file of the above map for printing.)

And the radiation contour map version 5:

Professor Yukio Hayakawa, irascible and irreverent (at least on twitter) volcanologist has been formally reprimanded by the president of his university (Gunma University) who happens to have a strong tie (the president is on the right side of the photo, at the link) with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), and the professor seems invigorated more than ever.

As if to send a message to the president of the university, small private donations from people who have followed Hayakawa are pouring in to the university's coffer specifically to support Hayakawa's work, to the surprise (and probably dismay) of the university and amusement of the administrative staff.

Hayakawa himself seems to consider the whole incident is such a great opportunity that has finally arrived - to reach people in Fukushima. For the first time, a Fukushima local newspaper reported on him as someone who is "insulting our farmers". Hayakawa, on learning about the newspaper coverage, wrote on his tweet: "Hurray! Finally! I'm reaching people in Fukushima!"

From what I have read, people in Fukushima, despite this Internet age, have been insulated from the reality thanks to the very selective coverage of the local media (newspapers, TV). It is only recently, it seems, that the reality is dawning at least on some of them that they are in deep trouble.

Hayakawa was telling the Fukushima farmers in March and April, "Don't grow vegetables, don't plant rice, because they will be so radioactive. Look at the radiation map I made." During summer, he was calling for mowing down the rice fields, and calling the farmers who grew rice in the highly contaminated areas in Fukushima "killers" who were growing "poison rice" (rice with radioactive materials) just so that they get compensated. On twitter and blog, unfortunately. But up until December 8, the media, both mainstream and alternative, completely ignored him.

Why? Probably because he is an "outsider". He is a geologist and volcanologist, not a radiation expert or nuclear scientist. He may know much, much more about how super-minute particles may behave and spread than the nuclear physicists who have been paraded on TV since March 11, but he doesn't know anything about radiation or nuclear reactor, does he? And where is he, at Gunma University? A national university for sure but with no name, like Tokyo U or Kyoto. Not even Tohoku or Nagasaki.

He does not fit in, and that's what irritates many people in Japan. Gunma University was so irritated, in fact, that it disallowed the use of electricity in his office during the press conference (link in Japanese) on December 8. The press conference was done without light and heat, in a dim light from outside. One reporter's camera ran out of battery.

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