Wednesday, October 17, 2012

#Radioactive Japan: US High School Students Did Visit Fukushima, on "Strengthen Kizuna" Project



A Japanese independent journalist posted this photo on his tweet. It is an air dose measurement of 0.54 microsievert/hour in front of a junior high school in a village in Fukushima Prefecture, and the village name is Tenei-mura (pronunciation: ten'ei).

Remember that before the Fukushima nuclear accident, the average air dose rate in Fukushima Prefecture was one order of magnitude lower.

Now, why did this particular tweet catch my attention? Well that village was one of the locations where the high school students from the US were sent, as part of the "Kizuna" project by the Japanese and the US government to show support and solidarity with the "victims" of the disaster and to spread the correct information about recovery and decontamination effort by the Japanese government by having young people from the US visit Fukushima.

Remember those high school students, who followed the footsteps of the students from Middle Tennessee State University?

The original meaning of 'Kizuna' is "a tie that binds a domestic animal so that it can't escape".

From Fukushima-net.com (no date, but assumed to be in July 2012; part):

米国の高校生が被災地を訪問 天栄などで「キズナ強化プロジェクト」

US high school students visit disaster-affected areas, part of "Project to strengthen 'Kizuna'" in Ten'ei

東日本大震災の復興支援のため、アメリカの高校生たちが10日から天栄村などを訪れ、地元の人たちと交流を深めている。

High school students from the US have been visiting places [in Fukushima] including Ten'ei-mura starting July 10, interacting with the locals to support the recovery from the March 11, 2011 disaster.

外務省の委託事業で、日本国際協力センターが実施する「キズナ強化プロジェクト」の一環。アメリカの高校生が被災した宮城、岩手、福島、茨城の4県を訪れ、復興状況などを視察している。

It is part of the "Project to strengthen Kizuna", which is commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and carried out by the Japan International Cooperation Center. Under the project, high school students from the US are visiting the disaster-affected Miyagi, Iwate, Fukushima and Ibaraki Prefectures and observing the progress of the recovery efforts.

本県は天栄村ふるさと子ども夢学校推進協議会が受け入れ先となり、10日から13日までの日程で実施。

In our Prefecture [Fukushima], a council of Ten'ei-mura is organizing the event from July 10 to 13.

アメリカの4つの高校で日本語を学んでいる学生と教師約110人が来日している。

110 students and their teachers from 4 US high schools are in [Fukushima]. The students are learning Japanese at their high schools.

... 12日は長沼高、岩瀬農業高を訪れ、日本の高校生との交流を図るほか、天栄村の職員から村内の畑の除染活動について説明を受ける予定。


On July 12, they are scheduled to visit the local high schools to interact with the Japanese high school students [there], and to be briefed by the village officials on the progress of decontaminating the farm lands in the village.

今回のプロジェクトは、アメリカの学生に被災地の復興状況を見てもらい、除染への取り組みを海外に発信してもらおうという狙い。

The aim of this project is to have the US students see the recovery of the disaster-affected area, and have them spread information on the decontamination effort.


The site has a photograph of students wearing "Kizuna" T-shirts and eating "mochi".

Ten'ei-mura is located along the corridor in the middle of Fukushima where the radioactive cloud passed through, between Sukagawa and Shirakawa. Professor Hayakawa's Radiation Contour Map (ver.7) has Ten'ei-mura inside 0.5 microsievert/hour, with a significant chunk of it inside 1 microsievert/hour.




9 comments:

Anonymous said...

So another name for the project could be "cow leash" or horse rein? I think Project Horse Rein would be most fitting since the students were directed where they went.

Anonymous said...

If one of these kids gets sick the japanese governement will pay dearly.
It plays with fire and will get burned at some point and will pay.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget Hillary's role in this. If the US had no downplayed the damage, and if appropriate travel warnings had been issued by the US State Department, these kids' parents might have been better informed about the danger. No it probably won't be the Japanese paying for these kids' future health issues; that bill will be due in the USA.

Anonymous said...

If they get sick in future they wont even connect the dots and it will all get cobered up anyway, the power of stupidity cant be underestimated... and i hear Hashimoto is coming to Kumamoto.... maybe a protest can be organised to greet him the shithead..

Anonymous said...

covered up i mean

arclight said...

hi admin

WPP are responsible for the photo shoot, specificaly Ogilvy and mather maybe dentsu too?

below is a link to documentingian and a link to a petition

he is doing a counter PR strike on the rash of pro nuke advertising/research..

please spend a moment reading his blog and if anyone hasnt signed the petition for the children of fukushima please consider doing so from the link below

The PR machine behind the above "campaign" are SOCIOPATHIC!, if not clinically then situationally..


THE FUKUSHIMA CHILDREN’S LIVES ARE IN DANGER! ( Urgent Petition request)

and documenting ians latest blog

On 2012/01/12, at 11:50, Noam Chomsky wrote:

It is a privilege to be able to lend personal support to the Fukushima Evacuate Children Lawsuit.
There is no better measure of the moral health of a society than how it treats the most vulnerable people within it, and none or more vulnerable, or more precious, than children who are the victims of unconscionable actions.
For Japan, and for all of us, this is a test that we must not fail.

http://nuclear-news.net/2012/10/18/the-fukushima-childrens-lives-are-in-danger-urgent-petition-request/

VyseLegendaire said...

This is a test we will fail because the failure of nuclear power would be the death knell to an already challenged US Imperial war machine.

Anonymous said...

The parents of the two young ladies in the picture failed the test already by voluntarily sending their daughters to visit a school where pupils can not play in the outside because of contamination.
Japanese will possibly also fail the test by reinstating pro-nuke LDP to power at the next elections.
Beppe

Anonymous said...

To be honest, I can't feel any sympathy for these students, because they're at an age where they should be able to easily research information via the internet. It was also likely their own decision to go, because I can't imagine the teachers or parents forcing them to.

It's different for young children who have no choice but to obey the words of adults.

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