Three and a Half Years After the #Fukushima Nuclear Accident, Nature Slowly Taking Over Deserted Futaba-Machi

Futaba-machi is located just outside Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Almost entire town is designated as "areas difficult for the residents to return" ("within 5 years", according to the national government's euphemism - oh wait, solid plan?) because of the high levels of radioactive contamination from the nuclear accident. Part of Futaba-machi was exposed to radiation levels as high as 1,590 microsieverts/hour on March 12, 2011, before the hydrogen explosion of Reactor 1.

Even though over 3,000 workers continue to work on any given day at the plant right outside the town, Futaba-machi is deserted, and the mother nature is slowly taking over.

Photographs of Futaba-machi taken in front of the arch at the town entrance that says "Nuclear Energy Is the Energy for the Bright Future":

April 25, 2011, from Asahi Shinbun. The street still looked neat and clean, as if nothing had happened.

July 2012, from the blog of Mineyuki Fukuda, LDP politician from Kanagawa:

About the same time period as the photo above, this photo was taken with a man holding the sign "Destruction" over the word "Bright" in "Bright Future" on the arch. It was his slogan he created when he was in the 6th grade:

July 2013, from Google Street View:

A differen part of Futaba-machi in July 2012, from Collabo Corp OB blog. The words on the arch says "Nuclear Energy Creates Rich Society and Rich Town":

The same arch, in 2014, from the 8/20/2014 tweet by @akauntok:

Railroad, from Google Street View (as of July 2013):

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Futaba Kosei Hospital in Futaba-machi, #Fukushima on March 12, 2011 - Insulation Materials Falling from the Sky like Snowflakes

Journalist Ryuichi Kino's photographs of the ex-evacuation zone triggered my memory of what the former mayor of Futaba-machi had said about the fateful day.

Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa's recollection of March 12, 2011, as compiled by journalist Hiromichi Ugaya who attended Idogawa's press conference in February 2012 (from my post on that day):

We weren't told of the "vent" [of Reactor 1] that the government decided to do. The vent was carried out while the residents were still in town. I wonder if they [the government] think of us as Japanese citizens. This is like pre-Meiji Restoration [when there was no notion of citizens of a nation].

On March 12, as the residents were fleeing, I was in front of Futaba Kosei Hospital guiding the hospital patients and elderly people from the nearby senior citizens' home to a bus [for evacuation] when the first hydrogen explosion took place. There was a dull "thud".

"Oh no, it finally happened," the mayor thought. After a few minutes, small debris that looked like glass fiber insulation materials came falling down from the sky like large snowflakes. "Big ones were this big", the mayor puts his thumb and index finger together to form a circle.

Futaba Kosei Hospital is only 2 kilometers away from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. About 300 people, including municipal workers, doctors and nurses, watched the flakes of insulation materials fall like snow, stunned. The mayor thought, "We're finished."

The mayor looks back and says, "That was a very, very strange sight. It was like a movie". Not knowing what to do, he just dusted off his clothes with his hand.

Futaba Kosei Hospital in June 2013, by Ryuichi Kino. This is where Mayor Idogawa was on March 12, 2011.

For more of Kino's photos from June 2013, see my previous post.

As announced by Fukushima prefectural government in September 2012, in Kamihatori District in Futaba-machi, about 1.5 kilometers west of Futaba Kosei Hospital, the radiation level spiked to 1,590 microsieverts/hour at 3PM on March 12, 2011, BEFORE the hydrogen explosion of Reactor 1 building at 3:36PM.

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Evacuees from Futaba-machi, #Fukushima Still Living in Abandoned High School Building After Two and a Half Years

As Japan celebrates "recovery" (at least in the stock market), 2020 Tokyo Olympic, maglev bullet train that will run under Japan Alps, there are still 100 people from Futaba-machi, Fukushima still living in the abandoned high school building in Saitama Prefecture, more than two and a half years after the earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear accident struck Tohoku and Kanto.

Time has frozen for them, too.

In my August 16, 2012 post, I wrote there were more than 200 Futaba-machi residents living in shelter in the Kisai High School building in Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture, in partitioned classrooms and gyms, getting boxed meals.

Since September 1, 2012, the residents who live in the high school building have had to pay for the boxed meals, 30,000 to 40,000 yen (US$300 to 400) per month, out of their own pockets.

According to a volunteer group who's been providing the residents, mostly elderly, with hot meals every one to two months since September 2012,

それから約1年、徐々に避難所生活の方々は減って来ていますが、現在もまだ約100名の方がこちらの避難所で３食お弁当の生活を続けられております。

One year since [we started serving hot meals], the number of people living in the shelter have been gradually decreasing. However, there are still about 100 people living here [at the high school], eating three boxed (bento) meals every day.

そして避難所は急ピッチで閉鎖の方向に向けての動きがあるようですが、現在残っていられる約100名の方々の行く先、賠償問題など、残された課題はまだまだたくさんあります。

The plan to close this shelter is rapidly gaining momentum, but there are still many issues to be resolved. Where will the current 100 residents at the shelter go? What about compensations?

避難所自体がいつまでも存属していると言うことは、決してよいことではありません。ただ、納得のゆくかたちで閉鎖に結びつくわけでないのでは、決して良いわけでもないと思います。

It is not a good thing that a shelter continues to exist. But we don't think it is a good thing if this shelter is closed without consensus from the residents.

避難所の方達は、生活環境はよくないものの同じ町の知り合いやお友達と、寄り添い合って共に生活しているという、人と人とのつながりだけが心の支えである、ともおっしゃっています。避難所から出ることになると、みなさんがバラバラになってしまいます。ただでさえ多くの物を理不尽に失って辛い生活を強いられている中、そのような状況はお年寄りの孤独感を倍増させ、日々の楽しみもなくなると思います。

The residents at the shelter also tell us that despite bad living conditions they find emotional support through human relationship - that they live together with their friends and acquaintances from the same town [Futaba-machi]. If the shelter is closed, they will have to live apart. They have already lost so much and are forced to live in a harsh condition. It would increase the sense of loneliness in the elderly residents and deprive them of their daily joy and happiness.

Katsutaka Idogawa is no longer the mayor of Futaba-machi; he decided not to fight the recall motion by the town assembly. He was a candidate of the Green Party for the Upper Election in July this year, but his campaign didn't get any attention and he lost.

There is no incentive for politicians to do anything about the evacuees in an abandoned high school building in Saitama. The evacuees don't complain, and no one complains for them.

They are going to squander a ton of money (maybe literally) on maglev trains and 2020 Olympic, but they can't even convert this high school building into a more comfortable, habitable living space.

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UK's Channel 4: Inside Fukushima's Nuclear Exclusion Zone - Futaba-Machi

Correspondent Alex Thomson and his crew enter the 20-kilometer exclusion zone (which by the way is no longer there, as even Futaba-machi has agreed to be reorganized into three different zones with three different criteria for returning residents) and visit Futaba-machi.

TEPCO allowed them to spend 5 hours inside the zone.

At the last checkpoint, policemen politely bow to their car.

It is a surreal scene.

8 minutes into the video, Mr. Thomson says TEPCO has finally admitted that contaminated water is flowing into the ocean. I don't think TEPCO has said anything of that sort.

There is not much in the way of story-telling, but you get to see the deserted town of Futaba and wonder if there is any point of promising the residents that they can return sometime in the future.

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#Radioactive Japan: Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa of Futaba-machi Resigns

After he decided to fight the resolution of no confidence against him and dissolved the Futaba-machi Assembly, he was holding meetings with his townfolks.

One such meeting was to be held in Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture where some of the Futaba residents have been living in the temporary housing. But Mayor Idogawa, 65, fell suddenly ill with dizziness　and severe headache, and he was hospitalized on January 20 to have medical tests done.

On January 23, he asked to resign.

If you haven't read Mayor Idogawa's recounting of how he saw the white substance falling from sky like the snow after an explosion (that was Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant) as he tried to evacuate elderly citizens, go to my post from February 11, 2012.

From Jiji Tsushin (1/23/2013):

東京電力福島第１原発事故で役場機能を埼玉県加須市に移している福島県双葉町は２３日、井戸川克隆町長が辞職を申し出たと発表した。辞職は２月１２日付となり、同日から５０日以内に町長選が行われる。町議会は昨年１２月、井戸川町長の不信任決議を全会一致で可決。町長は同月２６日に町議会を解散しており、町は首長と議会が同時に不在となる異例の事態に陥る。

Futaba-machi, whose official functions have been moved to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, announced on January 23 that Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa offered to resign. The mayor's resignation will be official as of February 12, and the mayoral election will be held within 50 days after that date. The town assembly unanimously passed the no-confidence resolution against Mayor Idogawa in December last year, and the mayor in turn dissolved the assembly on December 26. The town faces an extraordinary situation where there is no head of the town nor the town assembly.

町によると、井戸川町長は２３日に町の幹部職員を集めた会議で辞職の意向を表明し、議会事務局長に辞職届を提出したという。新町長が就任するまでは井上一芳副町長が町長の職務代理者を務める。

According to Futaba-machi, Mayor Idogawa gathered senior officials of the town to a meeting on January 23 where he expressed his intention to resign, and submitted the notice to the secretariat of the town assembly. Until the new mayor is installed, Vice Mayor Kazuyoshi Inoue will assume the duties of the mayor.

福島第１原発のある双葉町は事故で全住民が町外に避難している。昨年３月には政府が除染で生じる汚染土を保管する中間貯蔵施設の建設受け入れを双葉、大熊、楢葉３町に要請。同施設の建設をめぐる井戸川町長の言動に不信感を持った町議会が不信任決議を出した。

All residents of Futaba-machi, where Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located, have evacuated the town after the nuclear accident. In March last year, the national government requested that Futaba, Okuma, and Naraha to accept intermediate storage facilities to be built in their towns, which would be used to store contaminated soil removed in the process of decontamination. The town assembly became suspicious of the mayor's intentions over the construction of such facilities [two in Futaba-machi] and submitted the resolution of no confidence [against the mayor].

Town assemblymen/women wanted to go ahead with the government plan, which would mean more money for the town. Mayor Idogawa said no, as he wanted the town's people to fully understand the implication of such facilities and decide for themselves.

Jiji article doesn't say why Mayor Idogawa is resigning. Mayor Idogawa has penned his farewell letter which is posted on the Futaba-machi website, but he does not say why he is resigning.

Mayor Idogawa has had hardly any support from anyone in his quest to secure a safe, radiation-free permanent place for the town residents, official or private, except for a few volunteers who occasionally cooked meals for the evacuees who still live in an abandoned high school building in Kazo City, Saitama.

It's been nearly two years after the start of the nuclear accident.

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#Radioactive Japan Under LDP: Futaba-machi Assembly Finally Passes No-Confidence Resolution Against Mayor Idogawa

This is the assembly's third attempt, and this time all 8 assemblymen voted yes to demand Mayor Idogawa to step down.

Why? Because the mayor refuses to "move forward".

What's "moving forward" for the town which had to relocate to Saitama temporarily because of severe contamination from the nuclear accident?

Talking with the national government "constructively" to build intermediate storage facilities for nuclear waste in Futaba-machi, for a start. The first step will be to agree to the field survey by the national government.

The town may have no choice, but what these assemblymen are after seems to be more about money, a huge wad of money from the national government in exchange for simply agreeing to start talking.

Just change "intermediate storage facilities" with "nuclear reactors". It's the same old story. Simply agreeing to the survey will probably produce a ton of money for the town. Of all people, Mayor Idogawa should know very well.

Mr. Idogawa has been tirelessly campaigning for the people of his town, a changed man after the nuclear accident. Inconvenient for the town assembly, obviously.

For his account on March 11, 2011 as he experienced, see my post from February.

From Kyodo News (12/20/2012):

双葉町議会が町長不信任を可決　中間貯蔵施設の協議欠席で

Futaba-machi town assembly passes the no-confidence resolution against the mayor because he skipped the negotiation for intermediate storage facilities

東京電力福島第１原発事故で、汚染土壌などを保管する中間貯蔵施設の調査候補地になっている福島県双葉町の１２月議会が２０日、役場機能を移している埼玉県加須市であり、井戸川克隆町長に対する不信任決議案を議員８人の全会一致で可決した。

The December Assembly of Futaba-machi, Fukushima Prefecture was held on December 20 in Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture where the town's government has been temporarily moved. Futaba-machi in Fukushima is one of the locations where the national government wants to conduct the feasibility study for building intermediate storage facilities to store contaminated soil from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The no-confidence resolution against Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa was unanimously passed by all eight assemblymen.

　地方自治法に基づき、町長は１０日以内に議会を解散しない限り失職する。

Unless the mayor dissolves the assembly within 10 days, according to the Local Autonomy Law, he will lose his job.

　井戸川町長は、進退について記者団の質問に「落ち着いて考えて整理したい。週明けには判断する」と述べた。

Mayor Idogawa said to the reporters, "I would like to sort things out quietly. I will decide over the weekend."

　決議は、佐藤雄平福島県知事と双葉郡７町村長が１１月に現地調査の受け入れを決めた協議を、町長が欠席したことなどを批判した。

The resolution criticized the mayor for having skipped the negotiation in November whereby Governor of Fukushima Yuhei Sato and other seven mayors of municipalities in Futaba County agreed to the survey [for waste storage facilities].

Mayor Idogawa, in his December 20 letter to the town residents, explains why he refused to sit down with the fellow mayors and the governor of Fukushima:

中間貯蔵施設については、議論をしないまま、調査だから認めろと言いますが、この費用の出どころを確かめることが重要です。この施設は30年で県外に出すと国は言っていますが、約束は我々とはまだ出来ていません。この施設の周りには人が住めません。六ヶ所村では2km以内には民家がないようで、双葉町では町の中心部が殆ど入ってしまいます。では、どうするのかの議論が先です。ボーリング調査を行うのは着工です。予算の構成を見ますと、整備事業の下に調査費が付いています。これは行政判断としては着工になります。着工の事実を作らせないために、私は非難覚悟で止めていることをご理解ください。

　十分すぎるほど議論して町民の皆さんの理解の下に進めるべきです。日本初の事業です。双葉町最大の損害で、確かな約束を求める事をしないまま進めてはやがて子供たちに迷惑をかけます。新政権とじっくり話し合いをして、子供たちに理解を貰いながら進めます。このように、私たちには大きな損害があることをご理解ください。

As to the intermediate storage facility, we are told to accept without any discussion because it's only the field survey for now. But how will this survey be paid for? This facility is supposed to be there for only 30 years, but there is no formal agreement on that between the national government and us. No one can live near this facility. No one lives inside the 2 kilometer radius of Rokkasho-mura [where the Reprocessing Plant is located]. The 2 kilometer radius would include almost all central Futaba. What should we do then? That discussion should come before anything else. To conduct the boring survey means the start of construction. If we look at the budget [for the intermediate storage facility] there is a line item called "survey cost" under "development". As far as the administrative decision goes, this is the start of construction. Please understand that I've been trying my best to stall [the survey] so as not to give the government the fait accompli of construction started.

It should proceed after ample discussion and understanding of all the town residents. This is the first ever such project in Japan. It is the greatest loss for the town, and if we just let it proceed without any firm promise, our children will suffer. I would like to talk patiently with the new administration, and proceed so that our children would understand. Please know that we have suffered a great loss.

Earlier in his letter, he pleads with the residents to think about their "loss", that it's not just about the loss of tangible assets like real estate but intangible assets like health and future prospect.

His words clearly fell on deaf ears of eight assemblymen who see very tangible assets (money) in front of them.

Mayor Idogawa sees the details, and knows the process. So, they'd rather shut him up, and join others in pointing the bright sky on the horizon - "Look, that's the future..."

I wonder if he dissolves the assembly and calls the election. I doubt it.

It's a new Japan - Japan that cannot focus its attention long enough to think things through and simply latches on to soundbites. I guess that has been the global trend, but Japan manages to do it in the middle of the most severe nuclear accident in the country that has contaminated wide areas in Tohoku and Kanto.

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Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: New York Considering Putting Displaced Staten Island Residents in Prison

“I lost everything, but I still have my pride. We don’t have to stay in a prison,” said Wally Martinez, 44, who was staying at the retreat with his wife, two children and dog. “My brother was once in that very prison, and my mother used to visit him regularly. She used to tell me how miserable he looked and how filthy and disgusting that prison was.”

From New York Post (11/9/2012):

Residents displaced by Sandy are staring at life in Staten Island 'jail'

By CHUCK BENNETT and FRANK ROSARIO

They want them to go from no house to the Big House.

The state is eyeing the recently shuttered Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island as a temporary home for people displaced by the ravages of Sandy and this week’s nasty nor’easter, officials said yesterday.

Closed last December, the medium-security prison could feed and sleep as many as 900 people with nowhere else to go.

“Our facilities staff have to go through it to determine what it would take to get it up and running for such a purpose,” said Peter Cutler, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

“Of course, the challenge is the fact that it was closed a year ago and all of the major infrastructure components, such as boilers and wastewater system, were deactivated.”

There are as many as 40,000 New Yorkers who need shelter from the one-two punch of extreme weather events, according to city estimates.

On Staten Island alone, about 5,200 people applied for temporary FEMA housing, but only about two dozen people have been successfully placed, federal sources said.

So it may resemble a scene out of “The Walking Dead,” but officials and displaced people alike say the former prison ought to be considered as a refuge.

“It’s empty. They might as well use it,” said Rob Conigatti, 39, who lost his Dongan Hills home and is now staying with his extended family. “At least they have the right facilities. You can’t keep them in schools. The kids gotta go to school.”

Some people are toughing it out in homes lacking power and heat while others are bunking with friends and family.

“We have not got into the discussion of longer term transitional housings,” said Councilman James Oddo (R-SI). “If there is no other viable option, it shouldn’t be taken off the table because of a quote unquote stigma. Between being cold and having people dry, in a warm, secure place, I know what my choice is.”

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, however, is firmly opposed to using the prison, sources said. He didn’t return a call for comment.

His opposition was echoed by several of the 60 people staying at the Mount Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Shore Acres.

“I lost everything, but I still have my pride. We don’t have to stay in a prison,” said Wally Martinez, 44, who was staying at the retreat with his wife, two children and dog. “My brother was once in that very prison, and my mother used to visit him regularly. She used to tell me how miserable he looked and how filthy and disgusting that prison was.”

Currently, there are about 2,700 evacuees staying in emergency city shelters, according to Mayor Bloomberg.

Some of those people have been arriving with what euphemistically has been called “pre-existing conditions” of mental disorders and substance abuse, according to sources.

Many people, including senior citizens, were too scared to stay in the high schools that were opened last week because they didn’t want to bunk with already homeless people.

Additional reporting by Joe Tacopino

One thing Mr. Conigatti doesn't know is that of course you can keep them in schools, at least a year and a half. Learn it from Japan, who has put evacuees from Futaba-machi in an abandoned school, made them sleep on the floor with cardboard partitions, and pay for bento lunch boxes. Yes we can!

The 200 mostly elderly residents of Futaba-machi are still housed in the school, as of November 5, 2012, according to an NPO who has been occasionally providing them with hot meals.

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(Now They Tell Us) 1,590 Microsieverts/Hr in Futaba-machi, #Fukushima on March 12, 2011, Before Reactor 1 Explosion, and Vent, Not Explosion, May Have Caused High Radiation

So says the Fukushima prefectural government, after more than one and a half year since the start of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. Supposedly, it took them all these days to analyze the data that was retrieved from the 19 monitoring posts around the two nuclear power plants (Fukushima I and II), and only now the prefectural government is sheepishly admitting the radiation levels were much, much higher than it has been telling the residents.

What's more, though the prefectural government doesn't say it explicitly, the spikes in radiation levels correlate not to the explosive events but the vents, if you look at the charts published by the Fukushima prefectural government.

First, from Asahi Shinbun Fukushima Edition (9/22/2012):

県は２１日、東京電力福島第一原発の周辺で昨年３月に測定した空間放射線量の結果を発表した。同原発から北西５・６キロの双葉町上羽鳥で毎時１５９０マイクロシーベルトと、発電所の敷地外では、県がこれまでに把握している中では最も高い値が出た。

On September 21, Fukushima Prefecture announced the result of air radiation survey conducted in March last year around Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The reading in Kamihatori in Futaba-machi, 5.6 kilometers northwest of the nuclear plant, was 1,590 microsieverts/hour, highest so far outside the plant as the prefectural government knows.

原発周辺に設置されていた１９局のモニタリングポストに残っていた昨年３月１１日～３１日のデータを取りまとめた。双葉町山田では１６日午前０時に同１０２０マイクロシーベルト、同町新山で１２日午後５時に毎時９０４マイクロシーベルトだった。

The result was compiled from the data from March 11 to 31 last year that remained in the 19 monitoring posts installed near the nuclear power plant. In Yamada in Futaba-machi, it was 1,020 microsieverts/hour at 12AM on March 16, 2011, and it was 904 microsieverts/hour at 5PM on March 12 in Shinzan, also in Futaba-machi.

県によると、原発の北側のモニタリングポストでは１２日から、楢葉町や広野町など南側は１５日から放射線量が上がる傾向があった。

According to Fukushima Prefecture, the monitoring posts in the north of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant started to register higher radiation levels in March 12, and the monitoring posts in the south of the plant in Naraha-machi and Hirono-machi in March 15.

また、上羽鳥の場合、同原発１号機の水素爆発よりも前の１２日午後３時に最大値を観測しており、県は「爆発前から放射性物質が漏れていた」と見ている。今後、風向きや風速など、詳細な分析をするという。

In the case of Kamihatori, the maximum level was recorded at 3PM on March 12, before the hydrogen explosion at Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. According to the prefectural government, it was probably because "radioactive materials had been leaking even before the explosion". The prefectural government says it will conduct more detailed analysis including wind directions and wind speed.

Now, for Fukushima Prefecture to pretend this was new information (that the radiation had been leaking even before the Reactor 1 explosion), that's highly misleading. Fukushima Prefecture started measuring radiation levels in the areas surrounding the two nuclear power plants (Fukushima I and II) as early as 8AM on March 12, 2011. The first measurement that would have shown them that the radiation level was already several times higher than normal (0.04 - 0.06 microsievert/hour) was that of Tomioka-machi (Fukushima II) at 0.18 microsievert/hour at 8:25AM on March 12, 2012. At 8:52AM on the same day, they measured 14 microsieverts/hour in Namie-machi. Reactor 1 had a hydrogen explosion at 3:36PM.

(All of these were disclosed long time ago - June 3, 2011 - by NISA of all people, and no one in the media said a thing. If you read Japanese, see my Japanese blog.)

But what's more interesting about the latest disclosure by the Fukushima prefectural government is that the spikes in air radiation levels coincide not with the explosive events but with the vents that TEPCO did or attempted.

From the data released by the Fukushima prefectural government (I put the English labels):

Kamihatori, Futaba-machi: The first spike of radiation occurred even before the first vent of Reactor 1 on March 12, 2011. The huge spike to 1590 microsieverts/hour occurred at 3PM, after the vent at 10:17AM and after the pressure of the Reactor 1 Containment Vessel dropped at 2:30PM.

Kamiyatori is located northwest of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. On March 12, 2011, the areas that registered high levels of radiation were all located north and northwest of the plant.

Then, after the vent of Reactor 2 on 12AM on March 15, 2011 (which was a dry vent), huge spikes in radiation were recorded in the areas in Okuma-machi, Tomioka-machi, and Naraha-machi, which were located south of the plant.

Mukaihata, Okuma-machi, immediate south of the plant. Spike at 11PM on March 14, 2011:

Yonomori, Tomioka-machi. Spike at 2AM on March 15, 2011:

Yamadaoka, Naraha-machi. Spike at 3AM on March 15, 2011:

The plume that went past Okuma, Tomioka, Naraha reached Kitaibaraki City in Ibaraki at 5:50AM on the same day, registering 5.5 microsieverts/hour. The Japanese media reported it, as possibly caused by the explosion of Reactor 2 (here's Sankei Shinbun on March 15, 2011), and no one understood the significance of the news at that time. Hardly anyone knew what "microsievert" was.

Well, it may not have been the explosion that caused the spikes. It is likely to have been the vent - intentional release of radioactive materials to lower pressure to avoid explosions. Well the explosions or some explosive event (in the case of Reactor 2) took place at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant after they did the vent. So what was the vent for?

That the vent, not the explosions, caused the radiation levels to rise has already been stated by none other than TEPCO in its report. Again, when the report was released, the media paid no attention, and people didn't care (other than the familiar refrain of "TEPCO lies").

A Tokyo University researcher stated in his paper accepted by a peer-reviewed magazine that a huge spike of radiation was registered at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant after the Reactor 2 dry vent. Again, no one paid attention.

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Elderly Evacuees from Futaba-machi Living in School Bldg in Saitama Will Be Made to Pay for Their Boxed Meals, Starting September 1st

What a country. Wonder of the Orient.

Just remember that this country (Japan) is still the third largest economy in the world. But after more than 17 months since the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear accident, hardly anyone cares that these people are still living in school classrooms. It's worse than not caring, because now they will charge for the bento (meal in a box), which will cost these elderly residents 30,000 to 40,000 yen per person per month (US$381 to 508 per person per month).

Where do they have such money? No one cares. The evacuees from the same town, Futaba-machi, who have moved to temporary housing and other rental properties, have complained that they are not getting free meals, so everyone gotta pay, to be fair.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (8/24/2012):

自活町民と溝で…双葉町避難所の弁当有料化へ

Due to conflict with the Futaba-machi residents living on their own, evacuees at the Futaba-machi shelter [in Saitama] will have to pay for their bento (meal in a box)

東京電力福島第一原発事故で福島県双葉町の住民と役場機能が避難する埼玉県加須市の旧県立騎西高校で、９月から始まる弁当支給の有料化。

Starting September, the evacuees staying in the school building of former Kisai High School in Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture will have to pay for the bento meals that they receive.

町がこの対応を決めた背景には、既に同高校などの避難所を出て生活する他の住民の、食費負担の公平化を求める強い声があった。だが、同高校に残る住民の、有料化に対する反発も根強い。町民の間に生まれた溝は、自立や復興に向けた支援も行き届かないまま、避難所が１年半近くもの長期にわたり開設されていることが招いたとも言えそうだ。

The reason why the town has decided to charge for bento was the strong demand for equality from the town residents who have already left the school building and live on their own. However, the residents who still remain in the school building are resentful of the new charge. The conflict between the residents could be the result of the extended stay in the shelter for nearly one and a half year, with inadequate support for self-reliance and recovery.

同高校は、東日本大震災で開設され、現在ただ一つ残る公設避難所。約２１０人の住民が暮らし、食事は災害救助法に基づき、弁当が無償提供されている。

The Kisai High School shelter is the last remaining public shelter opened after the March 11, 2011 disaster. About 210 residents live there, and bento meals are provided free of charge under the Disaster Relief Act.

これについては、仮設や借り上げ住宅に移って自活する町民から「特別扱いだ」との批判がくすぶっていた。

[About these free meals,] there has been a silent resentment against this "special treatment" from the town's residents who have moved to temporary housing and rental houses and live on their own [and who have to pay for their own food].

９月１日からは、加須市内の弁当業者が同高校内で、弁当を３食計１１００円～１２５０円で販売する。１人あたり、毎月３万～４万円程度の負担になる計算だ。

Starting September 1, a bento distributor in Kazu City will sell bento meals for 1,100 to 1,250 yen [US$14 to 16] per three meals per day. It will cost 30,000 to 40,000 yen [US$381 to 508] per person per month.

２１日夜には同高校の町民約７０人が集まり、意見を交わした。参加した町民によると、ほとんどが有料化に反対で、「弁当代が払えないなら、『死ね』ということなのか」と嘆く高齢男性もいたという。実際、同高校で暮らす過半数は６５歳以上の高齢者で、要介護者もいる。

On the night of August 21, about 70 evacuees at the school gathered together talked. According to people who participated, most were against paying for the meals. There was an elderly man who lamented, "So, if I cannot pay for the bento, that means they are telling me to just die." In fact, most of the evacuees who remain in the shelter are over 65 years old, and some need medical assistance.

だが、一方で、同高校の町民から「避難所にどっぷりつかったままでいるわけにいかない」という声も聞かれる。厚生労働省によると、町が弁当を有料に切り替えても、同高校の避難所としての位置付けが変わることはないが、災害救助法による避難所の開設期間は原則７日以内。間もなく１年５か月となる同高校は、想定を大きく超えてしまっている。

On the other hand, there are residents at the shelter who say "We cannot go on living like this." According to the Ministry of Health and Labor, the school remains a public shelter even after the town starts to charge for bento meals. Under the Disaster Relief Act, emergency shelters are to be opened for 7 days. It will be 1 year and 5 months since the shelter was opened at the school, well beyond the initial expectation.

同省の担当者は「いつまでも避難所生活でいいとは思っていない。町民が安心して暮らせる住宅や施設に移れるよう、福島県などとも相談したい」としている。

The Ministry official says, "We don't think it's right to have these people in the shelter for such a long time. We would like to consult with Fukushima Prefecture so that the residents can move to houses and facilities where they can live comfortably."

This is a country where they charge the workers in Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant for their meals. So charging the old residents who have nowhere else to go for their meager bento boxes to achieve fairness is just what you expect.

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#Radioactive Japan: Over 200 Evacuees from Futaba-machi (Where #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Is Located) Still Lives in Classrooms, Particioned with Cardboards, 17 Months After the Nuclear Accident

What's the point of holding a white balloon and chanting "Saikado Hantai!" to the tune of an organization with strange personalities and creed every Friday at Prime Minister's Official Residence, as if it's some kind of fashion statement to do so? Not much.

Particularly when just about everybody, from the top government officials on down and including you and me, continue to (or choose to) be ignorant of what has been happening to the people who had to evacuate their homes after the March 11, 2011 nuclear accident, with no prospect of going back any time soon.

An organization called "Enechen" ("energy change", in Japanese English) is asking for help so that they can at least provide hot meals to the 200 evacuees from Futaba-machi who continue to live in the classrooms in a closed high school building in Saitama Prefecture where the town's government has temporarily relocated. They are mostly elderly residents, and they have nowhere else to go.

After nearly 17 months since the accident, the country is quite happy having them live in classrooms with card board partitions.

From the organization's website (8/12/2012):

＜双葉町避難所（埼玉県旧騎西高校）炊き出し支援プロジェクト＞

Project to provide Futaba-machi Shelter (at former Kisai High School in Saitama Prefecture) with hot meals

2012年8月現在、双葉町避難所のお年寄り約200名は、昨年2011年３月の避難から1年4ヶ月経った今もなお、廃校にて段ボールで仕切った集団のお部屋で、３食お弁当という生活を続けられています。

As of August 2012, about 200 elderly residents at Futaba-machi Shelter continue to live in the rooms partitioned with corrugated cardboards in a closed school building, with all their meals in bento (boxed lunch/dinner), 1 year and 4 months since they evacuated there.

炊き出しも現在は味噌汁の炊き出しが週に1度あるだけで、ほとんどなくなってしまったそうです。

Hardly any hot meals are served any more, except for hot miso soups once a week, we've learned.

避難者の方々に暖かいご飯を提供したい、という思いからこの企画を立ち上げました。

We want to provide these people with hot meals, so we have launched this project.

＜双葉町避難所（埼玉県旧騎西高校）の状況＞

Current condition of Futaba-machi Shelter (former Kisai High School in Saitama Prefecture)

福島県の双葉町、福島第一原発事故を受けて事故直後埼玉スーパーアリーナに避難された方々は、2011年３月30日以降、埼玉県加須市の廃校である「旧騎西高校」に移動避難しました。

People from Futaba-machi, who had evacuated to Saitama Super Arena right after the start of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, moved to the building of former Kisai High School in Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture after March 30, 2011.

それから約1年４ヶ月、当初1000人以上いらした避難住民の方々はそれぞれ仮設住宅などに移転しましたが、2012年8月現在で約210人の方々が今も廃校の校舎内で生活しています。

It's been about one year and 4 months since then. Initially there were more than 1,000 evacuees staying at the high school building, but most have moved out to temporary housing. However, as of August 2012, there are still 210 people living in the school building.

ほとんどの方がお年寄りで、自立した生活をするにさまざまな理由や問題を抱えていらっしゃるのが現状のようです。

Most of them are elderly people, and it seems they have various reasons or problems that prevent them from living independently.

先日視察に行ってまいりましたが、食事は避難生活1年4ヶ月経った今も３食お弁当のようでした。寝泊まりしているお部屋に冷暖房は完備されているようですが、体育館の一部を段ボールで仕切ったり、各教室に別れ、１つの部屋に複数名が一緒に布団を敷いて生活していらっしゃるとのことでした。

We went to visit them the other day. After a year and 4 months at this shelter, people still receive bento (meal in a box) for daily three meals. The rooms where they sleep seem to be fitted with air conditioning systems. People partition part of the gymnasium with cardboards, or use classrooms with other people, to spread their futons to sleep.

お食事は一定の場所で受け取り、各自お部屋に持ち帰って食べますが、お部屋の位置によっては受け取り場所も遠く不便を感じていらっしゃるお年寄りも多いようでした。

Meals are distributed at a certain location within the school building, and people take the meals [in bento box] to their rooms to eat. But depending on the location of their rooms, the location to receive meals is too far, and many elderly residents are finding it inconvenient.

...現在、避難所に残られている約200名の方の今後については、まだ何も明確に決まっていません。\

Nothing has been decided what will happen to these more than 200 people at this shelter.

いつまでこのような生活が続くのか、見通しも付かないまま、毎日時は過ぎています。

Time passes, with no prospect for the future.

国は，行政は何をしているのでしょうか？

What have the national government, and the municipal government, been doing?

まだまだ原発事故で苦しんでいる方はたくさんいます。賠償金すらほどんどの方に行き渡っていません。

There are many people who still suffer from the nuclear accident. Most haven't even received the compensation money.

そんな中政府は支援もおざなりに、再稼動、利権絡みの除染を優先し、原子力規制委員会にとんでもない人事案を掲げています。

But the government's priorities are the restart [of the nuclear power plants], decontamination that benefits big businesses, and appointment of commissioners [who are nuclear industry insiders] for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

呆れてものも言えませんが、負けずに助け合い、手を取り合って、出来る事から１つずつ、頑張りましょう！

We are appalled, speechless. But let's try and help each other, and together we will do what we can, one thing at a time.

The site has the photographs of the shelter (former high school building), kindly avoiding photographing the elderly residents who still remain there:

"Kizuna" support messages (Uggghhh...):

Public space inside the building - TV room, telephone center, physical therapy clinic:

The organization is asking for donations at their website for this particular project, here.

Japan is still the third largest economy in the world, by the way, after the US and China, giving billions and trillions of yen to international organization or squandering equal amount of money trying to cheapen the currency.

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Tokyo Shinbun: "Nuclear - Energy for Destroyed Future", Says Futaba-machi Resident After 25 Years

Tokyo Shinbun has an article (7/18/2012) about a 36-year-old man from Futaba-machi, Fukushima who evacuated the town after the nuclear accident and now lives in Aichi Prefecture with his wife and a small son. Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located in Futaba-machi and neighboring Okuma-machi.

When Yuji Onuma was a 6th grader in Futaba-machi in 1987, he came up with the winning slogan selected and proudly displayed at the town's entrance across the road:

"Nuclear - Energy for Bright Future"
原子力　明るい未来の　エネルギー

Onuma and his wife returned home temporarily on July 15. The reporter from Tokyo Shinbun accompanied them. At the sign, Onuma made a correction to the slogan that he created 25 years ago by holding up his handmade sign that says "Destruction" (破滅), hiding the word "Bright" (明るい) and turning the sign into:

"Nuclear - Energy for Destroyed Future"
原子力　破滅未来の　エネルギー

From Tokyo Shinbun (7/18/2012):

「原子力明るい未来のエネルギー」。福島県双葉町の中心街の入り口に掲げられた看板の標語だ。二十五年前、当時小学六年の大沼勇治さん（３６）が町のコンクールに応募し、選ばれた。大沼さんは、一年四カ月の避難生活で「脱原発」を確信した思いを伝えたいと、今月十五日、一時帰宅した際、自ら標語を「訂正」した。

"Nuclear, Energy for Bright Future". It is a slogan displayed on the entrance to the main street in Futaba-machi, Fukushima Prefecture. 25 years ago, Yuji Onuma (age 36) came up with the slogan when he was a 6th grader. It was selected in the town-wide contest. After spending a year and 4 months as an evacuee and having convinced that "going beyond nuclear" is the way to go, he "corrected" his slogan on July 15 when he returned home temporarily.

　大沼さんは東京電力福島第一原発の事故後、身重の妻せりなさん（３７）と地元を離れ、現在は愛知県安城市で避難生活を送る。町が原子力標語を公募したのは一九八七年。原発が町の未来をつくると信じた言葉が入選。第一原発から約四キロの自宅近くに鉄製の看板が電源立地交付金で建てられ、誇らしかった。

After the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, he left town with his pregnant wife Serina (age 37). They now live in Anjo City in Aichi Prefecture. Futaba-machi called for a nuclear slogan in a public contest in 1987. Onuma's slogan expressing belief in the nuclear power plant building the future for the town, won. A sign made of steel was built with the grant money for municipalities with power generation facilities near Onuma's home, which was about 4 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuke Plant. He was proud.

　大学を出て就職などし、二十九歳で帰郷。不動産会社に勤める傍ら、看板の横にある土地にオール電化のアパートを建てて、東電社員にも貸していた。ずっと町の発展が原発とともにある「安全神話」を疑わなかった。

After graduating from college and worked elsewhere, he returned home at the age of 29. While working for a real estate company he built an all-electric apartment near the sign, and rented to TEPCO employees. He never doubted the "safety myth" that the town would prosper with the nuclear power plant.

　しかし事故後、町は警戒区域となり、全町民が避難。「平穏な暮らしが町ごと奪われた現実」にさいなまれ、テレビで標語が紹介されるたびに胸を痛めた。自らを責め悔いる日々から「原発の現実を話す権利はある」と考えた。脱原発を行動で示し、その姿を長男勇誠ちゃん（１つ）に将来伝えたいと思った。

After the accident, the town was designated as no-entry zone, and all residents evacuated. Onuma was tormented by the fact that a normal life was taken away from the town, and was distressed every time the slogan was shown on TV. He blamed himself and regretted. But he thought he had the right to speak about the reality of [having] the nuclear power plant. He wanted to show to his one-year-old son that he was now anti-[or "beyond-"] nuclear.

　夫婦が一時帰宅した今月十五日、記者も同行した。防護服姿の大沼さんはまず、標語にレッドカードを突き付け「退場」と叫んだ。その後、看板の手前で持参した画用紙を高く掲げた。すると、そこに書かれた「破滅」の二文字が「明るい」に重なり新しい標語が読み取れた。「原子力破滅未来のエネルギー」。二十六年目の訂正の瞬間だった。

When he and his wife temporarily returned home on July 15, I accompanied them. Onuma, in the protective clothes, first waved a red card at the slogan, and shouted "Out!". Then, he held aloft a piece of drawing paper that he had brought in front of the sign. On the paper were two characters "破滅" (Destruction), which covered "明るい" (Bright) [on the sign], creating a new slogan: "Nuclear - Energy for Destroyed Future". Correction on the 26th year.

　大沼さんは「原発事故で故郷を奪われることが二度とあってはならない。日本に原発はいらない」と話した。 （野呂法夫、写真も）

Onuma said, "A nuclear plant accident forcing people to leave their hometown, that should never happen again. There is no need for nuclear power plants in Japan." (Report and photograph by Norio Noro)

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Radioactive Fallout in Futaba-machi, Fukushima Rose in February 2012

At 6PM on Friday March 30, 2012, the Ministry of Education and Science (MEXT) released the measurement of radioactive fallout in prefectures in Japan for the month of February 2012 (here's the link).

The fallout measured in Futaba-machi, Fukushima has increased by more than 70% over the January figure to 33,300 megabecquerels/square kilometer (or 33,300 becquerels/square meter):

MEXT is in the process of reorganizing their website, changing the links to the past data. It has screws up my bookmarks.

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The Film "Nuclear Nation" Featuring Mayor Idogawa of Futaba-machi Screened at Berlin Film Festival

Mainichi Daily, quoting Kyodo News (2/13/2012):

BERLIN (Kyodo) -- A documentary film featuring residents forced to evacuate their town, home to the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, was screened Sunday at the Berlin International Film Festival.

"I hope nobody in the world will have such an experience like ours again," Katsutaka Idogawa, mayor of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, said in a video message shown after the screening of the tentatively titled "Nuclear Nation" by director Atsushi Funahashi.

"We had attracted the nuclear power plant to promote our town. But I changed my mind because of the accident. While a final disposal site for nuclear waste is not set, it is quite dangerous that many nuclear power plants are built in the world," the mayor said.

The documentary depicts residents taking shelter at a former school building in Saitama Prefecture and scenes of Futaba town, which was evacuated due to a nuclear crisis following the March 2011 quake and tsunami.

The film director said after the screening, "I hope many people in the world will look at the current situation of people from Futaba. I will continue keeping a record until they find a permanent dwelling place."

Musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who composed piano music used in the documentary, also attended the screening.

Sakamoto said he plans to produce an album under the theme of Fukushima this summer and stage a performance with fellow musicians.

For more on Mayor Idogawa of Futaba-machi, see my previous post.

The film maker, Atsushi Funahashi, says he started shooting in late March when people were still focused on the aftermath of March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Despite the 4 explosive events in Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, I do remember that back then many people in Japan were still talking about fulfilling their duty to go out and spend money to help people in the disaster-affected area and prevent the collapse of the economy. Good old, ignorant days when the nuclear accident was a minor nuisance.

On second thoughts, it is still a minor nuisance for the majority.

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Futaba-machi Mayor on March 12, 2011 Explosion of Reactor 1: "Insulation Materials Falling Like Large Snowflakes. I Knew We Were Finished"

Mayor Idogawa says he knew it was the end.

Journalist Hiromichi Ugaya compiled a togetter of the press conference by the mayor of Futaba-machi on February 11, 2012.

Futaba-machi is where part of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located (Reactors 5, 6). The town's function has been moved to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture, and the mayor, Katsutaka Idogawa, is now demanding that his town of about 7,400 residents be relocated instead of "decontaminated".

Ugaya says Mayor Idogawa held three separate press conferences, one for TV, one for newspapers, and one for independent journalists. I haven't looked carefully yet, but I don't see any coverage at the websites of major newspapers.

Mayor Idogawa said:

• There was no instruction from the government as to where to evacuate, or how to evacuate.

• The town was not told of the vent, and the vent was carried out while there were lots of people still in town.

• What looked to be the insulation materials from the plant fell like snowflakes on them, and he knew they were finished.

The following is my translation of most of the remarks by Mayor Idogawa, as tweeted by Ugaya, who was at the conference:

Current situation of Futaba-machi in exile, as narrated by the journalist Ugaya:

同町は福島第1原発が町内にある「立地自治体」。町全体が立入禁止（警戒区域）になって全町民６４００人が避難。練馬区くらいの大きさの町。役場は埼玉県加須市に移転。きょう移転先役場で町長に会った。

Futaba-machi is one of the "municipalities with nuclear power plants", where Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located. The entire town was designated as "no entry zone" and all 6400 [sic] residents have evacuated. It is the size of Nerima-ku [in Tokyo]. The town hall has relocated to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture. I [Ugaya] met the mayor at the temporary town hall of Futaba-machi.

移転先は埼玉県加須市、生徒が減って廃校になった騎西高校をそのまま使っている。なお５００人弱の双葉町民がそのまま避難生活を続けている。そのありさまにも驚いた。アパートなど借り上げ住宅に移っていない人もまだそんなにたくさんいるのだ。

The temporary town hall is located in Kazo City, Saitama. They use the high school building that has been closed. About 500 Futaba-machi residents still live there. I am surprised. Still that many people living in the shelter, instead of living in apartments or other temporary housing arrangements.

Mayor Idogawa's recollection on the day of Reactor 1 hydrogen explosion (3/12/2011):

町民は、過去の歴史だけでなく、将来をも奪われてしまった。これはどんな価値よりも大切なものを奪われたということです。それは東京電力の補償など絶対に追いつかない

Residents of Futaba-machi have been deprived not only of their past but also of their future. They have been deprived of the most precious thing that no amount of compensation from TEPCO could buy.

「どの方向似」「何で避難する」避難指示が国や県からなかったので、役場の前の旗を見て風向きを見て逃げる方向を判断せざるをえなかった。

"Which direction?" "How do we evacuate?" There was no evacuation instruction from the national or prefectural government. So we looked at the flag in front of the town hall, figured out the wind direction, and decided which way to evacuate.

それまでの毎年の避難訓練は「電源が失われたが、３時間くらいで復旧、冷却装置が作動」というシナリオだったので、まったく役に立たなかった。

The scenario of the annual evacuation drills was "Power is lost, and recovers in about 3 hours, and the reactor cooling system comes back online". The drills were useless in the real-life accident.

町民はやむなくバラバラにマイカーで逃げるしかなかった。福島県川俣町が避難を受け入れることを決めたので、防災無線で「とにかく川俣町へ」と必死で呼びかけた。

Residents had to flee in their own cars. Kawamata-machi [northwest of Futaba-machi, just beyond Iitate-mura] had just decided to accept evacuees, so we used the emergency communication system and called out desperately to the residents to somehow go to Kawamata-machi.

政府が決めた「ベント」も何の予告もなかった。町民が真下にまだいるのに、ベントが行われた。自分たちを日本国民と思っているのか。まるで明治維新の前からそのままではないか。

We weren't told of the "vent" [of Reactor 1] that the government decided to do. The vent was carried out while the residents were still in town. I wonder if they [the government] think of us as Japanese citizens. This is like pre-Meiji Restoration [when there was no notion of citizens of a nation].

１２日、町民が脱出するなか、双葉厚生病院の前で入院者や近くの老人ホームのお年寄りをバスに乗せる誘導をしていたら、最初の水素爆発が起きた。「ズン」という鈍い音がした。

On March 12, as the residents were fleeing, I was in front of Futaba Kosei Hospital guiding the hospital patients and elderly people from the nearby senior citizens' home to a bus [for evacuation] when the first hydrogen explosion took place. There was a dull "thud".

「ああ、とうとう起きてしまった」と町長は思った。数分して、断熱材（グラスファイバー）のような破片がぼたん雪のように降ってきた。「大きなものはこれぐらいあった」と町長は親指と人差し指でマルをつくった。

"Oh no, it finally happened," the mayor thought. After a few minutes, small debris that looked like glass fiber insulation materials came falling down from the sky like large snowflakes. "Big ones were this big", the mayor puts his thumb and index finger together to form a circle.

双葉厚生病院は福島第1原発から２キロしか離れていない。雪のように断熱材（？）の破片が降るのを、３００人くらいの町職員や医師、看護師らが呆然と見つめた。町長は「これでもう終わった」と思った。

Futaba Kosei Hospital is only 2 kilometers away from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. About 300 people, including municipal workers, doctors and nurses, watched the flakes of insulation materials fall like snow, stunned. The mayor thought, "We're finished."

福島第1原発から断熱材（？）が雪のように降り注ぐ光景を、町長は「それはそれは不思議な光景だった」と振り返る。「そういう映画にでも出てきそうな光景だった」。なすすべもなく、服についた「チリ」を手で払い落とすしかなかった。

The mayor looks back and says, "That was a very, very strange sight. It was like a movie". Not knowing what to do, he just dusted off his clothes with his hand.

The sight of some filament falling from the sky, shining, was also seen by people in Iitate-mura, and Namie-machi.

About "We're finished" remark and the mayor's health:

そうした「福島第1原発からのチリ」を浴びた町長に「それは危険なものだという認識はあったのですか」と問うと「今でも『もう終わった』と思っている」と応えた。「それはどういう意味ですか」と問い返すと「鼻血がとまらない」と言った。

I [Ugaya] asked the mayor who was doused with "dust from Fukushima I Nuke Plant", "Did you think it was dangerous?" He answered, "Even today, I think "We're finished"." "What do you mean?" I asked. He said "Nosebleed hasn't stopped."

「ずっと鼻血がとまらない。鼻をかむと今でも血が出る。たらたら垂れることもある。もう乾燥しているんだかなんだかわからない」

"Nosebleed hasn't stopped. If I blow my nose it bleeds. Sometimes the blood drips. I don't know what's going on, whether the nose is too dry."

「胸から下、すね毛まで毛が抜けてつるつるになった」「銭湯で隣に座ったじいさんが『おい、女みたいにすべすべになっているぞ』というので気づいた」「陰毛だけは大丈夫だった」「体毛がないと肌着がくっついて気持ちが悪い」

"Ive lost almost all body hair from chest down, all the way down to the legs. I noticed it when an old man sitting next to me in "sento" (public bath) said to me, "Hey your skin's smooth like a woman." Pubic hair remains. It's uncomfortable without body hair, because my underwear clings to the skin."

About TEPCO employees who came to Futaba-machi town hall:

３月１１日直後から東電の職員は２人が町役場に来ていた。ふだんから担当している広報課の職員だ。しかしメルトダウンや水素爆発の情報は何も教えてくれなかった。今から思うと顔面蒼白で、知っていたのかもしれない。

Since the accident started on March 11, there were 2 TEPCO employees at the town hall. They were the regular PR department personnel. But they didn't tell us anything about meltdown or hydrogen explosion. In retrospect, the color was drained from their faces. They may have known something [about meltdown and hydrogen explosion].

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Ministry of Education Admits to Plutonium in Iitate-mura in Fukushima

35 kilometers northwest of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Jiji Tsushin (5:42PM JST 9/30/2011):

文部科学省は３０日、福島県双葉町と浪江町、飯舘村の土壌から、福島第１原発事故によるとみられるプルトニウムが検出されたことを明らかにした。同原発の敷地以外で、検出されたのは初めてという。

Ministry of Education and Science disclosed on September 30 that plutonium has been detected from the soil in Futaba-machi, Namie-machi and Iitate-mura in Fukushima Prefecture, which derived from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. According to the Ministry, it is the first detection of plutonium outside the plant.

Readers of this blog have been alerted to the existence of neptunium-239 (which decays into plutonium-239) in the soil of Iitate-mura, so it should be no surprise. It is no surprise at all either that it has taken more than 6 months for the Ministry of (Re-)Education to admit.

Neptunium-239 has reportedly been detected in Date City also. That's even further away from the plant (60 kilometers).

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UK's Daily Mail: Eerie Echoes of Chernobyl in Fukushima

Daily Mail, which has always had excellent photos of Japan's triple crisis of earthquake, tsunami, and nuke accident, has a collection of photographs of Fuktaba-machi, Fukushima and Pripyat, Chernobyl, side by side.

From Daily Mail (9/4/2011):

Haunting images taken in a town close to Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have been released showing a community frozen in time.

The new set of photographs, taken in the town of Futaba 12 miles from the Fukushima plant, bear grim similarities to those taken in Pripyat, two miles from the Chernobyl power plant.

Children's play areas lie deserted, lonely dogs wander through empty streets, shoes and personal keepsakes are left hastily abandoned in the two towns, both the scenes of hasty evacuations after explosions at the nearby nuclear power stations.

For more photos, go to the Daily Mail page.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: MP Alleges It May Not Have Been a Hydrogen Explosion on March 12

(Correction: Tokuda is from Kagoshima, not from Fukushima.)

If what Takeshi Tokuda, Member of the Lower House (House of Representatives) in the Japanese Diet, says is true, the explosion that blew up the Reactor 1 building roof and side walls may not have been an hydrogen explosion as the government has insisted, but something decidedly more serious.

From his April 17 blog entry (original in Japanese):

[Tokuda is writing about his day on April 15, including a visit to Minami-Soma City, which has been designated as "planned evacuation zone". He visited the Minami Soma City General Hospital and spoke with Dr. Oikawa, and the following is what he heard from Dr. Oikawa.]

そして及川副院長の話から驚愕の事実を知る。

Then I heard a startling story from Dr. Oikawa.

３月１２日の一度目の水素爆発の際、２㎞離れた双葉町まで破片や小石が飛んできたという。

On the first hydrogen explosion on March 12 [Reactor 1], broken pieces [of...??] and small stones [from the explosion] landed in Futaba-machi, 2 kilometers away from the Plant.

そしてその爆発直後、原発の周辺から病院へ逃れてきた人々の放射線量を調べたところ、十数人の人が１０万cpmを超えガイガーカウンターが振り切れていたという。

When the hospital checked the radiation level on the people who escaped from around the nuke plant after the explosion, there were more than 10 people whose radiation level exceeded 100,000 cpm [counts per minute], beyond what could be measured by the geiger counter the hospital had.

[100,000 cpm is the new level that the Japanese government set that requires decontamination. Before the Fukushima accident, the level was 6,000 cpm, and on March 12 it was still 6,000 cpm.]

それは衣服や乗用車に付着した放射性物質により二次被曝するほどの高い数値だ。

It is the level that threatens the secondary radiation contamination.

しかし、そこまで深刻な状況だったとは政府から発表されていない。

However, it has never been disclosed by the government that it was such a serious situation.

病院に立ち寄ることなく、被ばくしたことも知らずに、家に帰って子供を抱きしめた人もいたかもしれない。

Some people, without stopping by at the hospital and without knowing that they had been exposed to high radiation, may have gone home and hugged their children.

そこで爆発から２時間後の枝野官房長官の会見を読み直してみた。

So I re-read the transcript of the press conference given by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano two hours after the explosion.

水素爆発は起こったが、格納容器が破損していないことを確認した。

He said that there was a hydrogen explosion, but it was confirmed that the Containment Vessel was not damaged.

従って原子炉格納容器内の爆発ではないことから、放射線物質が大量に漏れ出すものではない、と述べている。

It was not the explosion within the Containment Vessel, therefore no large amount of radioactive materials would be released, Edano said.

１３日での会見では、バスにより避難した双葉町の住民の皆さんのうち、９名が測定の結果、被ばくの可能性があることを発表した。

In his March 13 press conference, he announced that 9 people who had evacuated from Futaba-machi by bus may have been exposed to radiation.

この９名のうち４名の方が少ない方で１８００cpm、多い方で４００００cpmの数値。

4 of them had the low dose of 1,800 cpm, the highest dose was 40,000 cpm, he said.

その上で専門家の判断によると、こうしたものが表面に付いているという状況に留まるならば、健康に大きな被害はない、とも述べている。

Edano also said that according to the experts there would be no serious negative effect on health as long as such matters [radioactive materials] stay on the surface.

南相馬市立総合病院で確認されているだけでも十数人が高い数値を示していた深刻な状況が、政府には情報として上がっていなかったのだろうか。

Did the government not know about this serious situation at Minami-Soma City General Hospital where more than 10 people were found to have been exposed to high radiation levels?

もし情報が上がっていなかったとしたら、官邸の情報収集能力と危機管理の観点から問題であり、情報が上がっていたのに意図的に正確な情報を伝えなかったのであれば、それは政府による情報操作であり、犯罪に近い行為と言える。

If the government didn't know, that would cast doubts on the capability of the Prime Minister's Office to gather information, and would be problematic from the point of crisis management; if they knew but decided to suppress the information, that would be the manipulation of information by the government, almost a criminal act.

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