"Eat and Support Fukushima" Campaign Going Strong in Its 3rd Year: Train Full of Fukushima Peach Ads in Tokyo

Someone uploaded the photo on Twitter, and was apparently immediately harassed by people who accused him/her of spreading "baseless rumors". So I won't link his/her tweet, as a precaution, although I would like to give credit. The photo looks unaltered.

From the very first year of the nuclear accident in 2011, Fukushima Prefecture was using children to push peaches grown in Fukushima. Back then, those students from Fukushima who went to Yokohama (in Kanagawa Prefecture) on a school trip were promoting Fukushima peaches in a park in Yokohama, telling the passers-by how delicious the peaches were.

Nothing has changed, and just like in the first year of the nuclear accident, and the 2nd year, the pop group TOKIO is busy promoting "Eat and Support" by eating Fukushima peaches again this year:

Checking the radiation monitoring site by Fukushima Prefecture　(in English), cesium-134 is no longer detected (with the detection limit of about 4 Bq/kg), and the max cesium-137 is 4.67 Bq/kg.

The highest amount of radioactive cesium in peaches from Fukushima in 2011 was 150 Bq/kg from peaches in Date City. The provisional safety limit was 500 Bq/kg then, so these peaches were deemed "safe".

Fruit farmers in Fukushima had no problem growing, harvesting and selling peaches, apples, pears, persimmons in the very first year of the accident. They complained that their fruits didn't get the price they used to get before the nuclear accident, and said they were suffering the "baseless rumors".

They have continued to produce ever since. With the strong backing from the Abe administration and in particular from Ms. Masako Mori, Minister in charge of consumer affairs and of dealing with declining number of children in Japan, who wants to enact a law to force retailers to carry Fukushima produce, Fukushima farmers can continue to blame those fickle consumers in the rest of the country who won't buy their stuff for spreading "baseless rumors".

Checking the radiation monitoring site by Japan Chemical Analysis Center, there are only 8 cases of measuring any kind of fruits, and they are all in Hokkaido. The max Cs-137 content was found in grapefruits in 1994, at 0.14 Bq/kg.

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"Eat and Support the Recovery of #Fukushima" Food Fair at TEPCO Headquarters Was a Great Success

According to Denki Shinbun (6/13/2013), an electric power industry newspaper:

食べて支える、福島復興－東電本店で食材販売バザール

Eat and support the recovery of Fukushima - Food fair held at TEPCO Headquarters

東京電力本店で福島県の食材を販売する「福島復興バザール」が、今月１１日に開催された。福島県産のトマトやサクランボ、日本酒、喜多方ラーメンなどが売り場に並び、行列ができるほどの盛況ぶりだった。社員食堂でも福島スペシャルメニュー「食べる豚汁」が同日限定で販売され、好評を博した。食材販売にあたった社員は、「福島県産の食材を食べることで、復興の一助になればと思う。色々な活動を通して復興を支援していきたい」と話していた。

"Fukushima Recovery Bazaar" to sell foodstuff from Fukushima Prefecture was held on June 11 at TEPCO Headquarters in Tokyo. Made-in-Fukushima tomatoes, cherries, sake, Kitakata ramen noodles were displayed, and people formed long lines to buy them. At the company cafeteria, "soup with pork" was the very popular day's special. A TEPCO employee in charge of selling the foodstuff said, "We hope eating foodstuff made in Fukushima Prefecture will help the recovery of Fukushima. We will continue to support the recovery through various activities."

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Vastly Different Point of View: "Let's All Eat Tohoku Vegetables and Food to Support the Recovery" If You Are Old or Not Having Children!

A tweet of a person in Japan, an exemplary citizen who should be praised by the national government and by people like Hiroaki Koide:

年配者のみや子供を産まない家庭の人は、東北の野菜や食品を積極的に食べましょうよ。私は先日、病気の検査で9ミリシーベルトの放射線を浴びてきました。そんなものです。できる方は東北の復興に協力しましょう。

Let's eat vegetables and food from Tokyo, if you are old or if you don't plan to have children! I was exposed to 9 millisievert radiation the other day in a medical test. No big deal. Those who can, let's all support the recovery of Tohoku.

Gresham's law. After one year, there are people who still refuse to learn about the difference between the targeted, and supervised and brief high-dose radiation exposure during the medical procedures for diagnosis or treatment and chronic, overall, and uncontrolled low-dose internal and external radiation exposure.

Even the farmers in Fukushima refuse to eat what they grow.

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Video of "Miss Campus Eat and Support East Japan"

Captioned by Tokyo Brown Tabby, uploaded by sievert311:

Japanese Gov't Appointed 9 College Beauty Queens... by sievert311

Some are hoping the girls are smarter than they look, while others think they are as smart as they look.

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Ministry of Agriculture Enlists "Miss Campus" from 9 Universities to Be "Eat and Support East Japan" Ambassadors

（UPDATE 2/17/2012: Enjoy the video, too.)

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The Japanese government is going to make these young women eat food from the nuclear-disaster affected Tohoku and Kanto to support the recovery.

This is simply beyond my comprehension. Some on Twitter call it "student mobilization", just like during the World War II; the government knowingly putting young people in danger so they can remain in their positions a while longer.

From Sankei Photo News (2/15/2012):

ミスキャンパスが震災復興の応援大使 　農水省

"Miss Campus" to become "ambassadors" to support the disaster recovery, says Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

　東日本大震災の被災地の農林漁業を支援しようと、農林水産省は15日、青山学院大や学習院大などのミスキャンパス9人を「食べて応援学生大使」に任命した。9人は震災復興に加え、食料自給率の向上に向けた活動も展開していく。　

To support the agriculture, forestry sand fisheries industries in the disaster-affected areas, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries appointed 9 "Miss Campus" (beauty queens) on 9 campuses including Aoyama Gakuin University and Gakushuin University as "Eat and Support student ambassadors" on February 15. The nine young women will participate in activities not only for the disaster recovery but also for improving the food self-sufficiency rate.

東京・霞が関の農水省で開かれた任命式で、鹿野道彦農相は「食にさらなる関心を持って活躍してほしい。国産の農林水産物の魅力を、食料自給率向上の鍵を握る多くの若者世代に伝えてもらうことを期待している」と述べた。　

In the swearing-in ceremony at the Ministry in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, Minister Michihiko Kano said to the students, "I would like you to play an active part with keen interest in food. I am looking forward to your effort to appeal the charm of domestically grown agricultural, forest and fishery products to the younger generation, as they are the key to improving the food self-sufficiency."

メンバーは任命にあたってそれぞれ抱負を披露。成蹊大の蛇川真菜さ(20)は「東日本の食材をもりもり食べます」、立教女学院短大の藤田美沙さん (22)は「東北の果物を使った米粉スイーツを毎週１個考え、食べていきます」と意気込んでいた。（写真は、「食べて応援学生大使」に任命され、鹿野農相と記念写真に納まるミスキャンパスたち＝15日午後、農水省）

Upon being sworn in, each member spoke of their plans. Miss Seikei University (age 20) said, "I will eat food items from east Japan heartily". Miss Rikkyo Women's College (age 22) said enthusiastically, "I will come up with one desert a week using fruits from Tohoku, and eat it." (Photograph of "Miss Campus" members with Minister Kano, February 15 afternoon)

"Charm" of domestic produce? You mean radionuclides are a charm?

Agricultural products like rice and vegetables from Tohoku and Kanto are contaminated with radioactive materials in varying degrees. You don't want to eat fish caught off the coast of Tohoku and Kanto if you don't want to eat cesium and strontium (and God knows what else). Fruits from Tohoku are particularly bad, with kiwis, blueberries regularly exceeding the provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium). Peaches, apples, persimmons have all been found with radioactive cesium. Mushrooms are routinely found with radioactive cesium easily exceeding the safety limit.

I wonder what the Ministry offered these women in return. As Haruki Madarame famously said, "It's about money". If not money, it should still be something of value, enough to offset the potential health risk of promoting recovery by eating Tohoku and Kanto produce.

From the Ministry's webpage, it seems a photo magazine called B.L.T. is involved in the project. Maybe these young women get to pose for the magazine, and that will be the reward for them...

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