#Radioactive Japan: "Eat and Support" Fukushima Rice, Without Knowing and Without Choice

From rice to be grown and harvested in 2013, the national government is buying up 250,000 tonnes for the government's rice reserve; of that, 40,000 tonnes, or 16%, may come from Fukushima Prefecture. The Fukushima prefectural government is encouraging farmers to participate in the government bidding if they fear "baseless rumors" driving down the price for their rice in the open market.

Once it is purchased by the national government, Fukushima rice becomes just "rice".

The reserve rice will be released to the market a few years later as the need arises (shortage of rice, request from food companies) and as part of the regular inventory control. The consumers won't be able to tell it is rice from Fukushima, or the products (rice crackers, miso, shochu, etc.) is made with rice from Fukushima.

This year, farmers in some of the areas that weren't planted because of the nuclear accident (i.e. former evacuation zones) are happily growing rice with full intention of selling to consumers as long as it is judged "safe" (i.e. testing below the national government's safety standard of 100 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium).

From an article on January 24 this year that appeared in a Fukushima local paper (Fukushima Minpo, the link already expired), archived at this blog:

政府が農家や集荷業者から買い上げる平成２５年産の「備蓄米」２５万トンのうち、県は全国最多の４万トンの配分枠を申請し、認められた。県内の前年の契約実績２１４トンの約２００倍。備蓄米は入札で価格が決まるため、東京電力福島第一原発事故に伴う風評被害の影響がない。県内では作付け再開地域を中心に価格下落への懸念があり、県は不安を抱く農家に備蓄米制度の活用を呼び掛ける。

Of the 250,000 tonnes of 2013 rice that the national government plans to buy from farmers and distributors for its rice reserve, Fukushima prefecture has asked for 40,000 tonnes allocated for Fukushima, the largest amount in the country, and the request has been approved. The amount is about 200 times more than 214 tonnes in 2012 that were actually purchased by the government. Since the price of rice for the rice reserve is determined by auctions, it won't be affected by baseless rumors after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. Farmers in the areas set to resume rice-growing fear the price drop. The prefectural government will encourage these farmers to utilize the rice reserve system.

県などが２３日に福島市のパルセいいざかで開いた２５年産米作付けに関する説明会で各市町村の担当者らに示した。

The prefectural government explained to municipal officials in a meeting regarding the rice growing in 2013 on January 23 in Fukushima City.

農林水産省によると、入札は一般競争入札方式で、作付け前の１～６月までに数回行われる。審査登録した農家や集荷業者などが参加でき、一番安い価格から落札される。本県の場合、配分枠の４万トンに達するまで応札できる。

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the bidding is done by open bidding. There will be several biddings from January to June, before the planting. Farmers and distributors registered [with the Ministry] can participate, and the lowest bid will be successful. In case of Fukushima Prefecture, farmers and distributors can bid until the allocated 40,000 tonnes are bought by the government.

入札予定価格は全国一律で、２４年産米の平均落札価格は６０キロ当たり１万３４０６円だった。市場流通米と比べ、農水省は「輸送費や販売促進費を除いた価格と同水準」としているが、入札は収穫前のため、市場価格と開きが出ることもある。

The purchase price by the government will apply to all rice, and the average price for the 2012 rice was 13,406 yen per 60-kilo bag. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the price is "equivalent to the market price when transportation costs and sales and promotion expenses are deducted". However, since the bidding is done before the harvest, it is possible that the price will be different from the market price.

応札増加を目指し、都道府県別の入札予定枠は、２５年産米から拡大された。県は風評対策を含め、「農家の希望に応えられる数量」として４万トンに設定。一定の収入を確実に見込める利点などを示しながら生産者らに活用を呼び掛ける。

In order to encourage more bids, the bidding allocations for prefectures have expanded for the 2013 rice. Fukushima Prefecture applied for 40,000-tonne allocation in order to "meet the demand from farmers" as a countermeasure against baseless rumors. The prefectural government will encourage farmers to utilize the system by pointing out the merit that a certain level of income is guaranteed under the system.

県によると、本県の２４年産米の収量は約３６万トンだった。

According to the prefectural government, Fukushima had 360,000 tonnes of rice harvested in 2012.

So, Fukushima Prefecture is planning on selling over 11% of this year's harvest to the national government, who buys up rice using taxpayers' money.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture (February 2013), Koshihikari rice grown and harvested in "Nakadori" in Fukushima (including cities like Date, Fukushima, with high soil contamination) in 2012 was selling for 15,034 yen per 60 kg bag in the open market as of December 2012, which was about the same price level as rice from other prefectures.

And that was the lowest-priced rice from Fukushima. Go figure.

The latest auction results announced by the Ministry of Agriculture (5/28/2013) shows 11,000 tonnes of rice from Fukushima Prefecture have been purchased by the national government in 8 auctions.

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Anything Goes in #Radioactive Japan under LDP: Government to Allow Rice Growing in Former Evacuation Zones, Areas That Exceeded 500 Bq/kg in 2011

It's not just the stock market (superbly bid up by Goldman Sachs so that they can sell to the suckers) that's gone wild in Japan. Everything and anything, including allowing rice to be grown in the most contaminated areas in Fukushima.

Here's the latest from the publicly funded news station NHK News (1/29/2013):

福島県内 コメ作付け制限緩和

Within Fukushima Prefecture, the restriction on rice growing will be loosened

農林水産省は、福島県内のコメの作付け制限を一部の地域で緩和し、おととしの検査で１キログラム当たり５００ベクレルを超える放射性物質が検出された地域についても、出荷前に全袋検査などを行うことを条件に、作付けを認める方針を発表しました。

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries have announced its policy to loosen the restriction on rice cultivation in areas in Fukushima Prefecture, and allow farmers to grow rice even in the areas whose rice tested with radioactive cesium exceeding 500 Bq/kg in 2011, as long as all the rice bags are tested before they are shipped.

農林水産省が２９日発表した、ことしのコメの作付けの方針によりますと、福島県で去年作付けを行った地域については、ことしも引き続き全袋検査などを行うことを条件に、作付けを認めるとしています。

According to the policy announced on January 29 by the ministry, the areas in Fukushima that grew rice last year will be allowed to grow rice this year as long as they continue to do the tests including testing all the bags of rice.

また、去年は作付けが制限された、緊急時避難準備区域に指定されていた地域や、おととしの検査で１キログラム当たり５００ベクレルを超える放射性物質が検出された地域についても、水田の管理計画を作成し、出荷前に全袋検査などを行うことを条件に、新たに作付けを認めることになりました。

Also, the areas that were restricted from growing rice, such as emergency evacuation preparation zone and the areas where radioactive materials [cesium] exceeding 500 Bq/kg were detected in the tests done in 2011, will be allowed to grow rice as long as there are management plans for the rice paddies in place and all bags of rice are tested before shipping.

また、警戒区域や計画的避難区域、居住制限区域などに指定されている地域では、作付けの再開に向けて、ことし試験的にコメを栽培することにしています。
林農林水産大臣は会見で、「地元の意向を踏まえたうえで、作付け再開に向けた取り組みを後押しできるよう、準備を進めてきた。被災地の農業の再建ができるだけ早く進むようにしたい」と述べました。

In the [former 20-kilometer] evacuation zone, planned evacuation zone, and areas designated as limited habitation, rice will be grown this year as an experiment for the restart of growing rice [in the future]. Minister of Agriculture Hayashi said in the press conference, "Based on the intention of the locals, we have been preparing to help support the efforts to restart the growing of rice. We would like to see the agriculture in the disaster affected areas get rebuilt as soon as possible."

Intention of the locals??? What about the intention of the consumers?

Consumers have been too considerate and reasonable, I'm afraid. The most people on Twitter say about food contaminated with radioactive cesium is that they do not support or participate in the government campaign of "Eat and Support". Most of them (with few exceptions here and there) don't want to hurt the feelings of farmers in the contaminated areas in Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, and northern Kanto. Saying they don't support the government campaign has done nothing to stop the distribution of contaminated food throughout Japan and beyond (in Thailand, for example).

It is not true that "all of Japan has been contaminated, and therefore food grown everywhere is contaminated", as people often quote Kyoto University's Koide as saying. From what I've read, what Dr. Koide is talking about is the contamination from the atmospheric testing, not necessarily from the Fukushima accident. But he doesn't make it clear, and people do not bother to make it clear.

There are clean(er) food items available from west Japan and Hokkaido where the fallout from Fukushima was negligible. And yet, the Japanese are told to eat food grown in the contaminated areas, so that the farmers there can make money and recover (so that the national government does not need to compensate them). Those who can afford quietly buy from western Japan. Those who cannot simply give up.

I've always disliked Professor Hayakawa's attacks on consumers who do not protest against contaminated food but who do against wide-area disposal of disaster debris which happens to be also contaminated with radioactive materials. I still disagree with Professor Hayakawa on disaster debris, but I have to agree with him on food.

If, for example, people who used to gather in great numbers in front of the Prime Minister's Official Residence in Tokyo every Friday last year had shouted "We don't want to eat contaminated food!" instead of single-issue chanting of "No restart of nuke plants!", I wonder what difference it might have made. I know it wouldn't have happened, as the organizers of the event was for "eat and support", and contamination in Tohoku and Kanto was non-issue for them.

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#Radioactive Japan: Government Changes Rules, and 102.8Bq/kg of Cesium in Rice Becomes 100Bq/kg, Rice Safe and Good to Sell

Rice harvested this year in a district in Iwaki City in southern Fukushima was found with 102.8 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

Not a problem.

Because under the little-noted guideline from the Ministry of Health and Welfare on March 15 this year before the provisional safety standard of 500 becquerels/kg of cesium expired, you are supposed to round down or up the 3rd digit and use only the first 2 digits. (Jiji article below says the notice was issued on July 5, but the original notice was on March 15.)

So, 102.8 becomes 100. Exactly the safety limit, and that's fine with the Fukushima prefectural government. They say it is "sufficiently safe", meaning the rice will be sold.

From Jiji Tsushin (10/18/2012):

コメ検査で基準値上限＝「十分に安全」と県－福島

Rice tested at the upper safety limit, "Sufficiently safe", says Fukushima government

　福島県は１８日、２０１２年産米のモニタリング検査で、同県いわき市で生産されたコメから放射性セシウムの基準値の限度いっぱいの１キロ当たり１００ベクレルが検出されたと発表した。基準値は超えておらず、県は「十分に安全」（水田畑作課）としている。

Fukushima prefectural government announced the result of monitoring tests of rice harvested in 2012, which showed 100 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium had been detected from rice grown in Iwaki City in Fukushima. Since it didn't exceed the safety limit, the prefectural government says it is "sufficiently safe".

　県によると、いわき市の旧川部村で１６日に採取した玄米で、セシウム１３４が３９．６ベクレル、セシウム１３７が６３．２ベクレル検出された。合計すれば１０２．８ベクレルで基準値を上回るが、厚生労働省は「（合計値の）３桁目を四捨五入し、有効数字２桁とする」と７月５日付で通知しており、これに従うと１００ベクレルちょうどになる。

According to the prefectural government, unmilled rice from former Kawabe-mura in Iwaki City harvested on October 16 was found with 39.6 becquerels/kg of cesium-134, and 63.2 becquerels/kg of cesium-137. Total would be 102.8 becquerels/kg, exceeding the safety limit. However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare had sent a notice dated July 5, 2012 which stated, "Round off the third digit to the nearest whole number and use the first two digits as significant figure." According to the notice, [Iwaki's number] is exactly 100 becquerels.

　県は安全性確保のため、一定数のサンプルを採取して行うモニタリング検査に加え、全ての県産米（約１２００万袋）を対象に全袋検査を実施中。これまでに、いずれの検査でも基準値を超えるセシウムは見つかっていない。

The prefectural government has been conducting the test to detect radioactive materials (cesium) on all rice (about 12 million bags [of 30 kilograms of rice]) grown in Fukushima, in addition to the monitoring test with a certain number of samples [per location]. So far, no rice has been found with radioactive cesium exceeding the safety standard in either test.

Uh... it has just been found, hasn't it? 102.8 becquerels/kg?

Japanese wiki on rounding numbers says you should be conservative in rounding the numbers when it comes to safety. In this case, if the safety standard is 100 becquerels/kg and the rice exceeded that standard by whatever small margin, it should have been treated as "exceeding the standard", instead of rounding down and declaring it is "sufficiently safe". If anything, it should be rounded up to 110 and ban the sales to be very conservative and safe.

As one of my Japanese Twitter followers suggested, that wiki entry needs a revision: "You should disregard safety when it involves the government policy, and round down the numbers to fit the safety standard to avoid baseless rumors."

By the way, Fukushima Prefecture tested one more sample from the same village in the monitoring test. That sample was found with 71.8 becquerels/kg, which the Fukushima prefectural government dutifully rounded up and printed "72 becquerels/kg".

Last year, there were 3 samples tested from this particular village in Iwaki City. They were all ND.

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New (2012) Crop of #Fukushima Rice that "Passed" the Test Is On Sale in Tokyo

Sure it passed. The detection limit was 25 becquerels/kg, testing done in 5 to 10 seconds at most using brand-new detectors built specifically for the task of rapidly "measuring" the radioactive cesium in rice grown in Fukushima Prefecture.

Never mind the details like that. Shoppers in Edogawa-ku, Tokyo (itself in the more contaminated section of Tokyo) are happy to snap up this year's fresh crop.

From Nikkei Shinbun quoting Kyodo News (9/1/2012; emphasis is mine):

福島産の新米、東京で販売開始　全袋検査に合格

New crop of Fukushima rice sale started in Tokyo, all bags passed the inspection [for radioactive materials]

福島県でことし収穫された新米の販売が１日、東京都江戸川区のアンテナショップ「ふくしま市場」で始まった。同県では８月から放射性物質の全袋検査を実施しており、合格したコメの県外販売は初めて。

New crop of rice harvested in Fukushima Prefecture this year started on September 1 at "Fukushima Market", a shop to test selling the Fukushima produce in Edogawa-ku, Tokyo. Fukushima Prefecture has started testing all bags of rice for radioactive materials since August, and this was the first sale of the rice that passed the test outside Fukushima.

　店頭には、検査で検出限界値（１キロ当たり25ベクレル）を下回った本宮市産「五百川」と会津坂下町産「瑞穂黄金」の早場米２品種が並べられた。設置された試食コーナーで買い物客が味を確かめ、名産の桃などと一緒に買っていた。

Bags of rice from Motomiya City and from Aizubange-machi, both of which tested below the detection limit (25 becquerels/kg) were put on sale. Shoppers were sampling at a sampling corner of the store, and seen purchasing [the rice] together with the peaches from Fukushima.

　家族４人で訪れていた江戸川区の会社員岡本孝雄さん（45）は震災前からの福島米ファン。「ことしもおいしかった。検査もしているし、何も心配せずに買いました」と話していた。

Mr. Takao Okamoto (age 45), an office worker who lives in Edogawa-ku, was visiting the shop with his family of four. He [said] he had been a fan of Fukushima rice even before the March 11, 2011 disaster. He said, "[The rice] tastes great this year, too. They test the rice, so I bought without any worries at all."

(Poor kids.)

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#Radioactive Japan: Volunteers Including Small Children Plant Rice Just Outside 20-Km Radius in Fukushima Prefecture

From the photograph by Mainichi Shinbun, both the small girl and the mother (I think) are planting rice with bare hands and bare feet. The location is Kawauchi-mura, Fukushima Prefecture, just outside the 20-kilometer "no-entry" zone and inside the former "evacuation-ready zone" which was abolished in September last year.

Why is this happening? Mainichi Shinbun (5/13/2012; emphasis is mine) reports:

東京電力福島第１原発事故で昨年、政府がコメの作付けを全域で制限した福島県川内村で１３日、試験田への作付けが始まった。村商工会などが呼びかけ、首都圏から訪れた家族連れのボランティアら約５０人が泥に足をとられながら、昔ながらの手植えを楽しんだ。

In the wake of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident last year, the national government restricted the planting of rice in Kawauchi-mura in Fukushima Prefecture. On May 13, the experimental planting of rice started in Kawauchi-mura. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the village planned the event, and about 50 volunteers including families from the Tokyo Metropolitan region enjoyed rice planting the old-fashioned way - by hand, in the mud.

　今年も村は独自判断で作付けを自粛。試験栽培の結果を踏まえて来年以降の本格的な作付け再開を目指す。試験ほ場で計３０枚の水田に１０アールずつ順次作付けし、放射性物質を吸着する鉱物の散布量や耕す深さを変えて栽培。収穫後のコメは流通させず放射性セシウムを検出するかを調べる。

This year, the village has decided to refrain from planting rice on a commercial scale, but plans to resume planting next year based on the experimental cultivation. In the experimental plot using 30 rice paddies, rice will be planted in 10 ares with differing amounts of minerals that absorb radioactive materials and different tilling depths. The harvested rice won't be sold in the market, but will be used to study whether radioactive cesium is detected.

　神奈川県藤沢市の大学４年生、小宮明子さん（２２）は「風評被害が広まる中、現地で自分の目で見て、安全を信じたい。前を向いて頑張る人を応援したい」と話した。昨年も作付けを行ったコメ農家、秋元美誉（よしたか）さん（６９）は「試験田でも農業再生の第一歩。すぐ売れなくても、地道に消費者に理解される活動を続けたい」と語った。

Akiko Komiya (age 22), college senior from Fujisawa City in Kanagawa said, "As baseless rumors spread, I wanted to see things for myself. I want to believe in safety, and want to support people doing their best in a positive manner." Yoshitaka Akimoto (age 69), the farmer who planted the rice last year, said, "Even if this is only an experiment, it is the first step toward the agricultural renewal. Even if it cannot be sold right away, I want to continue to slowly persuade the consumers."

With a college senior like Ms. Komiya, the future for Japan is as bright as in the past 20 years or so.

Fukushima's local paper Fukushima Minpo (5/13/2012) reports on the same news, and says this experiment is part of the project to develop new sales routes for the rice grown in Kawauchi-mura. The project is called "Revival of Rice Project (復活の米プロジェクト)", and is hosted by Mr. Akimoto. The paper quote him as saying:

コメ作りが始まると考えると、気分が高揚する。消費者と交流の輪を広げながら、一歩ずつ前進していきたい

I'm excited to think that rice growing is just about to start. One step at a time, as I interact with more consumers.

As Mainichi article says, Mr. Akimoto planted and harvested rice last year, too, despite the ban. The harvest rice is supposed to have been tested and discarded. I haven't found the result of the test, if it was ever done. Looking at the photo at Fukushima Minpo, he looks like he means well.

The Ministry of Education and Science's cesium deposition map of Kawauchi-mura, and the map roughly indicating where Mr. Akimoto's rice farm is located (from Kobe Shinbun last year):

Contamination in most of Kawauchi-mura seems less than areas in Fukushima City or Date City, 50 kilometers or more from the nuclear plant. Still, the MEXT map shows Mr. Akimoto's farm to have soil with 100K to 300K Bq/m2 of radioactive cesium. It doesn't seem like the "safe" enough level for a mother to let her small daughter go bare feet and hands to play in the mud.

Kawauchi-mura's Tourism Bureau informs us as of April 25, 2012 that the public building (museum) right near Mr. Akimoto's farm remains closed, and no decontamination work has been done.

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Date City in #Fukushima to Allow Rice Growing Everywhere, Even Where 500 Bq/kg Safety Limit Was Exceeded Last Year

The mayor of the city says "It's for the research purpose, and won't be sold". Sure.

If Fukushima City and Nihonmatsu City follow suit, the only municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture where rice won't be grown this year are the same as last year, inside the no-entry zone and in the planned evacuation zone.

Everywhere else, whether it produced rice with 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium or not, farmers will grow rice.

Officials in Nihonmatsu City have already said as long as it is the national government's responsibility to test the harvested rice, they don't see any problem growing rice.

From Jiji Tsushin (3/2/2012):

福島県伊達市の仁志田昇司市長は２日の定例記者会見で、２０１２年産米について国の暫定規制値（１キロ当たり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出された地域でも試験的に作付けを行う方針を明らかにした。セシウムが検出された原因や除染の効果を調査するのが狙い。同市長は「出荷をしないという前提で試験する。（収穫後は）きちんと管理する」と語った。今後、この方針をめぐり国などと協議する。

Shoji Nishida, Mayor of Date City in Fukushima Prefecture, held the regular press conference on March 2 and announced the policy to allow farmers to plant rice this year even in the areas where radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) was found in rice last year. The purpose is to identify the reasons for cesium detection in rice, and to study the effect of decontamination. The mayor said, "It is an experiment, and the rice won't be sold. After the harvest, it will be properly managed." The mayor will discuss the policy with the national and prefectural governments.

This is the same city that has sent more conscientious farmers who refrained from growing rice last year a notice that their land will be considered abandoned unless they farm and grow crops this year.

In the highly contaminated district of Date City, one worker hired by the JAEA died at the decontamination site.

Why do they continue to grow rice in the most contaminated prefecture in all of Japan? you ask? As I posted before, it is to encourage farmers to continue to farm, ostensibly. And to keep rice paddies in good condition, ostensibly. And to increase the food self-sufficiency, ostensibly. None of them make any sense to me, but here's a tweet from one of the supporters of rice growing Fukushima farmers sent to Professor Yukio Hayakawa:

米作りは生態系維持や土質の維持、そして農民の生き甲斐などの観点からは毎年欠かさず作るほうがよいと言えます。経済的価値からだけの判断は一面的過ぎませんか？

In order to maintain the ecosystem and the quality of the soil, and to give farmers something to live for, it is better to grow rice every year without fail. Judging only by the economic merit is too one-sided, don't you think?

Professor Hayakawa's answer:

あなたはその考えのもとに自分の子どもの健康を差し出せますか？

Can you sacrifice the health of your own child based on your thinking?

People like this person who wrote to Hayakawa are trapped in their PC. It probably doesn't even occur to them, as it didn't for this person, "quality of soil" is damaged at least for several decades because of radioactive cesium, strontium, silver and other radionuclides that fell on the farmland in Fukushima.

I can tell you the country was not like this before. Yes, the idea of "tatemae" (facade) and "honnne" (real) was always there, but at least people knew that it was "tatemae" when they heard it.

Now, more and more Japanese truly believe in their own "tatemae" and lies.

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Ministry of Agriculture to Allow Rice to Be Grown in Almost All Areas in Fukushima This Year, Just Like Last Year

except for a few districts where rice with high level of radioactive cesium exceeding 500 becquerels/kg was found in last year's testing.

Well why not? The government didn't stop farmers in Fukushima from planting rice last year, right after three explosions (possibly 4, counting Reactor 2's Suppression Chamber) at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant released 650,000 terabecquerels (iodine equivalent) of radioactive materials. They apparently told some reluctant farmers if they didn't grow rice they wouldn't be compensated. So the farmers in Fukushima tilled the land, mixed up the contaminated soil and poured water in the rice paddies and grew rice. If they could do it last year, surely they can do it this year, and next year, and year after next year.

Farmers in the areas where rice with radioactive cesium between 100 becquerels/kg and 500 becquerels/kg was found last year will be allowed to grow rice this year, even though the new safety limit for radioactive cesium in food will be 100 becquerels/kg starting April 1, 2012.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will allow rice cultivation on only one condition that all bags of rice (60-kilogram bag) be tested after harvest.

(Ostensible) reason? So that the farmers in Fukushima aren't discouraged from growing rice.

(Don't ask me.)

From Jiji Tsushin (2/28/2012):

全袋調査でコメ作付け可能＝福島、１００ベクレル超でも－農水省
Farmers can grow rice in Fukushima, even in the areas that had rice with radioactive cesium exceeding 100 Bq/kg, as long as all bags of rice are tested, says Ministry of Agriculture

　農林水産省は２８日、福島県産米から国の暫定規制値（１キロ当たり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが相次いで検出された問題を受け、２０１２年産米の作付けに関する方針を発表した。焦点となっていた１００ベクレル超５００ベクレル以下のセシウムが検出された地域は、収穫後の全袋調査など一定の条件を満たせば作付けを認めることにした。

In response to a series of detection last year of radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) in rice grown in Fukushima Prefecture, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced the policy on the 2012 rice on February 28. The areas where radioactive cesium exceeding 100 becquerels/kg but below 500 becquerels/kg was found last year will be allowed to grow rice as long as certain conditions are met, including testing of all bags of rice after harvesting.

　対象となる地域の１１年生産量は約３万トンで、福島県のコメ生産全体のほぼ１割に当たる。

The total amount of rice produced in these areas in 2011 was about 30,000 tonnes, or 10 percent of the total amount of rice produced in Fukushima Prefecture.

　鹿野道彦農水相は記者団に対し「食の安全を確保することを最優先とした」と述べ、消費者の不安の払拭（ふっしょく）を重視する姿勢を強調。その上で、福島県の農家のコメづくりに対する強い意欲も考慮して方針を決めたと説明した。

Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano spoke to the press, "Securing the safety of food is our first priority", emphasizing the need to dispel consumers' anxiety. He explained that in establishing the policy further consideration was given to the strong desire of the farmers in Fukushima to grow rice.

We'll see if testing all bags of rice is even possible, given the lack of testing equipment even with the last year's sampling test. It doesn't look like they even pretend to "decontaminate" rice paddies in the high radiation middle third of Fukushima ("Nakadori").

Let's speculate on the real reasons for the decision by the Ministry of Agriculture:

• They'd rather gamble, and if cesium is below the 100 Bq/kg limit the government will not have to do anything.

• They want to give business to the companies that make radiation testing devices and equipment (like Fuji Electric who made the radiation monitoring device at a school in Minami Soma City).

After all, this was the Ministry whose officials thought waving the Nal scintillation survey meter over cows would measure the radiation of the meat accurately enough. They didn't know that rice hay was fed to the cows as part of the diet right before the cows were to be sold. We cannot, and shouldn't expect much sharp thinking from this (or any other) ministry.

Caveat emptor, but I sense that most Japanese are either just too weary or not caring any more at this point. Relentless drive by the Kan administration and then by the current Noda administration to spread radioactive vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, leaf compost, mushrooms and logs to grow mushrooms on, firewood, disaster debris, etc. so that Tohoku (Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate) "can recover" is taking its toll.

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Two Ways to Sell Contaminated Fukushima Rice: Sell Direct, and Discount for Wholesalers

No matter what the governments (national, prefectural) or the agricultural co-op (JA) in Fukushima say about the "safe" rice from Fukushima through vigorous testing, there are just too many ways that Fukushima rice that are contaminated with radioactive cesium can slip through and reach the consumers, without the consumers knowing that they are contaminated to a degree that they may not be comfortable eating it.

One way to sell directly to consumers, like in this case in Fukushima: "Mochi" rice (sticky rice used to make "mochi") containing 1110 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium had been sold at a farm stand in Date City, Fukushima.

From Jiji Tsushin (1/27/2012):

福島県は２７日、同県伊達市の農家が生産したもち米から国の暫定規制値（１キロ当たり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出されたと発表した。濃度は１１１０ベクレル。県によると、この農家のもち米のうち５７．５キロが昨年１１月上旬までに市内の直売所で販売された。直売所は回収を呼び掛けている。

The Fukushima prefectural government announced on January 27 that radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) was detected from "mochi" rice produced by a farmer in Date City in Fukushima Prefecture. The density was 1110 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. According to the prefectural government, 57.5 kilograms of this rice had already been sold by the first half of November 2011 at a direct sales depot in the city. The direct sales depot is calling for the return of the rice.

Return? Most likely the rice has been already eaten as "mochi".

I totally fail to sympathize with the farmer who sold the rice at the direct sales depot. By 2011 fall, it should have been obvious, even to people in Date City, that their houses, farmlands were heavily contaminated. The city was measuring the radiation levels in the city and finding "hot spots" everywhere.

Another way is being practiced by the Fukushima JA: Reduce the wholesale price so that the distributors can get a fat margin, thus incentive for the wholesalers to push Fukushima rice. I'm sure they will be glad to oblige, because they mix and match with other rice from other parts of Japan anyway.

Also from Jiji Tsushin (1/27/2012):

ＪＡ全農福島（福島市）は２０１１年県産米の一部銘柄について、卸業者への売り渡し価格（相対取引価格）を引き下げる方向で調整を始めた。複数の業者筋が２７日明らかにした。早ければ３０日にも実施の方向。東京電力福島第１原発事故を受けた風評被害で販売が低迷する中、価格引き下げによる消費喚起が狙いとみられる。

The Fukushima Branch of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Association (JA) has been coordinating with the wholesalers to lower the wholesale price of some brands of rice produced in Fukushima in 2011. A multiple wholesalers disclosed the news [to reporters] on January 27. The new price will be effective as soon as January 30. As the sales has slumped due to the baseless rumors after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, the Fukushima JA may be aiming at stimulating the sales by lowering the wholesale price.

　県中央部に当たる中通りコシヒカリ（６０キロ当たり）、海沿い中心の浜通りコシヒカリ（同）はいずれも１５００円引き下げ、それぞれ１万３８００円、１万３７００円に、同県産ひとめぼれ（同）は５００円下げ、１万３５００円とする案が有力。会津産コシヒカリは据え置く方向。

The wholesale price of "Koshihikari" from Nakadori (central Fukushima) and from Hamadori (coastal Fukushima) will be lowered by 1500 yen to be 13,800 yen and 13,700 yen per 60-kilogram bag respectively. "Hitomebore" brand produced in Fukushima will be lowered by 500 yen to 13,500 yen per 60-kilogram bag. The price for "Koshihikari" produced in Aizu region (western Fukushima) will not change.

I do not think it is likely that the wholesalers will pass on the savings to the retailers, if the past is any indication.

There are just too many channels through which the rice will leave Fukushima, as the Fukushima JA handles only 23% of rice produced in Fukushima anyway.

By the way, the Fukushima JA has decided on the rice growing policy in Fukushima for 2012 crop. The only areas that they say they will disallow the planting of rice are the areas that produced rice that exceeded 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. Everywhere else, even in those areas that were unlucky to be found with rice that had radioactive cesium between 100 and 500 becquerels/kg, the JA will allow the rice growing after "thorough decontamination" of the soil.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

We know what "decontamination" they are talking about, don't we? The rice farmers in Fukushima who grew rice last year (almost all of them) tilled their contaminated land before planting last year, mixing up the radioactive cesium, strontium and whatever other nuclides that landed with the then-clean soil underneath. Most likely they did the autumn tilling before the snowfall last year already. Most locations weren't even tested for radioactive materials in soil.

How do you decontaminate such land? It certainly won't be accomplished by thinly scraping the soil surface. Remove the top 30 centimeters? No that won't be enough, because rain may have driven radioactive materials further down. Top 1 meter then? The productive part of the soil will be gone.

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#Fukushima to Test Every Single Bag of Rice This Year (Meaning They Will Definitely Grow Rice in 2012)

If they do it, they should have done in 2011. Damage done.

Who is going to eat Fukushima rice? Probably the same people eating it now, at schools, hospitals, at family restaurants, convenience stores. Oh and the increasingly unpopular prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, who demanded that the Japanese citizens eat Fukushima rice like he did every day.

For people who say "The Fukushima JA didn't ship rice that was found with any amount of radioactive cesium", it's true. The problem is that the Fukushima JA handles only 23% rice grown in Fukushima. (The link is in Japanese.) The rest goes directly from rice farmers to the distributors or to the end customers.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (1/6/2011):

福島県は、２０１２年産の県産米について、ＪＡなどの協力を得て放射性物質に関する全袋検査を実施する方針を固めた。

The Fukushima prefectural government has decided to test all bags of rice for radioactive materials for the 2012 rice to be grown and harvested in Fukushima Prefecture with the help from the JA [agricultural producer co-op] and other organizations.

　ＪＡなどが精度の高い測定機器を導入する場合に、費用を補助する。１１年産米の一部で、玄米の段階で国の暫定規制値（１キロ・グラム当たり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出されたことを受けた措置。

The prefectural government will subsidize the cost when the JA introduces high-precision instruments [to measure radioactive materials]. This is in response to the detection of radioactive cesium in rice exceeding the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) in part of the 2011 rice grown in Fukushima.

　県は、消費者の信頼を確保するため今秋の収穫分は、全袋を検査する必要があると判断。生産、流通関係者には機器導入を促す。

The prefectural government figured that all bags of rice would need to be tested this fall in order to secure the trust of the consumers. It will encourage the producers and distributors to purchase the instruments.

　１２年の県産米の検査にあたっては、県が１１年の収穫期にも行った抽出検査に加えて、ＪＡなどが出荷する段階でも全袋を調べる。ただ、今秋に県内で収穫される量は、約３６万トン、約１２００万袋にのぼる見通しで、現在の検査能力（１日あたり約１２００袋）では対応できないため、県は、ベルトコンベヤーに検体を載せて測定するタイプの機器を導入し、検査時間の短縮を図る。機器の性能にもよるが、全袋検査には百数十台が必要と見込まれる。

In testing the 2012 rice, the prefectural government will conduct sampling tests as it did in the 2011 harvest season. In addition, the JA and others will check all the bags of rice at the time of shipment. However, the estimated harvest this fall in Fukushima Prefecture is about 360,000 tonnes in 12 million bags, far exceeding the current capacity of testing (1,200 bags per day). The prefectural government will introduce the instrument that uses conveyer belt to shorten the inspection time. Depending on the performance of the instrument, over 100 such instruments will be needed to test every single bag of rice.

360,000 tonnes of rice. That's slightly more than what was produced in 2011 (353,600 tonnes, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries). So they are all eager to grow as much as they did last year, knowing full well this time that they are growing on highly contaminated soil (except for most but not all of Aizu region).

Before the accident, Fukushima produced about 450,000 tonnes of rice each year as the 4th largest producer of rice behind Hokkaido, Niigata, and Akita. Last year, it dropped in ranking, but it was still the 7th largest producer.

Fuji Electric has a belt-conveyer radiation detection system that it sells for 4.3 million yen, but detection limits are rather high for a speedy 12-second testing (meat 140 becquerels/kg, rice 90 becquerels/kg, leafy vegetables 250 becquerels/kg). The system clearly needs upgrade as the new and improved safety limit for cesium for food will be 100 becquerels/kg starting on the April Fool's Day. (No joke.)

It has been rumored that Shimadzu, the largest analytical instrument company in Japan, is close to introducing the similar product with higher precision and probably costing a whole lot more.

But they will only measure radioactive cesium (134, 137) and nothing else. The government is absolutely silent on radioactive strontium (which has a much higher transfer coefficient than radioactive cesium) or other nuclides that fell on the farm soil in Tohoku and Kanto regions.

Everything done in Fukushima for the sake of "recovery and reconstruction" is paid by the national government, but the national government is broke and it bills TEPCO. TEPCO runs out of money and asks the national government for money to pay for the bills that the national government gives them. The national government gives TEPCO the money, and collect the money by raising taxes for all citizens.

And the citizens get to eat safe Fukushima rice as a reward for supposedly helping Fukushima people.

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They Will Grow Rice Again This Year in Fukushima

I could almost hear the words: "This time, it will be different!"

Up to, say summer last year, the farmers could have been excused for the lack of information given to them (for those who relied on the government information to be handed to them). But now nearly 10 months after the accident and the radioactive contamination in Fukushima Prefecture cannot be hidden any more (except to most of the residents who have remained, apparently) and some rice farmers are suing TEPCO for the damage, if they grow rice again in Fukushima this year hoping theirs will be cesium-free but knowing full well that they may not be, what do you call it?

Then again, doing what the government tells you to do has been the mode of operation in Japan for such a long time, and the farmers may not see any need to change it now.

First, Yomiuri Shinbun (1/4/2012):

福島県の一部で収穫されたコメ（玄米）から国の暫定規制値（１キロ・グラムあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出された問題で、県は２０１２年のコメの作付けの際に、カリウム肥料を多く与えるよう農家に、技術指導を行うことを決めた。

Regarding the rice harvested in part of Fukushima that was found with radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg), the Fukushima prefectural government has decided to instruct farmers to give more potassium fertilizer when they plant rice for 2012.

　カリウム肥料にはイネがセシウムを吸収しにくくする働きがあるという。

According to the prefectural government, potassium fertilizer works to limit the uptake of radioactive cesium by the rice plant.

　同県では福島、伊達、二本松各市の計９地区３１戸（昨年１２月３０日現在）で作られたコメから規制値超の放射性セシウムが検出されている。県と農林水産省が水田などを調べたところ、コメの放射性セシウム濃度が高いほど、土壌のカリウム濃度が低い傾向があることがわかった。

In Fukushima Prefecture, the rice grown in 31 farms in 9 districts in Fukushima City, Date City and Nihonmatsu City have been found with radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional limit. The prefecture and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries surveyed the rice paddies and found that the higher the level of radioactive cesium in rice, the lower the potassium level in the soil.

　財団法人・環境科学技術研究所（青森県六ヶ所村）の大桃洋一郎相談役（環境放射生態学）によると、カリウムは窒素、リンとともに植物の３大栄養素で、化学的性質が似ているセシウムより吸収されやすい。カリウムが欠乏した土壌では、セシウムを吸収しやすくなる。

According to Yoichiro Omomo (environmental radiation biology), advisor to the Institute for Environmental Sciences (in Rokkasho-mura, Aomori Prefecture), potassium is one of the three major nutrients of the plants with the other two being nitrogen and phosphorus, and is more easily absorbed by the plants than cesium which is chemically similar. In the soil that is deficient of potassium, it is easy for the plants to absorb cesium.

Omomo is the former chairman of the Institute, and continues to serve as advisor.

Never mind that the problem is not the lack of potassium but the overabundance of radioactive cesium (and strontium most likely). Yomiuri is quiet on the density of radioactive cesium and other nuclides in the soil where radioactive rice was grown and harvested.

So the Fukushima prefectural government and the Fukushima rice farmers are eager to grow rice again this year, hoping that excess potassium will block cesium. If it doesn't, oh well just do what they did last year - sell it to the government to get money.

Asahi Shinbun also reports that the Ministry of Agriculture is very much willing to let the Fukushima rice farmers continue to grow rice. Read between the lines.

From Asahi Shinbun (12/27/2011):

農林水産省は２７日、東京電力福島第一原発の事故に伴う来年のコメの作付け制限の方針を公表した。今年産のコメの検査で１キロあたり５００ベクレルを超える放射性セシウムが検出された地域で作付けを禁止。５００ベクレル以下でも、１００ベクレルを超えるコメが出た地域では同じように禁止することを検討する。

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries published the policy on regulating the cultivation of rice next year [2012] following the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The Ministry will ban the cultivation of rice in the areas where radioactive cesium exceeding 500 becquerels/kg was found in the rice harvested this year [2011]. The Ministry is also considering banning the cultivation in the areas where radioactive cesium exceeding 100 becquerels/kg was found in the rice.

　来年４月から実施される食品の放射能量の新基準で、コメの基準値が現在の暫定値である１キロあたり５００ベクレルから１００ベクレルに下がることにあわせた措置。

It is because the new radiation standard for food starting April 2012 will be 100 becquerels/kg [of radioactive cesium] for rice, while the current provisional limit is 500 becquerels/kg.

　今年は、これまでに福島市大波地区など旧市町村単位で８地区で、５００ベクレルを超えたとして出荷停止となった。これらの地区は来年の作付けが禁止される。

So far, 8 districts including Onami District in Fukushima City had rice that exceeded 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium and the shipment of the rice was halted. The farmers in these districts will be banned from planting rice in 2012.

　さらに、新基準値と同じ１００ベクレルを超すコメが出た地域については、県が進めている２９市町村約２万５千戸の農家を対象にした緊急調査の結果などを踏まえて決める方針だ。同じ地域内でも高い値と低い値のコメが混在しており、１地点で１００ベクレルを超えてもその地域全体を一律に禁止にできるかは慎重な判断が求められる。具体的な禁止地域が決まるのは来年３月になる見込み。

In addition, as to the areas where radioactive cesium in rice exceeded 100 becquerels/kg, the Ministry will decide after reviewing the result of the emergency survey that was conducted by the Fukushima prefectural government on 25000 farms in 29 municipalities. Rice with high cesium and rice with low cesium coexist in the same district, and a careful consideration is needed to decide whether to ban the cultivation in the entire district when a test in one location exceeds 100 becquerels/kg. The decision is to be made in March 2012.

　今年は水田に降り注いだ放射性物質がどれだけイネに移るかを検討し、土１キロあたり５千ベクレルの田がある地域を作付け禁止の対象とした。土壌調査の結果をもとに第一原発から半径２０キロ圏内の警戒区域と周辺の計画的避難区域、緊急時避難準備区域が禁止となった。

This year, the government considered the transfer rate of radioactive materials that fell on the rice paddies, and decided to ban the rice cultivation in the districts with rice paddies whose soil tested 5000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. Based on the soil tests, the rice cultivation was banned in the areas inside the 20-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and the surrounding "planned evacuation zone" and "evacuation-ready zone".

The transfer coefficient that the national government picked is 0.1, which had no scientific basis. From the past data, scientists were saying the coefficient was more like 0.01 or less. The government picked the number ten times that, to be on the safe side. That was a political decision, not scientific. Then, the Asahi article says that the soil tests, which were sporadic at best, found that the areas inside 20-kilometer radius were unsuitable, and "planned evacuation zone" like Iitate-mura, but nowhere else.

As to banning the cultivation in the areas that had rice with 100 becquerels/kg and above, it is pointless because there are so many farms that they didn't test in the main survey they did in September and October, whose result was announced with great fanfare. At that time, 2 farms per old municipality were tested, one bag each. The areas that were supposed to be "clean" may not be, simply because they were not even tested.

Nowhere in the Asahi article does it say that the Ministry or the prefecture will conduct the soil sample tests throughout the prefecture. That would cost too much for them.

The Fukushima prefectural government is negotiating with the Ministry, saying the Ministry should buy up all the rice from the district if the rice from one farm exceeds 100 becquerels/kg.

In order to plant rice in spring, farmers turn over the soil in fall. It's already been done, further mixing the radioactive materials in the rice paddies. They will do so again in spring.

I tweeted the Yomiuri article above to my Japanese readers. Someone commented, "Oh you must be careful when you talk about Fukushima and people in Fukushima, because their feeling is hurt." How about the health of consumers who have been eating untested Fukushima rice?

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#Radioactive Rice from Watari District, Fukushima City: 1540 Bq/Kg

News of radioactive cesium rice just keeps coming from Fukushima Prefecture. This time, it is from Watari District again, and the number is the highest found so far.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (12/22/2011):

福島市などで収穫されたコメ（玄米）から国の暫定規制値（１キロ・グラムあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出された問題で、福島県は２２日、同市渡利地区の農家１戸が作ったコメから、新たに１キロ・グラムあたり１５４０ベクレルの放射性セシウムが出たと発表した。

Radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) has been found in rice harvested in Fukushima City and other cities in Fukushima Prefecture. On December 22, the Fukushima prefectural government announced that 1540 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found in rice grown by a farmer in Watari District in Fukushima Prefecture.

　これまでコメから検出された値としては最大。自宅に保管しており、市場に流通していない。

It is the highest level of radioactive cesium in rice detected so far. The rice is kept at the farmer's home, and not sold in the market.

Well, it is the "official" highest level, and it is approaching the "unofficial" high (2600 becquerels/kg) measured in rice grown in the soil taken from Iitate-mura by Professor Kazue Tazaki of Kanazawa University. A similar amount of radioactive cesium was detected in rice grown in Iitate-mura (unofficially by an irate farmer who was forced to relocate).

Farm soil in Watari District in Fukushima was never officially tested for radioactive materials. An NPO (FoE Japan) tested soil samples from Watari with the help of Professor Yamauchi of Kobe University, but they are not from rice paddies or fields. The Fukushima prefectural government still doesn't test it. I am very curious to know the radiation levels in the farm soil in Watari and elsewhere where radioactive cesium has been detected in rice exceeding the provisional limit.

As you can imagine, sales of Fukushima rice, which was shipped with great fanfare with the declaration of safety by the governor of Fukushima in early October, has ground to a halt. But I hear that a large food distributor Ion is determined to sell bento (lunch box) and onigiri (rice ball) proudly featuring the "safe" Fukushima rice to help Fukushima farmers, supposedly.

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Yet More #Radioactive Rice from Fukushima, From Watari District of Fukushima City

Watari District of Fukushima City (60 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuke Plant) is one of the most contaminated districts in Fukushima City, even though the city flatly refuses to even temporarily evacuate some of the residents because the city (or volunteers, rather) will "decontaminate".

Following Onami District, Watari District has now been found with rice with radioactive cesium that exceeds the national provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg.

Watari District of Fukushima City is where Professor Tomoya Yamauchi of Kobe University found that "decontamination" didn't decontaminate at all, and in locations it increased the radiation.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (12/3/2011), who tries to tell the readers it may still be OK once the rice is milled:

福島市大波地区や福島県伊達市で収穫された玄米から国の暫定規制値（１キロ・グラムあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが見つかった問題で、同県は２日、福島市渡利地区の稲作農家３戸が収穫した玄米からも、規制値を超えるセシウムが検出されたと発表した。

Onami District of Fukushima City and Date City in Fukushima Prefecture have been found with rice with radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional limit (500 becquerels/kg). Now, the prefectural government announced on December 2 that the rice harvested at 3 farms in Watari District of Fukushima City was also found with radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional limit.

　政府は週明けにも、渡利地区などのコメを出荷停止対象とする方針を固めた。

The national government plans to order the rice in Watari District not to be shipped.

　県によると、渡利地区の４７戸の稲作農家のうち、今回、２５戸を調査。その結果、３戸が生産した３袋（９０キロ・グラム）の玄米から、１キロ・グラムあたりそれぞれ５１０ベクレル、５５０ベクレル、５９０ベクレルのセシウムが検出された。農家３戸が生産した６５袋分（約２トン）はいずれも自宅で保管されており、市場に流通していない。玄米は精米すると放射線量が半分から３分の１程度に下がるという。

According to the Fukushima prefectural government, 25 farms out of 47 farms in Watari District were tested. From 3 bags (30 kilograms each, total 90 kilogram) from 3 farms tested 510 becquerels/kg, 550 becquerels/kg, and 590 becquerels/kg respectively. The three farms harvested 65 bags total (about 2 tonnes), which are stored at the farms and not sold in the market. Once milled, radioactive materials in rice are supposed to drop to half or one-third.

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#Radioactive Rice Keeps Coming: 1050 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Date City, Fukushima

Asahi Shinbun has a convenient map that plots locations where the rice has been found with radioactive cesium far exceeding the provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg. The white circle is Onami District in Fukushima City where up to 1270 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium has been found in the rice. The two red circles are the locations in Date City where the rice exceeding the limit has been found this time. So far.

And unlike in Onami District in Fukushima City, they are only testing one bag out of every 50. Some comfort.


From Asahi Shinbun (11/28/2011):

福島市大波地区（旧小国村）のコメから国の基準値（１キロあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出された問題で、福島県は２８日、緊急調査の結果、大波地区に隣接する同県伊達市の旧小国村と旧月舘町の両地区の計３戸のコメでも基準を超え、一部は流通していた、と発表した。県は両地区のコメの出荷自粛を要請した。政府は、２９日にも両地区のコメの出荷停止を指示する方針だ。

After radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit was detected in rice harvested in Onami District of Fukushima City (former Oguni-mura), Fukushima Prefecture announced on November 28 that rice from 3 farms in the adjasent areas of Onami District, former Oguni-mura and former Tsukidate-machi, both of which became part of Date City, was found with radioactive cesium exceeding the limit. Part of the rice has been sold in the market. The prefectural government has requested that the shipment of rice from these two districts to be voluntarily halted. The national government is going to order the halt of the rice shipment from the districts.

　県によると、このうち、伊達市の旧小国村のもち米９キロが地元の直売所から消費者に売られていた。基準超えのコメの一般消費者への流通が分かったのは初めて。

According to the Fukushima prefectural government, 9 kilograms of "mochi" rice harvested in former Oguni-mura part of Date City had been already sold to consumers at a local farm stand. This is the first case of the rice exceeding the limit having been found to have been sold to the general public.

　県によると、伊達市の旧小国村では、１０１戸の農家の１１９サンプルのうち２戸の２サンプルで１キロあたり５８０ベクレルと７８０ベクレルを検出。同市の旧月舘町では、６戸の８サンプルのうち１戸１サンプルで同１０５０ベクレルを検出した。

According to the prefecture, in former Oguni-mura of Date City, 2 samples from 2 farms out of 119 samples from 101 farms tested 580 becquerels/kg and 780 becquerels/kg respectively. In former Tsukidate-machi of Date City, 1 samples from 1 farm out of 8 samples from 6 farms tested 1050 becquerels/kg.

Just to remind you: If a government ask you to voluntarily do something, the government does not compensate you for your inconvenience. If the government orders you to do something, then the government is obligated to compensate.

The Fukushima prefectural government hasn't posted the press release on their website yet, but Yomiuri Shinbun (11/29/2011) reports that 4 additional farms in Onami District of Fukushima City had the rice whose radioactive cesium exceeded the provisional safety limit, bringing the total to 10 farms.

The prefecture and the media are trying their best to isolate these cases as "special", saying that these farms are located in the mountains or near the mountains.

Well, I would think that condition applies to the significant number of rice farms in Japan.

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Radioactive Rice: 1270 Bq/kg of Cesium from Rice in Onami District, Fukushima City

630 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium discovered in the same district on November 16 was treated as "exception", with researchers from an august university (Tokyo University) weighing in with their theory on how "exceptional" the topography of that rice paddy was.

So much for that.

Now the maximum radioactive cesium from the rice in the district is 1270 becquerels/kg. From a different rice paddy.

Yomiuri Shinbun (11/26/2011) reports that radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional limit was found in rice grown and harvested at 5 more farms in Onami District, Fukushima City in Fukushima Prefecture. But rest assured, as we are supposed to believe they haven't been sold in the market.

福島市大波地区で収穫された玄米から国の暫定規制値（１キロ・グラムあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出された問題で、福島県は２５日、同地区の他の５農家の水田でとれた玄米からも規制値を超える玄米が見つかり、最大で１キロ・グラムあたり１２７０ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されたと発表した。

As radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) had been detected in the rice harvested in Onami District in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture announced on November 25 that the rice harvested in 5 additional farms in the same district was found with radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit. The maximum was 1270 becquerels/kg.

いずれの玄米もＪＡや自宅の倉庫に保管されているか、親戚に配られたりしており、市場には流通していないという。

The rice is either stored in the warehouses at JA or at the farms, or has been given to the farmers' relatives. It is not being sold in the marketplace, according to the prefectural government.

　県は同地区の稲作農家全１５４戸（４７５２袋）の分析を進めており、これまで３４戸分（８６４袋）を終了。うち、最初に見つかった農家を除く５戸（１０３袋）の玄米が新たに規制値を超えた。１２７０ベクレルが検出された農家は、２４袋全てで規制値を超え、最小でも９７０ベクレルと高かった。別の農家の玄米も５４０～１１１０ベクレルだった。

The Fukushima prefectural government has been testing the rice (4752 bags) from all 154 rice farms in the district. So far, 864 bags from 34 farms have been tested. Of those, 103 bags from 5 farms exceeded the provisional safety limit. At the farm that had the rice with 1270 becquerels/kg cesium, all 24 bags were found with cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit, and the minimum was also high at 970 becquerels/kg. At another farm, the rice tested between 540 to 1110 becquerels/kg.

Professor Kosako's "chaos in the harvest season" did not come, simply because the Fukushima prefectural government carefully avoided testing the soil or the rice from what they may have known as high contamination areas. (More in the next post.)

Now the harvest season is over, the new crop of rice from Fukushima is being sold and served all over Japan, and PR campaigns by TV celebrities and politicians are being mounted, again equating "good tasting" as "being safe". School children in Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture are being served with the rice harvested in Koriyama City (see my post); part of the city is just as badly contaminated as part of Fukushima City.

Chaos did not come, thanks to the selective measuring; instead, a resignation prevails.

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Now They Tell Us: Fukushima Rice Was Tested at 2 Locations Per Town, Says Yomiuri

Nothing new, I hope, for the readers of this blog. Now that radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional limit has been detected from the rice in the area that passed the test with flying colors, the Fukushima prefectural government will test rice in select locations in 4 cities with relatively high radiation.

In reporting that news, Yomiuri Shinbun finally writes:

県は出荷前の９～１０月、４８市町村の計１１７４地点で検査を実施したが、原則、合併前の旧市町村ごとに２検体を採取する検査だった。

The Fukushima prefectural government conducted the survey at 1174 locations in 48 cities, towns and villages [in Fukushima] in September and October before the shipment of rice. However, the survey was done on 2 samples per old cities, towns, and villages before the merger.

That information had been posted on Fukushima Prefecture's official website all along, and Yomiuri is kind enough to tell the readers now. There are many Japanese readers who are now saying "Wait a minute, I thought they tested all the rice, and I thought it was safe".

Caveat emptor.

Yomiuri Shinbun (11/22/2011):

福島市大波地区で収穫された玄米から国の暫定規制値（１キロ・グラムあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出された問題を受け、福島県は２２日、局地的に放射線量が高い「特定避難勧奨地点」がある伊達市と、比較的放射線量が高いところがある福島、相馬、いわき３市の計４市の一部地域で再度、玄米の放射性物質検査を実施すると発表した。

After radioactive cesium that exceeded the national provisional limit (500 becquerels/kg) was detected from the rice harvested in Onami District of Fukushima City, the Fukushima prefectural government announced on November 22 that select locations in 4 cities would be tested for radioactive materials in rice again. The cities are Date City, which has local hot spots designated as "evacuation recommendation spot", Fukushima City, Soma City and Iwaki City, which have locations with relatively high radiation.

　再検査を行うのは、４市の対象地域にある農家全１９４１戸が生産した玄米。原則、１農家につき１袋を検査し、５０袋超の農家は５０袋ごとに１袋を選んで調べる。簡易検査で２００ベクレルを超える放射性セシウムが検出された場合は、県農業総合センターで詳細に調べる。検査は今週中に始まり、結果が出るのは１２月中旬になるという。

The survey will be done again on the rice grown by 1,941 farms in the location selected within the 4 cities. One bag per farm will be tested, and if there are more than 50 bags of rice [typically 30 kilograms] at a farm, one bag will be selected from every 50 bags. If radioactive cesium exceeding 200 becquerels/kg is detected in the simplified testing, the prefectural agriculture center will test the rice in detail. The simplified survey will start within this week, and the result will become available in mid December, according to the prefectural government.

　県は出荷前の９～１０月、４８市町村の計１１７４地点で検査を実施したが、原則、合併前の旧市町村ごとに２検体を採取する検査だった。

The Fukushima prefectural government conducted the survey at 1174 locations in 48 cities, towns and villages [in Fukushima] in September and October before the shipment of rice. However, the survey was done on 2 samples per old cities, towns, and villages before the merger.

How does the simplified testing work? 200 grams of rice is put in a plastic bag, and a government official waves a scintillation survey meter over the rice for a few seconds.

The prefecture's survey that tested 1174 samples in Fukushima was much praised in the media, and Fukushima rice was shipped with great fanfare. Big department stores specially feature Fukushima rice as the year-end gifts.

Now, Fukushima Prefecture and the Japanese MSM admit that locations within only 4 cities in Fukushima has nearly 2000 farms.

According to the Fukushima prefectural government's announcement on November 16, 2011, Onami District of Fukushima City, where 630 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found in one farm, has:

• 154 farms;

• 42 hectares of rice fields;

• 192 tonnes of rice grown;

• 6,400 bags of rice (30 kg/bag)

In the original survey, they tested two 200-gram bags out of 6,400 bags of rice from the district. Some safety and security.

The same announcement says that in Fukushima City alone, there are:

• 5,545 farms;

• 2,312 hectares of rice fields.

Assuming the yield is the same as in Onami District, that should have yielded:

• 10,570 tonnes of rice grown;

• 352,000 bags of rice (30 kg/bag)

Even within the same farm, depending on the location of the rice paddies, radioactive cesium concentration may differ significantly. For that matter, even within the same paddy. In municipalities other than these four cities, there may be even more contaminated locations that people don't know of, because no survey has been done.

There is no way to test, and there is no use in testing. Damage was done when the national government strongly urged the farmers in Fukushima to farm as usual this year (other than in the evacuation zones), and the farmers obliged, for one reason or another.

Now, in the municipalities in the former evacuation-ready zone (which was abolished on September 30, 2011), some rice farmers have already turned up the contaminated soil in their rice fields, mixing the contaminated top soil with the less contaminated lower soil. They say they just couldn't wait for the government's "decontamination". So these farmers fully intend to grow rice next year, knowing, as they should by now, the soil is contaminated.

(Oh wait... Soma City has locations with relatively high radiation? That's where the Japanese government sent the young king and the queen of Bhutan...)

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#Radioactive Rice: 630 Bq/kg Cesium from Rice in Fukushima City

For those of you who wrote to me that Fukushima rice was "safe" because it all "tested" well below the safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, sorry. NHK has a piece of bad news for you.

630 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium has been detected from the rice grown and harvested in Onami District of Fukushima City in Fukushima. It was discovered only because one farmer asked the local JA to test his rice.

The video clip accompanying the NHK News says 630 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium from brown rice, and 300 becquerels/kg from white (milled) rice.

The entire Onami District was declared good to ship the rice, after the Fukushima prefectural government tested 2 samples in one location in Onami District.

Onami District of Fukushima City has high radiation contamination, and that's where the volunteers have been sent to "decontaminate", scooping out the sludge in the drain by hand, among other pleasant activities. (If you read Japanese, here's a report by very pro-nuke Nikkei Business on "decontamination" volunteering in Onami: http://t.co/pSgB131c)

NHK News Japanese (11/16/2011):

福島市大波地区の１か所の水田で収穫されたコメから、国の暫定基準値を超える１キログラム当たり６３０ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されたことが分かりました。福島県は、この水田を含む大波地区について、今年度のコメの出荷を見合わせるよう要請しました。

It has been revealed that 630 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, exceeding the national provisional safety limit, was detected from the rice harvested in a location in Onami District of Fukushima City [in Fukushima Prefecture]. Fukushima Prefecture has requested the farmers in Onami District to refrain from shipping this year's crop.

福島県によりますと、福島市大波地区の農家が１か所の水田で収穫したコメについて、今月１４日、農協に放射性物質の検査を依頼したところ、簡易検査で国の暫定基準値の１キログラム当たり５００ベクレルを超える放射性セシウムの値が検出されました。

According to Fukushima Prefecture, a farmer in Onami District of Fukushima City asked the local JA (agricultural co-op) to test his rice harvested in one of his rice paddies for radioactive materials. In a simplified test administered by the JA, radioactive cesium exceeding 500 becquerels/kg was detected which exceeded the national provisional safety limit.

このため福島県が改めて検査したところ、玄米から１キログラム当たり６３０ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されたということです。検出された農家が収穫したコメは、今年度およそ８４０キログラムあるということですが、市場には流通していないということです。検査結果を受けて福島県は、この農家の水田を含む福島市大波地区の今年度のコメの出荷を見合わせるよう要請しました。

Fukushima Prefecture then tested again, and 630 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the brown rice. The farmer has about 840 kilograms of rice harvested, but it is not being sold in the market. Upon receiving the test result, the Fukushima prefectural government requested all the rice harvested in Onami District of Fukushima City, including that of this farmer, to be not shipped this year.

福島県が先月行った放射性物質の量を調べる「本検査」では、大波地区にあたる旧小国村は、２か所で検査が行われましたが、放射性セシウムは、国の暫定基準値を大幅に下回る１キログラム当たり３３ベクレルと２８ベクレルしか検出されず、県はこの地区のコメの出荷を認めていました。福島県では、この農家を含めた大波地区の農家１５４戸について、さらに詳しい調査を行うとともに原因を調べることにしています。

In the "main survey" that Fukushima Prefecture conducted last month to measure radioactive materials in rice, two locations in the former Oguni-mura in Onami District were tested. Radioactive cesium detected there were vastly below the national provisional safety limit, at 33 becquerels/kg and 28 becquerels/kg, and the prefectural government allowed the shipment from the entire district. The Fukushima prefectural government plans to conduct a detailed survey of [the rice harvested in] all 154 farms in Onami district, and investigate the cause [of high radioactive cesium content].

Well, the cause is Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

The governor of Fukushima Prefecture, the "world-famous" Yuhei Sato, had declared Fukushima rice to be "safe" and vowed to mount an aggressive PR campaign to promote the rice harvested in Fukushima throughout Japan. Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture, also with high radiation contamination, has started to feed school children with locally grown and harvested rice.

Oops.

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Koriyama City in Fukushima to Feed School Kids with Local Rice Harvested This Year

Did anyone say in the comment section that it was a duty of adults to protect children? I guess not in Koriyama City, which is located in high-radiation "Nakadori" (middle third) of Fukushima Prefecture and where 500,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found in the rice hay.

The city will start using this year's rice harvested in the city in the school lunches, starting next Tuesday. Since the new rice harvested in Fukushima is all cleared for shipping as the sampling test has proven it is "safe", it is just a matter of time till it's fed to the most vulnerable and without voice - children. Just as the Fukushima government, headed by THAT governor, has been pushing ever since declaring "safety" on October 12.

Fukushima Chuo TV news (11/4/2011) via Nippon TV:

郡山市は、来週から市内でとれた新米を学校給食に使うことにし、きょうは、放射性物質の検査体制を保護者らに説明した。

Koriyama City has decided to use the new rice harvested in the city for school lunches starting next week. Today, the city explained the radiation detection system to the parents.

郡山市は、コメを出荷するＪＡ郡山市に対し、放射性物質の自主検査を義務付けたうえで、来週の火曜日、８日から、市内でとれた新米を学校給食に使う。

Koriyama City will require JA Koriyama, who will ship the rice, to conduct voluntary testing of radioactive materials, and will start using the city's newly harvested rice in school lunches starting Tuesday November 8.

きょうは、市や保護者ら５０人ほどがＪＡを訪れ、検査の工程などについて説明を受けた。

Today, about 50 parents and the city officials visited the local JA, where the JA officials explained the testing procedures.

ＪＡでは、玄米と出荷前の精米それぞれについて、放射性物質が含まれていないかを検査する。

JA will test both brown rice and polished rice before shipping, for radioactive materials.

なお、県内のほかの市町村では、来月から新米に切り替えるところが多く、どこでとれたコメを使うかなどを検討しているという。

Also, other municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture will switch to the new crop of rice starting next month. They are currently deciding on whose rice to use.

Pressure is of course on to use the rice harvested in Fukushima, which even some rice farmers wouldn't feed their family members with (see my post here, bottom third).

For consumers outside Fukushima Prefecture, there is no way of telling whether a bag of new rice contains Fukushima rice, if it is a bag of "blended" rice. There is no requirement to list the places of origin if the rice from different locations are blended. All the label will say is "made in Japan".

Convenience store "bento" and "onigiri" is very likely to feature rice from Fukushima. Some stores at least prominently declare that they use Fukushima rice.

While consumers can still avoid, if they want to, Fukushima rice by avoiding "blended" rice and avoiding buying bento at convenience stores, school children cannot.

A nation is utterly broken when the leaders think nothing of using children as propaganda tools, and excoriate those citizens who dare raise their voices. It's not just Fukushima Prefecture either.

No end in sight of Japanese nuclear horror.

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Farmer in Evacuation-Ready Zone in Fukushima Insists He Will Sell His Rice

In this rare case, I am actually with the farmer who is standing up to the authorities.

The evacuation-ready zone was abolished on September 30 and the residents who evacuated are supposed to go back. However, the authorities (the national government and the Fukushima prefectural government) prohibited farmers in the evacuation zones (evacuation-ready, planned evacuation, and no-entry) from growing rice this year. It was a blanket ban on growing rice in these zones regardless of the density of radioactive materials in the soil, while areas outside the evacuation zones but with potentially high levels of radioactive materials in the soil were allowed to be cultivated for rice with only a cursory soil monitoring test.

This farmer defied the arbitrary government order, grew rice and harvested. He has declared he wants sell it.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (10/30/2011):

原発事故により緊急時避難準備区域に指定された地域でコメを作付け・収穫したとして、福島県は２８日、田村市都路町の農業の男性（５８）に対し、収穫したコメを廃棄するよう食糧法に基づいて勧告した。

On October 28, the Fukushima prefectural government advised a farmer (age 58) in Miyakoji-machi in Tamura City to discard the rice he harvested, based on the Food Control Law, because the farmer had grown and harvested the rice in the area designated as "emergency evacuation-ready zone" after the nuclear plant accident.

　男性は応じない意向を示した。

The farmer has said no.

　警戒区域、計画的避難区域、緊急時避難準備区域（９月３０日に解除）について、国は原子力災害特別措置法に基づき、コメの作付け制限を課した。

The national government restricted the cultivation of rice in the no-entry zone, planned evacuation zone, and evacuation-ready zone (which was abolished on September 30) based on the Special Measure for Nuclear Disaster Act.

　男性は、緊急時避難準備区域内の水田約１２０アールにコシヒカリを作付けし、すでに約１・８トンを収穫した。

The farmer planted "Koshihikari" rice in his 120-are rice paddies within the evacuation-ready zone, and he has already harvested 1.8 tonnes of rice.

　食糧法では、作付け制限区域内で収穫されたコメは廃棄しなければならない。勧告に対し、男性は県に「作るのは勝手。作ったコメは販売したい」などと話したという。

According to the Food Control Law, the rice harvested in the restricted areas must be discarded. In response to the prefectural government's advice, the farmer answered, "I grow as I please. I want to sell the rice that I grow."

　県によると、今年、作付け制限区域内で作付けした農家は１２軒あったが、男性方以外の１１軒は県の指導に応じ、収穫した米を廃棄したり、研究試験用に譲渡したりしたという。

According to Fukushima Prefecture, there are 12 farmers who grew rice in the restricted areas. 11 farmers have followed the advice and discarded the harvested rice or given it up for research.

　県は「作付け制限地域内にこのようなコメがあると消費者が知れば、不安や混乱を招く恐れがある。そうした影響を考えてほしい」としている。

The prefectural government says, "If the consumers know that there is rice grown in the restricted areas, it may cause anxiety and confusion. We would like [the farmer] to consider such consequences."

Ha. For this particular prefectural government to say that is too rich for me. Outside the restricted areas, they simply sample-tested the soil, ditto for the harvested rice. Locations that were found with highly contaminated rice hay were all allowed to grow rice. (Planting the rice came before the discovery of contaminated rice hay.) The rice from one particular location tested 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, and the rice was grown in the soil with only 3,000 becquerels/kg of cesium. There are other locations whose rice exceeded 100 becquerels/kg. They were all good to sell (though the prefectural government ended up buying all of 500 becquerels/kg cesium rice).

They should measure the cesium content of the rice that this farmer grew. If it is no different from the rest of Fukushima rice that are being sold, they should allow it to be sold.

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Fukushima Government to Push Fukushima Rice in Restaurants and Schools

Now that the rice from all districts and cities in Fukushima Prefecture are declared "safe" (i.e. below the provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium), the Fukushima prefectural government is gearing up for the PR campaign it plans to mount to promote Fukushima rice in restaurants and school lunches and to consumers in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

From NHK Japanese (10/13/2011):

福島県が進めてきた収穫後のコメの放射性物質の検査が終わり、コメの作付けが行われたすべての市町村で国の基準を下回って出荷が認められました。福島県は、今後、コメの安全性を消費者にピーアールするなど風評被害対策を強化することにしています。

Fukushima Prefecture finished testing for radioactive materials in harvested rice. In all districts where rice was planted, the level of radioactive materials was lower than the national safety standard, and the shipment of rice is now allowed. Fukushima is planning to counter "baseless rumors" by appealing the safety of the rice to consumers.

原発事故を受けて福島県が進めてきた収穫後のコメの検査は、１２日、二本松市などを最後に終わり、すべての地点で国の暫定基準値を下回ったため、ことしコメの作付けを行った４８市町村すべてで出荷が認められました。

The testing of harvested rice was completed on October 12 with Nihonmatsu City, and as rice from all districts tested lower than the national provisional safety limit the shipment of rice is allowed in all 48 municipalities that planted rice this year.

検査をした１１７４か所のうち８２％に当たる９６４か所で放射性物質は検出されず、１キログラム当たり２００ベクレル以上の放射性物質が検出されたのは、１か所にとどまりました。

Rice from 1,174 locations were tested, in 82% of those locations or 964 locations no radioactive materials were detected. Only one location tested more than 200 becquerels/kg of radioactive materials [cesium].

このため福島県は、県内産のコメの安全性は確保されているとしています。福島県は、今後、知事や職員が首都圏などの消費地に出向いてピーアールを行ったり、飲食店や学校給食で県内産のコメの積極的な利用を呼びかけたりするなど、風評被害対策を強化することにしています。

Therefore, Fukushima Prefecture considers the rice grown in Fukushima is safe. The prefectural government is planning to send the governor and other city officials to the Tokyo metropolitan area to appeal to consumers and to call for increased use of Fukushima rice in restaurants and school lunches in order to counter the "baseless rumors".

The NHK article has an accompanying news clip, where you get to see how the "testing" was done at the Fukushima prefectural government. A government worker is waving a scintillation meter over a plastic bag that contains a small amount of brown rice. He spends about 2 seconds at most for each bag.

If you recall, waving a scintillation meter over the meat cow was how they were testing the meat for radiation at first. We know how that ended up.　

In the "main" test after the rice harvest, they tested 2 samples per district (villages and towns before they were incorporated into nearby large cities), except for one district in Shirakawa City where 500 becquerels/kg of cesium was detected in the preliminary test. There, if the testing was done according to what the Fukushima prefectural government had announced, samples from two locations per 15 hectares in the district were measured.

But good luck persuading the consumers who refuse to buy Fukushima rice, when a rice farmer in Fukushima is not sending his crop this year to his family members and relatives because of radioactive cesium, no matter how it is "below the safety limit". According to Asahi Shinbun (10/13/2011),

本検査で１０４ベクレルを検出した福島市水原地区でコシヒカリを作る男性（６９）は「離れて暮らす孫には『ほかで買ってくれ』と言うしかない」と話した。

A man, aged 69, grows "Koshihikari" brand rice in Mizuhara district in Fukushima City where 104 becquerels/kg [of radioactive cesium] was detected in the "main" testing. He said, "I have no choice but to tell my grandchild who lives far away to buy rice somewhere else".

　毎年、札幌市の次女の一家に１年分のコメを送ってきた。ほかにも福島市内の親戚や知人ら十数人に送るのが慣例だったが、今年は難しいと考えている。

He always sends a year supply of rice to his second daughter's family who lives in Sapporo City. He also sends rice to relatives and acquaintances in Fukushima City. But this year, it will be difficult to do so [he probably won't send the rice this year].

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Fukushima Rice All Cleared for Shipment, Radioactive or Not

because in the "main" test administered by the Fukushima prefectural government, none exceeded the stringent national provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

The highest was from a district in Nihonmatsu City, 470 becquerels/kg (page 9 of the linked PDF file). But not to worry, rice farmers of the particular district. The Fukushima prefectural government will buy up all your rice, according to Kyodo News English (10/12/2011), probably using the money from the national government (i.e. nation's taxpayers' money).

It's a win-win for Fukushima rice farmers who went ahead and grew rice. If tested for less than 500 becquerels/kg of cesium, they are all set to sell. If tested close to 500 becquerels/kg, the government will buy the crop. No information on what the prefecture is going to do with the rice it buys up, but I suspect it will find its way to the market eventually. It's a lose-lose for a minority of conscientious farmers in Fukushima who chose not to grow at all this year - no sales, no compensation. Good luck, consumers, finding radiation-free rice and fighting critics who tell you that you are selfish on insisting on clean food.

In the meantime, a tweet from a farmer in Iitate-mura who evacuated from the village says:

10月初旬飯舘帰村顛末記９：留守中依頼していた直播稲の放射能検査の結果が出ていた。驚くなかれ玄米で２１９４ベクレル/KGを検出し規制値の４倍強。 あまりにも高いので念のため再検査を手配した。尚、この田んぼは残念だが今週中にトラクターで刈り込むので新米は猪の餌になる運命。

Diary of my temporary return to Iitate-mura in early October: The result of the radiation test for the rice came in. Surprise, surprise. 2,194 becquerels/kg [of radioactive cesium] in brown rice, more than 4 times the provisional safety limit. Since it was so high I arranged for the re-testing, just in case. As to the rice crop in the rice paddy, it has to be mowed down by the end of this week. So the new crop of rice will be feeding the wild boars.

He had said in his earlier tweets that when he had to leave the village in spring, he sprinkled the seed rice on his rice paddy and let the nature take its course instead of throwing it away. To his great surprise, the rice thus sowed directly (as opposed to planting carefully cultivated seedlings) and grown without any fertilizer or pesticide and without any tilling grew better than ever. He duly noted the irony, but also now says, "If I ever grow rice again, I will do the direct sowing and do none of the maintenance work. The traditional way of growing rice by planting seedlings, using fertilizer and pesticide, tilling, weeding and other constant care is nothing but a conspiracy by the agribusiness and JA (agricultural producer co-op)."

Way to go, farmer A1271. I hope you can get to grow crops again somewhere cleaner.

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