Fuku I Worker Who Pointed Finger at Livecam: Why He Did It, In His Own Words

Remember the guy who pointed his finger at the Fuku I Livecam and later announced his intentions in not-so-comprehensible English?

Here's a rough translation of his reasons why he did what he did from the original Japanese, which I hope is a bit more clear. His concerns are very legitimate, but to this day I haven't seen any news of TEPCO or the government looking into them other than superficial lip service that they will do so.

He says he pointed his finger not only at TEPCO and the government, but also to the viewers who would watch the video, live or recorded, on the Internet, and to himself who would watch it on his smartphone.

(H/T Tokyo Brown Tabby)

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My Requests and The Reasons Why I Pointed My Finger at TEPCO and the Government

I would like to request that TEPCO and the government improve in a tangible way how they contract work to subcontractors and how they monitor the employment situation.

As has been much reported, some workers have been forced to work here by the outlaw element [i.e. "yakuza" or the Japanese mafia]. Such workers are disguised as being employed by legitimate contractors but have to accept an unfair or severe employment conditions. Sometimes even the legitimate contractors who post recruitment information at employment Offices don't know who their workers' true contractors are. The excessive multi-layered subcontracting leads to various problems such as lower wages, no insurance, and no contract document, as has been reported.

In addition, I would like to share a few stories from my own experience.

At the inn where I stayed, there were days when I could not sleep during the daytime before my nighttime shift, because my roommates' work shifts are different. Before work, the workers had to fill in the form to declare their health condition. On one of such sleep-starved days, I honestly declared that I had slept for 4 hours. But while I was looking away, one of my seniors rewrote it to 6 hours. I assume it was because workers who were not capable of managing their own health would put a bad face on the company.

There is another problem. Even if we only worked for the prescribed hours, we had to spend huge amount of extra time taking care of the newcomers and registering them. Therefore, we sometimes ended up working or driving a car with only 1 or 2 hours of sleep.

The subcontractors are competing with each other for more work and trying to show how much they could do even if they have to strain their workers a little. The contractors would benefit from the low-cost, high-efficiency work. However, by the very nature of the whole setup, minor troubles or problems will not be reported to the higher hierarchy. They are causing negative effects everywhere, and I am worried that they might eventually lead to a serious accident.

Even if the TEPCO people were asked about subcontractors and workers at the press conference, all they could answer might be "we will investigate the matter" or "we will ask our affiliate companies not to do such things." And they probably would not receive any meaningful reports anyway.

The more mult-layered the subcontracting structure becomes, inconvenient facts get filtered out as the report goes from one layer to the layer above. It is not just the matter of subcontractors not reporting the situation. I don't think this problem will be solved if they hold individual workers or individual affiliate companies accountable. Threatening the subcontractors will not result in safety. This is the lesson we must learn from the JR Fukuchiyama-Line's derailment accident in 2005.

The plant workers are in a weak position. They should be liberated from the severe situation where they have to hide their overwork.

They are already overwhelmed by their sense of mission to put an end to this catastrophe for the sake of many people. They should not be burdened with additional pressure in the forms of bad working conditions and employment insecurity.

I believe this problem should be addressed comprehensively as a problem of the employment system at the plant as a whole.

I wish TEPCO would employ all workers directly, but if that is impossible, how about at least keeping complete track of all the workers' contract conditions by making all the subcontractors issue written contract documents? (I myself did not get any contract document.)

How about examining such contract documents and checking whether proper wages and insurance coverage are guaranteed, whether enough number of stand-by workers are reserved, and how work shifts, number of workers, and holidays are scheduled?

The original purpose of subcontracting is to have the subcontractors carry out the specialized tasks that the parent company doesn't have expertise on; the subcontracting should not be about skirting responsibility by dumping the normal management work on the subcontractors.

There's no predicting the final outcome, but I consider the current situation at the plant as one that has somehow managed to escape the worst possible scenario. I think it is important at the site of such an accident to prevent human errors caused by insufficient care about management work and workers.

At the plant site, many cheering messages from children, posters, banners, faxes, photocopies of emails, strings of "thousand origami cranes" from all over the country are displayed on the walls. Please make sure those voices will not turn into the voices that impose harsh self-sacrifice on the workers. Also, the fact that I was able to carry out my action without being stopped shows anyone who is dissatisfied with the current situation can go inside and do whatever he wants.

I don't think this can be prevented by strengthening security or strictly controlling the workers. I believe a much better way is to improve employment conditions to a decent level so that no worker gets frustrated.

I personally would like the press to continue to gather information on the working conditions at the nuclear plant and ask about it at the press conference.

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That some workers were "recruited" forcibly by a yakuza outfit was reported in an NHK documentary. In a softer approach, they would tell a hapless man with lots of debt, "Well, how about earning a ton of money working for the plant for a month? That would wipe out your debt, and some extra money for your wife..." In a harsher approach, they would raid a homeless camp under the highway overpass and simply push them in a van and drive them to the plant.

NHK interviewed a man in charge of recruiting the workers for the plant. He was a pudgy little man in a pink shirt with a fat gold-chain necklace (it could have been a bracelet). He said he used to get 1 million yen per worker by sending them to the 6th or 7th-layer subcontractor. He said "life is good".

The workers sent by people like him are working at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in order to contain the worst nuclear disaster at least in 25 years, if not ever.

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Japan's Ministry of the Environment Determined More Than Ever to Spread Radioactive Disaster Debris All Over Japan

Minister of the Environment and Minister of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Goshi Hosono called representatives from 43 Prefectures to the Ministry of the Environment and requested again that they accept disaster debris from Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures.

From Fuji News Network (FNN) via Yahoo Japan (10/5/2011; don't expect this link to last for more than a few days):

東日本大震災で発生したがれきの処理が大きな問題になっているが、環境省は4日、全国の自治体を集めた会議を開き、がれきの受け入れを要請した。

Processing the disaster debris from the March 11 earthquake/tsunami has been a big problem. The Ministry of the Environment held a conference attended by the municipalities from all over Japan, and requested that they accept the disaster debris.

細野環境相は「被災地にとっては、災害廃棄物の処理が、復旧復興の大きな前提と同時に、関門になっております。是非とも皆さんのお力を貸していただけますように」と述べた。

Minister of the Environment Hosono said, "The obstacle to recovery and reconstruction is the processing of the disaster debris. I'd like to ask you to cooperate with us".

この会議は、岩手県・宮城県で発生したがれきについて、ほかの自治体での受け入れを進めるために環境省が開いたもので、43の都道府県と74の市区町村などの廃棄物や清掃の担当者が出席した。

The conference was set up by the Ministry of the Environment to expedite the acceptance of disaster debris in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures. People in charge of waste disposal and cleaning in 43 prefectures and 74 municipalities participated.

東日本大震災では、およそ2,300万トンのがれきが発生しているとみられるが、放射能汚染を心配する声などが多く、すでにがれきを受け入れている山形県と10月下旬から受け入れを始める予定の東京都をのぞいて、がれきの受け入れが進んでいない。

It is considered that the March 11 disaster resulted in about 23 million tonnes of debris. However, there are many people voicing concern for radiation contamination, and the acceptance of the disaster debris is not happening except for Yamagata Prefecture which has already been accepting the debris and Tokyo which will start accepting starting the second half of October.

今後、環境省では、それぞれの自治体に、あらためて自治体の意向や処理可能量などについての調査を行い、被災地と受け入れ自治体との調整作業を進めていく予定。

The Ministry of the Environment will ask the municipalities once again about their intentions and waste processing capacities, and will coordinate between the disaster-affected areas and the municipalities that will accept the debris.

As for the Tokyo Metropolitan government, it signed the agreement with Iwate Prefecture on September 30 with hardly any consultation with the Metropolitan Assembly and zero consultation with the residents to accept about 500,000 tonnes of disaster debris. The government says it tested the ashes of the disaster debris from Miyako City in Iwate Prefecture and it was only 133 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

What the Metropolitan government didn't bother to tell anyone was that the radioactive debris were mixed with non-radioactive regular garbage and burned. The radioactive debris were supposedly 30%. However, the Ministry of the Environment itself did the testing of the disaster debris ashes in the same city back in July, and the Ministry's number was 4895 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. (Information from Tokyo Shinbun on 10/5/2011, in Japanese)

That leads me to suspect that Tokyo cherry-picked the cleanest possible debris to justify their decision. Why Governor Shintaro Ishihara is so eager to add radiation to his already irradiated Tokyo is a mystery to me, except there's a saying in Japan - "If you eat poison, lick the plate, too."

In for a penny, in for a pound.

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Soil Survey of Watari District, Fukushima City Shows 5 Times Cesium Concentration in One Location

compared to the survey done in June.

From Professor Tomoya Yamauchi's survey result dated October 5, 2011, as published by the "FoE Japan":

Survey results 計測結果

(1) Ogura-ji Inariyama 小倉寺稲荷山
Cs-134: 604.66 eV; 108,450 +/- 247 Bq/kg
Cs-137: 661.64 eV; 131,250 +/- 282 Bq/kg
Total 総計：239,700 +/- 375 Bq/kg

(2) Hachiman Jinja 八幡神社
Cs-134: 604.66 eV; 71,293 +/- 171 Bq/kg
Cs-137: 661.64 eV; 85,981 +/- 198 Bq/kg
Total 総計：157,274 +/- 262 Bq/kg

(3) Storm drain on the school route 通学路西側住宅雨水枡
Cs-134: 604.66 eV; 44,294 +/- 135 Bq/kg
Cs-137: 661.64 eV; 54,010 +/- 156 Bq/kg
Total 総計：98,304 +/- 206 Bq/kg

(4) drain in Yakushi-cho 薬師町内の溝
Cs-134 604.66 eV; 137,490 +/- 236 Bq/kg
Cs-137 661.64 eV; 170,075 +/- 274 Bq/kg
Total 総計：307,565 +/- 361 Bq/kg

(5) backyard of a residence in Yakushi-cho 薬師町内民家の庭
Cs-134: 604.66 eV; 17,532 +/- 91 Bq/kg
Cs-137: 661.64 eV; 20,932 +/- 104 Bq/kg
Total 総計：38,464 +/- 138 Bq/kg

The location (1) is the one whose cesium concentration in the soil quintupled from the measurement in June of 46,540 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium.

The location (2) is right next to a nursery school with small children.

Professor Yamauchi's conclusion:

地域全体が非常に高いレベルで汚染している。側溝の泥を取除く程度の除染では線量は下がらない。各住宅や空き地の表土とともに、アスファルトやコンクリート、コンクリート塀、屋根も除去の対象にしなければ線量は下がらないと見られる。

The entire district is highly contaminated. The radiation level will not go down with decontamination that only involves removing the sludge from the drains. In addition to removing the top soil at houses and empty lots, asphalt, concrete, concrete fences and roofs would have to be removed in order to lower the radiation level.

The national government did survey the district, but managed to miss high radiation locations. It did only the air radiation survey, which does not necessarily reflect the contamination level of the ground.

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#Radiation in Japan: 300,000 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Soil in Fukushima City

NGO "FoE Japan (Friends of Earth Japan) did its own survey of radiation contamination in Watari District in Fukushima City with the help from Professor Tomoya Yamauchi of Kobe University. Watari District has high radiation levels throughout the district, but the national government has so far refused to designate anywhere in the district as "evacuation recommended" area.

If the government designate an area as such, the government has to pay for the relocation cost. As the result, the designation in other cities like Date City has been very arbitrary and spotty, rendering the whole exercise worthless. Often, the residents are simply moved to the other parts of the same city with slightly lower radiation.

Professor Yamauchi already released the result of the air radiation survey of Watari District, but today (October 5, 2011) FoE Japan held a press conference and announced the result of the soil contamination survey.

The links at the NGO's site are broken unfortunately, but the newspapers reporting the press conference, the highest contamination was 300,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. Here's one from Asahi Shinbun (10/5/2011), which is one of the better Japanese newspapers that tend to keep the links alive longer.

Judging from Professor Yamauchi's air radiation survey (in Japanese), this particular location looks like the one that had 23 microsieverts/hour radiation at 1 centimeter off the surface of the dirt in the roadside drain. Professor Yamauchi hypothesized that radioactive cesium from surrounding mountains and forests washes down the drain after the rain, and naturally gets concentrated in the dirt.

In my communication with Professor Yamauchi, I asked if the decontamination as currently practiced in Fukushima works at all, given the non-result in Watari District which he surveyed. He said the spot decontamination like removing the dirt and sludge is useless as radioactive materials simply come from somewhere else, so the district-wide decontamination including the surrounding mountains would be necessary to "decontaminate" in the true sense of the word - to remove radioactive materials, not reduce.

He also said that spraying water with high-pressure washers hardly work at all on concrete and asphalt surfaces, as radioactive cesium is now deeply embedded in the concretes and asphalt. The only way to decontaminate concrete and asphalt, the professor said, was to physically remove all concrete structures - houses, fences, pavement, etc., which he said would destroy the neighborhood. He is of the opinion that all the residents in the district should be evacuated first, with the government paying for the cost, and the experts should get to work to truly "decontaminate".

Professor Yamauchi also wryly observed the the word for "decontamination" in Japanese, 除染 (jo-sen), is misleading. Looking at the characters for the word, it does mean "removing the contamination". So by doing the "jo-sen" work people think they are removing the contamination, when all they may achieve is to reduce the level of contamination somewhat (not much, if Watari District is any indication). He even said it was as if the government was encouraging "decontamination" so as not to evacuate people.

Or in the case of Minami Soma City, it is as if the residents in contaminated areas could feel comfortable enough to remain there by doing the "decontamination" work, as one volunteer related in the US ABC News interview in August. "If this radiation is going to stick around here for five to 10 years, we have to learn to live with it,"she said, instead of moving away from the high radiation area. For her, shoveling dirt from the kindergarten playground was a way to live with "it".

17,000 people live in Watari District, with beautiful mountains and water. It is dubbed "hidden paradise" in Fukushima City for the scenery like this:

(Photo credit: SHEjapan.com, with permission)

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TEPCO's "Report from Fuku I" to Show That They Are Doing Something

Beyond that, I'm not really sure what the purpose of the video is.

The video was taken in August and September, and released on September 20 by TEPCO.

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Result of "Decontamination" at a Kindergarten in Minami Soma City - Not Much of a Result

Minami Soma City in Fukushima Prefecture is one of the cities whose designation as "evacuation-ready zone" have been lifted and where the residents are supposed to return. The city had been urging the residents to return well before the designation was lifted, and as part of the efforts to encourage the residents to return and live in the city as before, the city has been busy "decontaminating" kindergartens and schools and other public places with advice from Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama of Tokyo University Radioisotope Center.

However, if you look at one and only result that the city has published, the decontamination didn't quite decontaminate, i.e. remove the contamination. If the city has better results elsewhere, it is not showing.

That one result is that of Ishigami Daini Kindergarten decontamination, done on July 30 as the kickoff event for Minami Soma's "decontamination month" (which was the month of August).

According to the "Decontamination Work Evaluation Sheet", the city found:

• Drainage on the rooftop measured 33 microsieverts/hour (already decontaminated at the time of July 30 work);

• As for indoor radiation level, the radiation 2 meters off the floor was higher than the radiation 1 centimeter off the floor;

• Locations whose radiation levels got lower after the work: drainage on the rooftop, under the slide in the playground;
  

• Washing the building didn't result in lower radiation;

• Washing the asphalt [parking lot] with high-power washer didn't result in lower radiation;

• Nearby residents complained of water from the decontamination work splashing on their properties; not enough notification prior to the work [it looks like the city didn't notify the residents at all].
  

Here's their before and after map of the radiation levels in various locations in the kindergarten:

• Noticeable difference observed in before and after radiation levels: under the rain gutters, drainage, under the slide
  

• Location where the radiation levels went up after the decontamination: center of the kindergarten playground, parking lot

• Locations where the difference was not noticeably big: playground locations, indoors

The survey meter that they used was "POLIMASTER PM1703M" personal survey meter which measures gamma ray with the accuracy of 30%.

But not to worry. The IAEA Decontamination Mission is coming to Japan. They must surely know what they are doing and advise the Japanese government accordingly.

Does anyone care at this point if the "decontamination" actually decontaminate? It sure seems to be making people feel better that they did the work, and it brings money and job to the area's yard cleaning contractors and heavy equipment operators who will do the soil scraping.

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IAEA Team of Decontamination Experts to Visit Japan

This must be part of that 1 billion yen that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded in the 3rd supplementary budget.

12 IAEA experts for 9 days in Japan including travel days.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (10/4/2011):

藤村官房長官は４日の記者会見で、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所事故で発生した放射性物質の除染活動を進めるため、７日から１５日まで国際原子力機関（ＩＡＥＡ）の「国際除染ミッション（調査団）」を受け入れると発表した。

On the October 4 press conference Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura announced that the government will accept "International Decontamination Mission" from IAEA from October 7 to 15 to assist in decontamination of the radioactive materials from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

　調査団は日本側の要請に基づくもので、１２人の専門家が派遣される。日本の除染作業の支援や、作業の評価や情報共有などを行い、報告書をまとめる。

The Japanese government has invited the Mission consisting of 12 experts. The Mission will support the decontamination efforts in Japan, evaluate the efforts and share information. It is expected to report on the findings.

The last time the IAEA experts visited Japan was to "investigate" the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident back in May. They duly issued the report, finding the Japanese government's response to the disaster "well-organized". IAEA chief Amano did his personal tour of the plant on July 25.

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#Radiation in Japan: Those Who Fled Fukushima in Panic Made a "Rational Decision", Says Government

The Ministry of Education's committee to discuss the compensation for Fukushima residents who evacuated from Fukushima on their own has decided to compensate those who fled Fukushima right after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident because "to flee in a panic is rational". The committee has postponed the decision on the compensation for those who evacuated much later.

Never mind that it was the national government and the Fukushima prefectural government who were spreading baseless rumors of safety right after the accident. Too bad for the residents who were lulled by the soothing words of Dr. "Damashita" (deceitful) Yamashita and did not get the hell out. Or those who thought they were acting rationally by not panicking.

Well, as I say in my blog graphics above, never trust the government, never rely on the government.

From Mainichi Shinbun (10/4/2011):

東京電力福島第１原発事故のため自主避難した人たちの間で、賠償への「線引き」に困惑が広がっている。文部科学省の原子力損害賠償紛争審査会が先月、事故後１カ月程度の間に避難したケースには賠償を認める方針を固め、その後避難した人は「検討課題」と先送りにしたためだ。「避難は早い者勝ちだったの？」「汚染の実態が分かったのは最近なのに」。３日東京都内で開かれた集会には避難者ら約１２０人が集まり、線引きをなくすよう訴えた。

People who voluntarily evacuated from Fukushima are confused with the government's compensation scheme. Last month, the Ministry of Education's committee on nuclear accident damage arbitration decided to compensate people who evacuated within a month of the accident but delayed the decision on compensating people who evacuated afterward. "So are you now telling us we should have evacuated as soon as possible?" "It is only recently that we knew how bad the contamination was." About 120 people gathered in a meeting held in Tokyo on October 3, and appealed for the equal treatment.

「事故直後から不安で仕方がなかった。でも国や東電が『大丈夫』と言い続けてきたのを信じて残ったのに……」。福島市の主婦、菅野千景さん（４６）は悔やむ。中１（１３）と小２（７）の娘２人を連れて京都市の公務員住宅に自主避難したのは、８月末になってからだ。

"I was worried right from the beginning. But the national government and TEPCO kept saying "It's alright" and I believed them." Chikage Sugano, 46-year-old housewife from Fukushima City regrets. It was only at the end of August that she took two daughters, aged 13 and 7 to Kyoto City.

　自宅は原発から約６０キロ。すぐに避難することも考えたが、マイホームのローンを抱え、夫と離れ離れの生活になることはためらわれた。中学入学を控える長女の心情も考えた。生まれ育った故郷・福島への愛着もあった。

Her home was about 60 kilometers from the plant. She thought of evacuating right away, but was hesitant because of the home loan and the uncertainty of being separated from her husband. She also did not want to hurt the feelings of her older daughter who was starting her junior high school. She had a strong attachment to Fukushima, where she was born and grew up.

　住んでいる地区の放射線量が比較的高いと知ったのは６月になってから。講演会や市民団体の集会に参加した。線量の数値や評価がこれまで聞いていた話とは違っていた。

In June, she learned that the district that she lived had a relatively high radiation level. She attended the lectures and gatherings by the citizens' groups. The radiation level and the evaluation of that level were different from what she had heard.

　自宅の線量を測ると、２階の子供部屋が毎時０・９５マイクロシーベルト。平常時の屋外の２０倍で、水ぶきしても数値は下がらない。娘たちには長袖にマスク姿で通学させる日々。「この状態が続くなら」と２学期の始まりに合わせた避難を決めた。

She measured the radiation level of her own home. The children's room on the second floor measured 0.95 microsievert/hour. It was 20 times as high as the normal [before the accident] outdoor radiation level. She cleaned the house with moistened cloth but the radiation level didn't go down. She made her daughters wear long-sleeved shirts and masks to go to school. They decided to evacuate before the 2nd semester at school.

　審査会は先月２１日、自主避難者への賠償に関し、避難時期を「事故当初」と「一定期間後」の二つに区切って議論することを決めた。「事故当初」は「恐怖心から避難するのは合理的」として賠償対象とすることで一致。区切りについては、政府が計画的避難区域などの指定を発表した４月１１日か、指定日の同２２日が検討されている。

On September 21, the committee decided to categorize the voluntary evacuees into two groups - those who evacuated "right after the accident", and those who evacuated "after certain period of time". The committee was unanimous in deciding to compensate those who evacuate "right after the accident" because "it was rational [or it made sense] to evacuate out of fear". As to what time period would be considered "right after the accident", the committee is considering either up till April 11 when the national government announced the planned evacuation zone, or April 22 when the planned evacuation zone was implemented.

　菅野さんはやるせない。「冷静に行動しようと思い、事故直後は踏みとどまってしまった。影響が出るかもしれない子供たちに申し訳ない上に、補償も出ないなんて」。引っ越し代や二重生活の費用がかさむ。

Mrs. Sugano feels disconsolate. "We thought we were acting rationally right after the accident, and stayed. We are sorry for our children who may be affected by the radiation. And no compensation on top of that". It cost a lot of money to move, and still does as they have to maintain two households. [Her husband apparently remains in Fukushima City.]

(The article continues with another such example.)

Regardless, some sort of a new propaganda using Twitter seems to be on. Tweets are supposedly written by a concerned housewife and mother who lives in Fukushima, and through her interactions with "scientists" and "experts" on Twitter she has been transformed from someone who was afraid of radiation contamination in Fukushima and wanted to leave into someone who has decided to stay and not to worry about radiation any more. (If it is not a propaganda then I lose hope for the country.) If you read Japanese you can read the whole exchange at Togetter.

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Yukio Edano to Become the New Minister in Charge of Organization for Nuclear Disaster Compensation

You cannot get more cynical, for at least a few minutes until the next horror is revealed in Japan.

But for now, Yomiuri Shinbun (10/3/2011) says that Yukio Edano, former Chief Cabinet Secretary and the current Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (who is seen trying to suppress a laugh in the video I posted) will also become the Minister in charge of the nuclear disaster compensation scheme set up by the government and the nation's electric power companies that operates nuclear power plants to socialize the cost of the accident.

The position has been held by Goshi Hosono, who as the Minister of the Environment has submitted the Ministry's budget that is more than 5 times the size of the last year's, riding high on the decontamination bubble.

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Fukushima Children Humiliated by Their Teacher for Not Drinking Fukushima Milk, and Cabinet Secretary Sneers

A couple of readers of this blog have sent me the link to this video, but I haven't created a post about it just because it just makes me sick, really sick. Well here it is, I've warned you. Watch it at your own risk.

It's part of the questioning in the Upper House Budget Committee on September 29 by Akira Matsu, as she related the story of a mother in Fukushima whose children, and others who refuse to drink milk in school lunches were called to the front of the classroom by their teacher and told they were not Fukushima residents if they dared refuse drinking milk from Fukushima. Towards the end, the new Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura is seen sneering, as former Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano tries his best to suppress his own sneer.

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Tochigi's Tactics to Sell Its Beef: Make Children Eat to "Prove" It's Safe

One of the very popular propaganda campaigns by the governments is to use children to appeal safety. Since the national government, prefectural governments, municipal governments all do it, producers and wholesalers must feel they are not just allowed but encouraged to do the same, and they join in with the governments to exploit small children so that they (think they) can sell their stuff, whatever they are peddling.

Here's the latest from Tochigi Prefecture, where radioactive cesium in the beef exceeded the national provisional safety limit by wide margin and the shipment of the meat had been halted in August, as reported cheerfully by NHK News Japanese (Tokyo Metropolitan version) on October 3, 2011. The link has since been deleted, but the article has been copied at Tokyo Brown Tabby's site, from which I quote in full:

栃木県産牛を給食にしてＰＲ

PR of Tochigi Beef using school lunch

出荷停止の措置が解除された栃木県産の牛の肉を食べてもらおうと、栃木県鹿沼市で小学校の給食に牛肉が入ったハヤシライスが出されました。

To encourage consumers to buy and eat beef made in Tochigi Prefecture, where the shipment ban has been lifted, Kanuma City in Tochigi Prefecture served "hashed beef over rice" as school lunches in the city's elementary schools.

栃木県産の牛は、肉から国の暫定基準値を超える放射性セシウムが検出され、ことし８月、およそ３週間にわたって出荷が停止されました。

Radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit was detected in the beef from cows raised in Tochigi Prefecture, and the shipment of the cows was halted for 3 weeks in August.

給食は畜産が盛んな地域のひとつ、鹿沼市と地元のＪＡが、出荷停止が解除された県産の牛肉の安全性をＰＲしようと行ったもので、市内８つの小学校に牛肉が入ったハヤシライス、合わせて５０００食が出されました。

This school lunch using the local beef was a PR campaign by Kanuma City and the local JA (agricultural producer co-op) to appeal the safety of the Tochigi beef. Total 5,000 "hashed beef over rice" dishes were served in 8 elementary schools, featuring the local beef.

このうち市立東小学校の１年生の教室には、鹿沼市の佐藤信市長や地元の畜産農家などが集まり、３９人の児童といっしょに給食を食べました。

In the classroom of 1st graders at Higashi Elementary School, Kanuma's Mayor Shin Sato and local cattle farmers joined the 39 pupils for the lunch.

子どもたちは久しぶりに牛肉が入ったメニューをうれしそうに味わっていました。

Children looked happy to eat the dish with beef, which hasn't been used in lunch [since radioactive cesium was detected].

女の子のひとりは、「お肉がやわらかくておいしかったです。もっと食べたいです」と話していました。

One girl said, "The meat was so tender and delicious. I'd like to eat more".

畜産農家の瓦井義男さんは「子どもたちが牛肉を食べる日を楽しみにしてくれていてうれしかったです。これからも安全な牛を生産するので安心して食べてほしい」と話していました。

Yoshio Kawarai, cattle farmer, said "I am glad that children were looking forward to eating the beef. We will continue to raise safe cows, so we want them to feel safe eating the beef".

Needless to say, Tabby is incensed. I feel dizzy with high blood pressure translating the text of the news. They served 1st graders with possibly radioactive beef, and the mayor of the city and cattle farmers were there with the small children to make sure they all ate lunch.

Well, was it radioactive or not? No one will ever know, because Tochigi Prefecture has clearly decided to go Miyagi Prefecture's way - that is, if the measurement is below the provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg for radioactive cesium, the government does not bother to tell you how many becquerels.

Here's Tochigi's latest "test" of its beef, on October 3, 2011. Note the right-most column, which shows the amount of radioactive cesium detected. It's all "暫定規制値以下" - "Below the provisional safety limit". It could be ND, it could be 499, but no one's supposed to know and they don't bother to tell.

The same arrogance has been shown by the Miyagi governor who declared that no one needs to know the detailed number as long as it is below 500 becquerels/kg for radioactive cesium.

As Professor Kunihiko Takeda said in his October 3 post, the governments of all levels are in it, the producers and sellers are in it in exploiting small children so that they can "sell" radioactive foods, they shout down the mothers who want to feed their children with radiation-free food, while the fathers strangely look the other way. Professor Takeda pleads with the fathers to join the fight and join the mothers, but the prospect looks bleak so far. Pro-nuke propaganda since 1991 has been a resounding success with the fathers. (Links are in Japanese.)

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"Dilute and Sell" - #Radioactive Tea Blended with Non-Radioactive Tea

A tea producer blended the tea with radioactive cesium with the tea without radioactive cesium so that he could sell off his radioactive tea. An operator of a sewer sludge plant knowingly sold radioactive sludge to a manufacturer of garden soil because there was no national government standard when he sold it. Their reason: "It's safer that way, as radioactive cesium will be diluted".

Many Japanese consumers seem dismayed to find out that there are people among them who would do such a thing, but there are people like that, unfortunately. And as the article cites one government agency, it is clearly none of the government's business to do anything about it anytime soon.

From Tokyo Shinbun paper version (not online; 10/3/2011), extremely quick translation subject to revision later if necessary:

Dilute cesium and sell - blend tea, garden soil - so that the cesium level is below the limit

After the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident spread radioactive materials, the provisional safety limit was set for variety of foods and goods. If an item tests less than the provisional limit it is considered "guaranteed safe". As the result, there are businesses that mix [radioactive goods] with those made in places far away from Fukushima Prefecture to dilute radioactive materials and sell them. Currently it is not against the law to do so, but the consumers who doubt the safety of the products and the producers who fear further "baseless rumor" damages are voicing concern.

Mixing

According to our research, we have been able to confirm instances of goods being sold after diluting the radioactive cesium content - garden soil and green teas.

In case of garden soil, sludge from water purification plants and sewage treatment plants had been used as an ingredient of the garden soil before the provisional safety limit for sludge was set. Sludge contains vital ingredients like phosphorus and potassium, and it is mixed with the soil at 10 to 20% ratio to make the garden soil.

The safety standard for radioactive materials in sludge was established on June 16, but some water purification plants in Kanagawa Prefecture had sold the total of 4,538 tonnes of sludge to the garden soil manufacturers from April up till June 16.

As for green tea, the tea producer was mixing the tea that passed the provisional safety limit but which still contained radioactive cesium with the tea made in Kyushu, far away from Fukushima I Nuke Plant. The blend was the radioactive tea 20%, the Kyushu tea 80%.

Most water purification plants had voluntarily stopped shipping the radioactive sludge until the provisional safety limit was decided. However, the company who runs this particular water purification plant that continued to ship says, "The detection level was low. If the sludge was made into the garden soil it would be diluted further". The company blames the manufacturers who bought the radioactive sludge, saying "The ultimate responsibility rests with those who make [the sludge] into final products and sell them". The company is currently selling the radioactive sludge to the businesses that supply dirt for construction projects, as the national government has sent out an instruction that "the use of radioactive sludge in the garden soil had better be suspended".

According to the green tea producer, there weren't enough of the tea leaves that passed the safety limit [but still contained radioactive cesium] to make it worthwhile to sell, so the company decided to mix it to make a "blend tea". The person in charge of the "blend tea" says "We made it clear in the package that it was a "blend tea", so there should be no problem. We just wanted to make the tea safer for the consumers".

Suspicion

These practices are not illegal, and when the contaminated products are mixed with non-contaminated products there should be less ill-effect on humans. However, if this "dilute and sell" model takes hold, it will only add to doubt and confusion for the consumers. Damage from "baseless rumors" may spread to milk and rice. It has been a standard practice to mix milk from different locations. The same goes for rice.

The national consumer association federation chief proposes the detailed labeling of the place of manufacture on a prefectural level so that the consumers can choose safely.

However, there is no law requiring the place of manufacture for the garden soil, and there is no voluntary guideline by the industry either. The national standard for food labeling only requires the label "Made in Japan" in the case of "blended" produce like rice and tea and processed foods; there is no requirement to show the name of prefecture where the product is made. The Consumer Affairs Agency of Japan [which is supposed to regulate the industries with the welfare of consumers in mind] is not going to do anything at this point, saying "Places of manufacture for the blended goods may change, so it is not practical to require detailed labels".

On the other hand, the head of the Worldwide Agricultural Policy Information Center is critical. He says "The role of the national government is to stop the spread of radioactive materials. To allow goods with radioactive materials to be diluted and and sold widely would be considered as approval by the national government to spread the contamination [all over Japan]". JA agricultural co-op Fukushima is also distrustful of the government policy [or lack thereof], saying "There will be no "baseless rumors" if the produce that is found with radioactive materials is not sold".

However, for now, we can only count on the voluntary effort by the industries. A new national policy would be necessary, just like when there was a problem of labeling "made in Japan" and "imported" goods.

It's funny and ironic that JA Fukushima says that, when it has been pushing radioactive produce to the rest of Japan, calling anyone who doesn't want to eat Fukushima produce as "discriminating against Fukushima people" and therefore "racist".

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Japanese Government to Give 500 Billion Yen to Fukushima Prefecture Alone

and almost all of the money looks set to go to anywhere and everywhere but individual Fukushima residents.

Yomiuri Shinbun (10/2/2011) reports:

平野復興相は２日、福島県庁で佐藤雄平知事と会談し、２０１１年度第３次補正予算案に福島県の復興対策費として約５０００億円を計上し、このうち３５００億円程度を地域経済再生のため、県が創設する基金に充てることを伝えた。

Minister of Recovery and Reconstruction Hirano met with Governor Yuhei Sato on October 2 at the Fukushima prefectural government and told the governor that the national government will allocate 500 billion yen (US$6.5 billion) to the recovery effort in Fukushima Prefecture in the 3rd supplementary budget of the national government for the 2011 fiscal year. Of 500 billion yen, 350 billion yen will go to the special fund that the Fukushima prefectural government will set up in order to revive the local economy.

　また、「基金（の額）はスタートだ。引き続き努力する」と述べ、必要に応じて積み増す考えも示した。

However, Minister Hirano said "This (amount of the special fund) is just a start. We will continue our effort", meaning the national government may add to the fund as necessary.

　基金は年度をまたいで支出できる。県は「福島県原子力災害対応・復興基金」への国の財政支援を強く要望していた。政府と県は基金を使い、国際的な医療センター整備、医療・福祉機器の研究開発拠点整備などを進める方針だ。

The fund can be used regardless of fiscal years. Fukushima Prefecture had strongly demanded the financial support from the national government for its "special fund for dealing with the nuclear accident and for the recovery". The national government and the Fukushima prefectural government will use this fund to build medical centers and R&D centers for medical equipments that are of international standard.

　復興対策費のうち１５００億円程度は、国の直轄事業として、中小企業や農林水産業に対する金融支援や、再生可能エネルギーの研究開発拠点の整備、風評被害対応などに充てる方針だ。

The remaining 150 billion yen will be used by the national government to financially help small businesses and agricultural, forestry and fishery businesses, to build R&D centers for renewable energy, and to deal with the "baseless rumor" damages [suffered by businesses in Fukushima Prefecture].

Financial help will be in the form of loans to businesses.

Fukushima Medical University, where Dr. Shunichi "It's so safe that children can play outside in nuclear fallout" Yamashita resides, wants 100 billion yen (link is in Japanese) to build a world-class hospital to treat cancer.

And Iitate-mura, where the Ministry of Education belatedly admitted to the existence of plutonium (and others to come), wants over 300 billion yen just for the village for the "decontamination" work.

The fiscal 2011 budget of the Fukushima prefectural government is about 903billion yen. Adding the supplementary budgets, the total tally for this fiscal year so far is about 1.43 trillion yen. This injection of 500 billion yen from the national government, which is likely to be open-ended, represents more than one-third of the entire budget for Fukushima.

Governor Sato must be very pleased. Who needs nuke plants when free money to the tune of 500 billion yen and counting is heading his way?

(It sure looks to me like the best opportunity for the Japanese government to finally create "inflation" that it has been so ardently craving for the past 20 years, by simply printing money.)

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: March 15 6AM Explosion Was "Somewhere in the Plant", Not Near Reactor 4

I just noticed something in TEPCO's past report on its facilities, which I linked in my previous post.

What I linked was their English report, and about the event in Reactor 4 it says this:

"At approx. 6:00am, March 15, an explosive sound was heard and the damage in the 5th floor roof of Unit 4 reactor building was confirmed."

I always assumed that the explosive sound was from Reactor 4. Then a few minutes ago I was reading the same report in Japanese, and what TEPCO says there is slightly different:

３月１５日午前６時頃、発電所内で大きな音が発生し、その後４号機原子炉建屋５階屋根付近に損傷を確認。

At approximately 6:00am, March 15, an explosive sound happened [somewhere] in the plant compound. Later, a damage in the 5th floor roof of Unit 4 reactor building was confirmed.

It does not say the explosive sound came from or near the Reactor 4 building. (Besides if I translate literally, it doesn't say "explosive" at all; it says "big sound" or "loud noise".) It lets readers naturally assume that the big sound was from Reactor 4 because of the damage you can see today, but technically TEPCO isn't connecting the two events - big sound and the damage in the Reactor 4 roof. ("Damage" is such an understatement.)

Checking the explosive events for Reactors 1, 2 and 3, TEPCO's Japanese and English reports both say "near Unit 1", "near the suppression chamber [of Unit 2]" and "near Unit 3".

Companies like TEPCO, as well as government ministries and agencies, craft their language very, very carefully. Particularly for the event like this nuclear accident with huge liabilities TEPCO has been extremely careful in not saying what it doesn't want to be construed in a wrong way.

It is possible that I am reading too much into this, but I do believe that TEPCO does not quite know what exactly happened in the early morning of March 15. It is clear that some explosive event happened, but TEPCO doesn't quite know where it happened. So in the Japanese report it said the explosive sound was heard somewhere on the plant, and in English report they decided to drop the location altogether.

Whatever happened that morning, it released a huge amount of radioactive materials that spread all the way down south to Tokyo and beyond.

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TEPCO Now Says There Was No Hydrogen Explosion at Reactor 2

From Yomiuri Shinbun (3:03AM JST 10/2/2011):

福島第一原子力発電所の事故を巡り、東京電力が社内に設置した「福島原子力事故調査委員会」（委員長＝山崎雅男副社長）の中間報告案の詳細が明らかになった。

Details of an interim report by TEPCO's internal "Fukushima nuclear accident investigation committee" (headed by Vice President Masao Yamazaki) were revealed.

　２号機で水素爆発があったとする従来の見解を覆し、爆発はなかったと結論付けた。事故を招いた津波について「想定できなかった」と釈明し、初期対応の遅れについても、「やむを得なかった」との見解を示すなど、自己弁護の姿勢が目立つ。東電は、社外有識者による検証委員会に報告案を諮った後、公表する方針だ。

The committee reversed the company's position that there had been a hydrogen explosion in Reactor 2, and now concluded there was no such explosion. As to the tsunami that triggered the accident, the committee says "it was beyond expectations"; of the delay in initial response to the accident, the committee concludes "it couldn't be helped". Overall, the report looks full of self-justification. TEPCO plans to run the report with the verification committee made of outside experts before it publishes the report.

　同原発では、１号機の原子炉建屋が３月１２日午後に水素爆発を起こしたのに続き、１４日午前に３号機が水素爆発した。さらに１５日早朝、爆発音が響き、４号機の建屋の損傷が確認された。爆発音の直後に２号機の格納容器下部の圧力抑制室の圧力が急落したため、東電は２、４号機でほぼ同時に爆発が起きたとし、政府も６月、国際原子力機関（ＩＡＥＡ）に同様の報告をしていた。

At Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, the Reactor 1 reactor building blew up in a hydrogen explosion in the afternoon of March 12, followed by a hydrogen explosion of Reactor 3 in the morning of March 14. Further, in the early morning on March 15, there was an explosive sound, and the damage to the Reactor 4 reactor building was confirmed. Right after the explosive sound the pressure in the Suppression Chamber of Reactor 2 dropped sharply, which led TEPCO to conclude that there were near-simultaneous explosions in Reactors 2 and 4. The Japanese government reported the events as such in the report to IAEA in June.

So then what does TEPCO now think happened in Reactor 2 in the early morning on March 15? Yomiuri doesn't say in the article text, but at the bottom of the illustration that accompanies the article it says:

"There was no explosion, but a possibility of some kind of damage to the Containment Vessel."

So, before TEPCO completely changes story, here's what they say happened on Reactor 2 on March 15 (from the daily "Status of TEPCO's Facilities - past progress" report, page 6):

It says "abnormal sound was confirmed near the suppression chamber" at 6:14AM on March 15.

Now, this is what TEPCO says about Reactor 4 on the same day, about the same time, from Page 16:

It says "an explosive sound was heard" at 6AM on March 15. The Reactor 4 explosion occurred before the Reactor 2 "explosion" which TEPCO now says never happened.

The two sounds are 14 minutes apart, and TEPCO now claims they misheard the second one and there was no explosion in the Suppression Chamber of Reactor 2.

(By the way, the fire spotted at 9:38AM on March 15 on Reactor 4 was never reported to the local fire department or the local government, as I reported on March 15.)

Well I can't wait to read their report and see how they explain away how Reactor 2 is supposed to have spewed more radioactive materials far and wide than any other Reactors.

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Three Plutonium Brothers Revisited

Now that the national government has finally owned up to the existence of plutonium and strontium outside Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (in case of strontium-89, as far as Shirakawa City, 79 kilometers from the plant), it seems like a good time to revisit what the government researchers were saying about "heavy" plutonium that we didn't need to worry about a bit, back in March and April.

Particularly the second guy, Keiichi Nakagawa of Tokyo University, said plutonium was so heavy it wouldn't disperse, and only the workers at the plant needed to worry.

(From my post on 8/8/2011)

Nakagawa: To begin with, this material is very heavy. So, unlike iodine, it won't disperse in the air. Workers at the plant MAY be affected. So, I'd caution them to be careful. But I don't think the public should worry.

My original post has the transcript (translation) of the video, which was captioned by Tokyo Brown Tabby. The Japanese video was compiled by sievert311.

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#Radioactive "Ekiden" Race in Fukushima City in 1 Microsievert/Hr Radiation, for Teenage Female Runners

I just do not understand these people who insist on carrying out what was planned before March 11 just because... just because.

Here's one of them, Tohoku Athletic Association, who is planning to hold the 27th Annual East Japan Women's Ekiden, of all place, in Fukushima City. Fukushima TV Network is a co-sponsor, with the backing from Sankei Shinbun.

"Ekiden" is a long-distance relay where the teams run the full marathon length (42.195 kilometers) in several stages on the road, with a runner of one stage handing off the team sash to his/her team mate who will run the next stage. It is quite popular in Japan as well as outside Japan, and there is even an "ekiden" event for elementary school girls with much shorter distance. (But long enough to kill one 11-year-old girl in Saitama City during practice, and no it was not heat exhaustion.)

From Sankei Shinbun, as appeared in Yahoo Japan News (therefore don't expect the link to last very long; 9/28/2011):

１１月１３日に号砲が鳴る第２７回東日本女子駅伝に東日本大震災で被災した岩手、宮城、福島の３県の合同チーム「絆チーム（仮称）」が出場することになった。主催者が２８日発表した。

It has been decided that a joint team of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefecture who suffered in the March 11 earthquake/tsunami will be entered in the 27th Annual East Japan Women's Ekiden which will be held on November 13, the sponsors announced on September 28.

　東北陸上競技協会と福島テレビが主催、サンケイスポーツなどが後援。晩秋の福島路を１７都道県の女性ランナーが走る。被災３県は個別チームとは別に合同チームを結成。復興への思いを胸に９区間４２・１９５キロで友情のたすきをつなぐ。

The event is sponsored by the Tohoku Athletic Association and Fukushima TV Network, and backed by Sankei Sports and others. Female runners from 17 Prefectures will run in Fukushima in late autumn. In addition to the prefectural teams, the three disaster-affected prefectures will form a joint team, and run the 42.195 kilometers in 9 stages in friendship and hope for the recovery of their prefectures.

　東京電力福島第１原発事故による放射線の影響が懸念されたが、主催者は「６月から沿道の線量測定を続け、現在は最大で毎時１マイクロシーベルト台で低下傾向にある」としている。福島市は大会に備え、発着地点の信夫ケ丘競技場などの除染を計画している。

There is a concern over radiation effect from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant Accident, but according to the sponsors, "We've been measuring the air radiation level along the course, and currently it is over 1 microsievert/hour maximum. It is trending down". In preparation for the event, Fukushima City is planning to decontaminate locations including the Shinobugaoka Athletic Field which the Ekiden starts and finishes.

It is reaching the point of criminality, of knowingly exposing young women, majority of them in mid to late teens in junior high schools and high schools, to radiation higher than that of the radiation control zone in a nuclear power plant. They will run in their shorts and sleeveless tops, without the masks of course. Last year, the youngest runner was 13 years old.

Fukushima City is where Greenpeace detected cobalt-60 in a park in a residential neighborhood, where decontamination work in certain districts resulted in "raising" the radiation levels.

This is lunacy. The coaches and corporate sponsors and others with vested interest would never dream of not going to the event. But the ones that I don't understand are the parents of these underage girls. Once in a lifetime chance to run in a big event must mean so much to the parents that they are willing to send their daughters to a radiation control zone to run.

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Prof. Yukio Hayakawa: Radiation Contamination Route Map

Professor Yukio Hayakawa of Gunma University has been revising his radiation contour map that he first made available in April. Now, he has a version of the map dated September 30 that indicates the routes and the timing of contamination, as you see below.

Professor Hayakawa says in the September 30 post that he specifically prohibits the use of the map by newspapers and television networks, as he protests the "unjust" firing of the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hachiro, which many in Japan, including politicians and some people in the mass media, considered as a hit job by a pro-nuke faction to bring down Hachiro.

Click on the map for a bigger view, or go to this link for a cleaner map.

For PDF file of the map, go here.

Some Japanese seem to think Professor Hayakawa is controversial because he doesn't mince his words to appear "nice" to the "victims" in Fukushima Prefecture. He openly accuses Fukushima farmers for "producing the poisonous (radiation-contaminated) produce and spreading them all over Japan". He says they had a choice of not farming this year, but they did.

Some contrast to Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University, who openly calls for the consumption of radiation-contaminated foods by adults in order to save the children and to save the farmers.

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OT: Ig Noble Peace Prize Goes to the Mayor of Vilnius in Lithuania

for crushing an illegally parked Mercedez with an armoured tank....

A team of Japanese researchers won the Ig Noble Prize for Chemistry, for "determining the ideal density of airborne wasabi (pungent horseradish) to awaken sleeping people in case of a fire or other emergency, and for applying this knowledge to invent the wasabi alarm."

Hehehe. For the list of Ig Noble Prize recipients and their achievements, go to the Ig Noble site.

The award ceremony was on September 29, 2011, and proud recipients attended the event.

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Ministry of Education Maps of Plutonium and Strontium Show Wide Dispersion of Supposedly Heavy Nuclides

On September 30 the Ministry of Education and Science posted the blurry maps plotting the locations where plutonium and strontium have been detected.

(On the same day, September 30, the national government abolished the evacuation-ready zone between the 20 and 30 kilometer radius from the plant, "allowing" the residents to return.)

The Ministry's 10-page document is in Japanese only for now.

According to the Ministry, the survey for plutonium and strontium was carried out in early June to early July in 100 locations within the 80-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant by government researchers. One location each in 59 municipalities within the 80-kilometer radius was picked, based on the air radiation level and the high population density. The remaining 41 locations were picked from within the 20-kilometer radius evacuation zones.

The Ministry claims it is the first time plutonium has been detected outside the plant, but all that means is that it is the first time a government ministry has admitted to the existence of plutonium outside the plant. As the readers of this blog already knows, as early as April the researchers were taking soil samples outside the plant and have them tested for plutonium and found it (see here and here).

The Ministry's conclusion is that the amount of plutonium is not that big to cause any alarm, and that they should focus more on the decontamination of cesium-134 and -137.

As for strontium, the Ministry does sound a bit more nervous. It says the ratios of radioactive strontium to cesium-137 in these locations were calculated; the ratios varied too much, indicating there was no correlation between the deposition of radioactive strontium and radioactive cesium. The Ministry will conduct further, more detailed study in locations that had higher strontium ratios.

Plutonium-238 (top number in the map), Plutonium-239+240 (bottom number):

Strontium-89 (top number in the map), -90 (bottom number):

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