Aerial Photographs of July 29 "Surround the Diet Building" Protest

The crowd doesn't look as big as some of the past Friday protests at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. Calling it "200,000" like the organizers did is probably a stretch, but so is the call by AP of "thousands". Reuters' "tens of thousands" may be just about right. But who knows. I wasn't there to feel the size, so what am I to say?

These aerial photographs were taken by "正しい報道ヘリの会" (proper reporting helicopter's group).

Photos by Masaya Noda (（cc）Masaya NODA / JVJA). Click to enlarge:

Photos by Ryuichi Hirokawa (（cc）Ryuichi HIROKAWA):

By the way, the organizers of this protest and Friday protests at PM Official Residence (except on July 27) are meeting with politicians including former Prime Minister Naoto Kan on July 31. Just as some older and more cynical observers of the whole protests have long predicted. The organizers are proudly declaring they are so different from the stupid old-timers who only knew how to throw rocks at the police. (Uh huh.)

DPJ's leadership election is scheduled on September 21, and Yoshihiko Noda is expected to win.

This friendly discussion meeting between the organizers and politicians is closed to the public, but Iwakami's IWJ and Nico Nico will do the live netcast for the rest of us from 5PM on July 31, according the organizers.

Whenever I look at the photos and videos of the Friday protests or any other local protests, what I see is the old timers - people in their 50s, 60s, 70s who do not want to leave the country like it is now to their children and grandchildren.

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Iranian Nuclear Facilities Hacked, Blasting AC/DC Music

Incidentally, AC/DC music was among "the loud music played to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility in preparation for interrogations", as the article below notes.

From San Francisco Chronicle quoting Bloomberg News (7/25/2012):

(Updates with comments from Iranian Information Technology official starting in sixth paragraph, AC/DC profile in seventh.)

July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Iran’s nuclear facilities have suffered a cyber attack that shut down computers and played music from the rock band AC/DC, the F-Secure Security Labs website said.

A new worm targeted Iran’s nuclear program, closing down the “automation network” at the Natanz and Fordo facilities, the Internet security site reported, citing an e-mail it said was sent by a scientist inside Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

The virus also prompted several of the computers on site to play the song “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC at full volume in the middle of the night, according to the e-mail, part of which is published in English on the website.

F-Secure Security Labs, which is linked to F-Secure Oyj, the Finnish maker of security and cloud software, said that while it was unable to verify the details of the attack described, it had confirmed that the scientist who reported them was sending and receiving the e-mails from within Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

Iran’s nuclear program and oil facilities have been subject to a succession of cyber attacks that the Foreign Ministry said in May were launched by hostile governments as part of a broader “soft war.” Iran accuses the U.S. and Israel of trying to sabotage its technological progress. Both countries say Iran’s nuclear activities may have military intent, an allegation that Iran denies.

Iran has called on the United Nations to condemn organized cyber attacks against nations, the head of Iran’s Information Technology Organization Ali Hakim Javadi said today, according to a report by the state-run news channel Press TV. Significant investment is needed for the creation of malware viruses such as Stuxnet or Flame, which previously targeted Iran, indicating that they were not produced by individuals, the Iranian official said.

AC/DC have played “high voltage rock ’n’ roll” since they were formed in 1973 in Australia, according to the band’s website. Their songs were among the loud music played to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility in preparation for interrogations, the Associated Press reported in October 20009, citing the National Security Archive in Washington.

F-Secure Security Labs is involved in analyzing viruses, spyware and spam attacks, according to its website.

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Masao Yoshida, Former Plant Manager of #Fukushima I Nuke Plant, Is Hospitalized for Cerebral Hemorrhage

TEPCO says "His life is not in danger."

Judging from the past 16 months of communication by TEPCO and the Japanese government (who are one and the same at this point, after the effective takeover of TEPCO by the government), it may simply mean "not in immediate danger", and by "immediate" it means "instantaneously".

TEPCO announced the news 4 days after it happened.

From Jiji Tsushin (7/30/2012):

吉田前所長が緊急手術＝脳出血、命に別条なし－東電

Former Fukushima I Nuke Plant Manager Yoshida underwent emergency operation for cerebral hemorrhage, his life is not in danger, says TEPCO

東京電力は３０日、福島第１原発の吉田昌郎前所長（５７）が２６日夕方に外出先で不調を訴え、脳出血のため搬送先の病院で緊急手術を受けたと発表した。手術は成功し、病状は重いが意識はあり、命に別条はないという。

TEPCO announced on July 30 that Masao Yoshida (age 57), former plant manager of Fukushima I Nuclear Power plant, complained of feeling ill on the evening of July 26 when he was away from home, and that he underwent an emergency operation for cerebral hemorrhage at the hospital he was brought to. The operation was successful, and he is conscious even though he is still in grave condition. TEPCO says his life is not in danger.

　吉田氏は昨年３月１１日の事故発生から、所長として現場で陣頭指揮を執った。食道がんと診断され昨年１１月に入院し、同月末で所長を退任。その後、自宅で療養を続けていた。

Since the start of the nuclear accident on March 11 last year, Mr. Yoshida led his team of workers to deal with the accident as the plant manager. He was diagnosed with esophagus cancer and hospitalized in November last year. He resigned as the plant manager at the end of November and has been receiving medical treatment at home.

　東電の松本純一原子力・立地本部長代理は記者会見で、家族の意向として脳出血時の詳しい状況を説明しなかった。医師の所見では、脳出血は食道がんと直接の関係はないという。

TEPCO's Junichi Matsumoto didn't explain the details of when Yoshida suffered cerebral hemorrhage, saying it was his family's wish. According to the doctor [at the hospital?] there is no direct relationship between the cerebral hemorrhage and the esophagus cancer.

　東電は昨年１２月、吉田氏の原発事故後の被ばく量は約７０ミリシーベルトと発表。食道がんの潜伏期間は５～１０年で、放射線医学総合研究所の明石真言理事の見解として、被ばくが原因の可能性は極めて低いと説明した。

TEPCO announced in December last year that Mr. Yoshida's radiation exposure level after the start of the nuclear accident was about 70 millisieverts. The latent period for esophagus cancer is between 5 to 10 years. At the time of the announcement, TEPCO quoted Dr. Makoto Akashi, Executive Director at National Institute of Radiological Sciences, who said the possibility was extremely low that [Yoshida's esophagus cancer] was caused by radiation exposure.

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Noda Administration May Be Planning to Use Sales Tax Proceeds for Large Public Works Projects

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

The Noda administration has successfully pass the legislation to increase Japan's sales tax from current 5% to 8% (then to 10%) with the help of the opposition parties, and the ostensible reason was to "reform and improve the public safety net".

It was BS as it stood, because the money will be taken from the very people Prime Minister Noda says he wants to help. Now, according to Tokyo Shinbun, the administration has much better use of the money that they will have: public works.

Ah. Good old trusty public works that have never succeeded in lifting Japan from the two-decade-long economic stagnation (dubbed "Lost Decades") but have helped in keeping the biggest general contractors in business.

But if you read the article, it's totally illogical. It goes like this:

1. Let's raise sales tax, everybody pays this tax for everything they buy.

2. Lots of money will fill the government coffer. No need to issue government bond to pay for the social services any more!

3. So, the debt (government bond) not issued (because the sales tax covers the cost, supposedly) is the new money created! (No it is not, but you can't argue with politicians.)

4. Let's spend that "money" on public works!

Only in the last bastion of John Maynard Keynes.

My quick translation of the Tokyo Shinbun article (7/30/2012):

A curious discussion has been going on in the Upper House special committee on the simultaneous reform on social security and taxation. The main topic of the discussion is whether to use the extra breathing space from the sales tax hike in public works. All of the money from the tax increase is supposed to be used in providing social security. But if we listen to the discussion, it is almost like "simultaneous reform on taxation and public works".

In the committee meeting, the Councilors from Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komei Party keep repeating, "We should increase the budget for public works because the public works protect the life and living of the citizens." The basis of their argument is the revised regulation that the three parties agreed on in June, "Addendum 18 Item 2".

It says, "Considering the effect of the sales tax hike on the economy, the fund will be specifically allocated to the growth strategy and areas like disaster prevention and disaster mitigation."

If the sales tax is raised to 10% and additional 13.5 trillion yen is in the government coffer, that will decrease the amount of government debt to pay for the social security. So why not use this extra spending power [what's "extra" about this?] in public works for disaster prevention and such? That seems to be their thinking. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is sympathetic to the idea, saying "If the economy grows and tax revenue rises, disaster prevention and disaster mitigation will be the priority for added funds."

The government has been explaining that the purpose of sales tax hike is to achieve both the reform on social security and the fiscal reform simultaneously.

Money is fungible, but if the money from the tax hike is diverted to public works, the fiscal reform will be delayed, and additional tax hike may become necessary. What is the point of the sales tax hike then?

The point of raising sales tax is, because they can, and they want to look good in the eyes of IMF. And because the citizens have long been pushovers (and the foreign residents have no say).

If the economy grows? PM Noda expects the economy to grow by raising tax for the constituency that has no power - individual taxpayers. Japan's large exporters will benefit from the sales tax hike, and they will receive extra credits. I suppose Mr. Noda is not counting on the Japanese citizens and residents to spend money to expand the economy.

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Liquid Sodium Leak Alarm at Monju Fast Breeder Reactor But No Leak Found, Says Operator JAEA

Secondary coolant leak alarm was sounded on July 30, but the workers didn't find any actual leak. Or so the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the operator of Monju Fast Breeder in Fukui Prefecture, says.

From Kyodo News (7/30/2012):

もんじゅでナトリウム漏れ誤警報　福井・敦賀、作動原因調査

False alarm of sodium leak at Monju, in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture; JAEA to investigate the cause of malfunction

　日本原子力研究開発機構は３０日、高速増殖炉原型炉もんじゅ（福井県敦賀市）で同日午前３時４０分ごろ、２次冷却系の冷却材ナトリウムの漏えいを知らせる警報が作動したと発表した。実際のナトリウム漏れや環境への影響はなかった。

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) announced on July 30 that an alarm was sounded off at about 3:40AM on July 30 that signaled a leak of coolant (liquid sodium) from the secondary cooling system at Monju Fast Breeder Reactor (Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture).

　警報が作動した原因は不明で、同機構が詳しく調べ、結果を経済産業省原子力安全・保安院に報告する。

It is not known why an alarm was triggered. JAEA will investigate, and will report the findings to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

　もんじゅは原子炉停止中だが、炉内には核燃料が装荷されており、冷却のために１次系、２次系でナトリウムが循環している。

Monju Reactor is stopped, but the nuclear fuel is loaded in the reactor. To cool the fuel, liquid sodium is being used in the primary and secondary cooling systems.

　警報が作動したのは、原子炉補助建屋にある、２次系配管周辺に設置された検出器の一つ。作業員が現場を目視で点検したりしたが、ナトリウム漏れは確認できなかったという。

The alarm was set off by one of the detectors placed around the secondary cooling system pipes in the reactor auxiliary building. The workers went to the site to do the visual inspection, but no sodium leak was observed, says JAEA.

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July 29 "Surround the Diet Building" Protest Drew Anywhere from "Thousands" to "Two Hundred Thousand" People, Depending on Who You Ask

(UPDATE) AP's reporter sent me a tweet saying "Even though the opening says "thousands", "10,000" is mentioned in the article and even the event with 200,000 people is mentioned in the article." Yes they are, and that's what I quoted below. I'm asking her why the opening was "thousands".

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Photo from Mainichi, showing part of the crowd that may have been "several thousands" to "200,000" (Mainichi has 11 photographs of the protest at their site):

AP's Japanese reporter in Tokyo says "thousands" of people:

TOKYO (AP) — Thousands of people formed "a human chain" around Japan's parliament complex Sunday to demand the government abandon nuclear power — the latest in a series of peaceful demonstrations on a scale not seen in the nation for decades.

The reporter Yuri Kageyama notes later in the article that July 16 protest in Yoyogi Park drew "nearly 200,000" thanks to celebrities leading the pack, and says the Sunday crowd was smaller:

Similar demonstrations have been held outside the prime minister's residence every Friday evening. The crowds have not dwindled, as people get the word out through Twitter and other online networking. A July 16 holiday rally at a Tokyo park, featuring a rock star and a Nobel laureate, drew nearly 200,000 people.

The crowd appeared to be smaller Sunday. Kyodo News service estimated it at about 10,000 people. Participants said they came from across Japan, underlining the widespread appeal of the protests.

Reuters's foreign reporters in Tokyo says "tens of thousands", and also notes the defeat of an anti-nuclear candidate in the gubernatorial election in Yamaguchi Prefecture held on July 29:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people protested against nuclear power outside Japan's parliament on Sunday, the same day a proponent of using renewable energy to replace nuclear following the Fukushima disaster was defeated in a local election.

The protesters, including old-age pensioners, pressed up against a wall of steel thrown up around the parliament building shouting, "We don't need nuclear power" and other slogans.

On the main avenue leading to the assembly, the crowd broke through the barriers and spilled onto the streets, forcing the police to bring in reinforcements and deploy armored buses to buttress the main parliament gate.

The Metropolitan Police says (remember, there is no "official" number form the police on any demonstration) "ten and several thousands", according to Mainichi. TBS says "15,000", quoting their police source.

The organizers, who discouraged people from showing up on Friday to concentrate on the July 29 event, says "200,000". One of the organizers tweeted that she was going to focus on media handling (giving interviews) at the event, but did see the actual protest.

She was also tweeting about the Friday protest that she and her friends disapproved of, saying the number of 2,800 was "just about right", to which others responded by saying that was just too low.

The July 29 protest did produce two arrests.　As Reuters and TBS News note, the protesters had a scuffle with the riot police when people flooded the streets, and two protesters were arrested for obstructing the police in the performance of their duties.

Interestingly, unlike the previous protests at the PM Official Residence on Fridays, BBC and NPR (National Public Radio in the US) have been reporting this particular protest repeatedly. I wonder if someone has gotten smarter and is contacting the foreign media to prompt better coverage.

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OT: London Olympics - Japan Men's Soccer (Football) Team Will Advance to Quarter Final

after defeating Morocco 1 - nil. The single goal of the game was made by Kensuke Nagai with only six minutes left on the clock.

With the 1 - nil win over Spain, Japan will now advance to the quarter final (tournament), regardless of the result of the final match in the qualifying round with Honduras on August 1.

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Live Netcast: July 29 Surround the National Diet Building in Tokyo

Nico Nico Video netcast is here (no need for registration):

http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv101516452#02:50

Some woman is speaking with rough words. Looks hot, looks like a lot of people. Now some group of women is about to sing some songs.

At Yasumi Iwakami's IWJ Channel on USTREAM, people are shouting with drums and whistles and horns:

Live Video streaming by Ustream

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July 29 Protest to Surround the National Diet Building to Express "Beyond Nuclear" Sentiment

According to the organizers who skipped the Friday protest this week to concentrate on this supposedly big event, the details are as follows:

Location: Hibiya Park Nakawaiwai Gate (日比谷公園中幸門)
3:30 to 4:30PM: meeting
4:00PM: starting demonstration
7:00PM: surround the National Diet Building (candle light-up)
8:00PM: end the protest

The route map by the organizers:

The purpose of this protest? The organizers' site just says "脱原発" ('datsu genpatsu', beyond nuclear power plants). I suppose the purpose is to express one's wish, or hope, for a nuclear-free world. In other words, the purpose of the protest is to gather together.

If any of the readers of this blog in Japan is going, please let us know how it goes.

On Friday, people gathered anyway at the Prime Minister's Official Residence at 6PM, just as the organizers were giving a press conference at the same time and some members of the organizers were tweeting until the last moment telling people not to go to the protest.

There were several organizers in this Friday's event, some of whom were being criticized by the organizers in the press conference. They announced there were 2,800 protesters (it looked bigger than that to me, watching it on USTREAM). There were people voicing objection to PM Noda, to sales tax, to TPP, nuclear power plant, protesting against unfair treatment of Fukushima I Nuke Plant workers, demanding protection for children in Fukushima. Some tweeted, essentially, "Free at last."

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Canadian Magazine Worries About Radioactive Fish

The Georgia Straight is a weekly entertainment magazine in Vancouver, Canada. Its July 19 issue's front cover features salmon with three eyes, setting off an alarm on the geiger counter that's going overscale.

The article titled "Post-Fukushima, Japan's irradiated fish worry B.C. experts" is in that issue:

Are fish from the Pacific Ocean and Japanese coastal and inland waters safe to eat 16 months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster?

Governments and many scientists say they are. But the largest collection of data on radiation in Japanese fish tells a very different story.

In June, 56 percent of Japanese fish catches tested by the Japanese government were contaminated with ce-sium-137 and -134. (Both are human-made radioactive isotopes—produced through nuclear fission—of the element cesium.)

And 9.3 percent of the catches exceeded Japan’s official ceiling for cesium, which is 100 becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg). (A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity equal to one nuclear disintegration per second.)

Radiation levels remain especially high in many species that Japan has exported to Canada in recent years, such as cod, sole, halibut, landlocked kokanee, carp, trout, and eel.

Of these species, cod, sole, and halibut, which are oceanic species, could also be fished by other nations that export their Pacific Ocean catch to Canada.

The revelations come from the Japanese Fisheries Agency’s radiation tests on almost 14,000 commercial fish catches in both international Pacific and Japanese waters since March 11, 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami triggered multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

(Full article at the link)

The article goes on to describe how the experts in British Columbia are worried, yet there hasn't been any testing in Canada of fish caught off the Pacific coast of Canada. The data the experts mention is the Japanese data on the Japanese fish caught in Japanese waters or hauled to Japanese ports.

Why are they so concerned about the radioactivity in fish caught in Japan (ocean and freshwater)?

The article says Canada imports a lot of fish from Japan. How much?

...Japan exported $430,000 of kokanee to Canada in the first four months of 2012, according to Statistics Canada figures.

...Statistics Canada data shows Japan exported $37,000 worth of “Pacific, Atlantic, and Danube salmon” to Canada in the first four months of 2012.

...The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a July 17, 2012, statement that Canada has imported one shipment of masu salmon, in October 2011, since Fukushima.

...Japanese finance ministry trade data, however, shows Japan exported 120 kilograms of masu salmon to Canada in April 2011, directly after the nuclear accident.

...Japan exported $6.9 million of fish and crustaceans to Canada in the first four months of 2012, according to Statistics Canada, which would work out to $20.7 million per year if averaged. That would be up from $16.3 million in 2011, which itself was higher than the 2010 total of $15.4 million.

By reading this article, you might get the impression that the same levels of radioactivity must exist in fish caught off the Pacific coast of Canada or in the freshwater rivers and lakes on the Pacific Ocean side. Are any Canadian government agency testing? The answer seems to be "no". Are any of the researchers quoted in the article testing? The answer seems to be also "no". The researchers say it is the government's responsibility to monitor.

When the government does monitor, it'd better use an instrument that can actually measure radioactivity, like a germanium semiconductor detector. Waving a geiger counter or personal survey meter over fish and other food items to detect radiation has been long abandoned even by people in Japan concerned about the safety of food.

(H/T John Noah for the article link)

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On the separate news, Canada will export uranium to China, as China is planning 171 nuclear reactors to be built in the future to add to the current 14 and additional 26 under construction. (I would think the best defense against possible radioactive contamination of fish in the Pacific Ocean is to eliminate the source of contamination, like nuclear power plants in China ...)

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#Radioactive Japan: "Peach Project Junior - Let's Get Cheer From Children!" and Save Fukushima!

That this sort of events still goes on 16 months after the start of the worst nuclear accident in the country is surprising. Or not surprising. I don't know any more. Do you?

It is a leaflet for an event called "Let's Get Cheer (or Energy, Vitality, 'Genki" in Japanese) from Children!". The event is sponsored by an NPO called "Fukushima Stakeholders Coordinating Council" (I don't know if there's an official English name, so it is my translation of the name) set up in May this year. This is the same entity that will be holding a seminar in August on how to "decontaminate" your "soul" (heart, thinking).

It is supported by the Fukushima prefectural government (decontamination countermeasures department), the Board of Education in Date City, and JA Date Mirai (ag producers co-op), and co-sponsored by the Liberal Democratic Party-Kizuna Faction of the Ibaraki City Assembly in Osaka Prefecture.

They are looking for twenty 5th and 6th graders from Ibaraki City to go on a two-day trip (August 16, 17) to Date City in Fukushima Prefecture at a cost of 4,000 yen each. 4,000 yen will cover the lodging and insurance. Transportation costs will be paid by the organizers.

What they are going to do in Fukushima?

August 16:
Soon after arriving at Fukushima after spending 5 hours on the train, go visit Decontamination Information Plaza in Fukushima City set up by the Ministry of the Environment. Then, move to Date City, and enjoy all the peaches they can eat. They stay in Date City overnight.

August 17:
Socialize with school children in Fukushima, take a group photograph at the Decon Information Plaza, and go home to Osaka.

The place they will spend the night in Date City is a public hostel located in Tsukidate-machi, where 1,050 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the rice harvested last year. Date City is famous for its peaches, but they were found with high levels of radioactive cesium last year. Fruit tree "decontamination" of stripping the tree barks must have worked this year.

The organizers are nice enough to hold a informational session on August 11 to explain to the potential participants (and parents I assume) the current condition in Fukushima and the effect of radioactivity.

What is the point of this? How would this make people in Fukushima or in Date City feel uplifted? If I were the receiving end of this "goodwill", I would be nauseated. It is bad enough that the city and the prefecture have been badly contaminated from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. And here come well-meaning (I hope) organizations and politicians with the support of their city and the prefecture, sending children from far-away Osaka so that people in Date City feel better.

The country is sick.

By the way, the decontamination adviser for Date City, Shunichi Tanaka, is set to become the first chairman of the soon-to-be-created Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Japan. He was also the former acting chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan.

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Friday Protest at PM Official Residence in Tokyo, No Matter What

People are gathering, regardless of what the usual organizers for the Friday protest have said (that they are not "organizing" this week's event because they have more important things to "organize" for Sunday).

Yasumi Iwakami tweeted this photo:

IWJ's Channel 1 is live, with Iwakami interviewing the participants:



Live broadcast by Ustream

IWJ's Channel 5 is also live:



Live video for mobile from Ustream

I see many middle-aged men and women, and older - the very generation that was ridiculed by some of the organizers of the past Friday protests (except today)

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It's Friday Again, BUT There Won't Be a Protest at PM Official Residence in Tokyo This Week

because the organizers of the weekly event say they are focusing on the Sunday's big event of encircling the National Diet Building to protest against nuclear power.

According to the organizers (or I should say those who have been particularly vocal on Twitter), their "single issue" (pronounced 'shinguru ishuu' in katakana English, I doubt the majority of Japanese would be able to spell the phrase in English) movement has succeeded in attracting this many people to the protest every Friday, and if anyone has any problem with their stance or policy (no union flags, no talk about radiation contamination, etc.), they say rather disparagingly, "Feel free to organize a protest yourself, if you think you can".

So they think they "organized" it.

I do not know if anyone is showing up at the Prime Minister's Official Residence to protest. Looking at Yasumi Iwakami's IWJ website, a group is protesting against the appointment of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the PM Official Residence at 5:30PM, and another group is protesting against the Ooi restart in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Annex Building (where NISA is located) at 6:30PM. It looks the organizers are giving press conference at 6PM.

The protest in front of KEPCO's headquarters in Osaka City is on, as usual:

Date: Friday, July 27, 2012
Time: 6 to 8PM
Place: KEPCO Headquarters, 3-6-16 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka

I'm not very enthusiastic any more in promoting this Friday protest at the PM Official Residence by these particular organizers ("Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes"), but nonetheless I still feel it is important to keep the "voices" (or noise, or sound, whatever it is to the prime minister) heard.

I just caught a tweet by one of the vocal organizers, effectively saying "It is true that one of us works for an event coordinating company. So what?"

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OT: Olympic Men's Football - Japan 1 - Spain 0

(Flying in the business class clearly did them good, although I heard on the radio how uncomfortable they felt with the situation.)

A Kyodo photo from Nikkei Shinbun (7/27/2012) reporting the "Miracle in Glasgow" (where the match was played) shows how the Japanese players stuffed a Spanish offense:

According to the Nikkei article, the Japanese players out-ran the Spanish counterparts, and kept on running the entire 90 minutes.

The next match for Japan is against Morocco on July 29, then Honduras.

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PM Noda on Friday Protest in Tokyo: "I Hear The Voices..."

The text below is taken from Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's official blog (officially translated into English, probably by the PR agency who did the homepage renewal) on July 11, 2012, titled "Listening carefully to a range of views".

The translator's effort to follow as close as possible the original cliche-ridden Japanese is evident. I sympathize. But Mr. Noda simply continues the fine tradition of the Japanese government, particularly since the Fukushima nuclear accident, of lying through his teeth.

From the Official Blog (English) of the Prime Minister's Office (7/11/2012), with my comment in square brackets, in blue italics:

I also hear the voices of the large number of people expressing anti-nuclear sentiments outside the Prime Minister's Office each Friday evening. [Yes, that the "sound" (some bloggers called it "noise" that he said he heard.] And I also hear the voices of people who are greatly worried about the possibility of rolling blackouts and drastic energy saving measures, including the elderly in elderly care homes, shop owners, and people employed at small- and medium-sized enterprises. [About the only people I heard who said those things were politicians - Mayor of Osaka City, for one.] We also have the hard fact that the restart of the Unit 3 reactor at the Oi Nuclear Power Station has enabled relaxation of the energy-saving target for the Kansai area to 10%. [The "hard fact" is that as soon as the Ooi Reactor 3 came online despite numerous alarms that were essentially ignored by KEPCO, KEPCO took 8 thermal power generation plants offline. It was also revealed that there would have been no shortage to begin with, as KEPCO's "calculation" was based on the summer of 2010, which was hotter than the summer of 2011.] What we should do now is vigilantly ensure safety, taking all possible means to do so. [Like how? By putting a senior vice minister at the plant who exclaimed "Jellyfish will never stop a modern nuclear power plant!" ?]

In addition, the issue of how to get through this summer's severe supply and demand situation through the restart of the Oi Nuclear Power Station is one that is fundamentally different from the issue of how in concrete terms we can reduce to the greatest possible extent our dependence on nuclear power over the medium to long term. [That's your problem, Mr. Noda, not the protesters'. The protesters don't want to restart Ooi or any other nuke plant until the Fukushima I Nuclear Plant accident is truly "over". Dependence of nuclear power has been part "manufactured" by deliberately putting thermal power generation plants offline and by calculating the "cost" of power generation that seemingly favored nuclear power generation.]

Recently, the Energy and Environment Council set forth three scenarios for Japan's energy composition in 2030. I intend to advance a national public debate regarding our medium- to long-term energy composition, earnestly taking into account the views of various people. ["Earnestly taking into account"? Well your Minister of the Environment Goshi Hosono said the same thing, and guess what. It is not Goshi Hosono who is reading the views of various people but the PR agency your administration has contracted (Hakuhodo). You have outsourced "earnestly taking into account" activity.]

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#Radioactive Japan: Kyoto Finally Gives Up on Bringing and Burning Disaster Debris from Miyagi Prefecture

A victory achieved in Kyoto for the opponents of disaster debris incineration in Kyoto, by protesting (including shouting down Minister Goshi Hosono, telling him to go back to where he belongs - that was fun to watch), attending the "town hall meetings" to argue against it, and petitioning.

It's not really that the Kyoto officials finally listened to the opponents (if they did they wouldn't admit), but the opponents, by protracting the process long enough, have made it irrelevant. The amount of disaster debris in Miyagi and Iwate has turned out to be much less, and the prefecture officials (with the exception of the governors who remain eager to distribute the debris) say they are able to process them (not even burning it) within the prefectures.

Kyoto City has formally abandoned the idea of bringing in the disaster debris and incinerating it, and says it will focus on other ways to help the recovery of the disaster-affected areas. As the result, there will be no municipalities in Kyoto Prefecture that will accept and burn the debris with radioactive materials from the Fukushima nuclear accident, asbestos, arsenic, hexavalent chromium (from the tsunami damage).

That leaves Osaka and Kitakyushu City in the western half of Japan that still adamantly insist on burning the debris which even the officials in the disaster-affected Iwate and Miyagi say may not be necessary at all.

From Kyoto Shinbun (7/25/2012):

京都市、震災がれき処理見送り

Kyoto City to shelve the plan to process disaster debris

東日本大震災で発生した宮城県の震災がれき処理を検討していた京都市は２５日、受け入れを見送ることを決めた。同県で処理のめどが立ったため、同日、環境省が市に協力要請しない方針を伝えた。これにより京都府内でがれきを受け入れる自治体はなくなった。

Kyoto City, which had been planning for disposal of disaster debris from Miyagi, decided to shelve the plan to accept the debris on July 25. The Ministry of the Environment informed the city on July 25 that the ministry would not request the cooperation from the city because Miyagi Prefecture was likely to be able to process the debris within itself. As the result, there are no municipalities in Kyoto Prefecture that will accept the disaster debris.

宮城県が同日示した災害廃棄物処理実行計画で、可燃物の協力要請について現在調整中の自治体と、すでに受け入れている自治体（青森、山形、福島、茨城４県と東京都）に限るとし、新たに要請しない方針を決めた。

According to the disaster debris process plan that Miyagi Prefecture announced on July 25, the prefecture would only request the disposal of flammable debris to the municipalities which are currently in the process of accepting or have already been accepting (Aomori, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tokyo). [Fukushima??]

京都市は市内３カ所の焼却施設で受け入れに向けて試験焼却する方針を示し、５月下旬に処理の安全性を検証する専門家委員会を設置。宮城県内のがれき集積場や焼却施設を視察していた。

Kyoto City was planning to test burn the debris at 3 incineration plants in the city. In late May it set up a committee of experts to study the safety of the process.

門川大作市長は「受け入れの必要性はなくなったと考える。今後とも一日も早い復興を願い、幅広い被災地支援に取り組む」とのコメントを発表した。

Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa issued a comment, saying "We believe there is no need to accept the debris any more. We continue to hope for the earliest recovery, and support the disaster-affected areas in a variety of ways."

京都府内では、舞鶴市と京丹波町もがれき受け入れに向けて準備を進めていたが、岩手県でもすでに処理のめどが立っており、環境省が今月３日、年間数万トン規模の処理能力がある自治体を除き受け入れを見合わせるよう要請していた。

Within Kyoto Prefecture, Maizuru City and Kyotanba-cho were also preparing for the debris acceptance, but the Ministry of the Environment requested on July 3 that municipalities with the disposal capacity of less than several ten thousand tonnes per year should refrain from accepting the debris.

I have a feeling that these cities, denied of the debris and of the opportunity to enrich the cities (government subsidies, repairing and rebuilding aging incineration plants and final disposal sites at the government expense, jobs for their favorite contractors, etc.), may be rather upset with these residents who have opposed.

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#Radioactive Strontium Was Detected in Monthly Fallout As Late As November Last Year in Chiba, Ibaraki, Ministry of Education's Data Shows

But the Ministry of Education (MEXT) doesn't think the strontium-90 fallout after May last year was of Fukushima origin.

Following up on the post about strontium-90 fallout last year that MEXT (Ministry of Education and Science) announced on July 24 this year, I found some interesting data in the Japan Chemical Analysis Center where I created the chart plotting the Sr-90 fallout for the past 50 years or so in Japan (reproduced here).

The 2011 monthly fallout data for strontium-90 at the Japan Chemical Analysis Center is easier to see than the MEXT PDF file pages (they are the same data). As I was browsing through the search result, I started to wonder:

When was the last month that strontium-90 was detected in the fallout for these ten prefectures?

So here it is, from the search result at the Japan Chemical Analysis Center's website, the last date when strontium-90 was detected in the monthly fallout in the cities/prefectures in Tohoku and Kanto in 2011:

Aomori City, Aomori: March 31
Morioka City, Iwate: September 10
Akita City, Akita: July 1
Yamagata City, Yamagata: July 1
Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki: November 1
Utsunomiya City, Tochigi: August 1
Maebashi City, Gunma: June 1
Saitama City (Sakura-ku), Saitama: August 1
Ichihara City, Chiba: November 1
Chiba City (Inage-ku), Chiba: November 1
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo: August 1
Chigasaki City, Kanagawa: June 30

Of these results, MEXT doesn't seem to think the detection in Aomori had anything to do with the Fukushima nuclear accident, as the prefecture is excluded from the list by MEXT in the press release (see my previous post for the MEXT list). In addition, MEXT seems to think the fallout after the first two to three months of the accident (March through May, 2011) is due not to the Fukushima accident but to the past atmospheric nuclear testing because the measured amount did not exceed the amount prior to the Fukushima accident.

Outside Kanto and Tohoku regions, there are occasional detection of strontium-90 in:

Niigata City (Nishi-ku), Niigata: May 2
Imizu City, Toyama: April 1
Kakamigahara City, Gifu: July 1
Shizuoka City (Aoi-ku), Shizuoka: August 1
Yokkaichi City, Mie: May 2
Kyoto City (Fushimi-ku), Kyoto: April 1
Wakayama City, Wakayama: November 1
Okayama City (Minami-ku), Okayama: April 1
Ishii-cho (Myozai-gun), Tokushima: April 1
Takamatsu City, Kagawa: April 1
Matsuyama City, Ehime: April 1
Kochi City, Kochi: April 1

Likewise, none of the detections above is considered by MEXT as the result of the Fukushima accident.

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Another Alarm at Ooi Nuke Plant, But Power Generation Continues Uninterrupted

I doubt that anything will ever interrupt the operation of any nuclear power plant in Japan at this point, short of what has happened in Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

From NHK News (link to a backup site, part; 7/25/2012):

大飯原発では、今月９日の３号機に続き、４号機で、２５日午前１時、中央制御室で牧野経済産業副大臣らが立ち会うなか、「フル稼働」に達したことが確認されました。

At Ooi Nuclear Power Plant, following Reactor 3 on July 9, Reactor 4 reached the full operation at 1AM on July 25 with officials including Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Makino attending in the central control room.

４号機では、その後、２５日朝５時半ごろ、原子炉内の１次冷却水の温度を監視する温度計の１つで警報が作動しました。

In Reactor 4 however, an alarm was triggered at 5:30AM on July 25. It was one of the thermometers that triggered the alarm which are used to monitor the temperature of the primary coolant inside the reactor.

この温度計は、１次冷却水の温度が上昇しすぎていないかを監視するため、３３６度に達すると警報が鳴る設定になっていて、２５日朝は瞬間的にこの値を超えたということです。

This thermometer monitors the temperature of the primary coolant, and if the temperature reaches 336 degrees Celsius it sets off an alarm. In the morning of July 25, this temperature was momentarily exceeded [according to KEPCO].

１次冷却水を監視しているほかの温度計は通常の値を示し、原子炉の圧力などのデータに異常がないことから、関西電力は、温度計の警報は、水の流れなどの影響で温度が一時的に上がったためとみて、一次冷却水を下げるなどの対応はとらずに、監視を続けるとしています。

The other thermometers monitoring the primary coolant show normal temperatures, and there is no abnormal data such as the pressure of the reactor. KEPCO believes the alarm at the thermometer was due to a temporary rise in temperature due to water flow, and says the company continues to monitor the situation but without lowering the output.

関西電力の原発で最も出力の大きい、大飯原発の３号機と４号機がフル稼働したことを受けて、政府は、北陸電力や中部電力、それに中国電力の管内の節電の数値目標を解除する方針です。

With Reactors 3 and 4 at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant, which have the largest output capacities among the reactors operated by KEPCO, in full operation, the national government will remove the numerical targets for power saving in the areas served by Hokuriku Electric, Chubu Electric, and Chugoku Electric [who were required to deliver power to KEPCO in case of power shortage in KEPCO area].

Ooi's Reactors 3 and 4 are pressurized-water reactors.

By the way, the organizers who have been organizing the Friday protest at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in Tokyo says they are not doing it this week in order to focus their effort on the big July 29 event to surround the National Diet Building. They don't seem particularly worried about Ooi Nuke Plant any more, and one of the organizers continues to trash "the old left" who either come to the protest with labor union flags or argue with the police.

(I heard rumors that people are doing the "Kantei (PM Official Residence) demo" on Friday anyway. That would be interesting...)

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Now They Tell Us: Ministry of Education Says Strontium-90 of #Fukushima Origin Found in 10 Prefectures

It took about 15 to 16 months for the Ministry of Education and Science or MEXT (the very name is a joke at this point) to announce radioactive strontium (Sr-90) was widely dispersed from the broken reactors at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant last year in 10 prefectures in Kanto and Tohoku, to the levels last seen in the Chernobyl accident.

Caveat is that it excludes Fukushima and Miyagi, probably the two most contaminated with radioactive fallout from the Fukushima accident. MEXT's excuse is that the stations in these prefectures have been damaged by the earthquake/tsunami.

From the press release by Ministry of Education and Science on July 24, 2012, "Analysis of Strontium-90 in the monthly environmental radioactivity levels (fallout)" (in Japanese; labels added by me):

Asahi Shinbun has a chart that tries to put these numbers in perspective. The bump this time looks slightly bigger than the one after the Chernobyl accident. But Asahi, either in its scientific illiteracy or on purpose to minimize the latest bump, uses the normal scale on the Y-axis instead of a log scale which would make it easier to discern the fluctuations in smaller numbers:

Looking for a historical chart on a log scale, I went to the site maintained by the Japan Chemical Analysis Center. I searched the database, and the 2011 data is already in the database. Here's the chart I created using the graph function at the site. I added the thin red line later to compare the 2011 level with that after the Chernobyl accident. It does look it is ever so slightly higher. The chart is a log scale, and the data is from all prefectures:

I wonder what the levels would be if Fukushima and Miyagi's data were to be added. Back to the level during the atmospheric nuclear testing? Or would it exceed that level?

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Will Fly Balloons Inside Reactor 1 to Survey and Measure Radiation

Somebody, save TEPCO or at least TEPCO workers who will have to hold two balloons just inside the truck bay of the high-radiation Reactor 1 building...

They could use a horde of these self-organizing flying robots by Vijay Kumar at University of Pennsylvania instead.

But TEPCO as being TEPCO (and now it is controlled by even less-imaginable national government of Japan), the company will send workers holding balloons with video cameras attached to survey the operating floor and measure radiation levels in Reactor 1 in early August, as the first step toward eventually removing the fuel assemblies from the Spent Fuel Pool.

Just remember the Onsen powder as tracer, baby diaper polymers and shredded newspaper to plug the hole near the water intake for Reactor 2 that was leaking the extremely radioactive water (over 1 sievert/hour radiation above the hole) in April last year. Anything is possible with this company.

From TEPCO's presentation at the Fukushima nuclear accident technology workshop, in Japanese only (7/23/2012):

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