Chiba Produce Fair in Thailand - "All-Out Offensive to Sell Chiba Pears", Says Sankei Shinbun Article

According to the article, wealthy Thais were snapping up pears grown and harvested in Chiba for as much as 1,000 yen (US$12.67) a piece.

The event in Bangkok was attended by the governor of Chiba Prefecture, a former popular TV actor with little acting skills.

Wealthy Thais will be snapping up peaches from Fukushima, too.

From Sankei Shinbun (8/19/2012; part):

県産ナシをタイで売り込め！　現地スーパーで千葉フェア

"Let's sell our pears in Thailand!" Chiba Fair in the supermarket in Thailand

タイ訪問中の森田健作千葉県知事は１９日、バンコクの日系スーパーでの物産展「千葉フェア」に出席し、ナシをはじめとする県の名産品をＰＲした。タイの果物市場には他国も進出しているが、県は質が高くタイではまだ供給が少ないナシを富裕層に売り込んでいきたい考えだ。

Kensaku Morita, governor of Chiba who's visiting Thailand, attended the "Chiba Fair" at a Japanese supermarket in Bangkok to promote the popular produce from Chiba including pears. There are other countries already in the fruit market in Thailand. Chiba Prefecture plans to target the wealthy Thais to push Chiba's high-quality pears which are still in small supply in Thailand.

千葉フェアは、バンコク市内の富裕層が多く住む地域に立地するイオン（千葉市）現地法人の店舗で、５日間にわたって開催。特設コーナーには果物、野菜、鮮魚など、さまざまな県産品が並んだ。

"Chiba Fair" is being held for 5 days at a subsidiary of AEON (headquartered in Chiba City) in part of Bangkok where the wealthy people live. In the special corner in the supermarket, various products from Chiba are displayed, including fruits, vegetables, and fresh fish.

この日は特設コーナー近くのステージで、銚子産マグロの解体ショーが行われ、続いて森田知事も登場。「千葉はナシが日本一。今日食べてもらって、おいしさを知ってください」とアピールし、用意していた白井市産の旬のナシを来場者に振る舞った。

On August 19, they cut up a whole tuna from Choshi on the stage near the special corner, and Governor Morita himself took the stage. He promoted the pears, saying "Chiba has the No.1 pears in Japan. Please try today, and see how delicious they are." He then handed out the pears grown and harvested in season in Shirai City.

千葉フェアに並んだナシは時期や品種、輸送方法などの兼ね合いで、１個１千円近くと高価だったが買い求める客もおり、現地の輸入業者は「高価でも贈答用として需要がある」と話す。

The pears at the Chiba Fair were expensive, at nearly 1,000 yen per pear due to the seasonality, types of pears, and method of transportation. But there were customers who were buying them. The local importer says, "There will be a demand as gifts, even if they are expensive."

According to Chiba Prefecture's website, pears in Shirai City were tested in July this year to see if they contained radioactive cesium. The results were:

Monitoring test using the germanium semiconductor detector: ND (detection limit 2.2 Bq/kg for cesium-134, 2.5 Bq/kg for cesium-137)

Simple screening test using NaI scintillation survey meter (from 17 locations): ND (detection limit 17 to 19 Bq/kg)

Zero information on the volume (or weight) of the samples, how densely they were packed to be tested, and how long they were tested. (I guess the officials think citizens are dumber than them.)

AEON Group is headed by the older brother of the vice prime minister Katsuya Okada.

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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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How It Was Like in June 24 Protest Against Ooi Restart and PM Noda in Funabashi (PM Noda's Hometown)

I watched bits and pieces of the USTREAM live stream and it was fun. I was laughing as I watched. Here's a report from one of the readers of this blog who was there, and it seems it was indeed fun:

Hello everyone, I was there and it was fun ! People on the streets looked absolutely stunned, like it was the first demonstration of their life (and possibly so!). But many smiled or waved back to us, though I also saw some of them obviously not satisfied with the demonstration (I'm thinking about one particular elderly lady who shaked her head saying "No!" to us). The music was great, the slogans too. There was a young man, mike in hands, who used the shops'names or buildings'names to shout slogans, and it was irresistibly funny, like (near a hairdresser's) : "Let's save the hairdresser from radiations! Let's save him from Noda!" or: (near a sake and tobacco shop) : "Let's save tobacco ! let's save it from radioactivity ! Let's save it from Noda! Let's protect sake! Let's protect it from radiations!" The Suginami-ku group is just so full of energy and so creative (always), it's very exciting to be around them ! Good deed and good time altogether.

By the way, to answer the question: yes, we rode the SOBU sen in big numbers, especially in the front car of the train. When I was at Shinjuku station, waiting for the 13:04 train, I spotted a few people wearing yellow (like myself) and talked to a gentleman who was obviously also going to NishiFunabashi (in a yellow Tee Shirt, with a yellow ribbon around his hat). We rode the train together and talked all the way about nuclear plants in Japan and in France and about how to convince people to take part into demonstrations in bigger numbers.
Everyone was very, very friendly and I spotted people I met before in demonstrations elsewhere.

To round up the good time, as I posted as an update yesterday, local pubs in Funabashi decided to offer discounts to demonstrators for a drink after the 2-hour walk. Smart. Good "imprinting" too - out-of-town people who come for anti-nuke demonstration are good for local businesses.

Asahi Shinbun reported on this protest, perhaps because the number of participants was safely below 10,000, with this picture:

The caption of the photo says:

Participants holding up the portraits of Prime Minister Noda and protesting against the restart of nuclear power plants, walking in the prime minister's constituency.

They do look like they are having a good time.

(H/T Reader 'Janick' who was there)

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June 24 Demonstration in Funabashi, Chiba (PM Noda's Hometown) Going On Right Now

(UPDATE) Funabashi Protest is over now. Organizers say 2,250 people participated. It looks like a great success and fun. Orderly event. Over 9,000 people viewed it on USTREAM.

And it looks like some pubs in Funabashi are doing "Demo Discount" for the participants. Excellent business acumen.

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From Yasumi Iwakami's IWJ USTREAM:

Free live streaming by Ustream

(Chibaguy, are you there?)

With music and prompting from an accompanying car (they have DJs in the car), people with something yellow on them are walking the street of Funabashi, Chiba. This is fun. Protesters look just ordinary people.

I wonder if they rode the yellow Sobu Line together.

For details of this unique protest, see my previous post.

There are also smaller protests in Osaka and in Saitama. IWJ's USTREAM channels:

Osaka: http://t.co/V9v7bGe8
Saitama: http://t.co/R5vRkRw1

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#Radioactive Scrap Metal Shipped from Chiba Stopped at China's Ningbo Customs

From China Central Television News Content (news date is not clear from the site; Yahoo Japan reporting the news says it's from 6/5/2012):

East China's Ningbo Customs recently seized 1,127 tons of radioactive metal scraps coming from Japan's Chiba Port.

The scraps were imported by a Ningbo-based company and shipped from Chiba Port. Testing result showed that their Cesium-137 content was more than three times above China's national safety limit.

"We has detected that there are excessive radioactive materials in cargoes of two ships from Japan, most of them from ports near Fukushima," said Dai Weigu, deputy director of Logistics Monitoring Department of Zhenhai Customs which is affiliated to Ningbo Customs.

Ningbo Customs have seized a total of 8,544 tons of radioactive metal scraps since the Japan tsunami, said Wang Lingbao, director of Logistics Monitoring Department of Zhenhai Customs.

There are numerous scrap metal merchants and processors in Chiba Prefecture.

CCTV News, from youtube (Any readers who understand Chinese care to tell us what they are saying?):

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#Radioactive Tea from Chiba, This Year's First Pick: Max 14 Bq/kg of Cesium, Brewed, Exceeding the Safety Limit

This is the first case in Japan of this year's green tea exceeding the new safety limit of 10 Bq/kg of brewed tea.

14 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium in brewed tea could translate into the maximum 1,400 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium in the dried leaves, with the possible range between 800 to 1,400 Bq/kg, far exceeding even the provisional safety limit (500 Bq/kg) that was in place until April 1, 2012. For more on the old and new test methods for green tea, see my previous post. (If you read Japanese, here's a comprehensible togetter (string of tweets) on the subject compiled by @Kontan_Bigcat, titled "Standard for radioactive cesium in green tea was stricter last year, and here's why".)

Chiba Prefecture's test result (using only the new way of measuring brewed tea) of total 16 samples from 5 municipalities shows some samples close to the new safety limit of 10 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium in brewed tea. 2 samples exceeded the new safety limit.

Chiba Prefecture's page says the samples are prepared in this way, following the guideline from the Ministry of Health and Welfare dated March 15, 2012:

荒茶又は製茶10g以上を30倍量の重量の熱水（90℃）で60秒間浸出し、40メッシュ相当のふるい等でろ過した浸出液

Use "ara-cha" (bulk tea) or "sei-cha" (blend tea), more than 10 grams, add hot water (90 degrees Celsius) 30 times the weight of the tea, brew for 60 seconds, strain the liquid using a strainer (40 mesh)

(I put in the English labels)

No.	栽培地 Location	品目 Item	栽培状況	採取日	放射性セシウム
					セシウム134	セシウム137	合計 注3
1	成田市 Narita	茶（一番茶飲用）Tea, First pick	露地 grown outdoors	5月14日	1.91	3.21	5.1
2		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月14日	2.08	3.45	5.5
3		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月14日	5.45	8.72	14
4		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月14日	5.17	7.33	13
5	勝浦市 Katsuura	茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月15日	1.55	4.02	5.6
6		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月15日	1.98	3.61	5.6
7		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月15日	1.61	3.09	4.7
8	多古町 Tako	茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月14日	2.60	4.52	7.1
9		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月14日	2.06	3.32	5.4
10	八街市 Yachimata	茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月16日	1.89	2.91	4.8
11		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月16日	2.83	3.50	6.3
12		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月16日	1.69	2.99	4.7
13		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月16日	3.43	4.53	8.0
14		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月16日	2.33	3.41	5.7
15	芝山町 Shibayama	茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月16日	1.99	2.49	4.5
16		茶（一番茶飲用）	露地	5月16日	1.33	2.19	3.5

Based on the above result, the shipping ban on the teas in Tako-machi and Shibayama-machi has been lifted. Other municipalities (except for Narita City) will soon follow.

Last year, green tea (dry leaves) from Chiba Prefecture was found with radioactive cesium ranging from slightly over 200 Bq/kg to 2,300 Bq/kg. Even the fresh leaves were found with 260 to 980 Bq/kg of cesium, according to the excel sheet data from the prefecture.

For those who are still wondering what "Becquerel" means, Chiba Prefecture's page has the definition for you, too:

ベクレル：放射能の強さを表す単位で、単位時間（1秒間）内に原子核が崩壊する数を表す。

Becquerel: Unit of radioactivity. It indicates the number of nuclei decaying in a unit time (1 second).

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Crowd-Funding Your Way Out of High-Radiation Area in Japan

Comment Section of this post is disabled after numerous anonymous comments attacking a particular individual.

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One of the readers of this blog is trying a unique way out of the high-radiation area in Chiba Prefecture: Crowd funding.

When I wrote a post about it on my Japanese blog on Monday (and took the above screen capture), the amount donated was $3,100. Now it's nearly double that.

Good luck, Chibaguy.

For the radiation level measurements taken by Chibaguy in Inzai City, Chiba, see this and this posts.

Families with children in the areas most affected by radiation from the nuclear accident often cite "money" as one of their main reasons for not moving out of the areas. Well here's a way, thanks to the net.

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M.5.5 Earthquake Off the Coast of Chiba Prefecture

April 25, 2012 at 5:22AM Japan Standard Time. Depth 60 kilometers. USGS says M.5.4. Seismic intensity scale 4 in Chiba (max is 7).

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Professor Yukio Hayakawa Takes a "Radioactive Walk" In Abiko City and Kashiwa City in Chiba

The Gunma University professor took a walk in part of Abiko City and Kashiwa City, in the so-called "Tokatsu area" in the northwest corner of Chiba Prefecture with elevated radiation levels.

He says there is a statistically significant difference between the radiation levels on the ground levels and the levels at 1 meter off the ground, with the levels at 1 meter off the ground 20 to 30% less than at the ground levels.

The radiation levels of "black dust" he found along the way (in microsievert/hour):

2.676
3.767
2.489
1.556

Professor Hayakawa's walk from Abiko City to Kashiwa-no-ha in Kashiwa City on April 16, 2012:

我孫子-柏の葉

EveryTrail - Find hiking trails in California and beyond

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WSPEEDI Simulation Showed 10 Terabecquerels/Hour Iodine-131 in Chiba on March 15 Last Year, Data Still Not Disclosed

10 terabequerels = 10,000,000,000,000 becquerels.

The system also calculated the amount of radioactive cesium to be 1 terabecquerels/hour each for cesium-134 and cesium 137. And the Japanese government is still sitting on the data.

WSPEEDI simulation system can predict the dispersion of radioactive materials in the hemisphere, in 3D.

From what Jiji Tsushin reports, the WSPEEDI simulation was done on March 15 upon request from the Ministry of Education and Science. For whatever reason, the Ministry decided to not announce it (for that matter, not let anyone know about it, till April 3, 2012).

On the very next day, on March 16, the Ministry announced that SPEEDI and WSPEEDI would now be the responsibilities of the Nuclear Safety Commission, and instructed the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to send the data to the Commission, who either sat on it or didn't even know they were now in charge of SPEEDI/WSPEEDI.

There is another interesting bit of information in the Jiji article below. The simulation was ordered by the Ministry of Education, and one of the parameters was that radioactive materials were released at about 9PM on March 14, 2011. That's about the time (9:18PM to be exact) when 2 safety relief valves were opened in Reactor 2, probably releasing a large amount of radioactive materials through a breach in the Suppression Chamber, according to the research paper by Fumiya Tanabe of Sociotechnical Systems Safety Research Institute.

If that's the case, the government must have known that the Reactor 2 Suppression Chamber had already failed, and opening the safety relief valves would release a large amount of radioactive materials from the breach. So they ordered the WSPEEDI simulation specifying the time of the release at 9PM on March 14.

Jiji Tsushin (4/3/2012):

千葉で「ヨウ素１０兆ベクレル」未公表＝昨年３月、世界版ＳＰＥＥＤＩ試算

WSPEEDI Simulation last March: 10 terabecquerels[/hour] of radioactive iodine in Chiba, data not disclosed yet

　東京電力福島第１原発事故で、昨年３月１５日、放射性物質の拡散予測データ「世界版ＳＰＥＥＤＩ」の試算結果で、千葉市内でヨウ素の濃度が毎時１０兆ベクレルという高い値が出ていたにもかかわらず、文部科学省と原子力安全委員会の間で十分な連携が取られず、現在も公表されていないことが３日、分かった。

On March 15 last year after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident started, the WSPEEDI simulation of the dispersion of radioactive materials predicted the very high density for radioactive iodine in Chiba City in Chiba, at 10 terabequerels per hour. However, there was no effective communication between the Ministry of Education and Science and the Nuclear Safety Commission, and the data has still not been disclosed.

　文科省や安全委によると、世界版ＳＰＥＥＤＩは放出される放射性物質の拡散状況を半地球規模で予測するシステム。日本原子力研究開発機構が同システムを運用しており、昨年３月も文科省の依頼を受け、試算を行っていた。

According to the Ministry of Education and the Nuclear Safety Commission, the WSPEEDI system is capable of simulating the dispersion of radioactive materials emitted on a hemispheric scale. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) operates the system, and it was conducting the calculations upon request from the Ministry of Education in March last year.

　それによると、福島第１原発から昨年３月１４日午後９時ごろに放出された放射性物質が拡散した結果、千葉市内で同１５日午前６～７時、ヨウ素の濃度は毎時１０兆ベクレル、セシウム１３４、１３７もそれぞれ同１兆ベクレルと推計された。

According to the calculations, as the result of radioactive materials released from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant at about 9PM on March 14, 2011 and dispersed, Chiba City would have 10 terabequerels/hour radioactive iodine (I-131) between 6AM and 7AM, and 1 terabequerel/hour of cesium-134 and 1 terabequerel/hour of cesium-137.

　この試算データの評価について、文科省は安全委の担当と判断し、同１６日に安全委へデータを送るよう同機構に指示した。同機構はメールに添付して送信したが、安全委は重要情報と認識せず、放置したという。同様にデータを受け取っていた文科省も、安全委に公表するよう連絡しなかった。

The Ministry of Education then decided that the Nuclear Safety Commission should be in charge of evaluating this data, and instructed JAEA to send the data to the Nuclear Safety Commission on the next day, March 16. JAEA sent the data as email attachments to the Nuclear Safety Commission, but the Commission didn't see the data as important, and didn't do anything. The Ministry of Education, who had received the data, did not contact the Commission and tell them the data should be made public.

I think the Ministry of Education got scared, seeing the data.

They didn't want to be the one to handle such "hot" data. So they passed it on to the Nuclear Safety Commission under Dr. Haruki Madarame, who was apparently so overwhelmed by the nuclear disaster and missing sleep that he doesn't even remember what he was doing or saying in the first 1 week of the accident.

What a luck that Japan had, having these people in the government.

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#Radioactive Bamboo Shoots (Takenoko) from Inzai City, Chiba

Inzai City is located in the northwest corner of Chiba Prefecture, sitting in the immediate east of the high-radiation "Tokatsu" region that includes cities like Kashiwa, Nagareyama, and Abiko.

Chiba Prefecture announced on March 27, 2012 that bamboo shoots (spring delicacy in Japan) harvested in Nagareyama City and Inzai City exceeded the soon-to-be implemented new safety standard for radioactive cesium (100 Bq/kg), and requested the majors of these cities to instruct farmers to voluntarily withdraw the bamboo shoots from the market.

Again, if it's done "voluntarily", the local or national government does not need to compensate the farmers.

Nagareyama City is the one who quietly shipped the ashes from the garbage incineration plant by rail to Akita Prefecture to be buried last July. Akita Prefecture found out that the ashes contained 28,100 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium (link is in Japanese) and they angrily returned the ashes back to Nagareyama.

From Chiba Prefecture's press release (3/27/2012; I added the English labels):

No.	栽培地	採取日	品目	放射性ヨウ素131 I-131	放射性セシウム134 Cs-134	放射性セシウム137 Cs-137	放射性セシウム134と137の合計 Cs total
1	流山市 Nagareyama	3月26日	たけのこ	検出せず ND （3.9未満注）	110	140	250
2	印西市 Inzai	3月26日	たけのこ	検出せず （3.2未満注）	80	100	180
3	旭市 Asahi	3月26日	たけのこ	検出せず （2.2未満注）	39	44	83
4	東庄町 Tonosho	3月26日	たけのこ	検出せず （2.4未満注）	26	36	62
5	いすみ市 Isumi	3月26日	たけのこ	検出せず （2.0未満注）	23	32	55
6	君津市 Kimitsu	3月26日	たけのこ	検出せず （2.2未満注）	25	38	63

The last city on this table is where the controlled final disposal site is located for industrial and now radioactive waste. On March 22, a large amount of chloride ion was found in the well water at the disposal site that monitors contamination. The prefectural government thinks it is leaked from the disposal site, not because of the snow melting agent as the disposal site operator claims.

One of the readers of this blog lives in Inzai City. He has photos of how the "decontamination" is done in one elementary school in the city and "black dust" that measures close to 0.7 microsievert/hour. It looks to be a half-hearted attempt to show the residents that the city is doing something but not much effect:

"Re-decontamination" of the school yard:

The pit to bury the dirt removed by "decontamination":

Radiation level of the removed dirt: 0.224 microsievert/hour

Radiation level of the dirt that 1st graders play with: 0.268 microsievert/hour

Air radiation level near the classroom for 1st graders: 0.275 microsievert/hour

So the radiation level of the dirt that 1st graders play with and the air radiation level near the classroom are higher than the dirt removed as part of "decontamination" effort. I wonder if the school knows what it's doing.

"Black dust" on the side of the paved surface:

Radiation level near the surface: 0.683 microsievert/hour

Inzai City is located here (at the blue arrow) on the radiation contour map by Professor Hayakawa of Gunma University (version 6):　

(H/T Chibaguy for the photos)

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Radioactive Shiitake Mushrooms from Inzai City, Chiba at 993 Bq/Kg

Inzai City is located in the northwest corner of Chiba where the radiation levels remain elevated.

From Asahi Shinbun (2/23/2012):

政府は２３日、国の暫定基準（１キロあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出されたとして、千葉県印西市で生産される原木シイタケ（露地栽培）の出荷停止を県知事に指示した。２２日に９９３ベクレルを検出していた。

On February 23, the Japanese government ordered the governor of Chiba Prefecture to halt shipment of shiitake mushrooms grown in Inzai City in Chiba Prefecture. 993 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, exceeding the national provisional limit of 500 becquerels/kg, was detected on February 22.

The amount of radioactive cesium detected is nearly 10 times the amount of the new safety limit to be put into effect on April 1.

Still, many people don't seem to care, and the schools continue to use shiitake mushrooms, raw or dried, in their school lunches to feed small children.

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Prof. Yukio Hayakawa's Walk with his Survey Meter in Nagareyama-Kashiwa in Chiba Prefecture

流山-柏　garmin at EveryTrail

Radiation levels remain elevated in Kashiwa City in Chiba Prefecture. It was in Kashiwa that 450,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found from the soil near the drain in the public space in the middle of the city. There is a strange (to me anyway) collaboration between the city and the citizen volunteers to decontaminate the city.

Before the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident, the background radiation level in Kashiwa City must have been no higher than the average in Chiba, which was 0.03 microsievert/hour (see this site). Now, as Professor Hayakawa's walk shows, it is 10 times that in many locations. Contrary to a belief by some in Japan that there was no radioactive plume that went south from Fukushima through Ibaraki to Chiba, Tokyo and Kanagawa, these elevated radiation levels in Kashiwa City are the evidence that the plume did in fact come.

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2 Earthquakes Just Hit Exactly the Same Location Within 16 Minutes in Chiba

The first quake:

1:59PM, 2/18/2012
lat. 35.6N., long. 140.1E.
Depth 10 kilometers
Magnitude 3.8

The second quake:

2:15PM, 2/18/2012
lat. 35.6N., long. 140.1E.
Depth 10 kilometers
Magnitude 4.2

The location is northwest Chiba.

I don't know about the statistics enough to comment on the likelihood of two earthquakes happening at exactly the same location 16 minutes apart.

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58,000 Bq/Kg of Cesium in Recycled Farm Soil in Chiba: Unthinking, Mind-Numbing Urge to Recycle Even After Nuclear Disaster

A "third sector" company in Chiba was recycling the soil from the plastic greenhouses and selling it to plant nurseries, until 57,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found recently.

From Jiji Tsushin (2/13/2012):

千葉県などが出資する第三セクター「千葉園芸プラスチック加工」（同県東金市）は１３日、県内農家から集めた使用済みビニールハウスから洗い落とした土１４０トンから、国が指定廃棄物として定める１キロ当たり８０００ベクレルの約７倍に当たる１キロ当たり最大５万８０００ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されたと発表した。

Chiba Engei Plastic Kako (Chiba Horticultural Plastic Processing) in Togane City in Chiba Prefecture, a third-sector company with investment from the Chiba prefectural government, announced on February 13 that the maximum 58,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found from 140 tonnes of dirt that had been washed off from the used plastic greenhouses the company had collected from farmers in Chiba. The amount of radioactive cesium is more than 7 times the amount allowed by the national standard for regular disposal which is 8,000 becquerels/kg.

　同社は、使用済みビニールハウスを洗浄しリサイクル処理している。土は既に市内７カ所の植木畑に運び込まれているが、今後全て回収し、同社施設内で県の指導に従い保管する。洗浄に使った水は浄化処理をしており、放射性物質は検出されなかった。

The company washes down the dirt off the used plastic greenhouses and recycles the dirt collected. The dirt has already been brought in at 7 plant nurseries. The company plans to recall all the dirt, and will store it in the company's facilities according to the guidance from the prefectural government. The water used for washing was treated, and no radioactive materials were detected.

After I tweeted the Jiji news yesterday, people immediately dug up information of this company. It turns out the company is one of three that was partially owned and operated by the agricultural producer co-op, JA, in Chiba Prefecture. But on the JA Chiba's website, the company has gone missing. One person searched the cache, and found that the JA's site had this company on the page until January 29.

My guess is that's when they found out about radioactive cesium in the recycled dirt, but had kept quiet for 2 weeks.

The JA Chiba has two other "subsidiaries", no doubt third-sector companies: LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) company and a funeral home.

By the way, Chiba's governor is an ex-TV actor turned politician, a mind-numbingly unthinking person who uses his stage name instead of his real name (really, very pedestrian).

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A Rich Haul of Skipjacks in Katsuura Port in Chiba Prefecture, First of the Year

The first haul of skipjacks for the year at Katsuura Port in Chiba Prefecture was five times as big as the normal haul.

The other day, fishermen in Kesennuma Port in Miyagi started shipping oysters because they grew too big too fast.

Asahi Shinbun Local Chiba version (1/24/2012):

勝浦市の勝浦漁港に２３日、今年初のカツオ約５８トンが水揚げされ、全国有数のカツオの水揚げ高を誇る漁港は大漁に活気づいた。

The first catch of skipjacks for the year, 58 tonnes, was hauled at Katsuura Fishing Port in Katsuura City in Chiba Prefecture on January 23. The port, which boasts of one of the largest hauls of skipjacks in Japan, was enlivened with such a big haul.

　三重県のカツオ漁船２隻がほぼ同時に入港。硫黄島周辺で一本釣りしたものなど、合わせて約５８トンが次々と荷さばき場に運びこまれた。通常は一日の水揚げは１０トン前後が多く、２隻同時の入港も珍しい。大きさもまずまずで、キロ当たり４００～５００円で取引された。２月以降に水揚げが本格化する。

Two skipjack fishing boats from Mie Prefecture arrived at the port. 58 tonnes of skipjacks including those caught by single hook fishing near Io-jima were brought to the sorting area. Normally, about 10 tonnes of skipjacks are hauled per day. It is also rare to have two boats arriving on the same day. The skipjacks are of decent sizes, and was sold at 400 to 500 yen per kilogram. Hauling of skipjacks will begin in earnest in February.

The haul includes those caught off Io-jima, but also includes those caught elsewhere, as indicated in the article without mentioning exactly where.

Radioactivity of skipjacks caught 940 kilometers off the coast Aomori Prefecture in November and hauled to a port in Chiba was slightly above 15 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, according to the information by Chiba Prefecture.

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#Radiation in Japan: 450,000 Bq/Kg Cesium from Dirt in Kashiwa City, Chiba

It's the number you may expect to see in the most contaminated area inside Fukushima Prefecture, like Namie-machi, which is a focus of Asahi Shinbun's "Trap of Prometheus".

But no, this is in Chiba Prefecture, and Kashiwa City is just outside of Tokyo.

Yomiuri Shinbun (11/28/2011) reports:

千葉県柏市の市有地で局所的に高い放射線量が検出された問題で、環境省は２８日、地表から深さ５～１０センチの地層で１キロ・グラムあたり最高約４５万ベクレルの放射性セシウムを検出したと発表した。

Regarding the localized high radiation spot in the city-owned land in Kashiwa City in Chiba Prefecture, the Ministry of the Environment announced on November 28 that the maximum 450,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected in the soil 5 to 10 centimeters deep from the surface.

　調査は今月１、２日に実施された。同省は「東京電力福島第一原発事故で放出された放射性物質が蓄積している可能性が高い」と指摘。セシウムを含む雨水が側溝側面の破損した部分から浸透し、放射性物質の濃度が増したとみている。同省は追加調査を行い、汚染範囲などを推定する。

The survey was conducted on November 1 and 2. The Ministry says it is highly likely that the radioactive materials released from the Fukushima I Nuclear Plant accident have accumulated. The rainwater containing radioactive cesium seeped through the broken side wall of the drain, and increased the density of radioactive materials. The Ministry plans to conduct additional survey, and estimate the size of the contaminated area.

　柏市が１０月に発表したこの地層近くの調査結果では、最高で同約２７万ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されている。

In the October survey by Kashiwa City of the nearby location, maximum 270,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the soil.

Information about 276,000 becquerels/kg soil in Kashiwa City is in my post here.

Kashiwa City has the details in Word file, on this page (2nd and 3rd files from the document list in the middle of the page). They still only measure cesium-134 and cesium-137. No strontium 89/90, no plutonium or other nuclides such as silver-110m which is increasingly being detected in spider, cow, and abalone.

Natural concentration does wonders, turning Kashiwa and potentially anywhere in Kanto or Tohoku into the evacuation zone-level contamination. Unlike Fukushima's evacuation zone where the national government has said (at least) they will be responsible for the "decontamination", people are on their own cleaning up the radioactive mess elsewhere.

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Ministry of Education's Quick Learning Curve on Kashiwa's Radioactive Dirt

First it was "it cannot be from Fukushima I Nuke Plant" when the radiation measured was 57.5 microsieverts/hour.

Then it was "it may be from Fukushima I Nuke Plant, and it may not be" when the density turned out to be 276,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. But since the density was very high, the suspicion was voiced all around (including me) that someone secretly dumped the radioactive sludge or dirt, possibly from cleaning out his yard, onto that location.

The Ministry's current position: "It is highly likely that radioactive cesium is from Fukushima I Nuke Plant, and radioactive cesium has been condensed at that particular location because the storm drain nearby was broken."

So radioactive cesium from Fukushima I Nuke Plant has been naturally concentrated by elements, 200 kilometers away from the plant, to the density level on par with those found in Fukushima. The Kashiwa City's dirt contains almost as much radioactive cesium in the dirt in the location in Watari District (link is in Japanese) in Fukushima City where 300,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found (also near the drain).

Points from the Ministry's announcement on October 23, 2011 "Result of the investigation of Kashiwa City's location with high air radiation" (my translation, not the Ministry's):

On receiving the result of the soil analysis on October 22 where maximum 276,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected, the Ministry sent two officials, along with three experts from Japan Atomic Energy Agency on October 23 to Kashiwa City to consult with the local officials in charge of radiation countermeasures.

The Ministry's survey of the location included measuring air radiation levels at the location and nearby, and investigating the surroundings to figure out what caused the high radiation level.

Survey result:

• Maximum 2.0 microsieverts/hour 1 meter off the ground
• Maximum 4.5 microsieverts/hour 50 centimeter off the ground
• Maximum 15 microsieverts/hour on the ground

Typical air radiation levels in the surrounding area at 1 meter off the ground was 0.3 microsievert/hour.

A 50-centimeter wide breach was found in the side drain (30-centimeter deep) next to the location with the high air radiation. This breach was close to the spot where cesium-134 (half life 2 years) was detected. We therefore presume that the rainwater containing radioactive cesium that came from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident flowed in from the breach in the side drain, and radioactive cesium was condensed and accumulated in the soil at that particular location.

Asahi Shinbun (10/23/2011) has the picture of the broken side drain.

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Kashiwa City's High Radiation Dirt: Natural Concentration?

57.5 microsieverts/hour radiation on the dirt in Kashiwa City that has maximum 276,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium of Fukushima origin was caused by natural concentration by rainwater flowing into the particular location, according to the city who's having a press conference on the scene.

According to the Ministry of Education and Science, there is a drain that collects rain water at that particular location and the drain broke for some unknown reason, contaminating the location.

Really? 57.5 microsieverts/hour?

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Kashiwa City's Radioactive Dirt: 276,000 Bq/Kg of Cesium

The highly radioactive dirt in Kashiwa City in Chiba, which measured 57.5 microsieverts/hr 30 centimeters below the surface, was not from radium after all or any other nuclides that are used in industrial or medical use (some suggested cobalt-60, for example). It was from radioactive cesium.

On October 22 Kashiwa City announced the result of the analysis of three dirt samples from the location at different depth (one on the surface, two at 30 centimeter deep). The analysis was done on October 22. The unit is becquerels per kilogram:

Sample A (surface dirt)

Radioactive iodine: ND
Cesium-134: 70,200
Cesium-137: 85,100
Total cesium: 155,300

Sample B1 (30 centimeters below the surface)

Radioactive iodine: ND
Cesium-134: 87,000
Cesium-137: 105,000
Total cesium: 192,000

Sample B2 (30 centimeters below the surface)

Radioactive iodine: ND
Cesium-134: 124,000
Cesium-137: 152,000
Total cesium: 276,000

The address of the location is announced by the city as: 柏市根戸字高野台457番3地先. According to the residents, the place is a strip of open space between the residential area and the industrial area, and is used as playground by many residents, young and old.

On receiving the result of the analysis, the Ministry of Education and Science, who had expressed doubt that this high radiation spot in Kashiwa had anything to do with the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, now says it cannot deny that it is the result of the accident. The ratio of cesium-134 and cesium-137 is consistent with the radio from the accident.



Some speculate that someone in the city cleaned out his house and dumped the resulting radioactive sludge and dirt in this location.

What I find it odd is the mismatch of the radiation on the dirt surface, 57.5 microsieverts/hour, and the density of radioactive cesium, maximum 276,000 becquerels/kilogram. The density is too low to account for the extremely high radiation. Cesium alone may not account for the high radiation, but There's no mention in the city's announcement whether it is going to test for other gamma nuclides not to mention alpha and beta.

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