#Radioactive Japan: #Fukushima Girls Road Race Is On, Right Now, Again

How time flies. It seems like only yesterday that I reported on the "ekiden" road race held in high-radiation Fukushima City, with girls as young as 13 years old.

It's on this year again. They did it last year, when the contamination was more severe. So why not this year?

FNN News just reported that the team from Kanagawa Prefecture won, 2nd year in a row. The youngest runner in the team? 14 year old. 9 out of 13 members are below the age of 20, most of them mid teens. (See this blog if you read Japanese.)

Even the winner is the same as last year.

In fact, as fall passes into winter, the fun events in Japan are exactly the same as last year:

• kindergarteners collecting fallen leaves in the park, to make a bonfire to cook sweet potatoes;

• small children harvesting rice in small paddies in the park (like in Yokohama City);

• mushroom extravaganza in school lunches.

And why not? They did the spring events just like last year too:

• kindergarteners digging up bamboo shoots, planting rice;

• school athletic meets in spring;

• serving mandarin oranges that contain radioactive cesium, because it's a long-standing contract with the vendor (cities in Kanagawa Prefecture)

• school children picking new tea leaves, cleaning the sludge in school swimming pools.

and on and on.

At some point, the Japanese will have only themselves to blame.

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Recovery and Recontruction Marathon in High-Radiation Minami Soma City in Fukushima on March 25, Featuring Elementary School Boys and Girls

If you thought the women's "ekiden" road race that took place in Fukushima City last year was bad, you haven't seen this thing.

Minami Soma City, where one of the "black dusts" found on the road surfaces throughout the city has 3.43 million becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium (and who knows what else), will hold a marathon and "ekiden" road race in the city to show to the world the recovery and reconstruction of Minami Soma City. Unlike the women's road race in Fukushima City where the youngest girls who could enter the race were 13-year olds, the Minami Soma marathon event will have elementary school kids running the 2-kilometer course.

The entity who has organized this event, an NPO called Furusato Fukko [homeland recovery] Kizuna [ties that bind domestic animals] Council, will let elementary school children and junior high school students participate for free. How generous. Everybody else will pay 3,000 yen (US$36) to kick up dusts that may have several million becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

Keep smiling.

From Fukushima Minyu (2/27/2012); clearly the newspaper is one of the sponsors:

南相馬で25日「駅伝・マラソン大会」　走りで勇気届けよう

"Ekiden" and marathon event in Minami Soma on March 25. Run and show your courage [this must be the slogan of the event.]

　南相馬ふるさと復興駅伝・マラソン大会は３月２５日、南相馬市鹿島区の鹿島カントリー倶楽部を発着点に行われる。同１０日まで、参加者を募集している。

The Minami Soma Furusato [homeland] Recovery Ekiden and Marathon will be held on March 25, with the starting and ending point at the Kashima Country Club in Kashima District of Minami Soma City. People can sign up up till March 10.

　ＮＰＯ法人ふるさと復興・絆協議会、大会実行委員会（佐藤信義実行委員長）の主催。震災と原発事故の影響を大きく受けた同市だが、地域の人たちが力強く走る姿を発信、避難したり仮設住宅で過ごす人たちに元気と勇気を届けようと行われる。県地域づくり総合支援事業の補助対象事業。

The event is sponsored by an NPO, Furusato Fukko [homeland recovery] Kizuna Council and the event executive committee (chairman Nobuyoshi Sato). Minami Soma City has been deeply affected by the earthquake/tsunami and the nuclear accident. The event will feature the local residents run with vigor to cheer and encourage the residents who have evacuated or live in the temporary housing. The event is subsidized by the Fukushima prefectural government as a community-building and -supporting event.

　同倶楽部のクラブハウスが発着点。マラソンは小学生２キロ、中学生３キロ、高校・一般が５キロと１０キロ。駅伝は４人１チームで１．５キロずつ走りタスキをつなぐ。

The marathon and ekiden road race will start and end at the club house of the Country Club. Elementary school children will run a 2-kilometer marathon, junior high school students 3-kilometer, high school students and general public 5-kilometer or 10-kilometer. An ekiden road race team will consist of 4 people, with each running 1.5 kilometer.

　問い合わせは、ふるさと復興駅伝・マラソン大会事務局（電話０３・５３７９・３７００）へ。

For more, contact Furusato Fukko Ekiden/Marathon event office at 03-5379-3700.

Now that's very interesting. That telephone number is a Tokyo number, not Minami Soma. The NPO's announcement shows it is located in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. The chairman of the Council is Nobuyoshi Sato. No idea who this man is, but he has successfully obtained the government money (who will then take money from the taxpayers) to plan an event where elementary school children are encouraged to run in a city with on-going "decontamination" effort right outside the 20-kilometer no-entry zone in Fukushima.

What a country.

From the event page of this NPO:

サブタイトルに“Fukushima-51”を掲げ、相双地区の鹿島カントリー倶楽部から勇気の夢をのせた次の1000年に向け元気と勇気を発信します。 Fukushima50（“フクシマ・フィフテイー“と世界が称賛）＋1の　“１”は勇気ある子供、地域、日本の未来を表現し、地域の人々の復興にむけて 走る姿を全世界に向けて発信することで、これまで手を差し伸べてくれた世界中の人々への御礼と共に、力強く誇りある日本の姿と重なって、地域復興への勇気 と自信としたいと考えて実施します。

The event subtitle is "Fukushima-51". It will send vigor and courage for the next millennium with courageous dream from Kashima Country Club. Fukushima-50 (whom the world praised) plus 1. "1" signifies the future of courageous children, region, and Japan, and by broadcasting the event to the entire world showing the local people running toward the recovery, we will thank people from all over the world who have helped us. It will evoke the image of powerful and proud Japan, and will inspire courage and confidence in the recovery of the region. So we will hold this event.

Oh boy. It smells like a good-intentioned dunce in his late 20s or early 30s who truly believes what he's saying which is nothing but fluff with soundbites (to get the subsidy, I think), rendering the sentences near impossible to translate into English. Probably I did a poor job because the original Japanese is very much illogical, while the English translation is somewhat readable. (Road to hell is paved with ....)

By the way, the parents of these children (under the age of 18) must sign the waiver for them that will indemnify the organizer from any injury and sickness on the day of the event and afterwards. If you see school kids running in this event, there are parents in that city who will have signed the waiver. So much for "We have to protect children" refrain you hear all over Japan.

The waiver document also says the air radiation levels at the Kajima Country Club are 0.6 to 0.7 microsievert/hour.

HCR+OPCOM, a Minami-Soma-based NGO who protested the Fukushima City's women's road race, was doing a hunger strike in front of the Kajima Country Club protesting against the event that would endanger children for no good reason other than to show that people in Minami Soma are brave.

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#Radioactive Ekiden Road Race: Girls Are Running in Radiation Often Higher Than That in Front of J-Village

J-Village is located just inside the 20 kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, and is the staging area for the plant work. Ordinary citizens cannot even enter (it is a "no entry" zone).

But the female athletes as young as 13 are running in the Ekiden Road Race in Fukushima City in the radiation often much higher than at J-Village. And the nation is supposed to cheer for the wonderful recovery of Fukushima Prefecture by watching these girls run.

The following are the actual air radiation measurements on the Ekiden course from the blog posts (here and here) of a TV writer who calls himself "Chidai", on November 12. He measured the air radiation levels at 1 meter off the ground on the Ekiden course.

First, he shows the radiation at J-Village, as comparison:

0.91 microsievert/hour, in front of J-Village, right before the roadblock:

Now the Ekiden course in Fukushima City.

1.23 microsievert/hour, in front of the athletic stadium where the event starts:

0.91 microsievert/hour, first left-turn in the 1st segment, 400 meters from the stadium gate:

1.41 microsievert/hour, in front of Fukushima Horse Race Track:

There are many more locations that registered even higher radiation. He also says that when he measured at 5 centimeters off the ground, the radiation levels jumped everywhere.

One irony about the 1.41 microsievert/hour in front of the race track: he wryly and angrily notes that the race track is closed for this year, having canceled all races out of concern for the thoroughbred horses that are worth tens of millions of yen. The race track is doing the decontamination, replacing the turf for the horses. Yet, it is perfectly OK for all concerned to have underage girls run in the radiation.

The writer is sorry that he couldn't have the event canceled. He is asking "What are we doing? Is this the "recovery" we want for Fukushima? Are we human, to allow this to happen? "

Shame on the city. Shame on the athletic association and the corporate sponsors. And shame on the parents of these girls for being so willing to risk their daughters' health for... For what?

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#Radioactive "Ekiden" Road Race: High Radiation Detected in the Stadium, on the Course

Back in September, I wrote a post about the 27th East Japan Women's "Ekiden" Road Race to be held in Fukushima City, featuring underage girls as young as 13.

The race is on, this Sunday, November 13. Since I wrote the post, there has been a slow but now rapidly growing attempt from concerned citizens to stop the event. Short of stopping, at least they want emergency decontamination.

Why? Because the radiation levels in the stadium and on the roads to be used in the race in Fukushima City is very, very high, as they are being measured measured right now by a citizens group HCR+OPCOM.

From their tweets:

Inside the stadium, air radiation: 1.49 microsievert/hr

Inside the stadium, side of the track where runners are practicing: 1.71 microsievert/hr

Inside the stadium, side drain: 13.44 microsieverts/hr

10 meters from the stadium gate, on Ekiden course [on the ground]: 4.67 microsieverts/hr

Walkway along the course, on the ground: 11.80 microsieverts/hr ("Spectators beware!")

Air radiation level on the walkway along the course: over 1 microsievert/hr

1st relay point, on the ground: 13.14 microsieverts/hr

This is only for the 1st segment of the race course, and I assume they are only measuring gamma rays. Judging from the photos they post, they are measuring at the side of the road where the sediment and small debris tend to accumulate.

Still, now we know that the asphalt and concrete cannot be effectively "decontaminated" at this point, maybe there is not much difference.

Fukushima City is where Greenpeace found cobalt-60 in the soil in a park.

Willful ignorance of the coaches of these girls, particularly those school coaches who are also teachers, is staggering. They think it is totally safe, because "if it isn't, they wouldn't have planned it". That's similar to the Mayor of Yokohama, who said the food was safe "if it was sold in the market".

As related in one tweet, one of the coaches/teachers replied to the concern of a parent that there was this thing called "half life", and the radiation level in Fukushima City had already fallen to a safe level. Half life of cesium-137 is 30 years. I guess no one had told that teacher about it. When the parent told him about it and how high the radiation level in Fukushima City was, the coach got really concerned.

Every participating team has girls in high school and junior high school. I believe it is a requirement. It looks more than half of the members in any given are made up of girls under the age of 18. They are not even a voting age or drinking age (age of 20). One quarter of the team members cannot marry even with the consent of their parents (age of 16). But they can be exposed to high radiation.

Does that make sense? I thought intentionally endangering the minor is a crime.

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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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