Al Jazeera Reports on Health Problems of Ms. Numauchi of Minami Soma City, Fukushima

If you recall, the health problems that Ms. Emiko Numauchi has suffered since last August (teeth falling off, hair and nails falling off, skin rashes, for a start) have been dismissed by Dr. Shinzo Kimura of the NHK radiation documentary fame as autoimmune disease caused by stress and feminine sensitivity.

Al Jazeera's Steven Chao reports from Minami Soma City in the news segment aired on March 9, 2012. Ms. Numauchi shows her strange skin rash on her thigh. My goodness.

Al Jazeera has the "one-year anniversary" of Japan's disaster page, here. It has a very good coverage of topics including rebuilding efforts in the tsunami-affected areas and anti-nuclear movement.

In contrast, the websites of the Japanese newspapers pretend there's nothing more to report on the disaster, other than how the government wants to spread disaster debris all over Japan by all means.

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Shinzo Kimura: Minami Soma's Ms. Numauchi Suffers from Autoimmune Disease Caused by Stress

"Women are particularly sensitive to stress", he says, and they can't control themselves. In this particular case, it must be the fear of radiation that had stressed her so much before summer, and it manifested itself in fall when her teeth started to fall off.

In other words, he's saying she had stressed herself out from the fear of radiation, and became ill with stress-induced autoimmune disease.

What Shinzo Kimura, 44-year-old radiation specialist at Dokkyo University (radiation hygiene) and former researcher at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Labor), says about Ms. Emiko Numauchi's health problems doesn't quite add up.

On the one hand, he insists they are the symptoms of an unspecified autoimmune disease caused by the stress from the nuclear power plant accident, and she's more sensitive to stress because she is a woman. On the other hand, he says that there is no known mechanism whereby stress causes an autoimmune disease or any disease.

He pays a lip service to a possibility of her problems being caused by radiation, but quickly he assures it's feminine stress that caused an autoimmune disease that in turn caused her teeth, nails, and hair to fall off and her skin to be covered rapidly with blisters.

Kimura became a hero to many Japanese who wanted to know how bad the contamination from the nuclear accident was, when he was prominently featured in the NHK documentary series of "Mapping the radiation". A champion of people who quit his job at a government research institute to measure the radiation all over Fukushima Prefecture. Asahi Shinbun's "Trap of Prometheus" also created a series around him ("Resignation of a Researcher").

But what he said in an interview with Yasumi Iwakami the other day discussing Ms. Numauchi's condition and the way he said it have made me cautious that he may not be what people have made him to be.

What he said is the following. I used the transcript at this site. You can view how he said it in the video linked at the bottom, after 63 minutes 30 seconds into the video.

岩上氏：
沼内さんの場合は放射線によるものか、それともストレスによるものか、あるいは、その他の何かによるものなのか、どう思われますか。

Iwakami: What is Ms. Numauchi suffering from? Is it from radiation, stress, or something else? What do you think?

木村：
まず考えられるのが、ストレスによる自己免疫系疾患が大きいのかなと考えられますね。
歯が抜ける、爪がはがれる、髪が抜け落ちるというのは、自己免疫疾患の炎症反応の一種であろうと。
で、紅斑も、それに付随するもので、皮膚の炎症が起きるから紅斑が広がっていくというように考えます。

Kimura: Most likely, it is autoimmune disease from stress. Teeth falling off, nails peeling off, hair falling off, these must be a type of inflammatory reaction due to an autoimmune disease. Red spots on the skin is also from the autoimmune disease. As the skin inflammation happens, the red spots spread.

その自己免疫系疾患の原因として考えられるのが、ストレスであろうと。
そのストレスというのが放射線に対する恐怖というのが、時間をおいて、すぐに出てこないわけですよね。

It must be stress that causes the autoimmune disease. Stress, or fear of radiation, does not manifest itself immediately. It takes time.

人間の体というのは、タイムラグをおいて、発症するまでの時間が極度のストレスを受けた後に出てくるわけです。

In a human body, there's a time lag between the onset of an illness and the time of extreme stress.

で、夏までの非常に強いストレスが、秋から季節変動によって出てきたというのは、季節変動によって出てくる可能性が十分あるというように考えますが、ストレスというのも原発事故に由来するわけですから、放射能でなくても原発事故の被害者であるわけです。

So, the extreme stress by summer manifested in an illness in fall. It is very likely that the seasonal change triggered it. But stress was caused by the nuclear plant accident after all, so she is a victim of the nuclear plant accident even if it is not radiation sickness.

それは確かであろうと思います。

That much I am certain.

ただ個体差があります。
個体差によっては感受性が非常に強かったり、そういう場合には、このようなことが起きるかも知れない。
で、それが内部被曝による影響が強かったかもしれないし。

But there are individual differences. Some people are more sensitive [to radiation? stress?], and in that case this kind of thing [what's happening to Ms. Numauchi] may happen. It may be because of internal radiation exposure.

レントゲンとか、健康診断を受けたことがないような人ではないと思いますので、外部被曝は、ある程度まで被曝したことはあるとは思うのですが、それに何ら影響がなかったとしたら、何らかの内部被曝の影響があるのかもしれない。

I am sure she has done health checkups with X-rays, so she must have been exposed to some radiation. But if such radiation didn't have any effect in the past, then there may be some kind of internal radiation exposure.

南相馬でも、僕は3月28日に浪江町から相馬のほうに行くときに、国道6号線が使えないので、県道15号線だったかを通っていったんですが、そこでも分断されていたので、裏道を通ったときに、150マイクロシーベルトの場所があったわけですよ。

In Minami Soma, when I passed on March 28 from Namie-machi to Soma I used the prefectural route 15, instead of the national route 5. Even that was cut off, so I took the back route. There was a spot with 150 microsieverts/hour.

そういう地域に住んでいたとしたら、（沼内さんのような症状が出るということは）ありえるとは思います。
住んでいる場所によって、いちがいには言えないので分らないんですが。

If people live in such area, it may be possible (to develop symptoms like Ms. Numauchi). I don't know, because I can't make a sweeping statement. It depends on where you live.

ストレスが影響するというメカニズムまでは分らないと思うんですよ。

I don't think we will know the mechanism of how stress affects [health].

ただ、私や岩上さんは、非常にストレスに強いほうだと思うんですよ。
強い人間からは分らないんですよ。

But you, Mr. Iwakami, and I are resistant to high stress. We cannot tell from a stress-resistant person.

ウサギだって、飼い主がいなくなれば淋しさで死んでしまうという話があるくらいですから、同じことが人間にあってもおかしくないわけじゃないですか。
それだけ、ストレスというのは大きいわけですよ。

I hear rabbits die of loneliness when abandoned by the owners. The same can happen to humans, can't it? Stress play that big of a role.

特にストレスに対しては女性のほうが感受性が強いんですよね。
これは良い意味でも悪い意味でも感受性が強い。

In particular, women are more sensitive to stress. For good or bad, they are more sensitive.

その感受性のせいで、自己抑制がしにくいというのも女性の特徴なんです。
そういう特徴も含めた上で、ストレスというのは妥当なんではないかというふうに考えます。

It's also a female characteristic that, because of that sensitivity, they cannot control themselves. Taking that also into consideration, I think it is appropriate to identify stress as the cause [of her problems].

岩上：
自己免疫疾患が起きると、歯とか爪とか、そういうものを（自分のものでありながら）異物として捉える、という、それについては。

Iwakami: So, if you have an autoimmune disease, teeth, nails are attacked as foreign objects?

木村：
免疫低下によって、感染症が拡大すると、やはり免疫が賦活化します。
賦活化すると、それが手当たり次第に攻撃を始めるわけです。

Kimura: When the immune depression causes the spread of infection, the immune system is activated. Once activated, it starts to attack indiscriminately.

今まで自分の体として認識していたものが、認識しなくなって、これを外敵と認識してしまう可能性が高いわけですよね。

It starts to recognize the part of the body as foreign enemy [pathogen].

そういう自己免疫系疾患というのは、たとえばリウマチであったり、IgA（アイ・ジー・エイ）腎症、http://www.nanbyou.or.jp/entry/41※イムノ・グロブリンAという抗体があるんですが、扁桃体で作られるもので、それが大量にできると今度は腎臓を攻撃するんです。

Such autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis and IgA nephropathy. The antibody called IgA (immunoglobulin A) is produced in the corpus amygdaloideum, but once too many antibodies are produced they start to attack the kidney.

そのように自己免疫系疾患が出てきたり、さまざまな病気が出てくるんですよ。

So there are autoimmune diseases and all kinds of other diseases.

ですから、ストレスによって今度は腎臓病にもなってしまうという、さまざまな病気があってもおかしくないわけですよ。

Stress can cause renal diseases. It can cause all kinds of diseases.

炎症反応が出てきている、ということなので、自己免疫系疾患の可能性が高いな、と踏んだわけです。

Because of the inflammatory reaction, I think it is highly probable that it is an autoimmune disease that she's suffering from.

Ms. Numauchi has a deep, low voice and jovial, cheerful demeanor, and by looking at her and listening to her the last thing you would think is this is one stressed-out, super-sensitive woman. She looks like the man of the house, in fact, without seeing her husband.

Instead of insisting she suffers from stress-induced autoimmune disease, Mr. Kimura should have done what he became famous for: take samples of soil, vegetation in and around her house and measure the radiation, and check her with the special equipment that was featured in the NHK documentary that can measure internal radiation easily.

But he didn't, and Iwakami didn't ask him to do so.

Minami Soma City has just been found with 11 microsieverts/hour locations in the areas where the residents are returning.

Ms. Numauchi is not at all saying her problems are the result of radiation exposure. She says she just wants to know why they've been happening to her, her friend, and her husband. With a nationally known radiation specialist and a popular independent journalist telling her it's just stress because she is a woman, she must have been disappointed.

I guess her husband, who suffers numb feet and severe fatigue, must also be suffering from a feminine stress.

Here's the vid (probably against Iwakami's intention to restrict the video to his subscribers only and pay-per-view) uploaded by BakaTEPCO10 (meaning "stupid TEPCO 10"). Kimura appear safter 63 minutes 30 seconds into the video:

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(UPDATED) Video of Emiko Numauchi ("Numayu") Available at IWJ

but Yasumi Iwakami is only making it available for his paid subscribers.

Oh well.

For all his work, I suppose he is entitled to make his information available only to people who can support him financially. For those who cannot, well that's too bad they have to continue to rely on the official MSM.

If you understand the language and are willing to support Iwakami's work by becoming a paid subscriber to his news, go here. Regular subscription is US$13 per month, and supporter subscription is US$39 and up per month.

For more on Ms. Numauchi, see my posts.

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(UPDATE 1/12/2012: Someone uploaded the video. If you understand Japanese, you can view it here. If you do not, still click the link and see how she looks and sounds. And look how the radiation expert Shinzo Kimura looks and sounds.

I personally do not trust Mr. Kimura, by the way he gives non-explanation about auto-immune disease as something only a sensitive person suffers, by his mannerism.)

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Nuclear Fatigue Setting in Japan After 10 Months

That's the feeling I get from the two recent events I'm following. It is the feeling of "Let's just forget about it, there's nothing we can do anyway", which has served the country, for good or bad, for centuries.

First, there was a face-to-face interview (1/10/2012 Japan Time) by independent journalist Yasumi Iwakami of the Minami Soma City woman who's been documenting her health problems since the summer of 2011. Emiko Numauchi, aka "Numayu", happened to be a cheerful, forward-looking ex-high school teacher who said she intended to live until the age of 120 and that she was comfortable with "causes unknown" for her health problems. The video of the interview is not yet on the archive at Iwakami's website, but there are many tweets of people who viewed in Japan in real time.

This "Togetter" captures not just her remarks but the comments by Shinzo Kimura, radiation specialist who has appeared in many NHK documentaries on radiation contamination in the aftermath of the Fukushima I Nuclear Plant accident. On Ms. Numauchi's health problems, Kimura says, "stress, stress, stress, and stress":

ストレスによる免疫疾患。歯、爪ぬけおちる。髪ぬける。自己免疫疾患。皮膚炎症。タイムログ。出てくる可能性ある。放射能ではないが原発事故の被害者。固体差ある。被爆影響もあるかも。

It is an immune disease caused by stress. Teeth, nails, hair falling off, that's auto-immune disease. So is skin inflammation. Time-lag [?]. It is not caused by radiation, but she is still a victim of the nuclear accident. There's individual difference. There may be some effect of radiation exposure.

線量の違い。南相馬、県道を通った。裏道。3月に高線量があった。住んでいたら被爆影響の可能性もある。住んでる場所により線量低ければストレスの可能性もある。

Difference in radiation levels. I passed through Minami Soma City back in March. High levels of radiation. If you lived in that area it is possible that the radiation exposure has something to do with [the health problems]. Depending on where you live, if the radiation level is low, it is possible that the problems are caused by stress.

自己免疫疾患のメカニズムまで説明できない。ストレスは岩上さんは強い方。強い人間からはわからない。固体差があるから。うさぎは寂しさで死ぬという話。人間もあるかも。ストレスはだとう。

We cannot explain the mechanism of auto-immune diseases. For example, Mr. Iwakami can tolerate a lot of stress. You cannot tell from a person with high tolerance for stress. There's individual difference. A rabbit may die of loneliness. It's possible for humans. To say stress [is causing these health problems] is appropriate.

自己免疫系疾患。ストレスで腎臓病に迄なる。可能性は高い。認識してストレスと思わない事にはデータを。判断する。内部被爆もカウンセリングしながらやってる。

It is an auto-immune disease. Stress can cause kidney diseases. It is highly possible. If you don't think it is stress, then collect data and determine. Internal radiation exposure [is assessed] by counseling [??]

I won't know the exact details of what Kimura said in the program until I view the video yet to be uploaded. But from other tweets the above seems to summarize what he did say.

Does he make sense? If you live in areas with low radiation levels and you have health problems starting to happen after March 11, 2011, then these problems are caused by stress. If you live in areas with high radiation levels, it is probably still stress causing these problems.

Never mind that Ms. Numauchi kept saying she was far more stress-free after she quit her job as a public high school teacher.

There are so many tweets that outright bash Ms. Numauchi for speaking out. They say she is a disgrace to Minami Soma City, that she only thinks of herself (huh?), that she's a liar.

The second event that I think people in Japan may be resigning to whatever fate they think they will get is the efforts to hold anti-nuke plant referendums in Osaka and Tokyo. Citizens' groups in Osaka collected 50,000 signatures in no time, exceeding the required number of signatures to hold a referendum in Osaka Prefecture. In contrast, only one-third of the required number of signatures have been collected so far in Tokyo.

The latest meme from some of the anti-nuke plant people on the Twitter is this: "If we do hold a referendum on whether to stop all nuke plants and we lose, then the pro-nuke people will be all the more powerful and we won't be able to do anything to stop them. So, let's not do the referendum."

So it is all or nothing. If the anti-nuke plant referendum is defeated, that will be the end of their movement. That's just so Japanese. I personally think there are more pressing issues like radiation contamination being spread by the government, but why not scare the political class and show them that the citizens are not there just to collect taxes from? And if you lose once, so what? Why should it be the end of everything?

But surveying the tweets, message boards, blogs, and comments on the blogs, it does look like it's back in March/April 2011 again. The memes are "It's all due to stress, isn't it?", "We need nuclear power plants after all", and "If we lose the anti-nuke plant referendum, that's worse than doing nothing, so let's do nothing". "Nothing we can do now, the accident happened already." Ah the Noda administration has nothing to fear.

One of my teachers at my college was a French professor specializing in linguistics and in teaching Japanese to foreigners. He said the Japanese language pronunciation is one of the least "viscous" of all languages; as soon as the sound leaves one's lips, it falls off to the ground. It does not have a staying power. In contrast, the French language is very "viscous". The sound projects further forward. He was talking in terms of how to identify and learn the characteristics of a language so that one could learn faster.

But I think this nature of the Japanese language does shape how the Japanese people respond to events like a nuclear accident. No staying power. It is rather amazing that it lasted 10 months.

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Emiko Numauchi of Minami Soma, aka "Numayu", Speaks Up, May Testify in the Japan's Diet About Her Health Problems

(UPDATE: In her later post, she says she's receiving taunts and threats again in great numbers, with one of them purportedly from a man living in the same city telling her to leave because she is a disgrace to Minami Soma City. This is so World War II era.)

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In her post on 1/5/2012, "Numayu" says her name is Emiko Numauchi, and that she has decided to do an interview with the independent journalist Yasumi Iwakami showing her face to the camera. And it looks she may be giving testimony in the Diet.

She has decided to speak out publicly, no matter what may be coming her way from the government or the detractors.

For her health conditions after the March 11 nuclear accident, see my post on January 2.

The photo is from her Facebook page, when she was still healthy, in the summer of 2011.

From her blog entry on 1/5/2011:

Just now, I spoke with the "true journalist", named Iwakami, on the phone. I realized how "stupid" I had been.

No more "polite" form of speech. I will write in the "regular" speech. Use a search engine [she recommends Yahoo!] for "Emiko Numauchi 沼内 恵美子", and that is me.

It's been six years when I published a novel about "the truth in the battle of Okinawa".

I was overwhelmed by Iwakami's enthusiasm. It seems there are already many cases of mysterious illnesses in Fukushima Prefecture. I am a "living witness", and only a herald to what is to come.

Already, a cat with only one eye has been born.

No matter what the Japanese government may do, no matter what kind of slander it may throw against me, it is important to keep spreading the information. That's what I've learned from the journalist Iwakami.

As the human "life" and "dignity" gets hidden, I hear that malformed babies are born already. The situation in Fukushima Prefecture is getting more dire, with control of speech [or media blackout] as a matter of fact. Without the phone call from Iwakami, I would have simply stopped blogging even though I remain angry.

I made an appointment [with Iwakami] for an interview, with my face shown on camera. I will not speak in an elaborate or circumspect way any more. It will be to the benefit of all Japanese citizens if he shows me as I am.

All the members of the Diet should be replaced. Not the snap election but "replacing the members" is indispensable.

We don't need a cabinet and members of the Diet that are rotten and stink.

In the Diet, I want to tell them how it really is, as a witness. I want to show them the "true soul" of the Japanese people.

Emiko Numauchi

Ms. Numauchi has two books published, searching in Amazon.co.jp.

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