Sunday, May 22, 2011

Things Are Slowly Changing in Japan Over the Fukushima Crisis

Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University is testifying in the Upper House government oversight committee. The session is broadcast over the Internet, but the Upper House site is being overwhelmed with access requests.

Alongside Koide, Masashi Goto, whistleblower ex-Toshiba engineer who designed the containment vessel at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, Masayoshi Son of Softbank, geologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi are also there.

(Ishibashi insists on doing it (dealing with Fukushima I Nuke Plant) by the Japanese experts only.)

In the meantime, angry and concerned parents and citizens are swarming the Ministry of Education and demand that the government withdraw the 20 millisievert/year radiation (external only) limit for children. The Minister is hiding.

They are holding a meeting outside the Ministry. Each time some punk of a bureaucrat utters something, he is being shouted down by angry protesters, demanding the Ministry retract 20 millisievert/year.

"Why can't you understand? What can't you understand?" they are shouting at the bureaucrat.

I'm watching live on USTREAM.

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(Photo by Yusuke Hara)

12 comments:

Stock said...

Egg of Doom, and short the Nikkei

The news doesn't matter until it matters, and the realization of Fukushima is starting to set in.

http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I thought perhaps the information from your prior post regarding 'infant organ exposure' would be sufficient to gather a mob together.

Just before reading your current post regarding change in Japan, I was reading pro nuke nonsense from the United States that seems to show the US is not changing at all - it's business as usual unfortunately. The article I read is titled "Prepare for a new nuclear industry" and it basically purports to show how Fukushima will influence the industry. Here's a quote:
"We must admit that we represent a technology that has frightened a great many people," said Richard Myers, vice president of policy development at the US trade group the Nuclear Energy Institute. "But the industry can explain the unfounded nature of this fear, and provide the data to prove it is so."
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP_Prepare_for_a_new_nuclear_industry_0604111.html


This is the continuing tactic - tell us we are irrational and fear based. They are not acknowledging that ANYTHING actually happened in Fukushima, only that people are needlessly afraid of nuclear power and must be instructed!
Right now in the US, there's an almost complete MSM blackout on this topic. Your work on this blog has changed the course of history already - so many more of us know because of you. Thank you. Hope

Anonymous said...

""Why can't you understand? What can't you understand?" they are shouting at the bureaucrat."

Hmmmm....maybe they should bring in some officials to eat delicious Fukushima produce in front of the angry crowd? Hope

Anonymous said...

More word must be spread in Japan that Germany is taking a different route from France, US etc., i.e. that an industrialised country can do it if the population really wants to. The populace takes the risk, the industry takes the profits, it's that simple.

Also this film should be subtitled and shown in Japan:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/03/a_is_for_atom.html

Anonymous said...

http://grooveshark.com/s/The+Times+They+Are+A+Changin+/M4jUg?src=5

Blackmore's Night, for the more sedate pace and because I hate that Dylan sellout for making me believe.

But seriously, don't give up, Japan.

Someone should point out to these cretins that a single whiff of cesium dust is enough to put a kid over the 20 mSv limit. External radiation is NOT the danger, internal contamination is.

John said...

I am posting this here because the people reading this website are the only people I consider trustworthy.

I am a parent of an infant and my family was living in Tokyo on March 11. Perhaps I waited too long, but I evacuated my wife and son to Kyushu on March 15. We lived in Koto-ku so when I read about the radioactive sludge in Koto-ku and Edogawa-ku, I am relieved to know that they are away from Tokyo. I feel Tokyo might never be safe for them to return so I am worrying about where to move to permanently.

I check the radiation levels in Fukuoka (1000 km from Fukushima) and Hokkaido (600 km from Fukushima) and I notice Hokkaido is generally lower. Should we stay in Fukuoka or take the boat up to Hokkaido to live permanently? I prefer a colder climate, so all things being equal, I prefer to head north. But my first priority is locating in the safest place for my infant son.

I would really appreciate some sound advice from people who know that there is no safe level of radiation only legally permissible levels.

What do you think? Is Hokkaido safer? Or is Fukuoka safer?

Anonymous said...

Definitely Fukuoka.

Anonymous said...

Your Minister of Education 'hiding' is not unique. When BP's Macondo oil well came apart last year our Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, flew down to 'take command' of the situation and 'take credit' for averting a disaster. When it became clear a lot of oil was
pouring out and that BP would not be able to bring the well under control anytime soon, Salazar stopped showing up for the daily press conference. In fact he stopped showing up anywhere! He just disappeared until the well was capped.

Anonymous said...

The Japanese people should not feel alone in being treated as they are - this is the new normal behavior of governments and corporations toward people in general. They don't care about suffering or death - in fact they encourage it. They feel they are above accountability to the people. They only respond to their secret bosses.

The residents of the gulf coast in the US found these same dynamics during and after the BP oil spill. They were lied to about the dangers, hired to go into unsafe areas as cleanup workers, and people are still encouraged to visit contaminated beaches with their children. Researchers were denied access to the area and arrested.

The new normal.

Anonymous said...

Robbie001 sez:

@ John

If it were me I would research the local weather patterns and choose the region that is least likely to get wind and rain from the source point at Fukushima. Any future fallout is going to be at the mercy of the wind and rain. If we learn anything from Fukushima it is that radiation doesn't follow neat little circles drawn by "experts". It isn't like this lesson hasn't been taught before people just didn't pay attention.

Anonymous said...

EX-SKF: Thank you for writing about these 2 events. So many Japanese watched these over USTREAM, especially the Upper-House-Government-Oversight-Committee. These should have been aired on TV.

Anonymous said...

@ John

Your timing of leaving was not too late. The air in Kanto was getting bad after 15th I think.

I would not make any decision regarding permanent move until we have much more stability and info. For the moment, stay where you are.

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