February 11, Remember March 11, 2011

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The twelfth month after the earthquake starts !


eleven months later -
nothing can erase
these memories





. Remember March 11, 2011, 14:46 　


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. . Joys of Japan .

Join the Friends on Facebook !



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. From Driftwood to Dragon Wood .

“Ryuboku kara Ryuboku e”
流木から龍木へ


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Take your time to expolore this

See how Japan has rebuilt in the
11 months since the earthquake and tsunami

. news.nationalpost.com/ .



The Buddha of Fukushima’s Forbidden Zone:
A Photo Essay
This is the story of Naoto Matsumura, Tomioka City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan–the last man standing in Fukushima’s Forbidden Zone.
source : www.japansubculture.com



Books about Japanese Culture
source : www.worldcat.org

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Gabi reports:

It is now eleven months since the great earthquake, tsunami and reactor crises.

. News from January, 2012 .

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quote

Fukushima: 1 Jahr danach

Mehr Krebs durch das Reaktorunglück in Fukushima?
Der überwiegende Teil der Strahlendosis der Bewohner der kontaminierten Gebiete ist auf die externe Exposition zurückzuführen. Die japanische Regierung hat mit der Evakuierung der Menschen im 10km-, später im 20km-Umkreis um das Kernkraftwerk bereits am 11. März begonnen, also zu einem Zeitpunkt, als die Freisetzung großer Mengen an Radioaktivität noch nicht stattgefunden hatten. Daher haben die Evakuierten sehr wenig Strahlung abbekommen.

Es ist so unendlich viel Kritik an der japanischen Regierung geäußert worden und an der einen oder anderen Stelle kann man das auch unterstützen, aber generell haben sie sehr gut und sehr vorsichtig gehandelt. Abgesehen von der Bevölkerung weniger Orte wird es nur sehr wenige Japaner geben, die mehr ionisierende Strahlung durch die Unfälle in Fukushima abbekommen, als durch eine oder zwei CT-Untersuchungen“, gibt Dr. Jacob zu bedenken.

Auch wenn kein Anstieg der Krebserkrankungen zu erwarten ist, hat die Katastrophe für betroffene Japaner lebenslange Folgen: ob sie das Trauma der Entwurzelung und den psychosozialen Stress verarbeiten können, ist unklar. Psychosozialer Stress kann auf die Dauer extremere Auswirkungen auf die Gesundheit haben, als eine Strahlenexposition innerhalb niedriger Grenzen.

source : news.doccheck.com/de
- backup -



But there are also the other voices:
We May Yet Lose Tokyo… Not to Mention Alaska…
and Now Georgia, Too
Arnie Gundersen reports
Warning that Fukushima is "far from over," Tasaka said official assurances of the complex's alleged safety were based on "groundless optimism."
source : www.commondreams.org


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Bulletins from NHK Online

source : www3.nhk.or.jp

Worker checks urged to prevent nuclear terrorism
Japan's Atomic Energy Commission has for the first time laid out its measures to prevent possible terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants.
A working group at the state agency has compiled a report on enhancing safety at the country's nuclear plants.
The report calls for insisting that power companies check personal information, such as the criminal and financial records, of all plant employees.
Such a measure is in place in most major countries that have nuclear plants, but Japan hasn't introduced the system due to personal privacy considerations.
After the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant triggered by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, lost track of 10 workers. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
This is because the utility had failed to confirm the names and addresses of workers, let alone information such as criminal records.
The report also calls for stricter management where necessary of several radioactive substances that are widely used in hospitals and research institutions.


TEPCO says no damage to spent fuel at Fukushima
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has found no damage to spent fuel rods that will be the first to be removed from the plant's reactors.
Tokyo Electric Power Company on Friday released video of the storage pool at the No.4 reactor building taken by an underwater camera the previous day.
The utility says the footage shows debris fell onto the rack containing the fuel rods but apparently caused no damage. Visibility in the pool is reportedly about 5 meters.
Tokyo Electric aims to start removing more than 1,500 rods from the pool next year as the first step in a 40-year plan for decommissioning the plant.
The No.4 reactor was offline and had no active fuel when a powerful earthquake and tsunami disabled the plant on March 11th last year.
But a hydrogen explosion blew off the reactor's roof and sent wreckage into the pool, making it difficult to assess conditions inside.


Population outflow continues in disaster-hit areas
Saturday marks 11 months since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan. Cities and towns hit hard by the disaster have seen a rise in the outflow of residents.
As of Friday, the National Police Agency put the number of dead from the disaster in the Tohoku region at 15,787 and those missing at 3,302.
An increasing number of people in Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima prefectures have relocated after the disaster to look for jobs or avoid the impact of the nuclear accident.
Fukushima Prefecture lost more than 53,000 people by the end of last year in reaction to the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
The stricken municipalities have expressed concern that the population outflow could hamper their reconstruction efforts. They are also worried that a drop in tax revenues could threaten their existence.


Oil tank swept by tsunami to be kept as monument
A fish processing company in Ishinomaki City has decided to keep an oil tank that was swept away by tsunami 11 months ago as a memorial.
The tank measures 11 meters in height and 9 meters in diameter and is shaped like a can of seafood. The tank is lying on a road 300 meters away from where it was originally located.
The tank and the images painted on its surface were designed to make it look like a can of seafood produced by the company. Before the disaster, it served as advertising.
The seafood firm says it will move the tank back to the company's premises where it will put it on display.
A vice president of the company says some people originally wanted the tank dismantled because it brought back sad memories. But he now says such memories should be remembered for future generations.
He says if people come to see the salvaged oil tank, it will help with the city's reconstruction.


Oil tank still standing before tsunami


Oil tank now

Emperor Akihito undergoes heart examination
Emperor Akihito has undergone a heart examination at a hospital in Tokyo for restricted blood flow.
The 78-year-old Emperor arrived at the University of Tokyo Hospital on Saturday morning accompanied by Empress Michiko. The examination lasted for about one hour.
Doctors decided to conduct the detailed examination after an electrocardiograph test found an inadequate supply of blood was getting to his heart during light exercise.
... The Emperor has been on medication for the past year ever since doctors found that hardened arteries around his heart were constricting and reducing the amount of oxygen and nourishment getting to the heart muscle.

Temperature inside No.2 reactor rises again
Tokyo Electric Power Company says the temperature inside the No.2 reactor at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has risen again.
The utility successfully lowered the temperature last week after injecting more water.
But a thermometer installed at the bottom of the reactor detected an increase to around 71 degrees Celsius from Friday night to Saturday morning.
Two other thermometers in a different place on the reactor bottom kept on showing 35 degrees Celsius.
TEPCO says it will continue to monitor the situation closely as it believes the reactor is in a state of cold shutdown. But the utility says it will consider pouring more water in if the temperature rises further.


Opening ceremony of Tokyo Gate Bridge
Hundreds of officials and construction workers have attended the opening ceremony of Tokyo Gate Bridge, a new landmark roadway following Rainbow Bridge.
A tape-cutting ceremony was held at the bridge entrance in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Saturday, one day before its opening to the public. Then a motorcade of dozens of electric vehicles and buses crossed the bridge.
The 2.6 kilometer bridge crosses over Tokyo Bay, linking the south end of Koto Ward to landfill islands. ...

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Voices from around


. Daily Radiation Levels - LIST 　

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Japan Times:

11 months on, Reconstruction Agency makes official debut
The Reconstruction Agency finally make its official debut, 11 months since the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake, and its mission is to speed up the process of rebuilding the Tohoku region.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120211a2.html


Antinuke petitioners to lobby assembly
A citizens' group pushing for a referendum in Tokyo on scrapping Tepco's nuclear reactors has to persuade metropolitan assembly members to back its plan -- a daunting, and potentially insurmountable, step.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120211a3.html


Tepco to shut down last reactor in March
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120211a5.html

Kansai exec forum skims atomic power debate
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120211a7.html

Most Singaporeans still shunning visits to Japan on nuke safety fears
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120211f2.html

Nationwide antinuke rallies planned
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120211b2.html

Red tape impeding reform of nuclear-reliant energy policy
The hulking system that once guided Japan's pronuclear power stance worked just fine when everybody moved in lock step, but its size and complexity have proved ill-suited for resolving conflict at a time of nuclear crisis.

Nearly a year after the triple meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, decision-makers still can't agree on how to safeguard reactors against future accidents, or even whether to operate them at all.
Some experts say this indecision reflects the Japanese tendency to search for — and sometimes depend on — consensus, even when there is no prospect of one emerging.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120211f1.html

Edano to Tepco:
'Turn over new leaf' or we'll cut you off

Trade minister Yukio Edano said Friday that the government will not accept Tepco's request for additional financial aid unless the utility clearly shows it is ready to "turn over a new leaf" in light of the nuclear crisis. ...
"My current evaluation is that the company has not shown at all its will to become a newborn Tepco," Edano told reporters, without elaborating.
... Tepco has already won government approval to receive ¥891 billion in aid from the state-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund, but has said it needs to also raise prices to offset rising fuel costs. The utility has turned to thermal power generation after the Fukushima crisis caused a public backlash against atomic energy and led to reactor closures.
Meanwhile, Edano said the government will survey around 400 residents living near the crippled plant at the time of the meltdowns to enhance disaster preparedness measures.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120211a7.html

Tepco to sell \300 billion in securities
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120211a8.html

Cabinet OKs gas, fuel disaster revision
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120211a9.html

A future free from nuclear energy? Yakushima may be ready
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fe20120212rh.html


Japan: failure or success?
A recent spate of articles in The New York Times comparing Japan's overall condition with America's was so welcome in Japan that the gist of the initial article was read out by a questioning lawmaker in the Diet.
The article by Eamonn Fingleton (New York Times, Jan. 6) painted a rosy picture of Japan. Fingleton's update of Ezra Vogel's "Japan as Number One" study was an answer to TV analysts like David Gergen, who described Japan on CNN as "a very demoralized country."
..... Japan's economy and society have major weaknesses obvious to both inside and outside observers, but its strengths are easy to overlook. Japan's current condition offers important lessons that need balanced consideration.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ed20120212a1.html


U.N. honors 'Forest Hero' fisherman
The U.N. Forum on Forests held a ceremony Thursday for the recipients of its Forest Hero award at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The six people honored included Japan's fisherman-turned-environmentalist Shigeatsu Hatakeyama, 畠山重篤 68, from Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture. Hatakeyama is the founder and chairman of Mori wa Umi no Koibito (Forests are Lovers of the Sea), a nonprofit environmental conservation organization.



Hatakeyama has been planting trees upstream of the Okawa River, which flows into Kesennuma Bay. He also runs oyster and scallop farming businesses in the city.

"Even though I lost nearly everything in the (March 11) disasters, the sea came back very quickly," Hatakeyama said. "I believe it was because the river and the forest behind it had solid foundations."

In choosing Hatakeyama as an award recipient Wednesday, UNFF recognized his devotion to the area. "He is known as 'Grandpa Oyster,' after spending more than 20 years developing the forest environment that keeps the Okawa River clean and his oysters healthy," UNFF said.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120211a6.html


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High radioactive content detected in ash from wood stoves
Ash from wood-burning stoves in Miyagi Prefecture has been found to contain alarmingly high levels of radioactive cesium.
Up to 59,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram has been detected in samples from the northeastern prefecture, the Environment Ministry said Feb. 10.
In late January, the ministry inspected logs and ash collected from private households in nine municipalities in the south of Miyagi Prefecture, close to the border with Fukushima Prefecture, site of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The radioactive content in the ash ranged from 1,180 becquerels per kilogram in a sample from Kakuda to 59,000 becquerels per kilogram in a sample from Marumori.
A log from Marumori came from a local forest and had been stored outdoors, ministry officials said.
... Radioactive substances in wood condense rapidly during incineration. That likely explains the high cesium content, sources said.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201202110053



Atomic energy panel urges background checks for nuke plant workers
An atomic energy panel is calling for background checks on workers at nuclear power plants to guard against possible terrorist attacks at such facilities.
The step, proposed by a committee of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission at the Cabinet Office on Feb. 10, was first considered in 2005. But the government shelved the original proposal by a council at the industry ministry, which oversees the nuclear power industry, citing the protection of privacy.
Among the major economies that operate nuclear power facilities, Japan is the only country that has yet to introduce the process.
A new nuclear power regulator, to be established in April by consolidating relevant government functions, is expected to discuss the introduction of background checks.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201202110027


Grass blamed for holes in Fukushima water hoses
Weeds were the culprit that poked holes in vinyl chloride hoses for transporting radioactive water under treatment at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Feb. 9.
Twenty-two cases of water leakage were reported between July and December 2011.
The hoses make up a 4-kilometer conduit to purify radioactive water that is used to cool nuclear reactors and pump it back into the reactors.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201202100007

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Jahrestag Fukushima: 1.000 Kraniche für Japan

Der Kranich ist in Japan ein Symbol der Anti-Atomkraft-Bewegung.
Gleichzeitig steht er für Glück und Gesundheit, wenn man ihn verschenkt. Dieses Geschenk wollen wir den Menschen in Japan zum Jahrestag der Reaktor-Katastrophe machen.
Wir falten 1.000 Papier-Kraniche, die wir am 11. März persönlich vor Ort übergeben werden.



http://www.bund.net/1000kraniche

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Survivor decides to share video of tsunami destroying hometown
RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture—



Eiji Yoshida had long kept secret his video footage of the tsunami engulfing buildings in this northeastern city. For the 68-year-old former teacher, the video represented a painful reminder of the horrific images he would rather forget.

But he recently began sharing the video, 2 minutes and 26 seconds long, and 65 photos of the tsunami with acquaintances after deciding that the lessons learned from the disaster must never be lost.
source : ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaste

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9 months from 2011 Japan earthquake/tsunami
Rikuzentakata-shi, Iwate, Japan
by Taisaku Nogi (shared at Joys of Japan)
source : www.facebook.com/media

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Radioactive Material:
You Can't See It, and You Can't Smell It Either

Japan reggae artists MC Rankin and Dub Ainu Band deliver a cautionary message about radioactive material through this song and music video -
source : www.youtube.com


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Priest fights radiation in Fukushima
Zen monk Koyu Abe has undertaken the task of searching out radioactive "hot spots" and cleaning them up, storing irradiated earth on temple grounds. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered a series of explosions and meltdowns after the massive earthquake and tsunami last March 11.


FUKUSHIMA (Reuters) -
On the snowy fringes of Japan's Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago.

But away from the ceremonial drums and the incense swirling around the Joenji temple altar, Abe has undertaken another task, no less harrowing -- to search out radioactive "hot spots" and clean them up, storing irradiated earth on temple grounds.
... Last summer, Abe grew and distributed sunflowers and other plants, such as field mustard and amaranthus, in an effort to lighten the impact of the radiation and cheer local residents.

CHANGE OF FAITH
Now he is trading his ceremonial robes for a protective mask, working with volunteers to track down lingering pockets of radiation and cleaning them up.
source : news.yahoo.com


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Valentine 2012

Sendai's first Valentine's Day since disasters about more than just love

Chocolates with positive messages have emerged as big sellers in Sendai for the first Valentine's Day since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
At the Fujisaki department store downtown, chocolate gifts made with locally produced sake or honey and carrying messages of gratitude are gaining in popularity.

"It is probably because consumers want to support products using food from disaster-hit areas," said a member of the store's sales promotion team.


Fujisaki offers different kinds of chocolate-related items using ingredients from Miyagi Prefecture to support tsunami-hit areas.
One product is made with six different types of sake brewed in the prefecture, while coffee beans roasted in the city of Ishinomaki and covered with chocolate are another popular treat. Chocolates in the shape of a honeycomb and made with honey produced in Sendai are also selling well.
This is the first time such products have been sold for Valentine's Day, the store said.

As people grew to value "kizuna" — a Japanese word for "bond" — between family and friends after the disaster, the store prepared candy sets with a message saying "Thank you" in five different languages, including Japanese and English, so that people can express their gratitude.

In a similar spirit, the Mitsukoshi department store in Sendai is donating part of its proceeds from chocolate products to disaster areas. One bears the label "Charity Box" and sells for ¥2,400, of which ¥1,000 will be donated through the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Kiyomi Hishinuma, 42, who bought chocolate at the store for her husband, spoke of the spirit behind many gifts this Valentine's Day, 11 months after the disasters.
"The person I counted on the most when the quake hit was my husband," she said.
"I bought more expensive chocolate than usual to show him my gratitude."
source : Japan Times

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Daruma from Takasaki 高崎　復興祈願 だるま

Print one out and hang it in your prayer corner!

ganbaro !! Nihon
ガンバロー　日本




がんばろう　日本　Ganbaro Nippon !




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. February 12, 2011 and on . . .


. Toys and Talismans from Japan .　


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