May 15, Sunday. Kokeshi

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こけし支援チャリティ　KOKESHIEN!
. Source: 　keibunsha


new ambassadors
for Tohoku Japan -
Kokeshi Dolls　

. see NHK below .


. Kokeshi Daruma Dolls . 　


Some friends have asked where they can buy kokeshi dolls online.
Here is a store, they will even engrave the name of a person on the doll (as a present for a new-born baby:
http://www.japanese-doll.biz/group/kokeshi-doll.html

Here is another link from the Kokeshi Museum,
but they do not ship outside of Japan.
http://www.kokesikan.com/nettohanbai.html



柿沢是伸
Daruma Kokeshi from Kakizawa Yoshinobu 1,790円
Made from wood of the Japanese pagoda tree, enju 槐


Since many asked to buy Kokeshi dolls in America, here is a link where you might have a look to get you started:

source : info-kokeshi-doll


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Gabi reports:

A sunny day starts, with a cool breeze from the North.

As of Friday, the number of dead or missing is 24,524.

. . . . .

at around 6:30
A earth tremor measuring 6.0 struck the north of Afghanistan early Sunday, the U.S. Geological survey said.
It said the epicenter of the tremor, about 128 miles deep, was around the settlement of Feyzabad, near the borders with Tajikistan and Pakistan. The area, relatively sparsely populated, frequently experiences tremors.
source :　yahoo news

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節電ビズ Setsuden Biz is IN this summer

. setsuden, energy saving business


A charity event for Tohoku this year:
. Kobe Festival (Kobe Matsuri 神戸まつり)

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A delux liner ship, which had been lying idle at Mitsui Shipyard in Tamano, Okayama, will be heading to Ishinomaki to bring relief to the evacuees to be used as a hotel. It can hold about 180 people in rooms with toilet and shower.


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Bulletins from NHK Online
source : www3.nhk.or.jp


Sunday, May 15, 2011 08:57
Oyster farming resumes in disaster-hit Ohfunato
In disaster-stricken Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, oyster farmers have begun rebuilding rafts destroyed by tsunami on March 11th.
Oysters from the Oh-funato City region are highly regarded for their size and quality. But about 1,000 rafts belonging to 3 cooperatives were lost to tsunami.
Oyster producers from the Kamino-tako district cooperative found surviving seed oysters in the ocean and have made 6 new 6-by-10-meter rafts using lumber.
On Saturday, the fishers lowered the rafts into the ocean with buoys attached to mark their location.
It is unknown when full production will resume as the ocean floor remains littered with wreckage from the disaster.
But the cooperative members are planning to put seed oysters on the rafts as early as next week.
The cooperative head, Mikio Nakamura, says there are concerns about the future but that hopefully the oyster farms will soon come back to life.


Sunday, May 15, 2011 08:57
Radioactivity at No.3 reactor leaking into ocean
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant announced that radioactive materials continue to leak into the ocean near the plant.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company said 140 becquerels of cesium-134 per cubic centimeter, was measured on Saturday morning near the water intake of the plant's Number 3 reactor. That represents 2,300 times the legal limit.
It also detected 150 becquerels of cesium-137, which is 1,700 times the legal limit.
On Wednesday of this week, the utility found that highly radioactive water was continuing to flow into the ocean from a pit located near the water intake of the Number 3 reactor.
On Friday, TEPCO detected 6,200 times the legal limit of cesium-134.
The company says it will continue to monitor radioactivity levels near the plant.
.
TEPCO: Years needed to remove damaged nuclear fuel
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it may take a number of years to remove damaged nuclear fuel rods from the Number 1 reactor.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company announced on Saturday, that most of the fuel rods in the Number 1 reactor have melted and fallen to the bottom of the reactor where they are submerged in water.
TEPCO announced in April that it was aiming to get the reactor stabilized and cooled down in 6 to 9 months. However, no timeline has yet been proposed for the removal of the nuclear fuel.
The company plans to study measures taken at the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US, where a meltdown of nuclear fuel rods also occurred.
There it took almost 10 years to remove melted fuel at the bottom of the reactor, which resembled hardened lava.
.
TEPCO confirms water in No.1 reactor
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says the amount of highly radioactive water in the basement of the Number one reactor is increasing. The water is leaking from a hole or cracks in the containment vessel.
On Friday, Tokyo Electric Power Company workers found that the water in the basement is 4.2 meters deep.
The company intends to measure radiation levels of the water as it tries to find ways to deal with the leakage.
Also on Friday, a robot detected a maximum of 2,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour on the first floor of the reactor building.
The radiation level is the highest since the March 12th accident.
The company says the water is leaking from the pipes leading to the reactor, which were probably damaged as a result of a meltdown.
The utility has been forced to revise its original plan before submitting it to the government on Tuesday.
.
TEPCO releases photos in the No.1 reactor
The Tokyo Electric Power has released 5 photographs of the crippled Number 1 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
One of the pictures taken by workers on May 9th shows a large amount of debris on the reactor building floor.
Another picture shows an elevator located at the northwest corner of the building with cables hanging loose. The elevator door was blown off by a large hydrogen explosion on March 12th.
A picture was taken by a remote-controlled robot on May 13th at the southeastern side of the Number One reactor building. Equipment that appears to be an electrical circuit board can also be seen near a double door. No debris can be seen on the floor.
Around this area, extreme high levels of radioactivity have been observed -- up to 2,000 milisieverts per hour, thus workers can only stay in the vicinity for around 8 minutes.
.
TEPCO to review cooling operation
Tokyo Electric Power Company will have to review its plan for stabilizing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility after a large amount of radioactive water was found in the basement of one of its reactor buildings.
The utility says it discovered an estimated 3,000 tons of contaminated water in the basement of the damaged Number 1 reactor building.
TEPCO says fuel rods in the Number 1 reactor melted down and created a hole in the bottom of the pressure vessel. It says the containment vessel also appears to be damaged and highly radioactive water has leaked into the basement of the building.
The company had planned to fill the containment vessel with water and set up a cooling system.
But it now says that it will study a plan to circulate water directly from the basement, through a decontamination filter and heat exchanger, and then back into the reactor.
On Tuesday, TEPCO is expected to submit a revised operation schedule to the government. However, a series of problems facing the company is likely to delay its efforts to bring all the reactors at the facility under control.


Sunday, May 15, 2011 08:57
Crafts of disaster-hit areas to be promoted abroad
An expert panel has urged the government to help reconstruct disaster-hit areas in northeastern Japan through overseas promotion activities for traditional crafts of the region.
In its report to be submitted to the ministry in charge of trade and industry, the panel said the nuclear accident triggered by the March 11th disaster has tarnished the image of Japanese products abroad. ...
It called for increased cooperation with foreign hotel chains to extend the market for traditional crafts, such as "Kokeshi" wooden dolls in Miyagi Prefecture and ironware in Iwate Prefecture. ...


Sunday, May 15, 2011 13:00
Evacuation begins in Fukushima
Evacuation of some people who live outside the 20 kilometer radius from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has begun.
Families with babies and children up to kindergarten age and pregnant women are the first of the 7,700 residents of two towns to evacuate.
Municipal officials say they have secured temporary housing for almost all of the residents who want it.
One evacuee says he and his family have to move out for the sake of his children, but it is very discouraging to leave.
He says they will do what they can until the day they are able to return to their home.
Some farmers cannot evacuate soon as they have not been able to find places to move their cattle or have them put down. Some families cannot move together to designated temporary housing or cannot decide on the place to go as they would be far from work or school.
The Japanese government expanded the evacuation zone around the plant to areas where cumulative radiation levels are 20 millisieverts or higher per year.


Sunday, May 15, 2011 13:00
Massive floating platform heads for Fukushima
A massive hollow floating platform is being transported to Fukushima to hold radioactive water from a troubled nuclear power plant.
The steel platform is 136 meters long and 46 meters wide and can store up to 10,000 tons of water.
It was provided to Tokyo Electric Power Company from Shizuoka city, where it was used as a fishing park.
It was made water-tight and rust-resistant during one month of refitting at a Yokohama shipyard. A large crane was mounted and pipes attached.
After final inspection at a nearby port, the platform is scheduled to arrive off the coast at Fukushima Daiichi power plant in one to two weeks.


Sunday, May 15, 2011 14:48
TEPCO to inject more water into No.1 reactor
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it will increase the amount of water being injected into the Number One reactor in a study of how to stabilize the reactor, whose fuel rods are believed to have melted down.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says the water level in the reactor is now extremely low and that the pressure vessel protecting the reactor core has a hole and cracks as a result of the meltdown.
It says the containment vessel was also damaged, and has been leaking a large amount of highly radioactive water into the reactor building.
TEPCO is now reviewing its effort to cool the reactor by filling the containment vessel with water. It says it decided to increase the amount of water being injected into the reactor from 8 tons per hour to 10 tons per hour.
The company says it will monitor the water level, temperature, and pressure inside the containment vessel for 2 days.
The utility says if a certain water level is maintained inside the containment vessel, it is possible to set up a cooling system that circulates water from the containment vessel to a heat exchanger and back to the reactor.
The company says after studying data obtained from the operation, it will come up with a specific cooling method on Tuesday when it reviews the roadmap.


Sunday, May 15, 2011 23:29
Disaster affects 1Q GDP
Private research firms expect Japan's gross domestic product for the January-to-March period to shrink for a 2nd consecutive quarter.
Ten financial institutions and research institutes predict real GDP decreases ranging from minus 0.1 to minus 1.1 percent, compared to the previous 3 months.
The figure represents contractions of minus 0.4 percent to minus 4.3 percent on an annualized basis.
The firms blame the contractions mainly on the abrupt economic slowdown during the 20 days following the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
Individual consumption declined in the retail and tourism industries. Department stores lost business when they had to close their doors early or more often to avoid possible power shortages.
Many manufacturers were forced to halt operations because of shortages of semiconductors or auto parts. Investment and exporting also dropped.
The research firms estimate that Japan's GDP will continue to decline in the coming quarter, as the impacts of the disaster are expected to continue. The firms are concerned that the figure will further decrease if production is slow to recover.


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Voices from around


. Daily Radiation Levels . 　

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Japan Times :

Worker at Fukushima nuclear plant dies
A worker at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant dies after collapsing while carrying equipment at a waste disposal building.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110515a1.html

Hamaoka nuclear plant successfully closed
The Hamaoka nuclear plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, is completely shut down following an unprecedented request by the government due to fears of a large earthquake hitting the area.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110515a2.html

Two months later, whereabouts of 9,500 still unknown
More than two months after a devastating earthquake and tsunami ravaged the Tohoku region, about 9,500 people remain unaccounted for.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110515a3.html

Radiation 'bias' weighs on Fukushima manufacturers
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110515n1.html

Disaster damage threatens carmakers' steady recovery
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nb20110514a1.html

Media starting to tally the economic effects of foreigner flight
Compared with the week before the March 11 disaster, the Immigration Bureau data confirmed departures by foreigners nearly doubled the week following the quake, from 139,782 to 244,274. Exits by those holding official or diplomatic passports, for example, were 192 and 1,320, respectively.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fd20110515bj.html

The new setsuden culture
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/ed20110515a2.html

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Given the spiritual religion origins of Kokeshi dolls, it seems in some way almost ghoulish to use their export as a way of improving the Japanese economy after the devastation caused by the earthquake and the tsunami.

tsunami remembrance:
more Kokeshi Dolls to sell
to the world

Larry Bole
Happy Haiku Forum


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