- Nearly 90% of the Japanese public is willing to help dispose of 3/11/11 tsunami debris. This stunning poll-result challenges the popular notion that a majority of Japanese citizens oppose helping with rubble disposal due to radiation fears. According to a recent Cabinet Office survey, 88.3 percent of the respondents said broad-based debris disposal should be promoted, while 8.8 percent disagreed. The survey polled about 3,000 people selected at random. In the survey, people were asked how they felt about assisting Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures in processing the nearly 12 million tons of rubble that has been essentially untouched for more than 16 months after the tsunami of 3/11/11. The survey did not ask people’s opinions on assisting with the disposal of some 10 million tons of tsunami debris moldering in Fukushima Prefecture. Although the minority continues to fret about the possibility of this rubble containing detectable levels of Fukushima contamination, it now seems that most Japanese are willing to assist in tsunami recovery. (Jiji Press) comment – It’s about time!!
- Workers laboring in the recovery from the Fukushima accident suffer local discrimination. A team of psychologists from the National Defense Medical College have found that F. Daiichi workers face overt discrimination from the very community they are trying to protect. They tell therapists they have been chided by local people and threatened with signs on their doors telling them to leave. Some of their children have been taunted at school, and prospective landlords have turned them away. Jun Shigemura, who heads the investigative team, told the Associated Press , “They have become targets of people’s anger.” Takeshi Tanigawa, an epidemiologist with Ehime University’s medical school also says “More than health risk, they are worried about social risk and employment risk.” Many TEPCO families in the area now hide their link to Tepco for fear of reprisal. The workers approached by the AP declined to be interviewed out of fear of further public criticism. The situation resembles similar discrimination toward Hiroshima/Nagasaki survivors and their families after WWII, which still plagues many second and third generation descendants of “Hibakusha” (atomic bomb survivors). The Japanese Press has offered the workers little praise, unlike the Western media which has portrayed the remaining band of workers at the plant as heroic. The domestic press has consistently emphasizes how the dangers faced by the workers exemplifies the risks of nuclear power. (Japan Today) http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/fukushima-nuclear-plant-workers-face-stigma-threats )
- As the summer heats up across Japan, jellyfish swarms threaten to reduce thermal (fossil-fueled) power plant outputs and strain the country’s already-thin electrical supplies. Large numbers of the creatures have been swarming near nine thermal power plants on Ise Bay. Chubu Electric Power Co. estimates that there are close to 24,000 tons of jellyfish swimming in the bay, twice the usual level and the second-most recorded in the past decade. If they make it past existing protective measures, the creatures could block seawater cooling flows through the power plants and reduce power output. In a worst-case scenario, seawater blockage could cause the power plants to shut down. The number of jellyfish near the thermal plants usually peaks in July, August and September. However, this year they started gathering around the plants in May, resulting in reduced electricity output at three of the plants for nine days. We don’t know the reason why the number is so high this year, but we need to monitor the situation closely,” said Minoru Hamada, 46, an assistant project manager in Chubu Electric’s technology development department. (Japan Times)
- Today marks the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Aging survivors, relatives, government officials and foreign delegates attended the annual ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park commemorating the US bombing. However, in the continuing effort to keep confusion between bombs with reactors alive, 700 people including atomic bomb survivors and evacuees from the Fukushima area staged an anti-nuclear rally at the same time. In most press reports, the antinuclear rally got the main focus. Kumiko Okamoto, a 38-year-old mother of two, who fled to Hiroshima from northern Japan after 3/11/11, said: “There is no difference between atomic bombs and nuclear accidents.” Toshiyuki Mimaki, 70, an atomic bomb survivor, said “We want to work together with people in Fukushima and join our voices calling for no more nuclear victims.” The Mayor of Hiroshima voiced a plea to eventually stop using nukes to make electricity. Mayor Kazumi Matsui called on the government “to establish without any delay an energy policy that guards the safety and security of the people.” Even Mayor Tamotsu Baba of Namie Town in Fukushima added to the anti-nuclear energy motif by saying he has shared the hardship of being exposed to radiation with atomic bomb survivors. Prime Minister Noda attended the ceremony and said, “We will establish an energy mix with which people can feel safe in the long- and medium-term, based on our policy that we will not rely on nuclear power.” But this was not enough to stop protestors from demanding Noda be replaced immediately. Many chanted, “Noda should quit. We oppose nuclear power.” (NHK World; Japan Times; Japan Today; Mainichi Shimbun)
This site requires a lot of work. We hope you find our efforts valuable and rewarding. Please consider offering your support. There is no minimum amount. Feel free to donate as you see fit, without restriction. Thank you...
