Thoughts on the Anniversary

Hi,

People are out today doing what you do on a Sunday, going shopping, watching the events in town. But the date and time is etched in the common psyche. Latest figures for the disaster are 15,854 dead, 3,155 missing. 344,000 people displaced. Recent, shocking, revelations here in Fukushima: at least 5 people left behind in the evacuation starved to death in their homes; and  rescue workers intending to go back to the coast at daybreak were switched to evacuation duties and the search for survivors abandoned.

Excellent BBC documentary 'Children of the Tsunami' now on YouTube BBC Children of the Tsunami (14 March: Sorry, it's been taken off though snippets available) which reminded me of our trip to Ishnomaki in April last year. We took  cardboard sheet to use as partitions and I had the bright idea of taking pens and crayons for the children to decorate them. I didn't mention it at the time as it was all too raw but the parents of Okawa primary school, shown in that documentary, were in that evacuation centre. At that time the parents were out everyday searching the rubble of the school and they were talking about the need to get more diggers in (there was only one). I remember hearing one person ask another if she'd found her child. On hearing that she had, she said, 'Yokatta ne' (That's good). It seemed such an odd thing to say. How can you be happy to find a body? It was outside one's normal comprehension. Another problem with that evacuation centre was that it sheltered families from Okawa school and another school where all the children were saved. If you watch the BBC documentary you'll understand why feelings were running high. So the loss is awful, there's great sadness and a year on it's appropriate to remember.

At 2:46 pm today the Emperor led the nation in a minute's silence and service of remembrance. He's only been out of hospital a week after heart bypass surgery. Bless him.

In Fukushima 160,000 people have evacuated, of these 62,000 have gone outside the prefecture. More and more people are leaving, especially those under 40. The most important thing is to stop this exodus. This means reassurances that Fukushima is a safe place to live (decontamination, free healthcare for the under 18s), and jobs.

I think everyone who experienced the disaster has changed. Maybe everyone in Japan has changed. I've certainly learnt to appreciate all those normal things which you take for granted but which are actually very precious - going for a walk, playing outside, gardening, families being together, good safe food. A phrase from one of the songs someone was singing at the festival yesterday sticks in my mind, ささやかな幸せ, sasayakana shiawase, a modest amount of happiness. I've never been a believer in the 'right' to happiness. Life throws up too many obstacles. But appreciating the ordinary things can make you happy enough.

Let me leave you with this picture which says it all.  (Koriyama station area yesterday.)

Anne

10 March 2012

Hi folks,

Not a good day for a Matsuri. Woke up to snow but by the time I got to the station around lunchtime the snow had melted and events were in full swing.

As promised there were stalls of street food doing good trade, three stages hosting events, and Fukushima FM Radio blasting out.

Wandered into the Big-I building (it's got a planetarium on the top floor the highest in the world - honestly, it's in the Guiness Book of Records!) and found lots of people in the 'Citizens Plaza' on the 7th floor. Events organised by various anti-nuclear organisations. A film show, children's health advice room (packed), and a symposium. I sat in on the discussions. The atmosphere very different from yesterday. An urgency, many in the audience taking notes.

Japan doesn't have a good record when it comes to compensating victims of disasters. There are still lawsuits going on regarding Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the mercury pollution case in Minamata in 1956. The symposium was calling for legislation to 'protect the lives and dignity' of victims of the Fukushima nuclear accident, particularly the right to compensation, proper healthcare and the right for access to information and consultation.

I didn't like the fact that there were outsiders there. Not happy with the idea of every anti-movement jumping on the Fukushima bandwagon to promote their own interests. But it happened with Hiroshima and I guess we're up there. One comment did get me thinking though. The PM's announcement in December that the accident was over which angered so many people here. Was it to cover the government? To put an end to any claims for compensation for health related issues in the long term? I don't know.
(Sunday 11 March: Big demonstrations in Tokyo and here in Koriyama.)

Left the meeting and walked back to the square. The stalls were gone, replaced by paper lanterns, glowing in the dark. Beautiful.

Anne



Children in the station square

'Fura Gaaru' (Hula Girls) from the Hawaiian Centre in Iwaki.
Made famous in the eponymous film showing the metamorphosis from coal mine to Hawaiian spa resort.

 

Symposium to 'protect the lives and dignity' of Fukushima victims



Lanterns made of Japanese paper decorated by children



The sign at the back reads 'Harubotaru', spring fireflies. Apparently an old custom where children write wishes on lanterns.



Expert Advice

Hi

Went to an evening of  lectures  last night organised by one of the big hospitals here. Lecture titles:  'How Chronic Low Dose Radiation affects Health', 'Fukushima in 2030' and 'Neurosurgery in the 21st century'. Thought there'd be 20 people there but there were 2,000! Just shows how people want answers to the big question -  the long term effects of radiation on our health.

First up was Professor Nakamura Hironobu of Osaka University. He ran through the basics of radiation. That there is no proven increase in the risk of cancer under 100 mSv and then that is for a single dose. The risk for the same dose over a long period is not known (estimates are from half to one-tenth) but the body has the capacity to repair itself.  He gave lots of examples of studies all showing that low doses do not increase the risk of cancer.

New to me was the mechanism of radiation on the body. The lecturer said, and I have no knowlege of chemistry so forgive my bad explanation, that since most of the body is made of water, when radiation hits H2O one hydrogen molecule is split off leaving a hydroxyl radical (H and O) which is  harmless. The odds on radiation hitting the DNA are slight but these free radicals can hit and cause slight damage to DNA though it's repaired within 2 days.

Another interesting piece of information was that internal exposure (内部被　naibu hibaku ）is less dangerous than external. Caesium 137 that's not excreted takes 50 years to disappear but all that time the body is repairing itself. If you had 1,000 bq in your food for the year (and according to Asahi Shimbun of 19 January the average in Fukushima is 4bq/day), it would be equivalent to 0.013 mSv for an adult and 0.021 mSv for a child which would waste away over 50 years so the effect on health would be negligible. If this is true it needs to be more widely known as people here think internal exposure is more dangerous.

His conclusion was that other factors such as smoking (cause of 30% of cancers), food (another 35%) and genetic factors (13%) are far more likely to cause cancer. Radiation is a small slice in the pie chart along with food additives, stress, asbestos etc. In Japan today 1 in 2 men die of cancer and 2 out of 3 women so we'll probably never know if the nuclear accident here caused  extra deaths.

Next speaker was Dr Yamaguchi Kazuyuki, Member of the Upper House who sits on the Committee for the Recovery. An energetic man in his 50's, he showed us two videos. The first showed the many people around the world who helped a year ago: the US Army in Operation Tomodachi, international  rescue workers, and those who raised funds. The message of the video was 'Arigato', thank you, but he wanted us to know that we owe it to people around the world to rebuild the Tohoku Region.

Next he showed us a promotion video of Jeju. I'd never heard of Jeju but it's an island in the Japan Sea which the Korean government is promoting as a brand new high tech city. Yamaguchi says we need to have something similar here. His suggestions: high tech medical and welfare (Medical Valley), lithium batteries and solar, Agribusiness, smart towns for the elderly, anime industry, medical tourism.

He says that on a composite ranking (employment, health, education etc), Fukushima ranks 27th out of Japan's 47 prefectures. Let's be No. 1 he says. Stop smoking, exercise, eat well! Let's make Fukushima have the least cancer in Japan! He's got everyone enthused.  Applause.

Final speaker was charismatic Professor Fukushima Takanori from Duke University, North Carolina. I hadn't realised but he's a very famous surgeon, nicknamed the 'Hand of God' who's performed tens of thousands of operations. Again he played down the dangers of radiation. Says we're OK. If you're in hospital for 3 months with a stroke you'll probably get 40 mSv from all the scans you get, he said. And modern machines are not dangerous. You'll get no radiation from an MRI scan on a new machine. Jokingly he said, ask the hospital how much the machine cost. The more expensive it is the safer it is! Then he went on to show us slides of operations he'd done. Apart from tumours, he's done operations on the brain to cure infertility  (in women), and a disease which makes the skin a dark colour. Amazing.

He ended up with a plug for the hospital hosting the event, Minami Tohoku Byoin in Koriyama and its director Watanabe Kazuo. He says it's the only hospital in the world which has all four state of the art machines for neurosurgery (gamma knife and three others).

So just before eight, 2,000 people spilled out onto Sakura-dori. Hungry, we'd been there since before five, but energised by people with a vision for the future.

We need to hear more from people like this, people with the vision (and the money) to shape the future.

Anne

Skiing

Hi folks,

The weather here today was perfect. Had a great day. Took a free bus from Koriyama station to Alts ski resort on the west side of Mount Bandai. Wonderful views over Lake Inawashiro. More boarders than skiiers, I should say. Not exactly powder but plenty of snow.

The central area at Alts was busy enough but in spite of being a sunny Sunday in high season, there were no queues and the slopes were pretty empty.  Generally tourism in Fukushima for the year is only 60% of what it was the previous year and skiing is no exception. Some resorts have fared better than others. Dinky little Numajiri where I taught my kids to ski hasn't done too badly as it caters for the locals. But Adatara whose bread and butter is school trips from Tokyo and Kyushu has had many cancellations (number of visitors only 36% the previous season) not helped by hotels in nearby Dake Onsen being damaged by the earthquake or closing down altogether. People from Fukushima and nearby prefectures such as Ibaragi and Tochigi know that radiation levels are low in the Aizu area and haven't stayed away but Alts is an upmarket resort catering mainly for Tokyo tours and numbers are only 64% compared with  the previous season. Pity. It has great facilities, especially for families. Indoor creche (￥1,500/hour), restaurant and car park exclusive to families and children's slopes complete with escalator! Back on the main slopes some of those tiny kids on snowboards are amazing.

It was exhilarating to ski on such a perfect day in such beautiful surroundings and on empty slopes. But it's not good for the area. Please come and visit Fukushima. You don't know what you're missing.

Happy but tired, I'll wish you goodnight,

Anne



Mount Bandai and Alts ski resort



'Fukushima Re-Born '

Lake Inawashiro looking west towards Aizu

Lake Inawashiro looking east towards Koriyama

Anniversary Coming up

Hi,

Anniversary coverage of the disaster has started on TV. It's near the bone and and sometimes hard to watch. Brings it all back. A lot has happened in a year and yet it seems like yesterday. I was talking to someone at work yesterday and he was saying the same thing: the tsunami, no water, electricity or petrol - it only seems like last week. Vivid memories stay in the mind playing tricks on your sense of time.

I was wondering how I should spend the anniversary. But the burghers of Koriyama have it sorted. We're going to have a matsuri, 'Let the World Know Koriyama is Well Festival!'. It's to  be held in the station square and environs and there's going to be music, dancing, comedians, a tug of war and stalls of B-grade gourmet food. B-grade gourmet? It's the best (there are serious competitions for this) of B-grade cuisine,  i.e. cheap, everyday food such as yakisoba, raamen, yakiniku and much more. The local radio station will be covering the festivities, parts being broadcast nationally. Nishida Toshiyuki will be appearing at one of the shows at the Belle View wedding hall on Route 4.

こおりやま元気発信フェスティバル

http://www.fmf.co.jp/pc/festival/index.html

The people of Koriyama are frontier folk. The area was arid scrubland until it was developed in the late nineteenth century by lower ranking samurai from all over the country who found themselves suddenly unemployed when the Shogun gave up power and the feudal system broke down. Unlike those living in the castle towns of Aizu, Nihonmatsu, Sukagawa and Miharu, the people of Koriyama are tough and unsophisticated. So why bother about radiation? Let's get on with life and show the world we know how to have a good time! That seems to be the message. And I for one will certainly be there. 

Girls Day today. Slushy underfoot after yesterday's heavy snowfall. Hope to go skiing tomorrow.

Anne

Monitoring Mad

Hi folks,

Monitoring posts have sprung up everywhere in schools and parks (see photos below). You can tell at a glance what the radiation is in the air at that point and you can check the measurements in 'real time' here on the Ministry of Education's website. Over 7,000 posts have been set up in the prefecture.

http://radiomap.mext.go.jp/ja/

Then the Environment Ministry has issued maps showing results of a survey late last year in which radiation levels in the air were measured every 100 metres over the whole prefecture. They were carried out to aid the clean up but seem to have thrown up more problems. For instance, the highest level was at a point 4 km west of Fukushima Daiichi (84.9 μSv/hr - definitely bad for health), but 4 km north of the reactor, in the very same village of Futaba, levels were only 1.1 μSv/hr - what they were in Koriyama until recently. Just shows the complexity of the task ahead and the dilemma for those residents who're wondering whether to return.

Then we have food for all school lunches in Koriyama now being checked for radiation three days before it's prepared. More machines for testing food (thanks to the Red Cross). You can now go along and test your own fruit and veg and well water. Mobile 'whole body counters' touring the schools (all those under 18 to  be checked by late next year). Not to mention the glass badges children wear and have to hand in every 2 months to have 'accumulated radiation' measured.

 I suppose it's to reassure us and show that something's being done. And it is reasssuring to see the levels going down. But still no clear answers on the big question: risks to health of long term radiation.

Report just out on how the government responded to the crisis in those first five days. No information, no coordination, a mess. A few weeks ago there was a scandal when it became known that no one had had the sense to put a tape recorder on the table - there are no minutes of that time. Scandalous. Then the US capped this by publishing their minutes, over 3,000 pages, as well as tape recordings. To demonstrate that nuclear is safe in American (or European) hands?

Sorry, I'm being cynical. I'll leave you with the photos.
Still cold here and snow forecast for tomorrow.
Good night
Anne

Takase Primary School about five miles out of town where my kids went to school. Can you see the monitor outside the classroom window?  (0.166 μSv/hr)



Haga Primary School, a bit further in (0.291 μSv/hr).



The park near my apartment (0.438 μSv/hr).

And why do levels remain so high in Sakabuta Park (1.319 μSv/hr)? A lovely park in a posh part of town.

Whither nuclear?

Hi

A friend sent this article from the BBC entitled, 'New nuclear has 'lots of support' locally - EDF Energy'.  (27 January) (Incidentally, for readers in Japan, EDF stands for Electricite de France. In a privatised industry foreign companies own large slices of UK electricity generation and supply. Gas, water, telephone, railways too.)

I quote, 'Germany imposed a moratorium on future nuclear expansion after Fukushima but the UK's nuclear inspector has said there is no reason to put plans on hold to replace the UK's existing plants as they are decommissioned from 2016 onwards.' The UK plans on building 8 new reactors by 2025.

"The debate is different and definitely more reasoned because there is a deeper understanding of the risks", opines Bob Brown, corporate director of Sedgemoor District Council in Somerset.

BBC News: New Nuclear has 'lots of support'

'A deeper understanding of the risks'. I wonder what he means. Maybe he should spend a week here. But let's look at nuclear and let me put in my two penn'orth from Fukushima.

In my view, nuclear power poses a security risk. It's easy to think it won't happen to you. "One council official said residents near Hinkley Point had lived in the shadow of nuclear power for a long time and were aware how conditions differed in the UK and Japan." Well you may not have earthquakes and tsunami in England, I'll grant you that. But there is a terrorist threat and there are many crazy people in the world. Accidents do happen. People make mistakes. Fukushima was a boring backwater that nobody had ever heard of and now it's famous for all the wrong reasons. Perhaps the residents of Hinkley Point might be interested in this piece of news. A few weeks ago a government committee produced their interim report on whether iodine tablets should have been issued at the time of the accident. Their conclusion was that they should have been but logistically it was impossible. So their recommendation is that all households within a 30 km range of a nuclear power plant be issued with iodine tablets. The logistics of backup distribution in case of an emergency are being worked out and the proposal should come into law in the summer. Now if this was rolled out worldwide and residents near all nuclear plants were issued with iodine tablets, would this focus people's attention on how an accident might afffect them personally?

In retrospect, we may have got off lightly. No one has died. But you only have to read my blog of the last eleven months to see how our lives have changed as a result of the accident. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

The other argument against nuclear power is the disposal of waste which still has no long term solution. Just on a small scale, Koriyama currently has 250,000 tons (that's 25,000 trucks worth) of  low level waste (the top 5 cm of soil scraped from school playgrounds etc) that it can't dispose of. The plan is to dump it in a landfill site near one of the refuse plants on the outskirts of town but the locals won't have it. And this is nothing compared to the high level waste created by decommissioning. The Victorians gave us black buildings and global warming. We've managed to clean the soot off the buildings but climate change threatens our survival. What are we going to leave the next generation? Sustainability is supposed to be the keyword but the waste from nuclear fission makes nuclear energy unsustainable. There should be a moratorium on new nuclear plants with resources going into research on nuclear fusion and on clearing up the mess we've already made.

And then there is the argument that we need nuclear power to provide enough electricity and to meet carbon reduction targets. Last summer Japan as a nation cut its peak electricity usage by 15%. (Incidentally, it's emerged recently that estimates for usage were exaggerated. Some companies are preparing to sue the electric companies for the extra costs.) I would say that if people get serious about it, big reductions can be made in demand. Only two of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors are currently in operation and these are due to shutdown for routine tests mid April. The country is still working and the Minister of the Economy recently said he thinks we can get through the summer without nuclear.

We do have to cut emissions. Interestingly, even though Japan depended for 30% of its energy needs on nuclear power, now, with most nuclear plants shutdown, Japan's emissions have actually gone down due to reductions in usage and promotion of energy efficiency (grants for eco-cars, appliances etc.).

Certainly, alternative energy needs to be developed. But necessity is the mother of invention. The governor has declared Fukushima will be nuclear free and there isn't a day goes by without you hearing of some new source of energy being developed. From the small Fukushima company that's developed a small turbine that will produce electricity from  a mere 1 metre fall of water, to the news that the seas around Japan are rich in metanhydrate. Then there are solar panels and a plan for a flotilla of floating wind turbines (world first) off the coast here. This is where people's energies and jobs should be focussed, on a clean, safe and sustainable future.

I used to think these difficult questions should be worked on by the people who know best. But I've changed my mind. I now think that these are much more basic value judgements and we can all have a view. I've mentioned this guy before but take a look at David Mackay's book 'Sustainable Energy - without the hot air'. It's an attempt to get us all thinking in practical terms about the energy mix we're prepared to accept. The link below is to the 10 page synopsis of the book (the book is free to download, by the way) and on page 6 there are various plans you can look at. 

http://www.withouthotair.com/synopsis10.pdf

Still cold here in Koriyama. But rain today not snow.

Good night.

Anne

Happy Valentine's Day

Hi

Here Valentine's Day is to chocolate as Easter is to Easter Eggs in Europe. There was a time when you felt obliged to give your boss chocolate on Valentine's Day, a custom known as giri choco 義理チョコ , but that seems to be on the way out. Now people buy chocolates for their friends and relatives, and even for themselves. Who can blame them when the selection is so tempting? I couldn't resist buying these.  Saison de Setsuko, a new range from established chocolatier Mary, has the prettiest chocolates and they're on a Japanese theme, flavoured with soy sauce, yuzu citrus, green tea and sesame. I even tasted some wasabi horseradish chocolates but the recipient of this box will be happy to know there are none included. An acquired taste. The fan-shaped chocolates are by a traditional (Japanese) sweet shop in Kyoto.

Another trend, especially among teenagers, seems to be to make your own. The shops are full of tiny baking pans, foil cases and decorative toppings to make your own home made cakes and chocolates. And there's an amazing selection of  boxes, ribbons and bags to wrap them up in too. Kawaii!

Lucky you if you have a sweetheart. Make the most of the day.
Anne



Japanese flavoured chocolates



So many kawaii decorations, so hard  to choose ...

Eleven Months On

Hi,

Coming up to the anniversary. How are we doing 11 months on? In December the Prime Minister proclaimed the 'end of the nuclear accident'. He meant that the emergency stage of the accident was over but his remarks didn't go down well here. As far as we're concerned the accident won't be over until the reactor is closed in 40 years time. And how safe is it anyway? As if to prove us right, there has been a string of minor problems in the last month. Frozen pipes, leaks (though only on a very minor scale), then the news these last few days that one of the thermometers on the compression chamber of Unit 2 was registering temperatures of 73'C. It turns out that some work had been done on the pipes taking water in for cooling and it's thought that afterwards the cooling was uneven causing the temperature to rise in a certain place. It's falling steadily, currently 68'C, and the other thermometers are reading 40'C. Nonetheless, temperatures of 80' could jeopardise the status of cold shutdown, so, no,  the accident is far from over.
(20 February: Turns out to have been a scare. Broken thermometer.)

A few weeks ago a camera was put inside the same reactor but the pictures were disappointing. Click on the link below and you'll see lots of colourful speckles which are radiation, white streaks said to be water (condensation), and blistered orange paint. It had been hoped that the level of the water would be visible but it wasn't (so less water than anticipated). The inside of the reactors remains a mystery and radiation levels far too high for people to go in and work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3Vdiwg6c5o&feature=related
And here for good measure is Tepco's live cam of Fukushima Daiichi. The building in the foreground is Unit  1 with its smart cover. Then Unit 2 (building intact) then the mess of Units 3 and 4.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/f1-np/camera/index-j.html

Current figures for the number of people evacuated is 156,000 (and rising). 96,000 are still  in Fukushima prefecture. Of these 32,000  are in temporary housing - flimsy prefabs - and the rest in rented accomodation. 60,000 people have gone to other parts of Japan. One of these is the young guy from our company who was on national TV at the end of last year. His wife and two small kids moved to Sapporo in Hokkaido and he came back from the New Year break and handed in his notice. He's leaving and he's going to try his luck in Hokkaido.

There is good news. To everyone's surprise, Fukushima University  is oversubscribed. Thyroid tests on 3,800 children living in the 0-20 and 20-30 km zones showed only 26 children (0.7%) with any problems and these were not related to the accident. Data on accumulated exposure (kids hand in their glass badges every month) is generally low. The Ministry of the Recovery opened yesterday (at long last) and a bill will be put to the Diet next week for special measures to stimulate the Fukushima economy (Fukushima fukko saisei tokubetsu hoan 福島復興再生特別法案). I hear there is interest in the grants and tax breaks which are promised to businesses that move here or expand existing facilities.

To the casual visitor, all might seem well in Koriyama. The streets are busy, people are going around doing all the things that people do. But at the back of everyone's mind there is unease (fuan 不安）.  Worries about health, and the dawning realisation that this is really big, the clean up is going to take decades and will be immensely costly. There's wide public distrust of the government, everything is delayed (the clean up, the new Ministry, still no solution as to where to put the waste) and there is general anxiety about the future of Fukushima.

I have to say people here are amazingly strong. They put up with it all, put a brave face on things and keep each other going. Their watchword? Fukushima wa makenai 福島は負けない Fukushima won't give up.
Goodnight
Anne

Snow

Hi

Sunshine today after all the snow and I wish I could have gone skiing. But too much to do. There's been a lot of snow this past week. Fifty centimeters in Kitakata yesterday, waist high in total. Over three meters deep in  Niigata and Nagano and over 50 people dead in snow related accidents, mainly old people clearing the snow off the rooves of their houses.

Had some feedback on my comments in the last blog on the Fukushima Mothers. The leader of the movement is certainly an interesting person, a photo journalist who has covered Minamata pollution and Three Mile Island: Aileen Mioko Smith . Also introduced to http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/  a blog which introduces wordwide media coverage of  Fukushima with translations of items in the Japanese press including a series that's been in Asahi Shimbun entitled 'Trap of Prometheus' that caused a lot of interest here. Worth a look. 

Radiation levels in Koriyama have dipped slightly to 0.6 mSv/hour but it's only because of the snow. The levels in the air reflect the contamination in the soil and the snow is blocking that.

In November last year the governor proclaimed that all rice in the prefecture was safe only to be embarassed by the later discovery of rice over the limit. The local authorities acted swiftly and even our local MP, one of Ozawa's babes who hasn't been conspicuously active on the part of her consitituency, was seen on televison accompanying the mayor of Nihonmatsu on a visit to Minister Edano. A new 'emergency' survey of last year's harvest was commissioned and the results have just come out. The 'safety standard' which was 500 bq/kg is to be lowered to 100 bq/kg from April. So tests have been made on 23,000 farms all of which tested positive in previous surveys. I'm glad to say that Sakuragaoka, where I used to live, and Hirata-mura where I get my rice from do not feature in the survey. All bags of rice in the Onami area of Fukushima City have been tested and one bag per farm for the rest. 38 farms had rice over 500 bq/kg (highest was 1,540 bq/kg) and the ban on these farms will continue. Over 500 farmers, mainly in the area north of Fukushima City, have rice falling in the 100-500 bq/kg range and the plan is that their rice will be compulsorily purchased with the purchaser claiming compensation from Tepco. Farmers are arguing that they want all the rice in an affected area purchased as if one farm has high levels those in the same area won't be able to sell their rice (fuhyo higai 風評被害）. Why all the rice in the prefecture wasn't purchased in the first place, then released as it was tested, I don't know. Financial constraints, I suppose.

The city has started lending out geiger counters for individuals to measure radiation levels around their houses. Residents' associations (chonaikai 町内会）and PTAs can get grants up to 500,000 yen for clean up work, and Koriyama City's homepage advises individuals to claim compensation from Tepco. The local freebie has a full page ad on the front page for gutter and ditch cleaning work: from 200,000 yen. There's money to be made here ... http://www.the-weekly.jp/images/pdf/2012/new.pdf

The cold seems to be worldwide. Take care.
Anne