Risk

Hi,

Driving along on Saturday lunchtime, heard a programme on the local radio station where they get a couple of doctors in to answer listeners' questions. E-mail from a woman, pregnant, wants to know if it's safe to breastfeed her baby. Answer: the benefits of breastmilk outweigh the risks. But to be on the safe side, try and reduce your internal exposure. The doctor didn't give any specifics but I would understand that to be: wear a mask on windy days; eat food from as far away as possible; and if you're really concerned, drink bottled water.

Many pregnant women and mothers of small children chose to leave. Some, like the woman above, have chosen to stay. One's attitude to risk is such a personal thing. Here's an interesting article. Many people choose to use a sunbed even though they know it's dangerous but it's their choice -they have control - so they can live with it. Being the victim of a nuclear accident is completely different, we have no control, so feel at great risk. Nonetheless, I think most people weighed the pros and cons and decided pretty quickly what level of risk they were willing to accept. Maybe we're more level-headed than people further away?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/david-ropeik/nukes-and-tanning-beds-risk_b_1402562.html

At first Tepco wasn't going to pay compensation to those who evacuated voluntarily but later changed its policy. I think this was good as it was recognition that everyone is different, that everyone copes with this kind of stress in a different way, and that no one way is right. My form for compensation has just arrived and as I'm neither under 18 nor pregnant, I'm entitled to 80,000 yen (just over 600 GBP). The form seems pretty straightforward. Just personal details and bank details. I don't have to promise never to claim for compensation again. No space either to claim for expenses (a friend was threatening to claim for all the bottled water and a futon dryer she bought!). It seems more concerned with Data Protection than anything else. Is 80,000 yen a fair payment for all the stress I've suffered? Hard to put a monetary value on it but it's something.  So, if you'll excuse me, I'll be off to the city office for some ID, and get my application in the post.  All the best,

Anne

Tepco Form for Compensation.
400,000 yen for each person under 18 or pregnant woman who stayed. 600,000 yen for each person under 18 or pregnant woman who evacuated voluntarily. And 80,000 yen per person for the rest of us.

Food 2

Hi again,

After their shambolic efforts last year to show that the rice harvest was safe, the authorities seem to have got their act together for the coming season.  Last year, in an effort to protect farmers' livelihoods and pretend that all was well, random sampling was carried out and the governor proclaimed that all Fukushima rice was safe. But he soon had egg on his face. The sampling was grossly inadequate (only two samples from each area) and rice well over the then safety standard of 500 bq/kg was found in 'hotspots'. The farmers couldn't sell their rice and only recently has the government said it will buy it up.

The safety standard for general foods has been tightened from 500 bq/kg to 100 bq/kg. So this is the new plan. Rice  that had less that 100 bq/kg last season (and that's 93% of the acreage) is to be sampled every hectare in the central and northern parts of the prefecture and every two hectares in the south and in the Aizu area. Apparently the average farm is one hectare (2.5 acres) so that means virtually every farm will be tested. Where levels of over 50 bq/kg are detected, more tests on smaller lots will be carried out or if the rice has been dried out in the fields, every bag will be tested. Areas which last year measured over 100 bq/kg are to have every bag of rice tested. Sorry to go on about rice but it's important as people here eat such a lot of it.

At last everyone is realising that 'ganbaru' - showing true grit and perseverance - is not going to do it. People want data. The prefecture's Agricultural Research Centre in Koriyama has 10 germanium detectors (very expensive) working flat out. As well as rice, they're testing vegetables (random tests every 5 hectares) and milk (every cow). York Benimaru, big Koriyama-based supermarket chain,  announced new testing and labelling as of 1st April. Up to now it's been gung-ho and very pro-Fukushima. (In the early days their supermarkets were the venue for tomato-munching PR stunts.) It's still pro-Fukushima but has now introduced its own voluntary checks in addition to those done by producers and the authorities. Aeon supermarket (biggest national chain) has been doing its own checks for a while.

The new standards are very strict, even by international standards, and in reality probably not necessary. But such is the allergy here to any radiation in food that even the farmers seem to agree that it's the only way to restore consumer confidence. (The phrase used is fuhyo higai o fusshoku suru　風評被害を払拭する）.　It's going to be a long slog and one hopes that results are seen soon. You have to admire the way people press on regardless.
Bye for now
Anne

Food 1

Hi again,

As I said earlier, we have new stricter food standards as of April 1st. The level of Caesium allowed in the new category of 'general foods' is 100 becquerels/kilogram. It was 500, so it's a big change. But three days into the new regime, bamboo shoots from Chiba (outskirts of Tokyo, Narita airport) were showing 120bq/kg and shiitake mushrooms grown outside in Miyagi  (north of here) registered 350 bq/kg.  Japanese are great foragers, and there are lots of lovely buds and shoots to be had at this time of year (make wonderful tempura) but mushrooms and berries really soaked up the radioactive nasties at Chernobyl so it's probably not a good idea to forage in the woods. You can buy cultivated ones anyway - though that's not as satisfying as getting 'summat for nowt'.

Talking of Chernobyl, I remember last summer bemoaning the fact that we didn't have facilites like they have in the Ukraine where people can go along and test their own food. Well, now we do. Koriyama, which covers a wide area, has installed 40 machines in village halls. I went to the one opposite my office in the Big-i  building next to Koriyama station and here's a picture of me with my newly tested rice from Hirata village. Yes, fellow rice planters and harvesters of the Odaira Club, you'll be pleased to know that the rice from Sato-san's farm is as near as dammit free from contamination.

It works like this. You take along a bag of rice (5-6 cups) and they put it in the machine and you go back half an hour later for the results. I slipped out on a Thursday afternoon and it wasn't at all busy but the woman on duty said it would get busy from now on as spring produce appears in gardens and small farms. (You can take in food from shops as well.) To test vegetables you have to chop them up small and you need 1 kilo of stuff, as closely packed as possible. I got a slip of paper to say that no radioactive Iodine 131, Caesium 134 or Caesium 137 had been detected in the sample. But with the rider that the machine can't detect below 12.1 bq. According to the lady at the centre, it's not zero as there will always be some background radiation. A germanium machine gives more accurate results but those machines are very expensive (10 to 20 million yen, 75-150,000 GBP). The machine she was using (that little thing at my feet) costs 3.6 million yen (28,000 GBP).

By  international standards 100 bq/kg is low. The EU was 1,250 but tightened it to 500 after the accident in Fukushima. In Canada it's 1,000 bq/kg. Had some positive feedback from a reader in Canada. Take a look at the end of the post 1st April - All Change

He (she?) says, "The new limits on Cs-137 levels in food seem quite conservative to me, perhaps overly so. Here is a previous discussion following an article in the Vancouver Sun, which at least had the journalistic integrity to label the source as an "anti-nuclear group" in the headline:

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Fukushima+radiation+worse+than+expected+poses+threat+Canadian+fish/5997414/story.html

Mine is the third comment. I calculated the dose from eating 400g a day of fish contaminated at twice the new limit to be 0.4 mSv, about 1/6 of average annual background radiation. So I think the new limit mainly serves to hurt farmers and fishermen without really improving protection."

I'll have more to say next time about how farmers are coping with the new regime.

Cherry blossom at its peak in Tokyo but still cold here.

Goodnight all

Anne

Earthquakes

Hi,

I've had a draft of this written for a few weeks but didn't want to indulge in scaremongering. But after the big tremour last night - just as I was writing this blog - and in the light of yet another report and lots of media coverage, I decided to go ahead.

The aftershocks following the disaster last year tailed off after September but they increased in frequency after that one on New Year's Day - to the extent that I started carrying my transistor radio around with me again (when there's no electricity and no phones this is the only way to find out what's going on) .

The 3.11 disaster was caused out at sea when the edge of the North American plate (on which Japan stands) flipped up unleashing pressure built up against the Pacific plate which used to grind away under it in the same westerley direction. But now the geology has changed and the North American plate is moving east against the Pacific plate moving in the opposite direction. In the face of such realignment it's no wonder there are so many aftershocks, and over such a wide area. Apparently there have been 740 aftershocks over Force 5 in the last year, 4 times the number the year before.

A professor Hirata from The Earthquake Research Insititute of Tokyo University caused a stir a few weeks ago when he announced that there was a 70% chance of a Force 7 earthquake hitting Tokyo within the next 4 years. But it turns out that this was based on the frequency of aftershocks from March to September last year continuing at the same rate. Thankfully they're not so frequent and the official (Meterological Office) figure is 70% within the next 30 years.  But Force 7 is big. In a Force 6, the previous estimate, you crouch down and hang onto the furniture (that was what it was here). In a Force 7, the furniture starts jumping around.

Incidentally, the earthquake predicted for Tokyo has a different cause. The word you hear is  直下地震 (chokka jisshin), a 'direct earthquake' which sounds alarming but apparently it's an earthquake that occurs directly above its epicentre, along a fault.

The Great East Japan Earthquake was M9.1, magnitude being a measure of the amount of energy released. In Japan we also talk about 'force' (震度　shindo) which measures how it felt at a certain place. There are 600 monitoring posts throughout the country. So when there's an earthquake everyone switches on the TV or radio and NHK will announce the magnitude and whether there's risk of a tsunami, and then start to list how big it was at certain locations. It can get a bit boring after a bit as they reel off the names of towns and villages. If it's a big one, NHK will interrupt programmes but more often it's shown as surtitles on the screen. The other channels will interrupt programmes if it's really big otherwise they don't bother. NHK kindly waived licence fees for six months as our apartment was registered badly damaged. I felt bad as it was one of the few times I didn't begrudge paying the fee.

And then last Saturday, a new government report. This time regarding the Nankai Trough which goes from Shizuoka down to Kyushu. Worst scenario is for a M9 earthquake along the length of the trough. The whole area could suffer a Force 6 or Force 7, with tsunami over 20 metres. Worse, the tsunami could reach land in less than 10 minutes. As you can imagine, this has caused consternation. For example, at the time of the last survery in 2003, one town (Numazu) was predicted to have a tsunami of 6 metres so they built a sort of tower 12 metres high. Now they're told a tsumami could be 34 metres!

And of course, the first words on everyone's lips after a tremour are Genpatsu daijobu? (原発大丈夫? Are the nuclear plants alright?）This report is bound to fuel the controversy about whether to reopen the nation's nuclear plants. One example. The Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka has been closed but has 9,000 fuel rods. A new breakwater is being built, 18 metres high, but the new worst scenario is for a tsunami of  21 metres. Back to the drawing board.

'Preventing disaster' (防災 bosai) seems have given way to a new word 'damage limitation' （減災 gensai) . In the past people arrogantly thought their breakwaters would keep back the tsunami but these were washed away. Now people are thinking more practically with saving lives the priority. These long suffering people have a lot of work to do now rethinking how to live in this seismically active country.
Goodnight from a - touch wood - calm and steady Koriyama.
All the best
Anne

1st April - All Change

Hi
A new school year and school entrance ceremonies. Ceremonies and a pep talk from the boss for those starting work. Fresh starts which, if you're lucky, will  be blessed with sunshine and cherry blossom.  April 1st also heralds lots of administrative changes.

A week or so ago in  New Zones I explained the new set up for the exclusion zones. Areas with external radiation of over 50 mSv/year will be closed off, barricades set up on the roads, no one allowed in, patrolled for security. On the other hand, barriers will be taken down in areas below 50 mSv. Residents will be able to go in and out freely, without special clothing, but they're not allowed to stay overnight. So today people went to their homes,  aired their houses and generally started to tidy up. (One couple shown on TV even found their cat!) In theory, businesses can set up again and people can go to work.

All the councils were supposed to have decided by today what they would do but only three have been settled. They are Kawauchi  and Tamura which were mainly in the 20-30 km zone and Minami Soma which straddles three new zones. They are going to press on with the clean up and hope to get schools open by next spring. Residents seem to be happy to be able to return to their homes but are waiting to see how things proceed (especially for example to see if hospitals and clinics get back to normal, in addition to keeping an eye on the situation at the reactor itself) before deciding whether to move back permanently.

New, more stringent, food regulations out today. Level of caesium allowed in 'general foods' (cereals, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs etc) is 100bq/kg. That's one fifth of what it was. Milk which was 200 bq/kg cut to 50 bq/kg and water which was also 200 bq/kg cut to 10 bq/kg. Then there's a new category called 'infant foods' for which the level is 50 bq/kg. Good for consumers, a lot of work for producers. I'll talk about this in more detail another time.

Corporate tax changes today. It was 30% (well, actually there's 12% local tax on top of that so really it's 42% but the national part is changing). It was supposed to be slashed to 25.4% but a 2.5% tax to help the recovery (復興税 fukkozei) has been levied for 3 years so the cut is just under 2%. Individuals will have to pay an extra 2.1% 'recovery tax' starting next year and lasting for 25 years!

Tepco electricity prices to businesses in Tokyo go up 17% today to pay for all the extra oil and LNG that's having to be purchased with all the nuclear plants down but more than half of businesses are refusing to pay saying Tepco should make more cuts first. In a separate development, Tepco has asked the government for a one trillion yen bailout (that's in addition to the 2.5 trillion yen the government's already handed over to fund compensation). (To give you an idea of the figures the government's basic annual expenditure last year was 68 trillion yen.) Nationalisation could be on the cards.

Going to have to pay on the expressways as of today. They've been free in the three prefectures affected by the disaster but not anymore. Pity as we need the tourists. And finally, we've gone digital. The rest of Japan changed over last July but the disaster areas got a reprieve.

11:05pm. Just had a big earthquake. It was a really sudden vertical jolt. The doors and building rattling. Duck under the table. Switch on the telly. Korean period drama stopped. NHK reports take over.  "Fukushima-ken Nakadori (that's here) Force 4." "Hamadori (that's on the coast) Force 5. No danger of tsunami."
11:09 pm. Seems OK. "No irregularities at Fukushima Daiichi." The announcer starts going through the list of places and the force of the earthquake. Kind of reassuring. "Magnitude 5.9."  "No irrregularities at Tokaimura nuclear plant."
Why does Japanese have to have the verb at the end? The announcements go like this: "At the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant - reports of irregularities - there are none". It's so stressful waiting for the end of the sentence!
Well, that solved my problem as to how to end this blog! 
Good night.
Anne

Stress Tests

Hi

Prime Minister Noda joined Obama and the others at the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit but he didn't stay long. Arrived in time for dinner and left after lunch. Two speeches. With Japan the only country to have had atomic bombs dropped on it and having experienced the nuclear accident here in Fukushima, you'd think he'd take more of a  lead in backing Obama's bid to make nuclear safer. But he's too busy trying to get his party to agree on the sales tax (VAT) hike and negotiating when to call a general election.

And maybe he's not got that much good to report. All Tepco's nuclear reactors are now closed. In fact only one of Japan's 54 reactors is in operation and that's in Hokkaido. 

Kansai Electric (Osaka) is trying to reopen a couple of reactors at the Oi plant in Fukui.  They've passed the first round of 'Stress tests' and can withstand a tsunami of 11 metres (original plan was for 9 metres) but the IAEA and local governors all say that tests should reflect the lessons learnt from Fukushima. A second round of Stress Tests is supposed to do just that but these standards will be set by a new 'Nuclear Regulation Agency' (原子力規制庁). Trouble is it doesn't even open until 1st April. You have to ask why it's taken so long. The PM says he's going to make a 'political decision' as to whether the Oi plant should be opened.  Can't see why it should be a political decision. Should be based on hard facts discussed out in the open.

Things are not good at Fukushima either. A camera inserted into the containment vessel of Unit 2 found only 60 cm of water where they had been hoping for 4 meters. As 9 tons of water a day are being pumped in, that means it's leaking. Next they inserted a dosimeter and it measured  30 to 70 sieverts. We're talking sieverts here. Not mili or micro but full blown sieverts. Seven seiverts would kill you in a month. Twenty within a few days. The plan is to use robots to do the clearance but this may not work as such high levels might interfere with the controls.

There's also been a leak into the sea of 80 litres of water contaminated with radioactive strontium. That's the stuff that accumulates in your bones like calcium. (And fish bones too I guess.) Talking of fish, fishers in Miyagi north of Fukushima have been told they can't fish for suzuki, a luscious big fish,  as levels of caesium are higher than the new stricter regulations to be brought in on April 1st.

And then this. It's part of a television program (with English subtitles) shown in Tokyo drawing attention to the dangers in Unit 4 which houses the spent fuel rods. Pretty scary. I picked it up off Fukushima Info which is a Facebook site for us foreigners here. Interesting comment by one member: "You don't see this kind of stuff on the TV up here" ....
TV Asahi 8 March 2012

I'm sorry. This really has turned into a catalogue of disasters. I'm OK, Mum, honest! It's just that every day seems to bring more and more news underlining the scale, severity - and expense of this nuclear accident.
Love to you all
Anne

This and that

Hi

It's been a long, cold winter. It was snowing last week, though I think we've seen the last of it, and today there was a bitter wind. My mother says that in her garden in Yorkshire, the crocus are finished and the garden is alive with daffodils, narcissi and hellebores. In Tokyo the 'ume' (plum) with its lovely fragrance is in full bloom, to be followed by the cherry (late this year, forecast to start 7 April) followed by peach blossom. But here the landscape is still wintry. There's an old castle town about ten miles away called Miharu 三春　which translates as 'Triple Spring' . People say it's because the plum, the cherry and the peach blossom come out all  at once, usually at the end of April. Yes, it's a long wait for spring. But then it will come very suddenly.

Extraordinary news last week that the SPEEDI map, which predicts the distribution of radioactive materials after a nuclear accident and which the Cabinet only found out about a couple of weeks after the disaster, was sent by e-mail to Fukushima prefecture's disaster HQ in the days after the disaster - but someone deleted all the e-mails! Full story here:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/

On Friday the results of the annual Ministry of Land and Transport survey of land prices (as of 1st January) came out. Land prices nationally fell on average 2.3%.  Fukushima was the worst prefecture at 6.2%  and the worst place in Fukushima was our very own Koriyama where land prices fell a record 8.1% over the year before. For someone who's trying to sell her house (too big) and running a real estate company this is not good news. Someone was telling me prices should bottom out this year. Those who've evacuated to Koriyama aren't buying yet. They're waiting for their compensation. For those in the 'Dificult to Return zone' (see last post) Tepco has promised 6 million yen (46,000 GBP) per person (5 years worth compensation upfront for evacuation expenses and mental stress) and says it will purchase  land and buildings at pre-disaster prices. So people are in limbo, waiting for their compensation. Hopefully then we'll get a housing boom and a rise in prices.

In Koriyama the library and the concert hall reopened last week at long last.

Meanwhile North Korea's threatening to lop a missile at its neighbours next month. The last one came over this way but this time it's going south, over Okinawa and Guam towards the Phillipines. Obama's doing some very welcome posturing in the Republic of Korea.
Never a dull moment here.
Anne

New Zones

Hi,

There's a major reorganisation taking place regarding contamination and the zones which will determine whether residents can go back home. This is a picture I took of a map in the local paper. The picture's not brilliant but I thought it might be easier to explain than a link.

Names of towns (white on black lozenges): top left IITATE, top right MINAMI SOMA,
centre NAMIE

First, look at the two half-circles, the 20 km exclusion zone and the 20-30 km zone put in place last year after the disaster.

Now, look at where the radioactive particles actually landed. The colours are the results of government surveys.

The area in red  has annual cumulative external radiation exposure of over 50 mSv/year (unihabitable) and is to be re-named the 'Difficult to Return Zone' (帰還困難区域　kikan konnan kuiki )

The area in yellow, 20 to 50 mSv/year, will be known as the 'Restricted Residence Zone' (居住制限区域　kyoju seigen kuiki )

The area in blue, under 20 mSv/year, will be the 'Preparatory Zone for Lifting the Evacuation Order' ( 避難指示解除準備区域　hinan shiji kaijo junbi kuiki )
The government has said it plans to clean up the yellow and blue areas in two years (by March 2014) starting with the least contaminated areas. There are no plans yet for cleaning up the red zone.

Maps like this began to appear last summer but everyone's been hanging on waiting for details of compensation and for plans from the various councils affected. Mr Sakurai (famous for his worldwide appeal on Youtube last March) is appealing for people to come back to Minami Soma and is reopening schools and assuring people that returning won't affect their compensation (though some people seem to be hedging their bets by staying away).

Iitate, whose mayor Mr Kanno had successfully re-branded the area as 'slow life' and who pledged when they left they would be back in two years,  is planning to reorganise and start getting people back.

But look at Namie. Its mayor, Mr Baba, has worked so hard to keep the people together but it's all red. The harsh reality is that they have to relocate. But Baba is not giving in and is still pressing for reconstruction of his area.

Kawauchi council (the area next to the legend, half white, half blue) which had evacuated to Koriyama has gone back and is working on repairing infrastructure and getting on with the clean up. The mayor there says people have to make up their own minds as to whether to return. He wants to respect people's decisions and let them know they belong to the village even if they don't come back rightaway. He's trying to stop any kind of stigma developing. These people are working so hard to keep their communities together.

The TV shows lots of public meetings and many people seem confused. Is it safe for children? How long will the clean up take? Will it go according to plan? Would going back affect compensation? So many things to think about. It must be really hard.
Well, that's all for now.
Good night,
Anne

Spring Equinox

Hi
Yesterday, 20 March, was a holiday. It was the Spring Equinox, a Buddhist holiday, when people go to the family graves. Last year no one could go as there was no petrol so it was good to see everything back to normal.

In this area there were no flowers at this time of year so people used to make them. They're made out of shaven wood and dyed bright yellow, green, pink and purple. People write their names on them and leave them at graves they've visited -  a very pretty calling card.
Bye for now,
Still cold here
Anne

The Kaneko family grave

A 'higanbana' calling card

春分の日   shunbun no hi    The Spring Equinox

彼岸　higan    Equinox (either spring or autumn)
彼岸花　higanbana   Spider Lily (lit. Equinox flower)
お墓   o-haka   grave
お墓参り  o-haka-mairi   going to visit the grave(s)





One Year On

Hi
I usually do a round up of the general situation every month but it didn't seem appropriate at the anniversary so I've put it separately  here.

All quiet at the plant. The scare last month about the temperature rising in Unit 2 turned out to be a faulty thermometer. Reactors 1 to 3 and spent fuel pools in Reactors 1 to 4 continue to be cooled by the circulating system developed jointly by Japan, America and France. Temperatures in the reactors at end February were 24'C for Unit 1, 44'C for Unit 2 and 53'C for Unit 3. So cold shutdown maintained. Unit 1 is covered over, the building of Unit 2 is still slightly open to the outside, work is going on to remove the debris of buildings from Units 3 and 4 which were destroyed in the explosions. An underground wall is being built to prevent seepage of water into the sea. 3,000 people beavering away trying to clear up the mess. Acres and acres of tanks holding water that's been used in cooling. Nowhere to put it and talk of dumping cleaned water in the sea but with the ban on fishing still in place, the fishing industry won't hear of it.

80% of people surveyed say the recovery is too slow. For example, although most debris from the tsunami has been cleared from the coast, only 5% has been taken away. Tokyo, Aomori and Yamagata have taken in some but even though debris from Iwate and Miyagi is nowhere near Fukushima and is clear of radiation, residents won't have it. The PM was on TV on the anniversary and said central government would pay for extra testing etc. It seems to have worked and more local authorities and some private companies are looking into accepting the waste.

Progress in rebuilding, for example moving to higher ground, has been slow. Local authorities made plans but didn't get the money until December and then didn't have the resources to make the scores of applications to five or more Ministries. The Ministry of the Recovery is supposed to be a 'one-stop' shop to simplify things but it only opened last month so it's still early days. People are saying that growth in demand for construction, materials etc will start from the summer.

Big companies are pushing ahead. Rengo our parent company whose Sendai factory was destroyed in the tsunami purchased land on higher ground within weeks and the new factory is to open today, 15 March, bringing back all the workers who'd been given temporary employment in other factories in the group. Brilliant. But for smaller businesses which don't have the funds obviously things are much more difficult.

One of our customers, Yuzuki, a firm making kamaboko fish sausage, has been the first to get compensation paid (150 million yen, over a million GBP) for loss of sales due to the nuclear scare. Our box business still has lawyers working on the case. Out of thousands of applications only a handful have been awarded.

The main problem for all the disaster areas but Fukushima in particular is to stop the drain of people leaving. For jobs there need to be grants and tax breaks to entice industry here and the Chamber of Commerce has sent us a survey asking what kind of 'tokku' （特区）, special deregulated areas, ie free from Japan's notorious red tape, we would like to see.

Seya Toshio, an old friend, ex-Toho Bank and Chairman of the Fukushima Prefecture Chamber of Commerce, has spoken out. He says he's sick of talk of grants and airy fairy ideas. He's angry with central government for refusing to fund free medical care for under 18s (the prefecture's going to go ahead with it anyway). He wants Fukushima made into a tax haven and he's floating the idea of getting Fukushima Daini (No 2) going, selling the electricity not to Tokyo but to Fukushima businesses at rock bottom prices to give them a competitive edge. I doubt it will happen as people here are very anti-nuclear but at least it's someone  thinking outside the loop and looking for practical solutions to this new reality we are facing.
Well, that's all for now
Good night
Anne