One Year and Eleven Months

Hi
It's the 11th of the month again. Time for my monthly round up. 
The good news is that radiation is falling. The monitoring post in the park near my apartment yesterday registered 0.327 μSv/hour (in the snow it dropped to 0.2). According to Dr Takamura (seconded from Nagasaki University) in one of his weekly columns in the local paper, there are no radioactive particles circulating in the air now in Fukushima. The radiation is gamma rays emitted from radioactive materials - in the ground (which the snow shuts out), in trees and on buildings. So it's safe to hang out washing and open the windows. Hurrah! 

A survey in Fukushima city carried out in September and October last year showed radiation had fallen on average 49.4% since a survey in March 2012 and 70.7% since the first survey in June 2011. Of this 24.8% was thought to be the result of natural decay in radioactivity and 45.9% the result of weathering and decontamination work. Another survey, this time of woods and forests in the prefecture (not the exclusion zone) carried out in August to November last year showed that average levels had fallen 37.8% compared with the same period the year before. Natural decay and the geography of the country with its steep hills and abundant precipitation means that the radiation is leaching out quite quickly.  

This month we've had the usual reports of minor mishaps at the reactor. This time it was an iron frame that broke as it was being removed from the spent fuel pool in Unit 3. No damage caused, we're told.Then there was the Nuclear Regulation Authority member who took it on himself to slip the electric companies an advance copy of papers for a meeting. Nothing changes. At least it's out in the open - as far as we know. Helicopters have been allowed to fly over the site for the first time and today's papers show the new facility being built next to Unit 4 to take the spent fuel, and rows and rows of water tanks. Tepco wants to clean the water and dump it in the sea but no one wants to upset already tense relations with China and Korea.

Every year figures are announced showing movements in population between Japan's 47 prefectures and it was no surprise to see Fukushima top the list again with a net outflow of 13,843 people in the calendar year 2012. This was hailed an improvement on 2011 when the net outflow was 31,381 but these figures don't tell the whole story. Our city of Koriyama had the second worst figure in the country but recently the trend is reversing. In November there were 100 more people who came to live in Koriyama than left, 36 in December and 117 in January. The paper the other day quoted a net inflow of 1 person in February so was able to claim an increase for four consecutive months. Maybe the tide has turned. (These figures are not to be mistaken for an increase in population. As deaths outnumber births, the population as a whole is declining.)

There's plenty work too - in theory. The ratio of jobs to those seeking work is top in the country by a long chalk and for the first time ever. The trouble is the jobs are in construction, decontamination (real shortage of workers threatening to delay work) and the caring professions, not in clerical and manufacturing.

Nothing to report regarding the evacuees. There's talk of 'recovery housing' (復興住宅 fukko jutaku) but I don't think any have been built yet. And compensation hasn't been sorted. We're lucky here in the middle of the prefecture. We're more or less back to normal. But people here feel for those who've lost everything and then have to live on handouts. It can't be easy. 

So that's it. One year and 11 months. Next month it will already be two years. 

Anne

福島市自動車走行サーベイ　Article in Japanese below,  and on Fukushima City website in due course
Fukushima Minpo Jidosha Soko Sabei

Interim survey of woods and forests Aug - No 2012

Children

Hello again,

However rational you may be as an adult making judgments about yourself, it's hard to decide what's for the best when you have kids. This whole radiation thing is every parent's worst nightmare. But parents here are coping and, as many people have said to me,  'people outside Fukushima seem more anxious than we are'.

All school playgrounds have been decontaminated so in the Koriyama area at least there seem to be no restrictions on how long primary and secondary school children can play outside. Last year there were announcements telling after-school baseball clubs etc that it was time to come in but not any more. Those who want to go out at break to kick a ball do so, and after-school clubs are running as normal. It's different with younger kids. As far as I can gather it's at the discretion of the school and most play is still indoors. A friend who runs a kindergarten takes her charges out for only 30 minutes a day. At another kindergarten the kids were allowed to make snowmen and play out in the snow recently (snow shields the radiation).  Younger children in nurseries don't seem to be going outside much. There are some really good indoor play centres now such as PEP Kids so parents might choose to take their kids there rather than to the local park partly because it's safer but partly because the kids have fun and get lots of exercise. NPOs and students at the local university have been organising days out skiing or other outdoor activities in low radiation areas.

The 'glass badges' which were distributed in the early days to measure the accumulated dose of radiation seem to be a thing of the past. Certainly children are not wearing them round their necks anymore. Some have them in satchels and pencil cases I'm told. One mother told me that at her son's school they were collected a couple of months ago but new ones haven't been issued.

A friend's son recently had his thyroid test and she was mightily relieved. All kids in the prefecture are to be tested once every two years but it's taken a while to get round everyone. Another friend's daughter had the 'whole body counter' scan and thyroid test last year. From what I read in the papers, the risk of thyroid problems seems to be low. There was an international conference in Tokyo a few weeks ago refuting the WHO's earlier high estimate of risk. It's proving hard to work things out as Iodine 131 has a half life of only 8 days and in the chaos that followed the earthquake the necessary measurements were not done. A recent documentary on NHK was basically a paean to the scholars - physicists, radiation measurement experts, meteorologists - who are working together to salvage data and piece together a map showing how much Iodine 131 people were exposed to. But Fukushima Daiichi emitted one tenth the amount of iodine as Chernobyl and experts are saying the risk is low. Parents seem reassured by the system that's been put in place for testing.
(18 February 2013  Just been announced that a third case of thyroid cancer has been detected. Experts are saying that the thyroid cancers at Chernobyl developed 5-6 years after the accident and that these cases are nothing to do with the accident here; they are tumours which ordinarily would not be detected until the kids were in their 20s and 30s. We certainly hope so.) 

Parents are careful about food. All the parents I have spoken to use bottled water. They all want to know where their food comes from, yet to my surprise, several people told me they would rather eat food grown in Fukushima because they know it's been tested rather than food from neighbouring areas. Since last autumn every school has been supplied with equipment to measure school meals. One meal is chopped up and tested before the rest is served. The menu, the results and the sources of the ingredients are on school websites. I haven't heard of any sudden lunch cancellations yet!

Decommissioning is going to take 40 years. What if there were another accident? Certainly, there's always that worry. But if it's not one thing, it's another. Chemical smog from China is plaguing other areas of Japan. You have to get on with life, earn a living, and bring your kids up as best you can. The parents that I know seem satisfied with the measures the prefecture has taken and are doing just that.
Anne
P.S. Fukushima has never been top of the education league tables but one recent survey showed that children's interest and willingness to learn was above average in all subjects. Like all of us, the kids must have grown stronger as a result of the disaster.

Difficult Sums

Hi

January's paypacket slightly less than the month before. The new tax to pay for the disaster went into force at the start of the year. It means that income tax has gone up by 2.1% but in my case it's only a  few hundred yen, not as much as I thought it would be. The tax will go on for 25 years.

The budget for Fukushima prefecture has just been announced and I've been wrestling with the figures. Not with the content of the budget but with the maths. I feel innumerate. For a company CEO this is not good. You see, the papers quote the figures in units of 100 million and 10,000 yen - that's oku and man. And it's driving me crazy. When I first inherited my husband's business, all the figures were in man, units of 10,000. Eventually I got the financial information stated in units of 1,000 yen but the sales department held out for another 10 years before eventually changing over. Now the company figures are all the same, the commas are in the right place, and the figures mean something.

I have a mental picture of 1 oku. It's 100 million yen, that's 700,000 GBP or at 100yen/$, 1 million dollars. 10 oku is one billion. So far so good. But I have a real problem with man, or 10,000's, and when in the paper you come across figures like 21,859,515 man (the amount allocated for decontamination) then you really have to think. For your information it's 218,595,150,000 or 218 billion yen. You see what I mean? Sorry about the rant. My Japanese is fluent but at times like this I realise that to be truly bilingual you need to absorb the concept of counting in 10,000's with your mother's milk. Do they count like this in China? Does anyone know?

Anyway back to the budget. Let's not mention figures! Suffice it to say it's roughly double what it was in normal times, before the disaster. But 53% is to be spent on measures to deal with the disaster. So considering all the extra work involved and the fact that the prefecture's emergency reserves are depleted, this is not as generous as would first appear. The figure above for decontamination work is 12% of the budget, only slightly less than the education budget. 

In addition to basic things like paying for the police and building roads, there are numerous projects to speed up the recovery such as building affordable housing, support for mothers and children, new measures to support agriculture, small businesses and tourism, and money to promote new forms of energy. But the amount of money being spent in the aftermath of this accident is shocking.

It's still very cold and icy here. There was a 75 car pile-up the other day on a brand new road in Kitakata. Fortunately no one was killed but the cars were slipping around all over the place. 

Goodnight

Anne

Good Fortune

'In with good fortune!', shout the bean throwers to the beat of the big drum. 

Kids, along with men and women born in the year of the snake (年男、年女 toshiotoko, toshionna) aged 12, 24, 36 up to 96 (I didn't see anyone who looked 108!) throw beans, daruma dolls and balls into the crowd.

Nyoho temple （如宝寺）in Koriyama, Shingon sect, tombstones going back to the 13th century (Kamakura period). This was the scene of the annual bean throwing ceremony to mark the end of winter, get rid of the demons (outer and inner),

 and bring in good fortune.

Colourful ceremony beforehand. At one point the 20 or so priests swished their sutras open in a fan-like motion accompanied by shouts to show they were saying all of the scriptures on our behalf, a sort of fast-forward digest of the scriptures. 

The priest gives his 'blessing' - for safety and good fortune in this new year. Amen.

When the kids were small we used to throw beans at home. A handful up in the air in every room - "In with good fortune!" ( 福は内 fuku wa uchi ) and a handful out of every window, "Out with the demons!" (鬼は外　oni wa soto)　The kids must have thought us normally tidy adults had taken leave of our senses.The beans are roasted soybeans and afterwards you eat one for each year of your life. I used to find the beans for months afterwards. 

Funny take on this idea in a news programme yesterday morning (Wake Up, Yomiuri TV). The PM was likened to The Peach Boy, Momotaro, who is out to get rid of the two demons, deflation and the strong yen. In the fairy story Momotaro is helped by a dog, a monkey and a pheasant. Abe's weapons are public works (especially disaster defences and repairing ageing infrastructure), quantative easing, and investment in growth (funding application of Nobel prizewinner Yamanaka's iPS cell research has been mentioned but not an energy strategy). The national debt will increase significantly. The nation waits to see how it will all work out  ....

Anne

Post Health Check Musing

Hi folks,

I had my over 40's health check yesterday. In this country all employers are obliged by law to give staff a basic health screening once a year (this includes a chest X-ray) and then there are extra checks to prevent against so-called 'lifestyle diseases' （生活習慣病 seikatsu shuukanbyo). This is the one I've been putting off as I didn't want extra radiation. I asked the nurse how much radiation I was getting with the mammogram and she replied chirpily, 'Oh, about the same as a flight to Europe'. But I reckon that with the chest X-ray, barium meal and 2-image mammogram, I clocked about 3 mSv. In one day. That's three times what the health survey calculated I'd got in the four months following the disaster.

Funny old world. The city of Koriyama at vast expense is decontaminating houses to get levels down to 1 mSv/year in an attempt to stem the flow of people leaving and people get really twitchy if there's any radiation in their food yet no one thinks twice about medical imaging. I guess it's a question of trust. We trust the medical profession but because of the history of nuclear - the atom bomb and fishing ship that got caught up in the Bikini atoll tests (Fukuryu-maru) in Japan and the Cold War in the West - we don't trust governments when it comes to nuclear safety.

I've been re-reading Wade Allison's book, Radiation and Reason: The Impact of Science on a Culture of Fear, written in 2009. (It's been translated into Japanese, 放射能と理性　なぜ「100mSV」なのか) His thesis is that according to the science the risk of cancer is first detected at a single dose of 100 mSv. But that the body has the facility to repair itself so 100 mSv a month would be safe, and 5,000 mSv over a lifetime. The ICRP stuck to out of date thinking, for example that radiation should be kept As Low as Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) and that damage increases in line with exposure (LNT Linear No-Threshold) with no allowance for repair. Such strict regulations created a climate of fear. At Chernobyl people were evacuated suddenly and there were many deaths. The lessons were not learnt and it was repeated at Fukushima. Allison maintains there is a pandemic of fear which only education from the bottom up can solve.

Here we are in Fukushima, not afraid, living ordinary lives but the indirect cost has been phenomenal: 30,000 people living in cramped emergency housing, over 1,000 people dead from indirect causes, children getting fat as they can't play outside, young families leaving, the cost of combating prejudice against food and industrial products. Not to mention the direct financial costs of clearing up after the accident.

Societies do over-react when it comes to radiation and nuclear. We, and the country as a whole, is paying a tremendous price for that. Perhaps one of the good things to come out of this is the extraordinary amount of new data which one hopes will help us think more objectively in future.

Enough. It's a cold but bright sunny Sunday morning and I'm off to see the 'bean throwing' at the local temple! More anon.
Anne

Love the snow, hate the snow

Hi

Yesterday, Saturday, snow fell all day. There must be six inches even in the middle of Koriyama. Didn't take the car out. Walking treacherous; the pavements solid ice. But, hell, there must be some compensations and one of them is being near the ski slopes. When I grew up in Yorkshire, skiing was only for the rich and famous. Not the case now of course but when I first came to Japan I jumped at the chance to learn to ski and I still get a kick out of going skiing just for the day. 

Trains and buses to Aizu were cancelled because of the heavy snowfall or 'big snow' as they say in Japanese  ( 大雪 ooyuki) so I got a bus to Adatara. It's the mountain directly north of Koriyama, the one we see all the time, 1,700 m. high. And the place was full of happy people of all ages. I met several people from Tokyo. One of them said he has a friend who comes from Fukushima who'd told him to do all his skiing in Fukushima this year. Some people on a bus tour from Ibaragi (95 miles away) were taking advantage of the same package I was: bus, lift pass and ski hire all in for 7,000 yen (mine from Koriyama station was 6,000 yen). 

The papers were saying that the number of skiers at the new year was back up to 90% of pre-disaster levels. My straw poll today would suggest that thanks to promotions by the resorts and support from lots of people, things are pretty much back to normal. 

And to top it all, I found that the oldest of the eateries was serving my favourite ski food, o-shiruko, aduki beans cooked with sugar and topped with a rice cake. This traditional dish doesn't seem to feature on menus in the more upmarket resorts but to me it's the Japanese equivalent of an apres-ski hot chocolate.

Tomorrow morning I have to do the morning pep talk at the factory offices. I plan to leave a full hour earlier than usual as in these road conditions there are bound to be long jams on the main roads. But today at least I had a good time in the snow.
Bye
Anne

Kiddies' toboggan run complete with escalator for the upward haul!

View of the mountain, Mount Adatara

View east towards Nihonmatsu.
Fukushima city would be to the north (left) and  Koriyama to the south (right)

O-shiruko

New Safety Rules

Hello again

Hidden amongst the big news - the Algerian hostage crisis (10 Japanese have been killed) and the new government's economic policy (Abenomics), there have been some important announcements regarding strict new safety standards for Japan's nuclear power stations. The new Nuclear Regulation Authority is flexing its muscles and has made recommendations in three areas: upgrading facilities to withstand earthquake, tsunami or terrorist attack; re-evaluating the risk from seismic faults and tsunami; and new rules for evacuation.

Previously, safety had been left to the electric companies but the new measures are to be mandatory. The recommendations are to be reviewed by independent experts over the next few months (the authority is eager to be seen to be neutral) and are due to be implemented in July. Obviously this will determine whether the 48 closed plants can be brought back into operation. The two reactors operating at the moment have been told they can keep going until they shut down for routine maintenance in September.
Briefly the recommendations are:

• facilities able to withstand earthquake and tsunami estimated at maximum values (not 'improbable' values), or the impact of a jet airliner
• in the event of such an accident, mobile generators to provide power for 24 hours and enough fuel and supplies to keep cooling going for a week without outside help 
• back up earthquake-proof control rooms (at Fukushima the offsite centre was only 7 kms away, inside the evacuation zone, and not radiation-proof so it was useless)
• filtration equipment for pressure vents to prevent radioactive materials being emitted
• fire-proof electric cables, measures to protect against cyber attack

The measures are said to be strict by international standards. I wonder if Hitachi will use them when it builds 4 to 6 new reactors in England and Wales over the next decades. In November last year Hitachi bought Horizon Nuclear Power, a company formed in 2009 when the UK's NDA (Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) sold two sites to two German companies RWE npower and E.ON. They abandoned the project when Angela Merkel decided after Fukushima that Germany would not build any more new nuclear power stations. 

In fairness, the UK is the only country in the world to have legally binding carbon targets: 34% cut by 2020 (over 1990 levels) and 80% cut by 2050, so at the moment some new nuclear plants are required to replace the old ones being decommissioned. 

That first year I wouldn't listen to those who commented on this blog that nuclear was needed to cut CO2 emissions. I'm still not sure. When I think of the havoc caused here, my gut feeling is to get rid of every nuclear plant in the world. But that's simplistic. Climate change is a ticking time bomb and action needs to be taken now. Stricter standards for nuclear? And more research on renewables? Is that the way forward?

Sorry, it's late, and I'm rambling.

Good night

Anne

Daruma Fair in Miharu

Hi

The snow that fell last week paralysed Tokyo and here in Koriyama the landscape remains bleak and white with piles of snow even in the centre of town, and the side roads and pavements treacherously icy.

News of Fukushima this week overshadowed by the snow, the Algerian hostage crisis, and the government's new policy to cure deflation. What news there was, was not good. Scandals about decontamination work in the exclusion zone with reports of workers being told to dump contaminated leaves in rivers, and of unscrupulous subcontractors pocketing the 10,000 yen a day 'danger money' which the government pays workers.

Took a trip to Miharu, ten miles away, where residents braved the cold to support the annual Daruma Festival. Here's a picture of the towns huge Daruma inscribed with the word for the year 地 (chi) which means 'land', 'earth' - chosen as it sums up recovery for Fukushima in this new year. Decontamination, getting farming back on its feet, a safe environment for children - these all depend on the earth.

Bitterly cold, but the main street busy all day - piping  hot food, daruma dolls and souvenirs for sale, people meeting people.

Here's Hashimoto Hiroshi's stall. He's 17th generation. His family's been making traditional dolls and daruma for hundreds of years.

Usually when you buy a daruma it has no eyes. You draw one in, make a wish and fill in the other when your wish comes true. 'Why do Miharu daruma have eyes?' I ask Hashimoto-san. He tells me they're just busting with good luck already and have two eyes looking in all directions to keep the evil spirits away. In that case, I'd better have one!

Here's me with my daruma and a new year decoration.

Half an hour later Hashimoto-san has donned a mask and backed by the local drumming group is dancing the Hyottoko dance. I've seen him do this many times. The moment he puts the mask on, he becomes a different person, losing his inhibitions, swirling with the music, impersonating a shy young girl or a brazen old man. He plays up to the crowd and they love it. It becomes impossible to take photos and once he starts chucking tangerines into the audience (a lot of tangerines), I'm forced to put my camera away in self defence.

More tranquil is the Zen temple, Fukuju-ji, a picture in the snow.

One Year and Ten Months

Hi

Time for my monthly update. Sorry it's a bit late. Today, Monday, is a holiday and I've been taking it easy over the weekend.

So how are things over at Fukushima Daiichi? Reactors 1 to 3 continue to be stable in 'cold shutdown condition' though radiation is high inside the reactors. The plant continues to emit radioactive materials at a maximum rate of 10 million bq/hr. (at the time of the disaster it was 80 million times more than that). At damaged Reactor 4 work has begun on building a structure and cover prior to removing fuel assemblies, work which is due to start ahead of schedule in November this year. But it's not as if the fuel is to be taken anywhere. It will be stored more safely in a newly built facility on site. Tepco has sent 80 staff to nearby J-Village  to work in its new Fukushima Recovery HQ. Good news indeed.

Here's how the radiation is shown on TV these days, before the weather forecast.
Maximum and minimum values are shown for each district in the restricted area.
Highest is Okuma-machi (in the middle) at 0.48 to 31.3 μSv/hr



And here's the rest of Fukushima prefecture.
Koriyama in the middle (label under the lake) 0.05 to 0.84 μv/hr.



With remarkable alacrity, Abe, the new Prime Minister, has announced a raft of measures to boost the economy and Fukushima has been a welcome focus. Full government funding for the building of 'temporary towns' (仮の町 kari no machi) which had got bogged down over which local authority was to foot the bill. 130 million yen (1 million GBP), three times the amount spent last year, to promote the Fukushima brand, or as they say here 'sweep away harmful rumours' (風評の払拭 fuhyo no fusshoku). Over 10 billion yen (77 million GBP) on measures to encourage people to return to the evacuated districts once the bans are lifted. The list includes building new commercial districts (grants so far have been ineffective), new hospitals and old peoples' homes, maintaining land and homes (no measures so far, effectively a wasteland), even temporary toilets! There are also new powers for the Recovery Ministry which will coordinate the decontamination work of the various ministries. 

So all in all things are looking up. Though I have to say businesses are still struggling, with sales generally ten percent or so down on last year. 

After a week of very cold weather but bright sunshine and great views of the mountains, today it's snowing with a vengeance. This holiday is known here as 'little New Year' and there are traditional events but officially it's Coming of Age Day (成人の日 seijin no hi) when 20 year olds get dressed up and attend a civic ceremony and celebrate the fact that they are fully fledged members of society and can drink alcohol legally and vote in elections. Koriyama held its ceremony yesterday, thank goodness, and I spotted a few brightly coloured kimonos in town. That reminds me. On Friday night, on my way back from the gym, a big party was breaking up outside the hotel on the road from the station and I spotted a geisha. Unusual these days, especially since the restaurant they used to operate from was so badly damaged in the earthquake it closed down. I couldn't see her face in the dark, but she looked so dainty, her tiny body in its bright purple kimono, and the wig - such big hair. Exquisite. A rare sight these days.

Goodbye, from a very snowy Koriyama. It's midday. Three or four inches on the ground and lots more swirling down in the wind. Don't fancy driving to work tomorrow morning.

Anne

Happy New Year!

Hi

After two weeks in England happily inundated with family I arrived at Haneda at 5:00 am on Friday morning. It was dark but after a smooth transition on Japan's wonderful trains I was rewarded by this view of Mount Fuji, pink in the dawn, from the bullet train heading north.

Yesterday, Saturday 5th, was the first day back at work for Tohoku Kogyo. Started with the customary ceremony at the Shinto shrine in the grounds of the factory. Shinto priest specially called in to say prayers for safety, the staff lined up in the cold. Everyone bowing and wishing each other a happy new year. It's very formal. Caught offguard at the pool last night. The lifeguard came over and starting bowing. I'd just settled into the jacuzzi and had to feign a dignified bow in my swimsuit.  

Hungry for news about the new government. Admittedly I was confined to the kitchen for most of my stay in England and brain dead in the midst of the festivities but there was hardly any news about Japan on mainstream UK media. I had to wait until I got back to find out who is in Abe's Cabinet. Our local MP, Nemoto, has been appointed Minister of the Recovery. The new Recovery Ministry hasn't turned out to be the one-stop shop it was supposed to be, dogged by departmentalism between the various ministries who are unable to decide things without a precedent. Nemoto is an experienced politician and it's hoped he will have the clout to cut through the red tape. In his time out of office he worked with the city of Koriyama negotiating funding after the disaster so he has experience in this area. Another Fukushima MP, Mori Masako, has been appointed Minister in charge of Consumer Protection and the Declining Birthrate. She's already done a lot of work on certification of agricultural and industrial products from Fukushima and she's promised to speed up the thyroid tests for children. Ishihara, son of the former Tokyo Mayor, is Minister of the Environment and has said he will not set deadlines for the construction of the radioactive waste interim storage facility but will take time consulting with residents. So that's a welcome development. People here are not so happy though with Abe's veto of the previous government's policy to have no nuclear plants by 2030. He says he wants to spend more time considering the issue. I was also surprised to find that Kaieda is the new leader of the ousted Democratic Party of Japan. He was Minister of Trade and Industry at the time of the disaster and didn't get a very good press what with all the disclosures about the cozy 'nuclear village' set up. I guess the bright young things in the DJP are keeping their powder dry for next time. Kaieda did admit he was 'picking a hot chestnut from the fire'  ( 火中の栗を拾う kachu no kuri o hirou) Pick up a hot potato, in English?

By the way, Haneda airport was great. A beautiful and innovative building, and so close to Tokyo compared with Narita. And I can recommend the hot spring theme park (Oedo Onsen Monogatari). Great fun.

Already it's nearly two years since the disaster. 2011 seemed to pass in slow motion but this last year has flown by. Let's hope this new year brings real progress in sorting out the future of the evacuees.
Love to you all
Anne