Olympics

Hi

Well, I did get up early on Saturday to see the opening ceremony and it was wonderful. I laughed, I cried and felt proud to be British. A grass-covered stadium with sheep and hens and cricketers, a rural idyll, smashed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s railways and the industrial revolution. A moment reflecting the 1^st World War, then children’s fantasies, and an amazing cameo appearance by the Queen with James Bond.

But what did people here make of it? By the time most people got up after 7 am, the best was over and we were into the fireworks. I’ve been telling people to watch the whole thing but even the you-tube version is unavailable here. In addition, there seems to be something called the ‘Three Minute Rule’ so all we got on Saturday was one shot of the earlier sequences with the rest of the 3 minutes going to the flame coming together and the Japanese team.

Some commentators said it went on too long (hard on the athletes) and that parts were mystifying (chinpun kanpun). Certainly, the initials GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital) and NHS (National Health Service) are meaningless and not concepts you can grasp in a one line explanation mid-show.

Later in the day, I’m distracted at the gym. There’s a TV programme here called ‘What are the Neighbours Having for Dinner?’ and it’s gone to London to investigate English food.  My initial interest turns to horror. That evening I meet some friends for dinner. They haven’t seen the opening ceremony but they’ve all seen this. The presenter calls at four houses. The first family is having chicken curry. Chicken pieces cooked with a jar of Chicken Tonite. Served with rice and salad.  Japanese don’t like the way the rice is cooked, but OK. The next family has pasta. The adults get tomato sauce (pre-packed) but the kids get nothing. The mother says kids shouldn’t have salt and additives. So they have plain pasta. No protein, no vegetables. I’m horrified. Next up are a newly married couple. And their dinner is a Chinese takeaway; eaten straight out of the foil containers. You’d think if a foreign TV crew was coming they’d at least make the effort to get out some plates. Finally, a couple in their 50s has a pizza from the supermarket, salad and wine.

Having established that the English don’t eat English food at home, the presenter tracks it down in the pub. But he’s not impressed with the roast. Anyone who’s tasted the melt-in-the-mouth beef that gets served here, say at weddings, will know what he means. Jamie Oliver’s work is far from done, it seems.

The opening ceremony over, the events are in full swing:  judo and swimming (no rowing or tennis shown here). I’m not a great sports fan but I have to say the sight of those people giving their all is humbling. Do I even detect a bigger push than usual in my few desultory lengths at the pool?

Here it’s hot. High of 33’C today in Koriyama, hotter further south. Hundreds of people carted off to hospital with heatstroke every day, and a few dead. I work in an air-conditioned office but like most people here I’m saving electricity and at home haven’t used the air conditioner once this season. I seem to be managing surprisingly well with the electric fan.

Bye from a hot and sticky Koriyama,

Anne

Reports on the Accident

Hi

There's a new word being bandied about. Jikocho 事故調  and it refers to the enquiries and reports into the accident at Fukushima. There have been four: one by private foundation RJIF (27 February), Tepco's internal report (20 June), a parliamentary report (5 July) and now the government's report (interim report 26 December, final report 23 July). 

They all agree that insufficient measures were taken to prepare for a tsunami, that the PM should not have meddled in the aftermath, and that the SPEEDI data should have been utilised in the evacuation. Tepco's report puts the blame on everyone else: on the tsunami for being unforeseen (想定外 soteigai), on the regulators for not telling them about US anti-terrorist measures, and on the prime minister for interfering.

This final government report is the most detailed and states categorically that the accident was 'man made' (人災 jinsai) and caused by collusion between the government, the regulators and the industry - what is known here as 'the atomic village' (原子村 genshimura) who promoted the myth that nuclear is safe (安全神話 anzen shinwa).

Fukushima prefecture comes in for criticism too. Particularly over the scandal of Futaba Hospital, just 4 kms from the plant where 130 patients at an old people's home were ignored for 2 days, then rescued by the army and taken in buses on a 10 hour journey around the prefecture. Four of them were dead at the end of the day, 45 by the end of the month. To add insult to injury the prefecture falsely blamed the hospital staff for abandoning them. It's been a long running scandal here but the government report puts the blame squarely on the prefecture. The evacuation was handled by separate departments and these people fell through the net: the evacuation department not sharing information with the department in charge of vulnerable persons. The cause is tatewari 縦割り, a word you hear a lot here. It means 'divided vertically', i.e. departments not talking to each other. The report stressed the need for teams coordinating the work of different departments.

The prefecture was also criticised for trying to stop the town of Miharu issuing iodine tablets on the grounds that there were no instructions from central government. Local government should have more autonomy, was the conclusion.

What we want to know of course is: what caused the accident? It's still going to take years to find out as radiation is so high inside the reactors that no one can get near. But, as far as I can gather, measures taken at Fukushima Daini (No. 2 Plant) prevented the situation escalating whereas mistakes were made at Fukushima Daiichi which resulting in cooling being stopped for long periods. First mistake: it was wrongly believed that the Isolation Condenser in Unit I was working. At 10 pm on 11 March it was discovered that it was not. It was decided to open a vent but this didn't happen until 2:30 pm the next day. Too late: there was an explosion an hour later. Next day, in Unit 3, they mistakenly thought a vent had been opened but the batteries were flat and it hadn't opened. Cooling was stopped, fusion continued producing hydrogen which exploded, spreading to Unit 4. Next day, 14 March, vents were opened in Unit 2 but without checking the water levels and pressure in the suppression pools at the bottom of the reactor. Radioactive materials leaked out of the top of the reactor. (The wind then was blowing south and it was this plume that blew towards Tokyo.)

What shines through is a lack of concern for people on the ground. Not wanting to face up to the dangers of earthquakes and tsunami, putting form and protocol first. Even Minister of the Nuclear Accident, Hosono, said as much on TV the other day.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to bed. Hope to get up at 5 am to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Stratford.
Anne

Back in Koriyama

Hi folks

Sorry about the hiatus. A week in Germany and England, then a week adjusting to the heat and humidity here. Had a lovely time. Gorged on all the things I miss: cheese, finnan haddock, raspberries and as a special treat, wedding cake. First impression on my return? Everything in England - from the people to the ATM machines - seemed big and clunky. Here everything is small and neat. 

In England, preparations for the Olympics were in full swing. With 1 million extra people using the tube and buses, Londoners were being instructed to find alternative ways to go to work. Some had had trial days working at home. Loved the BBC programme 'Twenty Twelve' about cock ups by the Olympic deliverance committee. In the episode I saw it had just been discovered that the Shared Faith building wasn't facing mecca and the Algerian team were threatening to pull out. Great spoof. Unfortunately, it seems a little too near the bone. The army has been called in to make up for a shortage of guards and border staff are threatening to go on strike. In Japan we have wall-to-wall TV about London and the Olympics. Get your act together, GB. The world is watching.

Main news while I was away was the parliamentary report on the accident at Fukushima Daiichi. And there's another out today. Four reports, the last of the current series. I'll deal with them separately, I think.

Then there was a big anti-nuclear demonstration last weekend in Yoyogi park in Tokyo. Speeches by national treasures: Oe Kenzaburo, Nobel literary prize winner; composer Sakamoto Ryuichi; and Buddhist nun Setouchi Jakucho. The Friday night demos outside the PM's residence gather pace and have spread to other cities. Media saying this is a new phenomena, first spontaneous demonstrations since the anti Japan-US Security Treaty demos in the 1960s and anti Vienam demos in the 1970s. Probably not simply anti-nuclear, more, general  distrust of the government.

But the main thing that struck me as I leafed through the pile of newspapers on my return was what a lot of things are going on here. Lots of visitors/volunteers from every walk of life - the arts, sport, education. Schoolchildren invited to climb Mount Fuji, visit Europe, visit the States. And not just passive either. There are groups going out to other parts of Japan, and the world, to spread the message that Fukushima is OK. On my way home from work last night stumbled on a children's festival, and the streets are being decorated with red and white paper lanterns for the big Matsuri next week.

Better start catching up on sleep to watch the Olympics. The time difference is a big problem here. I'd like to watch the opening ceremony (how on earth will GB cap the Beijing performance?) but it starts at 5:00 am.

My family and friends were disappointed not to get tickets in the first round in February but have managed to buy some now. Not cheap at 160 pounds (20,000 yen) a throw .Japan’s Olympic hopefuls are in judo and gymnastics (of course). And in women’s soccer and women’s wrestling. Some wins here might finally put paid to the myth of Japanese women as Madame Butterfly ...
Anyway, now I'm back in blog mode, I'll try and get the regular reports together again.
Love to all
Anne

Interesting times

Hi,

Prime Minister Noda got his bill to revise the sales tax (currently 5%, to be raised to 8% in April 2014 and 10% in October 2015) through parliament but only after major concessions to the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The tax was supposed to fund better welfare and pensions but discussion of these was shelved to widespread disillusionment; taxes are to be raised but we're not sure what we're going to get in return.

Ozawa, old fashioned dealmaker, and 50 of his supporters voted against the bill and promptly got expelled from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). One of them was Koriyama's MP, one of 'Ozawa's girls' Kazumi Ohta. There'll probably be a general election by the end of the year. Will she get in again? I doubt it. At the station bumped into former MP, very expereienced LDP politician Takumi Nemoto. But would he get in? Widespread feeling that there's nothing to choose between the parties (though this is not confined to Japan).

Hashimoto, Mayor of Osaka, has set up a 'university' to train politicians for his 'Isshin-to' (Reform Party) and many people are looking to the regions, to new blood which might shake up the system. But the DPJ was inexperienced and real power lies with the bureaucracy, especially the Ministry of Finance. Would the young Turks be able to control them and make changes?

Only two days after the governor of Fukui announced he was happy for the nuclear plant at Oi to restart, came the announcement, out of the blue, that the shinkansen bullet train is to be extended to Tsuruga (a stone's throw away) and to Hokkaido. Welcomed by those localities which have been campaigning for it for a long time. But what a coincidence! Nuclear plants in Hokkaido to open next? The DPJ came to power on a platform of 'people rather than concrete' and this decision doesn't sit well in the current climate of austerity. Plus ca change.

The new chairman and CEO of Tepco have been doing the rounds. To their credit, they've visited lots of places in Fukushima and ominously Fukushima Daini (No.2) plant. Governor Sato has called for all reactors in Fukushima to  be closed down but apparently Daini has been repaired and could be reopened anytime. I wonder what's going to happen?

But if you'll excuse me, I'm going on holiday. A quick flit to England then to a family wedding in Austria. And I'm going to take a rest from Fukushima. Back on the 14th.

All the best

Anne

Message from Fukushima

Hi

Today I went to the awards ceremony for the essay competition 'Message from Fukushima' organised by the Fukushima Minpo newspaper. I translated the three winning essays into English as best I could and the text is below. The experiences of these three young people are very moving. What shines through is a love of Fukushima and a determination to see the recovery through. They get to visit London from 23 July where they'll plant rhododendrons (the prefecture's flower) in the Japanese garden in Holland Park and take part in some Japan related events around the Olympics. If you get a chance to join in any of the events, please do support them. 

The Oi nuclear plant began operation tonight. The words of these three young people is a stark reminder of what is at stake. 

Anyway, here are the essays.

Anne

Junior High School Category – First Prize

Title:  Grandad’s Peaches

Written by: Miyu MATSUBARA

Grandad’s Peaches

Me, my family, and Grandad always work hard picking peaches in the bright summer sun. Peaches are very delicate. You pick them off the branches carefully and you have to be so gentle, like touching a baby’s cheek. There’s a lovely sweet smell of peaches in the air  –  but you get drenched in sweat.

It’s like that every year. But last year was a bit different. After the nuclear accident following the Great East Japan Earthquake, we were afraid that peaches might not go on sale. My first thought, amongst all the talk after the accident about the effects of radiation and damage to consumer confidence, was, ‘Would Grandad’s peaches be alright?’.

Grandad grows peaches and apples on his own. Even after the accident he quietly got on with his work as usual. His peaches are like children to him. I’d been watching him all the while but one day as we were working together in the orchard, I came out with it, ‘Grandad, what about the radiation?’.

‘What? The council’s done tests and they’re fine! Don’t you worry!’  Grandad retorted in a loud voice, as if to dispel my fears.

But I heard on the news that some weren’t selling simply because they came from Fukushima. I was sad and frustrated when I thought of all the work Grandad put into growing his peaches.

But then I heard that some people were buying produce from Fukushima on purpose. This filled my heart with a warm glow. When Grandad’s peaches did go to market I hoped someone would buy them.

This year Grandad’s peach orchards are covered in a carpet of pink blossom. And, in their midst, Grandad carefully, and lovingly, pollinates each flower – just as he always does.

 ‘Peaches this year gonna be nice an’ sweet.’  Grandad says this every year and I’m sure he’ll say it again this year as we work. I’m going to try extra hard to help him.

High School Category  –  First Prize

Title:  To me, when I’m grown up

Written by: Kanami AJIMA

To me, when I’m grown up

Hello, grown up me! Where are you now? What are you doing?  Do you have a smile on your face every day?  I hope so.

March 11^th,  2:46 in the afternoon. The events of that day will have faded with time but somewhere in an unseen part of your heart I bet they’ve left a deep scar.

I know it’s frightening to recall the events of that day. If you hadn’t gone shopping then…  If you hadn’t met your relatives then…  Just thinking about it sends a shiver down your spine. You would certainly have been caught up in the tsunami. Only because so many chance events coincided, can you get on with your life today.

For about a week after the earthquake you took shelter in the gymnasium. Do you remember? It was cold at night and every time there was an aftershock, everyone would wake up and there would be a communal murmur of fear. Do you remember when we first went back to the house? It wasn’t where it was supposed to be. It was so sad. Your friend’s house was full of mud, the windows and everything gone. The place we’d all lived was changed out of all recognition.

The day the house was demolished, you noticed Mum was crying as she videoed the scene and that made you cry too. It was hard, wasn’t it, watching the house we’d grown up in, being pulled down piece by piece. If only this had never happened …  How many times did that thought run through your head?

Even after you went back to school, you were still anxious and you’d be overwhelmed with sadness and burst into tears. Every time that happened, your teachers and friends would listen to you. People went to a lot of trouble over you, you know. Hope you’ve paid them back.

Never forget that on March 11th a lot of people who wanted to live lost their lives. I want you to live for them, every day, with a smile. I know it's hard remembering, but don't let memories of that day fade away. Pass it on to the next generation. Please. 

Open Category  – First Prize

Title:  I’ll farm in Fukushima

Written by:  Koshi FUJITA

I’ll farm in Fukushima.

 ‘Murderer!’  In all my thirty odd years, never did I think anyone would call me that. I’m a farmer, eighth generation. No one actually said that to my face but that’s what certain individuals called farmers in Fukushima.

The earthquake and tsunami were a nightmare. Then the nuclear accident. That first week was utter chaos: we didn’t know whether we would be able to stay in our homes, let alone whether we’d be able to go on farming. Then just when it looked as if we could carry on with the farm and just as I’d made the decision that it would be better to make a go of it rather than do nothing and regret it later, my world turned upside down when I saw those words on the internet. That first month I was under a lot of pressure.

But some people had kind things to say.  ‘We like the rice and vegetables you grow and we’ll keep eating them.’ ‘We’ll do anything we can to help.’ Things like that really cheered me up. And one person made the comment:  ‘Seven billion people in the world – can’t please everyone.’

One thing I do know. Radioactive materials rained down on Fukushima. That’s a fact and we can’t change it. But what we see in that, what we make of that – well, the possibilities are infinite.

To those who say farm produce from Fukushima is too dangerous to eat, I say Fukushima should aim to have the best safety certification of any agricultural produce in the world.

To those who say they won’t let their children live in such a place, I say I’ll make my family a happy one so my kids will be glad they were born in Fukushima.

Some may stigmatize ‘Fukushima’ and look on us with anger, pity or despair. But to me, Fukushima is beautiful, and I look on it with thanks, joy and hope.

Who’s going to get Fukushima farming back on its feet? The government? The local authorities? No. It’s up to us, the farmers of Fukushima.

Are we to pass on this image of ‘Fukushima’ the tragic victim? You must be joking. No way. I want people to admire the way Fukushima, which suffered so much as a result of the nuclear accident, became an even better place. We have the chance to participate in such a project. Surely this is something worth spending your life on?

Leave Fukushima and break new ground? That would be such a waste. Me, I’ll farm in Fukushima. 

My Day

Hi

Walking to work this morning amazed to see a London bus in Koriyama. A Routemaster, emblazoned with an advert for whisky. Come to think of it, this town’s gone London mad. Several of the hotels have a ‘London fair’ – fish and chips, sausages, roast beef!

It’s Saturday and a working day. Some weekends are free but the two companies I'm involved with only have 105 days off a year.

In the car, listen to a Tokyo University professor on the local radio, an expert on whole body counters. A year ago the experts wouldn’t give an opinion regarding our health as there was no data. But the whole body counters in Minami Soma Hospital now have results for 16,000 people and the machine in Hirata-mura has tested 20,000 people. What can he say from the results? First, that levels are going down. This time last year 60 out of 100 people tested positive, now the figure is down to 0.8 in a 100. 

Asked why people in the same family eating the same food showed different results, he said that young children excrete caesium fastest. So a nine year old may have a higher reading than his younger sibling. Moreover, women seem to excrete it faster than men, probably because it collects in the muscle. So it’s common, apparently, for the wiry old grandad to register highest.

To those mothers panicking when they heard their child had 200 bq in the body, he pointed out that 200 bq is very low and on the margin of detectablilty for the machines. If a 60 kg person was exposed to 1mSv/year they would show 20-30,000 bq and the average in Japan in the 1960s, when everyone was exposed to fallout from American and Soviet nuclear tests was 500-600 bq.

Every day I drive about 20 minutes out of town to the Tohoku Kogyo box factory. Have an honorary position, not a lot to do, but I make sure I show up every day. Today took a walk round the factory. Weather warmed up at last so boxes for veg, particularly cucumbers, in production.

Then on to one of our copy shops. It specialises in plans for the construction industry so business has been slack since the disaster. But very busy today: surge in demand for private housing, particularly in Iwaki and Fukushima. I’m there to do the books and not much help.

Then back into town and my real office. But before that, I pop into the Big Eye building just opposite. There’s a seminar on radiation organized by the Japanese Society of Radiation Safety Management. About 80 people there, lots of spare seats. It’s quite technical. Conclusion seems to be that there’s now lots of monitoring equipment in place (for air, food and for people) so no need to worry. Seminars like this being held everywhere. But most people there seemed to be headed for the  ‘Tanabata’ event in the planetarium on the 23^rd Floor. Beautiful day. Rainy season but no rain and quite dry. Definitely a much better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Nationally, the Friday night anti-nuclear demo outside the PM's residence was bigger than ever. First popular movement for 50 years, they say. Electric companies' shareholders' meetings held last week. TEPCO meeting attended by Vice-Governor of Tokyo and Kanden meeting by Osaka Mayor Hashimoto. Both proposed motions for moving away from nuclear and for deeper cuts but all rejected. However, TEPCO has said it is withdrawing from a consortium to build nuclear plants in Vietnam. 

Shall resist the temptation to try Koriyama's fish and chips. I'm going to England myself next week and can have the real McCoy.

Good night

Anne

Shoots of Recovery?

Hi

Not all the news is bad. Fishing's getting going again, although in a small way. Two kinds of octopus and one kind of shellfish caught 50 km off the Soma coast tested clear. The local supermarket chain York Benimaru tested them all over again and put them on sale in two of their supermarkets in Soma. All sold out today by early afternoon. The next catch to go on sale in Tokyo. Not all fish is clear but it's a start. People are beginning to see they might get their livelihoods back after all.

Plans to re-zone Iitate on 1 July going ahead. This is that rural area northwest of the reactor (230 sq km, original population 6,000) where everyone was evacuated in a hurry on 11 April last year. People will be able to return to areas up to 20 mSv/yr (if they're willing to that is) and details of the 'restricted residence zone' (20-50 mSv/yr, no staying overnight) into which most of the village falls, have just been announced. In actual fact, some businesses have  kept going all this time but now they can only stay if levels are 'not much over' 3.8 μSv/hr. Even so workers have to stay indoors and commute by car. Only those businesses essential for the recovery will be allowed: construction, decontamination, banks, petrol stations. No hospitals, schools, restaurants or shops. Workers in areas over 2.5 μSv/hr will be monitored.

Iwaki is doing really well. The grants offered by the government and the prefecture seem to be stimulating new business and there is a shortage (and some competition) for land on industrial estates.

Yesterday the results of the local paper's essay competition. The three prizewinners are to be 'ambassadors for the recovery' and get to go to London to take part in events to do with the Olympics and relay a 'message from Fukushima'. The winner in the Junior High section, a 14 year old girl, writes about how her grandad just carries on and tends his peach fields regardless. The winner in the high school section, a 17 year old girl, had a narrow escape from the tsunami and writes a letter to herself 'when she's grown up', reminding herself to pass on her experiences to the next generation for the sake of all those who didn't get to live. The winner in the adult section is one Koshi Fujita, a young farmer from Koriyama who's been active locally putting information about his produce on the internet at an early stage. He writes passionately about how he's going to stay in Fukushima and make it a place to be proud to farm.

Yours truly has the job of translating the essays into English. Struck by all the winners' love of the place and determination to put it to rights. Though my immediate problem is how to translate フクシマ　(Fukushima written in katakana, hints of  Hiroshima, victim of a nuclear accident) and 福島 (Fukushima in characters) which is what it should be.
Unseasonally cold here. Not good for our packing business if the summer fruit and vegetables are held back.
Goodnight to you all.
Anne

Home and Away

Hi

Weather settled after the typhoon but still rainy. It is after all the rainy season. But not hot and sticky like in Tokyo. Momentous day for me. Completion of the sale of my old house. It's a big house, where we raised our kids, surrounded by woods, pine and maple. I've been renting it out for 8 years but it's still a wrench to see it go. I'd been thinking of doing the house up and offering it for sale on the internet, perhaps to someone who wanted a retirement home in the country. But the disaster put paid to that idea. The person who was renting it found the buyer, someone who loves the place, and I'm just glad the sale went through. Cleaned the house last weekend and enjoyed the rainy season there. The bark of the pine trees shine red in the wet and the fresh new green leaves are gloriously rich.

Big things happening nationally. Bill to set up a new Nuclear Standards Agency to replace the discredited NISA (Hoanin) finally got passed. The agency will work under a Committee of five experts who would take charge in an emergency. The opposition got their way and the chair of that committee would have ultimate responsibility so there won't be a repeat of the spectacle we saw last March when PM Kan, infuriated at Tepco went by helicopter to Fukushima Daiichi to find out for himself what was going on. The new agency is to be set up by September.

Tepco published its final report on the company's response to the accident. Blamed the PM for causing confusion. Said that the radioactive materials that travelled to the north west emanated from Reactor 2. Odd. There was no hydgrogen explosion in Reactor 2. Radiation still extremely high there (880mSv/hr) so no further details on the cause. Seems a bit premature to issue a 'final report' when they still don't know what's happening inside the reactors. The report got a bad press. No answers to the basic question, 'What lessons can be learned?' and too much putting the blame on other people.


According to Asahi News this evening, anti-nuclear demonstrations have been taking place every Friday night around the PM's office. Starting in March, and going out on Twitter, the demos have been growing in size every week. Tonight there were reportedly 45,000 people there. This and the 7 million signatories to an anti-nuclear petition organised by novelist Oe Kenzaburo would suggest a major popular movement. The government hint at reducing Japan's reliance on nuclear power but then go and re-start the Oi plant. As yet there's no clear indication of the direction Japan's energy policy will take in future so all hell's let loose. I heard someone say they thought restarting the Oi plant was part of a deal: give industry the electricity they need - in exchange for agreement to a raise in sales tax (VAT). Typical. No clear policy. 


Back at home I now need to persuade the buyer of the house to get the necessary qualifications to buy the two remaining fields. Not just anyone can buy agricultural land. To get the qualification, you have to farm 5 tanbu (about 5,000 sq metres) - and be under 65. Radiation is low round there so it should be OK to farm. Endo-san, neighbouring farmer, has had all his produce tested at the new testing centres and says all his produce is safe - except for the shiitake mushrooms he'd just got going after four years work. He was really upset about that.
Sorry this post jumps around a bit.
Goodnight.
Anne

Rivers

Hi all,

Interesting programme on NHK last Sunday (10 June). I guess a follow up to the one about the sea in January (see The Sea), this time about the effects of the nuclear accident on rivers.

There are two main rivers flowing out of Fukushima. The Abukuma River which flows through Koriyama and Fukushima and into the Pacific in neighbouring Miyagi prefecture, south of Sendai. Then the Agano River, the confluence of many tributaries collecting rain and snow melt from Mount Bandai and south Aizu, which flows into the Japan Sea in Niigata prefecture.

Tests show that the water is clean. So drinking water is safe. The problem is in the muddy deposits on the river bed. It turns out there are two kinds of 'hotspots'. First, caesium has been dumped along with sand where tributaries meet the main river. The other main deposits are at the mouth of the rivers but in this case caesium has bonded with vermiculite in the clay and has been carried long distances before settling.

The mystery of high radiation in Ikenodai, a top residential area of Koriyama, is solved. Though radiation in the air in most of Koriyama is about 0.5 μSv/hr, there it sticks stubbornly at 1.9. It turns out that the two ponds there, Sakubuta Pond and Arai Pond are situated where some small rivers meet and became a dumping ground for caesium. Sakubuta Pond has been drained of water for some reason (I can't find out why) and according to an expert on the programme (Kimura-sensei who I've mentioned before) the pond is beaming out radiation and the only way to reduce levels is to scrape up all the mud and put it into sealed concrete containers in the middle of the pond.

Similarly the rivers in Aizu Bange are another 'hotspot'. The Aizu area itself has very low radiation, but Bange is situated where many small rivers come together.

Problems too for the people at the mouth of these two rivers far away from Fukushima. Fish poke about in the mud, eat little worms and things and get contaminated. So these poor people, who thought they were spared the agonies of Fukushima, find that they have to do the same as producers here: test, test, test.

On a brighter note, fishing has re-started in Soma on the Pacific Coast for three kinds of fish. Well, not fish exactly: one kind of octopus and two kinds of shellfish. But it's a start and again with lots of testing, maybe people can start to get back their living.
We're in the middle of a typhoon. Very unusual for June. Heavy rain and winds. Due to hit here early tomorrow morning. Poor people in Ishimaki and other disaster areas evacuated yet again.
Anne

One Year 3 Months On

Hi everybody,

It's one year and three months since the accident. Life here is back to normal but lots of big issues remain unresolved.

On Friday evening the Prime Minister addressed the nation and explained why he'd decided to restart the Oi plant on the Japan Sea coast in Fukui: Osaka faces a 15% electricity shortage this summer so vulnerable people may die and businesses already suffering from the appreciation of the yen may move abroad; and for reasons of national security more imports of oil and LNG will increase our dependence on the volatile Middle East. Sound reasoning I'm sure but that guy really does lack charisma. The way he was talking you'd think Fukushima had never happened. 

Talks continue on the reorganisation of the areas around Fukushima Daiichi. The government wants to abolish the local authority boundaries and reorganize according to contamination levels. So there would be areas over 50 mSv/yr which would be 'difficult to return to' (kinan konnan kuiki 帰還困難区域), areas of 20 to 50 mSv/yr where residence would be restricted  (kyoju seigen kuiki 居住制限区域), and areas below 20 mSv/yr which in time would have restrictions removed (hinan shiji kaijo junbi kuiki 避難指示解除準備区域). Compensation for land, property and household goods would be attributed accordingly. Iidate-mura, north-west of the reactor is to be divided into 3 such areas and plans seem to be moving towards a settlement next month but the other authorities, nearer the plant, are digging their heels in. You could be cynical and say they're only trying to protect their jobs on the council but they maintain that all residents in the same district should get equal compensation.

Currently 85,900 people are evacuated. New government estimates forecast that about a third, 27,500 people, will not be able to return in five years time and they will be fully compensated. Even in 20 years time, 32% of residents of Okuma-machi (where Fukushima Daiichi is) and 18% of those in neighbouring Futaba-machi will not be able to go back.

The evacuees have been receiving 100,000 yen per head per month in compensation for 'stress' but this runs out in August. So far TEPCO has promised to continue payments for those under 15.

Parliamentary debate on the the long-awaited bill to set up a new safety watchdog for the nuclear industry started last week. A new Standards Agency (Kiseicho 規制庁) to replace the much maligned Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Hoanin 保安院) was supposed to be up and running in April. The government plan is to have the new body under the Ministry of the Environment, with the PM having the final say. The opposition are calling for a more independent commission, something like the Monopolies Commission and want politicians out of it. Already it seems the original bill is being watered down.

Here it's one of the best seasons of the year. The rice fields are flooded, the water reflecting the colours of the sky, and the rice seedlings pricked out in thin lines. The trees and undergrowth in the hills are lush and green. But orders in the box factory, though slightly above last year, are well below pre-disaster levels. Those businesses not part of the recovery boom, are struggling.
Goodnight
Anne