All About Japanese

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plum blossom time -
the mind still wanders
in Northern Japan

This morning we have heavy frost on the blossoms.

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Gabi reports:

. . . . . at 5.43
Earthquake M 5.2, off the coast of Ibaraki

Radiation levels in microsievert per hour
from Tuesday to Wendesday (according to Japan Times)
Fukushima - 15.3 / (9.60 yesterday)
Tokyo - 0.155 / (0.144 yesterday)
Aomori - 0.024
Shizuoka - 0.064

Radiation might affect people outside the 30 km zone, Secretary Edano said on TV at 18:55 yesterday evening.

The permissible levels for radiation in water, milk and vegetables in Japan are much lower than the international standard, because - so is the logic here - if someone intakes more than one, like drinking milk and eating vegetables, radiation will accumulate double in the human body, or triple, if you also drink tap water.

. . . . .

A friend sent this folded crane.


9,523 confirmed dead, and 16,094 people still missing.
to sum it up
25,000 dead or missing

And two workers from Fukushima plant had to be send to hospital with radiation problems.

But radiation levels at the Tokyo water plant are dropping to normal.

. . . . .


Gregory Clark is musing about this topic today
in the Japan Times :
. Nuclear meltdowns and Japanese culture 　

. . . . .

. . . . . at 9.00
Earthquake M 4.9, Ibaraki
It was felt as a quake strengh weak 5. 震度5弱 - 茨城県


. . . . . at 12.30
The town of Urayasu in Chiba has suffered from liquidification (soil liquefaction) of the ground and many homes are now slanted. The water sewage system is out of order. Now homes got tab water back, but the use of drainage from the toilets etc. does not work, the sewage pipes are broken.


. Volunteers translate quake data into visuals 　


. . . . . at 16.30
In the coastal town of Ofunato they have now salvaged about 500 car wrecks from the debris. It will be difficult the find the owners (many are maybe not alive any more) and then get rid of these cars. A huge camp if filled with them for the time being.

They are also salvageing the sunken ships from the ports, and more cars that have washed in the water.


. . . . . at 17.21
Earthquake M 6.1, off the coast of Iwate


Cold and more snow is predicted for tonight.
Even here in my valley we might get some snow ...

My friend with a spare home is taking a friend's family with two kids, they want to get out of Tokyo for a while and drink clean water, no aftershocks and some pure rest.


We are also affected by the earthquake now.
My car needs a repair, but the spare parts come from Northern Japan -
but who knows, when ?



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Bulletins from NHK Online

source : www3.nhk.or.jp

Thursday, March 24, 2011 03:01
Japan disaster: over 25,000 dead or missing
More than 25,000 people are officially dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11th.

According to the National Police Agency, 9,523 people are confirmed dead as of 11 PM on Wednesday.
The agency says it has received reports of 16,094 people missing.
Most of the dead and missing are from the 3 hardest hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima.

The number of confirmed deaths in Fukushima totals 776, far smaller than the more than 57,000 in Miyagi and the nearly 3,000 in Iwate. This may be due to the suspension of search operations in areas within 20 kilometers of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, because of radiation leaks.

Figures appear almost certain to rise because of the absence of family members to report the dead and missing. In some areas, entire families appear to have perished in the tsunami that followed the magnitude 9.0 quake.

Emergency shelters are accommodating more than 200,000 people, mostly from the prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, according to NHK figures. More than 30,000 people, mainly from Fukushima, have fled their hometowns to other prefectures.

Some survivors who have returned to their homes in areas where essential services have been restored are suffering from shortages of supplies, and are having to seek food at shelters for local residents.

The National Police Agency says at least 18,000 houses were destroyed by the quake and tsunami, and more than 130,000 homes were damaged.

. . . . .later upgraded to

More than 27,000 people are officially dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11th.

According to the National Police Agency, 9,811 people are confirmed dead as of 9 PM on Thursday.

The agency says it has received reports of 17,541 people missing.


. . . . .

Thursday, March 24, 2011 03:01
Tokyo to provide bottled water for infants
The Tokyo Metropolitan government says it will distribute mineral water to families with infants following reports that radioactive material above permissible levels for babies has been detected at one of its purification plants.
The Metropolitan Waterworks Bureau announced on Wednesday that 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine-131 were detected on Tuesday in one liter of water at a purification plant in northern Tokyo.
The Metropolitan government is calling on residents in Tokyo's 23 wards and 5 adjacent cities to refrain from giving tap water to infants aged less than 12 months.
Authorities are also urging firms and facilities, including child daycare centers in these areas, not to use tap water when preparing drinks or baby food for infants.
The water bureau announced late on Wednesday that many consumers have rushed to buy bottled water at stores in these areas, making it difficult for people to secure safe water.
It said it will ask local municipalities to distribute 3,550 milliliter bottles of mineral water each to about 80,000 households with infants in these areas on Thursday.
The Metropolitan government plans to provide more water to these families in the future, and is calling on mineral water bottlers to increase production.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 03:01
Govt agency posts nuclear hazard guidelines
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has posted guidelines on the internet for people living outside the 30 kilometer exclusion zone around the troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The information is intended to address concerns over higher-than-usual radiation levels detected outside the zone.
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency earlier advised residents of areas within 20 kilometers of the plant to evacuate and those within 20 to 30 kilometers to try to stay indoors.
The agency's information is compiled in a question-and-answer format and covers such issues as the possible hazards of being soaked with rain.
According to the answer, radiation levels outside the zone are too minute for rain to pose a health threat. The guidelines also say that well water beyond the zone is safe, and homegrown vegetables can be eaten without fear as long as they have been grown outside the areas from which the shipment of produce is banned.
On Tuesday, the government instructed the governors of 4 prefectures - Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi -to refrain from shipping spinach and another locally-grown leafy green, as well as raw milk.
The guidelines also say it is not necessary for residents to take iodine tablets at present.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency's health consultation phone number is 0120-755-199. Enquiries are accepted between 10 AM and 9 PM.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 03:01
Less than 60degrees Celsius at plant fuel pools
Japan's Defense Ministry says that the temperature of spent fuel rod pools in 2 reactors of a seriously damaged nuclear plant has fallen below 60 degrees Celsius.
The Ministry has been using helicopters to take infrared surveys of the surface temperatures of facilities at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant since Saturday.
The 3rd survey was done for half an hour from around 9 AM on Wednesday.According to the Ministry, the surface temperature of the spent fuel rod pool at the No. 3 reactor was 57 degrees Celsius. The rod pool at the No. 4 reactor was recorded at 22 degrees Celsius.
The first infrared survey on Sunday found temperatures under 100 degrees Celsius in the same facilities.
The surface temperature of the container vessel for the No. 3 reactor was 35 degrees Celsius, down from128 degrees on Sunday.
The surface temperatures of the buildings of all 6 reactors at the plant were below 40 degrees Celsius.
The Defense Ministry says the effort to cool the spent nuclear fuel rod pools contributed to the temperature falls.It was revealed on Wednesday that the temperature of the core in the No. 1 reactor had reached about 400 degrees Celsius. The ministry says the surface temperature of the building housing the reactor was 38 degrees on Wednesday, as observed by aerial survey.



Thursday, March 24, 2011 08:20
Aerial footage of tsunami taken over Miyagi
Video footage of a tsunami taken from a helicopter over Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, shows a series of huge waves surging toward the shore.
The footage was taken half an hour after the earthquake that struck the region on March 11th.
The helicopter flew from north to south along the Pacific coast covering the region from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture to Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture.
The video shows a wall of water uprooting trees all along the coastline of Wakabayashi District in Sendai before engulfing houses and paddy fields, and swallowing up huge quantities of sand and debris.
A large number of people are reported dead or missing in the Wakabayashi District.
The footage shows people fleeing to the roof of a nursing home, as the waves lap at the second floor of the building.In waters off Natori City, Miyagi, a phenomenon called an undular bore was confirmed to have occurred, in which a series of tsunami waves surged high near the shore and flooded onto land one after another.
Professor Fumihiko Imamura at the Tohoku University Disaster Control Research Center says the extensive damage was probably caused by more than 20 undular bores, with huge waves repeatedly coming ashore, putting pressure on houses and dikes.



Thursday, March 24, 2011 09:31
Steam rising from 4 reactors at Fukushima plant
An NHK helicopter crew has confirmed what appears to be steam rising from No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 reactor buildings at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
This is the first time that steam has been seen coming out of the No.1 reactor.
The helicopter crew was filming from a location more than 30 kilometers from the plant shortly before 7:00 AM on Thursday.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company says that black smoke seen rising from the No.3 reactor building on Wednesday was no longer visible as of 6:00 AM Thursday.



Thursday, March 24, 2011 10:03
Tohoku Expressway reopened to all traffic
The Tohoku Expressway, Japan's main artery connecting Tokyo and the quake-stricken northeast, has reopened for the first time since the earthquake struck on March 11.
Only emergency vehicles had been allowed to travel on the 300-kilometer section of the expressway between Utsunomiya interchange in Tochigi Prefecture and Ichinoseki interchange in Iwate Prefecture. But the ban on regular traffic was lifted at 6:00 AM on Thursday.
About a dozen motorists were waiting to enter the expressway at an interchange in Sendai.
A 53-year-old man from Iwate Prefecture said he was returning home after confirming the safety of his son.
Another driver expressed hope that the reopening of the expressway would speed up the distribution of goods.



Thursday, March 24, 2011 11:56
Pressure rises inside No.1 reactor container
Tokyo Electric Power Company is taking measures to reduce pressure inside the No.1 reactor containment vessel at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The power company began injecting more water into the No.1 reactor on Wednesday, after temperatures on the reactor surface reached about 400 degrees Celsius, exceeding the safety limit of 302 degrees.
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says the influx of massive amounts of water has raised the pressure inside the reactor containment vessel.
The power company cut back on the water injection early on Thursday. This resulted in pressure inside the container dropping to 0.3585 mega-pascals, below the safety limit of 0.528 mega-pascals.
The reactor temperature also dropped to 243 degrees as of 5:00 AM on Thursday.
The safety agency says the reactor remains stable for now, but it will continue monitoring it carefully.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 11:56
Civil engineers must work for quake-hit regions
Civil engineering experts in Japan say they should not waste time defending past studies by calling the latest earthquake beyond any expectations, and instead focus on working together to rebuild a strong nation.
The Japan Society of Civil Engineers, the Japanese Geotechnical Society, and the City Planning Institute of Japan released a joint statement in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The statement says the earthquake was of unprecedented scale for Japan in both magnitude and the extensive damage it caused.
But it says the focus now must be on joining hands to help rebuild quake-hit regions by studying the damage and reassessing past disaster prevention measures.
The 3 societies will send a fact-finding team to the quake zone and draw up new anti-disaster and reconstruction proposals to submit to the government.



Thursday, March 24, 2011 11:56
Lights on at No.1 reactor control room
The Tokyo Electric Power Company says lights have been turned on inside the control room of the No.1 reactor building at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Water injection resumes at No.3 reactor
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has resumed injecting water into a pool for spent fuel rods at the No.3 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The company had planned to restart the flow of cooling water using external power to the No.3 reactor pump on Wednesday.
But the work was suspended after black smoke was seen rising from the reactor building and workers were ordered to stay indoors. Work was also suspended at the No.1, No.2 and No.4 reactors.
The company resumed injecting water into the No.3 reactor pool at 5:30 AM on Thursday after confirming that the black smoke was no longer visible.
Workers will later resume efforts to restore the cooling system.They will also continue attempts to restore external power to control rooms at the No.1 and No.2 reactor buildings.



Thursday, March 24, 2011 12:02
The city of Kawaguchi, north of Tokyo, says radioactive iodine-131 has been detected in one of its 7 water purification facilities.
The municipal government announced on Thursday that it detected 120 becquerels of iodine per liter of water in a survey carried out on Tuesday. The reading is above the 100-becquerel safety level for infants but is safe for adults.
The city is calling on residents to refrain from letting infants drink tap water.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 13:39
Pressure rises inside No.1 reactor container
Tokyo Electric Power Company is taking measures to reduce pressure inside the No.1 reactor containment vessel at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The power company began injecting more water into the No.1 reactor on Wednesday, after temperatures on the reactor surface reached about 400 degrees Celsius, exceeding the safety limit of 302 degrees.
The power company says lights have been turned on inside the control room of the No.1 reactor building.
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says the influx of massive amounts of water has raised the pressure inside the reactor containment vessel.
The power company cut back on the water injection early on Thursday. This resulted in pressure inside the container dropping to 0.3585 mega-pascals, below the safety limit of 0.528 mega-pascals.
The reactor temperature also dropped to 243 degrees as of 5:00 AM on Thursday.
The safety agency says the reactor remains stable for now, but it will continue monitoring it carefully.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Thursday there has been no damage to the containment vessel of the No.1 reactor despite the rise in pressure inside. He also said that it is necessary to monitor the situation continuously.



Thursday, March 24, 2011 15:34
Iodine levels on the rise near Fukushima plant
Tokyo Electric Power Company says the level of radioactive iodine is on the rise in waters near the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
On Wednesday morning, the plant operator detected radioactive iodine-131 at a level 147 times higher than safety standards at a location 330 meters away from a water outlet of the facility.
The substance measured 127 times above the standard on Monday, when the first survey was conducted. The reading dropped the following day to 30 times over the benchmark.
Wednesday's survey also found higher-than-standard doses of radioactive cesium-134 and cesium-137.
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says levels of radioactive materials fluctuate depending on ocean currents, adding it will continue to closely monitor the situation.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 15:43
2 nuclear plant workers sent to hospital
Japan's nuclear safety agency says 2 workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were taken to hospital on Thursday after being exposed to high-level radiation at the plant.
The agency says the workers' feet were accidentally exposed to 170 to 180 millisieverts of radiation while they were working in the turbine building of the Number 3 reactor.
A third worker was also exposed to radiation but apparently did not require treatment.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 15:34
Radiation level drops at Tokyo water plant
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says the measurement of a radioactive substance at a water purification plant dropped below the safety limit for infants on Thursday.
It said on Thursday that a test at the Kanamachi water purification plant on Thursday morning found 79 becquerels of radioactive iodine-131 per liter of water -- below the recommended limit of 100 becquerels for infants.
But it warns of the possibility that water containing higher levels of radioactive iodine could remain in pipes and water tanks for the next couple of days.
Radioactive iodine 2 times above the limit for infants was detected at the water purification plant on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been advising against using tap water for infants' consumption in Tokyo's 23 wards and 5 adjacent cities that use the water from the purification plant.
It said it will continue testing the radioactive level at the water treatment plant from Friday on, pointing out it will withdraw the advisory if the level stays below the safety limit.
. . . . . Comment from Gabi:
Just heared on the news that water in a plant in Chiba is now contaminated and some towns are on tap water alert. Levels in Kawaguchi on the other hand, are also back to normal.



Thursday, March 24, 2011 17:12
Tokyo lifts advice against tap water
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it has lifted its advice against using tap water for consumption by infants in Tokyo's 23 wards and 5 adjacent cities.
The government said the level of radioactive iodine-131 in water at the Kanamachi purification plant on Thursday morning had dropped to 79 becquerels per liter -- below the recommended limit of 100 for infants under 1 year old. The government added that the level has been falling for 3 days.
The advisory had been issued after levels above the limit were detected at the plant on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Friday, the government plans to continue testing the level at the plant and distribute 240,000 bottles of water to households with infants, following similar distribution on Thursday.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 18:58
High radiation levels detected 30km off nuke plant
Japan's science ministry says levels of radioactive substances up to twice recommended limits were detected in waters 30 kilometers off the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.
The ministry conducted a survey on Wednesday in 8 locations over a distance of 70 kilometers from north to south in the Pacific Ocean. Radioactive iodine-131 and radioactive cesium-137 were detected at all locations.
Levels of radioactive iodine-131 were from 1.05 to 1.92 times higher than the limit. Readings for radioactive cesium-137 were all below the limit, but about 10,000 times higher than a similar survey last year.
Another survey conducted by the Tokyo Electric Power Company on Wednesday detected radioactive iodine-131 at 146.9 times the limit, 330 meters away from a water outlet of the nuclear plant. The same substance was detected at a level 19.1 times higher than allowable limits on the coast 16 kilometers south of the plant.
The science ministry says it will continue analyzing the impact of the radioactivity on marine resources and the environment.
A senior consultant at the Marine Ecology Research Institute, Jun Misonoo, says contamination decreases further off the coast. He says radioactive iodine-131 levels fall by half in 8 days, and the impact on fish fades away.
Misonoo says that although radioactive cesium is unlikely to affect human health, monitoring should continue to assess its impact inside fish.




Thursday, March 24, 2011 19:10
SDF getting help from US nuclear specialists
The Chief of Staff of Japan's Self-Defense Forces says his personnel are working with US military specialists to bring the Fukushima nuclear plant under control.
General Ryoichi Oriki told a news conference on Thursday that the SDF are playing a leading role at the Fukushima plant, coordinating firefighters and police.
Oriki said they are getting cooperation from US military nuclear specialists who have been sent to the Yokota base in Tokyo.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 21:08
56 patients die in disaster-hit areas
NHK has found that inadequate medical care following the March 11th earthquake has left at least 56 hospital patients dead.
NHK surveyed 255 hospitals with 100 beds or more in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures hit hardest by the massive quake and tsunami.
A major hospital in Tagajo City in Miyagi says 13 patients in their 80s died after the tsunami flooded its generator system, shorting out heating and medical equipment.
At another hospital in Kamaishi City in Iwate, 12 elderly patients died of pneumonia under similar conditions.
Most are believed to have died because they did not receive sufficient care due to prolonged power outages and delays in the delivery of medical supplies.
A doctor who has worked for emergency care says that the most ill patients need to be immediately moved to another hospital outside the disaster-affected areas.
He said that emergency medical staff should be sent to the areas to help local hospitals treat survivors.
The doctor is a veteran of the 1995 Kobe earthquake.


Thursday, March 24, 2011 21:10
Restoration efforts continue at damaged nuke plant
Electricity supply has been restored at the control room of the No.1 reactor of the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says lights in the control room were switched on again before noon on Thursday, 2 days after lights were turned on in the control room of the No.3 reactor.
Work to restore outside power sources was suspended on Wednesday after dark smoke billowed from the No.3 reactor building.
Workers at the reactor continued efforts to launch a test run of a pump to supply fresh water using outside power sources. But the pump remains unusable as it's not known how much water is left in the reactor tank.
TEPCO, meanwhile, says three people working in a turbine building near the No.3 reactor were exposed to 173 to 180 millisieverts of radiation.
Operations have been halted on the reactor's first floor and basement.
Pumps were inspected at the No.2 and 4 reactors.
Inspectors are said to be facing difficulty at the No.2 reactor due to high levels of radiation.




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Voices from around


. The Daily Reading List . 　



quote (at 16:00)　　
3 workers injured at Japanese nuke plant
Nuclear officials says three workers have been exposed to radioactive elements at Japan's tsunami-crippled plant and that two of them were injured and sent to hospital for treatment.
Fumio Matsuda, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency, says the workers were injured while laying electrical cables Thursday at Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-chi plant. Two of them were exposed to radioactive elements on the skin of their feet, and taken to hospital for treatment.
Matsuda says the workers were exposed to radiation levels of up to 180 millisieverts, which is less than the maximum amount of 250 millisieverts that the government is allowing for workers at the plant.
About two dozen people have been injured since the plant began leaking radiation after suffering tsunami damage March 11.
source : news.yahoo.com

. . . . .

quote
Japan nuclear crisis still a serious concern
Tokyo residents were warned not to give babies tap water because of radiation leaking from a nuclear plant crippled in the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan in the world's costliest natural disaster.
The U.N. atomic agency said there had been some positive developments at the Fukushima nuclear plant 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo but the overall situation remained serious. Some countries have started blocking imports of produce from Japan, fearful of radiation contamination.
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said that level posed no immediate risk. "But, for infants under age one, I would like them to refrain from using tap water to dilute baby formula."
source : news.yahoo.com/

. . . . .

quote 　　
Update: Radioactive Iodine Levels Down in Tokyo’s Water,
Elevated Levels Radiation in Tap Water Found Outside Tokyo
Radiation levels at Tokyo’s Katsushika Kanamachi Water Purification Plant went down to normal levels – 79 becquerels per liter.

Yesterday levels were detected at: 210 becquerels per liter of iodine-131 – more than twice the recommended limit of 100 becquerels per liter for infants. Government officials said parents should stop giving the tap water to babies, but they should not worry if the infants already had consumed small amounts. Edano urged calm.
source : www.majiroxnews.com

. . . . .

quote 　　
Anxiety in Japan over radiation in tap water
TOKYO – Shops across Tokyo began rationing goods — milk, toilet paper, rice and water — as a run on bottled water coupled with delivery disruptions left shelves bare Thursday nearly two weeks after a devastating earthquake and tsunami.
... Radiation has seeped into raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas around the plant.

Concerns also spread to Europe. In Iceland, officials said they measured trace amounts of radioactive iodine in the air but assured residents it was "less than a millionth" of levels found in European countries in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

New readings showed Tokyo tap water was back to safe levels Thursday but the relief was tempered by elevated levels of the cancer-linked isotope in two neighboring prefectures: Chiba and Saitama.
source : news.yahoo.com


. . . . .

quote
Callum Macrae : Awed in Japan
You know what: Looting in a disaster?
In America, in the U.K.--yes, that is exactly what might happen.
But not here. Not in northern Japan.
source : www.pbs.org

. . . . .

quote 　　
'Triangle of Life' Earthquake Survival Method
Doug Copp's emailed advice on earthquake survival tactics
... 2) Cats, dogs and babies all naturally often curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.
... 4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed
... 7) Never go to the stairs.
source : urbanlegends.about.com

. . . . .

quote
Disaster analysis you may not hear elsewhere
By ERIKO ARITA
The seemingly limited information being provided by both the government and the operating company, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), about the ongoing disaster at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is a source of widespread public concern.
However, a nonprofit organization focused on nuclear power issues and founded in Tokyo in 1975 — and which includes among its contributors former engineers at such power plants — has been clearly presenting expert analysis of the situation since its inception with the megaquake and tsunami that struck the northeast of the country on the afternoon of Friday, March 11.
source : japantimes.co.jp



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a child's hand
reaches up from the rubble –
the scent of plum

They found a baby in the rubble . . .

cluttered in rubble
dreams of yesterday
lumped in

... many of the stories are so sad. It breaks my heart and I'm a helpless poet with a soul that longs to help humankind ...
and falls short ...

dreamspace
in a floating car
... someone

And, so I read the stories of tragedy. I ponder moment to moment the pain and suffering of Japan. I bleed and it doesn't show but it does to God.
Is there words that can capture this devastation or is it left to cameras to tell a story of no words?

silence
the dove's wings mumble
through the storm

Don Baird, California
. Kigo Hotline .






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