All About Japanese

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sunday in April -
the suppressed fatigue
of the last weeks

despite the cherry blossoms
despite the sunshine


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Gabi reports:

. . . . . at 0:56
Earthquake M5.8 (weak 5) in Niigata

Strong earthquakes may still happen in the region and people must be alert in Tohoku and Kanto. The quake yesterday morning around eleven of M5.9 was felt mostly in Ibaraki

. . . . .

Tokyo levels going down :
. Daily Radiation Levels 　


A very cold morning with frost even here! Later on the sun comes out and we hope for a sunny day on the cherry blossoms.

13,705 people dead
14,175 people missing

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In Vietnam a cherity concert among cherry blossoms raised a lot of donations.

Many photos taken out of the debris are now cleaned and layed open for the survivors to find their own.

Since the announcement of payments by TEPCO, many of the evacuees have voiced their disagreement with the preliminary steps and want more ... and faster ...
. Tepco compensation irks evacuees 　

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The IMF suggests to pay close attention to the Japanese economy. Prizes of food and oil might climb, some are already climbing in the world.

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I saw a feature about the rebuilding of a fishing village in Okushiri island, Hokkaido, after a devastating tsunami in 1933.
Southwest Hokkaidō Open Sea earthquake (北海道南西沖地震)
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

They build most of the new living quarters on higher ground now, and for the fishermen working along the coast there are variuos concrete platforms to climb up to and from there via a bridge reach a road to the higher ground, so they can evacuate fast.
It took the village Aona 青苗 5 years to recover.

. . . . .

Hundreds of aftershocks worsen Japan's quake trauma
(see text in the comments below)

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Bulletins from NHK Online

source : www3.nhk.or.jp


Saturday, April 16, 2011 23:55
Radioactivity rises again in sea near No.2 reactor
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says levels of radioactive substances in seawater have risen again near the water intake of its No.2 reactor.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company, known as TEPCO, says it detected 260 becquerels of iodine-131 per cubic centimeter in samples taken on Friday. That is 6,500 times the legal limit.
In the same area, levels of iodine-131 had been declining since April 2nd when 7.5 million times the limit was detected. On Thursday, the level was 1,100 times the safety limit.
TEPCO says the level of radioactive cesium-137 was also up in the same area. It detected 130 becquerels per cubic centimeter, 1,400 times the legal limit.
The firm also says that on Friday, radioactive iodine measured 30 kilometers east of the facility rose to 4 times the legal limit.
TEPCO has installed underwater barriers and metal boards near the intake to prevent contaminated water from leaking into the sea.
The power company says no new sources of leakage have been found.
.
Ozawa criticizes Prime Minister Kan's leadership
The former leader of Japan's Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa, has criticized Prime Minister Naoto Kan for his handling of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. ... Ozawa also said Japan has to rely on nuclear power as a transitional energy source but he also called for promoting alternative eco-friendly energy sources such as solar power.
.
Govt seeks support over new evacuation areas
The Japanese government is seeking the support of residents around the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant over the expansion of evacuation areas.
On Saturday, Deputy Chief Cabinet Tetsuro Fukuyama 福山哲郎 visited Iitate Village and Kawamata Town.
The government on Monday ordered the residents of these and 3 other municipalities to evacuate in about a month, citing the risk of annual exposure exceeding 20 milisieverts.
Fukuyama apologized to about 120 villagers in Iitate for causing them anxieties and worries.
He said the independent and sustained functions of the Fukushima plant's cooling systems have yet to be secured. He said the amount of radiation observed in Iitate has increased and that the government is asking the villagers to evacuate based on scientific data. He said the government is giving top priority to their health and safety.
Fukuyama also said the government is considering building temporary housing and also renting housing for evacuees from the village.
He assured the villagers that they will be compensated for agricultural losses, and said the government is also considering moving their cattle to neighboring communities.
Some villagers asked that the government promise that they will be allowed to return to their village and do all it can to revive the community through measures such as improving soil contaminated with radioactive substances.
Others said that as they are no longer able to ship raw milk, there is no other choice but give up dairy farming. They asked that the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company buy up all their cattle.
Fukuyama said the government will keep monitoring radiation levels and, once areas are judged safe again, residents will be allowed to return.


Sunday, April 17, 2011 06:49
Foreign firms to build temporary housing
The Japanese government will allow foreign companies to build temporary housing in order to speed up reconstruction efforts in disaster-stricken northeastern Japan.
Local authorities in affected regions have asked for 72,000 temporary houses to be built. However, so far construction is under way on only 10,800 units.
The Land and Infrastructure Ministry decided to allow foreign companies to build temporary housing as long as they meet certain conditions. One is that they must have the capacity to build more than 100 units in 2 months. They are also required to meet Japanese standards for electrical voltage and wall plugs, and must form joint partnerships with Japanese construction companies for maintenance work.
Ministry officials say they have already received inquiries from house construction companies in the United States, Italy, South Korea and China.
Local governments will consider ordering temporary houses after receiving bids from foreign companies.
After the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, 3,000 of 47,000 temporary houses were imported.


Sunday, April 17, 2011 06:49
Dosimeters to be distributed to public schools
As radioactive substances continue to leak from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the Japanese government has decided to distribute dosimeters to all public schools in Fukushima prefecture.
Students started their new school year earlier this month, but many parents and teachers are worried whether it is safe to let children attend classes.
The Ministry of Education will deliver 1,700 dosimeters to public schools, in order to measure the amount of accumulated radiation for each location.
The Ministry will also install radiation monitoring systems at schools near the nuclear plant, where high levels have been detected.
The Ministry has proposed an 11 million dollar budget for the purchase and operation of the necessary equipment, and will make the radiation data available to the public.


Sunday, April 17, 2011 06:49
Clinton visits Japan to discuss disaster recovery
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Japan on Sunday, to express her country's support for recovery efforts following the March 11th natural disaster.
Clinton will arrive in Japan after meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak in Seoul earlier in the day. She attended the NATO Foreign Ministers' conference in Germany from Wednesday through Friday. ...The US government is also concerned about domestic public opinion of its own nuclear power industry.



Sunday, April 17, 2011 09:20
TEPCO finalizes plan to cool down reactors
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has finalized a new plan to cool down the troubled reactors. Tokyo Electric Power Company will install a new cooling system that filters contaminated water and recirculates it back into the reactors.
Following the quake and tsunami, cooling systems broke down in reactors 1, 2 and 3. TEPCO workers have been pumping in cold water in an effort to keep them from overheating.

However, the water inside the reactors quickly becomes contaminated with high levels of radioactive substances. Due to possible structural damage in the quake, contaminated reactor water has been leaking into the basements of neighboring turbine buildings and service tunnels. This has impeded emergency repair work and created a disposal problem.To best deal with the present circumstances, TEPCO plans to first pump contaminated wastewater outside the turbine buildings where it can be more safely cooled and filtered. Radioactive substances and salt are removed and a continuous supply of treated water is circulated to gradually cool down the reactors.
TEPCO is scheduled to start operating the new cooling system by summer.


Sunday, April 17, 2011 10:46
Kan contributes message to English-language papers
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has asked the international community to act calmly, stressing that all Japanese food and other products are safe as strict scientific criteria were introduced after the nuclear accident.
Kan contributed a message titled "Japan's road to recovery and rebirth" to the Washington Post and International Herald Tribune, which has a global readership.
In the message, Kan says he takes very seriously and deeply regrets the nuclear accidents at the Fukushima plant. He says bringing the situation under control at the earliest possible moment is his top priority.
Addressing concern about the safety of food and other products, he says his government has taken great precautions to ensure safety and will redouble its efforts to maintain transparency and keep everyone informed of progress at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Kan says he is certain that Japan will recover from the disaster just as its people rose from the ashes of the Second World War to achieve the present prosperity.
Kan's contribution to the foreign newspapers came as the nuclear accident prompted many countries to take steps to restrict imports of Japanese food.


Sunday, April 17, 2011 14:34
Work under way for transfer of contaminated water
The level of radioactive water that has accumulated on the premises of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant keeps rising amid concern that the water might overflow, further polluting the ocean.
The radioactive water is believed to originate from water injected to cool the Number 2 reactor, which was seriously damaged by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
In the utility tunnel outside the reactor, the contaminated water is rising despite the firm's effort to move some of it to a condenser tank last week. As of Sunday morning, the water reached 85 centimeters below ground level, threatening to overflow into the ocean.
Tokyo Electric Power Company hopes to begin transfer of the water some time this week to a nuclear waste facility that can hold 30,000 tons of such water. It is now conducting final checks so that leaks of radioactive material will not occur from the facility.
Underground water at the plant is no exception from radioactive contamination. The level of radioactive substances is increasing at facilities where underground water from the Number 1 and 2 reactors is collected. The concentration of cesium-134 on Wednesday was 38 times the reading a week earlier.
In another development, the utility firm will start using US-made robots on Sunday for measuring radiation levels and taking pictures inside the reactor's buildings.
High levels of radiation have kept workers from entering the area to contain the situation.



Sunday, April 17, 2011 15:19
TEPCO issues containment schedule for plant
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it hopes to have the nuclear crisis under control in around 6 to 9 months.
During that period, Tokyo Electric Power Company plans to cool nuclear fuel in the reactors.
It also plans to prevent the release of radioactive substances into the environment.
.
TEPCO finalizes plan to cool down reactors
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has finalized a new plan to cool down the troubled reactors. Tokyo Electric Power Company will install a new cooling system that filters contaminated water and recirculates it back into the reactors.
Following the quake and tsunami, cooling systems broke down in reactors 1, 2 and 3. TEPCO workers have been pumping in cold water in an effort to keep them from overheating.
However, the water inside the reactors quickly becomes contaminated with high levels of radioactive substances. Due to possible structural damage in the quake, contaminated reactor water has been leaking into the basements of neighboring turbine buildings and service tunnels. This has impeded emergency repair work and created a disposal problem.
To best deal with the present circumstances, TEPCO plans to first pump contaminated wastewater outside the turbine buildings where it can be more safely cooled and filtered. Radioactive substances and salt are removed and a continuous supply of treated water is circulated to gradually cool down the reactors.
TEPCO is scheduled to start operating the new cooling system by summer.

(I saw a long press conference about this, hope to find the details tomorrow.)


Sunday market reopens in tsunami-hit Kesennuma
Residents of Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, have enjoyed shopping at a local market that reopened on Sunday, more than one month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck the city.
Around 30 shops, less than half the pre-disaster number, sold vegetables and dried marine products to regular customers who came to the market early in the morning.
The market had been open every Sunday for the past 37 years near Kesennuma Port, the center of the local fishing industry. But the tsunami swept it away.
The new market is about 2 kilometers from the old one.
Fish dealers from Hakodate in Hokkaido, northern Japan, came to celebrate the reopening of the market and gave away crabs to shoppers.
One shopper said residents had awaited reopening of the market as the first step toward reconstruction.
The vendors' group says it still plans to hold the market every Sunday.
A member of the group says fish dealers are unlikely to return to the market for some time, but the group wants to cheer up local residents by resuming business.

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Voices from around

. The Daily Reading List . 　


Convenience stores in Tohoku
The confidence to look out again
Japan's food crisis goes beyond recent panic buying
. Japan Times, April 17 　

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quote 　　
Beautiful Matsushima-
the story behind the Relief Fund
Matsushima is a group of over 260 islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The beautiful pine tree islands (matsu – pine, shima – island) are breathtaking in their natural beauty and peacefulness. Soon after we arrived there we would find out that these beautiful islands would protect us from the deadly tsunamis of March 11th that destroyed so many of the towns around us.
...
Friday 2:45 There is no hint of what is coming.
source : Matsushima Relief Fund . facebook
Take your time to read this report by Kathleen.


Matsushima ya
. Matsushima ... news in this BLOG 　　


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My haiku friend Louis at "We are all Japan" wrote

no separation between things :
the analogy suggested is of a net of gems : the universe as a great spread-out net with at every joint a gem, and each gem not only reflecting all the others but itself reflected in all.

My answer is

looking for my pearls
in the debris of tsunami -
waiting for summer

source : facebook


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