All About Japanese

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koshidaka tora 腰高虎 tiger holding his hip up



This is a papermachee doll in the tradition of Miharu Dolls, Fukushima.

Many were made after WW II. The tiger holding up his bottom is an old tradition from the Edo period. The male tiger has his head is slightly bent to the left and the mouth is wide open. There is also a female with the mouth closed, looking to the right.

Thus they represent the "A-Un" spirit of Buddhism, represented in the Deva Kings.



. Tiger Toys from Japan .





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August 25, 2011



Thursday, August 25, 2011 04:31

Cattle shipment ban lifted in Fukushima

The Japanese government is going to allow Fukushima and 2 other prefectures to resume shipments of beef cattle once they clear radiation tests.

The government says it will lift the shipment ban for Fukushima, Iwate and Tochigi Prefectures on Thursday as safety arrangements have been put in place.

The government imposed the ban on the 3 prefectures as well as Miyagi Prefecture on July 19th after higher levels of radioactive cesium than the government limit were detected in beef samples from cattle that were fed contaminated rice straw at farms in those regions.

The ban in Miyagi Prefecture was lifted last Friday.

Cattle from all regions around the country will now be allowed to be sold if they clear radioactive screening.

Under the new safety arrangements, the local governments will test all cattle from farms where radioactive cesium over the legal limit was detected, as well as from farms in the evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Other farms will have to put only the first head of cattle they intend to ship out to screenings.



Thursday, August 25, 2011 18:54

Cattle farmer comments on lifting of bans

A cattle farmer in Iwate Prefecture has expressed mixed feelings concerning Thursday's announcement by the government on the lifting of its ban on beef cattle shipments in the region.

Ryoichi Hatsugai has about 50 head of brand cattle from which Maezawa beef is made. His source of income has been cut off since the government placed a shipment ban on cows in the region on August 1st. He had to dip into his savings to cover feed and other expenses.

Hatsugai said the bans have been lifted at long last. But he said he is worried about whether prices of beef will return to the levels they were before the March 11th disaster, as beef prices have slumped since the disaster and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

He said he wants the government to assure the public that beef in the region is safe, and to consider compensation for the damage farmers in the region have suffered.





Thursday, August 25, 2011 - NHK

Another reactor to be shut down for inspection

A nuclear reactor in Hokkaido, northern Japan, will shut down shortly for regular inspections, leaving over 75 percent of the country's reactors out of service.

Hokkaido Electric Power Company says it will begin reducing the influx of steam into the turbine of the number 2 reactor at the Tomari nuclear power plant on Thursday. The reactor will shut down in the early hours of Friday for 3 months of checkups.

That will bring the number of inactive reactors around the country to 41, or 76 percent of the total number of 54.

Eleven of the inactive reactors were initially scheduled to resume operations after regular checkups have been completed later this month.

But the utilities are now obliged to conduct stress tests as a new government-ordered safety measure. They must also get approvals to restart from local communities.

Three active reactors will also be shut down for regular checkups by September, another 8 by later this year, and the remaining 2 by early next year.

This means that all the reactors in the country could be out of service next spring.





Radiation limits to be tightened at schools

Radiation limits to be tightened at schools

The Japanese government will tighten radiation exposure limits for children at schools in Fukushima Prefecture.

The education ministry says it will lower the threshold for cumulative external radiation permitted at schools and kindergartens to a maximum annual exposure of one millisievert. The figure translates to less than one microsievert per hour.

The previous standards of a maximum 20 millisieverts per year and 3.8 microsieverts per hour were set in April following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The ministry says the subsequent removal of topsoil from playgrounds has pushed radiation readings at all schools below the 3.8 benchmark.

It says it will not require schools to keep children indoors even if radiation levels exceed the new limits, but recommends that they be promptly decontaminated if they go outside.

The ministry is to inform Fukushima Prefecture of its decision to change standards on Friday.



Thursday, August 25, 2011 17:34

TEPCO executive knew about tsunami predictions

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says a top executive knew about a simulation 3 years ago suggesting that a tsunami over 10 meters high could hit the plant in the event of a major earthquake.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company said at a news conference on Thursday that then-senior vice president Ichiro Takekuro was briefed about the simulation results conducted in the spring of 2008. The plant was designed to withstand a tsunami only up to 5.7 meters high.

A spokesperson of the utility said it did not publicize the results because they were based on a hypothetical situation.

Japan's nuclear regulatory agency disclosed on Wednesday that Tokyo Electric did not report the prediction to the agency until March 7th -- 4 days before the more-than-10-meter-high tsunami hit the plant.

An agency official criticized the firm for withholding the information for so long, saying it would have helped in risk assessment.

On Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said he'd been told that Tokyo Electric knew in 2008 about the possibility of a major tsunami.

Edano said it's extremely regrettable that the utility did not act on the simulation results and beef up the plant when it had plenty of time to do so.

He also said it's regrettable that the firm did not provide the information until it was forced to do so because of a government probe.





Thursday, August 25, 2011 20:57

150 Buddhist priests remember March 11th victims

About 150 Buddhist priests from various sects have joined in a memorial service in Tokyo for people killed in the March earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan.

A column of priests walked along a 200-meter path from the gate of Sensoji Temple to its main hall in the service on Thursday. The temple in the downtown Asakusa area is a popular tourist destination.

The priests were accompanied by the sound of Japanese flutes, and followed by relatives of victims. In the hall, the priests chanted sutras for those killed in the disaster, and for the speedy recovery of affected areas.

A woman whose mother in Miyagi Prefecture was killed in the tsunami expressed gratitude that so many priests attended the memorial.

A representative of the group that organized the service said he came up with the idea for the event because the temple is close to Ueno Station, the start of major railways to northern Japan.





. . . . . Japan Times . . . . .



3/7: Tepco gave NISA high-wave scenarios

Tokyo Electric Power Co. was aware 10-meter-plus tsunami could hit the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station as early as in 2008, reporting the results of simulations for the first time to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on March 7 -- four days before 13-meter waves knocked out the plant, leading to three meltdowns.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110825a1.html



Officials to inspect agricultural products without advance notice

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110825a3.html



No livestock farmers apply for government help

... Under the support program, the government offers subsidies to livestock farmers to remove tsunami debris and repair facilities. To apply, they are required first to form a union with at least five households as members, and the group is then required to begin operating as a collective, with jointly owned and run cattle, pig and poultry barns.

But many livestock farmers in the four prefectures — Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima — operate as independently run farms, and it is hard for them to operate jointly as their farms are located some distance from each other, according to the authorities.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110825a8.html



Nuclear refugees struggle to cope with uncertain future

... For the past five months, Kamoshita and her two children have lived a life in exile, moving five times — from a relative's house in Yokohama to an apartment in a western suburb of Tokyo, from the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka to another hotel in Shibuya Ward, and finally to an apartment in Chiyoda Ward in late July that the metropolitan government has made available until the end of next July. ...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110825f1.html





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August 26, 2011



Another clouded morning.

Two typhoons and one tropical depression loom south of Japan.



Friday, August 26, 2011 14:32 - NHK

Auction of Miyagi beef resumes

Auctions of beef from Miyagi Prefecture resumed on Friday, one week after the Japanese government lifted a ban on shipment of beef cattle from the prefecture. The ban was imposed because of fears of radioactive contamination from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The government lifted the ban on Miyagi beef cattle on August 19th, saying that sufficient measures had been put in place to ensure its safety. A similar ban on beef cattle from Fukushima, Iwate and Tochigi prefectures was lifted on Thursday.

The ban on beef cattle from Miyagi had been imposed on July 28th after radioactive cesium exceeding the government's safety limit was detected in meat from cattle fed with contaminated rice straw.

The beef auctions resumed at a wholesale market in Sendai City, the capital of Miyagi prefecture.

Before the start of the bidding, Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai handed Sendai's vice mayor a document attesting to the safety of the beef from all 90 heads of cattle.

Sendai City decided to independently test all beef sold at its wholesale market. But due to limits of its testing capacity, the city says it can only handle around 90 heads of cattle a day, roughly 60 percent of the amount that was being traded before the ban.



Friday, August 26, 2011 14:06

Residents near nuke plant make temporarily return

Local residents whose homes are within 3 kilometers of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been allowed to return home for the first time since the accident in March.

The government permitted residents of Futaba Town and Okuma Town in Fukushima Prefecture to temporarily return home on Friday because radiation levels in these areas have stabilized.

Since May, residents living between 3 and 20 kilometers from the plant have been allowed to make home visits, but those living within 3 kilometers of the plant have not.

A 20-kilometer area around the plant has been designated a no-go zone.

On Friday morning, 117 people from 64 households in Futaba Town gathered outside the no-go zone and put on protective suits before riding buses to their destinations. Also making the trip were 35 family members and officials from a home for the elderly requiring special care in Okuma Town.

The group is being given 2 hours to collect necessary belongings before returning in the afternoon.





. . . . . Japan Times . . . . .



Ban on beef shipments lifted

The government lifts the last bans on shipments of beef cattle ? from Iwate, Fukushima and Tochigi prefectures ? that were suspended due to leaks of radioactive material from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110826a1.html



Fukushima cleanup sets two-year goals

Japan will seek to halve the amount of radiation in residential areas around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and cut children's daily radiation dose by 60 percent over the next two years, according to an emergency decontamination policy document.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110826a3.html



Fukushima to state: Buy the leftovers

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110826a4.html



Fukushima rice tests show no contamination

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110826a5.html



Kepco tests reactors for restart plan

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110826a6.html



Canadian firms keen to engage with postdisaster Japan

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110826f3.html



Tepco's personnel costs higher than firms in other fields, state panel says

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nb20110826a2.html



Accelerate decontamination

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/ed20110826a1.html



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August 27, 2011



Saturday, August 27, 2011 02:16 - NHK

Hokkaido Elec. Power Co. to probe e-mail deception

Hokkaido Electric Power Company admits that it urged employees to attend a symposium and express views in support of one of its nuclear energy projects.

Officials from the utility, which covers Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, held a news conference on Friday about the 2008 symposium.

The move comes after 2 other utilities in Japan admitted using similar forums to manipulate public opinion in favor of their nuclear projects.

The symposium in Hokkaido was about a project involving plutonium-uranium oxide, or MOX, fuel at the Tomari nuclear power plant. The meeting was sponsored by the Hokkaido prefectural government and local governments of municipalities hosting the power plant.

The utility said its public relations department sent out e-mails to nuclear power-related offices asking them to have as many people as possible attend the symposium and speak in favor of the MOX project.

The company said it takes the case seriously, and that it will investigate how the public relations department came to take such action. It will also look into how many employees actually attended the symposium and the possible impact of any statements they made.



5 candidates run for Democratic Party presidency

. The Political Situation . 　INFO .



. . . . . Japan Times . . . . .



Futaba evacuees get first home visits

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110827a4.html



Stray Sendai kittens seek Tokyo homes

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110827a5.html



Low levels of cesium found in rice

The Fukushima Prefectural Government said Friday a small amount of radioactive cesium, below the allowable limit, was detected in raw rice in Nihonmatsu, some 60 km from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

... The prefectural government also said no cesium was detected in rice harvested in Koriyama and Motomiya, which are also about 60 km from the Fukushima plant.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110827a8.html





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August 28, 2011



The two typhoons are still hovering South of Japan, not moving very much ... scary, with the Hurricane Irene in America now . . .





Sunday, August 28, 2011 02:15 - NHK

Kan: Central storage plant planned in Fukushima

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has informed the governor of Fukushima Prefecture of a plan to build a central storage plant to temporarily manage nuclear waste, including contaminated soil.

At a meeting in Fukushima City on Saturday, Governor Yuhei Sato responded that he was troubled to hear about such a plan so suddenly.

He asked the government to take responsible action, as the plan would be extremely serious for the prefecture and relevant municipalities that have suffered greatly from the nuclear accident.

After the meeting, Kan told reporters that the government has no intention of making the plant a final facility. He said he needed to make the request in order to pave the way to begin carrying out decontamination.



. . . . . Japan Times . . . . .



Kan wants Fukushima nuke waste storage site

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110828a2.html



Cesium release equal to 168 Hiroshima A-bombs

The amount of radioactive cesium ejected by the Fukushima reactor meltdowns is about 168 times higher than that emitted in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the government's nuclear watchdog said Friday.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency provided the estimate at the request of a Diet panel but noted that making a simple comparison between an instantaneous bomb blast and a long-term accidental leak is problematic and could lead to "irrelevant" results.

MORE ...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110828a4.html



..................and



‎. . . Government nuclear experts, however, said the World War II bomb blast and the accidental reactor meltdowns at

Fukushima, which has seen ongoing radiation leaks

. . . . . but no deaths so far,

were beyond comparison.

.

While the Hiroshima bomb claimed most of its victims in the intense heatwave of a mid-air nuclear explosion and the highly radioactive fallout from its mushroom cloud, no such nuclear explosions hit Fukushima.



source : www.japantoday.com



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sources



. . Bulletins from NHK WORLD



. . Japan Times





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