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January 2012
. The Year of the Dragon .
. Join the Dragon Friends .
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Sunday, January 1, 2012
The first sunrise in my valley was wonderful!
Radiation in Japan :
Fukushima 0.96
Tokyo 0.054
Aomori 0.028
Shizuoka 0.039
. Daily Radiation Levels .
Arrival of 2012 observed
Many worshippers have paid their first visit of the new year to shrines and temples in Japan, praying for the health of their family and rebuilding of life from the March disaster last year.
At Tokyo's Meiji Shrine, after a drumbeat signaled the arrival of 2012, people threw money into boxes for offerings, and prayed.
Some of them bought charms to ward off bad luck, while others wrote their wishes on wooden plaques.
A high school student said that 2011 was a depressing year with the March disaster but she intends to overcome the difficulty and enjoy life with strong conviction this year.
Meiji Shrine officials say they expect more than three million visitors during the first three days of January, about the same number as in previous years.
In Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture, which was hit hard by the tsunami in March, many people gathered on top of a hill to welcome the first sunrise of the year.
When the sun began to rise behind a mountain, many took photographs. As the sun shed light over the devastated area, some pressed their hands together and prayed, facing toward the area where many lives were lost.
A 52-year-old woman who lost her house to the tsunami said she still feels sad looking at the affected area. She said that 2011 was a year of hardship, and she hopes 2012 will be a happy one.
DIY cesium scanning store may be 'new normal'
The triple disasters in March set the unthinkable in motion in 2011, and the surreal sight of a DIY radiation testing facility standing next to an Internet cafe in a Chiba city raises a question for Japan: Is this the new normal?
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120101f1.html
What 2011 means for Japan in 2012 and beyond
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120101c2.html
Japan's population decline accelerated in 2011
2011 saw the fewest number of newborns since the end of World War Two in Japan. The decline in the country's population is accelerating.
The health ministry estimates that one million 57 thousand babies were born in 2011. That's a drop of about 14,000 from the previous year.
The number of deaths in 2011 was estimated at one million 261 thousand. That's up around 64,000 due to the aging population and the March disaster. ...
Temporary problem with reactor monitoring system
The Japanese government's nationwide nuclear reactor monitoring system failed to provide data for at least 24 hours before being restored on Saturday afternoon.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says that on early Friday afternoon a rapid reaction point near Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture reported that all data from the Emergency Response and Support System was not showing up on its screens.
The system monitors pressure, temperature, and other real-time conditions of reactors at nuclear power plants across the country, as well as radiation dosage in surrounding areas. The system also predicts future conditions of reactors based on such data.
The information can be accessed from terminals at the agency and rapid reaction points around the country.
The agency says its investigation discovered that a facility of the state-affiliated operator of the system was not transmitting any data for unknown reasons.
But the system recovered without any grave result at around 2:30 PM on Saturday. The agency says it is looking into the cause of the problem and how long the system was out of operation.
The agency says it regrets that important data became temporarily inaccessible. It also apologizes for a delay in the announcement.
Emperor delivers New Year message
The Emperor and Empress have received New Year greetings from family members at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
Sunday's ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Cabinet.
Lower House Speaker Takahiro Yokomichi and Upper House President Kenji Hirata offered good wishes to the Emperor and the Imperial family on behalf of the nation's lawmakers.
The Emperor said in a speech that he prays for the Japanese people and the country's development on the occasion of the New Year.
The Imperial couple also received greetings from foreign ambassadors stationed in Tokyo.
In his message to the Japanese people, the Emperor said Japan is facing difficulty following the March disaster and other hardships.
The Emperor said he hopes the people's hearts will always be with the afflicted and that everyone will persevere and work together to build a brighter future.
On Monday, the Emperor, Empress and other Imperial family members will appear on the veranda of the palace 5 times to receive greetings from the public.
Powerful earthquake hits Tokyo
A strong earthquake struck Tokyo and surrounding areas on Sunday afternoon.
The earthquake occurred at around 2:28 PM local time.
Japan's Meteorological Agency says the earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.0, with its focus 370 kilometers deep near Torishima Island in the Pacific Ocean.
The agency says the quake registered 4 on the Japanese scale of zero to 7 in 7 prefectures.
The jolt was felt in a wide area, from the northern main island of Hokkaido to the western part of Honshu Island.
The coastal cities of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, and Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, were among those that felt the strongest tremor.
Tokyo Electric Power Company said no new developments are reported at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and nearby Daini nuclear plant.
The agency hasn't issued a tsunami alert.
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Monday, January 2, 2012
Snow and a strong cold front in Japan.
New year begins with strong quake
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 jolts a wide area in eastern and northeastern Japan on Sunday afternoon.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120102a2.html
(Friends in Tokyo reported it was quite terrifying . . . )
Challenges ahead at Fukushima nuclear plant
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has to juggle two daunting tasks this year. One is to continue cooling the damaged reactors. The other is to start preparing for decommissioning.
The Japanese government said 2 weeks ago that the reactors at the plant had reached a state of cold shutdown -- the second phase in the program to bring the plant under control.
The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company released a work schedule showing that decommissioning may take 40 years.
The nuclear fuel must be removed from reactors 1, 2, and 3 before the reactors and their buildings are scrapped. Some of the fuel is believed to have melted and fallen through to the containment vessels.
This year, TEPCO will remove debris from the Number 4 reactor building, which was damaged by explosions, so it can start removing spent nuclear fuel.
As part of its preparations for decommissioning, TEPCO will conduct research and develop technology for decontaminating the inside of the reactor buildings and repairing the containment vessels.
The nuclear fuel needs to be cooled as it is still emitting heat. TEPCO plans to halve the length of the 4-kilometer-long pipes used for cooling and treating contaminated water. It also plans to install a new facility to remove radioactive strontium from waste water.
Professor Hisashi Ninokata of the Tokyo Institute of Technology says there is always a risk that contaminated water in the pipes will leak. He says TEPCO should minimize the hazards by preventing groundwater from seeping into buildings and by making the system that filters waste water more compact.
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012
. . . . . at 3:28
Earthquake M 5.1, off Ibaraki coast
Felt as 2 in the region.
Fukushima meltdowns set nuclear energy debate on its ear
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120103f1.html
Emperor wishes public a better year
Emperor Akihito says he hopes 2012 will be a better year for the Japanese people as the country continues to recover from last year's earthquake and tsunami.
He gave his annual New Year greetings to the public on Monday, addressing thousands of well-wishers from the balcony of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
More than 8,000 people stood in the cold to wait for the palace's main gate to open at 9:30 AM local time.
Ritual lion dance performed in tsunami-hit Miyagi
Dancers in a tsunami-hit town in northern Japan performed a traditional New Year lion dance to remember the victims and pray for reconstruction.
The Watanoha district of Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, has staged the dance each year for more than 400 years. Traditionally, performers go from house to house on New Year's Day to pray for the safety and prosperity of families.
But this year, the performance was more solemn. The local group lost its costumes to the tsunami, so dancers from other districts came to perform on sites where homes once stood.
After the performance, children placed their heads in the mouth of the lion -- a ritual for good luck. Adults prayed to the lion head.
A local community leader said he hopes the performance helped restore the community's bond so the people can work together on reconstruction.
Fukushima coming of age ceremony outside hometown
More than 20 young people who once lived in the no-entry and evacuation zones near Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant celebrated their 'Coming-of-Age Day' on Monday.
Japanese are legally considered adults when they turn 20, which is when they can vote, smoke, and drink.
People from Katsurao in Fukushima Prefecture are not allowed to go home, so attendees of this year's ceremony gathered in a hotel in Miharu. About 60 percent of Katsurao's population is living in temporary housing in the town. ...
Governments in Japan review disaster prevention
Japan's central and local governments are considering a revision of the current anti-earthquake and tsunami measures following the March 11th disaster and resulting meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The central government's council, which consists of Cabinet members and experts added a section of tsunami prevention measures in December to the basic plan for disaster management.
This year, the central government plans to integrate information on how authorities and the public should respond to nuclear accidents.
It will also reexamine the possibility of changing the laws regulating the roles of the central and local governments when natural disasters hit.
Japan's Meteorological Agency will change the wording for warnings and information on tsunami to make them easier to understand for the public. It aims to implement a new system by the end of the year using the revised phrasing.
An expert panel formed by the Japanese government will disclose its forecast on major earthquakes and tsunamis in the spring. Such natural disasters are likely to happen along a submarine trough located south of Japan's main islands, extending west from the Tokai region.
The panel will compile a revised estimate of damages from the expected huge tremors and waves by summer or fall.
It is likely the new projection will force the central and local governments to reassess where in Japan disaster preparation measures should be enforced.
Authorities may also need to reconsider current designated evacuation areas, as well as systems to distribute necessary information to the public.
Job measure in hardest-hit areas urgently sought
Finding employment is taking on an added urgency for survivors of last year's disaster in northeastern Japan.
More than 1,000 people in three prefectures hardest hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami will see their unemployment benefits expire later this month. The figure will rise further in February.
The labor ministry says that as of November more than 64,000 people had received unemployment benefits in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. The figure is nearly double the previous year's.
The ministry says that of the total, as many as 1,300 people will lose their unemployment benefits by the end of this month, and 2,700 in February.
Survivors seeking stable employment have had trouble finding work. Many jobs in disaster-hit areas are temporary.
Survivors who qualify receive unemployment benefits for at least 10 months. Payments can be extended, depending on an individual's employment situation.
Hosono: Fukushima as center for nuclear safety
Japan's nuclear crisis minister says he wants to make Fukushima Prefecture an international center to promote nuclear safety.
Goshi Hosono spoke Tuesday to NHK and explained a plan to set up an international institute in Fukushima, where specialists would be trained in nuclear safety and advanced radiological medicine would be studied. He says training personnel will be one of the major issues to overcome with respect to nuclear safety.
Hosono says the prefecture will be a relevant venue to learn about the basic principles of nuclear safety, as well as the long process of scrapping the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The work is expected to take 30 to 40 years.
Hosono says he believes lessons learned from the ongoing nuclear crisis, including the use of medicine for people exposed to radiation, must be made available to the rest of the world.
Hosono also notes his ministry will concentrate on the development of robots that will be used to dismantle and dispose of the damaged reactors. The project is expected to rely heavily on robots to remove spent fuel rods and handle other highly radioactive material.
The nuclear crisis minister says he believes Japanese industry will be able to boost their competitiveness by taking advantage of the new technologies that will be developed to deal with the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi.
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Wednesday, January 4, 2012
. Radiation Problems - INFO .
New Year fish auction at tsunami-hit Kesennuma
The fish market in Kesennuma northeastern Japan has held its first auction of the New Year. The city in Japan's disaster-hit northeast is a major tuna and swordfish port.
About 200 officials from local fishing cooperatives and marine-product companies attended the inaugural ceremony on Wednesday. They prayed for bumper hauls this year and for success in rebuilding the port.
... The market re-opened last June after the city was reduced to rubble in the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
Fukushima students back after New Year holidays
Elementary and junior high school students in Fukushima City have returned to class earlier than usual after the New Year break.
Most of the city's schools held ceremonies on Wednesday to mark the beginning of the 3rd term. ...
Disaster-hit sake maker celebrates first brewing
A Japanese sake maker in Iwate Prefecture has celebrated the New Year with its first brew since the March disaster last year.
The 160-year-old brewery in Miyako City restarted production three weeks ago. The factory was rebuilt where the former plant was destroyed by the tsunami.
On Wednesday, the maker finished producing its first sake. Master brewer Katsutoshi Tsujimura checked the aroma and taste.
He said he's happy the new product has the same good qualities as before. He added that he hopes many people will enjoy it.
The newly brewed sake was quickly bottled and served at a New Year's event.
Calligraphy performance in quake-hit city
Schoolgirls in Ofunato City have demonstrated their skill at calligraphy to express hopes for early reconstruction of the region severely hit by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
The 7 teenage girls gave a New Year calligraphy performance at a shopping mall on Wednesday.
Dancing to the music of popular pop group AKB48, they took turns writing "Furusato-Kesen" on a large sheet of paper.
They then worked together using a 1.7-meter-long, 15-kilogram brush to write the Chinese character "tamashii," or soul.
The performance was applauded by spectators.
New Year's arrow festival in Nikko
A New Year festival with shooting arrows symbolizing prayers for good health and safety took place at a shrine in Nikko, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday.
The annual ritual at Futarasan Shrine is based on an ancient legend. It's said that a master archer shot an arrow that settled a territorial dispute between the deity of Mount Nantai in Nikko and the divinity of Mount Akagi, about 40 kilometers away to the southwest.
Shinto priests and archers wearing traditional costumes shot 2 arrows each in the direction of Mount Akagi.
The shrine compound was crowded with spectators. Many rushed to where arrows fell to the ground in the hopes of claiming one. It's believed they bring good luck.
Futaba mayor opposes radioactive soil storage
The mayor of Futaba Town in Fukushima Prefecture says he opposes the government's plan to build a facility for storing radioactive waste soil in Futaba County.
Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa expressed for the first time his opposition to the facility in his New Year address to town employees on Wednesday.
The mayor said he cannot accept the facility because townspeople who evacuated would not be able to return once it is built.
The central government officially requested late last month that a temporary storage facility for radioactive waste soil be built in Futaba County. The county has eight municipalities, and it is also home to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The entirety of Futaba Town is designated as a no-entry zone. The residents and the town office have been evacuated to a city in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
NISA pledges to regain public trust
The head of Japan's nuclear safety agency has called for every possible effort to regain public trust in the government's energy policy.
Hiroyuki Fukano said on Wednesday that he is deeply sorry his agency was not able to prevent the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
He said the agency's officials should remember that many Fukushima residents are still displaced from their homes.
Fukano said it is not easy to regain public trust in nuclear safety. He added it has completely been undermined by the accident and the officials must go back to basics.
The government agency, launched 11 years ago, will be united with the Nuclear Safety Commission and merged into a new nuclear safety body in April.
The new body will face many challenges. The agency was heavily criticized in a government report on the nuclear accident released in December.
The report said agency officials working on the emergency task force at the Fukushima plant evacuated in the initial stages of the accident. It also said the agency's collection and release of information was insufficient.
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Thursday, January 5, 2012
Disasters kick-started dormant volunteer spirit
The March disasters generated an unprecedented outpouring of volunteerism as people from all over Japan pitched in to help the survivors and rebuild affected areas, and the strong spirit of helping will aid relief efforts in future disasters, experts say.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120105f1.html
Peace Boat, a Japanese nonprofit organization
Hunger Free World
Japan International Volunteer Center
Tohoku orphans get aid despite donation shortfall
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120105a3.html
German promotes knitting to keep Tohoku disaster victims active, close
Bernd Kestler, who teaches knitting in Yokohama, from Germany.
Knit for Japan
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120105f3.html
Year's first auction held at Tsukiji fish market
The first auction of the New Year has been held at Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the biggest wholesale fish market in Japan.
Before the start of Thursday's trade, a vendor said damage from the earthquake and tsunami last March highlighted the seafood industry's dependence on northeastern Japan. He pledged to help revive the disaster zone by selling fish from that area.
The day's auction kicked off at around 5:00 AM.
A 269-kilogram bluefin tuna from Aomori Prefecture fetched a new record high of more than 740,000 dollars.
This was 260,000 dollars higher than the record set last year.
In recent editions of the year's first auction the highest bidders for tuna had mostly been overseas sushi restaurants. But this year's successful bidder was a Japanese sushi chain based in Tsukiji itself.
New nuclear safety agency's performance questioned
The new nuclear safety agency will be tasked with overhauling Japan's nuclear regulations, but has yet to come up with concrete safety rules.
The new agency, which will be launched under the Environmental Ministry in April, faces the challenge of providing supervision and advice to power utilities in the event of an emergency.
The agency will take over the functions of the industry ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. It will also be responsible for the advisory functions of the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission.
The new agency is to be staffed with 485 people.
Japan's government has allocated a budget of nearly 650 million dollars for the agency in its financial plan for the next fiscal year, unveiled late last month.
That's up nearly 180 million dollars from this year, a sign that the agency is expected to strengthen crisis management, upgrade its regulations and take on more work.
The government has come under fire for being slow to collect and release existing data after the nuclear accident last March, and for not instructing the operator of the crippled Fukushima plant to prepare for a huge tsunami.
The government says the new body must secure experienced, professional personnel and cultivate a sharper sense of crisis among officials in addressing safety.
A Cabinet Ministry senior official preparing for the launch of the new agency says it must protect the people and the environment.
Municipalities to be prepared for nuke accidents
More than 130 Japanese municipalities are stepping up preparations for nuclear accidents after the government tripled the size of emergency zones around nuclear plants to 30 kilometers.
Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission expanded the size of the zones from 10 kilometers last November.
The move follows the issue of evacuation orders to areas up to 30 km from the stricken Fukushima plant, far beyond the government's initial expectation.
The expansion includes not only communities hosting nuclear power plants but also surrounding areas, multiplying the number of municipalities involved.
These local governments must now boost disaster preparedness by setting evacuation routes and securing shelters.
Many are reaching out beyond prefectural borders with plans to share food and other goods, and dispatch staff in the event of nuclear disasters.
The government almost tripled the funding for nuclear disaster preparedness to 108-million dollars in a budget plan for the next fiscal year.
But further financial help will be needed for the municipalities within the expanded emergency zone.
Fukushima mayors seek help over waste storage
Municipalities around the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have asked for help from the prefectural government over the central government's plan to temporarily store radioactive waste in the communities.
Representing 8 towns and villages in Futaba County, Tomioka Town Mayor Katsuya Endo made the request when he met Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato on Thursday.
Endo said the municipalities take the state government's proposal seriously but that it is too much of a burden for them to handle alone.
He asked the prefecture to act in coordination with the municipalities and set up a forum for regular meetings, citing the difficulty they face as a result of mass evacuation from their areas following the nuclear accident.
Governor Sato responded positively to the request and promised to create a forum for talks.
The municipalities are divided over the central government's plan on interim storage of radioactive soil and debris. The mayor of Futaba Town, Katsutaka Idogawa, voiced opposition while some other local leaders say they have no choice but to accept it.
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Friday, January 6, 2012
We got snow yesterday, but not this morning.
Heavy snow plasters Sea of Japan
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120106a6.html
Tokyo exodus nuke report's worst scenario
Areas as far as 170 km away from the Fukushima nuclear plant faced the risk of being declared permanent evacuation zones, according to a worst-case scenario at the height of the crisis by the Japan Atomic Energy Commission.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120106a1.html
Domestic robots failed to ride to rescue after No. 1 plant blew
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120106f1.html
(this is a very interesting article ! )
When China rules, Chinese will not set the rules
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/eo20120106a1.html
March earthquake created nearly 7,000 aftershocks
Japan's Meteorological Agency says last March's magnitude 9.0 earthquake was followed by nearly 7,000 aftershocks strong enough to be felt by humans.
The agency says its analysis of seismological data as of the end of last year identified 6,757 such aftershocks since March 11th.
The agency also says that Japan experienced a total of 9,723 earthquakes strong enough to be felt by humans last year.
The number is more than seven times larger than the total for the year before.
Last night a few just below M5
2012年1月6日 19時50分 茨城県沖 4.2
2012年1月6日 9時52分 根室半島南東沖 3.7
2012年1月6日 8時33分 福島県沖 4.6
2012年1月6日 6時01分 茨城県沖 4.4
2012年1月6日 1時51分 宮城県沖 4.9
2012年1月6日 0時26分 宮城県沖 3.4
2012年1月5日 22時17分 福島県中通り 4.1
2012年1月5日 17時49分 福島県沖 3.9
March disaster forced over 500 firms to shut down
More than 500 companies across Japan went bankrupt due to the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country's northeast last March.
Private credit research firm Teikoku Databank says the disaster forced 510 firms to fail in the roughly 10 months through December 31. Their total liabilities stood at 727.3 billion yen, or around 9.4 billion dollars. ...
. . . . . 2011 auto sales in Japan hit lowest in 34 years
Govt to limit life of nuclear reactors to 40 years
The Japanese government wants to pass a new law that limits the life of nuclear reactors to 40 years.
Nuclear crisis minister Goshi Hosono on Friday announced a review of nuclear safety regulations following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The proposed 40-year limit is included in new draft regulations on nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel material.
According to the draft, the government will not allow reactors to operate for more than 40 years, but may grant extensions on request.
Extensions will be subject to government checks on the obsolescence of the facility, and the plant operator's capacity to provide appropriate maintenance.
This is the first time for the government to try to regulate the lifespan of nuclear plants.
Hosono said the government will also revise safety standards against earthquakes, tsunami and other disasters with new knowledge and technology in protective measures and require power companies to comply with new standards.
The government will submit the legislation to the ordinary session of the Diet by the end of this month at the earliest, ahead of the planned launch of a new nuclear safety agency in April.
Azumi: watching euro's fall carefully
Japan's Finance Minister Jun Azumi says he is carefully monitoring the euro's fall against the yen, and urged eurozone countries to try harder to address their debt problems. ...
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Saturday, January 7, 2012
Nuke regulators get teeth via bills
The government aims to legally force nuclear plant operators to take measures against severe crises and follow the latest safety measures.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120107a1.html
British 'rakugo' artist helps Tohoku smile
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120107f1.html
Market network helps community bounce back
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120107a1.html
NGO uses chocolate to support Fukushima kids
A nongovernmental group that in 2006 launched an annual chocolate-selling campaign to support child cancer patients in Iraq will use a portion of this year's proceeds to help children in Fukushima Prefecture.
Minoru Kamata, chief of the Japan Iraq Medical Network, ...
... The chocolates can be bought at www.jim-net.net
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120107b3.html
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Sunday, January 8, 2012
more minor earthquakes since yesterday
2012年1月8日 6時04分 茨城県沖 4.2
2012年1月8日 2時31分 福島県沖 3.3
2012年1月7日 21時35分 宮城県沖 4.0
2012年1月7日 21時30分 茨城県沖 3.5
2012年1月7日 19時47分 福島県沖 4.6
2012年1月7日 17時22分 福島県沖 4.6
2012年1月7日 10時17分 茨城県沖 4.0
Praying for good health
Every year on January 7th, people across Japan dig into bowls of hot rice porridge to pray for good health in the New Year.
This year, farmers in Fukushima Prefecture offered visitors the traditional rice porridge flavored with 7 spring herbs, but only after making sure it was free of radiation.
A group at a farmer's market in Shirakawa city on Saturday prepared rice porridge in a big pot. The rice and other ingredients were all locally grown.
Fukushima prefecture is still suffering from the aftereffects of the accident at the nuclear power plant last March. But no radiation was detected in the food.
A shopper of her 60s from Shrakawa City said she was happy to taste the traditional food and hoped to stay that way throughout the year.
About 200 visitors enjoyed the hot meal free of charge.
March 11 survivors facing hardships
An NHK survey on people living in a temporary housing complex following the March 11th disaster paints a grim picture.
NHK surveyed about 1,100 families living in a housing complex in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, from October to November. 757 households responded.
47 percent of the households excluding those living on pensions say they had lost their jobs because of the disaster.
29 percent of those who lost jobs are in their 50s followed by 23 percent in their 60s.
34 percent of the jobless households say they are living on less than 100,000 yen, or 1,300 dollars, a month.
67 percent of the self-employed have still not found employment. 21 percent of them say they have no income at all.
In a separate survey, the Japan Research Institute found that up to 120,000 people remain unemployed.
Some 4,000 survivors in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures are expected to lose their unemployment benefits starting this month.
The survivors say job creation is the most pressing issue for them to rebuild their lives and the affected areas.
Over 330 pets rescued from Fukushima no-entry zone
Many pets have been abandoned in the no-entry zone around the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. More than 330 dogs and cats were rescued in December.
The Environment Ministry and Fukushima Prefecture have conducted rescue operations for dogs and cats in the no-entry zone. The animals were left there because, either their owners died in the March 11th disaster, or they could not take them to evacuation shelters.
... Several hundred more pets are believed to be in need of rescue. The ministry plans to continue the operations after observing the situation in the no-entry zone.
4,000 buildings designated as tsunami shelters
A survey has found that Japanese municipalities designated around 4,000 buildings to serve as tsunami shelters as of October of last year, with the number doubling in the few months after the March 2011 disaster.
The Cabinet Office and land ministry conducted the survey of coastal prefectures, excluding the hardest-hit Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima, on buildings designated as emergency shelters in the event of a tsunami.
The results were compared with those of the previous survey carried out 4 months earlier in June.
Among more than 1,100 buildings examined in June, nearly 18 percent have never been assessed for quake resistance based on 1981 guidelines, leading to concern about their structural strength. .....
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Monday, January 9, 2012
. . . . . at 7:13
Earthquake M 5.0 - off the coast of Iwate
Prepare for decontamination
Decontamination — financed with government money — of areas contaminated with radioactive substances released by Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant will start this year.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ed20120109a1.html
Japan to install tsunami monitoring system at sea
The Japanese government will install a large scale tsunami monitoring system on the Pacific seabed to speed up it's warning process.
The education and science ministry plans to install an underwater cable near the Nippon Trench in the Pacific Ocean, seismometers on the seabed, and underwater tsunami detectors using hydraulic pressure sensors.
Seismometers and tsunami detectors will be installed by March 2013 in waters off the Boso Peninsula and the Sanriku Coast. The locations are north and south of the focus of the major earthquake that hit wide areas of northeastern Japan last year. Additional monitors will be put in place off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture and near the Nippon Trench, close to the focus of the 2011 earthquake.
A total of 150 locations will be positioned by March 2015.
Separately, the Meteorological Agency will install seismometers at 3 locations in waters about 400 kilometers off the northeastern coast some time this year. The data of the seismometers will be collected by satellites and will be used to detect a massive earthquake that is expected to occur east of the Nippon trench in the Pacific Ocean.
The data will help the Meteorological Agency release tsunami information or warnings.
Akira Nagai, the chief of the agency's tsunami monitoring division, said these systems will help the agency gather necessary data as they can monitor tsunami closer as they occur.
During the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Japan's Meteorological Agency was able to monitor tsunami waves before they reached the Japanese coast, because of underwater global positioning systems off northeastern Japan.
Noda wants temporary storage facility in Fukushima
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has asked the governor of Fukushima to allow the government to build a facility in the prefecture to temporarily store radioactive soil. Noda visited a disaster-hit area for the first time this year and met Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato at the prefectural office on Sunday.
Noda said the fight is not over yet, even though he declared last month that the Fukushima Daiichi reactors had reached a state of cold shutdown -- the second phase in the program to bring the plant under control.
He said the government will intensify its efforts to deal with decontamination, compensation and health management issues.
Noda asked Sato to consider the request that Environment Minister Goshi Hosono made late last year to have a storage facility built in Futaba County.
Sato said he would like the government to remember that many people from Fukushima were unable to celebrate the New Year in their hometowns.
He said children are the future of Fukushima and their health must be protected. He urged Noda to provide free medical services to all Fukushima residents under the age of 19.
Sato said the damage caused by the accident was so severe that it had seriously undermined confidence in the government's nuclear policy.
He asked Noda to shut down and dismantle all 10 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini plants as called for in the reconstruction plan.
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Tuesday, January 10, 2012
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sources
. . Bulletins from NHK WORLD . .
. . Japan Times - JT . .
December 2011
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Team Heal Japan
Sean Muramatsu
http://www.teamheal.jp/
Knit for Japan
Knitting charity to support victims of the Tohoku earthquake in Japan.
東日本大震災の被災者のための編み物慈善活動
Bernd Kestler
source : knitforjapan.wordpress.com
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. Sanriku Fukkoo 三陸復興 Help Sanriku ! .
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