Messages from Fukushima

Spring has come

The Azuma-yama, mountain range covered by snow.A snow rabbit will appear soon on the Azuma-kofuji with full of fruits blossoms - cherries, peaches, pears, apples - at fields of Fukushima. A snow rabbit to be reported!

3.11 a year after disaster

It has been one year since disaster. Hope, wish, sorrow, anger... no words could express emotion. One thing I am sure is everyone in Fukushima believes Fukushima's future and fights with facing difficulties.

Decontamination work (1)

Various decontamination works are on going for both the credibility to people outside Fukushima and the confidence of people remain in Fukushima to Fukshima's  future.

Most of Fukushima's fruits, like peaches, pears and apples,  contains far less radioactivity level to the current tentative Japanese regulation (500Bq/kg). Even if a new regualtion will be set in place in April at 100Bq/kg for fruits, those fruits would still be less than the new standard. The new standards are equivalent to or even less than the EU standards.

Regardress to such expectations, farmers are woking hard to minimise the radioactivity of fruits aming zero detection for credibility to consumers.

I really wish that those efforts will be paied among consumers all around the world.

Picture shows decontamination work at a pear farm land peeling off outer skin of tress. An assumption says that the skin and moss on it hold high radioactivity and it is delivered to fruits. There is no firm evidence of this effectiveness, the effort goes on for the confidence.  

Monitoring Posts

368 monitoring posts are currently working in Fukushima city and monitor environmental radioactivity level 24h/365days . Most of them sit on school-grounds where children spend most of time on weekdays. Realtime data can be checked through MEXT's web page.

Fukushima city completed decontamination work of schools in 3Q last year to minimise influences to children as first priority. This indeed contributes to improve the level in side the school premises. However, radiation influences from outside of the school given a facts gamma-ray travels around 70m. It is urged to accelerate decontamination works around schools. Difficulties to set temporally storage stations of decontamination work residuals, radioactive wastes delays, areal cleanup work. Only limited area could reach an agreement to set such storage spaces so far.

I will report decontamination work efforts by communities separately. 

Mext's monitoring data page (sorry in Japanese) http://radiomap.mext.go.jp/ja/area.html

ICPR post-accident dialogue seminor in Fukuhsima

ICRP's 2nd post accident dialogue seminor was held in Fukushima having various stakeholders attended. One of conclusions enphasised an importance to human dimention of the situation. That is, there should be arguments beyond scientific agument. What is value to the region? There is a way to accept risk to take larger benefits based on such value. ICRP specialists see imposed regulations in Japan is safe enough and may become to strict in view of such value of the region.

But it is also true that to convince safety and to make feel safe is largely different to residents in Fukushima.

Thank you for visiting my page

It has been almost a year since the disaster hit Tohoku area including Fukushima. At this opprtunity, I would like to thank you for your all supports provided to the region from all over the world.

I'm living in Fukushima city where is approx. 60km far to northwest from the NPP. As you all know, due to followed explosion of the NPP, even the city area is affected by rather high radiation contaminations.

You may have read news about the region maybe mainly from the negative side; however, it is true that people in Fukushima is making possible efforts to recover the situation believing our future.

I would like to share our messages from Fukushima; what is going on? how we look at the situation? what we would like you to understand.

I will try to update as often as possible when time allows. Any queations/comments for both of us to move forward are welcome.

Sincerely,