Japan Raises Fukushima Crisis Level From 5 to 7
The Japanese government is will raise the official crisis level for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident:
The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan released a preliminary calculation Monday saying that the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had been releasing up to 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour at some point after a massive quake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11.
The disclosure prompted the government to consider raising the accident’s severity level to 7, the worst on an international scale, from the current 5, government sources said. The level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale has only been applied to the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.
The current provisional evaluation of 5 is at the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979.
According to an evaluation by the INES, level 7 accidents correspond with a release into the external environment radioactive materials equal to more than tens of thousands terabecquerels of radioactive iodine 131. One terabecquerel equals 1 trillion becquerels.
The crisis level does not indicate that the situation has worsened. It is just the result of a re-examination of past information. It refers to a release that occurred “at some point after” the March 11th quake, not an ongoing release:
Haruki Madarame, chairman of the commission, which is a government panel, said it has estimated that the release of 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour continued for several hours.
The commission says the release has since come down to under 1 terabecquerel per hour and said that it is still examining the total amount of radioactive materials released.
Judging from the radiation readings published since March 11th, it might be safe to guess that the large release of radiation that prompted the increase to level 7 probably took place some time around March 15th.
The Japanese government will also be expanding the evacuation area around Fukushima to include certain areas beyond the 20 to 30 kilometer radius. That will probably include Iitate, which is a little over 30 kilometers northwest of the nuclear plant.
There is no information indicating dangerous new radiation leaks, nor does it indicate any threat to the Tokyo area.
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Categories: General Japan
Japanese Government Buys Newspaper Ads Thanking Foreign Countries For Quake Relief
The Japanese government has bought advertisements in foreign newspapers to thank the countries that have sent aid to Japan after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami:
The three-quarter page advert, entitled “Thank you for the Kizuna (bonds of friendship)” ran in international papers including the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and the International Herald Tribune.
“One month has passed since an earthquake of unprecedented scale struck Japan, taking thousands of precious lives,” the advert said.
“In the tsunami-devastated regions there was no food, no water, no electricity and the survivors had no communications.
“At that desperate time people from around the world rallied to our side bringing hope and inspiring courage.
“We deeply appreciate the Kizuna our friends around the world have shown and I want to thank every nation, entity and you personally from the bottom of my heart.”
Countries including the US, Australia, Mexico, China and many European nations sent teams to help in the aftermath of the 9.0 magnitude quake and the huge tsunami it generated.
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Categories: General Japan
A song to go with the Quakebook
I haven’t posted for some time, mostly due to apathy, but as we all know now is no time to be apathetic. The organizers at Quakebook are doing a brilliant job of harnessing the collaboration power of the internet to raise money for the quake victims. Every penny from Quakebook will go to the victims. When they asked me to donate a song to the cause, I was happy to give it a try. I have young children, so the story of seven nursery school kids who were trapped in their school bus by the tsunami was one that kept replaying in my head. This song is basically what I might feel like if it were my kids who were lost.
In conjunction with Quakebook, we are aiming to sell the song on iTunes, again with the proceeds going to help the quake victims.
Contributor Bio: JJ, shockingly, teaches English, but would prefer to do other things (shockingly). So he writes songs or comedy or the occasional theological treatise. Sometimes he tries to combine all of them. This is most easily observed at www.youtube.com/fatblueman.
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Categories: General Japan
Video: Town Swept Away By Tsunami
One of the most-viewed videos on YouTube Japan today is this clip, which was filmed on March 11th from a hill overlooking the town of Minamisanriku:
It took a mere ten minutes for the tsunami to destroy almost every building in sight.
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Categories: General Japan
Ishihara Re-Elected Tokyo Governor
Shintaro Ishihara was re-elected to a 4th term as governor of Tokyo:
Ishihara, a 78-year-old novelist-turned-politician, defeated high-profile challengers including former House of Councillors member Akira Koike; Miki Watanabe, founder of izakaya pub chain operator Watami Co.; and former Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru.
Ishihara ran as an independent but was effectively supported by the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. The Democratic Party of Japan did not field a candidate due to recent poor public approval ratings for Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is DPJ president. Watanabe, 51, was backed by Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members of the DPJ.
The Japanese Communist Party endorsed Koike, 50. Seven other candidates also ran.
After he was assured of winning Sunday night, Ishihara said he would continue to enhance antidisaster measures during his fourth term, and suggested people should stop playing pachinko to conserve electricity.
Ishihara is known for his tendency to offend people, whether they be anime fans, Francophones, homosexuals, or immigrants. Recently, he made some remarks about the March 11th earthquake and tsunami being “divine punishment” for the selfishness of the Japanese people.
None of his past remarks seem to have stopped him from winning the election by a wide margin. The earthquake may have even helped him win, since it distracted the media’s attention from the election and allowed him to appear on TV looking like he was a strong leader during a serious crisis.
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Categories: Politics
Thousands Participate in Tokyo Anti-Nuclear Protest
Two anti-nuclear protests were held in Tokyo yesterday, one at Koenji and another at Shiba Park. Here are some videos of the protesters:
The Koenji protest, which apparently was a sort of ad hoc event promoted mostly through Twitter, seems to have drawn more people. Footage of the Koenji protest shows people carrying various handmade signs, with some protesting against nuclear power and others protesting against nuclear weapons. Because of its internet-based call to action, it looks like there are a lot of younger people and some foreigners. There were many weird costumes and it had a festive atmosphere to it.
The Shiba Koen protest, which involved a march in front of the TEPCO headquarters, seemed calmer. It was mainly an anti-nuclear power protest, with many participants carrying the copies of the same signs. The crowd seemed to include a lot of older people, and very few wacky costumes.
Here are some estimates of the number of people who turned out:
- Kyodo: About 15,000 people at Koenji and 2,500 at Shiba Park (the original Japanese article notes that the estimate was provided by protest organizers ["主催者発表"])
- Reuters: “around 5,000″ (Koenji and Shiba Koen added together)
- Daily Yomiuri: “thousands” at the Koenji protest
- N-H-K: “about 2,000″ at the Shiba Koen protest. (number provided by protest organizers ["主催者によります"])
How do those numbers compare to other big protest marches and rallies in Japan? Here are a few examples from the recent past:
It’s quite neat that thousands of people were summoned to participate via Twitter. However, even if you accept estimates provided by event organizers at face value, when you consider the fact that the Tokyo metro area has a population of 35 million people, a turnout of 5,000 or 15,000 people is not huge.
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Categories: General Japan