items of note pertaining to fukushima....

http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/05/fukushima-worker-hunting-from-overseas/

Fukushima worker hunting from overseas

Posted by Mochizuki on May 30th, 2012 · 9 Comments

Tepco related companies are starting to hunt Fukushima workers from overseas.

The conditions look like typical false information for nuclear working job.

The newspaper below is for Japanese Brazilian.

1) 30,000JPY/day  2 hours/day within 20km area.

2) 10,000 ~ 12,000 JPY / day  house and 3 meals provided. within a “safe” place, off on Sundays.

and.....

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/05/black-dust-in-soma-city-is-also-highly.html

THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2012

"Black Dust" in Soma City Is Also Highly #Radioactive, at 56.3 Microsievert/Hr

There's a newspaper published by a citizen group in Soma City, Fukushima, urging the former residents, particularly mothers with children, to return to the city. Soma City is located just north of Minami Soma City where the "black dust" was first reported by Assemblyman Ooyama.

It turns out (no real surprise, but...) that Soma City also has "black dust" with very high radiation. The newspaper that urges mothers to come back has this article in its May 2012 issue:

It says:

Please be careful!

On the roads and near the side drains by the side walks in Minami Soma City and Soma City, we've started to see the black substance that looks like dirt. There has been some media report on this substance, and it is said to be a certain kind of bacteria that has dried out. It has been known to have very high radiation levels, and there is a possibility that it affects human bodies. Please do not go near it. We placed the survey meter on the substance in the photo. The survey meter shows 56.3 microsieverts/hour. Young children in particular should pay attention.

Again, the group wants mothers with children who evacuated from the city to come back. The reason why the group is publishing the newspaper is, according to the website:

子どもたちを守りたい。
未来に希望を残したい。

そのためにわたしたちは生き方を「変える」。
まちをゲンキに「変える」。

We want to protect our children.
We want to keep hope for the future.

TO do that, we will "change" our way of life.
We will "change" the city into a healthy city.

How are they going to achieve that? By measuring radiation, as far as I could tell from their newspaper.

Sorry to say it but the "bamboo spear" spirit seems to be alive and well in Japan, even after 67 years.

and......


http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/05/group-of-students-from-middle-tennessee.html

THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2012

Group of Students from Middle Tennessee State University to Go to #Fukushima as Disaster Recovery Cleanup Volunteers

From dnj.com (5/31/2012; emphasis is mine):

MURFREESBORO — A contingent of 10 students and two professors from Middle Tennessee State University will leave Nashville early Monday, June 4, to participate in the cleanup and rebuilding mission in Fukushima, Japan.

Three of the students are from Rutherford County: Bridgette Gleaves of Smyrna and Mark Wester and Justin Bingham, both of Murfreesboro.

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake registering 9.0 on the Richter scale created a tsunami that killed nearly 16,000 people and left more than 3,000 missing on the main island of Honshu. In addition, ocean waves engulfed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, sending three reactors into meltdown.

“MTSU has assessed the current situation and consulted with Fukushima University,” said David Schmidt, vice provost for international affairs. “At no time while engaged in program-related activities will students be in areas where the U.S. government recommends its citizens avoid travel.”

The triple catastrophe left behind an estimated 23 million tons of debris in the hardest-hit coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures alone. The Japanese government announced Feb. 21 that the country has cleaned up only five percent of the rubble more than a year later.

The MTSU students will hear presentations from Fukushima University students, work with other volunteers to clear debris and prepare meals in the Soma district. At the program’s conclusion, they will exchange observations with the Fukushima students.

Not only are the MTSU students intrigued by the opportunity to witness a national disaster firsthand, but they are compelled to help by persistent images of the damaged lives left behind.“I remember a Japanese woman crying over her lost family member at a function I went to in Nashville,” says Preston Nalls, a mass-communication major from Franklin. “All I could do was just watch … as other Japanese comforted her. I didn’t know her, so although I felt compelled to say something, I just clenched my fist and grieved for her from afar,” he said in a press release.

“Sure, we are only going to Fukushima, but that will resonate all over Japan,” adds Justin Bingham, a liberal-studies major from Murfreesboro. “So, in a way, we 10 students are going to help an entire nation. That’s something worth smiling about,” he said in a press release.

Each student will pay a fee of $1,000 to cover all instruction fees, lodging and international airfare from Nashville to Japan. The group is slated to return June 15.

This education-abroad program is a joint effort of MTSU International Affairs and Fukushima University with support from the Japanese Ministry of Education. For more information, contact the MTSU Office of International Affairs at 615-904-8190 or Schmidt at david.schmidt@mtsu.edu.

"Sure, we are only going to Fukushima, but that will resonate all over Japan"... It may, but it may not be in the way he thinks. 


and.......