day 47

Since we haven't done this in a while....

As of 11am on 4/27, the recorded amount of radiation in the air in Shinjuku was 0.0692 microsieverts/hour.

Only minimal traces of iodine-131, cesium-134, and cesium-137 were detected in the tap water in Shinjuku for 4/26.

The recorded amount of radioactive materials in particles in the air (dust and rain) for 4/26 was 5.52 Bq/meter squared for cesium-137. Only minimal amounts of iodine-131 and cesium-134 were detected.

"Golden Week," the extended Japanese spring holiday, starts Friday. This year April 29th and May 3rd through the 5th are national holidays. Our company is also taking the 2nd and 6th as holidays, so I'm off from April 29th thru May 8th. Yea!

However, the news is reporting that Narita Airport expects the number of passengers to be down by almost 50% (both people coming to Japan and leaving Japan) as compared to the Golden Week from 2010.

Miwa and I are going away to Maui. Just need a break from everything that has happened and get away for a while. Looking forward to it.

day 46

We are still doing OK.

Things here is Tokyo are pretty much back to normal. Well, things are not exactly 100% back to normal, but it's pretty close. About the only way we are currently affected is that most place still limit the number of bottled water you can purchase. Pretty much all of the other items that were scarce before readily available now--batteries, tissue, toilet paper, instant noodles, gasoline, etc, etc.

Today I will introduce Ad Council Japan (AC Japan). According to wikipedia, AC Japan is a private non-profit organization that distributes Japanese public service announcements on behalf of various sponsors, including both non-profit organizations and government agencies.

For the first few weeks after the earthquake, the only commericals on TV were the ones from AC Japan. They would show the same several commercials all the time. On every channel. Over and over. And over. And over. And over. No other commericals of any kind. Only AC Japan. And some of them are still running even today.

Needless to say, I don't think there is a single person in Japan that ever wants to see one these commercials ever again.

day 38

Just some random things I've seen on the news.....

--For a comparison to see how other nations have reacted here in Japan, I heard that after the nuclear radiation situation became volatile there were 31 embassies that either closed or moved operations to the Osaka-area (they didn't say which ones they were or how many embassies there are total in the Tokyo area. And btw, the US Embassy did remain open the whole time). As of last week, there were still 8 embassies either closed or still basing their operations in the Osaka-area.

--Visitors to Japan decreased by 73% for the second half of March (as compared to the March 2010). I guess people don't want to come here. Really, it's not that bad here.

--Right now, we are kind of in a lull as to new developments. But I think the big upcoming issue will be power (electricity) availablity. Initially, TEPCO was only able to provide around 35 million kilowatts of power (with Fukushima Sai-ichi down). Currently, they are able to provide around 40 million kilowatts of power. Current usuage is around 32 to 35 million kilowatts. TEPCO estimates that they will be able to increase the capacity to around 46 million kilowatts for the summer. However, those of you who have been here know that Tokyo is hot (or should I say, sweltering) during the summer. The average Tokyo demand during the summer is around 55 million kilowatts. If it's an especially hot summer (like last year) then the demand becomes around 60 million kilowatts. 10 to 15 million kilowatts of power short. You can get as creative as you can trying to conserve energy, but that't no joke. The forecast calls for a lot of sweating.

day 35

Today, I will just let our US Embassy describe our current situation. After getting almost daily emails from the US embassy, the pace is now more like once a week. This is the latest one I just received.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Embassy Tokyo [mailto:tokyoacs@state.gov]
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 11:33 AM
Subject: Travel Alert - Japan April 14, 2011


United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520

JAPAN

April 14, 2011

This Travel Alert replaces the Travel Warning for Japan dated March 31, 2011. This Travel Alert expires on June 15, 2011.

The assessment of technical and subject matter experts across United States Government agencies is that while the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains serious and dynamic, the health and safety risks to areas beyond the 50 mile evacuation zone, and particularly to Tokyo, Nagoya (Aichi Prefecture), Yokohama (Kanagawa Prefecture) nearby U.S. military facilities and the prefectures of Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Gunma, Iwate, Nagano, Niigata, Saitama, Shizuoka, Tochigi, and Yamanashi, and those portions of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures which are outside a 50 mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are low and do not pose significant risks to U.S. citizens.

This analysis takes into consideration both various age groups and the classification of the severity of the situation at Fukushima Daiichi as a Level 7 event by the Government of Japan, which reflects what has transpired since the initial incident and the potential long-term effects in the area surrounding the plant.

This assessment reflects inputs from our national laboratories as well as the unanimous opinion of the U.S. scientific experts on the ground in Japan. Furthermore, they are consistent with practices that would be taken in the United States in such a situation. Based on the much reduced rate of heat generation in the reactor fuel after one month of cooling and the corresponding decay of short-lived radioactive isotopes, even in the event of an unexpected disruption at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, harmful exposures to people beyond the 50 mile evacuation zone are highly unlikely, and there would be a significant amount of time to best assess any steps that might have to be taken.

The situation at the plant is dramatically different today than it was on March 16, when we saw significant ongoing releases of radioactivity, the loss of effective means to cool the reactor cores and spent fuel, the absence of outside power or fresh water supply for emergency management, and considerable uncertainty about the condition of the site. Today, while the situation remains serious, and there is still a possibility of unanticipated developments, cooling efforts are ongoing and successful, power, water supply, and back-up services have been partially or fully restored, and planning has begun to control radioactive contamination and mitigate future dangers. Our coordination with the Japanese is regular and productive, and we have a greatly increased capacity to measure and analyze risks.

The Department of State has lifted Voluntary Authorized Departure, allowing dependents of the U.S. government employees to return to Japan.

We continue to recommend that U.S. citizens avoid travel within the 50-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. U.S. citizens who are still within this radius should evacuate or shelter in place.

Japan is one of the most seismically active places in the world. Tokyo and areas to the Northeast continue to experience strong aftershocks related to the March 11 earthquake. Aftershocks following an earthquake of this magnitude can be expected to continue for more than a year. Identifying potential hazards ahead of time and advance planning can reduce the dangers of serious injury or loss of life from an earthquake. See the Embassy Website for detailed information on earthquake safety: http://japan.usembassy.gov .

day 33

Today just some random streams of thought....

--For those of you who were wondering what happened to Tokyo Disneyland after my earlier post about Urayasu, they have announced that they will re-open on April 15th. They are calling it a "rebirth". Whatever that means. (Addendum...I later found out that April 15th is when they opened in 1983).

--I'm sure many of you have heard that yesterday Japan raised the severity level of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima to the maximum level of seven, now putting it on par with what happened in Chernobyl in 1986 (For comparison, Three Mile Island was a five). The situation hasn't really changed at Fukushima Dai-ichi in a while so it's not like something has drastically worsened over the last few days. It's more that after reassessment it was determined that the severity level did indeed warrant it being a seven instead of a five. So there is nothing new to freak out about.

I can imagine that the foreign media is all in an uproar about how Japan was underplaying the situation or hiding facts or how unforthcoming they have been about information, etc, etc, etc. And really, all that is getting a little tiresome. I can understand that the people in Fukushima would be in a panic. And the farmers, the fishermen, the livestock owners, etc in the area have a right to be worried. But really, if the government had come out right away and said it was a level seven, would that have really changed anything I personally did? Looking back, probably not. It's probably hard to imagine unless you are actually here, but there really hasn't been that much to be in a panic about. At least for me, personally. Not yet.

--Does this mean that when I order buffalo wings at Hooters, the sauce choices will now be Mild, Medium, Hot, Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and Chernobyl? Not that I've ever been to a Hooters. Just heard from a friend of a friend.... Really....

--The sports fans out there may have seen somewhere that the Japanese baseball season began yesterday. The US media is trying to spin it to make it seem like it's some big healing event and how it will now restore some normalcy to life (similar to the Yankees after 9/11, or the Saints after Katrina, or the NFL after the JFK assassination). But the popularity of Japanese baseball has been in a sharp decline over the past few years so I don't think it's that big of a deal. And, actually, what happened immediately after the earthquake and the melodrama involving the Central League (which was all about greed) really turned people off. That's probably not getting much play in the US media. Those that are interested can click on the following links.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/04/11/the-return-of-baseball-to-japan-is-not-being-met-with-unequivocal-joy/

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/sports/archive/news/2011/03/19/20110319p2g00m0sp067000c.html

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/sports/archive/news/2011/03/20/20110320p2g00m0sp027000c.html

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/sports/archive/news/2011/03/25/20110325p2g00m0sp053000c.html