Monday, June 13, 2011

Tales from Japan: Fukushima the Worst Story Never Told


Photo of childrens` toys from a sandbox in Funabashi Chiba Japan. Sandboxes and water run off read the highest for radiation and children are the most at risk
 The world keeps on turning and we are just holding on for the ride.  News attention over Fukushima has died down considerably over the past few weeks.  Both the western media and Japanese media (of course) are following other issues or trying to get attention back onto issues like the dire situation of the economy or frivilous fashion, travel, entertainment, etc.

As much as I would like to forget all this and go back to semi-normal life, something does not sit right.  There is no resolution in sight, no contingency plan, no critical coverage of Fukushima! You think that reporters and journalist would be all over something so historic and tragic as this. 

Recently I actually spoke in a professsional Japanese Journalist, (who will remain unnamed) who has several best sellers listed on AMAZON.  We spoke over the phone and he expressed concern for Japan and its future. He said that, "True Journalism is dead" and that "only a few samurai (free journalists) can actually survive in these conditions."

Journalists and publishers in Japan make their living writing articles to promote businesses, organizations, politicians, and religions who then in turn pay for the journalist`s expenses and fund the publishers.  This means when it comes to things like Fukushima, the journalists and publishers are hand-tied.  They cannot go rogue and expect to survive.  It was an enlightening conversation to say the least.  I had never thought of it before.  There are many people who want to see the truth of Fukushima come out in Japan, but there are few who can tell the story.  Few who could actually publish a legitimate work that would do those suffering justice.

The effects of Fukushima will be long lasting and over the next months and years will begin to manifest. Yet by that time the media attention will be on something else and when the time comes the government will do very little for those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time in 2011.

There are many experts who appear on TV assuring the people that things are fine.  These experts are well known and most are funded by the government so it is not safe to say that their opinion stands true.
Below is a youtube video of a radiation expert (not on the government payroll).  Video is in Japanese




The gist of this conversation is that this expert, Hirose Takashi, is shocked at the words of his colleagues and those who appear on television saying everything is okay.  He is appalled at the apathy of these people knowing full well the potential danger that people are living with this radiation in their environment everyday.  He explains that internal exposure to such radiation is extremely harmful because the radioactivity is not just gamma rays from an outside source like an Xray machine but it is actually coming from you. Essentially the moment you intake these particles you have become radioactive!

As a follow up Arnie Gundersen world renown nuclear expert talks about the same topic. "Hot particles" that can be inhaled or taken into the body and that have the potential for great harm.



Also I have been following the Atomic Energy News update site for latest information on Fukushima

ENERGY NEWS

1 comment:

  1. Well, it is sad that there will be so many who will have cancers. Unless God heals, and protects the West Coast along with Japan will be a dead zone. No one wants to believe it now. But the facts remain. Will detox help a lung? I rather doubt it because the source of the detox would not reach the lung tissue and aveoli. We should have all been wearing masks. Period. No one wanted to look stupid,so they didn't. I was shunned when I did, so I took it off. Lord of the Flies all over again, no?

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