Hysterical & Hysterically Funny Maps of Nuclear Radiation and Danger Zones in Japan

I just read some reports saying that Tokyo was so radioactively contaminated that it needed to be evacuated - all 30 million plus of us who live here. That alarmed me so I got out my handy dandy Geiger counter and measured the background radiation here in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. It was basically the same it always has been. And completely within safe levels. (To see the current levels look that the top of this blog for link.)

If you want to read this outlandish reporting, you can. It is here. But I will quote this report at length:

(San Francisco) Widely known Physicist Dr Paolo Scampa, the publisher of the EU AIPRI Blog and an eminent chemical physicist, announced today his latest calculations of deadly radioactivity in Tokyo itself.  Both the nuclear regulatory and media responses have been missing in action.

.....

The Tokyo suburbs are about 100 miles or 160 km South of the six destroyed, deteriorating and badly leaking nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Station for Nuclear Reactors.

Dr Scampa stated:

“An absorbed dose of 2,94 microSievert/hour at 1 meter of soil means an average deposit of 9,065E5 Bq/m2 of Cs137 -0,661 MeV-. This amount for 1 meter is in fact situated between a maximum deposit of  5,439E6 Bq/m2 for low energy gamma rays from radioactive elements such as U238 (0,0495 MeV) and a minimum deposit of  2,176E5 Bq/m2 of very energetic gamma rays from radioactive elements such as Co60 (2,55 MeV). This dose corresponds to 25 times the maximum permissible “artificial” hour dose (0,114 microSievert/h-1) and 5 times the maximum permissible total – natural and artificial – hour dose (0,571 microSievert/h-1). [1]” Dr. Scampa. [End Quote]

This is a tragedy of huge proportions. There are 30 Plus Million People in Greater Tokyo. It is brought home personally to each person who sees the work of Fukushima Diary by Mochizuki.

There are thousands of US troops stationed with their families in Japan. American politicians must remove all US Troops and dependents from Japan immediately.

You might notice that Dr. Scampa's statement is about dangerous levels of radiation. This I don't argue; those dosages are dangerous. My only question is where in Dr. Scampa's statement does he say something like, "Tokyo is experiencing currently dangerous levels of radiation"? He doesn't. This is typical of the wild unsubstantiated claims being made in some circles. 


May I ask that the facts be given and then relevant information also be given? I don't see how a dissertation on dangerous radiation levels - something I can learn in a book - can be directly related to facts on the ground here in Tokyo by what I have read in this article. This reminds me of the claims about a year ago that the "Top 1/3 of Japan is uninhabitable for decades." 


This sort of panicky reporting is still going on... Fear mongering and completely baseless.


But how do the Japanese see it the nuclear problem? Here is a bunch of excellent, funny and cynical maps that have been making the rounds on the Internet here in Japan amongst the Japanese.


This is from the Testosterone Pit: Nuclear Contamination as Seen by Japanese Humor

After an endless stream of horrid reports on the tragedy of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, and the hotspots that are cropping up in odd places, and food scares, and even contaminated grasshoppers, we’re ready for something ... lighter. This has been circulating in the Japanese internet community for months, has garnered countless comments, and a lot of nodding, agreement, and knowing smiles. Though it’s not based on science or statistics, and certainly not on any polls, it represents, in the eyes of many Japanese, a larger tongue-in-cheek truth.

Note: the areas seen as contaminated are marked in red.

Thanks to Zerohedge and Testosterone Pit

Empathy Survey - How Do You Feel When You See a Child Suffering?

I just bought a book by one of my favorite political columnists, Ted Rall. In the foreword, he talks about compassion and empathy. 


He wrote about a time he saw a homeless man and thought, "Thank god, if it weren't for a few lucky breaks, that could have been me." I've thought the same thing before many times too.


How about you?


I agree with what Ted writes in the book and will have a review of "The Year of Loving Dangerously" soon... But, until then, this...


I wonder about people today and think there are far too many people who feint compassion and concern, but it's all an act. Take, for example, the disaster of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 in Japan. So many people I know were actually sincere and got off their asses and did something...


But I also thought there were way too many people who only helped and contributed because it made them look good doing so. There's nothing so wrong with that, I suppose, as long as people are honest with themselves and open about intentions.


There's a word for this and it's Crocodile Tears.


I also think that there is far too little compassion and empathy amongst people today as a general rule.


Take, for example, the poor people who have suffered in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. Terrible situation indeed... But the mass media seem to have gone on and people are losing interest.


Is it human nature to do so? Or are we all just robots with heart strings being pulled by the mass media?


I wonder why people will get together to make (at least the appearance of) an effort to help people who are on TV and suffering far away, yet, in their own neighborhoods, they scorn and look down upon the unfortunate in their own neighborhoods?


For those ends and my own research, I've made a survey at the right of this blog. It is asking the question:


"When you see a homeless person, what do you think?"


I hope you will help me by taking 5 seconds to answer the question (as many answers as you wish)... I will post the results on 10/31/11. 


Note: I changed the name of this post from "When you see a homeless person, what do you think?" to "How Do You Feel When You See a Child Suffering?" Because I know that if I write "Homeless" that is a distasteful subject and many will not bother to read the post.

Radioactive Golfing!? Some People Love to Golf!

Here's a story that caught my eye. It's about how golf courses near the Fukushima nuclear power plant are struggling to stay in operation.

All of the 27-hole courses are within the emergency zone.... And they are struggling to stay in business!? What!? You'd have thought that they'd have gone out of business 6 months ago. 


Some people really love to golf!


Daily Yomiuri reports:


Golf Courses Trapped in Rough by Radiation


FUKUSHIMA--Some golf courses in Fukushima Prefecture are suffering from radioactive contamination stemming from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, while others have lost customers due to radiation fears.


Gee. Ya think so? Nah! Can't be.


Since the accident at the nuclear plant, 12 out of a total 63 golf courses in the prefecture have been forced to suspend operations. The number of players at golf courses currently in operation has been low, frustrating people in the golf business in the prefecture.


Go figure.


Kashima Country Club in Minami-Soma, located northwest of the nuclear power plant, has been closed since March 12, the day after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Almost all of the 27 hole-golf course falls within the emergency evacuation preparation zone.


Hmm? They are within the emergency evacuation zone? That means they are chock full of goodies like Spider-Man at Three Mile Island. Now why in the world wouldn't people be just be "dying" to get on the courses and do a brisk 18 holes every morning? 


Radiation-measuring instruments dotted around the golf course constantly issue alarms indicating radiation levels of 0.3 microsieverts per hour or above; in some areas, levels have reached over 3 microsieverts per hour.


Three microsieverts and hour? Does that count toward my handicap? Wow! Empty golf courses? If there were ever a time to pick up the sport, now is the time... And, that's not all, folks! Free tanning on these golf courses with the new "Fuku-you Golf Tanning" plan!


Yoshikatsu Fukuodori, manager of the golf course, said, "[It's a pity], as our golf course suffered no damage from the earthquake and tsunami."


What does he mean by that? Does he wish the courses were ruined by tsunami as well as nuclear radiation?


As a result of some club members requesting to practice their swing at the course, the club reopened 18 holes on June 4. However, because many of the club's members have evacuated to outside the prefecture, only about 20 people per day use the course. The 3,500 yen fee members pay to use the course just covers the minimum maintenance costs involved, such as gasoline for golf carts and chemical herbicides.


Aha! I love golf! Nature! The sun! Birds! Bees! Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, Agent Orange and nucleotides!


Fukuodori had no choice but to dismiss all 45 of his employees as a result of the downturn. Of those, four are supporting him as volunteers. Fukuodori remained pessimistic, however, dropping his shoulders and saying, "Even if we decontaminate the golf course, it's not guaranteed that players will return."


"Even if we decontaminate the course, it's not guaranteed that players will return"!? So, what Einstein is saying here is that the course is contaminated and he wonders why players don't come there to golf?


Did you folks ever see that movie Caddy Shack?.... Case rests your honor.

Japanese Gov't to Rent Land Near Fukushima? Nuts!

There's some things going on about the Fukushima disaster that I just cannot understand. These problems all involve the government handling of the situation. I've written much about my dissatisfaction with that. 

The problem with the entire situation stems from government incompetence and the desire to be all things to all people in this crisis.


Yesterday, it came to fore that areas near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plants will be declared uninhabitable for many ears to come. Does that come as a surprise to anyone? I wouldn't think so.


Now, it seems that the Japanese government is going to reimburse land and property owners near the Fukushima plant by paying them rent for all the coming years that they won't be able to live in their homes. I am completely against this notion and think this is just another government boondoogle that makes the rest of us pay for something that we had nothing to do with.


The New York Times reports:

TOKYO — Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday.

The formal announcement, expected from the government in coming days, would be the first official recognition that the March accident could force the long-term depopulation of communities near the plant, an eventuality that scientists and some officials have been warning about for months. Lawmakers said over the weekend — and major newspapers reported Monday — that Prime Minister Naoto Kan was planning to visit Fukushima Prefecture, where the plant is, as early as Saturday to break the news directly to residents. The affected communities are all within 12 miles of the plant, an area that was evacuated immediately after the accident.

Why is this a surprise? Didn't everyone expect this long ago? When the government announced a few weeks ago that they were planning to allow residents to return this year, didn't everyone think they were talking like the fools that they are?

The government is expected to tell many of these residents that they will not be permitted to return to their homes for an indefinite period. It will also begin drawing up plans for compensating them by, among other things, renting their now uninhabitable land. While it is unclear if the government would specify how long these living restrictions would remain in place, news reports indicated it could be decades. That has been the case for areas around the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine after its 1986 accident.

Like I said, under what twisted rules will the government determine the land value of these areas? Their current value must be zero, right? What is the difference between this and the US government buying all those billions of dollar of so-called "toxic-assets" from the failing uS banking system? There isn't any. It is just throwing public money down the toilet.

Since the Fukushima accident, evacuations have been a sensitive topic for the government, which has been criticized for being slow to admit the extent of the disaster and trying to limit the size of the areas affected, despite possible risks to public health. Until now, Tokyo had been saying it would lift the current evacuation orders for most areas around the plant early next year, when workers are expected to stabilize Fukushima Daiichi’s damaged nuclear reactors.

Ha! No one who has been paying any attention even thinks anything the government says is anything but a sick joke. Once again, they show their total incompetence and lack of common sense and delusion. Kan and his cronies keep hoping that things will get better but as a friend once told me, "Hope isn't a very good business plan." How in the world it is that Kan is still prime minister is astounding.

The government was apparently forced to alter its plans after the survey by the Ministry of Science and Education, released over the weekend, which showed even higher than expected radiation levels within the 12-mile evacuation zone around the plant. The most heavily contaminated spot was in the town of Okuma about two miles southwest of the plant, where someone living for a year would be exposed to 508.1 millisieverts of radiation — far above the level of 20 millesieverts per year that the government considers safe.

The survey found radiation above the safe level at three dozen spots up to 12 miles from the plant. That has called into question how many residents will actually be able to return to their homes even after the plant is stabilized.

The only good note that can be deemed from all of this is that, with everyone being so nervous and doing some serious checking and investigation, that no one has found any wide contamination in Tokyo is a good thing. Let's hope it stays that way and people remain vigilant.


Frankly speaking, in a nutshell, here's what I think:


1) The TEPCO nuclear power plant is a privately owned business. When they made profits, they kept them. When they lose money (as in the recent accident) I don't understand why the public has to bail them out. They make a profit, they pocket the money. They lose money and the public has to pay through increased taxation? Does that seem fair to you? It doesn't to me.


2) Once again, the government is easy to spread around public tax monies paid for by you and me.... After all, it's not their money.


3) This sounds really cold, but the people who lived around those nuclear power plants profited in their businesses and livelihoods for decades due to the business and economic benefits those nuclear power plants provided as a main source of jobs and revenue for the people living in the area. Why are they different than TEPCO? They profited for many years off of businesses and jobs created by the TEPCO plant. Now that there has been a terrible accident, why do the rest of us have to pay them rent for their houses that they can no longer live in?


4) Who will decide the amount of rent to be paid? Surely we will be paying way over current market value on those properties as their current value - since the disaster - must be close to zero.


5) Why are we, the public, being asked to pay for these properties? What is the purpose of private so-called "fire and marine" insurance? (Insurance for covering accidents and disasters befalling private property?) If the owners of property had no insurance, then that is their stupidity and loss. Why should the rest of us pay for that?  When, say, a property on a mountainside is burned down in a fire, are the rest of us expected to pay for that property owner's loss? No.


The disaster of March 11 is a tragedy for those who lost homes, family and livelihoods. These sorts of occurrences are why there is insurance. There is no good reason that the government has volunteered for the rest of us to pay for these people's losses. They profited from the good times, they must suffer for the bad. 


Paying these people, like paying TEPCO, is not fair. It is the same as the US government using tax monies to bail out the big banks when they were in trouble.


The rest of us didn't experience personal or financial gain from the good times, we should not be expected to pay for the bad.


I am against this sort of expenditure of public monies whether it is to be spent to help a private business like TEPCO or a private landowner like those who lived near the Fukushima reactors. People must have known the risk. They should have moved if they didn't like the chances. The rest of us should not be expected to pay for their poor judgement or bad luck.


That is what insurance is for.


As with all tragic events, I wish for good luck for those people and survivors of these disasters... But I can't see how you or I should be forced to pay for it.

Radiation Levels in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday July 28, 2011 at 8:38 am

It's Thursday July 28, 2011 at 8:37 in the morning.  A slight rain has hit the Kanto area. Here is a map from Yahoo Japan:

I wanted to use this rainy day chance to measure the background radiation levels here in Tokyo. As you can see from the video, I measured the air and near a drainage spot in the road.

Radiation Levels in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday July 28, 2011 at 8:38 am

The levels were well within safe ranges between 0.11 ~ 0.12 microsiverts per hour. The levels are usually between 0.09 ~ 0.12.

For more up to the minute readings on the air and water with comparisons and simple, easy to understand instructions on how to read and understand them, see

here. If that link doesn't work, use this: http://bit.ly/eESfcx

Workers at Fukushima Complain of Bad Conditions.. So What?

The damaged nuclear reactor problem at Fukushima is becoming more and more stabilized. It's been more than a week since humans entered damaged reactor #. Of course, for the people living near the plant and the workers there, things are still terrible. For the rest of us, as is always prudent and wise, we must be ever diligent about what we buy and feed our children.

Complaining about harsh work conditions? Join the club.

Nevertheless, Fukushima hasn't become the disaster that some had claimed it would become.


The fact is that, in this country, as in life everywhere, the good must be taken with the bad. We have benefitted from nuclear power, we must bear the costs of that. Especially the people who lived near the plant who made livelihoods off nuclear power.


Whereas before, some elements of the mass media were screaming about nuclear holocaust, armageddon and nuclear winter, the hyperbole has slowly been dying away.


Once again, the scorecard must be examined, as I wrote in Radiation, Fukushima Facts and Blogger Frustration:

At Chernobyl, 237 people suffered from acute radiation sickness soon after the accident, of whom 31 died within the first three months.

Here's a fun fact for you about Fukushima: Total number of people reported to have acute radiation sickness from Fukushima; 0 (zero). Total deaths from Fukushima nuclear accident in first four + months; 0 (zero).    


Now, since millions haven't died, the news changes focus on the workers at Fukushima.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports:

N-plant workers still labor under severe conditions

Severe summer heat causing heatstroke and poor accommodations have plagued workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, even though the government has announced that Step 1 of settling the crisis was nearly complete.

Improving worker conditions at the plant was one of the targets of Step 1. However, some employees are still not happy with their conditions.

Hoo hum. I bet that you could survey all employees in any field and find that most of them are not happy with their conditions.

On Tuesday, Goshi Hosono, the state minister responsible for dealing with the nuclear crisis, and Tokyo Electric Power Co., announced the near completion of Step 1.

Working conditions at the plant have improved to some extent. Worker exposure to radiation has been steadily reduced and efforts have been made to make workers more comfortable.

Currently, about 1,500 people work at the plant every day. A gymnasium at the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant, about 10 kilometers from the No. 1 plant, is now equipped with showers and bunk beds for 240 people. Temporary dormitories are also under construction in the area, but problems remain.

I guess the danger from radiation can't be so bad for us living so far away. If it is so dangerous, then how is it that 1,500 people could be working at the plant everyday?

At the special earthquake-resistant building at the No. 1 plant, housing the crisis headquarters, workers are still forced to sleep on blankets on the floor. "I can't sleep well here," a TEPCO employee said.

The summer heat has been hard on workers wearing heavy protective gear including full-face masks, as temperatures around the No. 1 plant have exceeded 30 C almost every day.

This is Japan. It's summer. It's hot. We don't really need a weather report. We also do not need to be reminded that, since this is Japan, people sleep on the floor. Funny that. I sleep on the floor every night too.

According to TEPCO, 32 workers had been diagnosed as suffering from heatstroke as of Monday. On Tuesday, a worker in his 20s suffering heatstroke symptoms was sent to the hospital. Another TEPCO worker said, "It's too hot. My cool vest [containing refrigerant] doesn't work well."

Even though air-conditioned rest stations were set up at 11 locations in the plant, workers' faces are flushed from the heat when they remove their masks, according to TEPCO sources.

As radiation-tainted debris has steadily been removed, radiation levels at the plant have decreased.

Well, the radiation levels at the plant have decreased? That's good news. Thirty two workers have heatstroke related problems in the summer in Japan because they are working in protective suits in 30 degree celsius (86 fahrenheit) temperatures and this is the news?!

You're kidding, right?

I have one piece of advice for the TEPCO workers at Fukushima; You accepted a job at a certain renumeration. No one forced you into taking that job. You decided to take it by yourselves. 

I hate to sound so cold, but, if you don't like it, then quit... Or ask for a pay raise. You guys took this job on your own volition. What did you expect?

We're Doomed! Japanese Nuclear Polluted Tires Found in Iraq!

I go to the store, walk around Tokyo, ride the trains, go to the grocery store. The kids are playing in the streets, school is out. Summer is here. Life in Tokyo is as always... 

Even the shat in their pants, run and ask pertinent questions later, panic stricken foreigners who were called "Flyjin" are back and too embarrassed to even bring up the subject (what subject? Oh, why returning to Tokyo now is OK when it's no worse or better now than it was on March 15th or 16th?)... 


Since millions have yet to die from Fukushima and 1/3 of Japan is still inhabitable (but for how long?) the purveyors of doom need something else to freak out about, so they have harped on about beef (in a nation that is a predominately fish eating country)... 


I don't eat beef or pork, but how come the pigs don't get equal billing? Just asking...


But now, this radioactive nonsense has gone surreal. The puppet government of Iraq (who is, I'm sure, absolutely not corrupt) wants a $1 million dollar fine for "tires polluted with radioactive rays" from Japan.


You're kidding me with this sh*t, right?


Wireupdate reports from Baghdad:

BAGHDAD (BNO NEWS) — Iraq’s Planning Ministry announced on Monday that a shipment of Japanese tires which bear traces of nuclear pollution were found to have entered the country.

“A shipment of Japanese tires, polluted with nuclear rays coming from Japan, has actually entered Iraq,” Iraqi Planning Minister, Ali Shukri, told a news conference in Baghdad on Monday, according to the Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Shukri said his Ministry has previously signed contracts with a French and a Swiss company to check the goods coming from other countries. “In the event that the two said companies, with whom the said contracts were signed, committed any violations, the Ministry will enforce a penalty of one million U.S. dollars on them,” he said.

Radioactive tires!? Riiiiiiiiiiight.


If these idiots had a clue they could find someway to make even more money on them than regular tires.


Thanks to my alert friend Scott McLean for the "hot" tip. 

Radiation, Fukushima Facts and Blogger Frustration

Being a blogger is so frustrating... I guess it comes with the territory... 


At the top of this blog, it says, This blog is about "ALL THINGS ABOUT THE MEDIA, MARKETING AND JAPAN..."

I want to write about Japan and the media and marketing as, good bloggers are supposed to write about their expertise. It is the death-knell of any blogger to go off on subjects that they are not expert in. 

I consider myself an expert on mass media, Japan in particular. 

Surprisingly, this blog never was about nuclear power nor Fukushima. I only wrote about Fukushima when it concerned mass media sensationalism or media reporting. I wrote lots of those....

Especially when idiots said stuff like, "A large chunk of Japan will be  uninhabitable." 

Laughable...

Even so, people still attack my former comments on the prophets of doom. 

Here's one that just makes me want to pull my hair out:

You seem to have gone very quiet about the radiation and how safe we are in Japan since the beef story hit? You have no comment about such a big issue? Are we all still safe living with this risk? You think beef will be the last of it? It is amazing how much faith people have here in the authorities ability to manage such an enormous and complex situation. How they try to show support for the region by buying food that will now damage the thing they were trying to support. Is it not obvious that there is contamination and food safety issues relating to the release of radiation in the region??

I responded:

Anonymous! I've written about this much. I am not a radiation expert. I am a media expert. I have written that I wanted to stop writing about Fukushima. When I wrote about (Fukushima) I wrote about media and sensationalism. I don't eat beef - (Mad-cow, chemicals, hormones, etc. that will kill you)... I've even written that if you want factual information on the Fukushima disaster, go to the right of my blog to recommended blog and go to EX-SKF blog and/or Alexander Higgins blog. 

As I've said 100 times, living in Fukushima area near the plants are not... What do you mean, "(Is it safe) Here in Japan?" Do you mean, Okinawa? Nagoya? Osaka? From the information available, Tokyo is safe. The radiation levels are listed at the top of this blog everyday. See for yourself.

Eating beef from Fukushima is probably not (safe). I don't know. When we get a sensationalist story about how radioactive cows are killing "everyone who eats a burger or at McDonalds," I will probably have a comment. 


I've written several times that I want to stop writing about anything to do with Fukushima. Here is the post where I tried to send people to other blogs who need information on facts about Fukushima:

Need Facts on Fukushima Disaster?

I added a link on my blog to this: http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/

Japanese kid who writes well and his English is awesome! Factual reporting on Fukushima... Often makes my blog posts look stupid. Good stuff. Never ventures into conjecture or sensationalism.

I've also linked to my recommended posts a site run by my friend, Alexander Higgins. http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/ and to an excellent blog by Marc Shaffner: http://www.sheffnersweb.net/blogs/accuratemaps/ 

Anyhow, no. I have no intention of writing about anything that has to do with eating beef. In my, opinion, beef is not healthy - in some cases unsafe - to eat anyway. It is too expensive. We don't eat the stuff. Used to. Mad Cow disease finished us off on that... Never really were big beef fans anyway... 

Like I said, though, if some clown comes out in the mass media and starts making wild claims along the lines of "Fukushima beef is irradiating our food supply and 20,000 McDonald's customers are going to die from eating it!" I will write about it...

But, I would write, if only to say that eating McDonald's food regularly will probably kill a hell of a lot more people than the meat from a thousand cows from Fukushima will.

I've gone silent on this? Yes. 

Arnie Gundersen said that "20,000 people were going to die from Fukushima." 

Yawn! 

Many say that Fukushima is much worse than Chernobyl...

Here's fun fact for you about Chernobyl from Wikipedia: At Chernobyl, 237 people suffered from acute radiation sickness soon after the accident, of whom 31 died within the first three months.

Here's a fun fact for you about Fukushima: Total number of people reported to have acute radiation sickness from Fukushima; 0 (zero). Total deaths from Fukushima nuclear accident in first four + months; 0 (zero). Total number of affected cows; almost 1500.

Very bad news for the cows who will be destroyed.

Fukushima: You'd think that foreigners in this country would bother

to learn how to read second-grade kanji... You'd think wrong.

Afraid of irradiated beef? Don't eat beef... 

Also, here's another hint.... Learn to read and write basic Japanese. At ALL grocery stores in Japan they list where produce is from. If it says 福島　(Fukushima) and you are worried about it. Then don't buy it and don't eat it.

Simple. Problem solved. 


UPDATE: on Fukushima from Business Insider: Fukushima Stabilized. 


UPDATE TWO: The worst thing so far about this tainted beef is that 240 school children were fed it it Yamagata. Now there' some kids parents who, if I were them, I'd be screaming bloody murder!


Yamagata Shimbun Newspaper (7/20/2011) reports:

Concerning the beef from the cows from Asakawa-machi in Fukushima Prefecture that were fed with the rice hay that contained the high level of radioactive cesium, Sakata City (in Yamagata Prefecture) announced on July 19 that 3 nursery schools in the city purchased the beef in late April, and total 290 children and teachers ate the meat in school lunches.

According to Sakata City, the three nursery schools purchased the meat from the same food grocer in the city. The meat was cooked into "hashed beef" dish and served as lunch. 240 children and 50 teachers and administrators ate 20 to 40 grams per person.

The food grocer alerted the nursery schools . Sakata City traced the history of the meat, and confirmed that the meat that was delivered to the three nursery schools came from the Yokohama City Central Wholesale Meat Market, and the cow had come from Asakawa-machi in Fukushima Prefecture.The city notified the parents of children at these nursery schools on July 19, and decided not to use beef in school lunches until the safety is assured.  

NOTE: If you are worried about the government not testing and checking our food. All I can wonder is why in the world after all the recent deaths from food in the west does anyone in the west complain of Japanese government incompetence concerning beef. Just Google search "2010 food deaths" and you'll find 5,000 people die in the USA from tainted food every year and 40,000 die from eating junk food... The USDA doesn't test USA produced milk for radiation. Read here. That the government is incompetent is a foregone conclusion. Why anyone wants that same government to take over the nuclear power plants is beyond comprehension.