Japanese News Update

[AsahinaKimi]

Signs of 6 massive tsunami over past 6,000 years found in disaster-hit city
SENDAI -- Evidence of at least six massive tsunami having occurred over the past 6,000 years has been found on the coast of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture -- an area pounded by the devastating March 11 tsunami this year.

The discovery was made by a team of researchers including Kazuomi Hirakawa, a specially appointed professor at Hokkaido University. It is believed that the finding will shed light on tracking the frequency of major tsunamis along Japan's Sanriku Coast.

The team examined a three-meter-high piece of exposed land in a coastal area of the city, and between the peat layers formed by rotted plants, they found six layers in which sand and stones from the shore had apparently been carried into the area by tsunami. The site was discovered while researchers were examining the effects of the latest tsunami.

more..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20110822p2a00m0na021000c.html

Ishinomaki education board destroyed interview memos with tsunami survivors
ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi -- The Ishinomaki City Board of Education in Miyagi Prefecture has destroyed about 30 memos detailing interviews with teachers and children at Okawa Elementary School who survived the tsunami triggered by the March 11 mega-quake, the Mainichi learned Aug. 21.

Seventy-four out of the school's 108 children died or went missing in the tsunami as they were being guided from the schoolyard to an area outside the school. In addition, 10 out of 11 teachers and school officials who were at the school at the time of the tsunami also died or went missing, along with local residents who had evacuated to the school.

"We reflected on the important portions of the memos in a (tsunami disaster) report. But because it was a big tragedy, we probably should have kept interviews and recorded them," said an education board official in charge.

more..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20110822p2a00m0na015000c.html

N-plant area uninhabitable 'for many yrs' / Govt to keep entry ban for 3-km zone

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Areas within three kilometers of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant likely will be kept off-limits for an extended period--possibly for several decades--because they have been highly contaminated with radioactive substances, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The ban on entry to these areas will remain in place even after the 20-kilometer no-go zone around the plant is lifted when the crisis at the nuclear plant is brought under control, according to government sources.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan will likely hold talks with leaders of local governments in the affected areas and apologize for the prolonged evacuation.

The areas to be kept off-limits will likely include parts of Futabamachi and Okumamachi, both in Fukushima Prefecture. They are within three kilometers of the nuclear plant crippled by March 11 disaster.

more
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110821002920.htm

Abalone to show impact of tsunami 'for years'
The Yomiuri Shimbun

SENDAI--The population of young abalone growing wild in waters off Miyagi Prefecture was massively reduced by the March 11 tsunami, according to a fisheries research center, and the abalone catch is likely to suffer for several years as a result.

Young abalone numbers have fallen more than 90 percent since February, apparently because the edible mollusks were swept away by the tsunami, according to the National Research Institute of Fisheries, based in Yokohama.

The institute conducted research in the Tomarihama district on the Oshika Peninsula in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, and in the Iwaisaki district of Kesennuma in the same prefecture. The study was done in cooperation with the University of Tokyo and the Miyagi prefectural government.

more...
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110822004291.htm


Many farmers crushed
Livestock farmers in Miyagi Prefecture expressed relief as the government lifted a ban on beef shipments from their area, but those in Fukushima Prefecture were disappointed as the ban in their region remained.

The government on Friday lifted its ban on shipments of beef cattle raised in Miyagi Prefecture, imposed in response to the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Livestock farmers in the prefecture, who had been extremely worried over the situation, were thankful they would finally be able to earn money again.

more..
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110820002859.htm

Locals must be more active in tsunami readiness: experts

STOCKHOLM —

Local communities should be more involved in outlining measures to prepare for and react to future tsunamis, experts who have studied the March 11 disaster in Japan told a conference here Monday.

“The local community design in crucial” when it comes to responding to the consequences of tsunamis, Yoshiyuki Kawazoe, an industrial science professor at Tokyo University, told a seminar at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm.

On March 11 this year, as large swaths of northeastern Japan were being devastated by giant earthquakes and tsunamis, the village of Yoshihama was spared, suffering not a single death, largely thanks to local urban planning, he said.

In Yoshihama, “the residence areas were built outside of flooding areas. The local land use planning made it so that no one was living behind the tide embankment,” Kawazoe explained, pointing out that people there had decided “they could accept damages to the rice fields but not to the residence areas.”

more..
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/locals-must-be-more-present-in-tsunami-readiness-experts


City in Fukushima declares August Decontamination Month
MINAMI-SOMA —

It is a daunting task. Contamination from the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl has spread far and wide, across fields and farms, rivers and forests. Tens of thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes.

But, shovelful by shovelful, one half-empty city on the edge of the evacuation zone is fighting to bring its future back.

Feeling forgotten and left largely to fend for themselves by the central government, officials in Minami-Soma, about 20 kilometers away from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility, have designated August as “Decontamination Month” in a campaign to woo spooked residents home.

“We decided that we could not sit by and wait until Tokyo figured out what to do,” said town official Yoshiaki Yokota. “It’s an enormous task, but we have to start somewhere.”

more..
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/city-in-fukushima-declares-august-decontamination-month

Disaster-hit Japan faces leadership change
By Frank Zeller (AFP) – 1 day ago

TOKYO — The revolving door to the Japan prime minister's residence is likely to spin again before the end of this month as Naoto Kan bows out to make way for the country's sixth new leader in five years.

The centre-left premier is widely expected to quit within about a week, almost half a year since the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami sorely tested his leadership and turned him into Japan's top anti-nuclear crusader.

The frontrunner to take his post is his finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda, a less divisive figure who has even floated the idea of a grand coalition with the conservative opposition to tackle Japan's problems.

Trade Minister Banri Kaeda and former transport minister Sumio Mabuchi have also thrown their hats into the ring, while others, including former foreign minister Seiji Maehara, are weighing their options.

more..
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hTqKwezguXi0ztU89Pv1eQOkdZdg?docId=CNG.fc716f621500fa9728940041d00ec538.121

Fukushima tests rice radiation-resistance
Absorption level of 110 strains studied
Kyodo

FUKUSHIMA — A research agency in Fukushima Prefecture has begun testing about 110 varieties of Japanese and foreign rice in a search for strains that absorb less radioactive cesium from the soil.

The project, which was initiated by the Fukushima Agricultural Technology Center in Koriyama, after the meltdowns and explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, is unprecedented in that no research has ever been done on rice grown on land tainted by relatively high amounts of radioactive matter, the center's research team said.

The research is important since the radioactive fallout from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant will likely disrupt rice farming in nearby areas for years to come, it said.

"We might be able to develop new (cesium-resistant) rice strains if we find rice varieties that absorb less cesium through this project and cross them with Japanese rice," said Keisuke Nemoto, professor at the University of Tokyo's graduate school and a member of the team.

more..
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110823x3.html


Quake-resistant buildings a must-have after March 11
BY EIJI ZAKODA STAFF WRITER/Asahi.com
As a real-life demonstration, the Great East Japan Earthquake provided the best selling point for buildings with base isolation structures that reduce shaking during major ground tremors.

Many of these high-rise structures proved a safe haven for people seeking shelter and allowed companies to continue working after the March 11 quake, which is now a hot selling point for the technology.

"The building didn't move much and this helped our patients feel at ease," said a spokesperson for Aizu Chuo Hospital, located in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture.

There were around 1,000 patients and staff at the hospital when an upper-5 intensity earthquake struck. The seven-story earthquake-proof hospital building experienced minimal shaking, and medical examinations continued without a hitch.

more...
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201108200156.html

[AsahinaKimi]

1. Bumping this

So there won't be any duplicate threads... :P