**JAPAN UPDATE**

[AsahinaKimi]

M5.1 quake hits northern Japan

TOKYO —

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake shook northern Japan late on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and no tsunami warning, the weather agency said.

The quake hit at 10:29 p.m. at a shallow point, just offshore of Urakawa, on the southern coast of Hokkaido, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The epicenter was further north than the March 11 quake on the northeast coast that triggered a tsunami and left 20,000 people dead or missing.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/m5-1-quake-hits-northern-japan

Many hospitals in quake-hit areas still not back up to speed

Six months after the March 11 disaster that devastated northeastern Japan, many hospitals in the Tohoku region are still struggling to get back up to speed.

About 30 percent of the hospitals in the hardest hit coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are still forced to restrict medical care by capping the number of patients they admit and the number of surgical operations they perform, The Asahi Shimbun has found.

MORE..
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201109070230.html

In Fukushima, students face up to realities of nuclear disaster

With Japan's worst disaster since World War II still hanging like a dark cloud over the nation, Kiyoshi Sasaki figured there was no better time to teach his students about the dangers of contamination from radiation.

That explains the sight of students at Meiken Junior High School in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, measuring radiation levels with dosimeters in the schoolyard as part of extracurricular activities on Sept. 5.

MORE..
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201109070229.html

47 schools unable to rebuild after disaster

Forty-seven schools that have been using other schools' facilities since the March 11 disaster still are undecided on where and how to rebuild their own facilities, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.

The survey was conducted on 82 public primary, middle and high schools in 24 cities and towns in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures that are using buildings of nearby schools after theirs were severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

MORE..
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110907005515.htm

Mayors see no return to normal

Six months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, many mayors in prefectures affected by the disaster and the ongoing nuclear crisis said they were unsure when life would return to normal for residents, according to a survey by The Yomiuri Shimbum.

The survey, conducted from Aug. 25 to Sept. 2, among mayors of cities and towns in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, found that 26 of 42, or 62% of the mayors, had little to no idea when recovery from the disaster would be complete.

A similar survey in May showed that 27 of 41 mayors, or 66%, responded along the same lines. This suggests that the situation has not improved in the affected areas, even after six months.

MORE..
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110908006141.htm

Noda visits crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

FUKUSHIMA —

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Thursday visited Fukushima for the first time since he took office a week ago, paying tribute to hundreds of workers battling to contain the nuclear crisis.

Noda inspected the Tokyo Electric Power Co’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant and spoke to about 200 workers. He repeated to them what he said in his inaugural news conference as prime minister last Friday. “There can be no revival of Japan without the revival of Fukushima. The whole world is waiting for this crisis to be contained. It is the biggest challenge facing Japan.”

MORE..
http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/noda-visits-crisis-hit-fukushima

Why Typhoon Talas was so deadly

TOKYO —

Typhoon Talas, a storm that swept across Japan over the weekend, has taken a terrible toll; the storm and its lingering effects have so far killed 47 people, with 54 still missing. Much of the death and destruction is concentrated in three provinces in the nation’s southwest.

MORE..
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/why-typhoon-talas-was-so-deadly

Excessive cesium levels again found in Iwate cows

Kyodo

MORIOKA, Iwate Pref. — Radioactive cesium exceeding the legal limit has been detected in beef cattle in Iwate Prefecture for the first time since the ban on shipments in the region was lifted last month, officials said Thursday.

The amount of cesium found topped the government's allowable limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram in two of eight beef cattle following shipment, the officials said.

Cesium was first detected in the eight cattle in a simple test Tuesday, the officials said, adding that two of the eight were destroyed after further tests confirmed they had excessive levels.

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http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110908x3.html

54% of evacuees from disaster-hit prefectures eye settling elsewhere permanently

Eighty-seven percent of evacuees from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures -- hit hard by the March 11 megaquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis -- have no prospect of returning home, and 54 percent are considering settling elsewhere in Japan, according to a Mainichi poll.

Furthermore, more than half of respondent households say members of their family have been forced to live separately.

MORE..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110908p2a00m0na001000c.html

TEPCO submits heavily redacted copy of Fukushima nuke accident manual

A Diet science committee says it has received a heavily censored copy of a nuclear accident operating manual for the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant from Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).

The House of Representatives Special Committee on Promotion of Science and Technology and Innovation had requested TEPCO submit two operating manuals -- one each for accidents and severe accidents -- through the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry (METI), but said Sept. 7 that it had received only the former document, which had itself been significantly redacted. The panel, chaired by Hiroshi Kawauchi of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, said it needed the manuals and other pertinent documents on Aug. 26 to help probe the cause of the ongoing nuclear disaster, and has requested TEPCO to resubmit the manuals by Sept. 9.

MORE..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110908p2a00m0na022000c.html

Researchers may have found clue to predicting destructive chain earthquakes

Researchers have found evidence that a destructive earthquake that struck Japan in 684 A.D. was actually a chain of earthquakes, and say that the findings could help predict when such a chain of earthquakes might strike next.

Shigehiro Fujino, assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba, and others took core samples in Shima, Mie Prefecture, and, examining earth from around 1 to 6 meters deep, found nine layers of tsunami deposits such as the remains of marine life. After close examination, the researchers surmised that the area had been hit by tsunamis nine times from around 4,000-4,500 years ago to the present day.

MORE..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110908p2a00m0na023000c.html

Rising radioactive cesium levels detected in Fukushima child's urine

Increased radioactive cesium levels were detected in a urine sample taken from a child who continued to live in Fukushima Prefecture after the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, a citizens group has announced.

On Sept. 7, Fukushima Rokyu Genpatsu o Kangaeru Kai (An association for a study of the aging nuclear power plants in Fukushima) released the results of urine tests on 10 people aged between 6 and 16 who lived in the city of Fukushima at the beginning of the nuclear disaster in March. At the time of the first round of testing on May 20-22, all 10 children were living in Fukushima Prefecture, while at the time of the second round conducted July 22 through 26, nine had evacuated to other parts of Japan.

MORE..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110908p2a00m0na007000c.html

Sea radiation leaks reach 15,000 terabecquerels off Fukushima plant

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Researchers estimate that amount of radioactive substances that leaked into the sea from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant between March 21 and April 30 totaled 15,000 terabecquerels, an entity which led the research work said Thursday.

The estimate compares with 4,700 terabecquerels of radioactive iodine and cesium that the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., estimated had leaked into the sea between April 1 and 6 from a water inlet at the No. 2 reactor at the four-reactor plant following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

MORE..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110908p2g00m0dm109000c.html

Nuclear experts: Radiation-contaminated areas in Fukushima disaster only one-tenth of Chernobyl's

The Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) suggests in a recent survey that the total area of radioactive contamination following the nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima in March equaled no more than one-tenth of that in the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

MORE..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110908p2a00m0na008000c.html

Mainichi Ohatu~ Something new everyday!