**JAPAN UPDATE**

[AsahinaKimi]

Evacuation directive lifted near Fukushima no-entry zone

In the first major downgrading of safety measures around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant since the start of the crisis, the central government on Sept. 30 lifted an emergency directive to municipal governments near the exclusion zone.

The order to communities within a radius of 20 and 30 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima plant called on children and pregnant women to stay away and all others to prepare to evacuate in the event of an emergency.

About 26,000 of the approximately 58,000 people living in the area, which includes the municipalities of Hirono, Naraha, Kawauchi, Tamura and Minami-Soma in Fukushima Prefecture, have moved out.

more..
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110010238.html

Noda wants quake taxes to start immediately

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told a news conference Sept. 30 that the "sky is the limit" for post-quake reconstruction budget requests and that he plans to introduce temporary tax increases as soon as possible to pay for them.

"I hope the people will understand not postponing tax burdens to the next generation," Noda said. "I hope the people will understand the need to share the burdens among the present generation.

more..
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110010297.html

Ministry maps strontium, plutonium fallout

Ministry maps strontium, plutonium fallout

Levels of strontium in soil near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are up to six times the highest concentrations deposited in Japan by pre-1980 atmospheric nuclear tests, according to the science ministry.

Official maps of soil contamination by strontium and plutonium were published for the first time on Sept. 30 and reveal that, while concentrations are dwarfed by the radioactive cesium leaked from the stricken plant since March 11, significant quantities are present in some locations.

more..
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110010257.html

No explosion at No. 2 reactor / TEPCO: Only 3 hydrogen blasts occurred at Fukushima N-plant

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. panel investigating the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant has concluded that a hydrogen explosion did not occur at the plant's No. 2 reactor, overturning its previous conclusion that an explosion took place on March 15, according to a draft of the panel's interim report.

more..
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111002003221.htm

Residents lack hazard maps / Govts yet to deliver necessary information to landslide alert zones

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government's Board of Audit found that residents in 40 percent of landslide disaster alert zones around the country have not received hazard maps, though municipalities are legally obliged to distribute them.

The board surveyed 60,000 alert zones in 19 prefectures including Hokkaido and Nara by a sampling method and found that hazard maps, which contain information that is vital in the event of landslides, have not been distributed to residents in 24,000 of them.

more..
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111002002839.htm

Exodus of doctors, nurses adds to Fukushima Pref. woes

Since the start of the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, hundreds of doctors and nurses have resigned from nearby facilities, according to a survey by an association of Fukushima Prefecture hospitals.

Their departures have resulted in some hospitals in the prefecture suspending nighttime emergency care and other treatment services, the association said.

The survey found that 125 full-time doctors had resigned from 24 hospitals in the prefecture, or 12 percent of all doctors working at those institutions.

more..
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111003004497.htm

Sake makers in Tohoku voluntarily test for radiation

SENDAI--Preparations for this year's sake brewing season have begun at breweries in the disaster-hit Tohoku region. These sake breweries are stressing the safety of their products by voluntarily checking the radiation levels of ingredients and sharing the results with the public.

After the March 11 disaster, many consumers bought sake from the area to support businesses there. Such support has died down recently, and brewers are trying to alleviate radiation fears.

more..
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111003004878.htm

Hula girls' spa reopens in Fukushima

TOKYO —

Japanese hula girls, who helped revive a former coal mining town as a Hawaii-themed spa, have returned to the resort as it reopened nearly seven months after it was damaged by the March 11 earthquake.

They danced to 21 songs, often in tears, in a “Polynesian Show” as some 700 guests cheered at the Spa Resort Hawaiians, 180 kilometers north of Tokyo, as it reopened for business on Saturday, according to local media.

more..
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/hula-girls-spa-reopens-in-fukushima

Miyagi begins testing debris for radioactivity before sending it to other prefectures

TOKYO —

The Miyagi prefectural government has started started testing debris from the March 11 tsunami for radioactivity in Ishinomaki City in a bid to assure other prefectures that it is safe to store the rubble for incineration.

Officials on Saturday examined a massive mountain of rubble, said to weigh about 1.5 million tons, NHK reported Sunday. They checked the debris for cesium and other other radioactive elements.

more..
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/ishinomaki-testing-debris-for-radioactivity-before-sending-it-to-other-prefectures

Nuclear crisis spokesman suspended for kissing on the job

TOKYO (majirox news) — The first government spokesman in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear crisis outbreak has been suspended one month for touching and kissing a woman during duty hours, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said.

After a scandal magazine revealed Hidehiko Nishiyama’s extramarital affair with a fellow METI bureucrat in June, he was stood down from his role of spokesman for METI’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. He had repeatedly touched and kissed the woman in her 30s while they were on duty in the midst of reponding to the nuclear crisis.

more..
http://www.majiroxnews.com/2011/10/03/nuclear-crisis-spokesman-suspended-for-kissing-on-the-job/

Politician claims Fukushima children treated like traitors for shunning milk

TOYKO (majirox news) — An opposition party member has lambasted the government, saying that Fukushima prefecture children were treated like traitors for refusing to drink milk served with their school lunches.

Akira Matsu, a member of the opposition Komeito, used a meeting of the House of Councilors Committee on the Budget meeting to urge the government to put Fukushima prefecture residents at ease over radiation fears.

more..
http://www.majiroxnews.com/2011/10/02/politician-claims-fukushima-children-treated-like-traitors-for-shunning-milk/

Japanese town still looking for a new home

The possibility of re-establishing the town of Futaba, Japan, on new land creates a tangle of legal and funding questions that the central government has yet to sort through. But for evacuees, the possibility also reflects a welcome alternative to the purgatory of the past six months.

more..
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2016371314_futaba02.html

Tepco cost cut goal said well short of target

Tokyo Electric Power Co. should cut costs by around twice as much as it is aiming for over the next 10 years if it expects to compensate victims of the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, a government panel said Monday.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111003x1.html

Radioactive waste piles up at Fukushima nuclear plant as disposal method remains in limbo

Three months after the start of full-scale water circulation system operations at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, high-level radioactive waste has kept piling up amid no clear indications of its final disposal destination.

MORE..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111003p2a00m0na011000c.html

MAINICHI OHATU ~ Something New Every Day

[AsahinaKimi]

1. bumping for exposure..

Stuff is still going on in Japan..

[Wilms]

2. ^

[spanone]

3. k&r..

[fascisthunter]

4. kick

Thanks for the update!

[uppityperson]

5. Thanks for posting this. k&r for things going on elsewhere in the world than OW

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. Oh Japan, please recover!

[Rhiannon12866]

7. K&R!

Thanks so much for posting this! We need to continue following these stories... ;( :hi:

[mikelgb]

8. Japan doing so well they decide to keep whaling:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/04/japan-to-continue-antarctic-whaling-farm-minister/