Photo of the day (JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

An official uses a radiation detector to measure levels of radiation in a pack of strawberries grown in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, during an event Thursday to promote the safety of the region’s agricultural products in Tokyo.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/safe-strawberries
=================================================================================================
Ichigo= Strawberry! Looks like this maybe the way life will go for a while in this part of Japan. (Btw, I love the happi coats(法被, 半被) , it reminds me of our San Francisco sakura matsuri festivals. I bought one last year, and are they ever expensive!)

[Arctic Dave]

1. Hapi coats?

Is that what she is wearing?

[AsahinaKimi]

4. Yes!!

example of happi coats:



This one reads "MATSURI" on the back. It means festival.

Happi (法被, 半被) is a traditional Japanese straight-sleeved coat usually made of indigo or brown cotton and imprinted with a distinctive mon (crest). Originally, these represented the crest of a family, as happi were worn by house servants. Later, the coats commonly began to display the crests of shops and organisations. Firefighters in the past also used to wear happi; the symbol on their backs referred to the group with which they were associated. In English, "happi" is most often translated as "happi coat" or "happy coat".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happi

[Arctic Dave]

5. Aha! Thank you.

I did not know that is what they were called. ;)

[gateley]

2. Good God -- what a way to live. Worried about all the food you eat and water

you drink. :cry: I feel so bad for those people!

[WillyT]

3. K & R !!!

:cry:

[stevedeshazer]

6. Wow. That's a great photograph.

Thanks for posting it.

[formercia]

7. She has beautiful eyes

Sometimes they speak much.

[fascisthunter]

8. I was just going to post the same thing

absolutely beautiful... they do say a lot, more than their beauty.

[AsahinaKimi]

9. She does...

I love her nails, so cute! ^^ (strawberry nails!)

[formercia]

12. Goes with the Strawberries

The Japanese take the presentation of food as an art form. Look how perfect and well packed the berries are.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. They've got a daunting task

Even if their farm products are safe, it's tough to get anyone outside of Fukushima Prefecture interested in them. At a supermarket I visited in southern Ibaraki yesterday (about 70 miles from Iwaki), there was a paper posted in the produce section showing the origins of all the fresh produce that was being sold there. Out of the 40 or so fruits and vegetables listed, nothing was from Fukushima, and only 2 were from Ibaraki (and both were tubers). A greengrocer down the street says that he can't sell anything from Fukushima because no one wants to buy it. He's having trouble enough selling strawberries from Ibaraki.

[Cronus Protagonist]

11. I would unwrap these before testing

The plastic will distort the results.