Lowering radiation counts and increasing supplies in Metropolis

1 April 2011
Here in the city of Inzai, situated in the north of Greater Tokyo, life seems to be slowly heading back for normal, in spite of the fact that situations in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants are still far from stabilization.

Radiation in drinking water: 18 Bq/kg of I-131, no other radio-active elements found
as of 9:00, 31 March at the Hokuso Water Purifying Plant that supplies to my tap. The worst figures were 97Bq/kg of I-131 and small amounts of Cs-134 and Cs-137.

Radiation in the air: maximum 0,079 μSv/hour, on 31 March in Chiba city.
Normal time averages were 0,022-0,044 μSv/hour (for example in 2009)

Yesterday I went for a walk and dropped at some supermarkets to see the supply situation. "Natto" was back on the shelves, but the stores requested each client to take only one package. I also found enough bottled water. The stores asked each client not to take more than three bottles, though.

I hope the situations continue to normalize and stabilize also in the Tohoku area.

31 March 2011
Bottled water is back.

.



31 March 2011
Forsythia is starting to bloom

A farmer "killed by the nuclear power plants"

Everyday the Japanese newspapers are filled with the articles on the triple disaster.  The Asahi is one of the three major daily newspapers of Japan. In today's morning edition, an article especially attracted my attention. I read it again and again.

I try to extract the essence and translate it into English:
Sukagawa City, Fukushima prefecture. On the morning of 24, a vegetable farmer aged 64 hanged himself, one day after the government had restricted the consumption of all vegetables from Fukushima prefecture. His family say that "he was killed by the nuclear power plants". He had been disappointed by the damages done to his house and barn by the quake, but eager to ship his cabbage ready for harvesting. On 21 when the government restricted consumption of Fukushima's spinach, the man was still eager repairing his barn. On 23 when the government restricted consumption of all the vegetables produced in Fukushima prefecture, he started repeatedly to be choked and cough, uttering "Fukushima's vegetables are no longer good".

This farmer had been particular about organic farming for more than 30 years and had kept on improving his soil using home-made humus. He had spent 10 years to make it possible to grow a high quality variety of cabbage once unsuited to the climate of this area. He was very proud to supply his safe cabbage to the local primary school to be used for lunch, saying "Children eat 'em. I've got to grow 'em with utmost care". His work journal ended on 23 March.

My comment:
A death of a man who crystallized Japanese conscience, shattered by a man-made disaster. I wish I could get one of his cabbage and eat it. I don't care how many Bq's of radiation it contains.

Japan's unmanned shops

Some visitors to Japan are surprised to see large numbers of vending machines found all over the places. They accept not only small change but also a bill of 1,000 yen, (some even that of 5,000 yen, or 10,000 yen) and give back exact change with the merchandise purchased.

Some say it would be impossible in their country to deploy such large numbers of vending machines everywhere because the vending machines would be broken by burglars.

Well, then, I wonder what they will comment after seeing Japan's traditional unmanned shops?  I am not talking about high-tech shops with robots as sales staff... we would need ten more years before such unmanned shops open. I am talking about a very much primitive shop like the one in the photo below:

This is a typical unmanned shop run by a local farmer to sell some of his produce directly to local consumers like me. Today when I passed by the shop while enjoying walking, there was no produce sold. In harvest seasons there are more or less ten different vegetables and fruits in plastic bags with prices posted. When we buy them, we just take as many bags as we want, calculate the sum, and put exact amount of money in the piggy bank which you see in the photo below:

It is written in Japanese "this is where you put money". Generally the old farmer brings in his produce around 6:00 am. Then he won't come back until the evening to collect the money.

As an English-French-speaking tour guide, I am influenced by the American and European ways of seeing things. So I worry for him. "Aren't there any dishonest guys who pay less or even pay nothing?" "Aren't there much worse guys who just grab the piggy bank and go away?"

Last year, my wife and I visited Aomori prefecture in apple harvest season. Aomori prefecture produces more than 50% of apples produced in Japan. We enjoyed driving along local farming roads seeing the whole stretches of land with apple trees heavy with fruits.

And there we came across an unmanned shop selling apples. We bought several bags of apples. Over there too there was no one watching the shop.

This is how Japan is ... in the country areas.



Blossoms before cherry blossoms (2)

I live just next to a 50-hectare park named "(Chiba prefectural ) Hokuso Hanano-oka Koen"... a long name. Southern limit of the park borders a stretch of farming area with rice paddies. Two together, the park and the farming land, they must have constituted a typical "satoyama" not long time ago.

To understand  what "satoyama" is, refer to the following site:
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/amabiki/e/6th/6satoyama.htm

When my wife and I happened to pass this place riding bicycles, we found its environment and landscape so charming that we moved here just a year ago. Since then we have enjoyed walking, jogging, and pottering around the area.

In the past week or so, I have observed two species of trees putting out beautiful white blossoms. Let me introduce them.

One is "kobushi", magnolia kobus, vernacular English name "kobushi magnolia".
The other is "hakumokuren", magnolia heptapeta, English name "mulan magnolia / tulip magnolia / lily magnolia".
 

[kobushi, magnolia kobus]




















[kobushi, magnolia kobus]

 [hakumokuren, magnolia heptapeta]

[hakumokuren, magnolia heptapeta]

The two species look a bit alike because both of them belong to genus "magnolia", but observe them carefully and you will notice that the blossoms of magnolia heptapeta are almost upright while those of magnolia kobus are not.

Many members of  genus magnolia have upright blossoms. A good example is magnolia grandiflora, or southern magnolia from North America. Why upright? This question lingered in my head for a long time and I now think I have found the answer.

In many Internet sites about the genus magnolia, I see this explanation:

"Magnolia is an ancient genus that had evolved before bees appeared, so the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles. As a result, Magnolia flowers are tough, to avoid damage by beetles. "

Although these sites do not explain why flowers are upright, but we can easily assume that upright flowers were more comfortable for beetles to stay there for a long time. Most of the beetles cannot stay in the flowers that look downward, can they?



No bottled water, no "natto" on supermarket shelves

I went to a nearby supermarket to verify the articles in newspapers reporting that people living in Tokyo metropolitan area are hurrying to supermarkets to buy bottled water. Well, that was true. On the shelves for bottled drinks I could not see even a bottle of water. However there were considerably sufficient bottles of non-alcoholic drinks, green tea, juices, colas, etc.

Walking through the aisles, I also noticed two other very important daily food items were missing on the shelves. One was "yogurt", the other was "natto".

If you do not know what natto is, please refer to the following site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natt%C5%8D

I have no idea why on earth yogurt was out of stock. However, lack of natto is easy to explain. Natto is a food item traditionally eaten in the Kanto (the district containing Tokyo) and the Tohoku (the district that has suffered from the triple disaster). In the western part of Japan, there was no custom of eating natto until quite recently.

Therefore, naturally, the centers of natto production find themselves in the Tohoku district and they have suffered. To my pleasure, I got a piece of good news today: major produces of natto in Mito and other cities are now trying hard to bring their production lines back to normal, and they are almost there. In a few days, I hope, I will be able to eat natto again. What encouraging news!

Try hard to get back to normal. This is what all Japanese want now. And I am sure in many places of the Tohoku, people are trying hard to get back to normal.



[empty natto shelves]




[empty yogurt shelves]



Drink or not to drink tap water

 It is so sad that "Fukushima", a beautiful and fertile land with warm-hearted people, has become synonymous with "Chernobyl" and "Three Mile Island". I cannot help but pray that those brave people working at the Fukushima nuclear power plants with courage and sense of mission will succeed in bringing the "monster" under complete control and that they will come back safe and sound.

My town Inzai lies 220km south of the Fukushima nuclear power plants and about 35km northeast of the center of Tokyo. It is part of Greater Tokyo, or Tokyo metropolitan area with population of some 36 million.

In the past few days, one of the biggest concerns of the residents of the metropolis is the quality of tap water they drink everyday because they are shocked by the news that the water supplied by a few of the water purification plants in the metropolitan area contained considerably high levels of Iodine-131, a radioactive element, with the counts of up to 298 Bq per liter.

I myself got alarmed and checked, on the Internet, the radiation level of the tap water supplied by the purification plant of my area. The reading of I-131 there, they say, was 28 Bq per liter on 21 March. No more data were available for the following days. However, today's newspaper reports that I-131 levels at all the metropolitan water purification plants have decreased to below 100 Bq per liter. So I assume the situation is the same with our plant.

If I could buy bottled mineral water produced in the western part of Japan which is not contaminated at all, there would be no problem. However, today's newspaper also reports that in Tokyo urban area, people rushed to convenience stores and supermarkets to buy bottled water and the shelves for bottled water and drinks became all empty.

I have decided not to rush to buy bottled water or drinks until the supply becomes normal. Scarce new supply of bottled water should be sold to the family with babies and infants to protect their delicate thyroids. In this situation, if a 61-year-old man like me were to queue up to buy bottled water in the line of mothers with infants, it would be too ugly.

So for me, there is no choice. I am obliged to continue drinking tap water for some time, monitoring the changing counts issued by the prefecture's water service authorities. With the two-digit levels of  I-131 for the time being, I judge that drinking tap water for a few weeks will not cause any serious health risk.

Blossoms before cherry blossoms (1)

Every year, the Japanese wait impatiently for the arrival of the cherry blossom season. This year, it is forecast that, in Tokyo, cherry trees will start to bloom on 30 March and will be at their best on 7 April. After that they will be all gone in a few days.

Some Japanese seem so preoccupied with cherry blossoms that they are unable to notice the existence of other blossoms that come to bloom a little earlier than cherry blossoms.

I would like to introduce some of them.

If one enjoys watching the nature, he or she will notice two species of trees full of tiny yellow blossoms in parks, gardens, roadsides, and temple/shrine grounds.

One is "mansaku", Hamamelis japonica, vernacular name in English is "Japanese witch hazel". I heard that the witch hazel, or Hamamelis verginiana, from North America comes to bloom in autumn, not in spring like "mansaku".

[mansaku, Hamamelis japonica]

The other is "sanshuyu", Cornus officinalis, or Japanese cornel dogwood. I feel bad to the Chinese and the Koreans about this species being called the "Japanese cornel dogwood " because it originates in China and Korea and was only introduced to Japan in the Edo Period for medicinal uses.


[sansyuyu, Cornus officinalis]

Will Japan rise again?

After seeing so many traumatic photos and videos, and after reading so many heart-breaking articles on the apocalyptic devastation of Northern Japan by the triple quake-tsunami-nuclear disaster, it is quite understandable that many people should get haunted by this question.

My answer is clear and simple: "You will see Japan rise again, surprisingly FAST."

Let me explain the reasons.

First, the Japanese mentality.
Throughout the whole history of Japan, ever since the old-stone-age days that preceded the Jomon Period (ca.13,000 B.C. - ca.300B.C.) when early Japanese civilization started and developed, our ancestors have kept on rising from ruins caused by varieties of natural disasters: volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami, typhoons, floods, landslides...

Japan has been a nice archipelago to live in, blessed with temperate climate, rich vegetation thanks to plenty of rainfalls, secluded by the seas from invaders. Indeed very nice place to live in, except when its mother nature decided to whip her inhabitants with her overwhelming force for reasons unknown. And whatever her intention, the Japanese ancestors have developed their mentality to tolerate occasional natural blows as part of way of life, with resignation.

This resignation, whatever-will-come-will-come philosophy, however, is far from pessimism, despair, or apathy. On the contrary, it reinforces their spirit of solidarity and mutual help, deepens their empathy for the unfortunate, and enhances their collective will and energy to restore their normal life.

Accepting the reality of destruction, helping each other, mourning for the dead, then standing up for reconstruction with all the might, wisdom, and cooperation of the nation... this process is in the bones and blood of each Japanese. For a Japanese the question "Do you think Japan will rise again?"  sounds foolish because coming back to normal life level even with some additional improvements is the way it should be for the Japanese. The Japanese do not tolerate any resignation or compromise in this aspect. That is Japanese mentality.

Second, as a whole, the majority of production facilities to supply the daily necessities to the Japanese are intact.
When World War II ended, almost all the Japanese cities were nothing but piles of ashes and debris, with few industries left. Many did not have even roofs under which to sleep, nor money to buy scarce food supply in the black market. Nevertheless, the Japanese rose from the ruins as the world witnessed. If there happens to be a younger-generation Japanese who whines over the hardship awaiting him, he will be laughed at by those who rebuilt Japan from the wreckage of the war.

In the media coverage, we see refugees lacking water, blankets, gas, and food. This is largely due to the rupture of lifelines in the devastated areas, to the confusion and lack of manpower of administration, and to the fact that affected regions are widespread. There are sufficient supplies in other parts of Japan. With passage of time, I am convinced, the situation will keep on improving.

Finally, there are many friendly nations and individuals who are eager to help Japan.
Although it is Japan itself who has to help itself, the message from overseas to tell the Japanese that they are not alone is reassuring and encouraging. As one Japanese, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the people doing something to help Japan. Surrounded by great numbers of friendly and helpful nations and people, I do not see any reason why Japan will not rise again this time also.

Greetings

Hello!

I'm English-French-Japanese speaking Japanese tour guide living in a small city "Inzai", Japan.

As a Japanese tour guide for overseas visitors, it has become a habit to write down anything Japanese or cross-cultural that I come across so that I might be able to use it later when I do my guiding job.

Well, in this blog, I will try to show some of  such discoveries, observations, and phenomena with some comments and reflections.

By the way the title "Gintonic's Japan Memo" comes from my nickname as a tour guide. For those who have some difficulty memorizing my real name "Hitoshi Shimamoto", I use the nickname "Gintonic".

I hope I will be able to continue this blog for a long time.