Roles of Individuals

I found many individuals writing their opinions on the crisis in Tohoku caused by the tsunami as well as the Fukushima nuclear accident on their own blog since last March. Individuals have been acting and uploading the action on their blog. As a matter of fact, each blog is not connected to each other, and can be regarded as just the flooding of information. However, they provide me with opportunities to think about the roles and the responsibilities of individuals in the time of and after the crisis. Let me introduce several blogs which are interesting.

To begin, the blog of Junichiro Makino is interesting. He is specialized in astrophysics and a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology. He has been estimating and uploading the severity of the Fukushima nuclear accident in a quantitative manner almost every day since the nuclear crisis occurred in March 11. He wrote his motivation for doing the estimation on March 14 as following:

(Original text)

こういうみつもり計算をやるのが普段役に立たない天体物理学者の使命だと思う。

(Translated into English by Takanori Ishizuka)

I think that the mission of astrophysicists, who seem to be unable to function in a daily life, is to conduct such a type of estimation.

His estimation helps me understand the severity of the current situation regarding the nuclear accident.

Next, I like the blog of Ai Kanoh. She lives in Bombay and is working at an Indian company. She has sometimes uploaded her posts with respect to the crisis in Tohoku. On April 28, she introduced a song "I love you & I need you, Fukushima" on her blog. I have not heard the song until I found it on her blog. The song and the moving images on YouTube are very good, and kind of moving.

Finally, the blog of aYa also contained good information. aYa lives in Geneva and is working at the WHO (World Health Organization) as a technical expert. She had been voluntarily translating parts of English official documents published by the WHO Western Pacific Region into the Japanese language from last March until last April, and both the original document and the translated document were uploaded onto the website of WHO. She uploaded this activity on her blog on March 25.

Activities conducted and information published by these three individuals taught me the roles and responsibilities of individuals.

Radioactive Substance Fall Out in Tokyo

I have downloaded all the necessary data to draw the above graph (the data from 1957 to 2009 was from  Environmental Radioactivity Monitoring in Japan and the data from March to April 2011 was from Tokyo Metropolitan Government).

The total amount of the 137 Cs fall out from April, 1957 to December 2009 is 6,500 Bq/m2 (0.18 Ci/km2). On the other hand, the total amount of the 137 Cs fall out from March, 2011 to April, 2011 is 7,000 Bq/m2 (0.19 Ci/km2).

In the past, large amounts of 137 Cs fall out were observed from 1950s to 1960s in Tokyo due to intensive atmospheric nuclear testings in the world outside Japan. In addition, the 137 Cs fall out was also observed in May, 1986 one month after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

However, much more amounts of 137 Cs fall out were detected in the past two months. We are facing an unprecedented accident.

The situation gets much worse in Ibaraki Prefecture, which is located much closer to Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant than Tokyo. The total amount of 137 Cs fall out from March, 2011 to April, 2011 in Hitachinaka city, Ibaraki Prefecture was 29,000 Bq/m2 (0.78 Ci /km2). The data of Hitachinaka city was obtained from MEXT.

I write the original data to draw the above graph as the followings;

 Year,Month,137Cs Monthly Fall Out in Tokyo [Bq/m2]
1957,1,0.00E+00
1957,2,0.00E+00
1957,3,0.00E+00
1957,4,4.07E+01
1957,5,7.25E+01
1957,6,1.48E+02
1957,7,3.81E+01
1957,8,1.92E+01
1957,9,7.18E+01
1957,10,1.59E+01
1957,11,9.99E+00
1957,12,1.04E+01
1958,1,7.40E+00
1958,2,1.52E+01
1958,3,4.44E+01
1958,4,3.40E+01
1958,5,4.96E+01
1958,6,4.66E+01
1958,7,5.37E+01
1958,8,3.15E+01
1958,9,3.66E+01
1958,10,4.85E+01
1958,11,1.78E+01
1958,12,3.70E+01
1959,1,4.00E+01
1959,2,4.70E+01
1959,3,1.35E+02
1959,4,1.44E+02
1959,5,1.93E+02
1959,6,1.31E+02
1959,7,4.59E+01
1959,8,2.85E+01
1959,9,2.66E+01
1959,10,1.37E+01
1959,11,2.37E+01
1959,12,1.55E+01
1960,1,1.33E+01
1960,2,2.59E+01
1960,3,2.66E+01
1960,4,3.74E+01
1960,5,2.37E+01
1960,6,2.37E+01
1960,7,1.52E+01
1960,8,8.88E+00
1960,9,7.40E+00
1960,10,1.30E+01
1960,11,5.18E+00
1960,12,3.70E+00
1961,1,3.33E+00
1961,2,3.33E+00
1961,3,7.40E+00
1961,4,1.26E+01
1961,5,7.40E+00
1961,6,3.40E+01
1961,7,4.07E+00
1961,8,2.96E+00
1961,9,1.11E+01
1961,10,1.19E+02
1961,11,1.18E+01
1961,12,2.63E+01
1962,1,2.41E+01
1962,2,1.96E+01
1962,3,6.99E+01
1962,4,9.51E+01
1962,5,1.42E+02
1962,6,1.43E+02
1962,7,5.92E+01
1962,8,2.59E+01
1962,9,9.99E+00
1962,10,5.40E+01
1962,11,1.07E+02
1962,12,5.55E+01
1963,1,2.22E+01
1963,2,3.77E+01
1963,3,1.79E+02
1963,4,2.15E+02
1963,5,1.94E+02
1963,6,5.29E+02
1963,7,1.89E+02
1963,8,1.02E+02
1963,9,9.21E+01
1963,10,1.16E+02
1963,11,2.07E+01
1963,12,1.55E+01
1964,1,4.59E+01
1964,2,2.63E+01
1964,3,7.18E+01
1964,4,8.88E+01
1964,5,3.85E+01
1964,6,5.70E+01
1964,7,3.00E+01
1964,8,1.96E+01
1964,9,2.11E+01
1964,10,1.70E+01
1964,11,1.33E+01
1964,12,1.07E+01
1965,1,1.44E+01
1965,2,1.92E+01
1965,3,6.22E+01
1965,4,5.70E+01
1965,5,7.84E+01
1965,6,6.73E+01
1965,7,1.85E+01
1965,8,3.59E+01
1965,9,9.25E+00
1965,10,1.15E+01
1965,11,8.14E+00
1965,12,7.77E+00
1966,1,7.40E+00
1966,2,2.00E+01
1966,3,8.88E+00
1966,4,1.44E+01
1966,5,4.11E+01
1966,6,4.07E+01
1966,7,9.99E+00
1966,8,7.03E+00
1966,9,4.07E+00
1966,10,7.40E+00
1966,11,3.33E+00
1966,12,1.85E+00
1967,1,1.07E+01
1967,2,9.25E+00
1967,3,6.29E+00
1967,4,1.04E+01
1967,5,8.14E+00
1967,6,1.22E+01
1967,7,2.59E+00
1967,8,1.48E+00
1967,9,1.85E+00
1967,10,3.33E+00
1967,11,1.48E+00
1967,12,3.70E-01
1968,1,3.70E+00
1968,2,2.22E+00
1968,3,7.77E+00
1968,4,1.59E+01
1968,5,1.26E+01
1968,6,5.92E+00
1968,7,1.85E+00
1968,8,6.29E+00
1968,9,5.18E+00
1968,10,6.29E+00
1968,11,1.48E+00
1968,12,3.70E+00
1969,1,2.22E+00
1969,2,3.33E+00
1969,3,3.33E+00
1969,4,7.03E+00
1969,5,1.18E+01
1969,6,7.40E+00
1969,7,1.26E+01
1969,8,4.81E+00
1969,9,4.44E+00
1969,10,7.03E+00
1969,11,1.85E+00
1969,12,1.11E+00
1970,1,2.59E+00
1970,2,1.48E+00
1970,3,4.44E+00
1970,4,1.15E+01
1970,5,1.26E+01
1970,6,3.37E+01
1970,7,1.11E+01
1970,8,4.44E+00
1970,9,4.07E+00
1970,10,3.70E+00
1970,11,2.96E+00
1970,12,1.11E+00
1971,1,1.44E+00
1971,2,1.92E+00
1971,3,3.33E+00
1971,4,1.69E+01
1971,5,1.37E+01
1971,6,1.77E+01
1971,7,1.18E+01
1971,8,3.40E+00
1971,9,3.70E+00
1971,10,2.66E+00
1971,11,7.40E-01
1971,12,7.40E-01
1972,1,5.18E+00
1972,2,4.44E+00
1972,3,2.22E+00
1972,4,3.70E+00
1972,5,3.70E+00
1972,6,8.14E+00
1972,7,4.44E+00
1972,8,1.85E+00
1972,9,4.44E+00
1972,10,1.11E+00
1972,11,7.40E-01
1972,12,1.11E+00
1973,1,8.51E-01
1973,2,1.85E+00
1973,3,1.11E+00
1973,4,2.74E+00
1973,5,2.55E+00
1973,6,2.66E+00
1973,7,1.59E+00
1973,8,5.92E-01
1973,9,9.25E-01
1973,10,2.59E-01
1973,11,5.92E-01
1973,12,2.59E-01
1974,1,7.40E-01
1974,2,1.85E+00
1974,3,5.18E+00
1974,4,6.66E+00
1974,5,7.40E+00
1974,6,1.59E+01
1974,7,9.99E+00
1974,8,2.26E+00
1974,9,1.92E+00
1974,10,1.85E+00
1974,11,1.11E+00
1974,12,1.85E+00
1975,1,2.41E+00
1975,2,2.00E+00
1975,3,3.00E+00
1975,4,7.18E+00
1975,5,4.81E+00
1975,6,2.41E+00
1975,7,1.30E+00
1975,8,3.70E-01
1975,9,6.29E-01
1975,10,2.11E+00
1975,11,8.88E-01
1975,12,2.59E-01
1976,1,2.22E-01
1976,2,1.07E+00
1976,3,1.44E+00
1976,4,2.07E+00
1976,5,1.30E+00
1976,6,1.18E+00
1976,7,4.44E-01
1976,8,4.81E-01
1976,9,5.18E-01
1976,10,1.63E+00
1976,11,5.18E-01
1976,12,1.48E-01
1977,1,3.70E-01
1977,2,4.07E-01
1977,3,1.92E+00
1977,4,2.63E+00
1977,5,1.63E+00
1977,6,5.18E+00
1977,7,4.81E+00
1977,8,6.29E+00
1977,9,1.70E+00
1977,10,8.51E-01
1977,11,1.63E+00
1977,12,1.44E+00
1978,1,7.40E-01
1978,2,2.78E+00
1978,3,2.89E+00
1978,4,8.51E+00
1978,5,7.77E+00
1978,6,3.07E+00
1978,7,4.81E-01
1978,8,4.07E-01
1978,9,1.67E+00
1978,10,7.40E-01
1978,11,1.11E+00
1978,12,7.77E-01
1979,1,6.66E-01
1979,2,1.04E+00
1979,3,1.96E+00
1979,4,2.70E+00
1979,5,3.22E+00
1979,6,5.18E-01
1979,7,1.26E+00
1979,8,5.92E-01
1979,9,4.44E-01
1979,10,6.29E-01
1979,11,4.81E-01
1979,12,2.22E-01
1980,1,3.70E-01
1980,2,1.48E-01
1980,3,8.88E-01
1980,4,1.26E+00
1980,5,1.30E+00
1980,6,9.62E-01
1980,7,9.99E-01
1980,8,2.96E-01
1980,9,4.07E-01
1980,10,2.59E-01
1980,11,3.70E-01
1980,12,2.59E-01
1981,1,1.48E-01
1981,2,5.92E-01
1981,3,3.07E+00
1981,4,4.07E+00
1981,5,5.55E+00
1981,6,2.70E+00
1981,7,1.96E+00
1981,8,9.99E-01
1981,9,5.92E-01
1981,10,3.70E-01
1981,11,2.59E-01
1981,12,1.11E-01
1982,1,0.00E+00
1982,2,4.07E-01
1982,3,8.51E-01
1982,4,1.04E+00
1982,5,6.29E-01
1982,6,8.88E-01
1982,7,5.18E-01
1982,8,1.48E-01
1982,9,1.48E-01
1982,10,1.11E-01
1982,11,1.11E-01
1982,12,0.00E+00
1983,1,1.11E-01
1983,2,1.11E-01
1983,3,2.59E-01
1983,4,2.59E-01
1983,5,2.59E-01
1983,6,2.22E-01
1983,7,1.11E-01
1983,8,7.40E-02
1983,9,0.00E+00
1983,10,1.11E-01
1983,11,1.85E-01
1983,12,7.40E-02
1984,1,0.00E+00
1984,2,1.11E-01
1984,3,4.44E-01
1984,4,1.11E-01
1984,5,1.85E-01
1984,6,1.11E-01
1984,7,0.00E+00
1984,8,1.11E-01
1984,9,0.00E+00
1984,10,7.40E-02
1984,11,0.00E+00
1984,12,7.40E-02
1985,1,0.00E+00
1985,2,1.11E-01
1985,3,1.11E-01
1985,4,1.48E-01
1985,5,0.00E+00
1985,6,7.40E-02
1985,7,0.00E+00
1985,8,0.00E+00
1985,9,0.00E+00
1985,10,7.40E-02
1985,11,0.00E+00
1985,12,0.00E+00
1986,1,0.00E+00
1986,2,7.40E-02
1986,3,1.11E-01
1986,4,1.11E-01
1986,5,1.78E+02
1986,6,0.00E+00
1986,7,1.70E+00
1986,8,5.92E-01
1986,9,2.96E-01
1986,10,2.22E-01
1986,11,1.11E-01
1986,12,5.18E-01
1987,1,6.66E-01
1987,2,9.62E-01
1987,3,2.59E-01
1987,4,1.11E-01
1987,5,1.85E-01
1987,6,1.11E-01
1987,7,1.85E-01
1987,8,1.48E-01
1987,9,7.40E-02
1987,10,7.40E-02
1987,11,0.00E+00
1987,12,1.11E-01
1988,1,7.40E-02
1988,2,0.00E+00
1988,3,1.48E-01
1988,4,1.00E-01
1988,5,9.00E-02
1988,6,0.00E+00
1988,7,0.00E+00
1988,8,0.00E+00
1988,9,0.00E+00
1988,10,0.00E+00
1988,11,0.00E+00
1988,12,0.00E+00
1989,1,7.00E-02
1989,2,0.00E+00
1989,3,0.00E+00
1989,4,1.00E-01
1989,5,0.00E+00
1989,6,0.00E+00
1989,7,0.00E+00
1989,8,0.00E+00
1989,9,0.00E+00
1989,10,0.00E+00
1989,11,0.00E+00
1989,12,0.00E+00
1990,1,5.00E-02
1990,2,5.00E-02
1990,3,0.00E+00
1990,4,5.20E-02
1990,5,0.00E+00
1990,6,0.00E+00
1990,7,0.00E+00
1990,8,7.90E-02
1990,9,0.00E+00
1990,10,0.00E+00
1990,11,0.00E+00
1990,12,0.00E+00
1991,1,0.00E+00
1991,2,0.00E+00
1991,3,0.00E+00
1991,4,0.00E+00
1991,5,0.00E+00
1991,6,0.00E+00
1991,7,0.00E+00
1991,8,0.00E+00
1991,9,0.00E+00
1991,10,0.00E+00
1991,11,0.00E+00
1991,12,0.00E+00
1992,1,0.00E+00
1992,2,0.00E+00
1992,3,0.00E+00
1992,4,7.40E-02
1992,5,0.00E+00
1992,6,0.00E+00
1992,7,0.00E+00
1992,8,0.00E+00
1992,9,0.00E+00
1992,10,0.00E+00
1992,11,0.00E+00
1992,12,0.00E+00
1993,1,0.00E+00
1993,2,0.00E+00
1993,3,5.63E-02
1993,4,9.18E-02
1993,5,0.00E+00
1993,6,0.00E+00
1993,7,0.00E+00
1993,8,0.00E+00
1993,9,0.00E+00
1993,10,0.00E+00
1993,11,0.00E+00
1993,12,0.00E+00
1994,1,0.00E+00
1994,2,0.00E+00
1994,3,0.00E+00
1994,4,0.00E+00
1994,5,0.00E+00
1994,6,0.00E+00
1994,7,0.00E+00
1994,8,0.00E+00
1994,9,0.00E+00
1994,10,0.00E+00
1994,11,0.00E+00
1994,12,0.00E+00
1995,1,0.00E+00
1995,2,0.00E+00
1995,3,0.00E+00
1995,4,0.00E+00
1995,5,0.00E+00
1995,6,0.00E+00
1995,7,0.00E+00
1995,8,0.00E+00
1995,9,0.00E+00
1995,10,0.00E+00
1995,11,0.00E+00
1995,12,0.00E+00
1996,1,0.00E+00
1996,2,0.00E+00
1996,3,0.00E+00
1996,4,0.00E+00
1996,5,0.00E+00
1996,6,0.00E+00
1996,7,0.00E+00
1996,8,0.00E+00
1996,9,0.00E+00
1996,10,0.00E+00
1996,11,0.00E+00
1996,12,0.00E+00
1997,1,0.00E+00
1997,2,0.00E+00
1997,3,0.00E+00
1997,4,0.00E+00
1997,5,0.00E+00
1997,6,0.00E+00
1997,7,0.00E+00
1997,8,0.00E+00
1997,9,0.00E+00
1997,10,0.00E+00
1997,11,0.00E+00
1997,12,0.00E+00
1998,1,0.00E+00
1998,2,0.00E+00
1998,3,0.00E+00
1998,4,0.00E+00
1998,5,0.00E+00
1998,6,0.00E+00
1998,7,0.00E+00
1998,8,0.00E+00
1998,9,0.00E+00
1998,10,0.00E+00
1998,11,0.00E+00
1998,12,0.00E+00
1999,1,0.00E+00
1999,2,0.00E+00
1999,3,0.00E+00
1999,4,0.00E+00
1999,5,0.00E+00
1999,6,0.00E+00
1999,7,0.00E+00
1999,8,0.00E+00
1999,9,0.00E+00
1999,10,0.00E+00
1999,11,0.00E+00
1999,12,0.00E+00
2000,1,0.00E+00
2000,2,0.00E+00
2000,3,4.90E-02
2000,4,4.80E-02
2000,5,0.00E+00
2000,6,0.00E+00
2000,7,0.00E+00
2000,8,0.00E+00
2000,9,0.00E+00
2000,10,0.00E+00
2000,11,0.00E+00
2000,12,0.00E+00
2001,1,0.00E+00
2001,2,0.00E+00
2001,3,0.00E+00
2001,4,0.00E+00
2001,5,0.00E+00
2001,6,0.00E+00
2001,7,0.00E+00
2001,8,0.00E+00
2001,9,0.00E+00
2001,10,0.00E+00
2001,11,0.00E+00
2001,12,0.00E+00
2002,1,0.00E+00
2002,2,0.00E+00
2002,3,3.70E-02
2002,4,3.50E-02
2002,5,0.00E+00
2002,6,0.00E+00
2002,7,0.00E+00
2002,8,0.00E+00
2002,9,0.00E+00
2002,10,0.00E+00
2002,11,0.00E+00
2002,12,0.00E+00
2003,1,0.00E+00
2003,2,0.00E+00
2003,3,0.00E+00
2003,4,0.00E+00
2003,5,0.00E+00
2003,6,0.00E+00
2003,7,0.00E+00
2003,8,0.00E+00
2003,9,0.00E+00
2003,10,0.00E+00
2003,11,0.00E+00
2003,12,0.00E+00
2004,1,0.00E+00
2004,2,0.00E+00
2004,3,0.00E+00
2004,4,0.00E+00
2004,5,0.00E+00
2004,6,0.00E+00
2004,7,0.00E+00
2004,8,0.00E+00
2004,9,0.00E+00
2004,10,0.00E+00
2004,11,0.00E+00
2004,12,0.00E+00
2005,1,0.00E+00
2005,2,0.00E+00
2005,3,0.00E+00
2005,4,0.00E+00
2005,5,0.00E+00
2005,6,0.00E+00
2005,7,0.00E+00
2005,8,0.00E+00
2005,9,0.00E+00
2005,10,0.00E+00
2005,11,0.00E+00
2005,12,0.00E+00
2006,1,0.00E+00
2006,2,0.00E+00
2006,3,3.90E-02
2006,4,7.00E-02
2006,5,0.00E+00
2006,6,0.00E+00
2006,7,0.00E+00
2006,8,0.00E+00
2006,9,0.00E+00
2006,10,0.00E+00
2006,11,0.00E+00
2006,12,0.00E+00
2007,1,0.00E+00
2007,2,0.00E+00
2007,3,0.00E+00
2007,4,6.00E-02
2007,5,0.00E+00
2007,6,0.00E+00
2007,7,0.00E+00
2007,8,0.00E+00
2007,9,0.00E+00
2007,10,0.00E+00
2007,11,0.00E+00
2007,12,0.00E+00
2008,1,0.00E+00
2008,2,0.00E+00
2008,3,0.00E+00
2008,4,4.30E-02
2008,5,0.00E+00
2008,6,0.00E+00
2008,7,0.00E+00
2008,8,0.00E+00
2008,9,0.00E+00
2008,10,0.00E+00
2008,11,0.00E+00
2008,12,0.00E+00
2009,1,0.00E+00
2009,2,0.00E+00
2009,3,0.00E+00
2009,4,0.00E+00
2009,5,0.00E+00
2009,6,0.00E+00
2009,7,0.00E+00
2009,8,0.00E+00
2009,9,0.00E+00
2009,10,0.00E+00
2009,11,0.00E+00
2009,12,0.00E+00
2011,3,6.56E+03
2011,4,3.59E+02

One month after

I pray for all the victims of the tragedy on March 11, 2011.

Critics on Totalitarianism

I read “Animal Farm” by George Orwell in last January. The current situation in Japan is very similar to the world depicted in the novel.

In the Animal Farm, there is Mr. Jones. He is a human being and has been expelled from the Animal Farm. He is an ex-governor of the Animal Farm. The animals in the Firm hope to live their life without the interference of human beings.

Mr. Jones has repeatedly attacked the Animal Farm with his fellows in order to recapture the Farm, but the animals have fought against him to protect their Firm every time Mr. Jones invaded the Firm. The animals are living with being afraid of prospective future attacks by Mr. Jones. There is a simple structure; Mr. Jones and human beings are enemies to every animal in the Firm.

In this sense, Mr. Jones is equivalent to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. We Japanese people are currently living with the fear of the ongoing crisis at the plant. We wish that we could calm down and control the plant soon. We hate the very existence of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The Animal Farm is governed by pigs. Other animals such as horses, fowls, and goats are obedient to the pigs. There are two pigs called Napoleon and Squealer in the Animal Farm. Napoleon is the leader of the Firm and Squealer is the No.2 leader of the Firm. Napoleon seldom appears in front of the other animals. Instead, Squealer is distributing messages from Napoleon as well as the current situation of the fight against Mr. Jones. Squealer plays the role of a spokesperson. The reason why Napoleon has not so often showed his appearance to the other animals is not well explained by Squealer.

There is a similarity. Napoleon is similar to Mr. Kan, the prime minister. On the other hand, Squealer is similar to Mr. Edano, the chief cabinet secretary. Mr. Edano has been explaining the current situation of the nuclear power plant to the Japanese nationals on behalf of Mr. Kan since the nuclear crisis occurred on March 12th, 2011. We Japanese people have been nervously reacting to the explanation provided by Mr. Edano.

The living conditions in the Animal Farm are severe because many resources and works have to be spent in the preparation of the prospective fight against Mr. Jones. Food is always short of supply, thus the animals are always hungry except for the pigs. The pigs have been eating plenty of food with good nutrition because the pigs have to organize the Animal Farm, so enough nutrition is essential for such brainwork. The working conditions of the animals, except for the pigs, are not good. From early morning till night, the animals have to do muscular work without enough holidays.

I feel a similarity on this point, too. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is currently conducting a planned blackout because TEPCO lost a part of its power generating capacity after the crisis of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The planned blackout has been conducted inside the Kanto Area except for the central part of Tokyo. Of course, the central part of Tokyo includes the cabinet office, and the headquarter of TEPCO.

On the final page of the “Animal Firm”, there is one scene. The pigs are playing a card game with several people on a table on which plenty of food and wine are served. The pigs are trading daily necessities with the human beings. Initially, the Animal Firm hated all human beings. However, the pigs gradually earn a profit from the trade with human beings. Of course, the pigs refrain from trading with Mr. Jones.

We have to be very careful about totalitarianism. Totalitarianism emerges far too easily when an unprecedented event such as the ongoing nuclear crisis is occurring.

Nuclear Crisis after Earthquake and Tsunami

At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake with a magnitude 9.0 hit off the coast of Miyagi prefecture, and subsequently triggered a gigantic tsunami which was reported to be more than 10 to 20m in height. The tsunami devastated a large number of towns and villages located along the coastline of the northeastern part of Japan. To date (Mar. 29, 2011), 27,000 people are confirmed to be death or lost, and 0.17 million people are still at evacuation centers.

I would like to express my greatest sympathy to the families of the people who died or were lost in the incident. In addition, I hope that the devastated area will be recovered in an adequate manner.

On the other hand, the tsunami triggered another tragedy in Fukushima. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was struck by the unexpected scale of the tsunami, and the plant lost its cooling system completely. In spite of extraordinary efforts conducted so far by the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant is going out of control, and releasing a huge amount of radioactive substances into the environment, including the atmosphere and seawater. Although the Japanese government announced that the severity of this incident was equivalent to the Three Mile Island accident, some scientists estimated that the total amount of radioactive substances released so far is rather closer to that of Chernobyl.

I cannot be an optimist with respect to the ongoing nuclear crisis. What I can (or want to) do now is to grasp the risk arising from this crisis, and inform the surrounding people of the risk and its background information with understandable vocabulary. Scientific knowledge and good communication skills are needed at this moment.

10 Days after the Earthquake

10 days have already passed since the massive earthquake hit the northeastern coast of Japan. 21,000 people are confirmed to be dead or lost mainly in the tsunami. More than 0.3 million people are still living in evacuation centers in northern and eastern Japan.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is not yet in a stable state. Today, white colored steam and grey colored smoke were confirmed to be generating from the No. 2 nuclear reactor and the No. 3 nuclear reactor respectively.

Radiation levels in air near Fukushima Daiichi are still high enough to harm human health. In addition, radiation levels in drinking water taken from a village more than 30km away from Fukushima Daiichi were confirmed to exceed the national environmental standard. Furthermore, radiation levels in milk and spinach produced in agricultural firms more than 100 km away from the nuclear plant were also reported not to satisfy the national standards.

The crisis has not still ended. The government spokesman Mr. Edano cannot still provide the Japanese national with a blueprint for reconstructing the devastated places and resolving the nuclear crisis. We have been reacting nervously to the consecutive announcements from the government.

I hope that Japan will overcome this crisis.

Encouragement from Oversea

The government announced that the electric power supply in the Kanto Region, where more than 40 million people are living, would not be able to be maintained over this night unless electric power demand decreased. It is cold today, so the lower temperature is increasing power demand for heating both in residential houses and the industrial sector, and there may be a possibility that the demand will exceed the supply.

My boss requested his subordinates to go home at 4:30 p.m. because the transportation system would not be functionning if the electric power supply stopped. Though I had a task to be finished, I left the office. The unintentional and large scale blackout has not occurred so far, fortunately.

Tokyo Electric Company (TEPCO) is responsible for supplying electricity in the Kanto Region. Since several power plants, including Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, owned by TEPCO were damaged by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and did not work at this time. Thus, TEPCO is now short of electric supply.

The situation is more severe in the Tohoku Region than in the Kanto Region. More than 15,000 people who had lived there were confirmed to have died or been lost so far. In addition, more than 0.45 million people are in refugee camps in the Tohoku Region. Little water/gas/electricity/oil/food have been provided to the refugee camps so far.

Furthermore, the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is getting worse day by day. I cannot capture what is going on there, but I am certain that in the future this crisis will be proved to have harmed the health of many people (I don’t know whether or not the radiation pollution remains to be confined in Japan) and polluted the soil/air/water in Japan and the Pacific Ocean.

The Japanese people are now in trouble. Thus, I am very glad to hear that foreign people are kindly expressing their sympathy for Japan. Some artists gave money donations to us. Some countries provided us with daily necessities. Other individuals encouraged us over the Internet. I greatly appreciate every bit of help offered by foreign countries. The encouragement from foreign countries must directly help us.

Crisis after the Earthquake

The crisis caused by the earthquake has not ended at this time. The number of casualties is not still known. The TV said, a couple of hours ago, that more than 4,000 people were confirmed to have died or been lost mainly in the tsunami. The cooling system of three nuclear power plants were damaged by the tsunami, and a hydrogen explosion occurred at one of them two days ago. Another hydrogen explosion occurred at another one today.

Furthermore, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) has a shortage of electrical power supply due to the troubles with the nuclear power plants. Thus, they announced yesterday that they have decided to conduct a planned power outage in their supply area including Tokyo. In response to this announcement, rail providers were forced to cancel or reduce services on many lines today. Many of my colleagues, clients, and subcontractors could not reach their respective offices today because they could find no way to get there.

In addition, groceries such as tofu and bottled water and the daily necessities such as tissue paper were sold out at most of the supermarkets nearby my house and office. Many individuals must be rushing to prepare for contingencies.

I cannot predict when this crisis will end smoothly. Everyone should maintain a calm state.

Strong Earthquake and Subsequent Events

A series of strong earthquakes has been and is still hitting Japan, including Tokyo, since the first strongest one hit the northeastern part of Japan yesterday afternoon. Fortunately, my family members and I are safe, but more than 1,000 people are reported to have passed away or been lost at this time. A large tsunami devastated many towns and villages. In addition, a nuclear power plant is still in trouble. I trusted that technical countermeasures against seismic activities in the field of the nuclear power plant in Japan were well established and introduced; however, the magnitude and the scale of these earthquakes must have exceeded our best available technology.

I was in a conference room and had a meeting with more than ten people when the earthquakes struck us. I had never experienced such massive (in terms of both the magnitude and the duration) earthquakes before. The railway system was paralyzed just after the event and still did not fully recover till today. I stayed all night in the conference room because there was no way to get back home at that time. I could hardly sleep there and then. I arrived at my home around 9:00 a.m.

I sincerely hope that the damage arising from the disaster will be taken care of properly.