On 18 March at 1600hrs, the British Ambassador to Tokyo, David Warren, and the UK’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Beddington, held a telephone briefing regarding the situation at Fukushima. Over the past few days, there has been continuing concern about the situation at Fukushima, particularly in light of yesterday’s amendment to British travel advice to “consider leaving” Tokyo.
Sir John Beddington explained: At the beginning of this week, our concerns were mainly about possible meltdowns in the reactors. What the Japanese were doing was entirely proportionate to the situation and, even in our worst case scenarios, such as extreme weather conditions, there was nothing remotely to worry about. There were two main reasons why we changed the British travel advice.
1. Fuel Ponds
If the fuel ponds that hold spent fuel rods were allowed to dry out, especially the pond in reactor number 4, the emissions would be highly radioactive. We worried that radiation would start coming out as a result of fire or minor explosions and this would cause more radiation than that coming from the reactors themselves. This is one of the reasons it was more important to be more precautionary around the Fukushima plant, and that was why the recommendation was adopted to extend the evacuation zone to 80km. We discussed this with our scientific colleagues in America and they agreed. There is STILL no massive danger but we wanted to be precautionary.
2. Worst Case Scenario
The British Prime Minister asked us to look at the plausible “worst case scenario” combined with unfavourable weather conditions, particularly with regards to Tokyo. I repeat that this is HIGHLY UNLIKELY. Even if our plausible worst case scenario happened, the danger to Tokyo would be modest. Although radiation would increase for a short time – no longer than 48 hours – the effects on human health would be mitigated by staying indoors not opening windows. For people living in Tokyo, immediate concerns can be allayed. If the UK were to find any traces of radiation, they would inform Tokyo of when the plume is due in order for people to take precautions. This is NOT the current situation; this is only assuming the worst case scenario. Both of our worst case scenarios (explosions in reactors and extreme weather conditions) are unlikely.
To sum up, regarding the precautionary zone around the plant it was sensible to be precautionary, but even in worst case scenario, we are not worried about the human health risks. The US and France have heard these conclusions and they share our opinion.
Q: Is there any chance of contamination in Tokyo?
Sir John: Implications to people in Tokyo – none.
Question from the BritishSchool: Given that the reactor was contained but then suddently there was an explosion, how long do you foresee a dangerous situation continuing for?
Sir John: The key issue is whether or not the Japanese can get sufficient water into the holding pond on reactor 4 and continue to get water into other holding ponds. In the case of reactors, adequate water is needed to keep them cool. That is critical. In terms of when we can all relax – this is dependent on how successful the Japanese are at cooling the reactors and ponds. When that begins to happen we can relax. In a week or so we will know if we really have to worry or not. In addition, afterwards, there are enourmous problems of clean up and that could take years.
Question from David Warren: Can you clarify about the contamination of food and water?
Sir John: We have been working with our colleagues in DEFRA and the food standards agency in the UK. The message is to avoid food grown around the region of the plant of course. Normal sewage filtration processes take out radioactivity. If this was dangerous to anyone outside of Fukushima, the Japanese authorities would react and advise. In Chernobly the risks were significant – more dramatic and worrying, but even the risks were negliible for water because of filtration. Bottled water is always safe. Any problems related to tap water will not be connected with radiation but rather the sewage coming from broken pipes. In conclusion, microbiology is more of a concern than radiation. As for food in shops – in cartons, tins, bottles or boxes, there is no problem whatsoever. It would be unwise to eat food produced from gardens in the region. Anything left in the open air in Fukushima, dont eat.
Q: You now advise to “consider leaving” – at what stage would you change that to “leave”?
Sir John: Only in the worst case scenarios. The reason we said “consider leaving” – there are major disruptions to transportation and supply chain in the whole of Japan. We are NOT advising that people leave due to the risk of radiation. Even IF a plume were to reach Tokyo, it would not pose major health risks.
Q: What does plausible worst case mean? Is there an implausible worst case?
Sir John: Implausible – all reactors and all ponds go up at the same time and extreme weather conditions bring the plume to Tokyo; it’s not sensible to consider this.
Q: How do we know if the Japanese government is telling the whole story?
Sir John: There would be a series of explosions at the reactors – the Japanese government cannot hide that if it were to be the case.
Q: Why is the French giving different advice?
Sir John: Their advice is not based on science.
Q: Any reason for people in Tokyo to take potassium iodide? Children, pregnant mothers?
Sir John: The Health Protection Agency is on the line. If we are looking at the “worst case scenario” it would be sensible for pregnant women, children and nursing mothers to take stabilising drugs as their thyroids are more sensitive radioactive iodine. However there is no need for anyone in Tokyo to take these drugs now. If necessary, there would be plenty of warning for people in Tokyo to take the tablets.
Finally, we are continuing to monitor this situation every day, with nuclear and health experts.
Foreigners again flood immigration
Foreign residents flooded the Tokyo Immigration Bureau early Thursday seeking re-entry permits as fears of a nuclear crisis prompted them to make plans to leave temporarily if needed.
More than 2,500 foreign residents had formed a long line stretching outside the immigration office as of noon, apparently due to fears of the unfolding crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
The bureau, part of the Justice Ministry, said it had received re-entry permit requests from about 10,000 foreign residents as of Wednesday and that Thursday’s figure could exceed it.
The bureau said it would issue permission to those who arrived by 4 p.m., even if the process takes extra hours and goes into the middle of the night.
Embassies launch emergency measures
Embassies in Tokyo have started emergency steps such as moving their functions to the Kansai region or flying diplomats’ families out of Japan amid concern over radiation from the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear plant.
While the government expressed understanding over their decisions, officials urged the embassies and foreigners living in Japan to stay calm.
Capital has no iodine prep plans
Other than monitoring radiation levels in the capital amid the failures at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Wednesday it had no plans to prepare any radiological countermeasures, such as reserving iodine pills to deal with internal exposure to radioactive substances.
The government instead called for residents to go about their daily lives in a normal manner because only a small amount of radiation, harmless to humans, was detected.
“This (radiation levels detected in Tokyo) has already fallen,” Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said at a news conference. “For now, the usual and normal situation continues.”
U.S., U.K. advise citizens in quake vicinity to evacuate
The U.S. Embassy in Japan has asked American citizens living within an 80-kilometer radius of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in Japan to evacuate as a precautionary measure.
“We are recommending, as a precaution, that American citizens who live within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant evacuate the area or to take shelter indoors if safe evacuation is not practical,” the embassy said in the advice issued Thursday local time.
The Japanese government currently sets the evacuation zone covering areas within a 20-km radius of the plant and advises those within a 30-km radius to stay indoors.
Meanwhile, Britain on Wednesday advised its nationals living in Tokyo and areas north of the Japanese capital to evacuate in light of an ongoing nuclear crisis at the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in northeastern Japan.
It said the British Embassy in Japan plans to arrange free buses from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture to Tokyo on Thursday for evacuating British nationals. It also advised against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and northeastern Japan.
“For those outside the exclusion zone set up by the Japanese authorities there is no real human health issue that people should be concerned about,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Embassies list 400 foreigners as missing
About 400 foreigners remained unaccounted for as of noon Wednesday, several dozen embassies told the Foreign Ministry in the wake of Friday’s historic earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region.
A ministry official said the missing may not all be caught up in the disaster area and not all embassies have provided information, thus the number will probably change.
An estimated 48,000 foreign nationals are currently registered as living in disaster-stricken Miyagi, Iwate, Fukushima, Yamagata, Akita and Aomori prefectures.
Details of the breakdown of missing foreign nationals were not available, but the official noted many were Chinese and some were from Central and South America.
The Philippine Embassy said it hasn’t been able to confirm the whereabouts of 42 nationals and has listed their names on its website. The embassy is trying to gather information but also has opened hotlines and encourages anyone who has information on the missing to call in.
The Australian Embassy said it hasn’t located 94 people who may have been in the Tohoku region. There are approximately 3,400 Australians residing in Japan, it said.
An official of the Indian Embassy said there are no missing Indians at this point and all those affected by the disaster have already evacuated to a safe area.
The embassies of the United States, Britain and South Korea said they could not confirm the number of those missing at this point.
Thousands swamp immigration
Spooked by the radiation leak at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, thousands of people this week have been applying for re-entry permits in preparation for evacuation from Japan.
On Wednesday, the number of applicants at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau appeared to surpass the nearly 5,000 who lined up Tuesday, according to a bureau official.
The Justice Ministry’s Immigration Bureau Wednesday also began accepting inquiries about whether foreigners registered in Disaster Relief Act-applicable areas in Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are still in Japan.
To make an inquiry, the nationality, name, birth date, sex and address of both applicant and foreigner must be provided.
For more info, contact the Immigration Bureau at (03) 3592-8120. Inquiries are accepted Monday through Friday between 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Inquiries can also be sent by fax at (03) 3592-7368 or by e-mail: nyukan44@moj.go.jp
Kicking up a stink over ink in Kobe
You might want to avoid Suma Beach this summer if you are inked or have even a temporary sticker tattoo. The powers that be in Kobe City are considering ways to ban the display of tattoos on the beach.
It’s not easy to have a tattoo in Japan, and things have been getting even more complicated in recent years. Dress codes prohibiting employees from having exposed tattoos at companies are common. The Softbank Hawks have informed Venezuelan first baseman Alex Cabrera that he will have to cover the tattoos on his forearms this season. Inked Japanese celebrities such as Namie Amuro appear on television with their tattoos blurred out.
Saunas, gyms and other places where customers disrobe used to look the other way when tattoos were obviously not gang-related, but a hardline stance toward ink of any kind is now common.
Whether accurate or not, says Jake Adelstein, author of “Tokyo Vice” and a former crime reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, it is the link with the yakuza that is behind the infamous “bathhouse ban” on tattoos — a regulation that over the years has left many an inked foreign tourist or resident angry and unwashed after being turned away from an onsen (hot spring) like a common criminal.
“Police pressure and the yakuza image are bad in Japan. There are also public safety concerns. Since so many yakuza have hepatitis C from drug use or contaminated needles used for their tattoos, they risk spreading infection to the other customers,” explains Adelstein. “The other reason is obvious. Yakuza are often violent, ill-tempered individuals and no one wants to hang around them. Tattoos equal yakuza in the Japanese mind. And the hepatitis C concerns apply to nonyakuza as well.”
Tattooing was banned in the Meiji Era by officials who feared being viewed as uncivilized by Westerners, who were arriving with the end of the closed country policy. But it was impossible to stamp out the practice completely and it continued underground.
In an ironic twist, it was Western people who brought tattooing out of the back alleys in Japan. The U.S. Occupation forces legalized tattoo parlors in 1948, presumably due to demand for ink from soldiers and sailors.
While private businesses — such as restaurants requiring a coat and tie — sometimes dictate the appearance of customers, and it is harder to hit the gym or onsen when inked, restricting tattoos on a public beach would be unprecedented.
Old prejudices die hard, however. The Kobe Municipal Government is currently discussing prohibiting tattoos at Suma Beach. Regulating concerts, dancing, alcohol and tobacco are among other measures also on the table. A vote is scheduled for March 22.
Colin Jones, a professor at Doshisha University Law School, said it was “interesting that the thing driving it (the ban) is subjective fear of people with tattoos.
“If that is a reason for legislation, I guess you could ban foreigners or black people from going to the beach too, if enough people felt fearful because of it,” he added.
It is unclear how prohibiting the open display of tattoos at Suma Beach would be enforced, and unknown whether it would be effective in restoring order and calming fears. Covering tattoos would work for some when they weren’t swimming but those with ink on their faces, fingers or feet would be out of luck.
No penalties are planned for those violating the proposed regulations on tattoos at Suma Beach. Kanagawa Prefecture banned smoking on beaches last year, also without any punishment for violators. Smoking areas were prepared but people could still be seen lighting up on the sand.
[The editor of Tattoo Tribal magazine Shinji] Watanabe says many people in the tattoo community are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the proposed legislation, but he is concerned that the ordinance could set back efforts toward the acceptance of tattoos in Japanese society.
“There are people who do not have tattoos that do bad things and it’s sad that people blame bad behavior on tattoos. Tattoos have an outlaw history in Japan but that image is archaic. I am worried that if Kobe City puts signs on the beach banning tattoos, the image of tattoos in Japan will worsen even further.”
Radiation levels shoot up in Tokyo, vicinity
Radiation levels shot up in Tokyo and its vicinity Tuesday following the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan that was triggered by last week’s massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, local governments said.
But those levels did not pose immediate danger to human health, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said.
In Tokyo, small amounts of radioactive substances, such as iodine and cesium, were detected, the metropolitan government said.
In Ibaraki Prefecture, adjacent to Fukushima Prefecture where the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located, the amount of radiation at one stage reached 5 microsievert per hour, 100 times higher than usual, the Ibaraki prefectural government said.
In Kanagawa Prefecture, the radiation level shot up 10 times higher than usual.
In Saitama, capital of Saitama Prefecture, the amount of radiation reached 1,222 nanosievert per hour — a figure about 40 times higher than usual.
In Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, the amount of radiation showed a two- to four-fold increase, the Chiba prefectural government said.
The amount of radiation rose to 1.318 micro sievert per hour — a figure 33 times bigger than usual — in Tochigi Prefecture’s capital of Utsunomiya, the Tochigi prefectural government said.
Northerly winds brought radioactive substances from Fukushima Prefecture to Tokyo and its vicinity, nuclear experts said.
Activist fighting for LGBT rights
Toshima Ward candidate aims to pass partnership ordinance
[Taiga] Ishikawa, a 36-year-old writer and activist with inside experience in politics [and an openly gay candidate running for the Toshima Ward Assembly in Tokyo], said he is not trying to become Japan’s Harvey Milk. But what he is aiming for as a politician is to make his neighborhood more friendly to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and foreigners.
“I know it’s a big plan, but if elected, I hope I can enact a partnership ordinance” that would allow unmarried couples regardless of gender to have equal rights as married couples, he said.
Ishikawa is a former secretary to Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima and plans to run as an SDP candidate in the election, which is scheduled for April.
Under the Toshima partnership ordinance he envisions, the ward would issue a certificate to two adults who register as “partners,” giving them the right to apply for ward-managed housing and hospital visitation rights.
He added that he supports local-level suffrage for foreign residents of Japan.
International marriages sometimes require an official certificate to prove the Japanese applicant is unmarried, and the government used to refuse to issue such certificates to Japanese homosexuals attempting to marry in countries that permit same-sex marriages.
But after Ishikawa, his support group and SDP chief Fukushima kept lobbying for change, the government in 2009 effectively allowed Japanese to marry foreigners of the same sex by issuing a new certificate that does not include a sex designation entry to fill in.
“I have realized that if politics change, society will change,” Ishikawa said.
“By embracing diversity, I believe Toshima will be a great place to live,” he said.