There is plenty to be upset about these days in Japan. As the pain of losing 40,000 souls starts to ease, people living in Japan must now contend with a contracting economy, limited electricity, and politicians who spend too much of their time trying to oust Prime Minister Kan instead of work for the people who elected them.
But perhaps the most pressing of all concerns is the spread of radiation. I have written about this before. But it is taking on renewed priority....and for good reason.
A noted radiation treatment specialist in Hokkaido, Mr. Masamichi Nishio, thinks that what is happening in Fukushima is a "national crime". He feels that the partial truths conveyed thus far are empty and says that "Giving us the truth once is much more important than saying 'hang in there Japan!' a million times." Mr. Nishio spares no venom as he lashes out at the government, regulators, TEPCO and even the media uniformly.
He is angry because he knows the truth. A lot of people in Fukushima city are also coming to know the truth. Soil radiation in Fukushima city, 40 miles from the Daiichi Nuclear facility, is now above levels that triggered compulsory resettlement ordered by Soviet authorities following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine. Yet there has been no evacuation order made thus far. And who could blame the authorities for not doing so? After all, evacuating a city with 300,000 people would be a nightmare, logistically and financially. But one wonders how long they will be able to hold off what increasingly looks inevitable to me.
In the meantime, the people of Fukushima city are adapting as best they can. Children are kept indoors as much as possible and parents clean surrounding areas to the best of their ability. And what do some do with the radiated soil and vegetation they gather from their homes and property? Increasingly, it seems, they are dumping it in public parks and forests. And it is the children in Fukushima and surrounding cities that are most at risk. Almost 45 percent of children in Fukushima Prefecture, checked by the prefectural and central governments in late March, showed clear evidence of thyroid exposure to radiation.
As all of this is unfolding, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has recently announced that contaminated soil containing less than 200becquerel/kg can be sold as fertilizer on the public market. And contaminated soil can be used locally for farming as long as it does not exceed 1000bequerel/Kg. This seems to be in line with recently raised limits for vegetables which are set at 2,000 becquerels of iodine per kilogram and 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram. So it must be okay to eat....right?
One has to wonder what the bureaucrats at the Ministry are thinking when they make decisions like this one. At the very least (and at a time when growing numbers of people here are concerned about food safety), promoting the use of contaminated soil does little to build trust that decision-makers are not merely representatives of food producers.
Recent statistics show that in many areas of Honshu, the presence of radiation in food is increasing. A national and comprehensive system for measuring contamination and controlling the distribution of food from contaminated areas is desperately needed. As it stands now, the process is largely voluntary. With almost 1.7 million farms in Japan, it will take a herculean effort to establish and police food distribution. But what choice is there?
It also does not help ordinary people to feel at ease when any citizen desirous of receiving a test for cesium in Japan must get permission to do so. In a sense, this is no different from getting a MRI in the US since one cannot just walk in to a hospital and ask for a MRI. Yet I have spoken with two doctors here who assure me it cannot be done unless you are from an "affected area" and it is given by a "related scientific societies and associations". Inspiring.
The depth and degree of what lies ahead for Northern Japan is settling in. Japanese-language Tweets discussing all of these issues and more are occurring in huge numbers now. People are waking up to the unfortunate realities before them. We are in early innings of a very long and drawn out game where nobody wins.
David Wagner is Director of Crisis Communications for Country Risk Solutions, a political risk consulting firm based in Connecticut. He has lived and worked in Japan for 25 years.