Naoto Kan: I couldn't let TEPCO withdraw from Fukushima disaster
Naoto Kan was told by his industry minister at 3 a.m., four days after the start of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, that the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., was proposing to withdraw from the stricken facility.
In his first interview since leaving office, the former prime minister told The Asahi Shimbun on Sept. 5 that he had briefly stared into an abyss in which the plant's damaged nuclear reactors might have been abandoned.
"I thought, 'What would happen if (TEPCO) withdrew?' If we left the plant unattended, everything might have melted down and things might have gone far beyond Chernobyl," Kan said.
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201109060244.htmlA smoky show of support for disaster-hit ports
Six months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, some fortunate diners--several thousand Tokyo residentsgot to feast on sanma (saury), an autumn delicacy, thanks to the generosity of fishermen and officials of disaster-hit Miyako, Iwate Prefecture.
Before the earthquake and tsunami, Miyako was one of the Tohoku region's main fishing ports for offloading fishparticularly sanmawhen they're fattest and oiliest. Nearly 7,000 saury arrived for the Tokyo fish-fest, the Meguro Sanma Matsuri, which took place Sept. 4 in front of Meguro Station in Shinagawa Ward.
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http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201109060328.htmlSurvivor worried about family / Mud slide causes man, wife to flee; sons, grandmother still missing
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Kimio Uchikoshi watches rescuers search for his missing mother and two sons Tuesday in the Fudono district in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture.
WAKAYAMA--At about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Kimio Uchikoshi was woken up by what sounded like boulders rolling outside. In the darkness he struggled in vain to open his bedroom door. Upon hearing the sound of window panes shattering, he and his wife fled barefoot through a window to a nearby field.
For two days until Tuesday since that moment, Uchikoshi, 48, of the Fudono district in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, worried greatly about his three family members who went missing in Sunday's mud slide.
"I hope
as soon as possible," Uchikoshi said, watching on as firefighters and Self-Defense Forces personnel continued rescue operations, which resumed that morning.
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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110906005839.htm
Kan feared Tokyo would become uninhabitable due to nuclear crisis
TOKYO —
Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan feared Tokyo would be rendered uninhabitable by the Fukushima nuclear crisis, he said in an interview published Tuesday in which he recalled the “spine-chilling” thought.
He added it would have been “impossible” to evacuate all of the 30 million people in the event of a mass exclusion zone encompassing Tokyo and the Kanto region, and said that this risk made nuclear power a too dangerous option.
“Deserted scenes of Tokyo without a single man around came across my mind,” he told the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, describing his thoughts as the nuclear emergency deepened in the days after the March 11 quake and tsunami.
“It really was a spine-chilling thought,” he said.
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http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/kan-feared-tokyo-would-become-uninhabitable-due-to-nuclear-crisis
Fukushima to get power theme park for children
TOKYO —
Anyone following developments at Fukushima will know all about the now-revered “kamikaze” workers paid peanuts to clean up at the Daiichi nuclear plant there, so it’s with a watchful eye that we greet the news that a leisure firm aims to bring children to the area with a somewhat different approach to recovery.
Kids City Japan, operator of the KidZania theme park in Tokyo, says it is planning to build a full-scale solar power plant in Fukushima Prefecture just 25 kilometers from the crippled plant.
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http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/fukushima-to-get-power-theme-park-for-children
No. 3 reactor cooling down: Tepco
Kyodo
The temperature of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant's No. 3 reactor is below 100 degrees, indicating that a cold shutdown may be within reach, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday
It is the first time the temperature at the bottom of unit 3's pressure vessel has fallen below 100 since the nuclear crisis was triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Reactor 1 is even lower — below 90 — but Tepco said it is too early to determine whether it achieved cold shutdown because it needs to re-evaluate the amount of fuel left inside.
Tepco said a new cooling method that involves showering the reactor core with water probably helped lower the temperature of reactor 3 and that it is considering applying the method to reactor 2 as well.
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http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110906a3.html
Living with the aftermath of Japan's tsunami nightmare
Otsuchi, Japan (CNN) -- Kyoko Ogawa wore the brave face the world associated with Japan's tsunami survivors.
The March 11 catastrophe washed away all her earthly possessions. She watched as her hotel burned to the ground in a gas explosion triggered by the tsunami; a hotel that had been in her family for generations. She was determined not to let the disaster break her.
But after the elation of finding her son alive, the reality of losing her livelihood started to erode the calm facade. She was in turmoil. She was afraid to talk to other people about it because she knew everyone was suffering as much as her, if not more.
They were "ganbaru," she recalls -- enduring, holding on, withstanding, and living with the pain. She couldn't be the only one to lose control.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/06/world/asia/japan-tsunami-suicides/index.html
Safety check begins on 13 idled reactors
Two utilities plan to hand in evaluations by month's end
Kyodo
Thirteen of the nearly 30 reactors nationwide idled for regular checks have entered the first stage of the safety evaluation process, one of the conditions for restarting them following the Fukushima nuclear crisis, sources said Wednesday.
Kansai Electric Power Co. and Shikoku Electric Power Co., plan to submit evaluation reports on their six idled reactors to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency by the end of this month.
The other four utilities hoping to restart the remaining seven reactors are also accelerating their efforts, aiming to resume operations of their units as early as the end of the year.
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http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110907x1.html
Mental care centers planned for kids orphaned by disaster
Kyodo
The welfare ministry decided Wednesday to set up mental health care centers for children who lost parents to the March disaster in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, ministry sources said.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has concluded that such facilities are necessary to enlist more psychiatrists and provide thorough care to more than 1,500 children now without one or both parents.
The program will be financed by ¥2.7 billion earmarked for that purpose in the first extra budget following the disaster
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http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110907x3.html
SDF rescues 100-year-old woman from nursing home cut off by typhoon
KIHO, Mie -- Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops have rescued three residents of a nursing home, including a 100-year-old woman, after the facility was cut off by road damage wrought by Typhoon No. 12.
Rescuers asked 100-year-old Yasuko Kawakami, "Are you all right?" as they transported her to an ambulance on the morning of Sept. 6, and the bedridden home resident managed a nod.
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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110907p2a00m0na012000c.html
Relief supplies finally reach isolated areas devastated by typhoon
TOTSUKAWA, Nara -- Emergency relief supplies have finally begun to reach seven districts in this town cut off by damage from Typhoon No. 12.
The Self-Defense Forces and local authorities worked together from the early morning on Sept. 7 to deliver fresh bread and meals to the nearly 500 people in the seven Totsukawa regions, which remain isolated days after the devastating Typhoon No. 12 tore through the region on Sept. 3-4.
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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110907p2a00m0na014000c.html
Woman in Wakayama rescued from typhoon flooding by grandchild
NACHIKATSUURA, Wakayama -- In the predawn hours of Sept. 4, as Typhoon No. 12 lashed Wakayama Prefecture, many homes in the Iseki district of Nachikatsuura were hit by flooding from the Nachi River. Kazuko Mine, 83, was sleeping in her home when she was awoken by the sound of water dripping onto a tatami mat.
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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110907p2a00m0na019000c.html
Huge 'deep-seated' landslides caused by Typhoon No. 12 could hit again: experts
Devastating mudslides in the Kii Peninsula triggered recently by Typhoon No. 12 could be "deep-seated landslides," experts say, warning that similar landslides could be triggered by torrential rains or earthquakes in the future.
The huge landslides occurred when blocks of earth which absorbed large quantities of rainwater deep underground shifted and crumbled, experts say. The mountains in the region are believed to have absorbed massive volumes of water, and the experts warn that "torrential rains or earthquakes could cause deep-seated landslides again."
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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110907p2a00m0na006000c.html
Mainichi Ohatu~ Something New Every Day
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