The Japan opposition wins by-election in the latest blow to Kan

April 25, 2011, 4: 18 am EDT by Takashi Hirokawa

(Adds denial of the Kan to resign in eighth paragraph).

April 25 (Bloomberg) — the leader of the Democratic Party of the Japan lost a seat in Parliament in the local elections, the last blow to the Prime Minister Naoto Kan as the pressure mounted on its treatment of earthquake and tsunami of last month.Party of the Kan also lost five seats, and won three in 10 contests of head to head with the Liberal Democratic Party in municipal Town Hall yesterday racing, Kyodo News reported. Third party won the race and another result is not yet known, Kyodo said.The results mark the second setback in the elections of Kan following the earthquake and the nuclear crisis that followed last month. The Prime Minister, who this week will submit a 4 billion yen ($49 billion) reconstruction package to the diet, lack of a majority of two thirds of the lower Chamber to override veto power of the opposition-controlled upper House. "The LDP did not say if it will support the plan."Everyone is blaming Kan a lack of leadership, whether or not he deserves it, "said Steven r. Reed, Professor of political science at the Chuo University in Tokyo. "The LDP has shown no leadership either." It can Kan hang? "Three polls last week showed 7 out of 10 voters think that the Government has mismanaged the situation at the nuclear plant of Fukushima Dai - Ichi, which was paralysed by the earthquake on March 11 and the tsunami. Approval of the Kan rate remained below 30% in the polls by the Asahi, Yomiuri and Nikkei newspapers. "Severe" results "we must accept the results of the election, which were serious," Kan said today in Parliament. "" " However, I will ensure to give my all to the reconstruction of the disaster as well as to deal with the nuclear incident. "Several times, he denied any intention to resign all in being questioned by opposition politicians. Kan took office in June, becoming fifth Prime Minister the since 2006. None of his four immediate predecessors lasts more than a year. "For me to surrender my responsibilities in these circumstances, it would be an impossible choice,"Kan told."LDP candidate Hideki Niwa, 38, received 61% of the vote to win a place in the House of the diet of Aichi Prefecture yesterday, according to the website of the electoral region. The DPJ did not field a candidate in the race after one of its representatives have abandoned the siege in January in an unsuccessful attempt to run for Mayor of Nagoya, largest city of Aichi.Le Nikkei survey showed that less than one-fifth of the voters said that Kan should resign soon. The Mainichi and Nikkei said about 60% of voters favoured integrating the LDP Government, something the party resisted to the. Leader of the party April 14 Sadakazu Tanigaki said that Kan should consider resigning, signalling less cooperation on reconstruction efforts.The LDP, which until 2009 power held for more than 50 years, has refused to approve legislation to sell bonds that would fund about half of the record Yen 92.4 billion budget this year. The initial reconstruction plan will be funded without increasing the new issue of liaison for the year ending March 2012. Funding is a problem for the Japan, who has the burden of the debt doubling the size of the economy.The Democrats lost two races for Governor in April 10 local elections the LDP candidates, the first vote after the earthquake.

-With the help of John Brinsley in Tokyo. Editors: John Brinsley, Patrick Harrington

To contact the reporter on this story: Takashi Hirokawa in Tokyo at the thirokawa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg to phirschberg@bloomberg.net

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Tsunami speeds "Terminal decline" of the industry of fish of the Japan

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April 25, 2011, 6:16 AM EDT By Stuart Biggs, Kanoko Matsuyama and Frederik Balfour

(Adds release of radioactive water in 24th paragraph)

April 25 (Bloomberg) -- The wreckage of a 379-metric ton tuna boat blocks the road to the deserted fish market in Kesennuma, once Japan’s largest port for bonito and swordfish. Even after the debris from last month’s tsunami has been cleared away, the industry may never recover.

“Thirty years ago we used to think Japan was the number one fishing country in the world, with the best catching and processing methods, but that’s really no longer the case,” Ryosuke Sato, chairman of the Kesennuma Fisheries Cooperative Association, said in an interview in the town, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Tokyo. “We’ve been in terminal decline.”

Traffic at the port had dropped by 90 percent over the last 20 years as seafood imports rose, even before the country’s northeastern coast was devastated on March 11. Destruction of boats, harbors and processing plants, coupled with fears of radioactive contamination in marine life, threatens to hasten Japan’s turn to overseas for its most important food staple after rice.

Japanese eat more fish per capita than any other developed country, consuming 56.7 kilograms (128 pounds) annually, compared with a global average of 17.1 kilograms, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Fish accounts for 23 percent of protein in the daily Japanese diet, compared with four percent in the U.S.

Fish Broth

Consumption begins with breakfast in Japan, an archipelago of nearly 7,000 islands, where a traditional morning meal consists of rice and grilled fish. In addition to sushi, staples including miso soup also contain fish broth. To feed the habit, Japan is the world’s largest importer of fish, buying $14.4 billion worth in 2008, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.

“We’re the biggest fish lovers among the major industrial nations and the number one consumer,” said Masayuki Komatsu, a professor at Tokyo’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies specializing in ocean and marine resources. “It’s like water and air to us.”

Auctions at Tokyo’s Tsukiji, the world’s largest fish market that stretches over an area the size of 43 football fields, influences prices all over the world, according to Sasha Issenberg, author of ‘The Sushi Economy.’

“It’s like a combination of Wall Street and Sotheby’s in the art market and a commodities trading floor,” he said.

Five Years

Last month’s earthquake and tsunami, which left almost 28,000 dead or missing, disproportionately affected Japan’s northeastern fishing ports and towns. In Iwate prefecture, the tsunami caused about 106.6 billion yen ($1.3 billion) of damage to the fishing industry, according to data from the government. That’s about ten times the combined total for the prefecture’s agriculture and forestry industries.

Fishermen in Kesennuma, which has a population of 73,000, expect it to take as long as five years to rebuild the port and market, central to a fishing industry that provides 85 percent of the town’s jobs.

The city government says 837 townspeople died and 1,196 were listed as missing as of April 22. A further 5,838 people, or 7.8 percent of the population, are in evacuation centers. In addition to the destruction of maintenance and refueling facilities, about 40 fishing vessels were lost, the cooperative’s Sato said.

‘Not Alone’

“There’s so much damage, this is a crisis for the town and the fishing industry,” said the 69-year old Sato, whose Kanedai Co. fish company has sales of 9.4 billion yen in Japan and China, with 230 employees. A poster on the wall signed by wholesalers and customers reads: “You’re not alone, everyone is with you. Thank you always for the delicious fish.”

South Kesennuma, where most of the fish processing plants were located, was the first area to be hit by the tsunami after it passed the island of Oshima that creates the entrance to Kesennuma’s harbor about two kilometers off shore. In the harbor, trawlers and a refueling tank were slammed together, spewing fuel. Fire spread across the fuel-water mix, creating an inferno.

The 50-meter-long Myojin Maru No.3, licensed to catch yellowfin and albacore tuna in the Indian Ocean, is one of at least 10 giant vessels dumped around the town. It towers over gutted two-storey buildings owned by fishing companies about 500 meters from the fish market.

“Companies may have the money to rebuild but people are saying they don’t want to come back,” Yaeko Komatsu, 53, said as she gazed at the rubble of her seafood company employer she didn’t identify. “They say it’s dangerous.”

Planned Reopening

The fish market is planning to partially re-open in June to provide a sales floor for the expected arrival of bonito boats. Longer-term plans depend on the amount of central government assistance, the cooperative’s Sato said.

Reconstruction needs to happen fast to prevent workers from leaving the town for good, Itsunori Onodera, a Diet Member representing Kesennuma, said in an interview at the city hall.

Like many ports in Japan, Kesennuma developed a reputation for handling specific kinds of fish. Ships from all over Japan came to the town to sell saury, sharks and tuna. By adding maintenance and refueling facilities, Kesennuma became one of Japan’s 10 largest fishing ports, Sato said.

The importance of fishing and towns like Kesennuma in Japanese culture belies the fishing industry’s declining status in the economy. Fishing contributes about 0.2 percent of Japan’s GDP, and the number of fishermen has dropped to about 200,000 from about a million after World War II, according to the National Graduate Institute’s Komatsu, also a former official at Japan’s Fisheries Agency.

Indonesian Workers

For fishermen like Tokio Takatsuka, who returned to Shiogama Port, 315 kilometers north of Tokyo and 80 kilometers south of Kesennuma, earlier this month to sell yellowfin tuna from the Pacific, that means hiring more crew members from the Philippines and Indonesia to make up for the shortage of Japanese applicants. They come as part of a government plan to ease labor shortages, and signs at the port are now written in Bahasa as well as Japanese.

“My generation never considered doing anything besides fishing,” Takatsuka, 62, said in an interview last week next to his boat. “It’s different for young people now.”

Even as the government hurries to rebuild facilities, fishermen and consumers are worried about radiation from Tokyo Electric Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, Akira Sato, mayor of Shiogama, said in an interview after the town’s first fresh tuna auction since the March 11 earthquake. The fisherman Takatsuka sailed more than 60 kilometers wide of the plant on the way to the port, rather than hugging the coast, in order to reassure buyers.

About 520,000 liters of water with a level of radioactivity that was 20,000 times the legal limit leaked into the ocean between April 1 and 6, Junichi Matsumoto , a Tepco general manager, said last week.

‘People Are Spooked’

“It puts a cloud over the entire fishing industry and Japan’s food culture is suffering as a result,” Jeff Kingston, director of the Department of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Japan campus said. “People are spooked.”

The level of radioactivity in water leaked from the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant was 20,000 times the regulatory limit, Tepco said on April 21. A total of 520 tons of contaminated water leaked between April 1 and April 6, said Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility.

At Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market, sales of fresh fish fell to an average 583 metric tons per day in the week ended March 17, down 28 percent from a year earlier. The following week they dropped by 44 percent.

“If this continues for two or three years we don’t know what will happen to our bodies from consuming contaminated fish,” Yasuo Kawada, a 59-year-old manufacturing employee said in an interview. “I do worry.”

Fish Bans

Radiation from fish and lobsters near the U.K.’s biggest nuclear polluter suggest radioactive material dumped into the sea from Tepco’s Fukushima power plant isn’t a long-term health threat, according to Richard Wakeford, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute.

The Sellafield nuclear-processing plant in northwest England has discharged at least 320,000 times more radioactive material into the Irish Sea since 1952 than what Tepco released from Fukushima this month, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from both sites. Still, average radiation doses by seafood-consumers near Sellafield over 15 years have been half the recommended limit, studies show.

That hasn’t stopped China, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong from banning fish imports from parts of Japan. The countries accounted for about 70 percent of Japan’s fish exports in 2009, according to Japan External Trade Organization figures.

“Radiation is a grim reaper, you can’t see it and you can’t smell it,” said Ken Banwell who has worked as a fish importer in Tokyo for 22 years. “I would say it would have a profound effect on sales from those areas.”

Still, overall sales at Tsukiji recovered to pre-quake levels last week, indicating Japanese consumers are returning to fish. Prime Minister Naoto Kan proposed a 4-trillion yen ($49 billion) extra budget that is likely to be the first of several packages to rebuild areas devastated by last month’s record earthquake and tsunami, which will include assistance for the industry, the government said in an April 22 statement.

“It’ll take three years, at most five years to rebuild the fish market,” said Sato, in his ninth year as head of the Kesennuma Fisheries Association. “In the meantime we need to know how we can continue to live here today, tomorrow, without jobs at plants which don’t exist anymore.”

--With assistance by Chisaki Watanabe and Shunichi Ozasa in Tokyo. Editors: Bret Okeson, Brian Fowler

To contact the reporters on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net. Kanoko Matsuyama in Tokyo at kmatsuyama2@bloomberg.net; Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong at fbalfour@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bret Okeson at bokeson@bloomberg.net

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Zone of disaster in the Japan touring in Australia PM

The first leader to visit the coast ravaged by the tsunami of the Japan, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, has expressed shock and sadness to the devastation and visited evacuees in shelters Saturday, giving the toy and kangaroos koalas to the excited children.

Through a fishing village where hundreds of people are dead and missing, she said that minamisanriku looked as if she was "bombed into oblivion."

Mayor Jin Sato showed him the Red skeleton of the building of disaster management, where he is was then of a mammoth wave tore its shell on March 11. Exterior stairs were ripped off walls. A small shrine of flowers has been created on a heap of rubble.

Gillard, "It is a scene from the incredible tragedy and incredible sadness," said the last day of a four-day trip.

More than 27 000 people are dead or missing since the earthquake and tsunami. Tens of thousands live in shelters after a 90,000 houses approximately have been destroyed or damaged.

Recovery efforts were complicated by the crisis of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, where the tsunami wiped out power and cooling systems. Workers fought to stop leaks of radiation, and the utility said bring the factory fully under control may take all year.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said Saturday that 30 workers at the plant had exceeded the former limit of exposure to radiation. This limit, 100 millisieverts per year, grew up in the crisis to 250 millisieverts. None of the workers had reached this limit, the company said. Leaks from reactors of plant are stabilized somewhat since the beginning of the crisis, but some interior spaces in the Earth and the tsunami earthquake damaged buildings that have high levels of radiation workers are not able to penetrate.

Hundreds of workers were upsetting to rotating shifts at the plant since the beginning of the disaster, most of them middle-aged men employed by TEPCO or affiliates.

TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said managers have been instructed to closely monitor employees arriving to their radiation limits. Measures could be taken include passing workers tasks more risky, as the compensation of radioactive debris, to jobs in the Interior, as Office tasks.

The United States nuclear industry workers are allowed to an upper limit of 50 millisieverts per year. A typical individual would absorb six millisieverts per year from natural and artificial sources such as x-ray.

Radiation experts said the cumulative doses of 500 millisieverts have been demonstrated that raise the risk of future cancers. Evidence is less clear on smaller quantities, but in theory, any increased radiation exposure raises risk of cancer.

Irradiation, which develops from acute exposure, sets 1,000 millisieverts. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and hair loss.

Workers also face problems of health based on fatigue and the stress of work in the harsh environment, a doctor who speaks told them this week. He stated that the workers of insomnia, dehydration and high blood pressure; run the risk of developing depression or heart problems.

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Japan may prohibit access nuclear plant

The Japan plans to prohibit access to the area evacuated around a nuclear plant damaged in the month last earthquake and tsunami.

Up to 80,000 people lived in the area of 20 km around Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plants, but almost all of them have left.

However, a few people have been back to check their home, despite the police.

The nuclear power plant has been leaks radiation since its cooling system has been damaged in the earthquake on March 11 and the subsequent tsunami.

Now, officials are indicating for the first time that the area around the plant can be concluded.

"We are considering implementation areas of caution as an option to limit effectively the entry," said the Secretary General of Government Yukio Edano.

He said that Prime Minister Naoto Kan will discuss the closure when he travels in the region meeting with local officials on Thursday. Kan will also visit a nuclear crisis management centre.

Noriyuki Shikata, Member of Edano, said more details on how the access could be controlled are still developed.

"There are a number of people who can enter the area." Under the current regime, we are not able to enforce legally - there is no penalty for entering in the box. There is awareness of the need for a stronger application of the region, said Shikata.

Also, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the nuclear power plant, said Wednesday that it distributes requests for compensation for persons who were forced to leave the region. The company offers approximately 12 000 US $ per person in initial compensation.

The Associated Back press folders of accessibility links

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Increase in Stocks of the Japan for the first time in four days on U.S. housing starts

April 20, 2011, 2: 47 PM EDT by Norie Kuboyama and Satoshi Kawano

April 20 (Bloomberg) - Japanese stocks advanced near two weeks after the U.S. implemented construction increased and revenues exceeded estimates to companies, including Johnson & Johnson, the largest in the world of signaling economy is recovering.

FANUC Corp., largest maker of the Japan of industrial robots, gained 2.3%. Toshiba Corp., Advantest Corp. and other chip manufacturers and related tools of advanced after Intel Corp. sales forecast that can top estimates. Inpex Corp., most of the country's oil Explorer, rose to 3.1% increase in the price of the crude.The Nikkei 225 Stock average reached 1.8% 9,606.82 as of the close in Tokyo, the largest gain since April 8. The broader Topix advanced 1.2% to 837.17. Index has decreased about 10 per cent since the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11 which devastated the northeast coast of the Japan and paralyzed a nuclear power plant. "" You are seeing signs in Europe and the United States are always on the road to recovery, "said Hiroichi Nishi, a manager of shares to SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. in Tokyo. "That has helped ease the nerves."The standard & poor 500 Index gained 0.6% yesterday in New York after the Commerce Department said housing starts increased 7.2% in March from February. Work questioned by exporters 549,000 Bloomberg News.Exporters exceeding forecasts median 520 000 housing. FANUC, a manufacturer of equipment for factory obtains approximately 80% of sales abroad, increased by 2.3% to 13,190 yen. Sony Corp., most large exporter of the Japan of electronics, increased by 0.9% to 2,458 yen. Automakers including Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., and Nissan Motor Co. said.Shares also gained after yesterday in Europe and the US companies reported results that beat projections, help boost confidence in the global recovery. Johnson & Johnson, vendor of second largest in the world of health products, forecast earnings of 4.90 $ to $ 5 a share, better than an estimate of $ 4.80 to $ 4.90 in businesses related to the January.Chip advanced after Intel, the world's largest producer in the World Semiconductorthe second-quarter sales forecast that can top analysts estimates. The demand for processors for powerful machines that manage Web services is outweigh personal computer slower growth, said the company based in Santa Clara, Californie.Intel stimulates the ChipmakersToshiba, the second global manufacturer of chips used to store photos and music in smartphones and other portable devicesrose 3.7% to 416 yen. Advantest, the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor test equipment and Elpida Memory Inc., exclusive manufacturer of the Japan of PC memory, also rose.Toshiba received boost after Nomura Holdings Inc. reiterated its "buy" rating on the company, saying that chip company would drive earnings, even as sales related to nuclear energy in the fall following the disaster of last month. Shares of the company, which makes everything from semiconductors to atomic plants, have fallen 17 percent since the earthquake and tsunami that caused explosions and radiation leak in Fukushima Dai-Central Ichi of Tokyo Electric Power Co..Currency of weak Japan, giving relief to exporters in the country. The depreciated yen low as 119.67 against the euro today in Tokyo, compared with 117.24 end of stock trading yesterday on speculation, the Central Bank European will raise interest rates. Against the dollar, currency of Japan weakened the 82.44.Oil 83.10 and trading companies of such as the rise in the price of crude oil and metal. Inpex reached 3.1 per cent yen 601,000 after crude oil for may delivery gained $1.03 to $108.15 US per barrel yesterday in New York. Mitsubishi Corp., largest trader of the Japan-based products, advanced after the London Metal Exchange six metals Index had its biggest gain in nearly two weeks.

-With the assistance of Toshiro Hasegawa in Tokyo. Editors: Jason Clenfield, Nick Gentle.

To communicate with journalists for this story: Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at the nkuboyama@bloomberg.net; Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo, at skawano1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the responsible editor of the story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.

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Japan quake sound recorded underwater microphones (or "Hydrophones")

Japan quake sound recorded by underwater microphones (or "Hydrophones") Xeni Jardin at 2:16 am Friday, Apr 15, 2011

[Video link]. An AP element of spectrograms and audio files, the sound waves associated with the March 11 earthquake off the northern coast of Japan captured. (via @ NYTjim)

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Nuclear power plant Japan still spewing radiation at sea

Measured radiation in seawater ashore off the Central nuclear Japan tsunami-ravaged several million times legal limit in recent days, while officials argue that contamination still does not constitute an immediate danger.

Radiation was cast in the Pacific Ocean the Fukushima Daiichi plant since a 9.0 magnitude earthquake caused a massive tsunami that flooded the complex. Over the weekend, workers he discovered a crack where the highly contaminated water has been discharging directly into the ocean.

The tsunami has sprayed about 400 kilometres from the northeast coast, killing thousands of people and entire towns flattened. Tens of thousands more lost their homes in the crash of the water, and thousands have been forced to leave the area near the plant because of radiation concerns.

A member of the Force of legitimate defence of the Japan Research victims on a coastline that was damaged by the earthquake and the tsunami, in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, Tuesday. Toru Hanai/ReutersMany of these "radiation refugees" are frustrated by the mandatory 20-kilometre exclusion zone and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. - including the stock value has plunged its lowest level ever - them said Tuesday it would give the affected towns 20 million yen (240 000 US$) each.

Also Tuesday, TEPCO announced that sea water samples near one of the reactors contained 7.5 million times the legal limit of radioactive iodine on April 2. Two days later, this figure dropped to $ 5 million.

Experts have said that radiation quickly dissipates in the vast Pacific, but they also said that it is not known what will be the effects of large amounts of contamination. No fishing is permitted in the vicinity of complex.

TEPCO said in a statement that even large amounts would have "no immediate impact" on the environment, but added that it is working to stop the leak as soon as possible.

The readings were taken more near the plant as before - apparently because the new points have been added after the crack was discovered - and do not necessarily reflect a worsening of the contamination. Other measures metres hundreds of plant have declined to levels approximately 1,000 times the legal limit - down from 4,385 times the legal limit last week.

Measurements of radiation from TEPCO was questioned last week, and the nuclear safety agency ordered the utility to analyze again its samples. As a result, some figures have been chosen and several days worth of measures were released Tuesday.

Radioactivity is cast into the ocean, in part, because the factory workers were forced to use a method fortune to lower temperatures and pressures by pumping water in reactors and allowing Gush out everywhere where it can. This is a difficult process, but it prevents a complete breakdown of fuel rods that would unleash even more radioactivity in the environment.

This means also is pooling of means highly radioactive water through the plant, and some of them blasted their way to the ocean. Workers are now desperately trying to find a place to store the contaminated water because it is preventing them from restoring the normal cooling systems.

From late Monday, they began less than pumping contaminated water into the sea to space in a storage facility for the more highly radioactive water.

This process should take two days.

The building is not designed to hold water, but it is also not flee, so engineers have decided once it is empty, they can pump in plu radioactive water.

Japan is another method of decontamination of the Russia.

Monday, a spokesman for the Russian nuclear agency, Rosatom, Sergei Novikov, told journalists that the Japan had requested send Russia a vessel used to remove nuclear waste liquid from decommissioned submarines.

Novikov said that Moscow expected responses to certain questions before granting the request.

It has more than 15 million litres of contaminated, water pooling around the plant, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman of the Japan nuclear and industrial safety agency, said Tuesday. It is unclear how much storage space is left at the plant, but the last approach should make room for approximately 2.6 million gallons in the building of waste storage.

Even if TEPCO has made the decision to release deliberately contaminated at least water is a mark of progress on the resolution of a problem, every day seems to bring a new setback and reputation of the company took a serious blow.

On Tuesday, its stock dropped yen 80 - the maximum daily limit, or 18 per cent - just 362 yen ($ 4.3), falling below its previous low record of 393 yen from December 1951 to closing.

Since the earthquake, the prices of the action of the TEPCO has nose-dived a staggering 80 per cent. The Tokyo Stock Exchange said investors have dumped TEPCO shares worth 1.06 billion of yen since March 11.

Stress to announce the bad news also seems to be taking a toll. An official teared up and his voice starts shaking was details at a press conference near the plant this week.

In what could be an effort to counter the bad advertising, Takashi Fujimoto, Vice-President of the TEPCO, said that the company offered 20 million yen ($ 240,000) for each city or city affected by the mandatory evacuation zone. He calls the cash "money apology" and noted that a city he had refused because he disagreed with the approach. He gave no details.

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Panorama of Quake damage in Rikuzen-Takada, Iwate on Honshū, Japan

Panorama of Quake damage in Rikuzen-Takada, Iwate, JapanCory Doctorow at 8: 35 am the Monday, Apr 4, 2011

The 360Cities panorama website has a hair-raising Pano of earthquake damage to Rikuzen-Takada in the Prefecture of Iwate--a whole city reduced to Flinders and rubble.

Damage in Rikuzen-Takada, Iwate pref (12)

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Japan nuclear crisis: sawdust, shredded newspaper, "diaper absorbent" fail radioactive water absorb

Japan nuclear crisis: sawdust, shredded newspaper, "diaper absorbent" fail absorb radioactive WaterXeni Jardin at 9:58 am Sunday, Apr 3, 2011

Would that this were a joke. High radioactive water damaged nuclear power plant Fukushima is strong in the sea at the Daiichi in Nord-Japan leak. Workers there have tries, stop the flow with polymers water absorbent, used the stuff in baby diapers, which can fuel volume in liquid 50 times. On the left, a snapshot of the material (photo: Kyodo News).

You use also sawdust and shredded newspapers. But Japan's nuclear safety agency, NISA, says so far, that none of this works. And top spokesman says that it will probably take several months of Government before radiation stops leaking from the plant.

Engineers put 8 kg of absorbent along with 60 kilograms of sawdust and three bags of shredded paper to pipes leading polymer water to a pit connected, Nr. 2 of reactor building was found where a 20-inch crack be leaking radioactive water in the Pacific Ocean, the Agency said.

These materials injected at one point 23 metres from the pit to the sea have however not in the flow of water, so that no effect on the rate of which leak, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the State nuclear and industrial Agency was involved.

Nishiyama, said the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to review the situation until Monday morning, to keep the effects of water absorbing mission monitoring is. The company also tried, the route of the track radioactive water leakage from the pit of draining colored water on Monday, he added.

"Absorbent still too radioactive water in Fukushima plant fuel" (Kyodo News)

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Japan: Fukushima reactor pit leaking radioactive water directly into the sea

Unfortunately, I could see not the content Fromt of this page.

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Huge pumps brought huge aircraft, with huge Japan Nuke to help crisis. Bonus: they are "Plaster master"

Huge pumps brought huge aircraft, with huge Japan Nuke to help crisis. Bonus: they are "Plaster master" Xeni Jardin at 9:30 am Saturday, Apr 2, 2011

The AP reported that two massive concrete pumps, of the largest facilities of its kind in the world, after Japan, pour water to help damaged reactors in Fukushima air lifted to.

The machines are used, spraying concrete for new skyscrapers, bridges and also large construction projects, but they are to change for this use of spraying water.

"But if a decision is made, a reactor in concrete-similar to how a method that umhüllen-in the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 - about the machines to able the also", said an Executive of the company that made them.

You are transferred to the Antonov 225, of the world's heaviest aircraft. The company and the device: "plaster master." Yes, that's right. Huge, phallus-shaped pump, the liquid and nuclei spew hot. They are huge. You are concealed master.

Read the full story here. (on Paul Saffo)

Update: So, one of the biggest competitors of plaster master's a company called spam (thanks to V). Austin Powers has this script or what people write?

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Japan: Gentleman crashes truck into the goals of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima

Japan: Gentleman crashes truck in gates of Fukushima of nuclear PlantXeni Jardin at 1:39 PM Thursday, Mar 31, 2011

In Japan, a gentleman fell a speaker truck drive today his car right in the gates of one of nuclear power stations in North Japan of TEPCO (Fukushima Daini, not the leaking in, but very close to the leaked one) operated. This mobile boom box trucks are popular with groups are used, to propaganda broadcast while driving around the hood. After deleting this one in Fukushima # 2, the gentleman was immediately arrested by the po-po. Related: someone has seen, Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly O'Reilly in the last 24 hours? I think not. (AFP)

Update: an another gentleman was drawn on the same plant for mischief:

an unemployed man from Tokyo was arrested Friday after entering allegedly with the car in the Prefecture of Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant facilities, close to the radiation leak Fukushima Daiichi plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Police said. Hikaru Watanabe, 25, from Shinjuku Ward, Thursday, before the ride to their rooms for about 10 minutes, that said plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., reportedly broke through the western gate of the plant of Daini at 10 am added, that no one, in the incident hurt.

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Japan (photo): within an evacuation center in nearby Fukushima

Japan (photo): within an evacuation center in the vicinity of FukushimaXeni Jardin 2: 31 pm Thursday, Mar 31, 2011

A girl from a homeless family keeps their stuffed animals an evacuation center in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, North Japan, 31 March 2011. Located about 70 km (44 miles) from the earthquake and tsunami crippled reactor. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-hoon)

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