Japanese conservatives as appalling as US counterparts

An outspoken nationalist mayor said the Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to "maintain discipline" in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers who risked their lives in battle. 

That's the main thrust of this story, but you have to read the article to understand just how creepy this guy is. And it goes further than this mayor. He represents a conservative movement in Japan that is every bit as backward as U.S. southerners who think they fought a northern "war of aggression" over the "rightful" ownership of slaves.

Just go read it. It's scary because it makes you realize the US isn't an anomaly. The crazy is sprouting everywhere.

Odd headline at NY1

Fukushima (image: kafila.org)

The headline on New York's hometown cable news station, NY1, says "Many Still Displaced by Japan's Nuclear Near-Disaster".

Near disaster? Exactly what has to happen before NY1 considers an event a full nuclear disaster? Seems to me that losing a hemisphere of land with (at least) a 12-mile radius -- for several decades, if not forever -- should suffice. And dog only knows how many people will come down with cancer from radiation exposure.

Perhaps this reporter phrased this so inadequately because the American news failed to report fully on the tragedy, never digging deep -- and then turning the page and forgetting it entirely while the disaster was still raging.

Our media left us in the dark rather than offend nuclear advocates in this country. What piss-poor suckers the US media are. Truth be damned -- that's their motto. They have other matters to consider, like making money and sucking up to power.

What's wrong with this picture?

From Reuter's today:

Japan's biggest utility estimated around 4,720 trillion becquerels of cesium-137 and iodine-131 was released into the Pacific Ocean between March 21 and April 30, but researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) put the amount at 15,000 trillion becquerels, or terabecquerels.

Government regulations ban shipment of foodstuff containing over 500 becquerels of radioactive material per kg.

Kids in Japan's disaster zone return to school

I want to put a link to this story on the blog because I know some of you can't get past the Times paywall and would otherwise miss it. They've got a nice piece today about kids returning to school in the disaster zone in Japan. You'll be able to read the story if you follow this link.

Hmmmm. After posting this, when I followed the link from the blog, it still did the paywall thing. The Times made a big deal of saying this wouldn't happen when a link comes from a blog. Let me know if you experience paywall blockage after following the link. You don't think the Times could have lied, do you?! Heaven forfend!

Next step in Japan's radiation story

There's an article in the Wall Street Journal today about Japan's attempt to deal with the huge volume of irradiated water that has accumulated as a result of hosing down the reactors for such a long time. They mention the size of the problem:

". . . there is altogether an estimated 67,500 tons of water from the three most heavily damaged reactor units that needs to be either processed or stored."

That's a lot of water. I read the story and it seems they believe they'll be able to filter the radioactivity from the water at processing plants, which they're now building. Their current aim is to move the water via a hose strung from the nuclear plant to a huge cistern in the ground. Then they'll move the water again, this time from the cistern to the processing plants, once they're operational.

Sounds pretty shaky to me. The article also mentioned an idea to switch from hosing the rods with water, to cooling them down with refrigerated air. They don't mention how this will be accomplished. It sounds like there's a long way to go before this situation is truly defused.

My heart goes out to all the people in Japan who have to live through this terrible time. From out the blue comes doom. Sometimes that's the way things happen, and it must seem very unfair to those who suffer the consequences.

UPDATE: The link I provided seems to lead to a truncated version of the story, for some reason. Hopefully they'll fix that.

Brave workers still toiling at Fukushima Dai-ichi

Hat tip to Annie, who sent me a link to this story. It's called "Japanese tsunami survivor returns to help save nuclear plant". Note that once again, the good articles are coming from outside the United States. This one is in the West Australian.

These heroic workers are willingly taking on a suicide mission to help save their country. I call that newsworthy. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Three weeks after watching a massive wave smash into the Fukushima nuclear plant, Hiroyuki Kohno is heading back to the disaster zone to join crews struggling to avert a meltdown.

The 44-year-old radiation controller, who has worked in the nuclear industry since his late teens, has taken on a job many others have declined, with a clear understanding that the mission will likely be the last of his career.

Why don't we see articles like this in US newspapers? I don't understand this lapse. It's such a compelling story yet we only find comprehensive coverage of the nuclear crisis in foreign newspapers. American "news" is officially a joke now. We can't do anything right.

Good article on Japan

Dahr Jamail has written a great article on the situation in Japan. It's over at Al Jazeera English and it's called "'No safe levels' of radiation in Japan". It's a comprehensive article -- the kind we should be seeing everywhere but aren't. American media is dead in the head about this. Stop with the war porn -- tell us what's going on in Japan!

Anyway, great piece. Read it if you've got the time.

Japan today

Saw this in the news today:

Japan has also ordered two giant pumps, typically used for spraying concrete, from the U.S. They are being retrofitted to spray water first, according to Kelly Blickle, a spokeswoman at Putzmeister America Inc. in Wisconsin. At least one similar pump is already in operation at the plant.

They should consider putting flyash into the mix somehow -- perhaps by spraying the entire thing with flyash after the concrete is laid down. But do they know this? It's breaking news in science, which means they may not have heard of flyash's usefulness in maintaining concrete structures.

So much information flies across the internet every second, but getting that information to the right people at the right time is another matter entirely. I hope they at least consider how flyash might assist their efforts to cover the reactors in long-lasting concrete.