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CREATED:20191007T154400Z
DESCRIPTION:10/11/19   SF Speak Out At Japan Consulate:  Stop Olympics in Fukshima & 
 Japan-  Defend  Fukushima  Families &  Children\nStop PM Abe’s  Big LIE 
 and Fraud On The People Of The World That Fukushima is SAFE!\n\nFriday 
 October  11, 2019   3:00 PM \nSan Francisco Japanese Consulate \n275 
 Battery St near California St. \nSan Francisco \n\nJoin No Nukes Action NNA 
  on its 85th action at the San Francisco Japanese Consulate to stop the  
 Abe Japanese government's restart of Japan’s nuclear plants. \nThe Abe 
 government is telling the people of Japan and the people of the world that 
 Fukushima has been decontaminated and is safe. The New York Times and other 
 corporate media are telling people in the US that Fukushima is safe to go 
 ignoring the continuing 
 dangers.\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/travel/the-tokyo-2020-olympics-what-you-need-to-know.html\n 
 Their lies must be answered. Abe also lied to the Olympic committee saying 
 that Japan  should get the Olympics since the Fukushima meltdowns had been 
 resolved but the three reactors still have melted nuclear rods that they 
 have not been able to remove. In addition, there are over 1 million tons of 
 contaminated radioactive tritium water in thousands of tanks surrounding 
 the broken nuclear plants in Fukushima. The government is pushing to 
 release the water in the Pacific Ocean despite the opposition of fisherman 
 associations and now the Korean government. The IOC which runs the Olympics 
 is in on. the cover-up of the dangers and remains silent.\nThey know that 
 there are still also thousands of bags in Fukushima filled with radioactive 
 waste with no place to go and these bags are spread throughout the region 
 making it a major health danger. The Abe government is also pushing the 
 sale of food next to contaminated sites and telling the public it is 
 safe.\n\nThis is a continual threat to the people of Japan and the world. 
 \nThe Abe government is also pushing for militarization and removal of 
 Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution that prevents military interventions 
 outside Japan. They are also pushing for a new US military base in Okinawa 
 despite the opposition of the mass of Okinawan people and the governor. 
 This base would also have US nuclear ships and weapons which is presently 
 against the US-Japan Security Agreement. The US has already violated this 
 agreement many times and used Okinawa as a base for illegal wars around the 
 world.\nThe majority of Japanese people are opposed to restarting Japan’s 
 nuclear plants including the previous 3 prime ministers who are worried 
 that Japan would be destroyed with another disaster like Fukushima.  Again 
 this shows that the Abe government has contempt for the people it 
 supposedly represents. Join the rally and speak out. \n\nDefend the people 
 of Fukushima, Japan, and the world. \nStop The Restart of ALL Japan NUKE 
 Plants\nDefend the Children and People of Fukushima\nNo Olympic Baseball 
 Games at Fukushima and Olympics in Japan\nNo Militarization and War In 
 Asia\n\nFor more event information: \nhttp://nonukesaction.wordpress.com 
 \n\nThe ostriches of Fukushima and what they told us about 
 radiation\nhttp://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201909300003.html\nBy 
 HIROSHI ISHIZUKA/ Staff Writer\nSeptember 30, 2019 at 07:30 JST\n\n\nAn 
 ostrich runs by a bicycle with rusted chain in November 2011 in Tomioka, 
 Fukushima Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)\n\n\nOf all the 
 astonishing sights that unfolded in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear 
 crisis, the one that took the biscuit was ostriches roaming in one of the 
 towns hosting the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.\n\nFarmers in the 
 area were forced to abandon their livestock due to mass evacuations ordered 
 after the triple meltdown at the plant, and many departing residents also 
 left their pet dogs and cats to fend for themselves as evacuation shelters 
 would not accept animals.\n\nAn area of 20 kilometers radius of the plant 
 was declared off-limits immediately after the accident, and the creatures 
 left behind became feral.\n\nIt was not uncommon for later visitors, 
 wearing protective gear because of high radiation levels, to see cattle and 
 pigs wandering through the streets of Futaba and Okuma, the now-empty towns 
 that co-hosted the nuclear power plant.\n\nMasato Kino, now 50 and an 
 economy ministry official in charge of decommissioning and radioactive 
 water issues, returned to the area on Sept. 23, 2011, six months after the 
 magnitude-9.0 earthquake that hit the northeastern Tohoku region, triggered 
 devastating tsunami which in turn knocked out cooling systems at the plant 
 and caused the nuclear crisis.\n\nHe was flabbergasted to come across an 
 ostrich peeping into a private home from its yard in Okuma, Fukushima 
 Prefecture.\n\nThat day, Kino, who at the time also served as an official 
 of the government’s local nuclear accident control headquarters, was 
 accompanying returning evacuees on their visits to tend to family 
 graves.\n\nThe ostrich was observed as Kino and three colleagues were 
 driving back.\n\nAlthough he wondered what the ostrich was doing there, he 
 had the wherewithal to scatter dog food out of the car window for the big 
 bird to tuck into.\n\nEach time Kino came across dogs and cats in the 
 restricted area, he would scatter dog food he had prepared in his car. He 
 saw himself as a “lonely volunteer.”\n\nIt later emerged that the bird 
 had escaped from an ostrich park in Okuma, situated 7 km from the Fukushima 
 No. 1 plant. The facility was opened in 2001 by Toshiaki Tomizawa, now 81, 
 a former assemblyman of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, to draw tourists to 
 the region.\n\n\nKEEPING OSTRICHES ALIVE\n\n\nThe ostrich park had nine 
 birds when it opened. But the figure quickly rose to 30 and a restaurant 
 was set up on the premises to serve ostrich meat. Soon after that, the 
 nuclear crisis struck.\n\nFollowing the disaster, Tomizawa moved to Saitama 
 Prefecture to live with his daughter.\n\nWhen he returned to the park three 
 months later, more than half of the ostriches had died. The remaining 10 or 
 so became feral in the no-entry zone.\n\nMany sightings of the species were 
 reported, drawing complaints from people, who on temporary return visits, 
 were frightened to encounter ostriches near their homes.\n\nTomizawa 
 trapped six ostriches in late 2011 with help from the farm ministry and 
 other parties.\n\nFarm ministry officials told him to kill them, so 
 Tomizawa contacted ornithologists and other experts to find ways to “make 
 full use of them.”\n\nOne of them, Yoshihiro Hayashi, director-general of 
 the National Museum of Nature and Science, who was involved in research on 
 animals affected by the disaster, asked ornithologist Hiroshi Ogawa, an 
 animal husbandry professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, for 
 advice.\n\nIn response to the offer, Ogawa began examining how the six 
 ostriches trapped in January and May 2012 had absorbed radioactive 
 substances.\n\nIt was assumed the feral birds feasted on contaminated 
 plants, bugs and rainwater, so Ogawa tried to see if there was a way of 
 reducing radioactive substances in their bodies by feeding them 
 radiation-free dog food and well water.\n\nAlthough the ostriches should 
 have been kept in an area where radiation levels were significantly lower, 
 transferring animals from the no-entry zone was prohibited. As a result, 
 they were cared for at Tomizawa’s stable in the restricted area.\n\nThe 
 birds displayed a radiation reading of 4.6 microsieverts per hour when the 
 research started in March 2012. To lower the figure, Tomizawa frequented 
 the stable from Saitama Prefecture once every one or two weeks to give them 
 clean food and water.\n\nThe six ostriches were finally euthanized and 
 dissected one month, two and a half months, nine and a half months and 14 
 months after they were caught, respectively, so that changes in radiation 
 levels in their bodies could be analyzed.\n\n\nSIGNIFICANT 
 FINDINGS\n\n\nThe results showed that almost no radioactive substances 
 other than radioactive cesium derived from the Fukushima crisis remained in 
 their bodies, meaning that they were free from strontium and other more 
 dangerous materials.\n\nAccording to the findings, cesium is more easily 
 absorbed through skeletal muscles than organs. It turned out to be 
 difficult to rid muscle tissue of the substance.\n\nThe cesium reading 
 began dropping nine and a half months after the birds were captured, which 
 suggests the radiation level will drop if the animals are kept under 
 low-radiation conditions.\n\n“The research provided insights into 
 internal radiation exposure and drops in the radiation level of wild 
 animals,” Ogawa said.\n\nTomizawa, who still lives in Saitama Prefecture, 
 described his ostrich park as having “reported successive losses and 
 posing many problems.”\n\nBut Tomizawa also has good memories of that 
 time. Because the overseas media gave the escaped ostriches more extensive 
 coverage than in Japan, Tomizawa was treated like a TV celebrity when he 
 visited Indonesia, Australia and elsewhere after the disaster.\n\n“I met 
 many people thanks to the ostriches,” Tomizawa said. “I feel things 
 worked out right in the end.”\n\n\nOSTRICHES AT NUCLEAR 
 PLANT\n\n\nTomizawa decided to open the ostrich park in 2001, two years 
 after Tokto Electric Power Co. began keeping four ostriches at its 
 Fukushima No. 1 plant.\n\nThe reasoning behind TEPCO's bizarre move was 
 that the high productivity rate of the bird species resembled that of 
 reactors.\n\nAn ostrich reaches adulthood within two years on a meager diet 
 of wheat and corn, yet grows to 2 meters tall and weighs more than 100 
 kilograms. A female ostrich lays eggs for 40 years, starting from the age 
 of 2.\n\n“This feature is similar to the characteristic of nuclear power 
 plants that can generate a lot of electricity from a small volume of 
 uranium fuel,” reads a promotional pamphlet issued by plant operator 
 TEPCO around that time.\n\nAs ostriches are called Strauss in German, TEPCO 
 said it wanted the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to be nicknamed 
 “Strauss power plant” in the document.\n\nHowever, those efforts appear 
 to have fallen flat as few TEPCO officials were aware of the 
 nickname.\n\nTEPCO hired a veterinarian to look after the ostriches, but as 
 the species is ill-tempered it was decided that the three ostriches still 
 alive should be sent to Tomizawa to look after.\n\nWhile a TEPCO public 
 relations official said the utility could not offer a detailed explanation 
 as to when and why the utility stopped keeping the birds “due to an 
 absence of relevant documents,” at least one thing can be said about the 
 project: what it touted as “highly productive” turned out--just like 
 the nuclear power plant--to be difficult to deal with.\n\nTepco trio face 
 Tokyo court ruling in only criminal case stemming from Fukushima nuclear 
 disaster\nhttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/…/tepco-trio-face-tokyo-cour…/…\nA 
 staff member of Tokyo Electric Power Company measures radiation levels 
 around the storage tanks of radiation-contaminated water at the 
 tsunami-crippled Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) Fukushima No. 1 
 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, last year. | KIMIMASA 
 MAYAMA / POOL / AFP) / XGTY / VIA AFP-JIJI\nNATIONAL / CRIME & LEGAL\nBY 
 KYOKO HASEGAWA\nAFP-JIJI\nSEP 19, 2019\nMore than eight years after the 
 Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Japanese court will rule Thursday on the only 
 criminal prosecution stemming from the worst nuclear crisis in 
 decades.\nThree former executives from Tokyo Electric Power Company 
 (Tepco), the firm that operated the Fukushima No. 1 plant, face up to five 
 years in prison if convicted of professional negligence resulting in death 
 and injury.\nThey are the only people to face criminal prosecution in the 
 wake of the disaster, triggered when massive tsunami caused by an 
 earthquake overwhelmed the reactors at the plant in March 2011.\nThe three 
 executives are accused of failing to act on information that showed the 
 risks from a major tsunami, but they argue the data available to them 
 beforehand were unreliable.\nThe path to their trial has been complicated 
 — prosecutors twice declined to proceed with the case, citing 
 insufficient evidence and slim chance of conviction.\nBut in 2015, a 
 judicial review panel composed of ordinary citizens ruled that the trio 
 should face trial, compelling prosecutors to proceed.\nThe defendants are 
 former Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 79, and former Vice Presidents 
 Sakae Muto, 69, and Ichiro Takekuro, 73.\nAll three have pleaded not 
 guilty.\nNo one is officially recorded as having been killed by the 
 Fukushima meltdowns, though the tsunami that triggered them left nearly 
 18,500 people dead or missing.\nThe charges against the men are tied to the 
 case of more than 40 hospitalized patients who died after having to be 
 evacuated following the nuclear disaster.\nThe prosecutors argue that the 
 defendants should have understood the risk of huge tsunami and failed to 
 take necessary safety steps.\nThe trio were present at meetings where 
 experts warned of the anticipated height of tsunami off the Fukushima 
 coast, the prosecutors say.\nThe prosecutors also argue that the executives 
 had access to data and studies warning tsunami exceeding 10 metres (33 
 feet) in the area could trigger power loss and a major disaster at the 
 plant.\nAnd a Tepco internal study, based on a 2002 report by a respected 
 government panel, concluded that a wave of up to 15.7 meters (52 feet) 
 could hit after a magnitude 8.3 quake.\nIn the event, when the 9.0 
 magnitude quake hit offshore on March 11, 2011, waves as high as 14 meters 
 (46 feet) swamped the reactors’ cooling systems.\nThe resulting reactor 
 meltdowns forced massive evacuations and left parts of the surrounding area 
 uninhabitable — in some cases possibly forever.\nThe three defendants 
 have apologized to victims, but argue they could not have foreseen the 
 disaster despite the information at their disposal beforehand.\nKatsumata 
 has said his job as chairman did not entail day-to-day business operations 
 and that he believed Tepco officials in charge of nuclear safety were 
 taking appropriate measures.\nAll the defendants have said they were told 
 the internal report was not reliable, comments that have been contradicted 
 by testimony from some of their subordinates.\n“It is difficult to deal 
 with issues that are uncertain and obscure,” Takekuro said during the 
 trial.\nA 2015 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said a 
 misguided faith in the safety of atomic power was a key factor in the 
 accident, pointing to weaknesses in disaster preparedness and unclear 
 responsibilities among regulators.\nAnd a parliamentary report a year after 
 the disaster called Fukushima a man-made crisis caused by Japan’s culture 
 of “reflexive obedience.\nSeparately from the criminal case, dozens of 
 civil lawsuits have been filed against the government and Tepco.\nSome 
 district courts have granted damages to local residents, ordering Tepco and 
 the government to pay.\nTepco also faces massive clean-up costs at the 
 plant, where it is struggling with the question of how to dispose of more 
 than 1 million tons of contaminated water used to cool fuel from the 
 meltdowns.\n\n\nForever tied to nuclear disaster, Fukushima residents hope 
 for PR boost from 2020 Tokyo 
 Olympics\nhttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/09/27/national/forever-tied-nuclear-disaster-fukushima-residents-hope-pr-boost-2020-tokyo-olympics/#.XY6ZIy2ZPxU\nBY 
 JIM ALLEN\nKYODO\nSEP 27, 2019\nSUKAGAWA, FUKUSHIMA PREF. – \nTwo 
 softball games and one baseball game in Fukushima next summer may be little 
 more than an 2020 Olympic cameo, but local fans are thrilled to have them, 
 largely in the hopes they will give their prefecture a badly needed public 
 relations boost.\nFukushima was one of the three northeastern prefectures 
 that bore the brunt of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, along 
 with Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, and will be part of the focus next year 
 given that Tokyo Olympic organizers have dubbed the games “the 
 reconstruction Olympics.”\nIn addition to the games in Fukushima, Miyagi 
 Stadium will be one of the Olympic soccer venues, while all three 
 prefectures will be focal points of the Olympic torch relay, which 
 officially starts in Fukushima.\nThe 2011 disaster killed over 15,800 
 people and forced the evacuation of up to 470,000, while triggering a 
 triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Even eight 
 years later, Fukushima suffers from the suspicion that food from the 
 prefecture might be contaminated. And locals see the Olympics as an 
 opportunity to show off their region the way they see it.\nKoki Unuma, a 
 resident of Koriyama and a baseball fan who follows the local independent 
 minor league club, expressed hope that the Olympics will put Fukushima 
 Prefecture in a good light.\n“It’s a chance to show that Fukushima has 
 become vibrant again,” he said at a game in Sukagawa between the 
 Fukushima Red Hopes and the Tochigi Golden Braves. “I wonder how foreign 
 people will view us.\n“I want the place to be packed with foreign 
 visitors, so that people will see we are doing well, and that they tell 
 others. I’m excited to have the games here.”\nOne man, who declined to 
 give his name but said he had worked until recently not far from the 
 stricken nuclear plant, said Fukushima had largely recovered but felt the 
 symbolism of being included in the Olympics had value.\n“There is 
 basically one area that is not back (around the damaged plant), but by and 
 large Fukushima has recovered,” he said. “I think as a symbol the 
 Olympics are a good idea. What they mean by ‘the reconstruction 
 Olympics’ is a little vague to me. That area around Soma is hard hit, but 
 as a whole Fukushima Prefecture is doing very well.”\nThe plight of the 
 prefecture encouraged former major leaguer Akinori Iwamura to help start up 
 the Red Hopes, where he serves in a dual role as manager and team 
 president.\n“People living in Fukushima have suffered the most. It’s 
 almost as if they are being treated as wrongdoers. The rumors are 
 terrible,” he said in a recent interview. “Some evacuee children have 
 been bullied in the towns they’ve been relocated to. That is the most 
 intolerable.\n“The (evacuee) kids going back to visit Fukushima might 
 receive some kinds of gifts to take back with them, but some must feel 
 those things, candy and the like, are troublesome, because at rest areas 
 along the expressway people find uneaten candy from Fukushima thrown into 
 the garbage bins.\n“It makes you realize people don’t know how many of 
 the things they hear they can actually believe.”\nIwamura said that 
 consumers outside Fukushima have second thoughts about the safety of the 
 food from there and local farmers cannot get fair value for their products. 
 But he said the Olympics are a golden opportunity to change peoples’ 
 perceptions of Fukushima.\n“For us baseball people here, we want to make 
 the baseball and softball games held here a success,” Iwamura said. “If 
 we can be wildly enthusiastic about them and show that to the people coming 
 from abroad, then they will tell others that Fukushima is safe, that the 
 people here are living good lives.”\nNaomi Nukazawa and her daughter Aya 
 are fans of the Red Hopes and are keen to see the local Olympic 
 competition, but so far have been unable to secure tickets.\n“We’ll 
 apply again, but right now it is like the people here are getting left 
 out,” Nukazawa said.\n“I work at a hotel. This is a chance to get 
 different kinds of guests — I’m really excited about that. People will 
 visit Fukushima (for the Olympics), but once it’s over that will likely 
 be the end of it. Perhaps some people will be moved by their time here and 
 that will have a lasting impact in some ways.\n“Maybe other Japanese will 
 be influenced by foreigners’ positive responses to us and will remember 
 us, remember Iwate, remember Miyagi, remember our local specialties, 
 because it seems we’re forgotten now.”\nAnother Koriyama resident, Yuji 
 Amaha, echoed other locals’ complaints that people outside Fukushima 
 don’t realize that most of the region is safe from 
 radioactivity.\n“Having a big international tournament here in Fukushima 
 Prefecture is getting people excited,” he said, referring to Iwate 
 hosting games for the Rugby World Cup and Miyagi hosting Olympic soccer. 
 “In a sense, these things are connected to our recovery and are therefore 
 meaningful.\n“The people who live in Fukushima think it’s safe. I want 
 those people who … question how safe it is to come. I want people who 
 study the data to say it’s safe. Those who doubt the safety should come 
 and see for themselves.”\nIwamura expressed optimism for next year and 
 for the future.\n“Most prefectures will have no Olympic sports,” he 
 said. “That Fukushima is going to have baseball and softball is a thrill, 
 something to be really happy about. Twenty or 30 years down the road, 
 nobody will remember what it is like now.”\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/10/07/18827113.php
SUMMARY:SF Speak Out At Japan Consulate: Stop Olympics in Fukshima- Defend Fukushima Families
LOCATION:Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St.\nSan Francisco
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/10/07/18827113.php
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