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Japan Nuclear Disaster Caps Decades of Faked Reports, Accidents
The unfolding disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant follows decades of falsified safety reports, fatal accidents and underestimated earthquake risk in Japan’s atomic power industry. The destruction caused by last week’s 9.0 earthquake and tsunami comes less than four years after a 6.8 quake shut the world’s biggest atomic plant, also run by Tokyo Electric…
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18 March, 1600hrs, British Embassy Briefing
On 18 March at 1600hrs, the British Ambassador to Tokyo, David Warren, and the UK’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir John Beddington, held a telephone briefing regarding the situation at Fukushima. Over the past few days, there has been continuing concern about the situation at Fukushima, particularly in light of yesterday’s amendment to British travel advice…
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Foreigners again flood immigration
Foreign residents flooded the Tokyo Immigration Bureau early Thursday seeking re-entry permits as fears of a nuclear crisis prompted them to make plans to leave temporarily if needed. More than 2,500 foreign residents had formed a long line stretching outside the immigration office as of noon, apparently due to fears of the unfolding crisis at…
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Embassies launch emergency measures
Embassies in Tokyo have started emergency steps such as moving their functions to the Kansai region or flying diplomats’ families out of Japan amid concern over radiation from the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear plant. While the government expressed understanding over their decisions, officials urged the embassies and foreigners living in Japan to stay calm.
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Capital has no iodine prep plans
Other than monitoring radiation levels in the capital amid the failures at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Wednesday it had no plans to prepare any radiological countermeasures, such as reserving iodine pills to deal with internal exposure to radioactive substances. The government instead called for residents to go about…
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U.S., U.K. advise citizens in quake vicinity to evacuate
The U.S. Embassy in Japan has asked American citizens living within an 80-kilometer radius of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in Japan to evacuate as a precautionary measure. “We are recommending, as a precaution, that American citizens who live within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant evacuate the area…
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Embassies list 400 foreigners as missing
About 400 foreigners remained unaccounted for as of noon Wednesday, several dozen embassies told the Foreign Ministry in the wake of Friday’s historic earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region. A ministry official said the missing may not all be caught up in the disaster area and not all embassies have provided information, thus the…
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Thousands swamp immigration
Spooked by the radiation leak at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, thousands of people this week have been applying for re-entry permits in preparation for evacuation from Japan. On Wednesday, the number of applicants at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau appeared to surpass the nearly 5,000 who lined up Tuesday, according to a…
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Kicking up a stink over ink in Kobe
You might want to avoid Suma Beach this summer if you are inked or have even a temporary sticker tattoo. The powers that be in Kobe City are considering ways to ban the display of tattoos on the beach. It’s not easy to have a tattoo in Japan, and things have been getting even more…
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Radiation levels shoot up in Tokyo, vicinity
Radiation levels shot up in Tokyo and its vicinity Tuesday following the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan that was triggered by last week’s massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, local governments said. But those levels did not pose immediate danger to human health, the Ministry of Education, Culture,…