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Rice From Fukushima Was Served To Japanese Government Officials, And Then Something Odd Happened
Two days ago, supposedly in an attempt to demonstrate how "contained" the radiation fallout from Fukushima was, an event was held in Tokyo to demonstrate the safety of the rice grown in the vicinity of the evacuated area around the exploded nuclear power plant according to the source, NHK. And since officials from Fukushima Prefecture said "no radioactive materials were detected in any of the harvested rice" a whopping 540 kilograms of the non-radioactive rice would be served in a government office complex in Tokyo for 9 days from Monday. We further learned that Senior Vice Environment Minister Shinji Inoue and Parliamentary Vice Environment Minister Tomoko Ukishima tasted rice balls made of the crop on the first day. Inoue said the rice tasted good especially when he thought about the great effort that went into cultivating the crop. A farmer from Kawamata Town said he will continue to cultivate rice now that he knows that it's possible to grow a tasty product if the paddy fields are properly decontaminated. He said he travelled from his temporary home to the paddy to tend the rice as it grew.
While we will avoid commenting on the "intelligence" behind this action, designed to demonstrate just how under control the Fukushima situation is (when even Tepco admitted it no longer is), especially since it takes years if not decades for radiation-induced illnesses to appear (although we do remind readers that the leader of the Fukushima explosion response team did die from Cancer in July, or just over two years after the disaster), we will note something curious.
A quick search for the original article on NHK, which we read when it came out, reveals a surprising finding: a 404 error.
This is ironic because a cached version of the same URL still exists, all the more so since the original story was picked up and syndicated by others include RT and Voice of Russia.
Which makes one wonder: is this the first instance of the government's brand new "secrecy" bill being implemented, and if so, why, of all places, in a story which is nothing but propaganda to telegraph that all is well in Fukushima and whose downside is at most the well-being (and life) of two lowly government apparatchiks.
In the meantime, if the US is importing any rice from Japan, it may want to give it the good old Geiger Counter test or two.
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The purpose of this article was, what?
Non radioactive rice, even grown near Fukushima nuclear facility, is a non story.
Only Cesium is a radioactive hazard near the nuclear facility. The radioactive Xenon and Iodine have, already, decayed into nonexistence. Tritium is only a problem at the facility itself. The amounts of Strontium 90 are tiny and confined, because, if it escapes, it soon becomes insoluble.
Not all organisms will take up a radioactive isotope. The Fukushima prefecture should specialize in crops which do not. Rice seems to be one. Why should this justify a story?
Purpose of story: Work up the anti-nuclear crowd. Never mind that almost everyone in the world has gotten more radiation from the last banana they ate than from Fukushima.
I would love to get some of this rice so I can mix it with my American grown USDA irradiated beef and make porcupine meatballs!
The way I understand it is the farmer could not stay in the field for more than 20 minutes at a time so he only harvested the one bowl.
You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain
Too much love drives a man insane
You broke my will, oh what a thrill
Goodness gracious great balls of rice
I learned to love all that Tepco money
You came along and you moved me honey
Reactor's offline, cooking fine
Goodness gracious great balls of rice
You kissed me Fuku, foo.....it feels good
Hold me Fuku, learn to let me love you like a lover should
Your fine, so kind
I'm a nervous world that your mine mine mine mine-ine
I lost my nails and I quiver my thumb
I'm really nervous but it sure is fun
Come on Fuku, you drive me crazy
Goodness gracious great balls of rice
I bet the Fukashema fishermen and farmers do not feed their own produce to their own kids.
I lived there long enough to think that the rice was swapped out before any government leeches put it into their riceholes.
This rice is perfectly fine; pay no attention to the fact that it has a shelf-life of 15 billion years....
Excellent - so it will coincide with the taper.
Just spray it with Windex and rinse it in some Brando and it will be okay.
Warning: the issues seemed to
flow together (I guess I'm
capable of getting a little
winded on occassion.)
When the samurai readily presented
the structure for MITI, and thus
a plutocratic class, it was made
to order for our own plutocrats.
I don't think the average Japanese
citizen had a clue as to what was
happening, assuming my view's
close to what happened.
The VietCong had some clue but
got it wrong anyway. (The Thai's aren't
repeating that mistake.)
They confused free enterprise with
privatization.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/10/us-usa-vietnam-nuclear-idUSBRE...
the next Fukushima?
After this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS6wdSe1ops
Looking at Fukushima, I'd say it could
only have helped if the women gained
equality more fully earlier.
Looking at it again, I'd say they still
lack it. And it contributed to the
occurrence of Fukushima.
http://p2.img.cctvpic.com/program/newsupdate/20110520/images/13058909480...
Though it hasn't been since the early 50's since
women had to walk behind men, personal investment
in processes appealing to weakened principles
still seem to be in play.
Because of their dearth of domestic fossil fuels,
Japan actually conceivably gains some kind
of pass in terms of a special needs basis
for plutocracy. I still don't think I
personally could sign on to that in terms
of fairness OR effectiveness/efficiency.
One could never fully know whether Japanese
policy setters, for instance, were simply
selling out to just the latest batch of
energy privatizers.
When democratic peoples don't feel divided,
but do feel more cooperative, they have a
greater opportunity to watch out for each
other to everyone's advantage.
So if one American retailer, to the tune
of almost $1/2 Trillion annual sales,
famously imports from China but pays
its workers (widely thought) poorly,
it's up to the people hosting the
importer to insist on policy that
lifts a people's worth followed by
economics that reflect it.
Educate well publicly, and have a strong
currency and strong wages reflecting that
worth. Ideally return the showing of
community benefit requirement to corporate
charters. At least do it in health care
(along with repealing immunity from anti-trust.)
China, it happens, HAS been raising its
minimum wage methodically. And the yuan
is vying for status closer to reserve
status. They'll welcome the shafting of
Americans and the blame game arriving at
their doorstep so long as it arrives
in such fashion that they're staring a
gift horse in the mouth.
Certainly fighting wars over oil resources
and basing currencies' values in terms
of their issuers' abilities to produce
and/or deliver oil or coal is incompatible
with survival of a human-hospitable
habitat.
Mediating the issues and ultimately
one people saying look our leaders
haven't invested in our broad population
democratically and we simply need certain
concessions temporarily is preferable to
mass homicide.
But getting to 100% renewables, and with
electric cars feeding off energy piped
from power plants burning coal much the
time still (with the majority of that
power lost in transmission,) won't be
overnight. So the Mom and Pop with
resources discovered on their property
does NOT have the same economic position
as the sector actor risking something like
the life sustaining power of the Gulf
of Mexico or the destabilizer of the Arctic.
(Of course, someone still has to send
that message to Moscow and Ottawa too.)
Democratic process and prioritizing
economic efficiency and effectiveness
on the basis of the full community living
long and prospering, should be the simple
goals.
When the full public trusts it's for
them they're likelier to be willing
to compromise and sacrifice where ]
needed.
We only wish we knew what we could
do to help, people of Fukushima and
Japan.
Much love,
From San Diego, CA
http://www.messagesforjapan.com/
Radiation vs Arsenic??? What to do... what to do.
American rice has arsenic and Japanese rice has radiation. I'll have me some of that spanish rice. =)
William Banzai we need you.