WIT Life #171: Radiation fallout (both literal and emotional)
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
As more information comes out regarding the lack of disclosure as well as intentional cover-up that took place regarding Japan’s nuclear crisis, people are becoming more and more empowered. This article from Sunday’s New York Times details how citizens have begun protesting, a relatively rare action in Japan. This longer article from this morning’s NYT discusses how little PM Kan knew about what was actually happening.
Media reporting on this issue tends to be either sensational or opaque, so I really value the “on the ground” reports I periodically receive from friends in Tokyo. Here’s an excerpt from a recent mail (long but worth reading) from a close friend describing the continually changing information being provided to them, as well as her thoughts regarding the situation going forward. It provides a backdrop that illuminates why the normally docile Japanese have been taking to the streets:
“Here life is slowly returning to “normal,” but still lots of worries about the radiation affecting Tokyo and outlying areas. There are new setbacks to the nuclear plant situation each day and we wonder when things will be under control. The weather experts are telling us not to get wet! Dog trainers are advising buying raincoats for pets and exercising them indoors on rainy days to avoid the radioactive rain.
We all attended a nuclear plant update seminar at work yesterday. The latest news on the nuclear plants is that most of the data the government and Tepco had been telling the public had been watered down, which means they were lying this whole time (which we had suspected from the start). They knew about the meltdowns on the day of the quake, but didn’t want the public to panic so they didn’t mention it until now. There have been reports of nursing mothers in this area with high levels of radiation in their breast milk! Plus new reports that the tea leaves in Shizuoka & Kanagawa have higher-than-normal radiation levels. Radiation is still being dispersed into the air and ocean, and the typhoons are going to stir up the radiation in the ocean and contaminate the fish even more.
So…here we thought the worst was over, but it seems that the truth is just now coming out. We still have offers from friends in the States who tell us to stay at their homes for a while which sounds like the perfect solution, but it’s just unrealistic. What would we do about our jobs? Parents? How long would we need to be away from Japan? Months? Years? Forever? It’s almost too overwhelming to think about. If it really was that dangerous to live here, why is everyone staying? Does it mean we’re worrying needlessly? So many thoughts like this every day, without any
answers–not that I expect a magical answer. I think this whole situation makes us think about our lives and how best to live them.”
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