| "Black Dust" in Soma City Is Also Highly #Radioactive, at 56.3 Microsievert/Hr Posted: 31 May 2012 11:59 PM PDT There's a newspaper published by a citizen group in Soma City, Fukushima, urging the former residents, particularly mothers with children, to return to the city. Soma City is located just north of Minami Soma City where the "black dust" was first reported by Assemblyman Ooyama. It turns out (no real surprise, but...) that Soma City also has "black dust" with very high radiation. The newspaper that urges mothers to come back has this article in its May 2012 issue: It says: Please be careful!
On the roads and near the side drains by the side walks in Minami Soma City and Soma City, we've started to see the black substance that looks like dirt. There has been some media report on this substance, and it is said to be a certain kind of bacteria that has dried out. It has been known to have very high radiation levels, and there is a possibility that it affects human bodies. Please do not go near it. We placed the survey meter on the substance in the photo. The survey meter shows 56.3 microsieverts/hour. Young children in particular should pay attention.
Again, the group wants mothers with children who evacuated from the city to come back. The reason why the group is publishing the newspaper is, according to the website:
子どもたちを守りたい。
未来に希望を残したい。
そのためにわたしたちは生き方を「変える」。
まちをゲンキに「変える」。
We want to protect our children.
We want to keep hope for the future.
TO do that, we will "change" our way of life.
We will "change" the city into a healthy city.
How are they going to achieve that? By measuring radiation, as far as I could tell from their newspaper.
Sorry to say it but the "bamboo spear" spirit seems to be alive and well in Japan, even after 67 years. 
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| #Radiation Exposure of Children to Be Measured in Miyagi to See if Decontamination Work Is Effective Posted: 31 May 2012 10:31 PM PDT Researchers from Tohoku University are going to monitor the radiation exposure of children in a town in southern Miyagi Prefecture bordering Fukushima Prefecture. It's not that they are particularly worried about the potential negative effect on radiation on the children's health. They want to evaluate how effective the decontamination will be, and they want to use children as indicators (if I may be so cynical). From NHK News (6/1/2012): 放射性物質の除染が行われる宮城県丸森町で、東北大学大学院の研究グループが、除染が確実に効果を上げているか確かめるため、４年間かけて子どもの被ばく線量を測定することになりました。
A group of researchers in the graduate school of Tohoku University will measure the levels of radiation exposure of children for four years to see if the decontamination work is effective in Marumori-cho in Miyagi Prefecture where the decontamination work is set to start.
福島県との県境にある宮城県丸森町は宮城県内でも比較的放射線量が高く、国が費用を負担して土壌の放射性物質を取り除く除染を行う地域に指定されています。
Marumori-cho in Miyagi Prefecture is situated near the border to Fukushima Prefecture, and has relatively high levels of radiation. It is designated as the area where the national government will pay for the decontamination of soil.
除染の作業はこの夏から３年半かけて行われる予定ですが、丸森町で被ばくの調査を行っている東北大学大学院の吉田浩子講師の研究グループは、除染が確実に効果を上げているか確かめるため、４年間かけて子どもの被ばく線量を測定することになりました。
The decontamination will start this summer and take about 3 and a half years. A research group led by Hiroko Yoshida, lecturer at the Graduate School of Tohoku University, has been conducting the survey of radiation exposure in Marumori-cho. Her group is going to measure the radiation exposure of children for the next 4 years to see if the decontamination work is effective.
対象になるのは、丸森町に住む中学生以下の子どもおよそ１３００人とその保護者で、研究グループは、近く地元向けの説明会を開いて希望者を募ることにしています。
そのうえで、子どもに線量計を渡し、今月下旬から４年間にわたって測定を行いたいとしています。
The subjects will be about 1,300 children up to junior high school ages and their parents who live in Marumori-cho. The group will soon have the meeting for the local residents and ask for volunteers.
吉田講師は「除染は学校など公共の施設を優先して進められるが、子どもは自宅にいる時間が長い。除染によって子どもへの影響をどれだけ抑えられるのかを検証していきたい」と話しています。
Lecturer Yoshida says, "The decontamination work will start with the public buildings like schools, but children tend to be at their homes longer. We would like to study how the decontamination can reduce the effect of radiation on children."
On a separate news, Koriyama City will start lending out personal survey meters to pregnant women so that they can see their cumulative radiation exposure during their pregnancies.
But as the Rinzai monk/author in Miharu-machi in Fukushima says, children are stronger in resisting radiation. Then the unborn children inside the mothers' wombs must be even stronger (if I may be more cynical). 
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| US 10 Year Treasury Yield Hit All-Time Low at 1.5340% Posted: 31 May 2012 11:47 AM PDT It has risen a bit, at 1.5810. Flight to liquidity, for sure. Not sure about "safety" but it's all relative. 
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| Group of Students from Middle Tennessee State University to Go to #Fukushima as Disaster Recovery Cleanup Volunteers Posted: 31 May 2012 11:03 AM PDT From dnj.com (5/31/2012; emphasis is mine): MURFREESBORO — A contingent of 10 students and two professors from Middle Tennessee State University will leave Nashville early Monday, June 4, to participate in the cleanup and rebuilding mission in Fukushima, Japan.
Three of the students are from Rutherford County: Bridgette Gleaves of Smyrna and Mark Wester and Justin Bingham, both of Murfreesboro.
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake registering 9.0 on the Richter scale created a tsunami that killed nearly 16,000 people and left more than 3,000 missing on the main island of Honshu. In addition, ocean waves engulfed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, sending three reactors into meltdown.
"MTSU has assessed the current situation and consulted with Fukushima University," said David Schmidt, vice provost for international affairs. "At no time while engaged in program-related activities will students be in areas where the U.S. government recommends its citizens avoid travel."
The triple catastrophe left behind an estimated 23 million tons of debris in the hardest-hit coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures alone. The Japanese government announced Feb. 21 that the country has cleaned up only five percent of the rubble more than a year later.
The MTSU students will hear presentations from Fukushima University students, work with other volunteers to clear debris and prepare meals in the Soma district. At the program's conclusion, they will exchange observations with the Fukushima students.
Not only are the MTSU students intrigued by the opportunity to witness a national disaster firsthand, but they are compelled to help by persistent images of the damaged lives left behind.
"I remember a Japanese woman crying over her lost family member at a function I went to in Nashville," says Preston Nalls, a mass-communication major from Franklin. "All I could do was just watch … as other Japanese comforted her. I didn't know her, so although I felt compelled to say something, I just clenched my fist and grieved for her from afar," he said in a press release.
"Sure, we are only going to Fukushima, but that will resonate all over Japan," adds Justin Bingham, a liberal-studies major from Murfreesboro. "So, in a way, we 10 students are going to help an entire nation. That's something worth smiling about," he said in a press release.
Each student will pay a fee of $1,000 to cover all instruction fees, lodging and international airfare from Nashville to Japan. The group is slated to return June 15.
This education-abroad program is a joint effort of MTSU International Affairs and Fukushima University with support from the Japanese Ministry of Education. For more information, contact the MTSU Office of International Affairs at 615-904-8190 or Schmidt at david.schmidt@mtsu.edu.
"Sure, we are only going to Fukushima, but that will resonate all over Japan"... It may, but it may not be in the way he thinks.
(H/T Enformable)
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