Fukushima Voice version 2e

On July 22, 2014, Tokyo Shimbun published an article titled, "Running Backwards on Health Support After the Nuclear Accident: Ministry of Environment Expert Meeting." The entire article is only available in the paper edition as in the image below, but it has been written out in this blog post.


Below is the complete English translation of this article.

Running Backwards on Health Support After the Nuclear Accident: Ministry of Environment Expert Meeting
The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) Expert Meeting Discussing Health Support After the Fukushima Nuclear Accident is taking an unthinkable twist. At the July 16th meeting, an outside researcher asked for the expansion of health checkups, but the committee chair looked the other way, stating “I don’t want to discuss the issue.” The expansion of health checkup is part of the Act Concerning Support for Children and Disaster Victims, but the committee chair himself voiced an opinion, “We now have different circumstances from when t…

On March 8th, 2014, comedienne/journalist Mako Oshidori gave a lecture, "The Hidden Truth About Fukushima" in Düsseldorf, Germany, organized by a citizen's group, SAYONARA Genpatsu Düsseldorf. Translation of Mako Oshidori's March 6th, 2014 press conference at the German IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) Symposium in Frankfurt can be found here.
The lecture, given in Japanese with German interpretation, was transcribed and translated into English.




Moderator: Good evening everyone. My name is Mariko. Welcome to a lecture by Mako Oshidori. As we all know, the Japanese people experienced the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. A huge earthquake, followed by tsunami and the nuclear accident, has become an unprecedented disaster for the Japanese as well as the rest of the world. Moreover, this accident is not only out of control but continues to be in critical state.
As you may be aware, the issue of anti-nuclear power p…

Fifteenth Prefectural Oversight Committee for Fukushima Health Survey convened on May 19, 2014, releasing the results of the latest thyroid examination. ("Fukushima Health Survey" was formerly called "Fukushima Health Management Survey").

Official English translation of the results is available here.

The initial round of thyroid examination finished as of March 31, 2014, although not all the secondary examinations have been completed. The second round of thyroid examination, testing everyone again beginning with areas exposed to higher radiation doses, has already begun, but its results are not available yet.

A summary of the results is provided below:

Total number of children examined as of March 31, 2014: 295,511
Total number of children whose initial examination results are confirmed: 287,056
(Up to the February 21, 2014 examination)

     Assessment A1  148,182 (51.6%) (no nodules or cysts found)
     Assessment A2  136,804 (47.7%) (nodules 5.0 mm or smaller or …

On May 1, 2014, an article, translated into English below, appeared on a Japanese Internet news site. Shunichi Yamashita, one of the three Fukushima Prefecture Radiation Health Risk Management Advisors and a former vice president of Fukushima Medical University, will be heading a new Nagasaki University center in Fukushima Prefecture. 
Only a year ago, Yamashita left Fukushima Prefecture, where he was a chairman of the Prefectural Resident Health Management Survey Oversight Committee, and returned to Nagasaki Prefecture. Yamashita is infamous for his "safe up to 100 mSv" statement, encouraging residents to let children play outside freely, discounting the need for protective use of face masks, and irresponsibly telling the residents to follow the annual exposure limit of 20 mSv set forth by the government.
It seems that Yamashita is officially "back in business." 


(translation below)
Nagasaki University establishes a new support organization in Fukushima, geared toward…