NH: #499: Radioactive Olympics Torch Relay - Again! - thru Fukushima & Futaba - Beverly Findlay Kaneko

Libbe HaLevy

00:00:01

The radioactive Olympics are on again, according to Japan and the international Olympic committee and the torch run for these Olympics is again, planned as last year to spend the first three days with people running around Fukushima prefecture, including through hu Taba, the town where the triple meltdown still radioactive Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is located the Japanese government TEPCO and the IOC insists that everything is a okay, but then you read a statement from a former resident of Futaba, forced out of the town and her life by the nuclear disaster. And she says,

Beverly Finley Kaneko

00:00:43

Reconstruction is just a fantasy. The reconstruction being touted in conjunction with the Olympics, completely divergent from reality in an environment where contaminated water keeps flowing and contaminated debris keeps piling up. We shouldn’t be doing PR just for the Olympics. We aren’t recovered yet. It’s just making up something newsworthy out of nothing.

Libbe HaLevy

00:01:07

Well, when you hear from somebody whose life has been torn apart by the nuclear disaster, it starts to come clear that we’re all being gaslit by the veneer of normalcy, still being slapped on the ongoing Fukushima disaster, which is using the radio active Olympics to do so. And that means that not only residents, evacuees, Olympic torch, runners, tourists, and the media covering it, but the rest of us are all in that deadly seat that we all share

Announcer

00:01:43

Clear hot seat. What are those people thinking? Nuclear hot seat. What have those boys been breaking their hot seat? The Ms. Sinking our time to act is shrinking, but the visceral linking nuclear Hotsy, it’s the bomb.

Libbe HaLevy

00:02:14

Welcome to nuclear hot seat. The weekly international newsmagazine keeping you up to date on all things, nuclear from a different perspective. My name is Leebee Halevi. I’m the producer and host as well as a survivor of the nuclear accident at three mile island from just one mile away. So I know what can happen when those nuclear so-called experts get it wrong. This week, we revisit an on the ground report from Fukushima prefecture on the manipulations around the Olympic torch relay, which is planned to be identical to last year’s plans and rooted to go through the highly radioactive, still difficult to return zone. That’s an official label of Fukushima Daiichi, host town, Futaba nuclear, hot seats, voices from Japan producing partner, Beverly Finley Kaneko provides the details along with statements by former residents of Futaba translated from Japanese blog posts, exclusively for nuclear hot seat. We will also have nuclear news from around the world numnuts of the week for outstanding nuclear bone headedness, and more honest nuclear information that has been discussed in the us Capitol building since last Wednesday.

Libbe HaLevy

00:03:34

For good reason, all of this coming up in just a few moments today is Tuesday, January 12th, 2021. And here is this week’s nuclear news from a different perspective, starting off with an international notice for all of us to mark our calendars at the equivalent of 10:00 AM Eastern standard time on Wednesday, January 27. That’s when the bulletin of the atomic scientists will announce the 2021 time of the doomsday clock. The news conference will take place virtually via zoom and we’ll feature among others. Governor Jerry Brown, who is executive chair bulletin of the atomic scientists, as well as the former governor of the state of California, the governor of Hiroshima prefecture, CUDA Hiko you Xochi and many others. How close are we to the possibility of nuclear annihilation? You can check it out at the bulletin of the atomic scientists website, which is the bulletin.org. And we will have a link up on our website, nuclear hotseat.com under this episode, number 4 99 here in the U S the waste isolation pilot plant in New Mexico is moving forward with the use of a fan that could release radioactivity into the environment management.

Libbe HaLevy

00:04:58

There has announced that they intend to perform a hot test in coming weeks in order to test the fan, which could release radioactive contamination. It’s an exhaust fan that would be used to draw air from the underground to increase the availability of clean air for workers beneath the surface radiation that contaminated the underground was accidentally released in 2014, after a storage drum ruptured, leading to a three-year shutdown of whips primary operations, which is to store low-level and mid-level transuranic waste while whip officials report only quote unquote trace amounts of particles that could emit radiation would be released that ignores the fact that there is no safe level of radiation, and that does not differentiate between external contamination and internal. When you breathe it swallow it, or it gets inside a cut down Hancock nuclear waste program director for the Southwest research and information center, an Albuquerque based government watchdog group said he was concerned that there could be more radiation still in the underground and its ventilation system.

Libbe HaLevy

00:06:10

Then estimated he said, testing the fan could prove dangerous and exposing workers on the surface to radioactivity. And that readings from a four hour test would be inadequate to determine the amount of radiation released during years of the fans operation in California, unit two of the Diablo canyon nuclear power plant went offline for the third time in six months, and is not expected to be back in service before Memorial day. At the end of may, both of the plants to unplanned outages last year were due to a hydrogen leak from an electric component at Pacific gas and electric facility. The latest shutdown for unit two was caused by vibration issues and the main electric generator, as it is built on the coast of the rising Pacific ocean, a top multiple earthquake fault in the opinion of this program, they should shut it down now or just shoot it and put it out of its misery.

Libbe HaLevy

00:07:11

The Ohio Supreme court postpone the collection of $170 million in fees involving a house bill six, a $1 billion bailout of two nuclear facilities, which became law last year, and is the focus of federal bribery investigation under the legislation approved last year, every Ohio electricity customer must pay a monthly surcharge that amounts to about 85 cents for residents and $2,400 for large industrial plants. The charges will run through December 31st, 20, 27, 6 years worth of it. And what’s to happen to this money. It would eventually be dispersed to energy Harbor, which owns the Davis Bessey and Perry nuclear plants along lake Erie, final decision about this matter still pending. So here’s an interesting nuclear twist on the inauguration. As you know, from listening to this program, the president has the sole authority to conduct a nuclear strike and wherever he or she projecting into the future goes, they are accompanied by a military aide, carrying a briefcase called the president’s emergency satchel, more commonly known as the nuclear football.

Libbe HaLevy

00:08:27

The briefcase contains communications tools, codes, and options for nuclear war during presidential inaugurations nuclear command authority, and the nuclear football are transferred to the new president. But if Donald Trump says he will not participate in president elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, this could complicate the transfer. The Pentagon claims to have plans, but is not divulging what they are. You can learn more about the football by listening to nuclear hot seat. Number 4 85 from October 7th, 2020 and interview with Garrett Graff, who wrote the book Raven rock and on the website, we’re going to link to two articles of interest. How Biden can achieve a first in arms control, a verifiable nuclear warhead freeze, and why the us wastes millions on nuclear weapons. It doesn’t need over to Japan. We’re about 80% of the people in that country say this year’s Tokyo Olympics should be canceled or delayed as worries.

Libbe HaLevy

00:09:30

Mt. About a record surge in Corona virus cases across the country. This according to the Kyoto news poll last week, prime minister, yo Shahida Suga declared a state of emergency for the greater Tokyo region and could extend that measure to other areas as Japan struggles to contain a surge in infections. Note that all of this conversation about canceling the Olympics mentioned absolutely nothing about Fukushima radiation and the dangers, not only of being exposed to it, but of the games being used as a leveraging tool to force evacuees back into the area. Speaking of which 65% of the people who evacuated from Fukushima prefecture after the March 11th, 2011, nuclear disaster began have no intention of returning. According to a recent survey conducted by a Japanese university in response to a multiple choice question asking why they have not returned to their homes. 46.1% said they still fear contamination of the environment followed by 44.8%. Who said they have settled down in places they currently live, but Hey, maybe they can be enticed back because

Libbe HaLevy

01:10:57

The Japanese government is so desperate to have people move back into Fukushima, to continue their cover up of the dangers of radiation, following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, that they will pay you to move back. No really Japanese government grants of up to 2 million yen will be provided next fiscal year to people who moved to one of 12 municipalities surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster site. Now, before you get all excited at that sound of 2 million, know that that translates into us dollars 19,200, and that’s over a period of five years. So it comes out to only $1,500 a year. And over five years, it breaks down to $321 a month. Is that what your life and your genetic future is worth? The 12 municipality is all in Fukushima. Prefecture are who Taba. Oh, Kuma Tomioka NABI it tatty Kalamata, minimus, Soma katsu, RAL Narada Kawaguchi Tamora.

Libbe HaLevy

01:12:13

And Hirono the 2 million yen grants will be offered likely next summer or later to families that did not live in the 12 municipalities at the time of the 2011 accident for a single person household who is a newcomer to the prefecture. The grant will be 1.2 million yen. And somebody from Fukushima prefecture who scoots on back it’s 800,000 yen or $7,685, which breaks down to $125 a month. And they would have to live there for five years. Well, I don’t know about you, but there isn’t enough money in the world to get me to move back to that kind of contaminated environment. And that’s the exact same problem you heard about in the previous story? We are 65% of evacuees from Fukushima. Took a look at what was going on there and went, nah, I don’t think I’m coming back, but still anybody connected with nuclear things, money is more important than any other consideration. And what do you mean we can’t bribe you and trick you into coming back here? And that’s why government of Japan, whoever is behind this scheme to broad people back into Fukushima prefecture, you are this week’s

Libbe HaLevy

01:13:42

And speaking of bribes, subsidies, Japanese local government’s dependence on nuclear plant money distributed by the national government was starkly highlighted recently when the town government of and Miyagi prefecture in Northeastern Japan gave to HoCo electric power company permission to restart the number two reactor at the utilities on Angola nuclear power plant, local governments can still get money. Even when the power plant in their jurisdiction has been offline for long periods and the local municipal government officials said we are being greatly helped in terms of finance. Yes, but at what ultimate cost and in the UK, the campaign against Sizewell seen nuclear power station in cell folk has been gathering pace. The coast to be Suffolk is one of the most rapidly eroding sites in Western Europe. And it is difficult to predict what will happen to it as climate change accelerates and sea levels rise.

Libbe HaLevy

01:14:40

According to the UKs environmental agency, Sizewell will become an island within a century and it already sports two nuclear plants, Sizewell a and old half decommissioned Magnavox station dating back to 1966 and Sizewell B, which came online in 1995 and is scheduled to operate until 2035 accidents and failures permitting. But the site is already too small, even for the two reactors that are there. The only access is via a road system that was built to carry summer tourist traffic rather than the 1000 plus heavy goods vehicles HGTVs a day predicted to be required for building the massive twin reactor project. A campaign group together against Sizewell sea was established in 2008 by a group of residents, nuclear opponents, and people from all walks of life in the area whose quality of life, livelihoods and homes were threatened by further development of the Sizewell site before any building can commence a year long planning inquiry must be carried out first at which the case against size we’ll see will be played out by this group.

Libbe HaLevy

01:16:00

And other interested parties. They’re requesting signatures on a petition and we will link to it under this episode. Number 4 99, we’ll have this week’s featured interview in just a moment, but first 20, 21, what a year, what a year, and it’s only two weeks old. At least we can be hopeful that this year will be better than last, because if it’s not, well, let’s not go there. Whatever happens this year in government, nuclear problems are going to continue to be with us forever. The entire nuclear fuel chain is being supported by endOclear chain. Those businesses don’t care. As long as they make enough money, money, money to buy $4.1 million cars. That would be the son of the head of Holtec. Meanwhile, we all have to deal with the dangers of radioactive contamination from uranium mining manufacturer, fuel rods and plutonium pits, transport reactor operations, the forever nature of radioactive voice with no way to safely store it.

Libbe HaLevy

01:17:08

The environmental racism that comes along with this plus the overriding planetary life-ending threat of nuclear weapons. Quite frankly, the entire field of nuclear is a mess. And that is why you need nuclear Hotsy while mainstream media has other agendas. We know where to look for the nuclear story and the questions to ask. So we can report the ongoing, evolving nuclear truth every week that the industry would rather we not hear about let alone understand. And that’s why the time would be right now to support us with a donation. Just put this on pause for a moment and go to nuclear hotseat.com click on the big red donate button to help us with a donation of any size. And that same red button is where you can now set up a monthly $5 donation, same as a cup of coffee, and a nice tip here in the U S so please do what you can now.

Libbe HaLevy

01:18:04

And to know that however much you can help, I am deeply grateful that you’re listening and that you care on last week’s nuclear hot seat. Number 4 98. We heard from Dr. Alex Rosen of the international physicians for the prevention of nuclear war about plans for the 2021 radioactive Olympics in Japan, which are identical to the plans for the 2020 Olympics. In fact, they’re even still calling them the 2020 games because Hey, if you spend that much money printing up merch, you gotta figure out some way to cut your losses in any event with so much being the same. We are revisiting our interview with Beverly Finlater Kaneko from nuclear hot seat. Number four 50 last January, 2020. Beverly is nuclear hot seats, voices from Japan producing partner, and she evacuated Japan with her son following the 2011 nuclear disaster here. She provides details from on the ground reports out of Fukushima prefecture, along with direct statements by former residents of Futaba translated from Japanese blog posts, exclusively for nuclear hot seat. We spoke with Beverly Finley Kaneko on January 20th, 2020, which was before the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of last year’s radio Olympics plans,

Libbe HaLevy

01:19:26

Beverly Finley Kinetico. It’s always a pleasure to have you on the show and get your direct reports about what’s happening on the ground in Japan and especially in Fukushima.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

01:19:37

Thank you, Libby. It’s always great to be on nuclear hot seat and be able to share this information with your listeners.

Libbe HaLevy

01:19:46

Let’s go to the basics. It’s the Tokyo Olympics. Why is the Olympic torch relay even taking a detour to Fukushima?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

01:19:54

Actually the Olympic torch will travel to all 47 prefectures in Japan over the next few months. And there are going to be PR events all, all along the chords to whip up excitement for the Olympics. It’s starting in Fukushima because the government has decided to coin these Olympics, the or the official English translation is reconstruction Olympics to signal to the world that Japan has recovered from the triple disaster of March 11th, 2011,

Libbe HaLevy

02:20:29

Which of course is not the truth.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:20:31

Well, of course not. But the main driver behind this is that prime minister are, they want to be the prime minister when the Olympics happen. And he has been quoted as saying that he wants to be able to say that Japan has recovered. Unfortunately he just can’t just wish upon a star and make it better. So he’s doing his best con job that he can to make it seem that way.

Libbe HaLevy

02:20:57

Where is the torch relay going in Fukushima?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:21:01

It’s going to be in the prefecture for three days. It’s first traveling to the still contaminated and struggling coastal towns of Hamas authority, March 26th through the 28th. And then it’ll visit towns in the middle and Western parts of the prefecture after that. And in each area it’s going to visit various towns and each day of the time they’re in Fukushima and throughout the rest rest of Japan, it’s going to end up in a town, that’ll have a special event going on

Libbe HaLevy

02:21:38

Recently. It was announced that Futaba the town where Fukushima DET is located, has been added to, and is going to be part of this torch relay. But isn’t that area still too contaminated for runners to be passing through.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:21:54

First of all, I want to make it clear that Futaba hasn’t been officially approved to be on the torch relay. The news was that Fukushima governor ICI Bordi announced that the prefecture would like to include Futaba. The Olympic committee is expected to weigh in on it next month, but it’ll probably be included. So yes, to your question for the most part, Chautauqua and many other areas in Fukushima should be off limits for runners, tourists that caters and returning residents and people who have stayed there all along, quite frankly, but the torch relay is protected to travel very short distances on a very carefully curated route. And really that’s where the problem lies. According to evacuees who are being affected by the rush to open up areas that should remain closed. Area wise only 4% of Futaba is going to be reopened on March pork. So 96% of that town is still going to be closed.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:23:07

There’s a one square mile corner, just north of Fukushima Daiichi. That’s right next to an interim contaminated waste site. That’s going to have evacuation orders lifted. And then there’s a two square mile area around Futaba station that will have limits on entry, relaxed, not really lifted, but they’re going to be relaxed. Those areas won’t be ready for people to move back in for a whole nother two years, but all the barricades are coming down. Anyway, people are not going to be allowed to stay the night in that area, but anyone including will be allowed to

Libbe HaLevy

02:23:46

Visit children, pregnant women, anyone who might be more susceptible to the radiation.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:23:53

Yes. And just people who are really ignorant about what’s going on. And I think specifically, you know, the people who’ve watched dark tourism, those kinds of people that are going for an adventure. I have a feeling there’s going to be some trouble with that kind of thing.

Libbe HaLevy

02:24:11

What is the requirement for an area to have evacuation orders lifted?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:24:16

There are several requirements and my need tissue, boom reporter calskate Keno. Who’s been covering the unfair treatment of evacuees. Really, since the accident happened, he described a public meeting about reopening these areas in Futaba at the meeting, former mayor of Futaba, who was the mayor at the time of the accident, Mary ITTO gala pointed out several requirements that were supposed to be followed that are being glossed over. The number one requirement is that the radiation dose has to be less than 20 millisievert per year

Libbe HaLevy

02:24:55

To give us a sense of what that means. Give us the equivalency for Chernobyl with the evacuation zone and what the levels are there that are allowed.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:25:06

It’s my understanding that the exclusion zone in Chernobyl was five millisieverts per year. So if you go to presentations or you hear people speak about giving reasons why this 20 millisievert per year is really unfair, often in Japan, that particular number is sighted.

Libbe HaLevy

02:25:26

So cure novels, upper limit for allowing people into the exclusion zone is five millisieverts per year. But in Japan, it’s four times that meaning 20 millisieverts per year, wasn’t there an original number that was allowed for radiation exposure. That was much lower than that in Japan.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:25:50

Sure. It’s a standard for the rest of Japan. And the original standard was one millisievert per year. Now it’s 20 times and that’s only for Fukushima in 2017 on nuclear hot seat voices from Japan, we spoke with attorney Yuki Cytal. Who’s working with citizens and Minami Soma who are actually suing, pursuing a lawsuit, protesting this elevated and unfair standard as discrimination.

Libbe HaLevy

02:26:22

What are some of the other requirements that are supposed to be followed, but have been glossed over in this reopening in Fukushima?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:26:30

Okay. So the second requirement is that infrastructure and services need to be ready for people to live in that area. And this is just absolutely not true for Futaba. Just no, no way, no hell. They don’t even have the little convenience stores and things that some of the other areas got. It’s not ready for people. The third thing is the understanding of citizens, which should be gained through quote unquote, adequate discussion in public meetings. It’s interesting because adequate word adequate was deleted from later versions of the stipulations. The meetings that they have, the public meetings are a lot like the Santa, no afraid of what I call the community enrichment panel. It’s actually the community engagement panel meetings on decommissioning that we have here in Southern California. It’s more of a chance for the powers that be, to tell the public, whatever they want to.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:27:31

And there’s really very little chance for meaningful public comment. For example, at this particular meeting, married Ocala detailed to further requirements for lifting evacuation orders that were stipulated by Fukushima prefecture before the accident ever happened. And that would be number one, the accident site has been stabilized, which is not true in the case of Fukushima Daiichi. I know they talk about shoring up areas of the plant and I’m having boric acid onsite and blah, blah, blah. But if there were to be another big earthquake or if there was some kind of accident that happened during the Olympics, you know, radiation is going to be released, whether they can try to stop that or not, it’s still going to be a problem. And the second thing would be that radiation is no longer being released into the environment. And it’s really common knowledge that the contaminated water for one is every single day flowing out of the plant, the silly ice wall that never worked when the wind blows there’s dust being kicked up from decontamination and so forth. So radiation is still around the environment at the meeting after eight Ocala son pointed these things out, he asked when radiation still continues to flow into the environment. He got no answer to his question because the bell rang that signaled that the meeting time was up. So that’s how they treat a former mayor who was mayor at the time of the accident and evacuated to a different prefecture with hundreds of his citizens. He doesn’t even get an answer to these questions.

Libbe HaLevy

02:29:24

That’s the way the nuclear industry, the nuclear establishment always tricks out any kind of meetings with the public to damp down what public people have to say and make certain that what has prominence is the position of the industry. Let’s backtrack a bit, didn’t you just say that two Taba wouldn’t be ready for residents for two years or until 2022 at the earliest.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:29:52

Yes, that’s right.

Libbe HaLevy

02:29:54

Why are they reopening it now?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

02:29:57

That was the very question that was asked at the public meeting. And again, there was no answer. They just wouldn’t admit that it was for the Olympics

Libbe HaLevy

03:30:06

In your estimation. What is the purpose of a torch relay coming to and through Fukushima

Beverly Finley Kaneko

03:30:14

Personally, I think it’s all about PR and trying to Polish something that’s impossible to Polish, but let’s talk about governor Uchi, Bharti the governor of Fukushima, frankly. He has trouble articulating what it’s all about at a press conference in December last year, he spouted some nonsense about showcasing the light and the shadows of recovery and Fukushima. And when he was asked, just what he meant by that. He said that light means the reduction in exclusion zones and an increase in foreign tourists. So that’s positive to him by shadows. He meant that the former exclusion zones have only attracted 10% of the people to return. And actually we learned that in places closer to Fukushima Daiichi, like NAMI, where UGI and I visited in September last year, the number is like only 5%. And most of the people that have returned are senior citizens. So I suppose in central and Western parts of the prefecture that were less contaminated, they also want to showcase local culture. They want to foster tourism. They want to Polish the Fukushima brand, which really has been damaged by the whole accident. You know, even areas where it’s pretty safe to travel. I think I don’t really have a problem with that, just so that they’re honest about the really serious problems faced by the hardest hit areas along the coast

Libbe HaLevy

03:31:57

And nuclear hot seat episodes, 4 38 and 4 39. Last November. You described some of the towns that you visited in the former exclusion zones, such as tell me Oka NAMI, you painted a pretty bleak picture of them.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

03:32:12

Yes. My overall impression was that reconstruction wasn’t focused on restoring lives of former residents, as much as it was about building big new projects and fostering new industrial growth. For example, in Kawaguchi village, there were new ventures, such as a wetsuit factory with workers that they’ve had to import from Thailand because there aren’t enough people that live there to staff. The wetsuit factory, the towns we visited were populated mostly with men in grubby work clothes. They looked like they were involved in decontamination work or construction projects. And many, if not, most of the vehicles on the roads and in parking lots were trucks. I saw very few women and I only saw one child in that area. That’s probably a good thing. Yes. Do you know what the torch relay will showcase in those towns? Yes, I do. For the most part, you know, you can go online and they, they sort of show you what the courses are and Tomioka is going to start at the train station.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

03:33:25

That’s going to be reopening in March and in 98, it’s going to take in a robot testing field and a hydrogen energy research facility. All of these things are brand new. By the way, in IPAT de Moda, the relay will start at the new commute brand new community center. And it will end at a brand new fancy park and end at a brand new fancy parking rest area to be sure the black bags full of decontamination debris that we see all the time and pictures online and protest signs that we saw on our trip will not be along the carefully scoured route. Radiation levels will also appear to be low along the route, but we’ve been looking at a blog by a guy named Hideaki Suzuki. It’s called boon, citizens’ voice newspaper. And he wrote a very interesting post about walking along the route in de Moda.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

03:34:31

He took his radiation monitor and he found elevated levels on the sides of the roads and side streets, along the way and comparison to the official monitoring posts along the course. He also said that he saw no decontamination debris bags visible along the course. And just before we talked, I got some new information from the Yomiuri newspaper from January 21st and Fukushima prefectures very own measurements along that route found a 0.25 microsieverts per hour and 0.77 microsieverts per hour at one meter along the side of the road, the prefecture has announced that it will discount those measurements because the renters will only be briefly passing by that area. So when only have a chance to get a little bit pregnant. Yeah, I guess so I just to tell you that their standard is 0.23. So 0.23 is microsieverts per hour is supposedly the safe level by prefecture standards. So this route along a today, Murda is quite at home. Standards is not safe.

Libbe HaLevy

03:35:56

So one is the standard, not the standard when it’s inconvenient, right? How did the evacuees feel about the torch relay?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

03:36:06

Well, for this episode of nuclear hot seat, I was able to translate opinions of Fukushima residents and evacuees about the torch relay that Hiroki Suzuki reported in his blog, Camino koi, Shimbun that I mentioned earlier. And, you know, as I was translating, I kept coming across a phrase in Japanese that was moved to me. And that phrase is Hochul mono. Literally it means box things. And I kept thinking, are they building box factories? I don’t understand. Are they going to be manufacturing? Cardboard boxes? Is that the industry? But actually what box things is rather buildings and construction projects. So the residents were talking about the government building construction projects and buildings rather than actually doing things to help restore the lives of the people that live there or the people that are intended to go back there indeed might need to seem boom, reporter Keno, who we talked about earlier.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

03:37:15

He quoted present mayor Issaquah, Futaba. That’s a little confusing. The mayor now is Issaquah. The former mayor is Edo gala. So president mayor was boasting about trying to attract industry to Futaba. He says there are 16 companies lined up to invest. There are plans for an industrial relations center and a big museum dedicated to the triple disaster of March 11th, 2011. At this point, it appears that most farmers are probably not going to come back to Futaba. So there’ve been talks with a big agricultural company up in Sendai to take up a farming project on the land.

Libbe HaLevy

03:37:58

Let’s hear some of those translations from that blog of what some of the citizens that Suzuki talked with had to say first UGI OMA, 43 years old, originally from Futaba presently evacuated to Iraqi prefecture. When he was in sixth grade on HMAS PR phrase nuclear power energy for a bright future was chosen for a sign at the entrance of Futaba village. The sign was finally removed in December of 2015. What did own Nima have to say in this blog post?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

03:38:36

I think the torch relay involves nothing more than reconstruction PR and signaling the end of the nuclear disaster by cleaning up a small area of town and lifting the evacuation order. I’m concerned that the torch relay will be greeted skeptically as a one-time performance and Japan will lose the trust of people around the world. Once the evacuation order is lifted, I myself am going to be considered a quote unquote voluntary evacuate reconstruction is just a fantasy. The reconstruction being touted in conjunction with the Olympics completely divergent from reality in a town with no residents. The train station has been impressively restored, and soon the whole job on train with mine will be reopened yet. Every time I go for a short visit, I see the interim waste storage areas, expanding along the coast on the east side of town. Even if the torch relay passes through town, people in Futaba won’t feel in their hearts that this means actual recovery.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

03:39:45

There are still so many streets that remain exactly as they were when the accident happened. Radiation has gone down, but other than that, there is nothing to base the idea of recovery or reconstruction on. Even if it appears that the town has recovered the lives and the futures of people who would have been living in Futaba, if there hadn’t been an accident are in a complete mess. I think the recovery of the heart will be difficult forever in an environment where contaminated water keeps flowing and contaminated debris keeps piling up. We shouldn’t be doing PR just for the Olympics. We aren’t recovered yet. It’s going to take a long time, but we are still trying hard. I think that in itself is good enough. My hometown has become a nuclear waste dump the nuclear power PR sign. That was the symbol of the town before the accident is now riding somewhere that is not visible from route six, the main road through this area, we are being told that our town no longer has any use for the past the era when our forebearers believed in nuclear power and lived alongside the nuclear power plant.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:41:04

In addition to removing the sign, horrible scenery of mounds of bags filled with decontamination waste, desecrate, the graves where our ancestors sleep, can you really call this recovery

Libbe HaLevy

04:41:18

Quite eloquently? Put, now, here are the comments of a 70 year old woman who is now living in the NACA, Dory or central part of Fukushima who is born and raised in Futaba.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:41:31

Whether the torch relay goes through or not. And whether baseball and softball are held in Fukushima or not, it has nothing to do with us. Nothing is going to change because the torch relay pass through town while it might be good for the town to be seen again by people across Japan and the world. I think being made as symbol of recovery misses the mark in the end, it’s just making up something newsworthy out of nothing. If you ask whether the lives of the evacuees have been restored to their original condition, well, they absolutely haven’t.

Libbe HaLevy

04:42:08

And this from a woman whose ancestral home is in Futaba and who talked about the storehouse roof being damaged in a recent typhoon

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:42:17

In December, I went to my ancestral home to clean up a bit. Precious family history had been ruined with mud and radioactive contamination. Our storehouse had been damaged in the earthquake and the Tyson finished it off. A truck came and carried everything away to the interim storage site for contaminated waste. That wasn’t trash. It was my family’s history. I want people to understand how sad that makes me feel the torch relay. Won’t get that message out to anyone. Even if we return, there is no one there that Jack is being ignored while everyone makes a big deal about the Olympics. The more the Olympics is fussed over actual recovery in terms of local revitalization fails to progress at all. I wish someone could understand these feelings, the catch phrase, reconstruction Olympics does not reflect reality at all. In the shadow of the torch relay, our family homes are silently being cleaned up in the shadow of the spectacular torch relay. I want to say in a loud voice that the hearts of the evacuees are far from recovery.

Libbe HaLevy

04:43:35

There were also some comments that were gleaned for this blog from a rice cake pounding event that was held on January 5th at a reconstruction housing development in ni home up to a 60 year old woman from where the torch relay will pass a new robot testing field. Always a good idea because robots go to Fukushima Daiichi to get burned out and die. Anyway, the torture relay will pass a new robot testing field at a hydrogen energy research facility. What did she have to say?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:44:09

She said the torch relay is strange. Isn’t it? Is there some way we can change the plans? Now I could understand if they were going to run around the train station or town hall, but if something or other factory doesn’t really emphasize recovery, does it?

Libbe HaLevy

04:44:28

I think that’s a rhetorical question also at this event was a 50 year old woman who had no idea the torch relay was going to pass by the hydrogen electric research facility and even applied to be one of the runners,

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:44:42

The recruitment PR for the relay said, do you want to run around town? Of course one would think that that means running in the area where the elementary school suffered catastrophic damage in the tsunami and through the town. For example, I didn’t want to run as an advertisement for reconstruction by running. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has helped me so far. I wanted to say it’s because of you that I have been able to persevere. Unfortunately I wasn’t chosen for the relay team.

Libbe HaLevy

04:45:17

And finally, we have a comment from town council, chairman, Mr. Tamora. And he had this to say,

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:45:24

After all the torch relay is just an advertisement for the government.

Libbe HaLevy

04:45:29

And another man said

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:45:31

Reconstruction Olympics is meaningless. The only ones who are going to be happy about spending all that money are the big general contractors who will benefit. The man suggested that if they really want to show the truth, that the runners should travel along route one 14, but the added, it would be a violation of human rights to force someone to run in such a highly contaminated area.

Libbe HaLevy

04:45:57

So the picture that’s emerging is that quite frankly, be it hell or high water, both of which Fukushima has seen there is going to be a run on the ground through radioactive areas. Now, there is the question of the use of the words. Sometimes it’s recovery, sometimes it’s reconstruction. What do either of these words have to do with what is actually going on in Fukushima prefecture and specifically here into Taba?

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:46:29

Actually, as I went translating all of this, there was the phrase Hako mono or box things, which means buildings. That was a new thing for me. And then another thing that I really got to thinking about is the Japanese word football, which is not something that you can directly translate into English. It sort of means reconstruction. And it also means recovery. It means rebuilding and revitalizing. And I asked you T as I said, you know, I’m really having trouble translating this. And the government is saying reconstruction Olympics. And to me that means like just rebuilding building somewhere, or, you know, big pork barrel construction projects. It doesn’t mean recovery, the meaning of Fuko. It’s not just reconstruction. It also incorporate the idea of revitalizing or recovery. And I just think it’s really strange that the government chose reconstruction for the English translation, because it’s translating what all of these people who live in Futaba or who used to live in Futaba and NAMI. It seems to me that the towns along some majority, the towns that we visited the Tomioka and NAMI, and then also once we didn’t visit like Futaba, all they’re really covering in those areas is the reconstruction part of the equation. They’re not covering that revitalizing the community or recovery of the evacuees emotional lives. And that seems to be really the missing element here overall.

Libbe HaLevy

04:48:21

So it seems that the focus remains on the buildings and the physical evidence that something is happening and the image of the area, but not the truth of what happened to the human beings and continues to happen as they are unable to truly recover from anything that devastating as they keep trying to put their lives together.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:48:45

Exactly

Libbe HaLevy

04:48:46

Beverly, it is always instructive when you and UGI start translating from the Japanese to let us know what’s actually happening there and what people are actually saying. And we will be getting back in touch with you for voices from Japan this year, and also for anything that comes up between now and then, and thank you for being my guest and my co-producer for voices from Japan. Always great to have you on nuclear hot seat.

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:49:16

Thank you very much, Libby. This is really always a learning experience for me too, and I really appreciate it. And we appreciate the chance to try and spread some of these actual voices from Japan and let people know people here know what the evacuations are thinking in their hearts.

Libbe HaLevy

04:49:37

Anytime you’ve got anything more, we’re here for you. Thank

Beverly Finley Kaneko

04:49:41

You.

Libbe HaLevy

04:49:43

That was Beverly fin lake, and Aiko the producing partner for nuclear hot seats. Voices from Japan series. We will have further voices from Japan coming up as we approach this Marshall Levin and the 10th anniversary of the star of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear triple meltdown disaster,

Announcer

05:50:00

The activists,

Libbe HaLevy

05:50:08

The international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons, or I can w.org is the 2017 Nobel peace prize winning organization that strategized worked so hard on. And is the force behind the passage? I’m the United nations treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons that treaty enters into force of law as of January 22nd, 2021. And yes, there is going to be an international celebration that we are all invited to join. I can characterize it as a once in history celebration of the moment that we ban nuclear weapons, a 90 minute live stream event, January 22nd, 2021 live from the newly built. I can TV studio. This celebratory event will start as of 9:00 PM in Geneva, Switzerland, which translates into 3:00 PM east coast time noon in Pacific time zone. And we’ll feature special guests connecting digitally from around the world. From New Zealand to Hawaii, we will hear from artists foreign ministers, investors, diplomats, academics, and I can campaigners you can sign up for the live stream@icanw.org.

Libbe HaLevy

05:51:30

And of course we will link to it on our website, nuclear hot seat.com under this episode, number 4 99. So we can all join together and celebrate the start of peace for peace sake and action network.org is asking for signatures on a petition that demands that Congress add checks and balance to our nuclear system and enact no first use. We are asking for a mandate to ensure that the United States would never launch a nuclear weapon as a first strike and start a cataclysmic chain reaction of nuclear bombs going back and forth and destroying the planet. And no single person should have the right to start a nuclear war checks and balances on this power must be maintained no matter who inhabits the oval office, because we cannot afford to have the survival of human beings and life on this planet in the hands of a single individual, no matter what their political persuasion, the link will be up on our website, nuclear hot seat.com. Again, this is episode number 4 99. That’s where you’ll find it. And if you’re ready to take an action on behalf of getting rid of nuclear weapons, here is my favorite anti-nuclear PSA. Susie Snyder from PACS. The Netherlands provided aid strategy for taking funding away from companies that make nuclear bombs and delivery components. Here she is with the short version of that strategy, which has implications for nuclear reactors as well.

Susie Snyder

05:53:06

It’s amazing. It’s called don’t bank on the bomb and that’s the website too. Don’t bank on the bomb.com. Step one, find out if your bank invests a nuclear weapon, producers, step two, contact your bank, tell them you don’t want them to step three, tell the world what the bank says, and if they don’t get rid of investments, go public because no bank wants to look like a bad guy. It takes one or two people only to make a huge difference, and that can cut off the money stream to the companies that make nuclear weapons, you and I, we have more power than we think, and that power is sitting in our wallet.

Libbe HaLevy

05:53:44

And how can people find out whether the companies that we’re told the bank is supporting, having a connection with the nuclear weapons industry?

Susie Snyder

05:53:52

Well, we do a significant investigation every year. Now it’s not completely exhaustive, but we profile 28 companies that have association with nuclear weapons, modernization, and maintenance, and it’s on our website. Don’t bank on the bomb.com. And we really want people to use our information and contact us all the time. You can do that in, you know, through the website really easily contact me on Twitter, whatever works, and I’ll happy to find out more. And if you find out, learn about more companies involved in nuclear weapons, tell us we’ll do the research and we’ll make it public for everybody to use. Love it.

Libbe HaLevy

05:54:28

Susie Snyder of don’t bank on the bomb.com. She pointed out that blue cross and blue shield are invested in nuclear weapons manufacturers. This is either a conflict of interest or a great marketing plan. Either way time to let your banks know this is a strategy that has been proven to work and future generations will thank you. As long as they have the opportunity to be born. This has been nuclear hot seat for Tuesday, January 12th, 2021 material for this week show has been researched and compiled from nuclear-news.net, Dylan renard.wordpress.com beyond nuclear, the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons action network.org. Current argus.com CA current.com cleveland.com. Try dash city herald.com. Business insider.com. The bulletin.org responsible state craft.org, reuters.com. the-japan-news.com may Nietzsche dot J p.english.com. Yorkshire by-lines dot co.uk and to the ever co-opted regulatory captured nuclear regulatory commission. Big thanks to all of you who listen, and a shout out to nuclear hot seat listeners and followers around the world in 123 countries on six continents and counting.

Libbe HaLevy

05:55:58

Now, if you’re interested in following nuclear issues, and you’ve heard this update today, you need to get nuclear hot seat every week. So don’t miss out on a single episode. You can get it delivered via email as soon as it posts by signing up for that email@nuclearhotseat.com. Look for the big yellow opt-in box, and then just put in your first name. It doesn’t even have to be a real first name, just put something in there and an email address where we can find you. And every week you’ll receive one email from us with the link to that week show, plus a brief outline of some of the material that’s in it. Not a week goes by without a ton of nuclear news happening in all directions around the world. And this is your one way to make certain that you get the latest. So if you haven’t already done so nuclear hot seat.com, yellow opt-in box putting two pieces of information done and dusted.

Libbe HaLevy

05:56:57

If you’re not aware of it, this show relies a lot on those of you who are on the ground facing nuclear issues, right? Smack dab in front of you. And we need to know about them. And that’s where you come in. If you have a story lead, a hot tip or suggestion of someone to interview, send an email to info@nuclearhotseat.com. And we will do our best to get in on that story and cover it to the best of our abilities. And if you appreciate weekly verifiable news updates about nuclear issues around the world, take a moment, go to nuclear, hot seat.com. There’s a red button there. Why don’t you click on it? Follow the prompts, anything you do from there, we’ll help. And we will really appreciate your support. This episode of nuclear hot seat is copyright 2021 Leiby Halevi and hardest street communications, all rights reserved, but fair use allowed. As long as proper attribution is provided. This is Leiby Halevi of heart history, communications, the heart of the art of communicating, reminding you. He’s still got the nuclear codes and will until January 20th. There you go. If that’s not a nuclear wake up call, I don’t know what it is. So whatever you do, don’t go back to sleep because we are all in the nuclear hot seat,

Announcer

05:58:25

Claire hot seat. What are those people thinking? Nuclear hot seat. What have those boys been braking clear, hot. See Ms. Sinking. Our time to act is shrinking, but nuclear Hotsy it’s the bomb.