Who Owns the Data?

Who should a government report bact to? Some might answer, "the people". Perhaps, "the taxpayers who foot that government's bills".

So, is the following behavior morally correct?

This is from The Japan Times online:

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012


Delay in informing public about radiation may have resulted in unnecessary exposure in Fukushima
U.S. forces given SPEEDI data early
Kyodo, AP
The science ministry provided data on the radioactive fallout to U.S. forces a few days after the crisis erupted at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant — far earlier than the public was informed, a ministry official said.


The revelation came amid criticism that the government's delay in releasing data from the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI) may have resulted in the unnecessary exposure of residents near the plant to radiation. Those residents were later evacuated.

The data were provided to the U.S. forces via the Foreign Ministry on March 14, three days after the 9-magnitude temblor and monster tsunami triggered the triple-meltdown crisis, according to Itaru Watanabe, an official with the ministry's Science and Technology Policy Bureau.

But it was not until March 23 that the public was officially told.

Am I Missing Something Here?

I thought Mr. Noda was Prime Minister of Japan, not the US. Who should he be keeping faith with?

Futenma plan once again thorn in side of DPJ


By MASAMI ITO and ERIC JOHNSTON
Staff writers
The submission of the environmental assessment on Henoko in Okinawa sparked polarized reactions from the governments in Tokyo and Washington and the people of Okinawa, underscoring the gap in awareness over the contentious relocation of the Futenma air base.

Despite thunderous public outrage among Okinawa residents, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had repeatedly expressed his intention to submit the report by the end of the year. And in the end, the Defense Ministry was unable to hand the report to the Okinawa Prefectural Government directly as planned and was forced to use the mail.

Pundits say Noda was adamant about submitting the report by Dec. 31 as a show of good faith to the United States. (italics mine) Amid the gridlock facing the Futenma plan, the U.S. Congress lost patience and recently decided to cut $150 million from the 2012 budget to move thousands of marines from Okinawa to Guam, which was a major part of the relocation package.

Monkeys to the Rescue!

It's hard to be everywhere, monitoring everything that needs monitoring in the wake of the giant tsunami and the nuclear generation disaster it caused. There aren't enough scientists to go around, so the scientists are enlisting some funny allies.

Why not? When the world goes to pot, everyone suffers, even the monkeys.

Here's what today's Japan Times online and Kyodo news have to say about monkeys and monitoring.

Wild monkeys to carry forest fallout monitors

FUKUSHIMA, Kyodo — Fukushima University researchers plan to measure forest radiation levels in Fukushima Prefecture by placing special monitoring collars on wild monkeys, in light of the nuclear crisis.

Each of the collars contains a small radiation meter and a Global Positioning System transmitter, and can be unclipped by remote control. This will allow a team led by robotics professor Takayuki Takahashi to recover the collars and collect the data within one to two months after the monkeys are released back into the wild, they said.

Do the Right Thing (2)

This is what the Japan Times has to say about a new development in the Agent Orange contamination of the Chatan area of Okinawa:

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011


Agent Orange buried at beach strip?
U.S. veteran fears toxin now beneath popular civilian area


By JON MITCHELL
Special to The Japan Times
Dozens of barrels of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange were buried in the late 1960s beneath what is now a busy neighborhood in the central Okinawa Island town of Chatan, near Araha Beach, according to a former U.S. soldier who has recently pinpointed the location thanks to a 1970 map of a U.S. base obtained by The Japan Times.

The alleged burial took place in 1969 when the area was part of the U.S. Hamby Air Field, but since its return to civilian use in 1981 the area has been redeveloped into a sightseeing area. Nearby today are restaurants, hotels and apartment buildings on a street running parallel to popular Araha Beach.

Do the Right Thing

What do you do if someone is poisoning you? First you want to protect yourself, and you also want to make them stop it, right? But what if, even though you are dying, they insist it's not poison, and they keep throwing it at you?

This is the situation for US military personnel who were stationed in Okinawa during the Viet Nam War era. Many of them are now mortally ill, and they are not getting the care they need.

It will also be the situation for families living on the land that the US contaminated and then returned to Okinawa--not in the original condition, as promised by treaty, but contaminated with deadly Dioxin from the Viet Nam War-era defoliant Agent Orange.

Is the US big enough to claim their responsibility?

Is Japan big enough to protect their own citizens by insisting that the sites be tested and the chemical agents verified?

1800 degrees C

Ryukyu glass was originally a clever way to recycle discarded soda pop bottles collected from the US military bases all over Okinawa. Now it is its own, unique art form. This craftsman is in the process of turning a blob of molten glass into a classy square container.

Mystery Photo (2)

Did you guess the photo was of an unhappy kitchen disaster, namely rice going moldy? That would be partly correct.

This rice, however, has a jolly fate. After becoming afflicted with black mold, it will be mixed with hot water and allowed to ferment. Foam (awa) will bubble up (mori-agaru). It will become Okinawa's signature alcoholic drink, awamori.