The blind Japanese

In a recent Saipan Tribune article Japan Consul Koji Hino asked for the CNMI’s support for Japan’s bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

“As you probably know, Tokyo was nominated as the venue for the Olympics in 2020. Until then we should do our utmost to achieve complete recovery from the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami. Otherwise Japanese government cannot receive the understanding and support from the participants and visitors from all over the world. I would therefore like to ask you again for your support and assistance.”

Once Mr. Hino’s head comes out of the sand, it should be slapped. The earthquake and the tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011, are the least of it.

“The worst nuclear catastrophe in the history of mankind” continues to threaten our planet and much of the life on it. Even now the Pacific Ocean is dying, and the West Coast of American has been severely impacted by Cesium-137, plutonium, and other deadly isotopes. Children in both America and Japan are developing cancers. Many people have already died from radiation poisoning.

When the earthquake struck 1,000 days ago, three of the four reactors went into critical meltdown. They are still melting down, and their cores have gone into the ground, contaminating the water and the Pacific Ocean. A conservative estimate is that 300 tons of radioactive water pours into the Pacific each day. Most of the Pacific tuna is highly radioactive and a recent test showed that 18 out of 18 tuna were contaminated with radiation.

About 7,500,000 Bq/m3 of Strontium-90 was measured from groundwater issuing from Reactor 1. The sampling date was Sept. 11, 2013. There have been no further reports because the Japanese government will not allow them.

Reactor 4 has a cooling pool, some five stories high, which contains 1,310 spent fuel rods, which are still hot and highly radioactive. So far 20 have been removed, and these were rods which were in good condition and fairly stable. However, the rest of the rods are damaged and the enormous tank is tipping. For TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) to begin to remove these rods is flirting with a monumental disaster; because if the rods should touch during the removal process—or otherwise become unstable—then there could be “a critical mass” that would release the radioactive equivalent of 14,000 Hiroshimas.

In the meantime, the Japanese Government has recently passed a law that effectively blacks out any honest reporting about the situation at Fukushima. In fact, if any Japanese reporter dares to report what is actually happening, he or she could be thrown in jail as a terrorist.

But the Japanese government, TEPCO, the Japanese and mainstream media all—like Mr. Hino—have their heads in the sand. Not only do they not want to know about the unfolding disaster, their main goal is to “save face.” They hope that if they just ignore the horrible disaster, it will simply go away. It will not. Regrettably, the worst is yet to come.

For the Japanese government to think that the 2020 Olympics will actually go on in Tokyo is lunacy. Seventy percent of Japan is contaminated now, in 2013. Reactors 1, 2, and 3 will continue to spew deadly radioactive poisons into the atmosphere for at least the next seven years, but probably more like 100 years. These meltdowns cannot be cooled, nor stopped. (Incidentally, Chernobyl is still in meltdown and that was 27 years ago). By 2020, most of Japan will be highly radioactive, even if the spent fuel rods in the R4 cooling tower remain stable.

To the parents of the 23 MHS students who intend to travel to Osaka as part of the “Bridge for Tomorrow” exchange program: Keep your kids here.