2011年11月22日火曜日

Anti Nuclear Movement in Japan

Indignez-Vous! ‘Fukushima,’ New Media and Anti-Nuclear Activism in Japan

Nicola Liscutin

Good-bye Gempatsu Demo. From: Sekai kara gempatsu nakusō konsāto burogu1

Indignez-vous! Get angry, resist and fight against the blatant social injustices in our world! Thus Stéphane Hessel, the 93-year old French former Resistance fighter, called on the youth in France, and everywhere else, in his inspirational pamphlet published in France in 2010. It has since been translated into dozens of languages, though not yet into Japanese.2 Indignation, for Hessel, provided the fundamental motivation for the Resistance movement in Nazi-occupied France, and he finds plenty of reasons for outrage today.

Following Hessel’s cry for a non-violent, democratic uprising, young Spanish protestors named their movement ‘the Indignant.’ Although Hessel does not draw explicitly on his philosophy, it was Spinoza who highlighted in his Ethics and, especially, in his unfinished Political Treatise (both published posthumously in 1677) the motivational power of indignation incited by ‘some common injury’ that goads citizens to revolt against those in authority.3 ‘Human beings,’ in Spinoza’s influential formulation, ‘are led more by affect than reason’ – from which follows that ‘the multitude’ is led by ‘somecommon affect.’4 Spinoza wisely anticipated that ‘the power of the commonwealth, and its right, are diminished insofar as it offers causes for more human beings to conspire together.’5

Anti-nuclear activism in Japan has grown at astonishing speed in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis and its handling by the authorities. Over the past months, not a week has gone by without anti-nuclear protests taking place somewhere in Japan (see the nation-wide action calendar). In September, an intriguing array of new and established citizens’ movements had called for an ‘anti-nuclear action week’ that was packed with rallies, lectures, symposia, film screenings, exhibitions and various other events. On 9.11, protests were staged across Japan, with three demonstrations in Tokyo alone. The action week culminated in a c. 60,000 people rally in Meiji Park on September 19 (link) kicking off a movement to collect 10 million signatures for the Sayonara Gempatsupetition (link). Given that by the summer, forgetting seemed already to have begun, at least beyond Tōhoku,6 the nation-wide spread of these protests and their demographics are remarkable: from seasoned demonstrators to the many who confessed that this was their very first protest action; from families bringing their toddlers and children, to teenagers, students, freeters, the middle-aged, and pensioners. These demonstrations may still be small by comparison to the largest historical demonstrations, but as Karatani Kōjin emphasized in his speech at the Shinjuku rally, ‘by demonstrating we create a society that will protest.’7 He urged the Japanese to at last ‘own’ their fundamental democratic rights by exercising them. It now looks as if many Japanese have taken Karatani’s rallying cry to heart, for anti-nuclear events continue across the country and across the social spectrum.

Are we witnessing the formation of a ‘multitude’ in Japan rallying around the issue of nuclear energy and rising up against the ‘atomic village’ (gempatsu mura)8? This might be wishful thinking. Yet, the ‘ikari’ (anger) signs on the many flags of the large Fukushima contingent... full article from The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus here....

The short term fear and short and long term anxiety and worry for the safety of their familys and children that has been caused as a result of the nuclear reactors meltdowns and realase of radiactive contamination at TEPCO's Fukushima number one power plant since 11/3/11 continue to harass and unsettle the hearts and minds of as yet uncounted millions of people here in Japan. Seeing the stress and uncertainty that has afflicted the hearts and minds of so many millions of good people from Fukushima Prefecture, the East Japan (Tohoku) Region as a whole, the Kanto Region and other parts of Japan as a whole, it is no longer only a question of whether or not the levels of radiation that have been realeased by this nuclear disaster into the atmosphere, water supply and food chains are bad enough to cause or increase the risk of developing cancer. The psychological impact that the stress of this constant uncertainty of the safety of the situation that people living in here does not justify living in the shadow that nuclear power plants cast now in the minds of the people of Japan, a country which experiences about 20% of the worlds total 5 magnitude earthquakes. 

2011年11月15日火曜日

確定死刑囚

確定死刑囚:複雑な思いの死刑囚 市民団体調査、86人回答 - 毎日jp(毎日新聞)

市民団体「死刑廃止国際条約の批准を求めるフォーラム90」は、今年6月時点で死刑が確定していた120人を対象に実施したアンケートの結果をまとめた。約7割に相当する86人が回答しており、死刑囚のナマの声が伝えられるのは異例。死刑制度に対する思いや、東日本大震災の被災者への配慮をつづった内容もみられた。【伊藤一郎】

 ◇刑受けるのが遺族様にできること/いつ執行か、精神的な拷問と同じ/3分でいいから生の会話したい
 ある男性は「その時がくれば、あらがうことなく刑を受けようと思う。それくらいしか被害者御遺族様にできることはない」と記入。一方で別の72歳の男性は、刑事訴訟法が「(死刑の執行命令は)判決確定日から6カ月以内にしなければならない」と定めているのに、既に6カ月が経過したことを理由に「断固、執行は拒否する」とつづった。

 また、64歳の男性は「(死刑執行は)事前に告知して心の準備をする機会を与え、死刑囚自ら苦痛の軽減を図れるようにする」ことを要望。39歳の男性は「自分のした事の重さは十分に分かっているが、いつ執行で身体を持っていかれるか分からないという気持ちが分かりますか? 精神的な拷問と同じです。(中略)生きて償いをしたい」と訴えている。

 3月の大震災に触れたある男性は「被災地で生活している方々がいまだに不自由で苦難な生活をしているなかで、私は毎日3食も食事をいただき、入浴もさせていただいています」と記載。そのうえで「大切な血税にて生かされて、罪のない被災地の方々が苦労されていることを考えると、アンケートに答える気になれない」と被災者を気遣った。

 アンケートでは、再審請求の状況や処遇の実情についても質問。回答者の約6割に当たる52人が再審請求中で、20人が請求予定とした。また、親族などとの面会・文通が一切ないと答えたのは5人。他人と会話する機会がなく「3分でいいから生の会話がしたい」と訴える記述もみられた。

 <確定死刑囚の主なメッセージ>

 ◇奥西勝死刑囚(名張毒ぶどう酒事件)
 調書は誘導と強要によるもので、事実と全く違います。一日も早く再審開始して、無罪を決定してください。

 ◇間中博巳死刑囚(茨城同級生殺害事件)
 死刑囚というと“極悪非道”をイメージしますが、ほとんどの死刑囚は普通の人たちなのです。普通の人たちが道をふみ外して殺人などを犯してしまったのです。

 ◇小林光弘死刑囚(弘前武富士強殺放火事件)
 共同室(雑居房)から大きな笑い声が聞こえてきます。しかし、死刑囚が大声で笑うことはほとんどありえない事です。このような状況で、心情安定に努めなさいという事など無理な話です。

 ◇幾島賢治死刑囚(富山暴力団組長夫婦射殺事件)
 死刑問題には関係ないが、この国難の時に政争はやめてもらいたい。(中略)被災者を一日も早く救ってください。それが政治の仕事と思います。

確定死刑囚

確定死刑囚:複雑な思いの死刑囚 市民団体調査、86人回答 - 毎日jp(毎日新聞)

市民団体「死刑廃止国際条約の批准を求めるフォーラム90」は、今年6月時点で死刑が確定していた120人を対象に実施したアンケートの結果をまとめた。約7割に相当する86人が回答しており、死刑囚のナマの声が伝えられるのは異例。死刑制度に対する思いや、東日本大震災の被災者への配慮をつづった内容もみられた。【伊藤一郎】

 ◇刑受けるのが遺族様にできること/いつ執行か、精神的な拷問と同じ/3分でいいから生の会話したい
 ある男性は「その時がくれば、あらがうことなく刑を受けようと思う。それくらいしか被害者御遺族様にできることはない」と記入。一方で別の72歳の男性は、刑事訴訟法が「(死刑の執行命令は)判決確定日から6カ月以内にしなければならない」と定めているのに、既に6カ月が経過したことを理由に「断固、執行は拒否する」とつづった。

 また、64歳の男性は「(死刑執行は)事前に告知して心の準備をする機会を与え、死刑囚自ら苦痛の軽減を図れるようにする」ことを要望。39歳の男性は「自分のした事の重さは十分に分かっているが、いつ執行で身体を持っていかれるか分からないという気持ちが分かりますか? 精神的な拷問と同じです。(中略)生きて償いをしたい」と訴えている。

 3月の大震災に触れたある男性は「被災地で生活している方々がいまだに不自由で苦難な生活をしているなかで、私は毎日3食も食事をいただき、入浴もさせていただいています」と記載。そのうえで「大切な血税にて生かされて、罪のない被災地の方々が苦労されていることを考えると、アンケートに答える気になれない」と被災者を気遣った。

 アンケートでは、再審請求の状況や処遇の実情についても質問。回答者の約6割に当たる52人が再審請求中で、20人が請求予定とした。また、親族などとの面会・文通が一切ないと答えたのは5人。他人と会話する機会がなく「3分でいいから生の会話がしたい」と訴える記述もみられた。

 <確定死刑囚の主なメッセージ>

 ◇奥西勝死刑囚(名張毒ぶどう酒事件)
 調書は誘導と強要によるもので、事実と全く違います。一日も早く再審開始して、無罪を決定してください。

 ◇間中博巳死刑囚(茨城同級生殺害事件)
 死刑囚というと“極悪非道”をイメージしますが、ほとんどの死刑囚は普通の人たちなのです。普通の人たちが道をふみ外して殺人などを犯してしまったのです。

 ◇小林光弘死刑囚(弘前武富士強殺放火事件)
 共同室(雑居房)から大きな笑い声が聞こえてきます。しかし、死刑囚が大声で笑うことはほとんどありえない事です。このような状況で、心情安定に努めなさいという事など無理な話です。

 ◇幾島賢治死刑囚(富山暴力団組長夫婦射殺事件)
 死刑問題には関係ないが、この国難の時に政争はやめてもらいたい。(中略)被災者を一日も早く救ってください。それが政治の仕事と思います。

確定死刑囚

確定死刑囚:複雑な思いの死刑囚 市民団体調査、86人回答 - 毎日jp(毎日新聞)

市民団体「死刑廃止国際条約の批准を求めるフォーラム90」は、今年6月時点で死刑が確定していた120人を対象に実施したアンケートの結果をまとめた。約7割に相当する86人が回答しており、死刑囚のナマの声が伝えられるのは異例。死刑制度に対する思いや、東日本大震災の被災者への配慮をつづった内容もみられた。【伊藤一郎】

 ◇刑受けるのが遺族様にできること/いつ執行か、精神的な拷問と同じ/3分でいいから生の会話したい
 ある男性は「その時がくれば、あらがうことなく刑を受けようと思う。それくらいしか被害者御遺族様にできることはない」と記入。一方で別の72歳の男性は、刑事訴訟法が「(死刑の執行命令は)判決確定日から6カ月以内にしなければならない」と定めているのに、既に6カ月が経過したことを理由に「断固、執行は拒否する」とつづった。

 また、64歳の男性は「(死刑執行は)事前に告知して心の準備をする機会を与え、死刑囚自ら苦痛の軽減を図れるようにする」ことを要望。39歳の男性は「自分のした事の重さは十分に分かっているが、いつ執行で身体を持っていかれるか分からないという気持ちが分かりますか? 精神的な拷問と同じです。(中略)生きて償いをしたい」と訴えている。

 3月の大震災に触れたある男性は「被災地で生活している方々がいまだに不自由で苦難な生活をしているなかで、私は毎日3食も食事をいただき、入浴もさせていただいています」と記載。そのうえで「大切な血税にて生かされて、罪のない被災地の方々が苦労されていることを考えると、アンケートに答える気になれない」と被災者を気遣った。

 アンケートでは、再審請求の状況や処遇の実情についても質問。回答者の約6割に当たる52人が再審請求中で、20人が請求予定とした。また、親族などとの面会・文通が一切ないと答えたのは5人。他人と会話する機会がなく「3分でいいから生の会話がしたい」と訴える記述もみられた。

 <確定死刑囚の主なメッセージ>

 ◇奥西勝死刑囚(名張毒ぶどう酒事件)
 調書は誘導と強要によるもので、事実と全く違います。一日も早く再審開始して、無罪を決定してください。

 ◇間中博巳死刑囚(茨城同級生殺害事件)
 死刑囚というと“極悪非道”をイメージしますが、ほとんどの死刑囚は普通の人たちなのです。普通の人たちが道をふみ外して殺人などを犯してしまったのです。

 ◇小林光弘死刑囚(弘前武富士強殺放火事件)
 共同室(雑居房)から大きな笑い声が聞こえてきます。しかし、死刑囚が大声で笑うことはほとんどありえない事です。このような状況で、心情安定に努めなさいという事など無理な話です。

 ◇幾島賢治死刑囚(富山暴力団組長夫婦射殺事件)
 死刑問題には関係ないが、この国難の時に政争はやめてもらいたい。(中略)被災者を一日も早く救ってください。それが政治の仕事と思います。

Japan: Minister (of Justice) must not cave in to pressure on death penalty - Amnesty International

Japan: Minister must not cave in to pressure on death penalty - Amnesty International 

 

Japan’s justice minister should not sign execution warrants, Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network said today, following the minister’s announcement that he does not intend to end capital punishment, despite saying last month that he would not approve executions.

Justice Minister Hideo Hiraoka said Friday he would look at each death row case individually, after a prominent politician reportedly had encouraged him to exercise his power to authorize executions.

“After showing reluctance to sign execution warrants last month when he first took office, it is deeply alarming that Minister Hideo Hiraoka now seems to be under pressure to approve executions despite his own calls for caution,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Asia and the Pacific.

“The minister must stand by his original commitment which was to suspend executions until Japan’s application of the death penalty can be more carefully considered,” she added.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura reportedly encouraged Minister Hiraoka at a parliamentary committee on Wednesday to press ahead with  executions.

The last executions in Japan were carried out on 28 July 2010, when Ogata Hidenori and Shinozawa Kazuo were hanged in the Tokyo detention centre.

A study group on the death penalty was established by the former Minister of Justice Keiko Chiba in 2010. The study group is continuing to work under the current Minister, Hideo Hiraoka, who encouraged discussions on the subject both in public and within his ministry, taking into account international trends and opinions. 

No date for its report has been announced.

There are currently 126 people on death row in Japan. 

Executions in Japan are by hanging and are typically carried out in secret. Death row inmates are only notified on the morning of their execution and their families are usually informed only after the execution has taken place.

This means that death row prisoners live in constant fear of execution. Enduring these conditions for years or even decades has led to depression and mental illness among many death row inmates..

More than two thirds of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Out of 41 countries in the Asia-Pacific, 17 have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, nine are abolitionist in practice and one – Fiji – uses the death penalty only for exceptional military crimes. 

This means that less than half of the countries in that region still use this ultimate and irreversible punishment. Of the G8 nations, only Japan and the United States still use capital punishment.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to life in all cases, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.

“Japan should immediately commute all death sentences and introduce an official moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty,” said Catherine Baber.

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) is a regional network including lawyers, NGOs, journalists, human rights defenders and activists from 23 countries across the Asia Pacific region. 

ADPAN campaigns for an end to the death penalty across all countries in the region.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Footnote: 

"The executions are the first to be approved by Minister of Justice, Keiko Chiba, since she took office under the Democratic Party of Japan in September 2009. 

Minister Chiba, who has previously spoken out against executions, announced plans to set up a working group on the death penalty within the Ministry of Justice, following the double hanging."

From Amnesday International previous article in 2010 when Chiba san was Minister of Justice" 28th July Japan executionis of two condemned"

Hakamada Iwao is Japan's Longest Death Row Prisoner - His Birthday was on 10/3/11 - Amnesty International Pubic Statement for his Release

Please take time to read this Amnesty International Public Statement that called for Japan's Longest Death Row Prisoner to be granted a stay of execution and removed from death row. Amnesty Internationa's Pubilc Statement was released on 10/3/11, the day just before The Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disasters and so got no coverage in the media at that time. He will 'celebrate' his 76th birthday on 10/3/2012 - one day before the Ist Anniversary of the disasters. Consider the mental condition of a man who has been on death row for 43 years without knowing every morning wether or not this will be the day he is hanged before supper.

There are currently 126 people on death row in Japan. 

 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 

PUBLIC STATEMENT

AI Index: ASA 22/002/2011

10 March 2011

Amnesty International and ADPAN call for Japanese prisoner on death row for 43 years to be granted a stay of execution and removed from death row Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) call on the Minister of

Justice to grant a stay of execution for Hakamada Iwao in accordance with Article 479 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and for him to be taken off death row. Article 479 provides for a person to be granted a stay of execution in cases where the person is found to be suffering from mental illness. Hakamada Iwao, who celebrates his 75th birthday on 10 March, has been on death row since 1968.

He was convicted after an unfair trial of the 1966 murder of the managing director of the factory where he worked, and the man's wife and two children. 

Within months of the finalization of his death sentence, Hakamada began to show signs of seriously disturbed thinking and behaviour. The Prison authorities have refused access to Hakamada’s medical records, even to his family members and his legal representatives. Hakamada’s mental health condition continues to be of concern. 

Hakamada confessed after 20 days of interrogation by police without a lawyer present but later retracted his confession saying that he had been beaten and threatened during the interrogations.

One of the judges who convicted Hakamada, Kumamoto Norimichi, stated publicly in 2007 that he believed Hakamada was innocent but that he had been outvoted in the decision. 

Visitors to Hakamada in recent months have found him to be "confused, disorientated and rambling". He has been known to refuse his medication for hypertension and he suffers from diabetes.

His legal team, family and supporters are calling for Hakamada to be granted a stay of execution and removed from death row. They also continue to press his claim for a retrial based on concerns about the soundness of evidence against him. Japan has not commuted a death sentence since 1975.

Amnesty International further calls on the Government of Japan to initiate an immediate independent review of all cases where there is credible evidence that prisoners may be mentally ill and could fall within the scope of Article 479. 

Executions in Japan are by hanging and are typically carried out in secret. Death row inmates are only notified on the morning of their execution and their families are usually informed only after the execution has taken place. 

This means that prisoners live in constant fear of execution. Enduring these conditions for years or even decades has led to depression and mental illness among death row inmates.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to life in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. It calls on the government of Japan to immediately commute all death sentences and introduce an official moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty.The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) is a regional network of over 50 members including lawyers, NGOs, journalists, human rights defenders and activists from 23 countries across the Asia

Pacific region. ADPAN campaigns for an end to the death penalty across all countries in the region. 

A study group on the death penalty established by the former Justice Minister Ms Chiba Keiko is continuing to work under the current Justice Minister, Mr. Eda Satsuki. No date for its report has been announced. 

ENDS/

Public Document 

International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK

www.amnesty.org

**************************************** 

 

Full Text in PDF format at Amnesty International Website:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA22/002/2011/en/ec25ae91-dbd1-4fa8-...

Prisoners driven insane on Japan's death row, says Amnesty

Japan's new government is under pressure to abolish the death penalty after the human rights group Amnesty claimed the country's death row inmates are being driven insane and exposed to "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment.

An Amnesty report said the practice of telling inmates they are to be hanged just hours before they are taken to the gallows causes "significant mental illness". The charity called for an immediate halt to executions.

"Each day could be their last, and the arrival of a prison officer with a death warrant would signal their execution within hours," the report said. "Some live like this year after year, sometimes for decades."

The 72-page report, based on medical reports and interviews with the inmates' relatives and lawyers, says the men's families are told only after the sentence has been carried out.

Among the prisoners singled out by the report is Iwao Hakamada, a former professional boxer who has spent 41 years on death row – thought to be longer than any other condemned inmate in the world.

Hakamada, who was found guilty in 1968 of the murder of four members of the same family, was interrogated for 20 days without access to a lawyer and eventually convicted on the basis of a signed confession.

Serious doubts persist over the evidence presented against the 73-year-old, who says he was forced to sign. One of the three judges who heard his case has since said he believes the conviction is unsafe.

During a short medical assessment three years ago, Hakamada was asked if he understood what an execution was. He replied: "The wisdom never dies ... There are lots of ladies in the world, lots of animals. Everyone is living and feeling something. Elephants, dragons. No way will I die ... I won't die." A psychiatrist said recently that he was suffering from "institutional psychosis".

"Japan's death row system is driving prisoners into the depths of mental illness but they are still being taken and hanged at only hours' notice in an utterly cruel fashion," said Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK.

"The mental anguish of not knowing whether each day is to be your last on Earth is terrible enough. But Japan's justice system also sees fit to bury its death row prisoners in the most punitive regime of silence, isolation and a sheer non-existence imaginable."

Allen called on the incoming government, led by the centre-left Democratic party of Japan (DPJ), to put an immediate halt to executions.

In its manifesto, the DPJ said it would "encourage a national debate" on capital punishment, although it fell some way short of promising to join the growing number of countries to have abandoned executions.

The Amnesty report paints a distressing picture of life for death row inmates in Japan. They are not allowed to talk to other prisoners or move around their cells, except to go to the toilet.

They exercise outdoors only two or three times a week and meetings with relatives and lawyers can last as little as five minutes.

Amnesty claims that prisoners diagnosed as insane continue to be executed in violation of Japanese and international law.

Of the 32 men hanged between January 2006 and January this year, 17 were aged over 60, and five of those were in their 70s. There are currently 102 inmates on death row in Japan.

Prisoners driven insane on Japan's death row, says Amnesty
'Cruel' treatment including short-notice hangings, isolation and little exercise creates unbearable mental strain, says report

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 September 2009 18.43 BST
Article history

Japan - Death-row inmate's thoughts on death penalty, politics and March 11 disasters

A citizens' group seeking the Japanese government's ratification of an international treaty to abolish the death penalty has compiled the results of a survey conducted among death-row inmates, providing an unusual glimpse into inmates' thoughts on their crimes, prison conditions, the death penalty, politics and the March 11 disasters.

The survey was conducted by the anti-capital punishment group Forum 90. Of the 120 inmates on death row as of June 2011, 86 inmates, or approximately 70 percent, responded.

"When the time comes, I plan to accept my punishment without resistance. That's the only thing I can do for the bereaved families of the victim," wrote one male inmate.

By law, the justice minister must order the execution of a death-row inmate within six months of a death sentence, but the executions of those appealing for a retrial or whose accomplices are still undergoing trial are generally postponed.

A 72-year-old respondent complained about this inconsistency with which the death penalty is carried out. "The Code of Criminal Procedure says that executions must take place within six months after the death sentence is confirmed. I'm adamantly opposed to the death sentence now," the inmate said, citing the fact that it has been over six months since he was handed down the sentence.

Meanwhile, a 64-year-old inmate and a 39-year-old inmate, both men, said they wanted to be given prior notice about their execution date -- something not done under the current system. "Give death-row inmates the opportunity to emotionally prepare themselves by telling them when they'll be executed ahead of time, so that the inmates themselves can try to reduce their own suffering," the 64-year-old wrote.

"I fully understand the gravity of what I did, but can you understand what it feels like not to know when I'll be taken away to be executed?" the 39-year-old wrote. "It's the same as psychological torture ... I want to live to atone for my crime."

Another death-row inmate, Hiromi Manaka, who was sentenced to death for the murder of two former classmates, wrote: "When you think of death-row inmates, you think of diabolical criminals. But most of them are ordinary people. They're ordinary people who strayed from the right path and committed crimes like murder."

One male inmate referred to the tragedies caused by the March 11 earthquake as the reason for his refusal to respond fully to the survey. "There are people in the disaster areas who are still leading very hard lives, and here I am, receiving three meals a day and the chance to bathe," he wrote, adding: "Knowing that I'm being allowed to live on taxpayers' money while innocent people hit by the disaster are still struggling, I cannot bring myself to respond to the survey."

The survey asked inmates about their retrial appeals and conditions in prison. Some 60 percent of respondents, or 52 people, wrote that they had lodged appeals, and 20 said that they were planning to do the same.

Masaru Okunishi, who was sentenced to death for his involvement in a wine poisoning case that left five dead in Mie Prefecture in 1961, wrote: "My statement is the product of leading questions and force, and is not at all the truth. I am seeking that a retrial be started as soon as possible, and for my innocence to be proven."

As a rule, death-row inmates are confined to an isolation cell. They are barred from having any interactions with other inmates, and have limited opportunities to exchange letters with or receive visits from those from the outside world. Five of the survey's respondents said that they had received no visits or letters from family or friends. One respondent lamented not being able to speak to other people: "I wish I could have just three minutes to talk to a live person."

"I can hear loud laughter from the communal cells. It's pretty impossible for a death-row inmate to laugh like that. Under these circumstances, it's not possible to stay calm, as we're advised to do," wrote Mitsuhiro Kobayashi, who is on death row for armed robbery, murder and arson in the Aomori Prefecture city of Hirosaki in 2001.

Still others had things to say not so much about the death penalty, but about the state of politics today. "I wish they'd stop with the political scuffles in face of such national difficulties," wrote Kenji Ikushima, who is on death row for the murder of the head of a crime syndicate and his wife in the Toyama Prefecture city of Takaoka in 2000. "Please save the victims of the disaster as soon as possible. That is the role of politicians."

According to the Criminal Justice Department of the Ministry of Justice, 124 inmates were on death row as of Nov. 10. According to the Criminal Justice Department of the Ministry of Justice, 124 inmates were on death row as of Nov. 10. Some past justice ministers have refused to order executions based on personal philosophy or beliefs. The ministry currently has a committee set up to discuss the pros and cons of the death penalty system.

Nothing has changed over the years even though the plight of Japan's death row inmates and the mental stress they are all under not being informed before the actual day of their executions has been covered in serious depth reporters for over a decade. A comparison of this article with one written by the Guardian's Justin McCurry of The Guardian Newspaper as far back as 2004 shows how successive governments have failed to address this inhumane practice.

"Capital question"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/oct/12/japan.worlddispatch

"Japan's appetite for the death penalty is drawing criticism from its own legal commuity and international organisations, writes Justin McCurry

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 October 2004 12.04 BST
Article history

2011年11月13日日曜日

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Opened to Some Journalists NHK World's Video Report

Fukushima plant opened to journalists

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been opened to reporters for the first time since the accident occurred 8 months ago.

On Saturday, 36 reporters and cameramen from Tokyo and Fukushima and from other countries put on protective gear and full face masks, and accompanied nuclear crisis minister Goshi Hosono to the site of the accident.

They stayed on a bus during the one-hour tour that started around 11 AM to minimize exposure to radiation.

The crew saw reactor buildings that were severely damaged by hydrogen explosions and vehicles hit by the tsunami that remain on the site.

A facility to clean contaminated water and a number of tanks to store cleansed water have been set up, and rubble has been removed from roads.

However, the reporters could finally see first-hand the intensity of the explosions and the overwhelming power of the tsunami.

The head of the plant, Masao Yoshida, told the reporters that he had thought he would die several times during the week that followed the accident.

He said he had thought he would not survive when the No.1 and No.3 reactors exploded, and when his team was unable to inject water into the No.2 reactor.

 

Sunday, November 13, 2011 01:13 +0900 (JST)

Japan shows the way with disaster counselling (trauma recovery care to prevent and reduce PTSD

Japan shows the way with disaster counselling 

Japan Mental Health Professionals Trauma Recovery Care Approach to help people recover and move in their communities and in their lives; and in so doing, prevent and reduce the possible occourance of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in  'Post '3D' Japan. 

ABC radio report well worth the listen. This is one of the very few positive reports to have gone to the trouble of actually interviewing a mental health professional, in this case by telephone it seems, in Japan who is actually deeply involved in the coordinated efforts of 44 national and regional mental health organizations across Japan. The Japanese psychiatrist who speaks here is Dr Yoshiharu Kim who, as well as being as this report correctly states, the director of Adult Mental Health Department at the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Insitute of Mental Health - National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry is also a leading member of the Japan Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

The JSTSS has a membership of well over 1000 so when in the early media/well meaning but sometimes misinformed international voluntary groups first wave of reports and statements (some such as the Yomiuri Shimbun erroneous claim that there well less than 20 psychotherapists capable of providing mental health care for PTSD in the whole of Japan and with none supposedly in the Tohoku Region) were washed up from the waves of uncertainty that followed in the first early understandably highly subjective weeks we experienced here after the 3 Disasters of Eathquakes, Tsumani and the 3 Nuclear Reactors Meltdowns, well, then it was little wonder that many of these reports from people who could not speak Japanese and were not in the main people with any expert knowlegde on trauma and PTSD recover training, began bemoaning the misassumed 'lack of PTSD specialists' among the 100,000 + qualified and licensed mental health professionals in Japan. 

This report from Australia's ABC is refreshing as it shows respect for and gives credit to the knowlege and expertise of Japan's mental health profesionals approach to providing the most appropriate and culturally sensitive, careful and caring, professional and community supportive approach in providing help to families, chiidren and individuals in the worst effected farming, fishing and industrial communiites who have suffered the most from the devastion, disruption to everyday life and at times intense sense of insecurity and worry. Accurate, postive and encouraging reports on the work of Japan's tired but tirelessly working excellent and dedicated mental health professionals like this can play their part in allying fears in the mind of people with enough worry about the medium and long lerm effects from the one unnatural disaster of the 3D's, 

Having written that there are just two minorl points that I feel could be clarified from within ABC's report here:

Kate Prideaux says, "But not everyone agrees with the idea. Immediate debriefing has been used in the treatment of the disorder since the 80s and was also used after the September 11 attacks. I think the "immediate debriefing" she refers to was CISM (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing) which was an approach that was used widely in the 80's and was the darling of EAP schemes and MHC in America in the 80's and 90's. This may have had some success in individual traumatic events such as fires and car accident victims. However after 9/11 the scale of the loss of over 3000 lives and the effects on the population of New York was so great that the widespread use of immediate CISD 'crisis debriefing' with people who had witnessed the destruction of the Twin Towers and with people who had lost friends, relatives and colleagues when the towers collapsed actually seems to have had a negative effect on some of the victims and in some cases it has been reported that the added stress of being asked to recall and recount the trauma played a significant part in increasing the distress and increasing the fears, anxieties and feeling of loss of control in their lives to such an extent that I have heard reports of people who experienced panic attacks during and while waiting in turn to be 'debriefed'. 

Also I do not agree with the comment in the ABC report that "two weeks after the Japanese earthquake a report in The Lancet suggested acute intervetion was still the best way to go." I have read that report (which was first published online on March 22nd just ten days after the quake) and there was no suggestion of actue invention. The report was actually in the main on the situation as it was then that, "health and aid workers in Japan face multiple challenges in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that have devastated the country’s northeast coast". At a time when the aid workers from other countries, who were trying their best to be of help to the people in that very devastated region, and at the same time were trying to get their minds around the immense scale of the the scenes of destructiion that they may very well never have imagined or experienced in their lives beforeof the two natural disasters amid daliy news reports of nuclear plant explosions and dangerous levels of radiation emmission spreading through the region and heading towards Tokyo, can be forgiven if, like the rest of us who have lived here all through that frightening and insecure time in Tokyo and Japan, sometimes let their emotions get the best of their usual reason and so sought to make 'authoriative' statements such as appeared just in one or two paragraphs of a very , "“Children we talk to say that whenever there's a tremor they are scared that something is going to happen”, says Stephen McDonald of Save the Children, which has set up an operations base in Sendai. Children who have been caught up in disasters can develop behavioural and mental health problems unless they receive counselling at an early stage. Left untreated, those initial fears can impinge on their development as adults".

Actually, during that time, whenever there was a tremor (aftershocks actually. of which there were hundreds in the first weeks and months following on from the magnitude earthquake of 11th March and a few of which exceeded the 6.8 magnitude level of the 1995 'The Great Hanshin earthquake', or 'Kobe earthquake' that killed 6,434 people on January 17th, 1995), - well, actually during that time children and adults, Japanese and foreign aid work volunteers, commentators and journalists, bureaucrats and politicians, community psychiatric mental health daycare members (such as the ones with whom I was faciliating our weekly Friday communication group on the 5th floor of a clinic in Ikebukuro when the quake happened at 2.46 p.m. on 11/3/11) and all mental health professionals... well, we all had one thing in common when aftershocks occoured: we were all natrually scared and worried that something was going to happen, and it was only natural to be subjective and feel insecure and make decisions based more on emotional reactions than logic or reason because we were still all still going through what may hopefully turn out to be the most frightening and unsettling time of the lives of those millions of us who experienced it. The disasters were not over at that time, and to some extent we still are living though aspects of the 3Ds: the Tsunami has come and gone but the effects of its destructive power on the lives and communities of Tohoku remain, the first day without any aftershocks recorded did not occour until early June and the nuclear disaster is stll ongoing and not resolved to the satisfaction of the worried heart-minds of the good people of Tohoku and the rest of Japan. So it is little wonder that many early reports of Japan facing massive percentage predictions of PTSD sufferers (groundless predictions as the benefit of hindsight now allows us all now that we have entered a relatively calmer period in the processing and recover stages following disasters of these nature and of one unnatural man made disaster) untreated in a country virtually lacking in any mental health professionals capable of providing psychosocial support and treatment for those who experienced the trauma of the 3Ds. Being afraid. and for many, needing months to recover a sense of emotional and mental equilibrium was/is only natural for all who went through this time in Japan. To support the children and adults who have suffered most grief and lost so much to help them in a measured, calm and healthy way to process the traumatic experinces and leave their fears behind in time is the task that licensed mental health professionals in Japan are addressing now seven days a week. And their dedication and deep committment to help and promote recovery from the truamas and bring peace of mind to all who have been effected by the 3Ds is steadfast and will be enduring until parents and familes of all the children of Tohoku and Japan can will see them smile and laugh, play and sleep peacefully once more. 

Andrew Grimes  - Sunday November 13th, 2011

Kate Prideaux reported this story on Friday, November 11, 2011 12:46:00

PETER CAVE: This year's devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan not only scarred the country's landscape but was expected to leave profound emotional scars on its people.

However medical personnel arriving on the scene were discouraged from immediately counselling survivors in the belief that it would not prevent post traumatic stress disorder and may in fact increase a person's risk.

While some saw the approach as controversial a review out this month suggests the Japanese are in fact ahead of the pack.

Kate Prideaux reports.

KATE PRIDEAUX: Within days of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami more than 1000 Japanese medical personnel were dispatched to help survivors.

Teams were issued with a handbook containing parts of Japan's mental health policy and told to counsel only those with existing mental health problems or those displaying obvious signs of distress.

They were told to hold off on counselling the rest.

Yoshiharu Kim is the director of Adult Mental Health at the National Institute of Mental Health in Tokyo. 

YOSHIHARU KIM: After treating the you know, the previously mentally ill people, the mental health teams started to take care of the new victims of the disaster. 

So the staff teams mainly did what we call outreach services. That means they just walked around the refugee camps and villages and just say hello and is there something I can do for you and so on and so on.

KATE PRIDEAUX: Eight months on Kim says hospitals and clinics in Japan have so far seen no increase in the number of patients with depression or post traumatic stress disorder.

The Japanese first adopted the hands-off approach eight years ago and more recently the UN's mental health policy moved in the same direction.

Last week a review from the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf backed the Japanese method. It found psychological debriefing in the first hours after a traumatic event does not help prevent post traumatic stress.

Yoshiharu Kim:

YOSHIHARU KIM: Acute intrusive intervention such as psychological debriefing has been proved to be not effective or sometimes harmful to the people. 

So in acute phase we should not touch the deep layer of traumatic experiences of the victims. And such a you know concept of doing acute intervention will cause more confusion than benefit. 

KATE PRIDEAUX: Symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder include anxiety, flashbacks, nausea and nightmares.

But Yoshiharu Kim says only a fraction of trauma victims will develop the disorder.

YOSHIHARU KIM: To have anxiety in disaster situation is a kind of normal response. So most of those anxiety are not the target of medical treatment. It's a natural human response. 

And 80 or 90 per cent of the people have resilience. They can recover by their own will.

KATE PRIDEAUX: But not everyone agrees with the idea. Immediate debriefing has been used in the treatment of the disorder since the 80s and was also used after the September 11 attacks. 

Then two weeks after the Japanese earthquake a report in The Lancet journal suggested acute intervention was still the best way to go.

However many Australian researchers support the newer way of thinking adopted in Japan.

Professor Justin Kennedy from the University of Queensland compared emergency services workers who received immediate counselling after the Newcastle earthquake with those who didn't.

JUSTIN KENNEDY: And we found to our surprise that no it didn't have any benefit and it seemed to interfere with the normal process of recovery. 

KATE PRIDEAUX: In Australia a new treatment called "psychological first aid" was used after the Victorian bushfires and floods and cyclone in Queensland.

Like the Japanese approach it discourages immediate counselling.

Darryl Wade is from the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health in Melbourne. 

DARRYL WADE: Really what psychological first aid encourages is firstly to establish safety of the person who's been affected, to provide them with a sense of security, to provide them with practical assistance and also to provide them with information that they need to encourage them to get back to their usual routines. 

KATE PRIDEAUX: But despite growing momentum Wade says more evidence is needed to support the modern approach.

DARYL WADE: At this stage we don't have any good scientific evidence to suggest that it actually works, you know, that it promotes people to recover more quickly or to be more adaptive. 

KATE PRIDEAUX: Japan's experience may just provide the evidence he is looking for.

 

 

Japanese Government updates nuclear radiation maps with data on more Prefectures

The Mainichi Daily News

News

Gov't updates radiation maps with data on six new prefectures

A screen capture of a map released on Nov. 11 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology displaying accumulated radioactive cesium levels in eastern Japan. (Mainichi)
A screen capture of a map released on Nov. 11 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology displaying accumulated radioactive cesium levels in eastern Japan. (Mainichi)

The government has released soil radiation maps covering a much broader swath of Japan than previous releases, covering six new prefectures.

The newly included prefectures are Iwate, Yamanashi, Nagano, Shizuoka, Gifu, and Toyama.

Areas contaminated with 30,000 to 100,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per square meter were found in the municipalities of Ichinoseki and Oshu in Iwate Prefecture, Saku, Karuizawa, and Sakuho in Nagano Prefecture, Tabayama in Yamanashi Prefecture, and elsewhere.

The measurements were taken by helicopter and combine contamination with both cesium-134 and -137, which have half-lives of two and 30 years, respectively.

(Mainichi Japan) November 12, 2011

2011年11月10日木曜日

Japanese Government Radiation Decontamination Cleanup Plan Falls Short Japan Times Experts Warn

Media_httpwwwjapantim_fepjj

RADIATION DECONTAMINATION
Radiation cleanup plan falls short
Experts liken current strategy to letting nature run its course

By KAZUAKI NAGATA
Staff writer
Radioactive fallout from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has caused widespread fear, prompting the government in August to adopt basic targets for decontamination efforts in and around Fukushima Prefecture.

Into the drain: A worker in protective gear uses a high-power hose to remove radioactive materials from the roof of a community hall in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Oct. 17. KAZUAKI NAGATA
But the government's plan falls short and efforts should focus in particular on residential areas with more aggressive decontamination measures and goals, including reducing current radiation levels by 90 percent, two radiation experts said when interviewed by The Japan Times.

"I really doubt their seriousness (about decontamination)," said radiation expert Tomoya Yamauchi, a professor at the Graduate School of Maritime Sciences at Kobe University.

Areas with radiation exposure readings representing more than 20 millisieverts per year have been declared no-go zones, and the government has shifted the focus of its decontamination plan to areas with radiation readings, based on an annual accumulative amount, of between 20 millisieverts and more than 1 millisievert, with the goal of reducing the contamination by 50 to 60 percent over two years.

Decontamination efforts by humans, however, are expected to only yield a reduction of 10 to 20 percent.

Nature, including the impact of rain, wind and the normal degradation of the radioactivity of cesium-134, whose half-life is roughly two years, is assumed to do the rest, thus reaching the best-case scenario of cutting the contamination by 60 percent.

The experts said the government's goal of human effort achieving a 10 to 20 percent reduction is not ambitious enough.

"A 10 percent reduction doesn't really mean anything. I mean, 40 percent of the radiation would be reduced just by natural causes, so I think the government is almost saying it is just going to wait for the radioactive materials to decrease naturally," said Shunichi Tanaka, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan.

The main radioactive materials that spewed from the Fukushima No. 1 plant are cesium-134 and -137, the second of which has a half-life of 30 years. Given the relatively short half-life of cesium-134, the total radiation will naturally be halved in four years and fall to one-third in six years, although the threat from the latter will remain for a longer time.

The government is now trying to reduce contamination mainly by using high-power water hoses, known as pressure washers, on structures and removing surface soil and vegetation in limited areas.

But radioactive cesium can find its way into minute cracks and crevices. It is hard to remove, for example, from roofs made of certain materials, or surfaces that are rusted or whose paint is peeling, Yamauchi said.

He has monitored radiation in areas in the city of Fukushima and found that the levels were still quite high after the city performed cleanup operations.

To lower the contamination to pre-March 11 levels, Yamauchi said drastic, and highly costly, efforts by the government are needed, including replacing roofs and removing the surface asphalt of roads.

Tanaka meanwhile pointed out that the government has not even floated a plan for decontaminating the no-go zones where the radiation exceeds 20 millisieverts per year — areas where there isn't even a timetable for when evacuees will be able to return.

If the government doesn't speed up the decontamination work, it will be years before the evacuees may be able to return home, he said, adding that the government can't set a target date because it isn't sure how the cleanup effort will fare.

The government's stance regarding the no-go zone is largely based on recommendations by the International Commission on Radiological Protection and other scientists that call for the maximum radiation exposure of between 20 and 100 millisieverts per year under an emergency situation.

The ICRP theorizes that cumulative exposure of 100 millisieverts could increase the cancer mortality risk by about 0.5 percent, meaning about 50 out of 10,000 people exposed to that level could die of cancer caused by radiation.

Scientists are split over whether exposure to less than 100 millisieverts is harmful. Yamauchi maintains that low-level exposure could pose risks to residents in Fukushima, and he heard from many that they don't want to continue living there due to the fear. The government should thus widen the evacuation zone, he said.

Because the decontamination process is closely connected with the people living in the affected areas, Tanaka said their participation in the process is crucial.

He has been conducting cleanup work in Fukushima while serving as a decontamination adviser for the municipal government of Date, Fukushima Prefecture. He noted decontamination also entails cleaning up private spaces.

Another issue is the need for communities to reach consensus on where to temporarily store contaminated waste.

"Municipalities need to communicate closely with residents (to solicit their involvement) . . . without the participation of the residents, they can't find space for the storage," Tanaka said.

Minamata disease exhibit offers lessons to radiation-hit Fukushima

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- An exhibition will be held from Friday through Nov. 20 in Shirakawa, nuclear crisis-hit Fukushima Prefecture, showing how Minamata disease caused by chemical maker Chisso Corp. has affected those living in coastal areas of the Shiranui Sea, including Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture.

The struggle of the mercury-poisoning disease sufferers will be displayed to those affected by radiation from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, as both groups have been victimized by corporate activities in the process of Japan's postwar growth and prosperity.

"We, the people in Fukushima Prefecture, now suffer the damage inflicted by money-driven business operations as were the people of Minamata," said Mari Obuchi, a member of the local organizing group of the exhibition. "We hope the visitors to the exhibition will find clues about tackling the radiation issue through the experiences of Minamata."

The whole picture of damage caused by Minamata disease, including the number of victims, remains unclear even 55 years after its official recognition, partly because a health survey of affected areas has not been carried out, experts point out.

As one lesson to be learned from Minamata disease, some experts stress the need to list the names of all those who have been affected by radioactivity from the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster so authorities can track their health for decades to come.

Since its launch in 1996, the Minamata exhibition has drawn around 130,000 visitors to 21 venues nationwide.

Among the displays are pictures of Minamata and its residents, the mercury sludge collected at the bottom of Minamata Bay and 490 portraits of dead victims.

Videotaped testimonies of Minamata disease patients will be aired continuously at the exhibition site, while screenings of films on the issue of Minamata disease and a symposium attended by a Minamata disease patient and journalists will also be held.

The neurological illness, caused by mercury-tainted water dumped into the sea by Chisso, has affected coastal residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. A similar disease was confirmed in Niigata Prefecture later, which was caused by waste water from a Showa Denko K.K. plant.

Minamata disease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease

Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan in 1956. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which when eaten by the local populace resulted in mercury poisoning. While cat, dog, pig, and human deaths continued over more than 30 years, the government and company did little to prevent the pollution.

2011年11月9日水曜日

Google honours son of Fukushima Hideyo Noguchi's, 135th Birthday"I will never come back until I realize my aspiration". A great dreamer 夢

Google honours son of Fukushima Hideyo Noguchi's, 135th Birthday"I will never come back until I realize my aspiration". A great dreamer 夢

 

Search

Ym961_le

The Dreamer of Fukushima

http://www.pref.fukushima.jp/list_e/ym961_le.html

… come back soon …

PS Check your Y1000 bank notes if you want to see another picture of how Japan honours this son and dreamer of Fukushima who was Japan's first world renowned micobiologist and who gave his life to curing illness and died in Africa of the yellow fevor he sought a cure for... Born in Fukushima, gave his life in Africa and laid to rest in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx...

 

2011年11月8日火曜日

Tokyo City Starts Food Shops Radiation Tests

Tokyo city starts radiation tests on food in shops

(AFP) – 5 hours ago 

TOKYO — Tokyo city government on Tuesday began radiation tests on samples of food bought in shops to reassure residents amid a contamination scare after a major nuclear accident in northeast Japan.

It is rare that authorities check on products at the point of sale and the the inspection includes processed food as well as fresh produce.

The metropolitan government is measuring radiation on vegetables and other fresh food to complement pre-shipment tests at places of production.

"We are conducting tests on the food residents are actually buying at supermarkets and other retail stores," an official in charge of the food monitoring said, adding some Tokyo residents had requested the tests.

The city plans to conduct tests on 20-30 items a week, he said.

"Our tests are designed to complement checks that have been conducted" by the central and local governments, the Tokyo official said.

The city will post tests results on its website every week starting Wednesday. Food items found to have radiation levels above restriction levels will be banned.

A massive tsunami triggered by a 9.0 earthquake on March 11 crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which has since spewed radiation into the air, soil and sea.

Japan has temporarily banned shipments of a range of foodstuffs including beef, green vegetables, milk and dairy products, small fish, mushrooms and green tea from some areas of the country after contamination was found.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Andrew Tokyo Japan on "The Many paths to Avoid Writing" True Avoidance Step #1: posting cute photos of one's owner.. (;

4689b29609c311e19896123138142014_7

2011年11月6日日曜日

Save the children of Japan from radiation Human Rights Foundation Petition

Save the children of Japan from radiation

by S. C.

A petition is being presented to Japanese Consulates and Embassies worldwide. A partial list of the cities participating include London, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Munich, Osaka, Paris, New York City, Washington DC and San Francisco. The petition appeals to the Japanese government to protect the children of Japan by evacuating them from highly radioactive areas. Bianca Jagger, Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, will be hand delivering the petition to the Embassy of Japan at 101-104 Piccadilly.

The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has poisoned the air, food supply, soil and water. Small children have been tested and found to be contaminated with radiation. The Japanese Government has not evacuated these children, instead they have the raised the limits of exposure. The petition also addresses the spread of radioactive contamination. Tokyo has officially agreed to accept 500,000 tons of radioactive disaster rubble. In a matter of days the first shipment of 1,000 tons of radioactive rubble will be delivered to Tokyo to be burned and dumped into the Tokyo Bay. The world must insist the Japanese government protect the people, not the corporation TEPCO. Two academic journal reports released this month find that the radiation fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident is bigger than that reported by the Japanese government and up to 30 times the amount stated by TEPCO.

In New York City the petition will be delivered to the Consulate-General of Japan at 3pm located at 299 Park Ave, New York, NY. A peaceful sit-in will take place in front of the building from 11AM to 5PM. New York City residents greatly concerned about the Indian Point nuclear plant which is located only 25 miles from the Big Apple will also be in attendance. Residents have voiced concerns about the accident prone facility and the similarities between TEPCO and the Entergy Corporation in regard to irresponsible management and the failure to meet required safety measures. Legal contentions against Entergy have been filed in New York State regarding the relicensing of the aging plant for 20 years beyond its engineered life. More information is available at the official website for the cause: ShutDownIndianPointNow.org

About the organizer of this event - One World No Nukes. “Through the arts, we aim to raise awareness regarding the devastation in Fukushima and the ongoing effects of radiation throughout Japan and the world. Our efforts include art exhibitions, screenings, lectures and performing arts.”

by S. C.
05 November 2011 Teatro Naturale International n. 10 Year 3

2011年11月5日土曜日

U.S. think tank calls for Fukushima radiation exposure survey

U.S. think tank calls for radiation exposure survey on Fukushima

This Sept. 29, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. shows the No. 2 reactor building of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
This Sept. 29, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. shows the No. 2 reactor building of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- U.S. think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Thursday unveiled a set of proposals for rebuilding Japan from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster, including a call for a health survey on long-term radiation exposure in the wake of the nuclear accident triggered by the disaster.

In a report titled "Partnership for Recovery and a Stronger Future," the think tank called for establishing an "independent panel of U.S., Japanese, and other experts to address the health implications of low-dose, long-term radiation in Japan in order to bring benefits to both Japanese citizens and the larger world community."

The think tank also recommended creating a "U.S.-Japan Joint Commission on Fukushima" to investigate the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

"A bilateral, public-private commission to streamline synergetic efforts by the U.S. and Japanese private sector would greatly benefit Japanese efforts, but also allow both countries a more structured way of digesting lessons learned from Fukushima and implementing actions needed to improve the safe operation of nuclear power plants in the United States, Japan, and around the world," the report said.

Japan's largest business lobby, the Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren, also took part in drafting the proposals.

The report called for establishing Special Economic Zones in the disaster-hit Tohoku region to promote economic recovery.

A strategy for such zones that "prioritizes private-sector-led job creation in the region and which overrides strong sectionalism among and between central and local governments can attract investment that the citizens and governments in Tohoku clearly want," it said.

This satellite file image taken on March 14, 2011, and provided by DigitalGlobe shows the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe)
This satellite file image taken on March 14, 2011, and provided by DigitalGlobe shows the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe)

The report also called for strengthening the legislative authority of the soon-to-be-established Reconstruction Agency.

In light of the fallout from the nuclear accident, the report also highlighted the importance of promptly drafting a long-term energy strategy.

(Mainichi Japan) November 4, 2011

 

2011年11月3日木曜日

Psychotherapy Meets Africa World Congress 2014

Psychotherapy meets Africa - World Congress 2014

 

How wonderful! Finally Psycotherapy is going home to meet mother Africa, psychotherapy is going home to the lands where we all come from and so from where the seeds of psychothrapy first grew. Time to listen to our elders. (; It will take an earthquake to stop me going to this World Congress of Psychotherapy in 2014! But don't quote me as unfortunately that is exactly what stopped me from going to the World Congress of Psychotherapy in Australia in 2011! Never say never again... but still already looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones there in Africa in 2014!! 

2011年11月1日火曜日

Radiation Cleanup Confounds Japan WSJ, Fuels Mental Health Fears AFG

Article Excerpt

Radiation Cleanup Confounds Japan

BY YUMIKO ONO

KORIYAMA, Japan—Nearly eight months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident scattered radioactive material over surrounding communities, Japan still is struggling to figure out how to clean up the mess, exacerbating fears about health risks and fanning mistrust of the government.

Government guidelines provide scant detail about the $14-billion-plus effort. A new cleanup law doesn't take effect until January. Cities across Fukushima prefecture are scraping contaminated topsoil off school grounds and parks, but Tokyo hasn't yet decided where to store the tainted material. Frustrated residents of some towns have planted sunflowers in a fruitless effort to suck radioactive cesium out of ...

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This type of shallow-pit burial has not been used in the U.S. since the 1960s," she says. "This is definitely not a good idea.