2012年3月25日日曜日

Kudokushi

Support system needed to banish 'lonely deaths' from Japan's cities

The home where the man and his mother were found dead is pictured in Yokohama's Asahi Ward on March 17. (Mainichi)
The home where the man and his mother were found dead is pictured in Yokohama's Asahi Ward on March 17. (Mainichi)

A number of so-called "lonely deaths" have been discovered across Japan this year, some weeks or even months after the people passed away. In many of these cases, a physically or mentally impaired person has died following the passing of their sole caregiver. Without the means to feed themselves or keep warm, they departed our world unnoticed, and in pitiable conditions.

The realities of Japan's aging society are about to hit the country's urban centers in earnest, and methods for supporting the families of the elderly and the disabled -- two groups vulnerable to social isolation -- must be prepared sooner rather than later.

In one case in Sapporo, a 42-year-old woman and her mentally disabled sister, 40, were found in their apartment about a month after they'd died. The elder sister had apparently passed away from an illness, leaving her sibling to fend for herself. She could not, and is thought to have frozen to death.

In another case at an apartment in Tachikawa, Tokyo, a 4-year-old mentally disabled boy died after his mother, 45, passed away. In the same Tokyo city, the bodies of two women thought to be a mentally disabled mother, 95, and daughter, 63, were found in a public housing unit.

In all these incidents, the bodies were not discovered for one to two months after the people had died. There was a similar incident in Yokohama, where a 77-year-old woman and her mentally impaired son, 44, were found dead.

The first common feature of all these incidents is that they all happened in apartments in urban areas. The second is that they all involve pairs of people, one of whom was an elderly or disabled person being cared for by the other. The third is that none of the households were receiving social services or welfare payments, and fourth, none of the dead had significant social interactions with their neighbors.

There are many households just like these all over Japan's cities. And these days, as much of society goes about its business in relative tranquility, sometimes no one notices when the caregiver in one of these homes falls ill or has a debilitating accident. Then, there is nothing left but to die, shut away in their apartment, their disabled charge following soon after.

Much attention has been paid to the aging of Japan's rural population, but it is the major cities that are now the front line in this trend; the Tokyo area, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo and so on. City dwellers often have only ephemeral connections to their neighbors, and internal family supports are also weak. The average number of people per household in Tokyo, for example, is 1.99.

There were clues to the lonely deaths mentioned above. Utility bills stopped getting paid and the electricity and gas were shut off, mail started to pile up, and neighborhood council membership fees weren't submitted. In some cases, worried neighbors consulted municipal officials. However, privacy concerns prevented anyone from reaching out to help. Certainly, the municipal governments concerned deserve criticism for their negligence, but every local body needs to take the initiative and work out policies on what to do in similar situations.

Home nursing insurance and social services have slowly improved. Compared to the "pinpoint" support provided by homecare workers and day centers, however, the "blanket" support of group homes for the elderly and disabled remains insufficient in local areas. There are a number of reasons for this, including opposition from local communities, severe anti-disaster and architectural regulations, and tiny budgets holding down staff numbers.

Social services that directly address the needs of people caring for an elderly or disabled family member are also required. Under present conditions, it should surprise no one if we see more lonely deaths like the tragedies uncovered this year.

(Mainichi Japan) March 22, 2012

 

Support system needed to banish 'lonely deaths' from Japan's cities

Support system needed to banish 'lonely deaths' from Japan's cities

The home where the man and his mother were found dead is pictured in Yokohama's Asahi Ward on March 17. (Mainichi)
The home where the man and his mother were found dead is pictured in Yokohama's Asahi Ward on March 17. (Mainichi)

A number of so-called "lonely deaths" have been discovered across Japan this year, some weeks or even months after the people passed away. In many of these cases, a physically or mentally impaired person has died following the passing of their sole caregiver. Without the means to feed themselves or keep warm, they departed our world unnoticed, and in pitiable conditions.

The realities of Japan's aging society are about to hit the country's urban centers in earnest, and methods for supporting the families of the elderly and the disabled -- two groups vulnerable to social isolation -- must be prepared sooner rather than later.

In one case in Sapporo, a 42-year-old woman and her mentally disabled sister, 40, were found in their apartment about a month after they'd died. The elder sister had apparently passed away from an illness, leaving her sibling to fend for herself. She could not, and is thought to have frozen to death.

In another case at an apartment in Tachikawa, Tokyo, a 4-year-old mentally disabled boy died after his mother, 45, passed away. In the same Tokyo city, the bodies of two women thought to be a mentally disabled mother, 95, and daughter, 63, were found in a public housing unit.

In all these incidents, the bodies were not discovered for one to two months after the people had died. There was a similar incident in Yokohama, where a 77-year-old woman and her mentally impaired son, 44, were found dead.

The first common feature of all these incidents is that they all happened in apartments in urban areas. The second is that they all involve pairs of people, one of whom was an elderly or disabled person being cared for by the other. The third is that none of the households were receiving social services or welfare payments, and fourth, none of the dead had significant social interactions with their neighbors.

There are many households just like these all over Japan's cities. And these days, as much of society goes about its business in relative tranquility, sometimes no one notices when the caregiver in one of these homes falls ill or has a debilitating accident. Then, there is nothing left but to die, shut away in their apartment, their disabled charge following soon after.

Much attention has been paid to the aging of Japan's rural population, but it is the major cities that are now the front line in this trend; the Tokyo area, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo and so on. City dwellers often have only ephemeral connections to their neighbors, and internal family supports are also weak. The average number of people per household in Tokyo, for example, is 1.99.

There were clues to the lonely deaths mentioned above. Utility bills stopped getting paid and the electricity and gas were shut off, mail started to pile up, and neighborhood council membership fees weren't submitted. In some cases, worried neighbors consulted municipal officials. However, privacy concerns prevented anyone from reaching out to help. Certainly, the municipal governments concerned deserve criticism for their negligence, but every local body needs to take the initiative and work out policies on what to do in similar situations.

Home nursing insurance and social services have slowly improved. Compared to the "pinpoint" support provided by homecare workers and day centers, however, the "blanket" support of group homes for the elderly and disabled remains insufficient in local areas. There are a number of reasons for this, including opposition from local communities, severe anti-disaster and architectural regulations, and tiny budgets holding down staff numbers.

Social services that directly address the needs of people caring for an elderly or disabled family member are also required. Under present conditions, it should surprise no one if we see more lonely deaths like the tragedies uncovered this year.

(Mainichi Japan) March 22, 2012

2012年3月18日日曜日

Student Suicides

No graduation for too many

As graduation ceremonies get under way at schools across Japan this month, 1,029 students will not be graduating — not this year, not ever. That is the number of students who committed suicide last year, according to statistics released by the National Police Agency earlier this month. Though, overall, the number of suicides declined by 3.3 percent last year, suicides by students increased by nearly 11 percent.

Those figures include 529 university students and 269 high school students, and an unspecified number of other students. The numbers are just part of the total number of people who commit suicide in Japan every year. The total has remained over 30,000 suicides a year for the last 14 consecutive years.

From suicide notes and other evidence, some of the reasons students committed suicide were evident: 140 committed suicide due to academic underachievement and 136 did so because of worries about their future after school. The reasons for others, unfortunately, are more difficult to discern. School issues accounted for 429 cases, an average of over one suicide per day.

It is important to remember that suicides should not be counted simply in numbers. Each case is a distinct tragedy with its own causes and consequences.

Still, schools and government officials in charge of education would do well to start the process of understanding the suffering and confusion that pushes students to take their own lives.

It is difficult for schools to take the entire burden for improving the situation, but it is at schools that most students exhibit signs of problems they are facing. Programs to educate students about mental health and greater awareness by educators are first steps. In recent years, most schools in Japan have improved their counseling centers and increased referrals to mental health professionals. More government funding of help centers and programs is imperative.

Mental health issues need to be a greater part of what schools teach. That does not mean interfering in students' private lives; it does mean being more active in helping students find help when they need it.

Students can be educated about issues common to young people so that they understand that their difficulties are common to that period of life and nothing to be embarrassed about. With focused attention, the problem of youth suicide can be reduced. Chairs at graduation ceremonies should never go empty.

 

Japan TImes

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ed20120318a2.html

2012年3月9日金曜日

Suicide 2011

Number of suicides jumped shortly after March quake in 2011

A tsunami overcomes an embankment of the Hei river and enters an urban area of Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, on Mar. 11, 2011. (Mainichi)
A tsunami overcomes an embankment of the Hei river and enters an urban area of Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, on Mar. 11, 2011. (Mainichi)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The number of suicides rose sharply in May last year, a police survey showed Friday, and the government suspects that economic hardship in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake was responsible for the spike.

The number of suicides in May jumped 21.2 percent to 3,375 from the same month a year earlier after staying at relatively low levels through March, according to the National Police Agency.

The total number of people who took their own lives in 2011 declined 3.3 percent to 30,651, the lowest number since the country's suicides exceeded 30,000 a year in 1998, it said.

The sharp rise in suicides in May coincided with increased corporate bankruptcies in April and May as well as drops in Japan's exports, said officials of the Cabinet Office, which interviewed local government officials and analyzed economic conditions after the March disaster.

There was a sharp increase around May in the number of suicides among people in their 30s who may have been hit particularly hard by economic problems linked to the quake, the office said.

In this July 24, 2011 photo, an abandoned bicycle rests on a road partially blocked by ships that washed ashore in the town of Namie, inside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, in northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
In this July 24, 2011 photo, an abandoned bicycle rests on a road partially blocked by ships that washed ashore in the town of Namie, inside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, in northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

The number of people who are believed to have killed themselves for economic reasons also rose notably around that time, it said.

Of people whose reasons for committing suicide could be found, the highest proportion, 14,621, killed themselves due to health problems in 2011, the police survey showed.

(Mainichi Japan) March 9, 2012

PTSD

After quake, SDF face high trauma risk

Some Self-Defense Forces personnel dispatched to areas hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake have a high risk of suffering from trauma or depression, according to a survey conducted by the Defense Ministry.

The ministry plans to strengthen its long-term mental health care for SDF personnel.

Senior Vice Defense Minister Shu Watanabe reported the survey results at the Cabinet Committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. It was the first full-scale survey of mental health conditions for SDF personnel sent to the disaster-hit areas.

According to the survey, 3.3 percent of Ground Self-Defense Force personnel sent to the disaster-hit areas had a high risk of suffering from trauma, along with 4.3 percent of Maritime Self-Defense Force and 7.5 percent of Air Self-Defense Force personnel. Meanwhile, 2.2 percent of GSDF and 6.5 percent of ADSF personnel are at high risk of becoming depressed or developing other psychological disorders.

The MSDF did not conduct a survey on depression, but five members were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

The survey was conducted over six months after SDF personnel finished their missions in disaster-hit areas. There were 58,050 respondents from the GDSF, and 6,112 from the MSDF. From the ASDF, 3,319 members participated in the survey on trauma, while 2,829 members took part in the survey on depression.

The ASDF only surveyed members from Matsushima Airbase in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, which was seriously hit by the tsunami.

(Mar. 9, 2012)

 

2012年3月5日月曜日

REMEMBERING 3/11

Participants at a memorial service held in the Ishinomaki city government’s Kitakami Sogo branch office on March 4. (Shogo Koshida)

Participants at a memorial service held in the Ishinomaki city government’s Kitakami Sogo branch office on March 4. (Shogo Koshida)

Memorial services were held across the devastated Tohoku region on March 4 to mark last year's disaster that claimed some 20,000 lives.

Events were held prior to the actual March 11 anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami because many official ceremonies are due to be held this coming Sunday.

Bereaved family members and others who lost friends and colleagues in the catastrophe poured out their feelings.

Takeshi Takeyama heads an association to remember the 84 children, teachers and clerical staff of Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, who perished or remain unaccounted for.

"Agony and bitterness do not heal," Takeyama, 57, told the 500 or so mourners at a service held in the city. "I continue to endure that pain. By helping each other and valuing our lives, let’s live our lives to the fullest, while weeping for our loved ones and feeling suffering."

Kazutaka Sato, 45, who lost his third son, Yuki, then a sixth-grader of the elementary school, said: "I can hardly believe that one year has already passed (since the disaster). But now that March has come around again, I just feel more bitterness."

Another memorial service was held in the ruins of Ishinomaki city government’s Kitakami Sogo branch office, where many residents took refugee after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck.

The building had been designated as an evacuation center in times of disaster. Nobody had anticipated a massive tsunami hitting later, sweeping away all but three who had gathered there.

The building is due to be demolished shortly.

"It is hard to see the wrecked building. But when I come here, I feel that I can see my elder sister," said Tamie Miura, 43, referring to her sibling, a city government employee, who is still missing.

"I want (the city government) to build a facility dedicated to the many people who died here and which enables us to pray for the repose of the souls of the victims," she added.

The branch office was located near the mouth of the Kitakamigawa river and obliterated by the tsunami.

Concrete poles stand at odd angles.

Before tsunami hit the building, staff of the branch office did a head count of people in the building. There were 19 branch office employees and 38 local residents, including pupils of nearby Yoshihama Elementary School.

Of them, only two employees of the branch office and a child survived.

However, the exact number and the names of those who were swept away is still unknown.

Meanwhile, in the Ando district of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, where 218 people died and many others are still missing, a bell and a siren rang out at 2:46 p.m., the time when the earthquake struck. The 400 or so mourners offered silent prayers.

One of them was Teruo Shirogane, 62, whose mother, wife and daughter are still missing.

"I think that they must be feeling very cold. My hopes that they will be found soon are growing stronger and stronger," he said.

A memorial service was also held in the town of Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, most of which straddles the no-entry zone around the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Thirteen cherry seedlings were planted in memory of the 13 residents who perished in the tsunami.

Kazuo Owada, 55, attended the memorial service while wearing protective clothing to mourn his mother Toki, who was 83.

"I hope that I can live in this town (again) when these cherry seedlings have grown," Owada said.

Authorites in the town of Futaba, which is located in the no-entry zone, held a memorial service in Iwaki, also in Fukushima Prefecture.

"Although one year has passed (since the disaster), I still cannot accept this (reality). But this memorial service offers a chance to go forward, which is something I must do," said Yukari Tanaka, 25, whose father Toshikatsu, then 54, died in the tsunami.

2012年3月4日日曜日

Radioactive Rice Straw

6,800 tons of radiation-tainted rice straw left lying in 8 prefectures

Packed rice straw is laid on an idle rice paddy in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture on Dec. 13, 2011. (Mainichi)
Packed rice straw is laid on an idle rice paddy in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture on Dec. 13, 2011. (Mainichi)

Some 6,800 metric tons of rice straw contaminated with radioactive substances leaked from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant remains in eight prefectures with no immediate prospect of disposal, the Mainichi has learned.

Moreover, sludge generated from radiation-contaminated waste water as well as ash tainted with radioactive materials amounts to some 97,000 tons in 12 prefectures -- 3.6 times the figure as of July last year, according to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry.

Even though waste containing up to 8,000 becquerels of radiation per kilogram can be buried under national government standards, efforts to dispose of such waste have made little progress, showing that the government's countermeasures have not been properly implemented.

"Local bodies haven't been able to dispose of such waste partly because residents worried about contamination have voiced opposition to disposal of such waste in their own prefectures," a ministry official commented.

Tainted rice straw used as feed for beef cattle has proven to have contaminated the animals with radiation.

Miyagi Prefecture has the largest store of tainted rice straw, with 4,800 metric tons, followed by Fukushima with 1,100 tons, Iwate with 600 tons and Tochigi with 320 tons.

Fukushima Prefecture also had 30,000 tons of sludge and ash tainted with radioactive cesium at its sewage treatment facilities as of Feb. 3 -- the largest amount among Japan's prefectures and 25,220 tons more than in July last year. It was followed by Miyagi Prefecture with 22,000 tons (up 19,900 tons from July), Kanagawa with 19,000 tons (an increase of 14,690 tons), and 9,500 tons in Saitama (6,790 tons more than in July).

(Mainichi Japan) March 3, 2012

 

Local governments, farmers struggle with radioactive rice straw

Local gov'ts, farmers struggle with hundreds of tons of radiation-tainted rice straw

A
A "pipe house" built by cattle farmer Junichi Sasaki in Ichinoseki, Miyagi Prefecture, is seen in this photo taken on Feb. 26, 2012. (Mainichi)

Local governments and farmers in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures have been struggling unsuccessfully to dispose of hundreds of metric tons of rice straw, sewage sludge and ash tainted with radiation from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

The central government has been trying to take steps to deal with the problem, which was largely unexpected before the outbreak of the nuclear crisis caused by the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, but there are no signs yet of the problem being solved anytime soon.

Junichi Sasaki, a 61-year-old cattle farmer in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, has been working tirelessly to move radiation-tainted rice straw into a "pipe house" he recently built.

"At long last, I've moved a step forward. But this is just the beginning," he said.

Sasaki has about seven tons of rice straw to dispose of. He recently built a snow-resistant "pipe house" near his livestock barn far from town so that he can keep rice straw there temporarily in collaboration with other farmers in the neighborhood. Prefectural and local governments are supposed to check the radiation levels of the rice straw there every three months.

Sasaki also has about 140 tons of barnyard manure from his cattle, which were fed tainted rice straw. But he has not been able to dispose of it because the central government has not come up with a clear policy.

"If the situation goes on like this, it will discourage young successors and the local cattle industry will collapse," he said.

Roughly 600 tons of tainted rice straw remains in Iwate Prefecture, about 400 tons of which is in Ichinoseki. The Ichinoseki Municipal Government tried to a build a temporary storage facility in a mountainous area on city-owned land, but the plan drew strong opposition from people living near the planned site, who questioned whether it would be 100 percent safe. The local government then proposed to build four smaller disposal facilities spread across the city, but that idea was not accepted either. Farmers have accordingly been unable to get rid of their tainted rice straw.

Ichinoseki Mayor Osamu Katsube commented: "The government showed Fukushima Prefecture its plan to build a temporary storage facility, but it hasn't shown anything to local municipalities around Fukushima Prefecture. Yet radiation doesn't have boundaries."

Miyagi Prefecture faces a similar problem. On the evening of Jan. 31, the prefectural and municipal governments held a briefing in Kurihara on storing of tainted rice straw for local residents. About 70 local residents who attended the briefing session reluctantly accepted the plan, saying, "We don't agree but it can't be helped." A temporary storage facility is scheduled to be built within the city's Tsukidate district, and rice straw is expected to be brought into the facility in March. It is only the Tsukidate district in the city which has accepted the city's plan to build storage facilities. Three other districts in the city stand firm against the plan to build storage facilities there, and therefore the prefectural and city governments are planning to hold another briefing sometime after mid-March.

According to the Miyagi Prefectural Government, about 4,800 tons of tainted rice straw remains in the prefecture, and only about 2,880 tons of it can be stored temporarily in the foreseeable future. Cattle farmers who cannot dispose of tainted rice straw in temporary storage facilities are worried, saying, "It will affect our cultivation work starting this spring."

Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai told a news conference in January, "The government should take responsibility for securing temporary storage facilities, disposing of tainted rice straw and formulating health-hazard standards, and explain the situation to prefectural residents." He insisted that the prefectural government would take action only after the central government makes a decision.

(Mainichi Japan) March 3, 2012

 

2012年3月3日土曜日

Fukushima

 

FUKUSHIMA, Japan — A visit to the scene of Japan's worst nuclear accident, almost a year after the area was struck by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, is a study in contrasts.

Elsewhere along the vast stretch of coast hit by the March 11 tsunami there are palpable signs of progress. Almost all of the 23 million tons of rubble has been removed, although rebuilding has yet to start.

But at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the cleanup looks like it has barely begun. Instead, the real work is being done, unseen, deep inside the crippled reactors, where melted fuel remains cool, but whose precise state and location remains a mystery.

The destructive force of three reactor meltdowns is evident as soon as the bus carrying a small group of journalists invited by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), enters the 20-kilometer (13-mile) exclusion zone imposed after the first reactor building exploded on March 12.

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In the town of Naraha, most of the buildings emerged unscathed from the quake, but the streets are deserted. We pass a convenience store with its stock sitting untouched on shelves, and a parking lot dotted with cars that were abandoned in the panic.

During the short journey to the plant from J.Village — a soccer training complex that is now the logistical base for the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup operation — radiation monitors alert us to the invisible enemy that has driven 80,000 people from their homes.

Radiation levels rise and fall, soaring to 35 microsieverts per hour in Okuma, a farming village two kilometers from the plant that could remain uninhabitable for decades.

The abandonment of entire communities is troubling enough, but little can prepare you for a close-up view of Fukushima Daiichi's damaged reactors.

Japan fukushima anniversary 2012 03 01

 

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One is shrouded in a vinyl cover while another appears largely intact, its mottled turquoise and white pattern clearly visible on a cold, but brilliantly sunny winter afternoon. The Nos. 3 and 4 reactors, however, are a tangled mess of steel and debris.

This low-lying area near the coast is by far the most hazardous part of the site. High radiation levels have hampered work to clear the wreckage and inspect the state of the melted fuel. The day before our visit, a robot sent inside reactor No. 2 reactor found 200 millisieverts per hour at one spot.

 

 

The reactors proximity to the ocean made them easy targets for the 14-meter (42-foot) tsunami, which effortlessly breached the plant's protective wall. Along one side of the coastal road, mesh sacks filled with rocks provide makeshift reinforcement; on the other are the exposed innards of the reactors' turbine buildings, crammed with twisted metal, warped shutters and trucks swept up and deposited by the waves.

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But the clutter tells only half the story. From the outside, the appearance is one of utter chaos, but inside, damaged nuclear fuel is being kept cool by vast quantities of water, which is then stored in tanks covering almost every spare patch of ground on the site, before being decontaminated and fed back into the reactors.

Water management is critical to preventing the fuel from heating up again and setting off a potentially catastrophic nuclear chain reaction, says Katsuhiko Iwaki, deputy manager of the Fukushima Daiichi stabilization center.

The current capacity of 165,000 tons of water will reach its limit by April, he says, adding that Tepco is adding space for tens of thousands of tons of additional water.

Work near the damaged reactors is still fraught with danger. "Most of the workers here perform a two-hour shift in the morning and again in the afternoon," Iwaki said.

"But there are other areas where the dosages are so high they can stay there for only two or three minutes. That's just enough time to connect a hose before their alarms signal it's time for them to leave."

Satoshi Tarumi, whose job is to monitor the health of those workers, arrived at the plant three days after the tsunami. Conditions have significantly improved since then, he says, and despite his relatively young age, 33, he does not fear for his health.

"As part of the Fukushima Daiichi staff I feel partly responsible for what happened, that's why I want to be involved," Tarumi said. "My exposure levels are still below the legal limit, and I don't see any problem working here."

He is similarly matter of fact when asked about the future of the industry that provides his livelihood: "It's up to the government to make a decision on nuclear energy. I'm just here to do as much as I can to help stabilize the plant."

At the apex of the Fukushima Daiichi operation is Takeshi Takahashi, a serious-looking, quietly spoken man who became the plant's manager last year after his predecessor, Masao Yoshida, took early retirement after being diagnosed with cancer (Tepco says the illness is not related to his work at the plant).

Takahashi concedes that the situation on the ground is still fragile. "We need to avoid major releases of radioactive materials of the kind we saw after the accident," he said.

"We achieved cold shutdown [a stable state in which reactor temperatures remain below boiling point] in December, but we must ensure we keep making improvements because we still can't say for sure that the facilities on site are totally trouble-free."

Those facilities are monitored around the clock by up to 700 Tepco staff ensconced in the emergency control room. Divided into pods depending on their expertise, they are linked to workers in the field and the utility's headquarters in Tokyo via two enormous screens. Along one wall are messages of support, including a giant Japanese flag bearing the Japanese character for "hope."

Takahashi made no attempt to deflect criticism of Tepco's conduct in the early days of the crisis, when information was scarce, and sometimes contradictory. His priority, he says, was to pave the way for a return home for at least some nuclear evacuees.

"We often hear that we didn't communicate properly, and I am sorry about that," he said. "It was never our intention to suppress information, but there was a chaotic time after the accident when we tended to neglect efficient communication.

"I'd like to apologize for the troubles and concerns we caused for local people. We need to secure safety in order to bring comfort and relief to the local residents. We are trying our best now to bring those who evacuated from the evacuation zone back to their homes as soon as possible," he said.

Reports suggest that radiation levels in some areas near the outer edge of the evacuation zone are low enough for a small number of residents to return in the coming months.

They will not include Saori Kanesaki, a resident of Tomioka, a town in the evacuation zone, who until last year guided groups of visitors around Fukushima Daiichi.

"Before the accident it was my job to tell people that nuclear power was safe," said Kanesaki, who now works at the plant for a Tepco affiliate. "But given the situation, if I were to tell them that now ... I would be lying."

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