fukdane 2 Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Is that the sound of a stampede I hear? ..... Overseas visitors heading to Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures in Japan's northeast will not have to pay visa fees from next week until November 2016 at the earliest. The initiative, launched by the foreign ministry, aims to help attract visitors to the regions worst affected by the March 11 disaster and rebuild their tourism industries. While 77,000 tourists visited the three regions during 2010, this year's figures are significantly lower: tourism dropped nearly 88 per cent in Fukushima and 90 per cent in Iwate prefecture during the second quarter of this year alone, according to recent figures released by the Japan Tourism Agency. Tourism in Tokyo also plummeted 71 per cent in Tokyo and 91 per cent in Yamanashi prefecture – home to the iconic Mount Fuji and 186 miles from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant – during the same period. As part of the new visa fee waiver programme, visitors who present documents to verify their visit to the affected prefectures, including travel itineraries or transport tickets, will be exempt from paying fees, which cost around £24 (3,000 yen) for single use or £48 (6,000 yen) for multiple use. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Wow, a saving of 24 quid! That'll get them flocking to Fukushima! Link to post Share on other sites
hellyer 216 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Wow, a saving of 24 quid! That'll get them flocking to Fukushima! They could at least throw in a case of bottled water Link to post Share on other sites
surfarthur 22 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Bit of a rubbish "deal" that. Link to post Share on other sites
JellyBelly 1 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Today marks 8 months since the quake. Link to post Share on other sites
moshi-moshi 0 Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 First time journalists allowed fairly close http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc-AMs57jQo Link to post Share on other sites
kkk 7 Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Rather them than me, that's for sure. Link to post Share on other sites
iiyamadude 6 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Hey how are the rumbles going for the folks over there on the east coast? Metabo? Really calmed down now has it? Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I think so. --- BBC has this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15691571 New research has found that radioactive material in parts of north-eastern Japan exceeds levels considered safe for farming. The findings provide the first comprehensive estimates of contamination across Japan following the nuclear accident in 2011. Food production is likely to be affected, the researchers suggest. The results are reported in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal. In the wake of the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, radioactive isotopes were blown over Japan and its coastal waters. Fears that agricultural land would be contaminated spurred research into whether Japanese vegetables and meat were safe to eat. An early study suggested that harvests contained levels of radiation well under the safety limit for human consumption. Now, an international team of researchers suggests this result deserves a second look. Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I'm not on the coast, but yes, calmed down considerably where I am, especially in the past couple of months. Still the occasional wiggle, but nothing significant. As for the BBC story, not sure the conclusions as they present them are really new. Looks mostly like researchers fine-tuning their dispersion models -- which is of course a good thing for them to be doing. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Check this out. A golf course 45km away from Dai-Ichi and the court's thrown out their compensation claim against Tepco. http://www.majiroxnews.com/2011/11/14/fukushima-golf-course-lawsuit-against-tepco-dismissed/ That's a very nasty precedent. If this isn't the authorities closing ranks, I don't know what is. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 I can see a increasing number of of big messes and increasingly angry people here. Link to post Share on other sites
klingon 10 Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 I see there was a shindo 5+ in Ibaraki the other day... you feel that one where you are Metabo? Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 I see there was a shindo 5+ in Ibaraki the other day... you feel that one where you are Metabo? Yes, though it wasn't as strong as that where I was. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 Some study on 活断層 (active faults) since March 11th has come up with a list of places that has seen a big jump in probability of slipping. Obviously, the one sitting close to Muikamachi was one of them with a "more than 10 times" likelihood of kicking off than before March 11th. Typical. Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 Good thing you don't have any nuclear power plants nearby, eh? Oh, wait. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted November 26, 2011 Author Share Posted November 26, 2011 Damn was having a nice lie-in and got woken up by the windows rattling. Small, yes, but a definite earthquake and another 'oh no' feeling as time slows down! Seems it was off Sado, just off the coast near Kashiwazaki. And yes talking of Kashiwazaki it has been through a fair few big ones in the last 7 years. Link to post Share on other sites
joshnii 2 Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 Woke me up too that.... Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Today... Fuel rods inside one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have completely melted and bored most of the way through a concrete floor, the reactor's last line of defence before its steel outer casing, the plant's operator said. Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said in a report that fuel inside reactor No 1 appeared to have dropped through its inner pressure vessel and into the outer containment vessel, indicating that the accident was more severe than first thought. The revelation that the plant may have narrowly averted a disastrous "China syndrome" scenario comes days after reports that the company had dismissed a 2008 warning that the plant was inadequately prepared to resist a tsunami. Tepco revised its view of the damage inside the No 1 reactor – one of three that suffered meltdown soon after the 11 March disaster – after running a new simulation of the accident. It would not comment on the exact position of the molten fuel, or on how much of it is exposed to water being pumped in to cool the reactor. More than nine months into the crisis, workers are still unable to gauge the damage directly because of dangerously high levels of radiation inside the reactor building. "Uncertainty involved in the analysis is significant, due to the uncertain nature of the original conditions and data used," Tepco said in a report. It said the concrete "could have been penetrated", but added that the fuel remained inside the reactor's outer casing. Previously, the firm had said that only some of the fuel had burned through its inner pressure vessel and dropped into the containment vessel. "Almost no fuel remains at its original position," Tepco said. The simulation shows that the fuel may have penetrated the concrete floor by up to 65cm, just 37cm from the reactor's outer steel wall. Tepco said that about 60% of the fuel in the two other reactors that experienced meltdown had dropped onto the concrete base, but had caused less damage. After the tsunami, workers at the site stopped injecting reactor No 1 with water for about 14 hours, resulting in more serious damage than sustained by the two other reactors. The company added, however, that fuel in all three reactors was being kept stable by cooling water, adding that the erosion had stopped. It said the findings would not affect plans to bring the reactors to a safe state, known as cold shutdown, possibly by the middle of the month. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 saw that on the news the other day. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 It's on the telly now about that golf course in Fukushima trying to get compensation from the (ever so sorry) Tepco people in Fukushima. Apparently they are saying that the green fluro globs of radioactive goo "do not belong to anyone" and so the golf course can go and stuff it up their bum. You'd think Tepco would come and claim their things wouldn't you? And another issue arises from this.... does this mean that any other fluro globs of radioactive goo are not Tepcos? So we can literally go in and grab them and keep them for ourselves? Bet they hadn't thought of that! Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Today... Fuel rods inside one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have completely melted and bored most of the way through a concrete floor, the reactor's last line of defence before its steel outer casing, the plant's operator said. [...] The revelation that the plant may have narrowly averted a disastrous "China syndrome" scenario comes days after reports that the company had dismissed a 2008 warning that the plant was inadequately prepared to resist a tsunami. Though there are several meters of concrete below the steel casing, so more protection from "China Syndrome" than is suggested by the article. It's on the telly now about that golf course in Fukushima trying to get compensation from the (ever so sorry) Tepco people in Fukushima. Apparently they are saying that the green fluro globs of radioactive goo "do not belong to anyone" and so the golf course can go and stuff it up their bum. You'd think Tepco would come and claim their things wouldn't you? And another issue arises from this.... does this mean that any other fluro globs of radioactive goo are not Tepcos? So we can literally go in and grab them and keep them for ourselves? Bet they hadn't thought of that! Conversely, seems one should be able to dump any green globs of goo found on their doorstep, and if they complain that it is not theirs, reply that it's not anyone's, "but hey, it is on your property now! " Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 You're right, Metabo. I don't have any green globs of goo at hand, but if we have that Fukushima meet-up I'll scoop some up then and jolly well put it on their doorstep! Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 anyone else get woken up just before 6am by the quake in Chiba? Mag 5.6 I think Link to post Share on other sites
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