During this period of times, we had to face onto a series of ordeals, for example, the scheduled power outage, lack of distribution (food & water supply) or lack of fuel, or lack of medical supply.
And all mass transits were completely disrupted and got us stranded at the sight.
Also there was an ensuing explosion of hydrogen in each reactor (No1 through No4 respectively) at Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant...And the function of cooling the nuclear fuel has ruined, where the contaminated water leaked out onto the ocean. Moreover, high concentration of radioactive substances was detected in contaminated water, and some staff working at the power plant were exposed to radiation and were taken to the hospital to take medication. Luckily they were quite alright and were able to check out in a few days after hospitalization. And also some expert says the amount of diffusion of radiations far more exceeds that of Three Mile Island accident in 1979, or even exceeds the amount of Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the damage of Fukushima is the worst, says he.
It is ashamed of saying that I'm not well-informed about this issue, not speculative, not discerning at all about the mechanism of this vicious circle of the crippled power plant. But at least what I could surely say is contamination is still continuing even at a break-neck speed, no matter how tenaciously our suppliers work on it to hold back against its diffusion around the clock..
Far from that, what made us stagger was the government and the supplier kept telling us everything is OK and not to worry. But as expansion of damage caused from the power plant came into light, gradually they had to spill the beans that they were totally mistaken. What was conspicuous is some radioactive substances were detected from a certain filtration plant in the residential districts of Tokyo. And the government and the supplier told us not to let under 1 year old baby drink tap water. The ensuing panic occurred right after news was televised, and the government couldn't help but admit the amount of exposure of radiation was too immense at the press conference.
The news spread throughout a whole world right off the bat, and the worst came to worst.
Which is, high concentration of the radioactive substance was detected at some harvested vegetables.
The government ordered some farmers who are involved in to stop shipping, and this drove one farmer, 64, into a corner, and got him committed suicide.
Furthermore, not only neighboring countries (like South Korea, Hong Kong, China, Singapore...etc) but also EU nations, North & South America, and Oceania sensitively waded thorough a lot of info concerning the issue, and have begun to regulate or to ban importing crops from Japan.
A few days ago, India has announced that they will ban all commodities from Japan over the next 3 months, and it does surely influence to our gross domestic product (GDP) to a large extent, it does shrink our economy as well which relies on foreign consumptions.
Above all, our concerns are there are still a lot of people who are missing near the stricken area, which is up to 14,000 people or more.
Casualties are still increasing. Currently, more than 13,000 people had already lost their lives during these periods. There are still over 150,000 evacuees in nearly 1,800 shelters nationwide. Many houses washed away or subsided because of huge tsunami, and the temporary housings are under construction at the moment though it takes months to be accomplished.
Food, water, and medical supply is still not enough, and many people live near the epicenter lost their jobs or companies themselves, and are forced to restore their living from scratch.
Yesterday there was the 17th unified regional election here in Japan, and Shintaro Ishihara the incumbent governor of Tokyo, was reelected. And the 4th terms of his taking office has just taken off the ground.
He said at the press conference that we citizens must restraint greediness or egoism and we need to be frugal with money. It is obvious that our egoism put this nation in jeopardy. He also mentioned what the most fruitless is the Pachinko Parlors and the more than enough of vending machines. If those are petered out soon, we can save nearly 10 million kW of power which is equivalent to the amount of Fukushima power plant, says he.
Yes, I agree with his point, but didn't vote for him yesterday. It is just because he is already 78, and it is uncertain whether he could serve out his term or not. He may kick the bucket before that by any chance. And 78 year old man tends to be obstinate and conservative on the whole. And yet he was reelected, because of evaluation of 12 years of his careers served as a governor of Tokyo. And we must admit it is indisputable fact like it or not. And we all know Japan is spending hard times and we need to restore it no matter what.
Come to think of it, my then dad (1934-2004) told me before passing that he delivered a speech in one of my cousin's wedding ceremony, saying that he quoted one of the famous speech of then US president John F Kennedy;
Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.
Needless to say, it is a very profound wise saying. It is often cited in many scenes in our society, for example like CEO's speech at some joining ceremonies, even more than a half of century passed by from the Inauguration Day of Kennedy's.
It seemed Ishihara's speech implied what then US president showed us. Indeed I've found this at every turn at the press conference.
I must admit we are inclined to pass the buck to our government once unexpected things have occurred, maybe it's true. And of course, it is their duty to make tenacious effort to get things back on course, especially when the imminent danger is likely to happen, of course.
But also we have got to think of what we can do for now. It has to be a long long battle, I assume. How long will it take to be in the chips is anyone's guess, but I'll try in my utmost.
Well, thank you all the viewers who are kindly enough to share the topics.
Take
