The Japanese response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis: Forgetting the history of Hiroshima

I am an American and have been living in Japan for 4 years. I care deeply about my adopted home and have nothing but sensitivity and respect for the hardships the Japanese have faced in the past and are facing now.

Despite living here and learning so much about the Japanese, considering their history and their often seemingly cautious and conservative nature (particularly when it comes to matters of "safety"), I am having difficulty making sense of the nation's response to to the Fukushima nuclear crisis which was touched off by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

While I acknowledge varying opinions and various opposing movements within Japan, in general it is still a group-oriented society which values uniformity and similar thinking. The country's population is 98% Japanese and the Japanese people often use phrases such as "we Japanese". Therefore I feel it is OK to refer to "the Japanese" as if they were a single group for the purpose of some discussions. This is more difficult to do with other countries which have more internal diversity.

Notes: The world "nuclear" is an adjective, but is also informally used as a noun: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nuclear I use it as a blanket term to refer to nuclear weapons, energy, etc.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Japan
• Fukushima
• meltdown
• nuclear
• crisis
• radiation
• fallout
• Hiroshima
• Nagasaki
• bomb
• uranium
• plutonium
• strontium
• cesium
• iodine
• Tepco
• lies
• coverup
• daiichi

[bojacobs]

William, I am a nuclear historian in Hiroshima. I applaud your efforts and your clear voice. Thank you.

[AluminumStudios]

@bojacobs Dr. Jacobs, I'm familiar with you! I've seen several interviews with you since the crisis began. I respect your opinions and the way you speak, so I'm very happy to hear your comment. Thank you very much.

[HyperIndividualist]

How can 3 cores - all of them larger than the puny one at Chernobyl - meltdown & release LESS than the one did at Chernobyl? Logic informs us that they're lying. Why they're lying gets into the inherent pathology of government & the unique geography and size of Japan. Japan is a thin archipelago, as you know. There's not enough room to adequately absorb all the evacuees they'd have if they admitted the full truth, & so the decision has been made at the highest levels to just let the people die.

[AluminumStudios]

@HyperIndividualist Thanks for the comments. Chernobyl exploded and literally blew the reactor core contents up and out into the environment. There was no concrete containment structure in that design. The Fukushima reactors melted and have holes, but most of the fuel has stayed as a mass inside. Now they are leaking like a sieve and melting through, so in the end it may release more. It's like a Chernobyl in slow motion.

[edpotkay1]

@AluminumStudios William. I have to disagree. If you saw the video of reactor 3 when it exploded you will see that it blew the roof twice as high as the towers in front of it. Those towers are 2000 feet tall. So the roof was blown almost a mile in the air. We have seen pictures here and there is no containment or reactor left on #3.Unfortunately that was the plutonium reactor. Also, the spent fuel pool was on top oh the reactor, So 40 years of spent MOX fuel rods were thrown everywhere.

[AluminumStudios]

@edpotkay1 The best analysis of the vertical nature of the explosion (which can not be denied), I have seen comes from Arnold Gunderson: fairewinds com /content/gundersen-postulates-­unit-3-explosion-may-have-been­-prompt-criticality-fuel-pool I haven't heard any of the prominent, analytical, or critical voices mention the reactor core actually blowing up. I don't think not seeing it under the rubble means that it's not there, but I can't say for certain.

[EndNuclearAgenda21]

I heard they were having problems with radiation being released before the earthquake and so it is relevant to explore this theory as if this is true then we need to know what they were doing wrong before the accident, I talked to an Areva representative and he denied knowing that the fuel that they sell these companies is contaminated and is causing more reactions like this one,, we have had several incidents since fukushima all over the world,, Areva is selling tainted fuel

[SHARKREEF2011]

@AluminumStudios its ALREADY released HUNDREDS of times more than chernoybl

[ubuibme24]

@AluminumStudios That is what they say but I believe that the plutonium found is FROM the reactor cores and blew out in the Reactor 3 explosion. They knew all of this to begin with ... we are basically fuked.... that is the new word for fubar these days...thanks for your videos...you so a really good job!

[NuclearExitNow]

Before the nuclear material contaminated by a nuclear power plant, the environment, this is already happened through the reduction in the uranium mines.

In the vicinity of uranium mines always there is a large-scale contamination of whole areas and rivers! look yt "Uranium Mines" and google "List of uranium mines"

[NuclearExitNow]

two nights ago I had a bad dream

... of a criminal organization that has conspired against mankind and future generations....!