Last Thursday, I saw a morning tv show which had as a subtitle “people’s fury”. Japan is the country of guarded language, so when the word “fury” is used, it is not used lightly.

“High blood pressure? We’ve all got high blood pressure,” said Maruzoi, a 57-year-old construction worker who now sleeps on a piece of cardboard in a gymnasium. “I feel nothing but anger.”

via In Japan, evacuees direct anger at nuclear-plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. – The Washington Post.

It will perhaps surprise Western observers that only now is anger or fury surfacing. Does this not prove that the Japanese are, in fact, docile sheep, meekly obeying authority no matter incompetent that authority is?

No, it doesn’t. The Japanese have their own ways of complaining and expressing anger. Direct expressions of anger are not only frowned on but they are counter-productive. The Japanese know, from long experience, how to make effective complaints. Direct outbursts of anger are rare and they are generally seen as ineffective. The only time I’ve seen it in public, on TV, is an emotional outburst by a young child at a public meeting between residents of Minamata and the Chisso Corporation: “Are you guys even human?!” he screamed at them. The corporate suits at least had the humanity and good sense to say nothing but sit with bowed heads and take it.

Tags: earthquake, Fukushima, Japan, radioactivity

TOKYO Dow Jones–A source of highly radioactive water escaping into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was identified Saturday, but authorities werent able to say if the discovery will stop the ongoing contamination that has already spread 40 kilometers 25 miles into the open seas. Tokyo Electric Power Co. 9501, the operator of the plant, said it has found a 20-centimeter crack in a two-meter-deep chamber holding cables for the No. 2 reactor, which is believed to be leaking highly toxic water from its nuclear core.

Workers found that the conduit, which has radioactive water that is 10-20 centimeters deep, has airborne contamination of more than 1,000 millisieverts an hour, a highly dangerous concentration. The contamination level of the actual water wasn’t immediately available. That high a level of radioactivity has also been found in a trench used to carry cables and various piping for the No. 2 unit.

Authorities have said such highly toxic water must be originating from the reactor’s damaged fuel rods, but they haven’t been able to trace the exact reason for the leakage. While they believe the pressure vessel and containment vessel are structurally sound, they admit there could be leakage where pipes enter the vessel.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that the crack would be sealed using concrete.

…

For more than a week, they have been preparing to drain radioactive water from the turbine-room basements of the three units so that they can restore the pumps used for cooling the reactor cores. But they first need to find suitable storage tanks. They have been transferring water from the condenser units in the turbine room so they can be used to store that water from the basement, at least some of which is believed to be heavily contaminated.

As the plant officials search for suitable storage space for the water, the city of Shizuoka, 160 kilometers to the south, said Friday that it had offered to lease a 450-foot-long barge that can hold 10,000 tons, or 10 million liters, of water. The shallow draft would allow the vessel to dock adjacent to the plant to ease the transfer of water. Another barge with fresh water from the U.S. military arrived at the site Friday to assist in the cooling operations.

via 2011/04/02 18:06 – Source Found For Toxic Leaks From Japan Nuclear Plant.

Tags: earthquake, Fukushima, Japan, radioactivity