The Minami Ashigaran

(Pictured: Minamiashigara`s mikans (mandarin oranges) the taste is unbelievable!)

What to eat and what not to eat?

I`ve probably “erred” on the side of caution or even paranoia on this one, and it hasn`t been because of my health but I have been concerned about what my rapidly growing children eat. How can I keep them safe?

The government, local and national has been saying things are safe?

I guess my problem has been I haven`t heard the message. I didn`t really trust them.

However maybe I have to; and in fact maybe they are trustworthy in the case of food safety anyway.

So many politicians disappoint it seems, so it is natural to lose trust in them.

About food though, I think the Japanese government is doing a good job. And if they fail or if the local government fails to inform, NHK or some fifth estate media
source fills in.

A friend of mine reassured me recently that the local produce should be safe in Minamiashigara. We have been hesitating to eat even local food.

Minamiashigara Tea:

Some have argued that Minamiashigara tea, after being made ready to drink, is drinkable, the radiation levels or much lower at the point at which you are going to drink it. Whereas it has been banned at the point of having radiation on the leaves.
Perhaps in fact that ruling has been overkill? Not a realisitc measurement as it should be at the point of drinking it to test if it is
safe for consumption or not?

My good friend lived through the fallout from Las Vegas. Do you remember seeing file photos of dead sheep? Sheep killed by radiation. That was the time.

He is my trusted source when I cannot figure it out myself.

He feels that the radiation on the veggies and fruit here should be at about the same level as the normal background radiation we had before Fukushima. He
has no idea why the tea is unsellable. He asks:

“I have no idea why the tea is unsellable — is it because it actually has a higher than usual amount of radioactivity and that the elements which cause this actually come out into the water when steeped? Or is it due to people being afraid of anything from Japan/Fukushima-ken??? (btw — let me know if you figure this out… I hadn’t heard about tea being unsellable)…”

My friend goes on to say:

As to veggies — if they weren’t grown right near the plant than the odds that they have any higher than background levels of radioactive elements is virtually nil… and they can be eaten ok. Even ones with a somewhat higher than usual amount of radioactive stuff are ok if eaten only occasionally. I think the Japanese government has done a reasonably good job of restricting the sale of milk and veggies from the affected areas so I imagine all veggies on sale are fine. The limits are usually based on eating something every day for a year so they are very conservative.
However, washing does help get the usual pesticides etc off (Japan uses a lot of these) but does nothing about the iodine or other elements which have gotten into the ground and been taken up by the plants roots. They are thus part of the body of the plant/veggie and washing won’t get them out. If you are really worried about iodine (which is the one which affects people more than the others — because it concentrates in the thyroid) then buy veggies and wait 8 days to use them — the half life of radioactive iodine is 8 days, so you have decreased any possibility of problem by half…

南足柄市の放射線　何が安全で、何が危険なのか？

南足柄市の住民皆、子供たちの安全を維持したいでしょう。
南足柄市加藤市長、何が安全なのでしょうか？

加藤市長、選挙での勝利おめでとうございます。さて、今こそ任務をこなすときです。
事をゆっくり進めている場合ではありません。南足柄産のお茶の放射線量に関するニュースが
NHKで報告されるのを待つべきではないのです。市長が先導するべきです。
あなたが市長なのですから、先導するのは当然です。
放射能がないかどうか、何をテストしたのでしょうか。食べ物は安全でしょうか。水は安全でしょうか。
あなたはどのように知るのでしょうか。安全をテストするために、何をしていますか？
学校の牛乳は安全でしょうか。もし安全だとしたら、どのように知ったのですか。
牛乳を飲むべきではないという人もいるのです。
もしNHKでお茶が安全でないと報告する人がいたら、そのとき私は他に何を知る必要があるでしょうか。

小田原市に住む友達は、”分からないよ。この土地の生産物が大丈夫でも大丈夫でなくても、調べる人がいないんだから”
と言っていました。

加藤市長、南足柄市周辺はどうなのでしょうか。

福島県産のものについては調べているのを知っています。ここでもする必要があるでしょう。そうしなければ、
地元の農家は苦しむことになってしまいます。地元の生産物を誰も買わなくなるかもしれないからです。
加藤市長、あなたは選挙で選ばれました。遅れを取り戻そうとするよりも、むしろ先導する必要があります。

あなたが価値ある市長であることを示すときです！あなたが何もしなければ、地元の農家は傷つき、たくさんの人たちが
ストレスを感じるでしょう。南足柄市民すべてがストレスを抱えてしまいそうなのです。
人々が何を考えているのか想像できます。もしお茶が大丈夫でないのなら、神奈川県産すべての野菜もおそらくだめだろうと
思っているでしょう。私はこのことが本当だと感じてはいませんが、野菜などを調べて人々にすべてを調べたから安全だと
知らせるべきでしょう。信頼できるテストプログラムが進められる予定を知らせてください。そうしないと、農家は苦しむことになります。

静岡県からの忠告
静岡より東部から来ているとしたら、明らかに一部の静岡県民は食べ物を食べないでしょう。
もしお米の品質が明確に商標されていないとしたら、お米を買わないでしょう。残念ながら、神奈川県産の食べ物を
買いたくはないのです。長野県産の食べ物は大丈夫だとみなされています。
きのこもほうれん草も、静岡もしくは静岡より西から来ていなければ安全だとみなされないのです。
基本的にどんな野菜も果物も表面積が大きいので、静岡かもしくは福島から遠く離れたところでないと安全ではないとみなされるのです。
品質表示を信じることが出来なければ、牛乳も飲みません。福島からの野菜が毎日市場に届いているという理由からです。
誰もそれらを買いません。ですが時ズ丘卸業者によると、地元のレストランのオーナーはそれらを無料で引き取り、
レストランで使っているそうです。同じようなことが小田原でも起こっているのでしょうか。

あなたは、私たちに伝えるべきです。

この状況を無視することは出来ません。日本産のものを買わなくなれば、日本農家は壊滅してしまいます。
レストランで食事もしなくなるでしょう。そうなってしまうと、レストラン経営も経済も壊滅してしまいます。
加藤市長だけでなく、小田原市長も先導すべきです！今すぐに行動を起こす必要があります。
たくさんの人が日本の太平洋側の魚を食べなくなるでしょう。悲しいことですが、事実です。
韓国と中国では、日本産の食べ物を輸入禁止しています。なぜでしょうか。

おそらく彼らは品質表示もしくは産地を信用できないのでしょう。
私は日本が好きですし、南足柄市も好きです。私は南足柄市に暮らしているからです。
政府には人々の安全を保障する責任があるでしょう。
地元の人たちほとんどが同じように考えていると私は信じています。
私は教師をしているので、毎週何百人もの人と話す機会があります。
政府は表面の土ではなく、空気中ばかりを調べています。表面の土は空気中よりもさらに
多くの放射線量があるでしょう。子供たちは南足柄の公園や学校の校庭で遊んでも大丈夫でしょうか。
あなたは、何を調べましたか？

放射線量表　

Disclaimer; This is just one man`s opinion on the situation in Shizuoka and elsewhere.

JAPAN has detected radiation above the legal limit in tea grown southwest of Tokyo and blamed it on the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant northeast of the capital, officials said.

Kanagawa prefecture has started a recall of the tea after measuring about 570 becquerel of caesium per kilogram in leaves grown in the city of Minamiashigara, prefectural officials said. The legal limit is 500 Bq/kg.

The prefecture has asked the city and its agricultural cooperative to recall the tea and stop its sale for now, although the caesium was at a level unlikely to affect human health, the prefecture said.

“It was the first detection of radiation above the legal limit in farm products grown in our prefecture,” said Hideto Funahashi, of the Kanagawa agricultural bureau.

“We have not specified the source of the radiation, but we cannot imagine any other than the nuclear power plant.”

The Fukushima Daiichi plant, located some 220km northeast of Tokyo and 280km from Minamiashigara, was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

It has since leaked radiation into the air, ground and ocean, and engineers say it will take at least another half a year to stabilise it.

The central government has imposed a ban on a range of vegetables and dairy produce from parts of Fukushima prefecture and several neighbouring regions and banned fishing in the vicinity of the plant.

Read More

Radiation in Minamiashigara – What is Safe and What is dangerous?

I know that all the residents of Minamiashigara want to keep their children safe.

Mayor Kato, and Minamiashigara City Hall – what is safe?

Congratulations Katosan on your recent election win. Now though, it is time you get to work.

You shouldn`t be slow on things. You shouldn`t wait for NHK to report the bad news about Minamiashigara tea
being radioactive. You need to lead!

You must lead, you are the mayor.

What is being done to test for radiation? Is our food safe? Is our water safe?

How do you know? What is being done to test the safety?

Is the milk at school safe? If so, how do you know. Some say we shouldn`t drink the milk.

If NHK is the one who reports the tea is not safe, then what else do I need to know?

Mr. Kato, why didn`t you report that? Why did we hear it from NHK first?

An Odawara friend said:

“we don`t know if the local produce is okay or not, as no one is checking out here.”

How about around Minamiashigara Mr. Kato?

I know they have been checking the Fukushima produce but obviously we need to be doing it here or the local farmers will suffer as no one will buy their produce.

Mr. Kato you were elected. You need to take the lead rather than scramble to catch up.

Time to show you are worth being mayor!

If you don`t do anything, local farmers will be hurt and many people will feel stressed. Local people in Minamiashigara are all ready stressed.

I know what people are thinking – they assume if the tea is bad, then all the vegetables in Kanagawa are probably bad. I don`t feel this is true, but you need to test them and let people know that things are being tested and safe. Let them know that a reliable testing program is going on, or the local farmers will suffer.

Advice from Shizuoka:

Apparently some people in Shizuoka are not eating food if it is from East of Shizuoka. If the rice is not clearly marked they don`t buy it.

So they don`t want our Kanagawa produce unfortunately. Nagano food is regarded as being okay.

Mushrooms and spinach is not safe unless they are from Shizuoka or west of Shizuoka. Basically any vegetable or fruit, with a large surface area is not safe unless from Shizuoka or further away from Fukushima.

Some are not drinking milk anymore as they don`t trust the labelling. The reason is that everyday vegetable from Fukushima arrive at the auction center. No one buys them. But the local restaurant owners take them for free and use them in their restaurants according to a Shizuoka wholesaler. Is the same thing happening in Odawara?

You need to tell us.

You can`t ignore the situation. Or we simply won`t buy Japanese produce which is catastrophic for Japanese farmers. We won`t eat at restaurants, which is catastrophic for the restaurant business and the economy.

Mr. Kato and the Odawara City Hall too, you need to lead! And you need to do it now.

Many are not eating fish from the Pacific coast of Japan. Sad but true.

Japanese food has been banned from South Korea and China. Why?

Maybe they feel they cannot trust the labeling, and or the source of the food.

I like Japan, I like Minamiashigara. It is my home. But we need government to be responsible and insure the safety of the people.

The local Japanese feel the same way, believe me. I talk to hundreds of them every week as a teacher.

Apparently the national government is testing the air but not the surface dirt. The surface dirt can have much more radiation than the air. Is it okay for our children to play in the parks and school grounds of Minamiashigara? What testing have you done?

Radiation Levels – Japan Times

Radiation in Water by Prefecture

Radiation Dose Chart

Most Recent Earthquakes in Japan by Map

Disclaimer; This is just one man`s opinion on the situation in Shizuoka and elsewhere.

Minamiashigara City Hall, what is safe?

Is our water safe? I heard from NHK that the tea is not safe. I never heard from our local city hall, I heard it on the news. What else haven`t I heard?

I want to keep my children safe!

An Odawara resident said, (my Japanese friend Kazu) , “we don`t know if the local produce is okay or not, as no one is checking out here.”

Minamiashigara City Hall- is the above comment true?

They are checking the Fukushima produce I know, but it is time for the local governments to get on the ball and start letting us know what is safe and what isn`t.

In short take the lead, rather than scramble to catch up. Moreover they should be testing the local produce and letting us know what is safe and what isn`t.

Our new mayor Mr. Kato, time to show you are worth it!