JAPAN WILL SOON DUMP RADIATED WASTEWATER FROM FUKUSHIMA INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Who is Christopher Eubanks?  

• Before I articulate on my reminiscent subject of the day, I would like to start with my accidentally watching a Wimbledon match just a point away from completion.  Someone named Eubanks was leading #5-rated Tsitsipas.  
• Don't know either one, but Eubanks happens to be a 6'7" 27-year old American tennis player who was rated #159 in the world a year ago.  He's done well this year, and came into Wimbledon at #36, and won this match to make it into the quarterfinals (one of eight).  He was coached by his father until 13.
• 
  There actually were two Americans this year in the top ten:  Taylor Fritz (#9) and Frances Tiafoe (#10), both 25-years old.  Then there were also #16 Tommy Paul, #22 Sebastian Korda and #32 Ben Shelton.  They're all now out of the tournament.  I don't follow tennis, and also never heard of any of them.
• Madison Keys yesterday beat 16-year old Mirra Andreeva to make the Women's quarterfinals.  Thus, two Americans are left at Wimbledon.

When I first began focusing on nostalgia Tuesdays, I started with the earliest postings in 2008, and worked myself to August of 2011.  So I'm returning to this pattern by featuring the 4October2011 blog, entitled, RECORD BROKEN--ALL IS FINE IN BANGKOK.

On 3October2011 I explained why I was traveling:

Today I begin my final ash scattering journey.  I'll be stopping through Bangkok, Tokyo, Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Las Vegas, Reno, and San Francisco. 

At that point in time I had already selected the front cover graphic.

My first stay after Honolulu was, after a transfer in Tokyo, Bangkok.  I've taken this trip on numerous occasions, and this is an all-day marathon.  I typically wake up at 7AM in Hawaii and get to my Bangkok hotel at midnight their time, which is 7AM in Hawaii.  Thus, the full-day journey takes, appropriately enough, 24 hours, and the record I broke in 2011 was having 24 different alcoholic drinks.    In February of 2020 took this same itinerary, and could only get up to 18.  Then more recently in November of last year, did it again, and did not bother to count.  

So, anyway, the next leg was back to Tokyo:

The flight to Narita was uneventful.  I did not feel like breaking any new records.  United's First Class in this leg was far better than the Honolulu-Narita flight, which is a whole lot better than the San Francisco-Honolulu First Class, but the Thai First Class was far, far superior to anything United has.

It was less than seven months ago, on March 12, to be exact, that I landed in Narita and took five hours to struggle my way to the Tokyo Westin.  Today, it only took 2 hours of relaxation on the Airport Limousine bus.

Because this Great Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear cataclysm found me first escaping Japan to China, then a tentative return to South Korea as the nuclear disaster eased, an eventual return to Tokyo, but, because of radiation threats, a quick switch away to Fukuoka, then further south to Kyushu.  Another Huffington Post article had me reporting on a 7.1 magnitude earthquake I experienced in Japan nearly a month after the big one.  That was quite a month of bopping around the Orient.

I finally returned to Honolulu on April 10.  Read my grand summary of this trip.  The whole experience was fearful, dismaying and terrifying, leaving me with considerable guilt, for when so many were suffering so much, I continued to eat well and managed to avoid the hazards and difficulties.

So in summary:

• On 11March2011, Japan experienced its strongest earthquake in recorded history (and third largest in the world, ever), a moment magnitude of 9.1.  Coastal gauges as far away as Brazil recorded the ocean rise.

• 
  A tsunami wave height of 130 feet was experienced in Iwate Prefecture.
• Three Fukushima Daiichi reactors were disabled, and twelve years later the reactor cores still need to be cooled, but storage is running out.
• Official deaths of 15,899, with 2,527 missing, and presumed dead.
• 123,000 houses were destructed, with a million more damaged.

• 
  Cost to Japan of $220 billion, making it the most expensive natural disaster in history.  In reality, if you wait until the nuclear cataclysm is cleaned out, the cost will be closer to ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!
• In comparison, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused damages of around $100 billion, killing 1,392.

Prior to this calamity, 30% of Japan's electricity came from nuclear power plants.

Today, less than 7% of Japan's electricity comes from nuclear powerplants.

Worse, radiated water storage space is running out and Japan is getting ready to release radiation-contaminated Fukushima wastewater into the ocean.  This will continue for 30 years. The capacity of 1.37 million tons will be reached early in 2024.  After all, what else can Japan do?

The relationship between Japan and South Korea has always been fragile, and 84% of South Koreans disapprove of this plan.  Interestingly enough, South and North Korea finally have a common purpose.

A new Asahi Shimbun survey showed that 51% of people in Japan support the release, 60% of men and 48% of women.  The government also changed the age limit to allow nuclear power plants to operate beyond the current 60-year period.  Nuclear experts in Japan have said the treated waste water poses no threat.  They could be right, but they're also being paid by Japanese companies and the government.  The International Atomic Energy Agency commented that the Japanese release plan meets international safety standards.  They said they had no pressure from Japan.  Sure.  Director General of the IAEA with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last year reported that West Coast tuna is already contaminated.  But Matthew Miller, a spokesperson from the U.S. State Department, has recently said that the USA welcomes the IAEA report.  No comment yet from President Joe Biden.

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