Slashdot Mirror

The reality is, the current rating is based on radiation at the source NOT its comparability in scope to Chernobyl.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency disagrees with you. Their spokesman, Hidehiko Nishiyama, repeatedly compares Fukushima with Chernobyl:

"It's considerably different from Chernobyl," said Nishiyama. "The mount of radioactive materials released at Fukushima is about a tenth of that in the Chernobyl accident."

In the same article, (titled Fukushima crisis now at Chernobyl level) a TEPCO spokesman said:

Level 7 indicates a massive amount of radioactive leakage. We deeply apologize to residents around the plant and Fukushima Prefecture and people in the society for causing concerns and troubles,"

Your faith-based belief in the safety of nuclear power regardless of the actual facts is sad.

The reality is, the current rating is based on radiation at the source NOT its comparability in scope to Chernobyl.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency disagrees with you. Their spokesman, Hidehiko Nishiyama, repeatedly compares Fukushima with Chernobyl:

"It's considerably different from Chernobyl," said Nishiyama. "The mount of radioactive materials released at Fukushima is about a tenth of that in the Chernobyl accident."

In the same article, (titled Fukushima crisis now at Chernobyl level) a TEPCO spokesman said:

Level 7 indicates a massive amount of radioactive leakage. We deeply apologize to residents around the plant and Fukushima Prefecture and people in the society for causing concerns and troubles,"

Your faith-based belief in the safety of nuclear power regardless of the actual facts is sad.

The Japan Times reports:

The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan released a preliminary calculation Monday saying that the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had been releasing up to 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour at some point after a massive quake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11.

The disclosure prompted the government to consider raising the accident's severity level to 7, the worst on an international scale, from the current 5, government sources said. The level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale has only been applied to the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.

If the levels they are reporting are correct then every hour (for a few hours) Fukushima was releasing roughly 0.1% of the total release from Chernobyl. If those levels were maintained for a day (which they were not), that would be almost 2% of Chernobyl per day.

Considering these buildings [the reactor buildings] are supposed to be nearly hermetically sealed, why the snot do the plans call for a pipe that goes out [to] the friggin ocean?

Your mistake was believing the bullshit some people have been spouting that the reactor buildings were a third layer of containment after the ziroconium clad fuel rods and the containment vessel. Here is excerpt from an article from earlier in the crisis called Containment vessel failure unlikely:

The containment vessel is the last line of defense for containing lethal radioactive materials, and significant damage would pose grave safety concerns.

Drains and tunnels actually make sense. When a reactor is functioning properly, almost all of the radioactivity is contained within the zirconium clad fuel rods. The water circulating around the rods that acts as both a cooler and a moderator (a moderator slows neutrons down to enable the chain-reaction) is not highly radioactive. For example, the water that flooded the turbine building for reactor #2 and a nearby tunnel is 100,000 times more radioactive than the water found inside a functioning reactor. I believe the water that was pouring into the ocean from the pit was only 10,000 times more radioactive. The drain was also never intended to pass tons of water (radioactive or not) into the ocean. The amount of radioactivity was probably more than 6 orders of magnitude greater than what was intended.

Your observation highlights the fact that the reactor buildings were never designed or intended to be a serious containment in the event of the failure of the containment vessel and fuel rods. Tens of thousands of tons of highly radioactive water have already escaped via routes other than the direct drain into the sea. It is therefore highly unlikely that plugging that drain will substantially reduce the amount of radioactivity that is spewing from the reactors.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110403a1.html

They can't get robots near Chernobyl. Hell, they couldn't get robots into a New Zealand mine last year due to water pooling. What the hell makes you think they can get robots into these reactor sites any better?

Robots in the sarcophagus. Now it's possible that they won't be able to get a robot into the flooded area under the reactor chamber. But amphibious robots and radiation-hardened electronics do exist. They can build something that could get in there right now.

As for the 2001 paper, it would indeed have told you that a wave going over the retaining wall would indeed have flooded the ground-level emergency generators. Well, apparently unless you're a TEPCO manager.

BTW, is there a 2001 paper? We've been talking about this thing like it exists, but I notice you have a tendency to make shit up.

But let's suppose there is a paper that claims a historical record of very high tsunami in the Fukushima area. The regulatory agency would still have to determine whether the research is valid and the implications of the research (such as what needs to be flood-proofed). Now that we see why that's important and actually have seen the effects of such a tsunami on a reactor, it's easy to justify. But it wouldn't have been the case in 2001 (or for that matter as late as March 10, 2011, the day before the earthquake).

And a nervous breakdown due to excessive stress tells you a hell of a lot.

Bull. We already knew that top TEPCO jobs would get a lot more stressful in the wake of the earthquake and nuclear accident. We also already know that some people (if not most people) can work fine at a certain level of stress, but buckle when they're suddenly put under a lot of extra stress. There's nothing new to learn here.

Oh, and the President of Japan announced yesterday that things are not under control. So do we believe him or you?

You mean this?

"The accident at the Fukushima No. 1 plant needs to be put under control with your collective efforts," Kan said. "We have to work hard until we reach a point where we can say our country has overcome the quake and the tsunami disaster."

So what does he think "control" means? And how does that related to what we think "control" means?

Go back and read the later articles, anyway.

Fair enough. Here are two articles from today's Japan Times Online

Tepco dumps concrete to plug radiation leak at No. 2
Sea contamination traced to cracked storage pit connected to reactor

Although the pit is small, it contains highly contaminated water with a radioactivity exceeding 1,000 millisieverts per hour that is leaking into the ocean from a 20-cm crack, Tepco said.

... How much water has leaked and for how long were not known as of Saturday afternoon.

... According to a March 30 sample taken by the technology ministry, seawater tested about 40 km south of the plant contained 79.4 becquerels per liter of iodine-131, compared with the legal limit of 40 becquerels per liter.

This number shows that the highly contaminated water apparently draining from the plant has spread.

Irradiated water swamps Tepco
Restarting cooling systems takes a back seat to storage, disposal

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. have been struggling for three weeks to end the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear crisis but are being stymied by the need to remove massive amounts of highly radioactive water.

... Work to remove contaminated water from reactors 2 and 3, however, has yet to start. The crucial task of restoring electricity for the reactor cooling systems has meanwhile been delayed.

... Tepco estimates the vessel can store about 10,000 tons of water, while the amount of water detected in the plant has reached around 13,000 tons.

... Misawa said it is highly possible the No. 2 reactor's pressure vessel is damaged, since the water in its turbine building is extremely contaminated, showing surface-level radiation in excess of 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Radionuclide analysis of that water showed it contains not only volatile iodine-131 and cesium-134, but also the more stable lanthanum-140 and barium-140. All four substances are believed to have come from atomic fission, meaning "some part of the pressure vessel is probably damaged," Misawa said.

I believe these two articles are pretty much saying exactly what I reported and what I predicted. One person's stupid is another person's prescient.

Go back and read the later articles, anyway.

Fair enough. Here are two articles from today's Japan Times Online

Tepco dumps concrete to plug radiation leak at No. 2
Sea contamination traced to cracked storage pit connected to reactor

Although the pit is small, it contains highly contaminated water with a radioactivity exceeding 1,000 millisieverts per hour that is leaking into the ocean from a 20-cm crack, Tepco said.

... How much water has leaked and for how long were not known as of Saturday afternoon.

... According to a March 30 sample taken by the technology ministry, seawater tested about 40 km south of the plant contained 79.4 becquerels per liter of iodine-131, compared with the legal limit of 40 becquerels per liter.

This number shows that the highly contaminated water apparently draining from the plant has spread.

Irradiated water swamps Tepco
Restarting cooling systems takes a back seat to storage, disposal

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. have been struggling for three weeks to end the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear crisis but are being stymied by the need to remove massive amounts of highly radioactive water.

... Work to remove contaminated water from reactors 2 and 3, however, has yet to start. The crucial task of restoring electricity for the reactor cooling systems has meanwhile been delayed.

... Tepco estimates the vessel can store about 10,000 tons of water, while the amount of water detected in the plant has reached around 13,000 tons.

... Misawa said it is highly possible the No. 2 reactor's pressure vessel is damaged, since the water in its turbine building is extremely contaminated, showing surface-level radiation in excess of 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Radionuclide analysis of that water showed it contains not only volatile iodine-131 and cesium-134, but also the more stable lanthanum-140 and barium-140. All four substances are believed to have come from atomic fission, meaning "some part of the pressure vessel is probably damaged," Misawa said.

I believe these two articles are pretty much saying exactly what I reported and what I predicted. One person's stupid is another person's prescient.

Go back and read the later articles, anyway.

Fair enough. Here are two articles from today's Japan Times Online

Tepco dumps concrete to plug radiation leak at No. 2
Sea contamination traced to cracked storage pit connected to reactor

Although the pit is small, it contains highly contaminated water with a radioactivity exceeding 1,000 millisieverts per hour that is leaking into the ocean from a 20-cm crack, Tepco said.

... How much water has leaked and for how long were not known as of Saturday afternoon.

... According to a March 30 sample taken by the technology ministry, seawater tested about 40 km south of the plant contained 79.4 becquerels per liter of iodine-131, compared with the legal limit of 40 becquerels per liter.

This number shows that the highly contaminated water apparently draining from the plant has spread.

Irradiated water swamps Tepco
Restarting cooling systems takes a back seat to storage, disposal

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. have been struggling for three weeks to end the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear crisis but are being stymied by the need to remove massive amounts of highly radioactive water.

... Work to remove contaminated water from reactors 2 and 3, however, has yet to start. The crucial task of restoring electricity for the reactor cooling systems has meanwhile been delayed.

... Tepco estimates the vessel can store about 10,000 tons of water, while the amount of water detected in the plant has reached around 13,000 tons.

... Misawa said it is highly possible the No. 2 reactor's pressure vessel is damaged, since the water in its turbine building is extremely contaminated, showing surface-level radiation in excess of 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Radionuclide analysis of that water showed it contains not only volatile iodine-131 and cesium-134, but also the more stable lanthanum-140 and barium-140. All four substances are believed to have come from atomic fission, meaning "some part of the pressure vessel is probably damaged," Misawa said.

I believe these two articles are pretty much saying exactly what I reported and what I predicted. One person's stupid is another person's prescient.

Eh? Current explanation is that the iodine-131 detected at levels _10,000_ times the normal legal limit where found in a pumping station used to remove underground water to prevent the reactor being moved around due to water buoyancy.

If you had been watching the Japanese news you would know what you are reporting is both old news and garbled. There were many highly inaccurate reports in the Western media. IMO the Western media is completely unreliable re Fukushima.

The comparison is not the legal limit but rather to the level of radioactivity found in the water of a functioning reactor. The radioactive water was originally found in turbine buildings, not a pumping station. The radioactivity in water in the turbine buildings for reactors #1 and #3 was 10,000 times higher than water inside a working reactor. The water in the turbine building for reactor #2 was 100,000 times higher. This is why most people think it is reactor #2 that is leaking.

According to a pdf chart directly from TEPCO there is a complete cocktail of radioactive isotopes in the highly radioactive water including substantial amounts of Cesium-137 that has a half-life of 30 years. The same highly radioactive water was subsequently found in tunnels outside the turbine buildings.

Or it didn't. So far the water that is going to be pumped is the water that has pooled in the pump room. The pump room is inside the containment It's believed that it leaked out of broken pipes between the reactor and the cooling pump. No need to panic about a breached containment. Monitoring is slowly coming back online (keep in mind the hugely difficult conditions they're working in). As more monitoring comes online we should get a clearer picture. Until then we've just got speculation.

Your news is almost a week old. The highly radioactive water was originally found in the turbine buildings (not pump rooms) when three workers got burned when they stepped into it. But a few days later it was found in tunnels *outside* the buildings and *outside* the containment. The tunnels were close to overflowing so they reduced the amount of water they were spraying on the reactors to cool them. This in turn caused the outside temperature of the containment vessel of at least one reactor to rise 20C.

Yesterday, The Japan Time Online reported that highly radioactive water leaking from reactor #2 was going directly into the ocean. The level of radioactivity was measured at over 1 sievert per hour. Water 40 km away from the plant had over two times the legal limit of iodine-131.

If you want to know what is going on, please monitor the Japanese media and listen to what TEPCO and the head of the Japanese Cabinet are saying. The Western media has been worse than useless which in turn has led to some folks on Slashdot spreading misinformation.

I watch NHK World. You can find it on the web or stream it directly. I use:

vlc 'mms://nhk-world.gekimedia.net/nhkw-highm'

vlc 'mms://nhk-world.gekimedia.net/nhkw-highm'

therefore, the only real emergency solutions i see, correct me if i am wrong, is either: 1. get some new backup generators there asap, or 2. run some emergency electrical lines to the power plant asap

3. Drown it in powdered boron, which is how they ultimately killed the Chernobyl fire. That seems to be the solution Japan is going for, but they have to get the boron from Korea.

Boron has two uses; one, it melts and then evaporates quickly, which sucks a lot of energy out of any fire it hits, and two, it's a neutron absorber, which kills any runaway criticality in the core. It's the right tool for the job. I just wonder why a country so dependent on nuclear power doesn't keep an emergency supply of boron on hand. Maybe it was hubris; maybe they thought things would never get this bad.

Seems someone thought of that last May. Since most wind farms I've heard of are around 20 MW, 1000 MW is amazingly huge, especially since it would all be off-shore.

Nagano Shoten said it is just renting out space to install the devices belonging to its customers, who chiefly live abroad, and is not infringing copyright.

Having not seen actual court documents, I'm inclined to think that the third-party service is the real issue. Oh, and that pesky part about the media cartels not getting a cut.

I've been living in Japan for almost five years now and I can say that this same situation applies to a great number of companies and organizations here. Here city office are still almost completely paper based, employees are expected to work longer hours instead of working more productively, there are only a handful of computer in the teaching lounges of high schools, organizations will hire half a dozen people for what can be done with a single computer and some custom build software, workers are frowned upon if they try to innovate or rock the boat in any way, and stubbornness and diligence are two of the most important traits workers can have. Japan is one of the most xenophobic countries in the world ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_issues_in_Japan#Comment_by_U.N._special_rapporteur_on_racism_and_xenophobia ), and this doesn't just apply to their attitudes towards foreign people, it applies to business practices too. Japan isn't going to fall behind the rest of the world in technology, they already have. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20100430d1.html There is a famous ancient proverb here that couldn't be more true in Japanese society today: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" And get hammered down it does.

Those are classic criticisms of the American higher educational system. Yet the rest of the world is mostly worse.

Japan has the "prestigious university name" thing far worse than the US does. The University of Tokyo was the "magic key to opening the door to a powerful elite" for decades. There are now other schools approaching it in prestige, but not many. France has a very centralized educational system, with the Ecole Polytechnique at the top. Both systems are very examination-oriented. Germany has worse tenure problems than the US. Russia and China emphasized technical education after their revolutions, and they develop good engineers and scientists.

Higher education in the Islamic world is hopeless, even where there's money available. 91% of PhDs produced in Saudi Arabia are in "religious studies". The country has to import skilled labor to do almost everything that takes real-world knowledge.

Any scorched trees in your neck of the woods? Plus, you get the awesome benefit of forest therapy:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080502f1.html

Maybe for 40+ year olds, which I suppose is most of Japan, sadly. The Japanese I know in their 20's and 30's get all their info from news readers and aggregators like we do and I would imagine the amount of the younger generations who can read/write/speak English might be part of the reason for that, considering that English News Dailies in Japan are still mostly free.

'Under my watch, NASA will inspire the world once again and is going to help grow the economy right here in Brevard County,' said the presumptive Democratic nominee, speaking to a crowd of 1,400 at Brevard Community College's Titusville campus.

Obama has changed an earlier position, in which he planned to delay the Constellation program five years and use up to $5 billion from the NASA budget for education."

Like many politicians of all political parties, Obama tells the voters whatever they want to hear. After he wins election, he quickly changes course.

The principal difference between Obama and the typical dishonest politican is that Obama personally hates Western culture and Western civilization. For 20 years, he attended a church which taught that the West is solely responsible for the failure of non-Western societies.

Of course, Japan is proof that Obama (and his church) is wrong. Not coincidentally, Japan continues to aggressively pursue space exploration. According to a recent news article, "Despite the recession, the [Japanese] government budgeted ¥344.8 billion for space exploration in fiscal 2009, an increase of 10.4 percent from the previous year."

Forgot link. Here it is. Another interesting thing to note about Japan, possession of child porn is not illegal.

Whale is commonly consumed, dolphin hardly ever except places like Taiji.

Both of these animals absorb a lot of mercury from their diet over time and this can end up in the people who eat a lot of it.

Whale sashimi tastes sort of like a fishy meat. At least the one I had did. Maybe dolphin would be similar.

I can hang out with people who only speak Japanese and have a good time. I've even been on a couple of dates where the girl didn't speak any English. I've never taken a Japanese class.

And I bet you got the typical american accent (or danish or what ever, they're all horrible) that is so grating to the ear.

There is no substitute for a thorough, academically based intensive language course you get at good universities. You'll be spending the rest of your time trying to correct faults in your pronunciation if you don't get them right from the start. And there's only one series of study materials that I've come over that I would recommend; Genki.

1. You are invited to the police station for a long chat.
2. You sign a confession and the chat is over.
3. The court looks over the paper work, reads the transcript of your chat and your sentenced.
4. The prison guards have "official duties" (warning graphic)...
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070331a1.html

Rather, certain Americans (and Canadians, for that matter) sometimes need to be reminded that their nation *isn't* the greatest, most free, most awesome country in the world... that it is flawed, and often *doesn't* live up to its lauded ideals.

Yes, Canadians need to be reminded too. I'm an American living in Canada, and here's some of the problems I see:

• Vastly disproportionate representation in Parliament
• Prorouged Parliament (WTF? and by the way, how is this aspect of being a crown subject a mere formality?)
• Blank media tax
• Almost total ban on handgun ownership and concealed carry.

As for some of your specific points:

thought: Didn't we just see a story about a man [in the US] arrested for possessing child porn that didn't actually depict children?

• Virtual child porn has always been illegal in Canada to a much greater degree than in the US.

I think our system of democracy is more representative of the people's wishes...

• Oh really? I've literally never met anyone who supports the GST, so why is it still around?

Point is, Canada and the US are free in different ways. I would not go so far as to say that one is any freer than the other -- if anything, they are incomparable.

Actually the "massacre" is a myth created by US-propaganda: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20080721gc.html

At least a few with loud enough voices to get into the newspapers have a problem with it. Whether that means anything demographically significant enough to put a stop to it though is anyone's guess. It is true that there is a cultural expectation that other people avert their eyes from "private" areas, even when viewable from the street. It's also true that Google's been a bit hamfisted when it comes to the occasional cultural faux pas. For these reasons, Google Street View has a bit of an intrusive image, since it allows others the ability to see into windows without the repercussions of actually being there, losing face, getting reported to the police as a suspicious person, etc. However, I have also met some people that think it's worth the price to be able to see the streets you wish to visit beforehand. It makes giving directions a lot easier...and you can find out what places there are to eat before you get there. Additionally, Google blurs out faces automatically and also offers the ability to request one's home to be excluded from the service.

I'm grossly generalizing based on anecdotes, (and I wish I had some real data on this topic...I wonder if there has been polling on this?) but it seems to me the older generation places more of an emphasis on privacy, while the younger generation is more likely to be impressed by the convenience and utility of it. Of course, the former perspective seems to make it into the news more often...

Google photos raise privacy issues in Japan

Google crosses line with controversial old Tokyo maps (not quite related, but interesting nonetheless...)

Some Japanese concerned about Google Street View

Group demands shutdown of Google Street View Japan

More sensational news from Japan about the dangers of Google Street View

At least a few with loud enough voices to get into the newspapers have a problem with it. Whether that means anything demographically significant enough to put a stop to it though is anyone's guess. It is true that there is a cultural expectation that other people avert their eyes from "private" areas, even when viewable from the street. It's also true that Google's been a bit hamfisted when it comes to the occasional cultural faux pas. For these reasons, Google Street View has a bit of an intrusive image, since it allows others the ability to see into windows without the repercussions of actually being there, losing face, getting reported to the police as a suspicious person, etc. However, I have also met some people that think it's worth the price to be able to see the streets you wish to visit beforehand. It makes giving directions a lot easier...and you can find out what places there are to eat before you get there. Additionally, Google blurs out faces automatically and also offers the ability to request one's home to be excluded from the service.

I'm grossly generalizing based on anecdotes, (and I wish I had some real data on this topic...I wonder if there has been polling on this?) but it seems to me the older generation places more of an emphasis on privacy, while the younger generation is more likely to be impressed by the convenience and utility of it. Of course, the former perspective seems to make it into the news more often...

Google photos raise privacy issues in Japan

Google crosses line with controversial old Tokyo maps (not quite related, but interesting nonetheless...)

Some Japanese concerned about Google Street View

Group demands shutdown of Google Street View Japan

More sensational news from Japan about the dangers of Google Street View

Spoken like a professional translator.

Indeed. I hope you don't mean that in a pejorative sense? When TFQ is asking about translation, it's perfectly appropriate for professionals in the field to chime in with their insights and expertise.

There was an article recently in the Japan Times about a project at the University of Tokyo to build a very similar system, though it is apparently just for texts being translated into Japanese. For the curious: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20090422a1.html. I don't agree with some of the pronouncements in the article (understanding the nuances of the source text and accurately conveying those in a fluently written target text does indeed take some skill, whereas the article and even the project name Minna no Honyaku suggest that 'anyone can translate!'), but the project itself looks interesting. The project site is http://trans-aid.jp/ (Japanese only).

Perhaps the TFQ submitter could contact the Professor Kyo Kageura mentioned in the article to find out more about the Minna no Honyaku system? It's basically crowdsourcing for translation projects that don't merit the time, money, and quality of professional translation, which kinda sounds like what they're looking for.

Cheers,

Yep. A Japanese researcher, Nakamura, finally figured out how to do it and the company he worked for made a fortune overnight. He finally had to sue them for royalties, since the company was making bank and gave him a measly $200 to show their appreciation).

He finally got a $190 million dollar settlement. The company actually made six times that in royalties, and the judge said that he was actually entitled to half, but Nakamura only asked for $190 million, so that's what he got.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20040131a1.html

And I hate those stupid blog stories anyway.

Here's a real article with actual information:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20081022a1.html

You might want to factor in the biased, outdated, unfair Japanese criminal justice system

• Innocent Canadian academic at J university arrested, imprisoned for 20days, stress-questioned in 10-hour long sessions, pushed to "confess", released without charge
• Another J police treatment of disputes between J and NJ
• Japan Bar Association and United Nations Human Rights Commission speak out on probelms with the J criminal justice system
• What not to do if arrested in Japan

Maybe it's a bit past the sell by date.

Or maybe it's not Red Snapper.

In my personal experience, I've had really good Red Snapper, and I've not so good Red Snapper. Was the difference because of the former factors, or because of the latter? Not having a raw sample and a DNA test, I couldn't tell you for sure.

This is part of the problem with American food culture versus that of Europe or Asia.

We purchase, prepare and serve our fish and meats whole in many cases, especially if the fish in question is of outstanding quality and/or freshness.

I can't imagine chefs, especially sushi chefs who did not know what they were serving, as opposed to were knowingly using cheaper fish to substitute for more expensive fish at the same price.

Patronize reputable Japanese restaurants and you _should_ be ok.

On a separate note, Japan has had its scandals in recent times where premium restaurants were caught red handed engaging in dodgy practices. Like re-using leftover food.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080529a5.html

That article, at first glance, seemed pretty nonsensical and bizarre. It's probably the worst-written news article I've ever seen, with no context, background, or apparent point. I mean, I've seen research from western nations that seems just as silly as the crossbreeding mentioned in the article. It reads as though some scientists, purely at random, decided to look at 43 whale-related research papers and found some silly things.

It seems that the scientists in question are commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, who complain that this research is simply an excuse t'hunt whales and sell them at market. A press release from the IFAW:

http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=225091

Specifically, this is in response to the Japanese increasing their whaling, allegedly for science:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4118990.stm

Now, it strikes me that the IFAW is not, perhaps, the most objective group on the planet to evaluate this. The Japan Times has this to say:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071225i1.html

Virtually every article out there appears to be a regurgitation of various environmental group press releases, except a couple very neutral but content-free wire service articles. I see no detailed, objective review of the science.

I suspect the ICAW and other environmental orginazations would declare -any- research that kills whales "trivial", because they place a higher value on whales' lives than any possible research results. They don't give details of the research except vague five-word descriptions of those that sound ridiculous on the face. I'd much rather have details than rhetoric, personally.

Japan's government isn't the best possible source of unbiased opinion, either, although their claims that the whaling is sustainable seems t'be backed up by the whaling agreement under which they're operating. Given that they're obeying the limits under that agreement, I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt until such time as it's demonstrated otherwise.

I think the real junk science here is relying on groups with ulterior motives to evaluate the scientific value of the whaling. Let someone who doesn't want t'have the whales' babies -or- eat the whales' undoubtedly tasty flesh review the research, and I'll listen.

"Their government does not wiretap their citizens' phone calls or endorse torture, and their taxes do not go to supporting a massive military industrial complex or a set of oil cartels."

I beg to differ on wiretapping here.

As for torture its more a domestic thing.

Military industrial complex here? I think petrolium cartels are equally obvious.

"Their government does not wiretap their citizens' phone calls or endorse torture, and their taxes do not go to supporting a massive military industrial complex or a set of oil cartels."

I beg to differ on wiretapping here.

As for torture its more a domestic thing.

Military industrial complex here? I think petrolium cartels are equally obvious.

They scream bloody murder about how implementing a human rights treaty they signed over a decade ago will stiffle free speech, but it's fine if they do it. Bigotry is okay, but we can't have any "illegal and harmful content."

There is some conflicting information about the exact day the voyage will begin. Some sites state the middle of May and others state the middle of March. According to this article in The Japan Times, Kenichi Horie stated Wednesday that the voyage will begin on March 16. My apologies about the confusion.

Absolutely true, and the fingerprinting is only the beginning.

You would think that if such fingerprinting measures were taken at the border, any foreigner admitted to the country would be considered not to be a criminal, but in fact the Japanese government doesn't start trusting you even a bit.

All non-citizens -- even permanent residents -- are forced to carry Alien Registration Cards at all times. These cards alone contain enough information to offer any mugger the opportunity to become an identity thief: bearer's name and Japanese kanji/kana name, if there is one; date of birth; sex; place of birth; nationality; home municipality and state/province in home country; current address; name of householder at current address; passport number; date of issue of passport; date of first landing in Japan; visa type and expiration date; job title; employer's name and address, and finally, signature (if issued after early 2000s) or fingerprint (if issued earlier).

All of this is printed in plain text easily visible to the eye. This is an identity theft disaster waiting to happen, even if the data obtained forcibly by immigration inspectors hasn't been sold off to unknown organizations.

Ostensibly there are rules in place about when these cards can be demanded and who can see the data on them, but in practice police officers will ask to see them on the slightest pretext, and if you're not carrying yours, they can take you to the police station, make you sit in detention until the Ministry of Justice can verify your identity, and possibly impose a fine.

The report mentions CCTV cameras as a threat to privacy, but doesn't mention what Japan has: good old-fashioned live police officers on the streets arbitrarliy accosting people and demanding papers! I'd much rather walk past a CCTV camera than a Japanese "police box"!

The police also keep non-citizens under surveillance by using illegal "policy creep" such as getting hotels to demand these cards (and make copies!) for all foreigners staying with them, despite the law stating that only non-residents have to provice such information. Employers, real-estate agents, mobile phone companies, and even places like video stores will also demand copies of these cards as a condition of service. There are even rumors of adding chips such as RFID to these cards and setting up scanners in hotels, train stations, and other public facilities.

No one protests, because non-citizens can't vote and the average Japanese person is too busy and too apolitical to care. "Become a citizen" isn't good advice either, as it takes many years of residence to be eligible and your data doesn't get destroyed if you become Japanese (and police will hassle you on the street anyway, if you don't look Japanese).

I'm disgusted that Japan's rating was as high as it was. Japan takes only the most totalitarian parts from the US, Great Britain, and the EU, and counts on the voices of the "it's their country; they can do whatever they want" crowd to drown out civil-liberties advocates. Japan is fading into irrelevance on the world stage, I'm sad to say, and this creeping totalitarianism is one reason why.

Absolutely true, and the fingerprinting is only the beginning.

You would think that if such fingerprinting measures were taken at the border, any foreigner admitted to the country would be considered not to be a criminal, but in fact the Japanese government doesn't start trusting you even a bit.

All non-citizens -- even permanent residents -- are forced to carry Alien Registration Cards at all times. These cards alone contain enough information to offer any mugger the opportunity to become an identity thief: bearer's name and Japanese kanji/kana name, if there is one; date of birth; sex; place of birth; nationality; home municipality and state/province in home country; current address; name of householder at current address; passport number; date of issue of passport; date of first landing in Japan; visa type and expiration date; job title; employer's name and address, and finally, signature (if issued after early 2000s) or fingerprint (if issued earlier).

All of this is printed in plain text easily visible to the eye. This is an identity theft disaster waiting to happen, even if the data obtained forcibly by immigration inspectors hasn't been sold off to unknown organizations.

Ostensibly there are rules in place about when these cards can be demanded and who can see the data on them, but in practice police officers will ask to see them on the slightest pretext, and if you're not carrying yours, they can take you to the police station, make you sit in detention until the Ministry of Justice can verify your identity, and possibly impose a fine.

The report mentions CCTV cameras as a threat to privacy, but doesn't mention what Japan has: good old-fashioned live police officers on the streets arbitrarliy accosting people and demanding papers! I'd much rather walk past a CCTV camera than a Japanese "police box"!

The police also keep non-citizens under surveillance by using illegal "policy creep" such as getting hotels to demand these cards (and make copies!) for all foreigners staying with them, despite the law stating that only non-residents have to provice such information. Employers, real-estate agents, mobile phone companies, and even places like video stores will also demand copies of these cards as a condition of service. There are even rumors of adding chips such as RFID to these cards and setting up scanners in hotels, train stations, and other public facilities.

No one protests, because non-citizens can't vote and the average Japanese person is too busy and too apolitical to care. "Become a citizen" isn't good advice either, as it takes many years of residence to be eligible and your data doesn't get destroyed if you become Japanese (and police will hassle you on the street anyway, if you don't look Japanese).

I'm disgusted that Japan's rating was as high as it was. Japan takes only the most totalitarian parts from the US, Great Britain, and the EU, and counts on the voices of the "it's their country; they can do whatever they want" crowd to drown out civil-liberties advocates. Japan is fading into irrelevance on the world stage, I'm sad to say, and this creeping totalitarianism is one reason why.

As for the issue of "equally", the new Japanese law mandating the fingerprinting of foreigners is discriminatory and is unacceptable. In particular, the law exempts Korean citizens who reside permanently in Japan but who refuse Japanese citizenship. Roughly 45% of these "refuseniks" pledge their allegiance to North Korea. They send their children to special schools which teach their students to sing the praises of North Korea.

These Korean refuseniks deliberately refuse Japanese citizenship because they want to maintain their "Korean-ness". They believe that blood determines both culture and nation of loyalty. They are loyal to either North Korea or South Korea.

The Korean refuseniks have harbored this intense racist bigotry for decades. Since the early 1990s, this bigotry began to fade slightly, and the number of Koreans applying for Japanese citizenship has increased from 5000 annually to 10,000 annually.

In today's Japan, there is no discrimination against Japanese citizens of Korean ancestry. There is, however, justifiable discrimination against Korean citizens or any other person who lacks Japanese citizenship: for example, a Brazilian citizen of Japanese ancestry does not have the same privileges that a Japanese citizen enjoys.

The Korean refuseniks are exempted from the fingerprinting requirement because, in the 1980s, the Korean government demanded that the Japanese government end the fingerprinting of Korean citizens who refuse Japanese citizenship. The Korean government insisted that Tokyo fulfill this demand before the Korean government was willing to improve relations with Japan. As a result of this interference by the Korean government in Japanese domestic politics, Tokyo ended the fingerprinting of Korean refuseniks. The Korean refuseniks are also exempted from the fingerprinting in the new Japanese law just passed by the Japanese parliament.

There is a huge difference between Korean refuseniks and Americans of African ancestry. Some Korean refuseniks are descended from people who were forcibly brought to Japan during World War II. However, many Korean refuseniks are descended from people who voluntarily came to Japan during and after World War II. By contrast, nearly all Americans of African ancestry are descended from people who were forcibly brought to the United States. Yet, while the Korean refuseniks voluntarily refuse Japanese citizenship (that they could easily get), all Americans of African ancestry gladly want to be American citizens.

The attitude of the Koreans is utterly racist and bigotted. By contrast, most Taiwanese citizens who chose to reside permanently in Japan have conscientiously wanted (and obtained) Japanese citizenship.

In summary, the new Japanese law mandating the fingerprinting of foreigners is discriminatory and is unacceptable because the law exempts Korean refuseniks. Tokyo should ignore the Korean government and should resume fingerprinting Korean refuseniks -- especially Korean refuseniks who pledge their allegiance to North Korea. (The Korean government has been a far bigger pain to Japan than the Mexican government has been to the USA.)

That's nothing...

If you are not Japanese, and you are going to visit Japan, after November 20, 2007 (when new law takes effect), you will be photographed AND fingerprinted every time you enter the country. Want to know what discrimination/racism feels like?
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20071101a1.html

Read what this long time resident of Japan, (originally American, now fluent in Japanese) has to say about it...;-)
http://www.debito.org/japantimes052405.html

An excellent site for a more sobering look at how Japan is changing, in many ways...
http://www.debito.org/

...I'm actually Chinese. So what do they do about non-Japanese people using Japanese services for this sort of thing? Will they try to prosecute across borders like the States does?

..then these new exoskeletons will sure come in handy for moving around..

The following seemed at least partly appropriate story given the parent post:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070418a 1.html

A group of 16 organizations of writers, artists, musicians, cartoonists and publishers has issued a statement asking the Cultural Affairs Agency to extend copyright protection from 50 years after their deaths to 70 years -- just as in Europe and North America. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060930f 2.html/

I don't like Sony any more than the rest of the world (as represented by slashdot, the actual world seems to think they are fine) but at this point, I hope Sony dominates the market for the next ten years just so Zonk will be laughed off of the internet

Well for everyone who says don't learn Japanese or Japanese is too hard, or other such nonesense. It is a difficult language to learn but not impossible if you are motivated enough to spend the time doing so, but it can be fun at the same time. Learning Japanese is a great endeavor and I wish you luck.

Most naysayers have very little practical experience speaking/reading/writing Japanese.

As for me, I'm probably not as good as I should be.
Now, I'm not fluent, but speak pretty decent Japanese, I can write about 1000 kanjis and can read nearly 1500. I've been studying for quite some time though. Also my wife is Japanese, and I've dated a number of Japanese women and I've lived in Japan. I speak with her nearly daily in half Japanese and half English. I've also worked for nearly 3 years in Tokyo.

Depending on where you live, I would recommend taking some classes to get your feet wet, FIND Japanese friends. If you are single, find a Japanese girl, many of the girls I dated wanted me to learn more and were happy that I wanted to learn and studied Japanese. So they helped ALOT! My wife also happens to be a Japanese language teacher, but she is too strict with me, so I gave up on her giving me formal lessons, though the informal ones are the best.

I'm still learning and I'm nearly 40, but I'm always finding out new things.

The two really difficult things about learning Japanese are the particles and Kanji. The best way for me was to really learn the radicals and learn how to 'break' 'up' the kanji into small components, this way you can easily recognize much more complicated kanji.

Speaking and Listening are just a matter of using it. Watching Anime can help, but watching Japanese TV/movies and dramas with or without subtitles can beneficial too.

Check out this series of books for learning Japanese:

http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/index.en.html

Some good dictionaries:

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html

http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dict

Learning Kanji:

Guide to Writing Kanji & Kana Book 1: A Self-Study Workbook for Learning Japanese Characters (Tuttle Language Library) (Paperback)
ISBN: 0804833923

Find Japanese friends (girls)
http://friends.japantoday.com/

Just don't tell Japanese girls you are into Anime, they will generally run the other way.
Finding Japanese girls who are really into Anime, are well not as common as you would like or would think. Nearly all the girls I've dated thought guys who were into Anime or Manga were gross.

So I told them I'm only into Studio Ghibli, then they think your cool. :-)

Also, consider taking a break from doing IT or whatever you do and go teach English in Japane for 6 months to a year.

Good Luck

You may want to read this:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5 ?ek20051213ks.htm

In Japan it seems that geeks are in demand now. Women is strange indeed.

When did you go to Tokyo?

"It used to be that you wouldn't dream of drinking while walking down the street [in Japan]. " - http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5 ?fl20040320cz.htm

"Walking and eating [in Japan] is taboo, though you will see local people doing it from time to time, especially in tourist destinations. Still, expect to be glared at or clucked at if you eat (or drink) while perambulating. Ice cream might be an exception, but everything else, including canned drinks should be consumed while standing next to the place where you bought them or sitting on a nearby park bench." - http://www.mediatinker.com/hellotokyo/survival.htm l

The reason Japan has one of the lowest birthrates among teenagers is because they most likely have the highest abortion rate in the world. Unfortunately, most of the statistics will show otherwise, simply because in Japanese culture, teenage pregnancy is an extreme shame so these kinds of statistics will be severely underreported.

Less sex than Americans? You've got to be kidding me This is a country that has rampant problems with Enjo Kosai (prostitution among young girls, mostly junior high and high schoolers). You can honestly believe a culture where showing sexual content and harsh language to children have no effect; as a result many teenagers in Japan don't think things like Enjo Kosai are wrong.