Fukushima residents versus government officials

I was looking at my Google+ stream and I saw this unbelievable and shocking video in an article by Time Out Tokyo.

The people want to evacuate. They need assistance. They want answers.

It’s funny how the government officials tried to avoid answering the people’s questions. They couldn’t even answer with a straight face. And so they just run off and try to escape.

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How the 2011 Japan Tsunami Happened

Let’s put aside, for a while, all that stuff about the nuclear accident, because I want to tell you something.

For the past 4 weeks I have consciously tried to avoid watching any videos of the devastating tsunami, and the unimaginable destruction that it brought upon the people of Japan.

But now, more than a month after the disaster, it’s about time I learned and understood exactly happened, however mind-boggling it could be.

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How to Monitor Radiation Levels in Tokyo on a Daily Basis

It’s been tough these past few weeks in Tokyo. While dealing with aftershocks and citywide power reduction, I have to deal with threats of radiation in the air, water and food.

And so here I am, still trying to grasp the concept of “microsieverts per hour“, here comes “becquerels per kilogram” begging for my attention. That’s quite a lot to handle.

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How to Protect Yourself from Radiation

I know that this question is on the minds of a lot of people around the world who are following the current situation of the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan.

I came across an interesting blog post which provides details in how we can protect ourselves from radiation. There are no silver bullets for radioactive isotopes such as Cesium-137, but that doesn’t mean we’re just sitting ducks and we can’t do anything about it.

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Warning: Nuclear Boy has Stinky Poo!

We’ve all been through quite a rough ride this week, with all this commotion about the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. I don’t know about you but I am tired.

I am tired of reading a lot of very technical stuff. Milli sieverts. Micro sieverts. Sieverts shmieverts. I say it’s time for a time out. Time to unwind!

Japanese media artist Kazuhiko Hachiya created this cool video to explain Japan’s current nuclear crisis to kids. I found it quite entertaining, that’s why I’m sharing it with you.

So sit back, relax, unwind, and enjoy the show.

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Caught in a Disaster? There’s an App for That

I love my iPhone. But not in a fanboy way.

I never thought my iPhone would turn out to be such a life saver.
It’s so useful that I can’t imagine going back to my old Galapagos phone. I would probably be lost?

Here are some must have iPhone apps that may help you in case of disasters.

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10 Simple Ways to Help Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Victims

I have gathered some links to charities and different ways to help and make donations.
Most of them can be done from any part of the world. Some may be applicable to US only.

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How to Look at Radiation Levels

By now you’ve probably heard about the recent spike in radiation levels detected in Ibaraki and Kanagawa prefectures. They say it is about 10 to 100 times the “usual level”. Those numbers don’t mean anything to me. The question is: are those measured levels of radiation still with the acceptable range or is it beyond what my body can handle and cause severe damage to my health?

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How to Check for Radiation Even If You Don’t Have A Geiger Counter

With all the recent explosions at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, there’s a lot of talk about radioactive stuff leaking into the surrounding areas.

The Japanese government says it’s pretty safe and things are “under control.” Then there’s this report that says choppers that flew 60miles near the damaged reactors “became coated with particulate radiation that had to be washed off.”

And then there’s a lot of misinformation going around through e-mails and text messages that are just aggravating the situation. Honestly, I don’t really know which information is right or wrong.

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3 Ways to Watch NHK World News in English

For foreigners living in Japan, it is extremely important to be able to understand any important announcements and news updates. Fortunately, there is a news broadcast service in English.

NHK WORLD TV is an English language 24-hour international news and information channel.
It is one of the sources of information that I use today.
Right now there are 3 ways you can access this news service.

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