Continued quakes, radiation fears, and more

Here in Tokyo, we have been feeling the effects of intensity 5+ earthquakes in Fukushima area this week: three in a row early Wednesday morning, one on Thursday at breakfast time that stirred my coffee for me (all intensity 3), but thankfully none so far today. And the aftershocks continue in between. They occur hourly or more frequently in the disaster areas at intensities of 1-5. This is very disturbing for them and also for us here, since they do remind us all of the big one two weeks ago and that things are not yet settled down there.
     Everyone in Japan's lives are permanently changed by all of this, I believe. Though the effects are diluted by distance away from the disaster zones, they are still being felt everywhere, emotionally, physically, and materially.  Immediate effects are obvious here in Tokyo - people are much more low-key, and there is a hush in stores, with people buying only what they need.  TV newscasters have been wearing black/dark colours this week in a gesture of sympathy, and the AC (Japan Ad Council) commercials continue, thankfully with more appropriate content.
     And if the quake business isn't enough, the nuclear reactor difficulties continue, creating more anxiety as they remain out of control. This is evidenced in part by the radioactive material that is entering the atmosphere - air and water, and also food. The radioactive levels in water have finally settled down in Tokyo area, or that is what we are told. The news reports data from the Kanamatsu purification plant (which is one of the reservoirs that serves Tokyo) as follows:
     March 22 - 210 becquerels/kg
     March 23 - 190 becquerels/kg
     March 24 - 79 becquerels/kg
     March 25 - 51 becquerels/kg
with levels above 100 becquerels/kg considered unsafe for infants under one year.
     These levels above are inflated by the fact that the water was sampled from the purification plant, and do not reflect the values for tap water, which I found out to be as follows for Tokyo's Shinjuku ward for the same period (which is not us, but reliably comparable):

These levels are very low, so with the combined data, I can feel a little better about the water. However, we are still exposed to radioactive iodine in the air, which, though insignificant in its values on the map, will accumulate over time, making these two sources of danger worrisome.

(all data from The Japan Times, March 25, 2011)

And, to top it off, we had a suspicious "visitor" to our condominium yesterday. One of the tenants called the police to come over and check around. He wasn't found, but we got to know that he contacted several people in our building and asked them to buy something from him. There was a similar incident with a man who matched the description of our guy in another neighbourhood in Setagaya ward (our ward) reported by the ward office today. Keeping our doors and windows locked is the obvious action, but it is yet another thing to think about!

Maybe turning on the TV for more news is a bad idea, but in the hopes for some late-breaking signs of reassurance about something, I am compelled to tune in.