To Leave Or To Stay (2011-03-20)
Many people asked us when we're leaving Japan? Some say we're overly optimistic in the whole situation, but we are not. In fact, KL is the most pessimistic and morbid person I've ever known in my life. And I don't know anyone who's more petrified of getting cancer than he!
Yes, the crisis in Fukushima is still critical, but radiation leak
is limited to the immediate vicinity. Independent agencies (such
as that from USA and UN) as well as Japan are constantly monitoring
radiation level there and all the way in Tokyo. All readings show
within normal limit or slightly elevated numbers that are not harmful
to human health.
Tokyo's readings were 0.0530 microsieverts on 3/17, 0.047 on
3/18, and 0.046 on 03/19 (pre-earthquake average range is 0.028 to 0.079).
To put things in perspective, a chest x-ray exposes you to
50 microsieverts, a 12-hr return flight 200, a 5-min CT scan a whopping
6900. The area 60 km from the nuclear plant measured between 1.0
to 10.8 microsieverts (depending on the wind and landscape) and Tokyo
is 250km away from the nuclear plant, I believe we're still okay here.
I think the foreign media has made many people gone
completely hysterical. Throw in such words as "explosion",
"smoke", "meltdown" and "radiation leak" and most people immediately
switch to panic mode. And then you have France who sent in two
planes to take its citizens out at the first sight of trouble followed
by numerous other countries urging theirs to leave, and before long
there's this image of mass exodus of foreigners from Japan which in
turn causes more panic.
If you ask my opinion whether Tokyo is safe at present, the answer is a resounding Yes. We are following the developments in Fukushima very closely from multiple sources and if there's any sign of impending danger, we'll leave immediately. But for now, there seems to be no harm staying put.
P.S. As for our cat Efoo, he's supposed to check into the vet's
clinic yesterday, but it was cancelled since we're putting our
evacuation plan on hold.
P.S. Power outages only affect a very small number of suburbs in central Tokyo. The dark Tokyo skyline at night is due to autonomous energy conservation, not power cuts.
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