Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:46 am Post subject:
Encouraging news from Japan
=============
Dealers selling radioactive used cars in Japan
10/24/2011
TOKYO (majirox news) �\ Japanese used car dealers who can�ft export radioactive cars overseas are dumping them into the Japanese used car market, according to the Asahi Shimbun on Oct. 24. These cars have failed Japan�fs dockside radioactive export tests.
�gWhat you are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg,�h said one car exporter to the Asahi who refused to be identified. �gIf a car gives off a high radioactivity count, it�fs too much trouble to decontaminate it. It�fs better to just sell it in a Japanese car auction where there are no restrictions. It�fs like throwing away a bad card you were dealt in poker.�h
Dealers re-register cars with their local registrations. Re-registering wipes out all prior local registrations and makes it impossible to know where the car is from without doing a detailed investigation through a branch of the Transportation Department. So the origin of a radioactive car can be easily concealed.
Japanese export inspections stop the export of any radioactive merchandise.
Another automobile exporter said, �gI purchased a minivan for 1.23 million yen ($16,000) intending to export it to Southeast Asia. However, when it was brought to dockside and underwent radioactivity testing, it came in at 110 microsieverts, far exceeding Japan�fs permissible limit of 5 microsieverts.
�gAfter the car was refused for export, I tried over and over again to decontaminate it. The end result was that I was only able to get it down to 30 microsieverts. So I sold it at an auction in Japan. What do you expect me to do? Take a loss on it?�h
Since August, regulations have been toughened up. The export limit is now 0.3 microsieverts. According to the Japan Harbor Transportation Association, as of September about 1% of all cars tested had failed the test, with a few registering over 5 microsieverts. A total of 660 cars have been refused export permission since August.
In Fukushima prefecture, there is a movement to weed out any radioactive used cars from sale. JU Fukushima, which oversees all car auctions in Fukushima prefecture, tests every car and rejects any automobile that is over 1 microsieverts per hour.
According to Yutaka Shioda, managing director of the Japan Automobile Exporters Association, �gAll cars being auctioned in Japan should undergo radioactivity tests.�h
While this may be the ideal, the fact is the cars with Fukushima number plates are difficult to sell because of radiation fears.
A Fukushima prefecture used car dealer told the Asahi, �gIf they have Fukushima or Iwaki number plates, we re-register the cars elsewhere in the Kanto region and then auction them.�h
Masahiro Fukushi, professor of Radioactive Substances Control and Handling at Shuto University in Tokyo, says that there are genuine practical difficulties in the way of decontaminating automobiles. �gWhile it�fs easy to wash off any contamination from the exterior of the car, it�fs difficult to decontaminate the seats and the interior of the automobile,�h he said. �gI really think that the government should put forth guidelines about permissible radioactivity levels in used cars so consumers can buy them with confidence.�h
Guidelines of some sort are badly needed. The team from the Asahi tracked a car originally left in a parking lot in Fukushima, within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the nuclear accident that had been exposed to what the Asahi calculated were 30 microsieverts hourly of radiation for 26 hours before being moved. This would put the radioactivity of this car well above the Japanese permissible limit of 20 millisieverts per year.
So where is the car now? The Asahi team tracked the car first to an auction in Saitama prefecture where it didn�ft sell, and then subsequently to an auction in Chiba prefecture. When the Asahi asked who had purchased the car, the auction company replied, �gSorry, but rules don�ft permit us to give out this information.�h
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 12123 Location: It was fun while it lasted. Country:
Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:27 am Post subject:
Anybody thinking of going to Japan might want to wait awhile:
Yen hits new postwar high
The yen hit a new post-war high of 75.32 to the dollar in Oceanian trade early Monday despite repeated warnings from Japanese authorities against pushing the yen up.
The dollar fetched 75.32 yen, the lowest rate since World War II, falling below the previous lows of around 75.60 yen touched last week, Jiji Press and Kyodo news agencies said.
The greenback firmed slightly after hitting the new low, trading at 75.75 yen at 8:25 am in Tokyo (2325 GMT Sunday).
The yen has been rising to post-war highs as investors seek the safe-haven currency to escape market volatility over the eurozone debt woes and a slowdown in the global economy.
Concerns are growing in Japan that the strong currency, which erodes the repatriated profits of exporters and makes exports less competitive, could undermine a fragile recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The Bank of Japan on Thursday announced further easing measures to help safeguard the economic recovery from the impact of a record-high yen and the fallout from the eurozone crisis.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi on Thursday threatened government intervention in financial markets, complaining that speculators were using Europe's debt crisis as an excuse to push the currency higher.
"I have kept saying that we will take decisive steps against any excessive movement regarding market speculation, so I will closely monitor how the Tokyo market moves during the day," Azumi said.
However, Azumi has conceded it will be tough to again rally support from Japan's G7 counterparts for a concerted intervention to the weaken the yen, as happened when the unit surged in the aftermath of the March disasters.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 2:54 am Post subject:
gaijinmark wrote:
Anybody thinking of going to Japan might want to wait awhile:
Yen hits new postwar high
The yen hit a new post-war high of 75.32 to the dollar in Oceanian trade early Monday despite repeated warnings from Japanese authorities against pushing the yen up.
The dollar fetched 75.32 yen, the lowest rate since World War II, falling below the previous lows of around 75.60 yen touched last week, Jiji Press and Kyodo news agencies said.
The greenback firmed slightly after hitting the new low, trading at 75.75 yen at 8:25 am in Tokyo (2325 GMT Sunday).
The yen has been rising to post-war highs as investors seek the safe-haven currency to escape market volatility over the eurozone debt woes and a slowdown in the global economy.
Concerns are growing in Japan that the strong currency, which erodes the repatriated profits of exporters and makes exports less competitive, could undermine a fragile recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The Bank of Japan on Thursday announced further easing measures to help safeguard the economic recovery from the impact of a record-high yen and the fallout from the eurozone crisis.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi on Thursday threatened government intervention in financial markets, complaining that speculators were using Europe's debt crisis as an excuse to push the currency higher.
"I have kept saying that we will take decisive steps against any excessive movement regarding market speculation, so I will closely monitor how the Tokyo market moves during the day," Azumi said.
However, Azumi has conceded it will be tough to again rally support from Japan's G7 counterparts for a concerted intervention to the weaken the yen, as happened when the unit surged in the aftermath of the March disasters.
I knew the yen was going to go up since my last visit to Japan in '09...not like the writing wasn't on the wall. I was so convinced of it that even though I came back from Japan with some yen I decided NOT to convert the money back to dollars.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:30 am Post subject:
bmwracer wrote:
Didn't Wynter say she was heading out there soon?
Ehh, she's loaded anyways.
^_^
I believe she said she's traveling sometime next year in March, I think? I want to go myself...I'm itching to go back to Tokyo (only went once), among other places.
As I mentioned before, if I go, I might cash in some points for free nights to save money on lodging considering the unfavorable rate of exchange.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 1:09 am Post subject:
Ineptitude of the highest order. This has to breed distrust...appalling news.
Hosono gives up salary over dumping of radioactive soil by environment ministry official
National Nov. 18, 2011
TOKYO �\
Environment Minister Goshi Hosono said Friday he would give up his annual salary after an official at the ministry dumped radioactive soil from Fukushima on a vacant lot of land near his home in Saitama Prefecture.
Hosono, who is also the minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, said he would refuse the 1.5 million yen he receives each month as environment minister for the whole time he remains in office to make amends for his employee�fs treatment of the concerned resident.
�gI have heavy responsibility as the head of this organization,�h said Hosono, who will retain the 1.3 million yen monthly salary he separately receives as a member of the Diet.
Hosono�fs decision came a day after he said an official had dumped a small amount of low-level radioactive soil sent to the ministry by a resident of Fukushima City, 60 kilometers from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
According to the ministry, a cardboard box was delivered to the ministry at around 9 a.m. on Nov 8. The box contained some soil inside a plastic bag. In a letter, the sender said the soil was taken from his garden and he wanted the ministry to store and clean it. The letter also contained information about radiation levels measured around the sender�fs home.
The ministry said analysis of the soil showed radiation of 0.18 microsieverts per hour, about the same as soil in areas around Tokyo.
After a discussion, one member of staff took the package and poured it on an empty lot near his home in Saitama Prefecture, northeast of the capital.
The soil was later collected, and officials involved and their supervisors received disciplinary measures including temporary pay cuts, job transfers and warnings, Hosono said.
Hosono said the ministry employee�fs action was extremely inappropriate and could violate a special measures law, which will come into effect in January next year, on the handling of radioactive contamination emanating from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which bans the unauthorized dumping of contaminated soil.
Hosono also urged residents of Fukushima not to send such packages to the ministry.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 1:47 am Post subject:
bmwracer wrote:
^ Yow.
They should round up all these officials and make these assholes clean up Fukushima.
Make the punishment fit the crime.
Seriously. This news is ridiculous. Oh there is a vacant lot over here lets just throw some radioactive soil on it and not worry about it. This was done by an official working the for governmental environment ministry??? He should have dumped it all over his head.
Fuggin' romper room time over there. Anything goes.
Last edited by Tu_triky on Sat Nov 19, 2011 2:37 am; edited 1 time in total
Seriously. This news is ridiculous. Oh there is a vacant lot over here lets just throw some radioactive soil on it and not worry about it. This was done by an official working for governmental environment ministry??? He should have dumped it all over his head.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Log in
