Professor Yukio Hayakawa Takes #Radioactive Drive in Namie-machi, Iitate-mura in #Fukushima, and Finds Young Policemen at High-Radiation Checkpoint

June 11, 2012 by Anonymous

Professor Hayakawa woke up on Monday June 11 and decided to drive to Namie-machi and Iitate-mura in Fukushima Prefecture with his personal survey meter and two pieces of bread for lunch.

I noticed he was up somewhere in Fukushima when I saw his tweet yesterday with his survey meter showing 8.157 microsieverts/hour with a school building in the background. "Tsushima Elementary School", he wrote. It did turn out to be the school in Tsushima District of Namie-machi.

Hayakawa says in his series of tweets that it took him 14 hours round-trip from Saitama Prefecture, from 6 in the morning to 8 at night.

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Hayakawa has always said the designation of the 20-kilometer radius "no-entry" zone is a joke and doesn't fit the reality. On his trip yesterday, he says he spoke with the policemen guarding the checkpoint at the "no-entry zone" in Tsushima District in Namie-machi. According to him, the police was like "20-kilometer radius? What is 20-kilometer radius?":

20キロ警戒区域は現場では無意味。ゲートに立っていた警察官3人（北海道から派遣）は「20キロてなんですか？」状態。国道114号の20キロは発電所あたりなのだが、ゲートは津島保育所。28キロあたり。おかげで赤宇木の調査ができなかった。(tweet)

20-kilometer radius no-entry zone doesn't mean a thing in reality. Three policemen at the gate [checkpoint] were like "What '20 kilometer'?" 20-kilometer [location] on Route 114 is at a power plant [not Fuku-I, but Hirusone hydroelectric plant], but the gate is at the Tsushima Nursery School, at about 28 kilometers. So I couldn't go to Akougi [the location that exceeded 300 microsieverts/hour on March 15 last year].

現場みたかんじ、20キロ警戒区域を設定したのは名実ともに市町村長じゃない。法律の定めと異なる実態がもう13か月も横行してる。こんなんじゃ、だめだ。まったくだめだ。(tweet)

It was clear by being there that, both in name and in substance, it was decidedly not the local mayors who set the 20-kilometer radius no-entry zone. The laws and regulations have little to do with the reality, and that's been going on for 13 months now. This is no good. No good at all.

津島保育所のゲートに立っていた警察官はまだ20代のようにみえた。上官が北海道からだといったから、彼もそうなのだろう。あんな若いひとをあんな場所にずっと立たせるなんて、この国はなんてひどいんだ。(tweet)

The policeman standing at the gate near the Tsushima Nursery School looked to be in his 20s. His superior said he was from Hokkaido, so the young policeman must be also from there. To have such a young person standing on such a location [high radiation], what a cruel country this is.

そのあと、津島をまだうろうろしてたら、パトカーに職務質問された。免許証の呈示を求められたので素直に応じた。警視庁（東京）の二人だった。二週間の出張で、福島飯坂温泉に泊まっているといってた。放射線量が高いことは定性的には知っていたが、定量的な認識はないようにみえた。(tweet)

I was still wandering about in Tsushima when a police car came up and questioned me. They wanted to see my driver's license so I showed it to them obediently. The two policemen were from the Metropolitan Police Department (Tokyo). They said they were on the 2-week tour of duty, and were staying at Iizaka Onsen [hot spring resort near Fukushima City]. They knew about the high radiation [at that location] qualitatively, but didn't seem to have a quantitative understanding.

帰り際、「ここは線量が高いですから、お気を付けください」と私が言ったら、いきなり「誹謗中傷」と小隊長が言った。おどろいた。よほどこういう指摘を受けているのだろうと思った。(tweet)

On my way out, I said to them, "The radiation levels are high here, so please take care." Out of the blue, their commander said, "Slander and calumny!" I was taken aback. I figured they had been told [about the high radiation levels] many, many times.

小隊長は、道路わきの建物の中から出てきた。自分はそれなりに線量の低いところで1日の大部分をすごしているようだった。若い人は99マスクしてた。小隊長はしてなかった。(tweet)

The commander came out from a roadside building. He seemed to spend most of his day in a relatively low-radiation environment [i.e. inside the building]. The young policemen were wearing 99 masks [masks that can cut 99% of particles as small as 0.1 micron in diameter ]. The commander wasn't.