Geiger Counter Sales Skyrocket in Tokyo (I bought one too!)

Well, I've always bragged that I was a trend leader...

LENA LOVITCH - NEW TOY

On this blog, I've written extensively about how you can't trust the government (nor can you trust the mass media) and the best way to protect yourselves and your family is to gather information yourselves. This has been especially true during the recent nuclear accident at Fukushima. 


While the situation in and about Fukushima is very serious, due to weather patterns and distance Tokyo is still a safe place. I've listed educational and science institutes and other places where you can check the daily radiation levels in Tokyo in the air and water everyday here and at the top of this blog daily. Even so, I thought it would be fun and interesting to do checking on my own. So I bought a personal geiger counter.

Well, I should say, I ordered a personal geiger counter from Amazon Marketplace. It never arrived. I almost got cheated by a dishonest dealer (named Frontline Mobility) who now, it seems, has lost their contract with Amazon after many people (including me) complained. That was a dealer in the USA.


Then, I ordered one from a dealer in Japan using Amazon.co.jp Marketplace.... Hmmm? Same sorts of problems, it seems. It's been weeks now since I ordered and still no geiger counter. This has happened even though when I ordered the dealer claimed to have it in stock and that shipping would be within three days....


Now this! Just today I found an article on Yahoo that says that sales of personal geiger counters have skyrocketed in Japan! 


Reuters reports:

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – With a nuclear plant just 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo still leaking radiation, demand for personal Geiger counters has skyrocketed in the Japanese capital and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the demand.

Engineers are battling to plug radiation leaks and bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control more than two months after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and deadly tsunami that devastated a swathe of Japan's coastline.

With many people unsure of who to trust for their information, some buy Geiger counters to check for themselves.

In Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics mecca, many stores have sold out and are unable to keep up with demand for the devices.

"Nobody even looked at or even knew the name (of the Geiger counter), but ever since the earthquake struck people have become very interested," said Makoto Ogasawara, sales manager at electronics store Akibaoo.

"We are selling 100 times more."

(snip)...

"We are producing four to five times more of the Geiger counter (than usual)," said Michihiro Kitazawa, Fuji Electric CEO.

Most of the Geiger counters at that factory are hand-made, which takes roughly 3 to 4 months. It makes about a dozen different types, producing about 2,000 per type each month.

Kitazawa said his company has also benefited from efforts to make the devices less complex so anybody can use them.

"Of course, there was the earthquake, but in the past 2-3 years, we have been trying to produce Geiger counters that are easier to operate," he added.

But most of the Geiger counters made at the factory will still be used by those working inside nuclear power plants, prompting the company to carry out rigorous checks to make sure the devices are working correctly.

"We really care about credibility," Kitazawa said.

Sigh...I am told by the dealer on Amazon.co.jp that the geiger counter I ordered will arrive by tomorrow... I continue to have my doubts. It's now been almost two months since I ordered a geiger counter and I am still not a proud owner of a device. 

No sign of any geiger counter...

I think, at this rate, I am hoping to have one by Christmas... But I am not holding my breath. I am not holding my breath waiting for the device to be delivered nor am I holding it in fear of breathing in radioactive fallout.

I just want my new "toy". As soon as I get it. I am going to go around Tokyo and check for myself and report on what I find. Stay tuned!

Most of Nuclear Fallout From Fukushima to Hit USA

There is an interesting interview over at the Huffington Post with nuclear engineer Akira Tokuhiro. Tokuhiro talks about most of the nuclear fallout from Fukushima blowing over the USA and not Japan.

IDA MARIA - BAD KARMA

This is interesting Interesting information for the Flyjin who ran away from Tokyo, Nagoya and even farther away soon after the accident (and got much higher doses of radiation flying in planes than we were getting in Tokyo) and another curious point about how an accident at a USA designed nuclear power plant causes great damage to both Northern Japan and the USA.


Tokuhiro says:


"There is a difference amongst the following: nuclear physicist, nuclear engineer, nuclear reactor operator, nuclear non-proliferation specialist.

During the current crisis, all these 'experts' have been in the media.

The ranking of 'experts' who REALLY know how the reactor accident took place is as follows.

1) Nuclear reactor operator (he/she is really the forensic surgeon, the auto mechanic who can build and drive the car)

2) Nuclear engineer (he/she is the forensic and internal/external medicine practitioner; the automobile design and analysis engineer)

As for the other two, they only understand the principles. It is as if they know the principles of driving a car but have never driven the car nor designed a car nor repaired a car.

Would you ask a podiatrist about a medical heart condition? Would you ask a medical ethicist? I think you get my point.

It takes all kinds of people to run the global nuclear industry. However, who do you trust in terms of knowledge?"


The article continues:

"I asked him about his own family in Tokyo and about Japanese culture in general regarding the lack of information. Akira replied that Japan is very centralized, Tokyo-centric and that these things seemed to be taking place very far away and that the people in Tokyo were not in shelters, evacuated perhaps forever from their homes. He told me about the diary he was reading online of one evacuee who had been a nuclear engineer working at Fukushima, who had been evacuated with his family. (It can be found in the original on the Japan Nuclear Industrial Forum here: www.jaif.or.jp). This man is an expert and he can be trusted to know what is going on and analyze the information.

.....

Fukushima differs from other nuclear reactors in that it uses a dirty fuel or MOX which is banned in many of the countries where nuclear power is a major energy source. My Swedish-Russian nuclear physicist friend is sending me links for reliable radioactivity readings and weather/wind patterns. We must remember some of what is posted on the internet are simulations, not actual readings. But he did add this:

The most terrifying fact is that the Japanese power plants are using 'dirty' fuel, which most countries have rejected and banned. Needless to say that the Americans built them. Since the Earth is moving Counterclockwise most of the fall-out will drop on U.S."

Interesting to read that even Tokuhiro's comments are completely about the immediate area around the nuclear power plant (and not Tokyo) and how efforts need to be focused there. It is also surprising to see that most of the radiation is going to fall on the USA.... It's a US designed nuclear power plant too....I guess karma can be a real biatch!


It's also relieving to see that the basic background radiation levels in Tokyo as measured by non-governmental agencies are still comparative to pre-earthquake levels showing no alarming spike and still 1/4 the radiation levels of Rome, Italy. The rdiation levels in Tokyo at this very moment are: 0.063 microgray per hour. If you flew from Tokyo to New York you would absorb about 200 micrograys of radiation. This means that the daily background radiation levels living in Tokyo straight for 8.69 months is roughly equal to one one way flight to New York from Narita. 


Are you panicking yet?


For today's levels compared with pre-quake levels see here. (If that link doesn't work, copy & paste this: http://bit.ly/erHm9p)


For more see: Japan's radiation scare hugely overblown by western media