This is extremely upsetting...

[AeonicSlumber]

When the earthquake happened in Japan at first I figured "they'll get over it." Obviously the losses are horrendous and I feel for all the families and loved ones and victims of the disaster, but I had no foresight it would get as bad as it has gotten. Dir En Grey just posted an extremely saddening open letter. Alot of it is angry, questioning their government about how truthful it is being with its citizens, but that's not the part that got me. This was the part that got me:

"The earthquake this March took the lives of many people, including many DIR EN GREY supporters. Now, in many places throughout the country, high radiation levels have been detected; everyone, including ourselves, has been exposed to the radiation and there are even some who say the contamination is so bad we are at risk to not be able to travel to the USA and other countries in the future."


(source: Blabbermouth)

The notion of the radiation being so bad, it has contaminated all these people is disturbing and scary. Not only because the radiation is there, but because these people can't even leave their country it seems.

 

[Metaldrumz]

I hate to derail this thread and rant but MANY of us "conspiracy theorists" *rolls eyes* were saying that lamestream news was down playing how bad this event really was. I told MANY people the lies were running rampant, and all I got for a response was that I was paranoid.

My heart is with Japan but its time people wake the fuck up and realize the World Gov'ts don't give a flying fuck about you!

 

[skyrefuge]

What's upsetting? That people blab such nonsense? Don't worry, they're just weird musicians, no one actually listens to what they say. Oh wait, I guess some people do. Apparently they figure Dir En Grey are pretty trustworthy as nuclear scientists for some reason.

They're are right about one thing, "everyone, including ourselves, has been exposed to radiation". Heck, even *I* have been exposed to radiation and I'm not anywhere near Japan. Every single day I'm exposed to radiation, from the ground, from the sky, from water, it's everywhere AHHHHHH!!! The question is *how much* radiation? To date, we don't know anyone in Japan except a few nuclear plant workers being exposed to a dangerous amount of radiation. Out of 6700 responders tested, 6 have received a dose over 250mSv, which is Japan's emergency limit (but lower than the WHO's limit of 500mSv). So even that isn't OMIGODIMGONNAIDIE!!! radiation. No one in Japan has received anything close to a "can't leave the country" level of radiation, and I'm not even sure such a level exists. Humans don't become glowing radioactive sources themselves when bathed in radiation; a quick shower will clear your body of radioactive particles, and I'm pretty sure if you ingested enough to be dangerous, you wouldn't be able to walk much less jump around on stage playing guitar. Which is too bad, because a glowing chest would be a pretty awesome rock'n'roll gimmick.

Yes, the Japanese government hasn't been the best at communication, and the power company has been even worse, but through all of this I'm not aware of any statements from their side that have been shown to be a lie. The main problem has simply been a lack statements at all, which is a bit understandable since there's a shit-ton of stuff that the people/government have to deal with that's a way bigger deal than the nuclear stuff. Yeah yeah, sure, you can say it's all an enormous cover-up and everyone in Japan is going to be dead in 3 months, but if people were *actually* unable to leave Japan due to radiation, don't you think you might have heard of it somewhere besides frickin' Blabbermouth?

And yeah, this should be in the Lounge, I suppose.

Neil

 

[AeonicSlumber]

Heh dude I can always count on you for the great rational, objective response to nearly anything. idk, I just saw that post and got massively bummed. Truth be told, I haven't been following the situation as well as I should be.

<3

 

[sona]

With all due respect, skurefuge, it doesn't seem like you are a nuclear scientist either. I don't want to sound offensive or start any arguments, so here is a scientific opinion of Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama , the head of the Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo

And also this NY article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/world/asia/01radiation.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

So, yes, japanese people have every reason to be concerned, because the goverment lies\ignores the issue alltogether.

 

[sh0kr0k]

With all due respect, skurefuge, it doesn't seem like you are a nuclear scientist either.

This.


Since the Great Tohoku Quake, many Japanese artists I follow (and citizens of Japan who I'm friends with) have been speaking out their concerns about their government's amount of disclosure and reactions to this crisis. Dir en grey's letter is one more on the pile. I'm no expert, but with this many high-profile people sharing views that would normally be considered "impolite" and even "unpatriotic" there has got to be more to the story that we aren't seeing from our perspective. MetalMadMan, I'm with you. Bands like Dir en grey and T.M.Revolution issues letters and statements expressing their concerns only to be disregarded as conspirators or paranoid egomaniacs out to promote themselves. It's a shame really, because there could be a lot of truth to what they're saying.

Anyway, Katz-san at YokosoNews has been a great source of timely information in English direct from the source: http://yokosonews.com/news/

It's a terrible situation and none of us have room to ridicule anyone involved. Even the physicists and government and energy companies have been through this before, so it's not surprise that they don't have all the answers to give to the demanding public.