Hope. Music. More hope.

herb garden 2009

There are reports that Spinach and other leafy vegetables from farms100km away from the power plants have been detected with radiation that exceeds the government regulated limits. This is rather distressing but more details should be released today. Right now some of the latest reports can be found here at the Kyodo English news site:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79856.html

I am not one to panic but this does raise my (already raised) interest in nuclear science and the effects of radiation... Some interesting sites I have found so far are:

http://mitnse.com/

MIT students of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering have a blog with information about the nuclear plants in Fukushima, Japan.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

and then there was this information that I did not know about regarding the reactors in Japan which kinda frightens me as an American as well:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/idINIndia-55640020110316

...and so, like in my last post...I must think. I am not going to panic or start a demonstration (just yet) but I do hope that this will be a good chance for the human race to admit that Mother Earth is much more stronger than we predict it to be.

Amidst all this radiation "hype" there is still some good news about people being saved from the rubble.
We have reason to stay...hopeful.

news flash

oooh...just heard on the news that the electricity that was cut off has been reinstalled to some of the reactors. They will have to run some more tests to make sure that there are no other damaged parts before they actually start sending electricity.

Hope.

...

One thing is for sure: we have some mighty heroic people (who did not build the reactors...); firefighters.

I have a renewed respect for these people who put their lives on the line to spray water on the Nuclear Power Plants in an effort to cool down the reactors. Their news conference was 100 times better than the TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) conferences because they were speaking in terms that are understandable and they didn't make any excuses or vague comments. They were prepared...not only for the news conference but for the actual event that they might have to help... which it seems, they did!

The spraying of water has resumed again today:http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79865.html.

...

Hope.

Some people trying to spread hope...

Monkey Majik members are out volunteering: Tokyo Hive

Daniel Kahl, originally from California, is a "talent" here in Japan famous for his fluency in the Yamagata Prefecture dialect.

His website http://daniel.domos.jp/ has a full page of links with all sorts of valuable information.

He has also posted this video on youtube as an appeal to media outside of Japan. This is the first time I have heard him speak in English since he is always using his fluent Japanese (Yamagata dialect) on TV!

I have been staying away from TV much of this time for various reasons...I use to work in radio so that might be one reason.

I find solace in, just sound.

In music.

Music.

Starship's We Built This City On Rock N' Roll was on the radio yesterday, and I couldn't believe how uplifting it was. So to bring things back to a bit of normality on this blog, here is an update on what's new in the music scene here:

Wonder Woman by Amuro Namie featuring Ai and Anna Tsuchiya. All three girls are of "mixed culture"!

The video is flipped (everything is a mirror image) I don't know how that is technically possible, but this might mean that the video will be pulled off youtube sooner or later.

Ai is also featured in a new song by the Bawdies, a group that sounds like...somebody...but I can't quite place my finger on who...
You can hear a snippet of the song at i-tunes here but there is nothing on youtube etc. as it was just released.

Here is a song by The Bawdies that I did find on youtube:

That's it!!! Tom Waits on too much caffeine!?! Maybe...

Another multi-cultured artist:

Maia Hirasawa is a Japanese/Swedish artist. Her official website is here:

http://www.maiahirasawa.com/swe/

Another song on the charts here is by Rake. There is a short snippet of a video on the first page of his website: http://www.rake.jp/

Music.

Also, if you are in the New York area, just FYI...

Sakamoto Ryuichi has a concert scheduled in NYC for April 9th.

Japan Society, New York - CONCERT FOR JAPAN

Hope.

A piece (you many have already seen) about hope by author Ryu Murakami in the Op-page of
The New York Times.

And for me one of the most hopeful sounds in the universe.

Music to my ears!

ROFLMAO :-)'