Friday, March 25, 2011

...And No Water

Farmers in Ibaraki, Gunma, and Tochigi were pulling their spinach and other greens up by the roots last night on the news-- over less than 0.1microsieverts of radiation detected.  At Daiei today, I noticed that all the greens were from prefectures *other* than those three--with stickers over the original origin listed on signs above the produce.  Hmmmm--did they really throw out all the "tainted" greens and replace them with greens from acceptable prefectures?  Or did they just put stickers on the signs?  All over BED-level radiation, too. (Banana Equivalent Dose)   Mottainai, ne! (don't waste)

"Limit 2 2litre bottles per family"
And in the same newscast, they mentioned tap water-- that 190becquerels had been detected in the Tama River flowing through Tokyo (levels over 300bq would prompt warnings for adults).  And that, therefore, people were advised to avoid giving tap water to infants.  Adults and older children would not be affected, and to please not hoard bottled water as that would seriously reduce bottled water available to the quake and tsunami affected regions still without water service.  Yokohama was not mentioned in the newscast--only Tokyo.

So, naturally, when I went to the store this morning...

...there was absolutely no bottled water to be had...











...and not much of anything else that comes in a 2liter pet bottle, either.  They had just put out more bottled green tea with the sign (pictured above) limiting people to "2 bottles per family" (so that couples shopping together wouldn't buy four bottles--two apiece).  I expect that will also be gone by tomorrow.





On the other hand, the Mugi Cha tea bags (barley tea that *everybody* drinks) that was completely cleaned out two days after the quake, was mysteriously untouched...

I wonder what all those people who were stockpiling Mugicha last week (one reason everybody drinks it is that it's *cheap*--Y198 for 54 bags that make 1 liter each) are going to do with it now that they think they have to use Y198/2l bottled water to make it...

Sometimes it's the things that are the same no matter where you go that surprise me.

Gambarimasho, Nihon!

4 comments:

  1. crazy. I suppose the tea probably keeps for while, though. So they can just hold onto the tea until it's "safe" to use tap water again

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  2. The tea keeps for quite a while--but the only reason there were signs on the tea was because there was absolutely *no* water. 2liter, Perrier, nothing. If I were the parent of an infant under a year old and went to the store to get water *on the recommendation of the government*, and saw it was already sold out, I'd be rather more than ticked. In a way, I think the stores should be a little stricter about enforcing the 2 bottles per family, and water-for-babies under the present circumstances. Thing is, down here, it *is* safe to use the tap water--there's no detectable radiation in our water here! Just a ridiculous situation all the way around--and one that has the potential to make all those suffering in shelters suffer even more, which I can hardly stand.

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  3. Thank you for the kind comments on my blog after my grandmama died. I just wanted to let you know that you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

    Melissa

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  4. Melissa--Yokoso!(welcome) Thanks to you, too. Your kind, giving heart shines in every post you write, but never more than when you asked for donations for my poor, beleaguered adopted home when you yourself were grieving the loss of a beloved grandma. Thank you for everything you share--and please feel welcome to stop by here any time:-))

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