In the time that I haven’t updated, the situation has changed quite a bit.
Up until last month, I thought that as long as care was exercised, Tokyo was fairly safe.
However, lately I’ve changed my mind and think that type of thinking isn’t good.
Of course, I do not think there is any problem with travel lasting around 1-2 weeks. (However, some degree of caution is necessary).
However, I no longer have confidence in recommending Tokyo as a place to live for a long period of time. This is because I have increasingly heard stories of people with deteriorating health in the Tohoku and Kantou area. Of course, even from Tokyo.
For example, small children are having nose bleeds (even though they rarely had them before), diarrhea and stomach problems, and adults are having sore throats and feeling more tired than they ever have before. These types of stories are popping up here and there.
I cannot confirm whether or not this is because of the influence of radiation. It may be due to stress from the earthquake and the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Reactor.
I personally do not have any unusual symptoms. I do not have any close friends who have shown symptoms like those above.
(I’ve only noticed that lately I easily become tired. However, it may be because I do not often go outside or move around.)
The amount of radiation in the air in Tokyo has decreased, but the amount in the soil has increased. Unfortunately, at a park within the city, the radiation levels in some places are comparable to those in areas called “Preferred Evacuation Zones” during the Chernobyl incident.
In addition, it is important to be careful of internal radiation exposure from certain foods.
Opinions on this vary depending on the person, but I do not recommending eating or drinking vegetables (especially those with leaves), rice, and milk from Tohoku or Kantou, meats (beef, pork, chicken) produced in Tohoku or Kantou, tea leaves from Shizuoka, or seafood from the Pacific Ocean.
I do not think there are any problems for those traveling here for 1-2 weeks, but one of the reasons I cannot recommend living in Tokyo for a long time is this problem with food.
At restaurants and izakayas, you do not know where the vegetables and meats come from. These places also use tap water. (Please check the entry I wrote earlier about water.)
If you go to the supermarket, the place of origin is written on vegetables and such, but it is not written on the lunch boxes and side dishes sold at convenience stores.
For those that still wish to live or must live in Tokyo, I strongly recommend checking the place of origin on foods at the supermarket or buying vegetables and such from farms further west than Kansai.
According to a journalist (currently working for a TV station), he anticipates that because radiation levels continue to be low in Tokyo, a critical state will probably not arise (for example, the development of leukemia or cancer), but there will be people in bad health.
I am terribly sad to write this, but please remember that it is not impossible.
At present, I cannot recommend living in Tokyo for a long time, but I believe places west of Osaka, Kyuushuu, and Okinawa are still safer.
