Regulators never questioned one-page document: Memo emblematic of disaster plan flaws (by Japan Times)

Nuclear regulators trusted that the reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 complex were safe from the worst waves an earthquake could muster based on a single-page memo from Tokyo Electric Power Co. nearly a decade ago.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110528x1.html

Kan unveils N-safety proposal (by Yomiuri Shimbun)

DEAUVILLE, France--Prime Minister Naoto Kan made a five-point proposal to ensure the safety of nuclear power plants at the two-day summit meeting of the Group of Eight nations that opened Thursday.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110527005777.htm

Japan Tries to Ease Fury of Parents Near Plant (by NYT)

TOKYO — Responding to fury among parents in Fukushima, Japan’s education minister said Friday that the country would set a lower radiation exposure limit for schoolchildren in areas around a stricken nuclear plant and pay for schools to remove contaminated topsoil from fields and playgrounds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/world/asia/28japan.html?_r=1&ref=world

Softbank CEO Son morphs into advocate of nuclear phaseout (by Asahi Shimbun)

Masayoshi Son visits a gymnasium in Tamura, 11 days after the Great East Japan Earthquake, that served as an evacuation shelter for inhabitants of neighboring municipalities, including Okuma, partial host to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. This visit is said to have changed the Softbank CEO's views on nuclear power. (Provided by Softbank)

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105270192.html

Nuke plant manager ignores bosses, pumps in seawater after order to halt (by Asahi Shimbun)

TEPCO Executive Vice President Sakae Muto fields questions at a news conference in Tokyo on May 26 on the continued pumping of seawater into a reactor. (The Asahi Shimbun)

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105270183.html

Crippled nuke plant not prepared for heavy rain, wind (by Mainichi Shimbun)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is not fully prepared for heavy rain and strong winds forecast due to a powerful typhoon moving Saturday toward disaster-affected areas of northeastern Japan, according to the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.


http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110528p2g00m0dm013000c.html

Unclear future prospect and unsettled nuclear issue makes me feel insecure

(by Mr. Koji Endo (40) from Minami Souma City, now in Sado City)
As my work place is located within 3 kilometers from the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant, I am not able to go to work. The life without the future prospect really makes me feel insecure. My house is located within 30 kilometers radius of the nuclear power plant. I hesitate to go back considering the future of my son who is 11 years old. He is getting used to the elementary school here, but says sometimes that he wants to go back. I have a mixed feeling as a parent. We could live a normal life only if there were no issue of nuclear power plant. I’d like the government to make it clear as soon as possible if the compensation will include the expected income during the period that I cannot work.

Niigatqa Nippo, Voices of Evacuees in the prefecture, May 25th, 2011
http://www.niigata-nippo.co.jp/news/subgenre/51/23345.html

Translated by Makiko Tajima Asano