Fukushima’s most popular beach reopens for first time since March 2011 disaster

Cute!

Each to their own but you wouldn't catch me dead swimming into those waters with "safe level" info coming from the government

What will that beach be like after TEPCO dumps its radioactive water into the ocean?

See the post I made on the related article - the 'radioactive' water dump won't change anything. Didn't think it'd take long for the objective fact denying anti-nuclear crowd to show up, though.

The heat is murder.

Remember those workers who got contaminated recently? Initially the pr was that everything was just fine and dandy. And then it wasn't.

My trust levels are pretty low when it comes to corporate speak on nuclear "safety", I'm sorry to say.

Love to see these girls off spring in a few years time .

To see how many have genetic defects from the radiation if they continually swim and Sun bake on the beach.

Has any one with a geiger counter tested the sand yet

Just in time for it to be closed next week when TEPCO unilaterally dumps its waste into the ocean! Enjoy it while you can. Great pic!!

Ah.....no thank you.

Good news. That´s great. (y)

The slowness of the clean-up of the melted-down reactor at Fukushima (No. 1) seems to be due to the difficulty and novelty of the task. The USSR merely covered the offending plant with concrete and waited, but Fukushima is not as bad for the surrounding environment (see the levels of thyroid cancer among the children by your trusted website or news source). So the scientists now are watching and learning how to help also future accident-victim plants. I wonder why the world has forgotten the prior US accident at Loveland, NY (not far from Niagara maybe). I recall young people shown on TV denying the problem and driving around in convertibles (sometime around 1970-72 perhaps) saying they were "soaking up the radiation"! How are they now?

Opening that beach is Criminal!!

Christina, I think you're talking about Love Canal, which was a chemical toxic waste dump in Niagara Falls, NY. It didn't have anything to do with radioactivity. It was 55g drums full of sludge from Hooker Chemical that were buried and eventually leached into the ground.

A nasty disaster but not nuclear.

Has any one with a geiger counter tested the sand yet

No. Absolutely no one has had that idea and so it would not have been part of the standard testing procedure before re-opening the beach.

Get yourself down there with a geiger counter.

Sorry but this is not a real scene of a beach. So obviously staged. No beach blankets, umbrellas, kids, families, etc. Many of the girls are wearing the same outfits! How gullible does the government thing people are?

I hope for the best, people of Fukushima! That's all I know to say.

She wore an itty-bitsty, teeny-weeny

Glowing-green

red-hot bikini...

As radiation builds up in the environment,any problems i.e. radioactive hotspots along that beach won't be in the water but will be in creek and river water outlets draining onto the beach.Areas of sand on the beach are likely to contain a myriad number of differing radioactive elements which all those people on the beach will be taking home on their towels,shoes,socks etc.

The sand not the water should be tested......

with "safe level" info coming from the government

Yet there are well known tourist beaches in Brazil that have radiation levels similar to those right next to the Fukushima reactor site. Doesn't seem to have hurt anybody or stopped the tourists from visiting.

What will that beach be like after TEPCO dumps its radioactive water into the ocean?

Do you mean the water with minimal levels of tritium? Then the beach will exactly the same.

Remember those workers who got contaminated recently? Initially the pr was that everything was just fine and dandy. And then it wasn't.

Yes, I do remember. I also remember that after it 'wasn't' it then went back to be fine when it turned out that the gloom and doom was due to preliminary results that turned out to be wrong. Of course that news barely made it into any of the media.

Has any one with a geiger counter tested the sand yet

The article clearly states it has been tested. Although I doubt it was with a geiger counter and suggesting using a Geiger counter shows a complete lack of knowledge about radiation.

Opening that beach is Criminal!!

Spreading unwarranted fear is Criminal!!

There used to be a rippin' party there every summer called The Iwaki Beach Bomb organized by a long-term expat who was a super nice guy. I went to it in '07, was a good time. Anyone know if it's still going on?

There used to be a rippin' party there every summer called The Iwaki Beach Bomb...Anyone know if it's still going on?

Thanks!! Afraid not! But it was an amazing party!! Thanks to you and all who came / helped out!!!

Very nice pic! But I'm still not going up there.

There used to be a rippin' party there every summer called The Iwaki Beach Bomb...Anyone know if it's still going on?

Oh man! Is this where Beach Bomb used to be? I never got to go to the old one!

Also, John, I liked that you skipped over the "organized by a super nice ex-pat" bit, since it was clearly about you

I look forward to a day when we can talk about Fukushima normally. Most people don't study radiation, or look at anything besides news stories, and so it all sounds really scary and like this crazy invisible danger.

The truth of the situation is pretty close to what Christina Tsuchida described. Hundreds and hundreds of people working slowly and carefully, studying the effects with every step that they take. There's no conspiracy, just an awful accident that the people living and working there are desperately trying to overcome with every year. You want to help? Study, donate, or visit.

Don't trust the government? Fact is, you CAN test the areas yourself. There's no one stopping you. But, then again, you'd have to A) live in Japan and B) know anything about how nuclear power, radiation, or waste disposal works.

"They should test the sand" Yes, I'm sure it's just you, random person at home, who has thought of that for the first time. Definitely none of the international scientists working for the past 6 years.

Commenting here, you're not helping anyone. You're doing nothing to help Fukushima. Frankly, it has a more negative effect than anything, and that's unfair to the hundreds of people who spend every day working hard to fix the situation there.

Sorry but this is not a real scene of a beach. So obviously staged. No beach blankets, umbrellas, kids, families, etc. Many of the girls are wearing the same outfits! How gullible does the government thing people are?

It's just as 'staged' as all opening ceremonies are. The picture was apparently taken right at the opening ceremony, after which the beach was officially open to the public.

I drove past this beach just yesterday; the parking lot was packed, so I went to the beach at the Shioyazaki Lighthouse a few hundred meters away from it. Seems like they managed to assemble quite a few people for this 'staged' event then. Glad we have internet-detectives to put some wrongs to right.