474769 comments

Maybe they know a few of their names because they, you know, actually get out occasionaly and engage in casual conversation with common local young adults. Seriously, dude. The average Japanese 20something yr old in a bar would probably know at least 3 names, just because they're all over the TV, train ads, billboards, magazines, Yahoo Japan, etc.....

Yes it does matter to someone who knows anything about firearms if it was a machine gun, assault rifle, submachine gun, automatic pistol, etc.... To report an assault rifle attack as a "machine gun" attack would be like reporting a box cutter as a samurai sword.

Government workers, police, and soldiers have been encountering difficulties evacuating the containment zone (10ｰ20km), as they are not allowed to enter homes uninvited. They can only ring doorbells, call out for occupants, etc. The restricted zone (20ｰ30km) is not designated for mandatory evac, and only a government warning to avoid unnecessary outdoor activities has been issued. Many residents carry on life as usual in this area. As can be expected, there are also many dieｰhards who flatly refuse to evacuate.

@lovejapan9. You really do have to wear a diaper in a full antiｰradiation suit. Unless you want to soil a $20,000 suit, as you can't take it off without leaving the containment zone and going through a twoｰstage decontamination process. (usually takes 1 hour)

80km? You may as well wear a lead lined CBRNE suit around Tokyo. Just be informed that the suits weigh upwards of 70lbs and still can't block neutron beams. Even specially trained military specialists can't wear them for more than 2ｰ3 hours without passing out from heat exhaustion. And, you have to wear a diaper.

The suit can prevent radioactive particles from touching the body and/or entering through the mouth, nose, eyes, etc. They are discarded on the border of the restricted zone and the personnel undergo a two stage decontaminatio. The suits, however, do not protect against gamma or beta radiation and the workers will recieve whatever radiation is in the environment. 0.0018 millisieverts per hour @15km from the plant as of this morning. Yearly dose in Tokyo is 3.8 millisieverts. WHO limit for emergency workers is 28.0 millisieverts.

Earthquake warning sytems can only pick up the low frequency waves from the epicenter and send a warning to the general area before the slower moving shockwave hits. The reliability has been especially sketchy since 3/11 because the quake took out more than half of the Northeastern sensor relays.

@mrskit. There is one right outside of Asaka station.

To me, Hell is something that you wish to freeze over so you can get that raise/favour/promotion, etc.... And it's also where you tell Aｰholes to go.

I think you mean one tenth (108) of WHO emergency standards (1000) for infants.

In the US; the release of the movie "Buffalo Soldiers" was delayed by 2 years because of 9/11. Nevermind the movie had no content related to terrorism, and was about a soldier in cold war Germany who ran a black market racket. Other movies delayed or temporalily pulled from shelves include; "The Siege" "The Kingdom" "Rambo 2" "Collateral Damage" etc....