Morgan Jones comments

And they wonder why this country has a declining birth rate... tmarie you made reading this worth my time Kudos on your list.

I can empathize with the parent's and some of the people commenting about having a lack of trust in the Japanese authorities...they definitely earned the public's distrust but does that mean you throw reason to the wind? Dozens of parents, a representative voice of the community it does not make. All my experience with Okinawans I have found, in general, don't appreciate when mainlander transplants start dictating what should and should occur on Okinawa as if they were Okinawans themselves.

Second the 'transport' of the snow was free and done as public relations... as mentioned in a comment above the SDF are flying there regardless and need the training it was a kill two birds with one stone kind of deal. My wife is JMSDF and they are normal people who also have children themselves who are just as concerned about Japan's fate as the whinging Tohoku parents... Do people really think they would in good conscious transport something down to children that would be harmful? And honestly yes there are stooges all over in government but there is also a lot of intelligent caring people... When you start adding all the people that either have to be bought or ignorant the weight of cover up starts to topple under its own weight of all the necessary people to be complacent for it to have occurred ... Occam's razor anyone? The Tepco officials lied because of incompetence and the fact that they were dealing with a emergency that they themselves barely could grasp so there was a basic concern that general public would display irrational behavior and make an already tragic and unmanageable situation that much worse... and seeing the remarks on this article I think they were right to be concerned as this incident proves there are a lot of people that hold irrational fears about radiation... I however am not excusing their ineptitude and poor choices... Being transparent while tough in times of crisis always plays out better in the long run.

I forget who said it but those families were exposed to more radiation by flying to Okinawa than they would be exposed to by playing in the Aomori snow even if it did have higher than natural levels of radiation (which I am not so convinced it did have)... the problem is most people haven't studied physics and understand radiation ...many of the levels being posted as 'dangerous' by soothsayers around the world are in fact par for course for in living in a modern world. We use cellphones, microwaves, get x-rays done we are exposed to it all the time in bigger doses than are being reported as being found here and there. Yes there is some research saying that this exposure may in turn have long term side effects way down in the future, but that is far from accepted fact and to which level and how much is up for much debate. While always pertinent to play onside of caution, I'd say that includes with being irrational. Sadly it is a matter of human nature as with much that people don't understand they tend to hold irrational fears.

My understanding of why they went with the F-35 was so they could get in on being a supplier to some of its systems and parts later on down the road since they kind of missed out in development.. under the hope that the constitutional ban on exporting military technology would be lifted eventually... Meaning there is more to the story as to why they went with the F-35

Gee and all this time I though apologizing meant "acknowledging that something was wrong and taking responsibility for it" crazy me... I'll try and remember this next I forget to leave the seat down for my wife... *"You know honey, it was wrong of me to leave it up and I take full responsibility for it but I'm not sorry ...cause that would mean somehow or another that by me leaving it up was more than that." *