F.Y.I. REGARDING JAPAN:

Tokyo governor apologizes for calling quake divine retribution

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

The governor of Tokyo apologized on Tuesday for saying the earthquake and resulting tsunami that left thousands dead were divine punishment for Japanese egoism, the country’s official news service reported.

"I will take back (the remark) and offer a deep apology," Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said at a Tuesday news conference, according to Japan’s official Kyodo News.

On Monday, Ishihara had told reporters, "I think (the disaster) is tembatsu (divine punishment), although I feel sorry for disaster victims," according to Kyodo News, which translated Ishihara's remarks from Japanese.

“Japanese politics is tainted with egoism and populism,” Ishihara had said Monday, according to Kyodo News. “We need to use tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has rusted onto the mentality of Japanese over a long period of time." •

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***Breaking***

Japanese tv.. New 6.1 quake very close to Mt. Fuji in Shizouka prefecture (centered within 10km of Fuji at 10km depth).

Mount Fuji Overdue for Eruption, Experts Warn

Mount Fuji looms just 70 miles (112 kilometers) from Tokyo, a metropolitan region home to nearly 30 million people (map of Japan). Many millions more live much closer. Three years ago a government report estimated that ash, lava, and smoke resulting from a large Fuji eruption could cause the equivalent of 21 billion U.S. dollars in damages.

It's therefore no wonder that Fuji is arguably the world's most closely watched volcano.

The mountain is wired to the hilt with dense global positioning system arrays and seismometers. It is scrutinized with state-of-the-art laser mapping technology and is bombarded with constant investigations.

"If some magmatic system is ready or nearly due to erupt, an earthquake could be an effective trigger."

In fact, that's probably what happened in 1707, when the Tokai area experienced a huge earthquake just two months before Fuji blew.

While scientists get increasingly nervous about the meaning of 300 years of quiet, it's that same quiet that makes residents, like local farmer Issei, complacent.

"People forget," Aramaki, the volcano expert, said. "Look what happened in 2000 with the news of seismic activity. Everyone was surprised because they thought Fuji was dormant."

Although the flurry of low-frequency earthquakes has since calmed down, Fuji is hardly safer now than it was a few years ago, says Chris Newhall of the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Disaster Assistance Program.

Deep, long-period earthquakes "are thought to represent a supply of basaltic magma from depth into the roots of the volcanic system," Newhall said.

In other words, the quakes are signs that magma is building up within the mountain's bowels.

"A volcano can absorb quite a few of these [buildups] without erupting. But each one adds a little more heat and gas," he said.

"It's a bit like torquing a ratcheted spring: A little bit now, a little bit later, and eventually it's cocked" and ready to blow.

Precisely when Fuji will be fully cocked, nobody knows. •

Radiation Rising and Heading South in Japan – Stratfor Report

Posted: 15 Mar 2011 12:54 AM PDT

The nuclear reactor situation in Japan has deteriorated significantly. Two more explosions occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 15. The first occurred at 6:10 a.m. local time at reactor No. 2, which had seen nuclear fuel rods exposed for several hours after dropping water levels due to mishaps in the emergency.
This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. •

Breaking news - Nuclear reactor on fire

Japan spokesman says 4th reactor at damaged nuclear plant on fire, more radiation released.
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A Chinese news agency reported that radiation from
the Japanese nuclear plant meltdown could blow over
the Western half of North America, depositing toxic
particles over millions of square miles of land by
the end of next week.

The report noted the extreme secrecy which the Japanese
government has always shown during nuclear accidents.
The meltdown of two reactors at the Fukushima plant
was triggered by a catastrophic earthquake, now
upgraded to 9.1 on the Richter scale; the biggest
quake in Japanese history.

Video:

http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/page/1246.html


Rense.com reported that fallout with 750 Rads of
radiation will begin to blow over and infect the
United States West Coast, starting around March 22.

Video:

http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/page/1247.html

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