Article

2011-03-15 China-Japan-Koreas

News of a serious radiation leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant has sparked panic buying in Tokyo, as some residents started to leave the capital to escape potential contamination.

Weather forecasters said winds near the atomic plant, which experienced a third explosion on Tuesday morning, were blowing in a south-westerly direction towards Tokyo but would move in a westerly direction later in the day.

People in the capital, home to 12 million, snapped up radios, torches, candles, fuel containers and sleeping bags, while for the fourth day there was a run on bread, canned goods, instant noodles, bottled water and other foodstuffs at supermarkets.

Retailers said the panic buying was reminiscent of the oil crisis in the 1970s.

The electronics firm Panasonic said it was increasing production of batteries, which were being bought in large quantities as far away as Hiroshima in the south-west.
At least Panasonic can continue to make batteries.
Fears are rising that if the hoarding frenzy continues it will affect the ability to deliver emergency supplies to the disaster zone. "The situation is hysterical," said Tomonao Matsuo, a spokesman for the instant noodle maker Nissin Foods. "People feel safer just by buying Cup Noodles."
What a great way to work in a plug for your product!

Posted by Bobby 2011-03-15 07:05|| || Front Page|| [11135 views ] Top

#1 Apparently the foreign press is panicking in a truly shameless manner in Tokyo. A miserable coward of a reporter was giving a report from Hiroshima of all damned places on NPR on the drive in this morning, where he had apparently "evacuated" in fear of the radiation back in the Kanto. I was just checking the news online to make sure that somebody hadn't slipped a Chernobyl-style graphite reactor onto the grounds of Fukushima No. 2 overnight while I slept, but no, it's still the same news as yesterday.

We get our news from timid, pig-ignorant, panicky sheep.

Posted by Mitch H. 2011-03-15 09:18|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/ 2011-03-15 09:18|| Front Page Top

#2 ...hmmm...they have to create a media panic. They're dying. They need to sell columns and air time.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-03-15 09:42|| 2011-03-15 09:42|| Front Page Top

#3 We get our news from timid, pig-ignorant, panicky sheep

Better from them than 'journalists'.

Posted by SteveS 2011-03-15 10:49|| 2011-03-15 10:49|| Front Page Top

#4 This blogger in Tokyo says he has been checking the sotres 2x a day, and the shelves that are empty at night are full in the morning... Over buying in Tokyo might be preventing supplies needed in the affected areas to be diminished, which is a real shame.
http://www.blogtv.com/People/TokyoCooney

Posted by Capsu78 2011-03-15 12:04|| 2011-03-15 12:04|| Front Page Top

#5 radios, torches, candles, fuel containers and sleeping bags,... bread, canned goods, instant noodles, bottled water and other foodstuffs
All items that well-organized households should have had IN ANY CASE. One other thing, small voltage inverters to keep your cell phones, medical nebulizers, etc. charged &/or operating in case the power fails.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-03-15 15:57|| 2011-03-15 15:57|| Front Page Top

#6 NHK now running a video of earthquake refugees swarming around a table with a tangle of cell phones linked to charging units plugged into outlet strips.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-03-15 16:14|| 2011-03-15 16:14|| Front Page Top

#7 Mass hysteria. Tokyo is right on the water and two days' sail from Shanghai, the manufacturing center of the world.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-03-15 17:19|| 2011-03-15 17:19|| Front Page Top

#8 Not just Tokyo: U.S. Drug Stores Report Sudden Increase in Potassium Iodide Sales

Stores in Eugene, Ore., for example, have reported a sudden spike in sales of the pill. Janell Davis, vitamin manager at Sundance Natural Foods, told the Register-Guard that the store was sold out of the tablets by Saturday afternoon. In Redding, Calif., some store owners say they can't stock their shelves fast enough with the tablets.

Posted by CrazyFool 2011-03-15 17:22|| 2011-03-15 17:22|| Front Page Top

#9 #8 -- in a few months we'll be reading about toxicity from potassium iodide

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-03-15 18:46|| 2011-03-15 18:46|| Front Page Top

#10 Well yea, because some foolish person will fail to stay under the maximum dose. Otherwise, Americans many of whom have out of whack thyroids would perchance benefit from taking Iodine or Kelp just for general health. It is touted to help with weight loss, dry skin and hair loss and a suprising number of us are deficient.

Posted by Fi 2011-03-15 18:53|| 2011-03-15 18:53|| Front Page Top

#11 The Apple retail store in Tokyo appears to have acted as "Recharge central" and wifi hot spot to themany stranded Tokyo workers unable to get home the night of the quake:
http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2011/3/14/apples-role-in-japan-during-the-tohoku-earthquake.html

Posted by Capsu78 2011-03-15 19:19|| 2011-03-15 19:19|| Front Page Top

#12 Otherwise, Americans many of whom have out of whack thyroids would perchance benefit from taking Iodine or Kelp just for general health. What's medically necessary for some is poison for others. Physicians earn the big bucks to know the differences.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-03-15 19:25|| 2011-03-15 19:25|| Front Page Top

#13 All items that well-organized households should have had IN ANY CASE

Not much room to keep a lot of extra supplies like this in most Japanese apartments.

Posted by lotp 2011-03-15 21:01|| 2011-03-15 21:01|| Front Page Top

#14 Many American's thyroids ARE out of whack'- look at the many fat, cranky and tired people, do your homework and you'll find this is one of the underliers. And no, physicians don't always earn their big bucks when it comes to accurate diagnosis and helping with supplements.

Speaking as an owner of an underfunctioning thyroid, it was Ms. Fi who finally got the calibration correct to fix the problem, after numerous blood tests. As the saying goes, what do you call the doctor who graduated top of his or her medical school class? Doctor. And the bottom of the class graduate, what do you call him? Doctor.

Posted by Fi 2011-03-15 22:02|| 2011-03-15 22:02|| Front Page Top

#15 radios, torches, candles, fuel containers and sleeping bags,... bread, canned goods, instant noodles, bottled water and other foodstuffs

Or my fave...canned bread. It exists.

Posted by Fi 2011-03-15 22:08|| 2011-03-15 22:08|| Front Page Top

#16 Meanwhile, back at the dysfunctional Obumble admin dep't:
The Surgeon General today in California siad it would be a good idea to buy some iodide as 'a precaution,' yet Big Sis said that there was no need to. Who ya wanna believe, a real doctor, or some fat ass braod that can't even get her contractor to do basic math regarding the airport nudie scanners' radiation output?

Maybe we should air drop her into one of the blown up nuke plants to smother the radiation leak......

Posted by USN,Ret 2011-03-15 23:19|| 2011-03-15 23:19|| Front Page Top

#17 And the bottom of the class graduate, what do you call him?

Major Frank Burns, US Army, MD

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-03-15 23:30|| 2011-03-15 23:30|| Front Page Top

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