Update from Dr. Jun Fudano and Yasu Furukawa, OU History of Science alumni

– From Yasu Furukawa:

Dear Steve,

Thank you for your warm note.
We were shocked by the earthquake and tsunami on Friday.
I was then on campus and stayed there all night as no transportation
was available.
Fortunately, I and my family are well.

All the best,

Yasu

– From Jun Fudano:

Many thanks for your kind thoughts and concern.

It happened that I was on the platform of a JR train station in Tokyo when the first earthquake hit Japan. Born and raised in Japan, I am accustomed to the earthquake, but, this one was different and certainly the largest and the worst I’ve ever experienced.

As a meeting had been scheduled, I went to the Tokyo satellite office of our research center, Applied Ethics Center for Engineering and Science, in Harajyuku, Tokyo, by cab because all the trains and subways were not running. We canceled the meeting and I had to spend a night in the office because there was no way to go to a hotel.

I came back to Kanazawa Saturday afternoon through the pacific coast train route via Nagoya and Maibara. As the traffic in the greater Tokyo area was in chaos when I was trying to get to the Haneda Airport and there was no way to reach the airport, I decided to use the train system. Fortunately, the Tokaido bullet train system had been intact and fully operational, I was able to come home safely although it took more than 9 hours from our Tokyo office to my house in Kanazawa. (It takes three to four hours when the traffic system is normal.)

Things in Kanazawa have been normal. KIT even had the entrance examination which was the last one this year on Sunday as scheduled while KIT will have a special treatment for those who had been impacted by the earthquake and the following Tsumami and fire. Ken had soccer practice as usual and Hiroko is doing just fine.

The KIT community in the Kanazawa area and in the Tokyo area are fine also although the Tokyo Toranomon campus which is located on the 11th, 12th, and 13th floors of a high-rise building in the central part of Tokyo was literally shaking, I heard, when the first earthquake hit.

We are now gathering information on the condition of the families, relatives, and friends of the students, faculty, and staff members who came from the areas affected by the earthquake and related incidents.

The biggest concern for me and many others is the situation on the nuclear reactors in the Fukushima area. According to the press release from the government and Tokyo Electric Power company, there was at least small damages to fuel rods because of the problem of the emergency cooling system for the core of the reactor (because it had been damaged by Tsunami and not functional) at the first and third, and then, second reactors of the Fukushima First Nuclear Power Plant. Thanks to the last major step they took, namely filling the reactor cover with seawater, the first and third reactors seem to be under control, but we are not sure about the second. Needless to say, these are the most serious nuclear accidents which Japan has ever experienced and I think it will take a long time for the nuclear power plans in Japan to return to the normal stage meanwhile those who live in the Tokyo, Kantou, and Tohoku areas will suffer from serious shortage of the electric power. Rolling blackouts have started yesterday in the Katou area. (For more details, please see, for example, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/)

Fortunately, considering the nature of the incidents, the amount of radioactive materials released into the environment has been limited, at least as far as I can tell, and I don’t anticipate any serious risk of environmental pollution.

I trust Yasu and his family are not affected by the earthquake.

Again, thank you for your thoughts.

Best regards,

Jun

P.S.: I am attaching a picture of Ken which was taken last summer. Being 173 cm high, he is now taller than me although he will graduate from elementary school, attending the graduation ceremony today.