Congress Organization | Assurance on RadiationAssurance on Radiation
1. Message from the Chair, Local Arrangement Committee (1)
2. Japan Times Article
3. Message from Prof. David T. Johnson
4. Message from the Chair, Local Arrangement Committee (2)
5. Message from Mr. Tatsuo Yada, Mayor of the City of Kobe
6. Message from Mr. Hiroshi Mizohata, Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency
7. Message from Mr. Tadayoshi Mamiya, President of the Japan National Tourism Organization
8. Message from Mr. Michael H. Fox
9. Message from Prof. Jong-Sik Choi
10. Message from Prof. Yunhai Wang
11. Message from the Chair, Local Arrangement Committee (3)
Message from the Chair, Local Arrangement Committee (1)
Dear prospective participants of the 16th World Congress of the International Society for Criminology:
I am writing this urgent message on behalf of the Local Arrangement Committee of the Congress.
PLEASE DO NOT RUSH TO CANCEL YOUR PARTICIPATION!
PLEASE WAIT UNTIL THE END OF JUNE TO MAKE UP YOUR MIND!
As of the end of February, we received registrations of approximately 1,100 people and received submissions of approximately 50 paper or roundtable sessions, more than 300 individual papers and approximately 120 posters.
The Congress appeared to be becoming another successful congress.
Then, on March 11, northeastern parts of Honshu (the main island of Japan) on the Pacific Ocean were hit by an earthquake with an unprecedented magnitude and several waves of giant tsunami.
Those areas were devastated, and we prayed for the victims and their families with you.
The whole country is grateful to a flood of aids and assistance from so many countries.
Tokyo, where I teach, was fairly strongly shaken, and books and other items fell to the floor in my office, for instance.
So-called rolling blackouts were introduced for a few days after the quake due to the collapse of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
However, we quickly adjusted ourselves to use less electricity, many universities (including mine) started the 2011 academic year at the beginning of April according to the regular calendar, and we now live fairly normally in Tokyo.
Luckily for us, central and western parts of Japan were totally unharmed.
Kobe is four hundred kilometers from Tokyo, and the quake, tsunami, and radioactivity have not affected the city at all.
We are quite confident that we will be able to hold the Congress without any change.
Therefore, we were surprised by cancellation notices which started to arrive a few days ago.
They must have thought from the sensational media coverage that radioactivity leaking from the nuclear power plant was spreading to the entire country.
The truth is that only a 20-kilometer exclusion zone was set, and residents were asked to stay indoors in the 20-30 kilometer ring as a precaution.
Tokyo is two hundred kilometers from the site, and Kobe is six hundred kilometers from the site.
We live fairly normally in Tokyo, and Kobe is not affected at all.
Then, yesterday, the government raised the severity level of the accident to the maximum 7 on an international scale.
We are really afraid now that the news that it is same to the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe is making many more people to think cancellation.
That is why I am writing this urgent message.
Please see the following article in The Japan Times.
In terms of the real strength and breadth of radioactivity, the Fukushima accident is far smaller than the one at Chernobyl.
The amount of radioactive materials released into the external environment from the plant is estimated to be about 10 percent of the amount released in the Chernobyl catastrophe, and there is no expansion of the exclusion zone.
Therefore, we would like to urge you NOT TO RUSH TO CANCELLATION.
We would like to ask you to WAIT UNTIL THE END OF JUNE to make up your mind.
Of course, the situation can change either better or worse, though, of course, we really hope that the government will succeed to reduce radioactivity.
The situation would , at least, become clearer by that time.
A previous rule required those who wanted to present a paper or poster or to participate in a session or roundtable to pay a registration fee by the end of April.
We now POSTPONE THE PAYMENT DEADLINE UNTIL THE END OF JUNE.
A leading American criminologist who lived in Kobe for 18 months has been living in Tokyo.
He is Professor David T. Johnson of the University of Hawaii.
Please see his message below.
He advises you that "to cancel on Kobe may well be to fear the wrong thing."
PLEASE COME TO KOBE IN AUGUST!
Sincerely yours,
Setsuo Miyazawa
Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University Law School, Tokyo 150-8366, Japan
Professor Emeritus, Kobe University
Chair, Local Arrangement Committee, ISC 16th World Congress of Criminology
Japan Times Article
UPDATE: Japan raises Fukushima accident severity level to highest level
Japan on Tuesday raised the severity level of the accident at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to the maximum 7 on an international scale, up from the current 5 and matching that of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.
The previous evaluation of 5 on the International Nuclear Event Scale provisionally set by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, a body under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, was at the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979.
While raising the level for the accident, the agency said, however, that the amount of radioactive materials released into the external environment from the nuke plant is estimated to be about 10 percent of the amount released in the Chernobyl catastrophe.
The decision comes after the release of a preliminary calculation Monday by the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, which said the crippled nuclear plant was releasing up to 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour at one point after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11.
Level 7 accidents on the INES correspond to the release into the external environment of radioactive materials equal to more than tens of thousands of terabecquerels of radioactive iodine 131. One terabecquerel equals 1 trillion becquerels.
The agency estimated that up to 370,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials had been released in the air while the commission said it estimated 630,000 terabecquerels, both far exceeding the criteria for level 7.
Haruki Madarame, chairman of the commission, said earlier it estimates the release of 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour continued for several hours.
The commission says the release has since come down to under 1 terabecquerel per hour and that it is still examining the total amount of radioactive materials released.
It also released a preliminary calculation for the cumulative amount of external exposure to radiation, saying it exceeded the yearly limit of 1 millisievert in areas extending more than 60 kilometers northwest of the plant and about 40 km south-southwest of the plant.
The areas encompass the cities of Fukushima, Date, Soma, Minamisoma and Iwaki and part of the town of Hirono, all in Fukushima Prefecture.
Within a 20-km exclusion zone set by the government, the amount varied from under 1 millisievert to 100 millisieverts or more, and in the 20-30 km ring where residents are asked to stay indoors, it came to under 50 millisieverts.
The commission used the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information to calculate the spread of radiation.
The Japan Times: Tuesday, April 12, 2011
(C) All rights reserved
Message from Prof. David T. Johnson
Dear Prospective Participants in the ISC Conference in Kobe:
This message is directed at folks who are still wondering whether to come to the conference. I cannot predict the future any better than a dart-throwing monkey, but I can say that I feel safe in Tokyo, where I have stayed since 3/11. Compared to New York City or Shanghai or New Delhi or Jakarta, Tokyo remains an extraordinarily safe place—and Kobe is more than twice as far from the nuclear reactors in Fukushima as Tokyo is. I also recall the central insight of Barry Glassner’s The Culture of Fear (the best-selling sociology book in the English language): people tend to fear the wrong things. In my view, to cancel on Kobe may well be to fear the wrong thing.
I hope to see you in Kobe. I lived there for 18 months; it is a wonderful city.
With best wishes,
David T. Johnson
Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii
JSPS Visiting Scholar, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo
Message from the Chair, Local Arrangement Committee (2）
Dear prospective participants in the 16th World Congress of Criminology of the ISC:
In follow-up of my previous message about the safety of Kobe, here are the messages from Mr. Tatsuo Yada, Mayor of the City of Kobe, Mr. Hiroshi Mizohata, Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency of the national government, and Mr. Tadatoshi Mamiya, President of the Japan Tourism Organization.
Mr. Yada, Mayor of Kobe, particularly states that the City constantly measures the radiation level in the atmosphere and it is consistent with level measured prior to the quake.
We also have messages contributed by an American scholar in Kobe, a Korean scholar in nearby Osaka, and a Chinese scholar in Tokyo. They contributed their messages in their respective language. I would particularly like to ask Korean and Chinese scholars to read messages written in Korean or Chinese language.
Some of you inquired whether electricity shortage will occur in Kobe in summer. Eastern and western parts of Japan use different currencies (50 hertz in east; 60 hertz in west) and they do not affect each other. Rolling blackouts were introduced only in the vicinity of Tokyo, and the same will be true in summer, too.
Please expect to receive more messages later.
Sincerely yours,
Setsuo Miyazawa
Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University Law School, Tokyo 150-8366, Japan
Professor Emeritus, Kobe University
Chair, Local Arrangement Committee, ISC 16th World Congress of Criminology
Message from Mr. Tatsuo Yada, Mayor of the City of Kobe
April 12, 2011
Announcement on the Safety of Kobe by the Mayor of Kobe
The 16th World Congress of the International Society Criminology
Dear attendants,
Thank you for your continuous and exceptional patronage to Kobe.
I extend my sincerest condolences and sympathy to those who were affected by the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan. Our city has dispatched support and aid to the disaster-stricken areas and its citizens and stands ready to provide our cooperation towards an immediate restoration and revitalization.
In the heart of the western region, Kansai (West), presently, we are fortunate to be safe and unaffected by the earthquake and the nuclear power plant incidents. Kobe is located over 600km away from the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant and Kobe constantly measures the radiation level in the atmosphere. Kobe constantly measures the radiation level in the atmosphere. However activities are as usual and is consistent with the level measured prior to the Tohoku- Kanto Great Earthquake.
Thus, we announce awaiting to hold the 16th World Congress of International Society for Criminology as scheduled, as this is a vital convention for scholars and essential for the revitalization of the academic circles. We sincerely wait with hope for everyone’s active participation.
I kindly ask for your positive consideration and kind support to this fair.
Tatsuo Yada
Mayor of Kobe
Message from Mr. Hiroshi Mizohata, Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency of the national government
Message from Mr. Hiroshi Mizohata [→PDF：260KB]
Message from Mr. Tadayoshi Mamiya, President of the Japan National Tourism Organization
Message from Mr. Tadayoshi Mamiya [→PDF：557KB]
Message from Prof. Michael H. Fox
Dear fellow criminologists throughout the world,
I am a twenty seven year resident of the city of Kobe. Like many of you, I continue to sympathize with the victims of the earthquakes and tsunami which ravaged northeastern Japan in March. The devastation and destruction were truly shocking.
In Kobe, we know firsthand of the travesty of natural disasters. In January of 1995, our city was the scene of a horrendous earthquake. Many died, and many others sought shelter after losing their homes. The Japanese, extraordinarily resilient and expedient, restored this beautiful thriving port city with alacrity and grace.
Kobe, some 700 kilometers ( 450 miles) from the epicenter of the tsunami, was completely unfazed by the recent disaster. Unlike Tokyo to the east, our supply of electricity has continued unabated. Fears of of irradiation in Tokyo, and even farther away here in Kobe, are absolutely non-existent..
Unfortunately, we are hearing that many of you intend to abandon attendance at the upcoming 16th World Congress of the International Society for Criminology this summer. We are not only saddened, but very worried that the conference may be cancelled. The best way to aid Japan and help restore normalcy is to support the healthy and safe sectors of society. We do hope you follow through with your visit this summer, for the sake of the conference, for the sake of the field, and the well being of Japan!
Michael H. Fox
Japan Innocence and Death Penalty Research Center
www.jiadep.org
Kobe, Japan
Message from Prof. Jong-Sik Choi (in Korean)
Message from Prof. Jong-Sik Choi [→PDF：86.1KB]
Message from Prof. Yunhai Wang (in Chinese)
Message from Prof. Yunhai Wang [→PDF：70.6KB]
Message from the Chair, Local Arrangement Committee (3)
Dear prospective participants in the 16th World Congress of the ISC:
For those who wish to closely watch environmental radiation levels in Japan, MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) of the Japanese government publishes information at the following website in English, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Bengali languages.
http://eq.wide.ad.jp/index_en.html
Radiation levels of air and drinking water in Kobe is graphically reported in English in the following site.
They are clearly normal.
http://mextrad.blob.core.windows.net/page/28_Hyogo_en.html
See you in Kobe in August!
Sincerely,
Setsuo Miyazawa
Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University Law School, Tokyo 150-8366, Japan
Professor Emeritus, Kobe University
Chair, Local Arrangement Committee, ISC 16th World Congress of Criminology
