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After the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011, the environmental radiation dose in Fukushima City increased. On 11 April, 1 mo after the earthquake, the environmental radiation dose rate at various surfaces in the same area differed greatly by surface property. Environmental radiation measurements continue in order to determine the estimated time to 50% reduction in environmental radiation dose rates by surface property in order to make suggestions for decontamination in Fukushima. The measurements were carried out from 11 April to 11 November 2011. Forty-eight (48) measurement points were selected, including four kinds of ground surface properties: grass (13), soil (5), artificial turf (7), and asphalt (23). Environmental radiation dose rate was measured at heights of 100 cm above the ground surface. Time to 50% reduction of environmental radiation dose rates was estimated for each ground surface property. Radiation dose rates on 11 November had decreased significantly compared with those on 11 April for all surface properties. Artificial turf showed the longest time to 50% reduction (544.32 d, standard error: 96.86), and soil showed the shortest (213.20 d, standard error: 35.88). The authors found the environmental radiation dose rate on artificial materials to have a longer 50% reduction time than that on natural materials. These results contribute to determining an order of priority for decontamination after nuclear disasters.

Objective: Field trips to disaster-affected areas (FTDAs) without a specific purpose, such as medical cooperation, are widely used in medical education. However, what medical students gain from FTDAs remains unclear. The present study aimed to clarify what medical students gain from FTDAs. Five medical students who had visited the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan participated in a semi-structured group interview to ask what they gained from such a visit. The narratives were analysed using open coding. Results: The following four themes emerged: "Spirit of scientific inquiry", "Foundation for lifelong education and personal growth", "Broadened understanding of the medical profession", and "Importance of practicing medicine in the community setting". The ambiguity of medical students' specific roles in the field trip compared to the fieldwork may have encouraged them to make sense of the experience from their perspective. As a result, students may have gained a broader perspective of their future work and career through the FTDA. If medical educators can gain consensus from the residents of a disaster site, different disaster-affected areas can be potential sites for medical education using FTDAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify concerns related to returning to the Nagadoro district of Iitate Village, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, in 2023 among its residents as it is designated as a difficult-to-return zone after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The following four concerns were extracted from the interviews and qualitative analysis: "Difficulties in restarting/continuing farming," which represent the difficulties in making a living from agriculture due to the absence of family members and neighbors, and the insufficient radiation decontamination; "Discriminatory treatment of products and residents from villagers," which suggests the presence of discriminations that residents of Nagadoro district are eccentrics and its agricultural products should not be treated together with those of other districts in the Village due to the recognition that the district is severely polluted by radiation; "Shift of the responsibility of returning home from the country to residents by scapegoating," which is characterized by the shift of responsibility from the government to the residents, including harsh social criticism of the residents of Nagadoro district for not returning even though the evacuation order has been lifted, when it should have been the government's responsibility to recover the district to a habitable state; "Loss of options for continued evacuation," which is the loss or weakening of the position of residents of the Nagadoro district who continue to evacuate, and of administrative compensation, resulting from the legal change that they are no longer "evacuees" after the evacuation order is lifted. The findings of this study will provide a foundation for the support of residents of the Nagadoro district after lifting the evacuation order scheduled for the spring of 2023. The findings may be transferable to the residents of other difficult-to-return zones expected to be lifted after the Nagadoro district and to also a radiation disaster-affected place in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After hometown loss due to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident, many radiation decontamination workers started to engage in the reconstruction of their hometown. However, little is known regarding the meaning of experience of engaging in such work. We describe the process of such experience through a series of ethnographic interviews over 5 years with a radiation decontamination worker. The process was classified into the following three periods: "recovery of lost land by inhabitants' own hands," "goal loss and semiotic trap in pursuit of recovery," and "revitalization of feeling of hometown." Consequently, the informant overcame the contradiction theorized as a "semiotic trap" that radiation decontamination for physical recovery would make his return to home impossible, and updated his narrative to the revitalization of "feeling of hometown" through continuous engagement in the work by creating a sense for transplacement, in which the individual focuses on the psychological aspects of his/her hometown instead of the physical aspects. Psychological reconstruction for disaster victims requires the discovery and revitalization of feeling of hometown rather than the completion of physical reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Great East Japan Earthquake triggered accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, becoming the first complex disaster that included both a natural and a nuclear power disaster. This study examines how complex disasters affect patients with dementia. Methods: Participants included the 331 people diagnosed with dementia out of the 2482 new patients (between January 2008 and December 2015) at a psychiatric hospital located in the indoor sheltering zones nearby mandatory evacuation zones. Medical records were retrospectively examined to identify the number of new patients with dementia, the severity, their chief complaints, and the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) types. BPSD were classified into the hyperactive BPSD group and the hypoactive BPSD group. The hyperactive BPSD group was further subdivided into the hyperactivity‐impulsivity‐irritability‐disinhibition‐aggression‐agitation group, which exhibited agitation, disinhibition, and irritability, and the psychosis group, which exhibited delusions and hallucinations. The hypoactive BPSD group included depression, inactivity, apathy, and anxiety. Results were divided into the period before the complex disaster (2008–2010) and after (2012–2015) and were compared. In addition, the post‐complex‐disaster period was subdivided into the early phase (2012–2013) and the late phase (2014–2015). Results: The proportion of new patients with dementia increased significantly after the disaster. Although there was no change in patients' age and the disease's severity, the proportion of patients whose chief complaint was BPSD increased significantly after the disaster. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the hyperactivity‐impulsivity‐irritability‐disinhibition‐aggression‐agitation group in the early post‐complex‐disaster phase and a significant increase in the psychosis group in the late post‐complex‐disaster phase. Conclusion: This complex disaster caused increased consultations from patients with dementia and increased BPSD. Additionally, it increased participants' symptoms of agitation and irritability in the early post‐complex‐disaster phase and the proportion of hallucinations and delusions in the late post‐complex‐disaster phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]