JET Study Tour Oct,2015 Members Report08

JET Study Tour Oct,2015 Member's Report08	Name：　Bryn Thorhaug（Canadian）
The JET study tour I attended in October of 2015 was a great insight to the inner workings of vital industries and experience the cultural wealth that Fukushima prefecture has to offer. The objective of the tour is to provide new or senior JET's the opportunity to gain knowledge about Fukushima, in order to help dispel misinformed opinions formed by western media. I felt it was important for me to go on the tour as not only am I a new JET, wanting to see more of the prefecture, but to reaffirm myself and others back home in Canada that Fukushima is safe to live in. The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 made international news and I remember watching as the disaster unfold. I was very aware of the situation as my older brother was living in Gunma-ken at the time. He decided to stay in the country and volunteered with recovery efforts for the following two years. His commitment and vigor to not spread nuclear fear hyperbole that the western media was projecting at the time influenced me to not to be swept into stereotyping an entire region. Being informed to not allow misguidance affected my decision to join the JET program and I ultimately was placed in the prefecture that had taken the brunt of the media's attention. I have family that, once learning my placement, were apprehensive about my residence in Fukushima prefecture. This is largely based on the Daiichi Nuclear power plant meltdown. The media (especially western) seems to be very anti-nuclear and stirring up emotions drives viewership. I am in no way downplaying the significance of or reality of what happened, but the way the news outlets conducted the information about Fukushima post tsunami, seemed to lump the whole prefecture into the meltdown rhetoric. Obviously bad press effects all facets of a regions ability to recover. So in this regard I found the JET study tour a very relevant and worthwhile expedition to be a part of. Obviously the rice and food inspection facilities offer a great way to reinforce the absurdity of some unsafe food claims. Allowing us to witness first hand the Japanese rigorousness of food safety is at the forefront of repairing any doubts in the health of the food produced in Fukushima. Some people undoubtedly will never change their mind about radiation and all the falsifications that term brings, but these two facilities I found very important to show on the tour. The farm stay is a great way to humanize the tour and allow a glimpse of Japan few think about when they envision the country. The imagery a typical North American thinks of Japan is a urban sprawl such as Tokyo. Not often is the rural viewpoint established, so allowing an insight into it I found to be beneficial for the tour. Aizuwakamatsu Castle is always good to have pictures of to harness the romanticism of Japanese history and architecture. Regarding the renewable energy tours, I found them both worthwhile endeavors to help reduce the reliance on imported and nuclear energy. To show the diversification of any countries energy is worthwhile. I found the geothermal plant quite interesting as it can be an uncommon energy source in other countries, so I was reminded of its use. In closing, I will recommend the program to other JET's in the future and would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to the board of education for the opportunity. I look forward to attending other tours in the future.

JET Study Tour Oct,2015 Member's Report08

Name：　Bryn Thorhaug（Canadian）

The JET study tour I attended in October of 2015 was a great insight to the inner workings of vital industries and experience the cultural wealth that Fukushima prefecture has to offer. The objective of the tour is to provide new or senior JET's the opportunity to gain knowledge about Fukushima, in order to help dispel misinformed opinions formed by western media.

I felt it was important for me to go on the tour as not only am I a new JET, wanting to see more of the prefecture, but to reaffirm myself and others back home in Canada that Fukushima is safe to live in. The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 made international news and I remember watching as the disaster unfold. I was very aware of the situation as my older brother was living in Gunma-ken at the time. He decided to stay in the country and volunteered with recovery efforts for the following two years. His commitment and vigor to not spread nuclear fear hyperbole that the western media was projecting at the time influenced me to not to be swept into stereotyping an entire region. Being informed to not allow misguidance affected my decision to join the JET program and I ultimately was placed in the prefecture that had taken the brunt of the media's attention.

I have family that, once learning my placement, were apprehensive about my residence in Fukushima prefecture. This is largely based on the Daiichi Nuclear power plant meltdown. The media (especially western) seems to be very anti-nuclear and stirring up emotions drives viewership. I am in no way downplaying the significance of or reality of what happened, but the way the news outlets conducted the information about Fukushima post tsunami, seemed to lump the whole prefecture into the meltdown rhetoric. Obviously bad press effects all facets of a regions ability to recover. So in this regard I found the JET study tour a very relevant and worthwhile expedition to be a part of.

Obviously the rice and food inspection facilities offer a great way to reinforce the absurdity of some unsafe food claims. Allowing us to witness first hand the Japanese rigorousness of food safety is at the forefront of repairing any doubts in the health of the food produced in Fukushima. Some people undoubtedly will never change their mind about radiation and all the falsifications that term brings, but these two facilities I found very important to show on the tour.

The farm stay is a great way to humanize the tour and allow a glimpse of Japan few think about when they envision the country. The imagery a typical North American thinks of Japan is a urban sprawl such as Tokyo. Not often is the rural viewpoint established, so allowing an insight into it I found to be beneficial for the tour. Aizuwakamatsu Castle is always good to have pictures of to harness the romanticism of Japanese history and architecture.

Regarding the renewable energy tours, I found them both worthwhile endeavors to help reduce the reliance on imported and nuclear energy. To show the diversification of any countries energy is worthwhile. I found the geothermal plant quite interesting as it can be an uncommon energy source in other countries, so I was reminded of its use.

In closing, I will recommend the program to other JET's in the future and would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to the board of education for the opportunity. I look forward to attending other tours in the future.

Bryn Thorhaug

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