Japan: March disaster debris may reach Hawaii next year(huge debris field spotted)

NHK ^ | 10/15/11

[TigerLikesRooster]

March disaster debris may reach Hawaii next year

US researchers say some of the huge amount of debris that has been drifting in the Pacific Ocean as a result of Japan's disaster in March may reach Hawaii next year.

Nikolai Maximenko, senior researcher at the University of Hawaii's International Pacific Research Center, says a huge amount of debris was spotted by a Russian training ship heading for Vladivostok from Hawaii in late September.

The debris was found in a wide area in the northern Pacific Ocean about 3,200 kilometers east of Japan and about 900 kilometers west of the Midway Islands.

Japanese fishing boats, fishing nets, housing materials, plastic products, and appliances such as television sets and refrigerators form part of the debris.

A piece of a demolished fishing boat clearly shows the word "Fukushima" written in Japanese.

Maximenko says measures should be taken as a large amount of debris can be a threat to vessels and can have an adverse impact on marine ecosystems.

Saturday, October 15, 2011 13:05 +0900 (JST)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Lived in Sagamihara and Yokohama 1951-1961.
Army Brat.

[sushiman]

I lived in Sagamihara with a school chum my first 8 months in Japan ( Sept. ‘85 - May ‘ 86 ) .

[Eric in the Ozarks]

For most of my time in Japan, the Japanese were in rebuilding mode. Then came the news that the ‘64 Olympics would be in Tokyo and all hell broke loose with construction, widening roads, etc.
In the early 50s, large swaths of Sagami were still open fields and broken concrete.