Research in the Marshall Islands -２

Life style related diseases has become social issue in the Marshall Islands. Many people are suffering from diabetes, which can also lead to heart disease, sight failure, and kidney disease.

I went to Diabetes Center at the Hospital in the Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands for lunch with my family. I ate diabetic friendly food such as fish hamburger beans and soup.  

 

There are a lot of local food in the Marshall Islands as below. It must be good for your health!

 

Suddenly about 20 people came into the restaurant. They took a cooking class for diabetic diet before eating. There was also a gymnasium for them to use at Hospital.

 

There is a walking path (jikin walk) near the Majuro airport. When our family dropped by there after picnic on Laura, I saw a Marshallese couple walking and Chinese family playing some instruments. Many people have taken up jogging, quite unlike eighteen years ago when I first visited the island!

 

But Many people eat too much rice and meat, and not enough vegetable as everyday food and drink cola and eat ice cream in the night.

I talked to one Marshallese not to eat too much at night. But she said that dinner is the only pleasure time for the family to get together. I really understand that because of many people have become busy. Today, both women and men are working, while getting babysitters to take care of their children. For people in their 30’s to 40’s, diner time is the only time they can relax and have fun. I cannot talk back to her words.

 

At Ebeye, which is the second most populated area in the Marshall Islands, the gymnasium has just been opened in February. There are two programs for women from 9 to 12 in the morning and from 5 to 6 in the evening, and one program for men from 6 to 7 in the evening. The program includes: stretching, jogging machine training, dancing. Around 20 to 30 women join this program. I have participated in this program several times. 

 

Good thing is that gym trainer is so nice. His name is Mr. Kazumi Shima, whose grandfather is Japanese. He encouraged people to join this preprogram, to train every day and to eat suitable food. He talks to every person whoever he meets at places such as at restaurant, and on road. On three occasions, I saw him talking to people about not to taking too much sugar, recommending them to do exercises, how to use muscles, and to take vitamin and protein.  

 

Cooperative program between hospital and gymnasium might be more effective.

 

Research in the Marshall Islands - 1

I have been in the Marshall Islands for fieldwork research on the reconstruction of Rongelap community after H-bomb testing. The research term is between 16^th February and 11^th March. This research is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT KAKENHI Grant Number: 25370955)

For the first time I tried to go to Mejatto Islet where the Rongelap people evacuated from Rongelap atoll, and live. I planned to compare the life on Mejatto from three years ago.　I could not find any ship going to Mejatto islet, so I have been on Ebeye islet during almost of all my research term.

 

 

Jenkwon

Jenkwon
A preserved food called Jenkwon in Marshallese is made from pandanus that epitomizes a southern plant. Its characteristic feature is length of preservation. It lasts more than ten years at normal temperature, which was outstanding of Marshallese preservation foods such as Ametama, Bwiro, etc.

How to make Jenkwon is very simple! Boil, spread thinly and dry under the sun. It is made from only pandanus meet without sugar or salt. It tastes like dry mango and is little more sweet and sour than it. It goes well with coconut milk.

Once Jenkwon used to be made in everywhere in the Marshall Islands for storage for emergency and food during long sailing by canoe. In particular, people live in the northern area which is the sever environment had to store food for drought and sailing to other island with Jenkwon in order to get more food for their family.

However, Modernization had extinguished Jenkwon. Airplane and ship service decreased the necessity of making Jenkwon. Flour, rice, canned meets and precooked Chinese noodles are available everywhere in the Marshall Islands even in the isolated island today.

The Bravo shot

The United States detonated the Hydrogen bomb, code named “Bravo,” on March 1,1954. Bravo was about 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the Pacific War. Of all nuclear testing programs, Bravo made a tremendous impact not only on the test site but also on Rongelap Atoll, Utorik Atoll and all other inhabitants of the Marshall Islands with radioactive fallout on a massive scale. Hydrogen bombs using nuclear fusion reaction can release far more amount of radioactive fallout than fission reaction bombs. Fusion bombs have higher kiloton yields and greater efficiencies than fission reaction bombs.

The Rongelap people who were present on the Rongelap Island sustained an estimated dose of 175 roentgens of penetrating whole-body gamma radiation particulate contamination of the skin sufficient to result in beta burns and epilation and some internal absorption of fallout as a result of inhalation and ingestion. These data are not actual measured figures by appropriate instruments. It is calculated from the intensity of the radioactivity found on the island and the decay exponents of the fallout materials.

(citation: National Archives at College Park, Maryland)

Restart nuclear power plant

Kyushu Electric Power Company restarted nuclear power plant reactor 1 at Sendai complex, located in western part of Japan for the first time in two years yesterday, which would add radioactive wastes Japan possesses in domestic and overseas equivalent to the amount for 5000 nuclear warheads.

The U.S. is disposing of used fuel as waste, burying under the ground; Japan regards it as asset reprocessing into plutonium fuel at nuclear reprocessing plant of the UK and France.

Japan struggled in vain to discard used fuel so called high level radioactive wastes abroad once. The Japanese government had at least two plans to build nuclear waste storage facility: in the Marshall Islands in the 1980’s, in Mongolia approximately 5 years ago. Those plans hit setback for objection there. The London treaty forbids transfer of wastes another country. It is still difficult for Japan of small countries to bury high level radioactive wastes underground. It is all the more impossible to just keep a large number of used fuel rods at each nuclear power generation facilities in Japan because of the rising critical appraisal of the potential development of the nuclear weapons in Japan. Japan has no choice but to reprocessing nuclear wastes and using it. But we have only one operating reactor out of 54 reactors for reprocessed fuel in the present. Where are radioactive wastes going?

Actually, even after the accident of Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 11th 2011, the Japanese Government is pushing export of nuclear power plants. I bet the Japanese government thinks that to export nuclear power plants including reprocessed fuel can solve the obstacle accumulating wastes. Japan can transport nuclear materials as asset instead of waste that is prohibited to transfer beyond country by the London treaty. The NPT treaty prohibits export of radioactive materials also. However, the U.S. may overlook export of radioactive materials from Japan to customers because the U. S. has already overlooked that Japan transferred used fuel between Japan and the U.K. or France.

But the problem is that strong earthquakes happen frequently in Taiwan as well as Japan. I never want to see a disaster like Fukushima anymore. Tens of thousands of people are still evacuated apart from their home.

                        discarded rice field of 30 kilometers from Fukushima daiichi power plant (June 2011)

Marshall's Foods

When it comes to choosing Marshallese top three foods, selecting is not so difficult. That’s because the coral reef produces not so many kind of plants because of severe environment, being scarce vegetation. Foods usually selected are Coconut, Breadfruit and Pandanus.

 

Coconut is the most popular fruit in the southern island. It can survive even on salty land in several-month-lasting dry season.

 

Breadfruit originates in the south pacific. It tastes gentle with no strong smell something like bread or potato. Pandanus tastes like a pineapple or a mango. People are making preserved food or fermented food, in addition eat row.  　

These plants are not originally present in the Marshall Islands, carried from the Southeast Asia or other south pacific through immigration for long period. Some Studies explain that people migrated to a new island for settlement, loading a canoe with seeds and young plants.  

 

The Marshall Islands of Coral

The Marshall Islands is composed of 1,225 low-lying coral islets with no mountain or river in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. These islets are not scattered equally around the ocean. Some islets come together forming a chain of islands, an atoll. The atoll has inland sea (lagoon) surrounded by islets. Twenty-nine coral atolls and five isolated coral islands constitute the Marshall Islands. The total land area amounts to 70 square miles (181 square kilometers), and their exclusive economic zone makes up 750 square miles (2,131,000 square kilometers).

The Marshall Islands is such a tiny water world, and a beautiful tropical world with white sand, emerald green colored ocean and tropical fruits!

Do you want to visit the Marshall Islands?
   The answer would be … “Yes! If there is any chance!”
Do you want to live in the Marshall Islands?
   The answer should be … “well…it’s good for just visiting”.

Why did the first settler decid to live on tiny islets? I will introduce local knowledge living on tiny coral atolls in the Marshall Islands in this blog.