Will you temporarily stop purchasing Japanese Greens?

[a.serrao]

Japanese law allows blending of leaves from other prefectures, etc. It must contain leaves of at least 50% from the prefecture origin listed.

This is why it is important to have a vendor you know and trust, and one that is forthcoming with information. Some vendors will state that the leaf is 100% Shizuoka or Uji, etc. But you often have to ask.

This is not at all uncommon for food crops. We might know the country of origin, but we very rarely are told exact information beyond this. (although I know Italy has very distinct regions)

Yes, I know. But I doubt this law would allow tea from overseas origin.
We in Italy have a quasi-complete tracking of all foods. In this regard Italy is one of the best countries in the world. We, as yet, are immune to the E. coli thing going on, meaning controls are effective and reliable. (Cross fingers)

[entropyembrace]

Based on what I have read from reliable sources, I have decided to not order any Shizuoka tea for at least 3 months, at which time I will reassess the situation.

This saddens me, I would like to support Shizuoka, the largest sencha producer, but there is just too much smoke and mirrors going on, and there clearly is a low level of contamination.

The risk level is too high for me at this time.

I´ve made the same descision, actually I´ll probably wait until next year so the plants can pull the radioisotopes out of the soil...it´s a shame because Shizuoka teas were 2 of my top 3 senchas last year. I did however order some Uji and Kagoshima shincha.

[senchalover]

I am waitng until next year. And sencha is all I drink.

[Chip]

... and I will drink mostly Uji and Kyushu teas, assuming demand does not outstrip availability!

Thing is, Shizuoka teas are being removed from availability from many vendors anyway, so this is more of an extrapulation of reality than a profound ideology.

Go [south]west, young man and stake your claim to the best Japanese teas.

[Drax]

On the plus side, the kagoshima YM has been friggin' wonderful, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[iannon]

On the plus side, the kagoshima YM has been friggin' wonderful, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

And I always loves me some Uji!

[Chip]

And so it came to pass that I purchased 5 Japanese teas last night.

So, in answer to the original poster's question, I continue to purchase Japanese greens and have been drinking Japanese greens nonstop since March 9th. But I have not purchased Shizuoka.

[Drax]

So... stupid question time, please forgive my ignorance -- I've been following most of this discussion, but I'm not sure I've seen anybody directly address this question...

Fukushima (the site of the nuclear plant disaster) and Shizuoka are quite a fair distance away from each other. And, if I've got my geography of Japan correct, Tokyo is inbetween. Okay, granted I don't recall Tokyou being a producer of teas but how did so much radiation get down to Shizuoka...?

[olivierco]

So... stupid question time, please forgive my ignorance -- I've been following most of this discussion, but I'm not sure I've seen anybody directly address this question...

Fukushima (the site of the nuclear plant disaster) and Shizuoka are quite a fair distance away from each other. And, if I've got my geography of Japan correct, Tokyo is inbetween. Okay, granted I don't recall Tokyou being a producer of teas but how did so much radiation get down to Shizuoka...?

Just because radioactive elements aren't evenly dispersed and may be concentrated in some areas, especially with snow and rain falls.

By the way when I wrote about the possibility of contamination far from Fukushima, some people here replied abruptly that
If you understand the situation you would realize that the radiation levels are only consequential immediately surrounding the reactor site. Most tea in Japan is grown hundreds of kms away to the south. Most of the radioactivity in the affected area will disappear in hours once the leaks are stopped....and as far as I know there´s no tea growing there anyway.

The risks with the levels found actually in the Shizuoka leaves aren't high enough to stop drinking tea. Many tests were performed by French customs, only one was non conform, so if you don't stick to one peculiar tea and don't eat the leaves, you will take less risks for your health than by sitting next to someone who smokes a cigarette.

[entropyembrace]

from the article Kevin posted on the last page...

In a similar situation following the 1986 explosion and meltdown of the Chernobyl reactors in the Soviet Union, samples from tea gardens in Turkey and Georgia tested at 25,000 bq/kg to 89,000 bq/kg. Cay-Kur, Turkey’s national tea company, buried 58,000 tons of the most contaminated teas and simply blended the remainder with the previous year's crop to arrive at an average 12,500 bq/kg reading. At that time less was known about the hazards of food borne radionuclides.

Even the 3000 bq/kg French customs detected isn´t really that much radiation. I´m a bit surprised Shizuoka being south of Tokyo has been affected so much but I think the reason why we´re even seeing high enough numbers to push legal limits has to do with the tea plants themselves. I´m suspecting that the tea plants concentrated the radionucleotides in their leaves and would have much higher concentrations than the surrounding soil...it´s pretty common for many plants to do this.

and olivierco you´re right the numbers we´re talking about are less dangerous than 2nd hand smoke.

[David R.]

Radiation from the leaves intercepted in France was 1.038 Bq/kg.

About why places were infected and not others, there are theories about the topology of the fields, with a bad orientation which enabled winds to gather. Just an hypothesis...

[Cinnabar Red]

With sadness, I will stop . Thats the hypochondriac in me.

A friend served me a wonderful pastry he purchased in a local Korean food store last night. As I took the first bite, he mentioned it was imported from Japan. I didn't stop to ask any questions like "where in Japan is it from?" Not that I could ask, my mouth being stuffed with this delicious cake. After a quick mental debate I spit it out. This was extremely difficult, as some of my friends call me "the PDU" The pastry disposal unit. I'm more likely to die from clogged arteries than radiation poisoning caused by all the tea in Japan!

[JBaymore]

After a quick mental debate I spit it out.

I am sorry, but I find this hard to fathom. THIS is the kind of hysteria that is helping to KILL the Japanese economy....on top of the earthquake and tsunami.

When we were just in Japan for 3 weeks.... people kept coming up to us and thanking us for coming. Profusely. Japan was pretty empty of Westerners. Including places like Kyoto. Their tourism industry is getting SLAUGHTERED by all of this nonsense.

Ther ARE things toi be concerned about..... but PLEASE keep it rational.

best,

..................john

[a.serrao]

After a quick mental debate I spit it out.

I am sorry, but I find this hard to fathom. THIS is the kind of hysteria that is helping to KILL the Japanese economy....on top of the earthquake and tsunami.

When we were just in Japan for 3 weeks.... people kept coming up to us and thanking us for coming. Profusely. Japan was pretty empty of Westerners. Including places like Kyoto. Their tourism industry is getting SLAUGHTERED by all of this nonsense.

Ther ARE things toi be concerned about..... but PLEASE keep it rational.

best,

..................john

6,46mSv in the soil of a park near Tokyo is nonsense?
http://enenews.com/6-46-microsieverts-p ... playground

[lkj23]

buffffffff...................................