Japan's government has announced it will ban farmers from planting rice in soil contaminated by radiation from the tsunami-flooded nuclear power plant, adding another food central to Japanese culture to the list of items raising concerns.
The ban will apply to any soil found to contain high levels of radioactive cesium, and farmers who cannot grow rice will be compensated.
So far, soil that exceeds the new limit has been found in only two places in Iitate, a village about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Fukushima Dai-ichi, the nuclear plant crippled by the March 11 tsunami.
"We had to come up with a policy quickly because we are in planting season," said Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano, who announced the ban Friday. "Following this, I want to hear the opinions of experts and local officials on how to remediate the soil."
Earlier in the week, high levels of seawater contamination around the plant prompted the nation that gave the world sushi to set limits for the first time on the amount of radiation permitted in fish. The contamination levels have since decreased after plant workers managed to plug a leak.
There has been concern about radiation in vegetables and milk, and several countries, most recently China, have banned imports of some items from Japan.
Rice grown in soil not found to be contaminated will also be checked, and the limit is the same as for fish and vegetables. The limit for soil used to grow rice will be 10 times higher because of concerns that the rice will absorb cesium during its long growing season.
Japan produced 8.5 million tons of rice in 2010, almost all for domestic consumption. It exported just 1,900 tons for sale last year, with Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan the top recipients.
Rice is revered in Japanese culture, and the word for cooked rice, "gohan," also means meal. It's the key ingredient in sake, and citizens proudly buy locally grown varieties. Subsidies and restrictions on imports have made Japan largely self-sufficient as a rice-growing nation — last year it imported just 664,000 tons.
Fukushima, home to the radiation-leaking plant, produced 450,000 tons of rice and was the nation's fourth-largest producing prefecture (state) last year.
Yoshiyuki Ueda, a 47-year-old rice farmer from the town of Futaba, where the damaged nuclear plant is located, said he had already given up on trying to plant this year's crop because of radiation fears. For now, he lives in a high school about 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of Tokyo with 1,400 other town residents who were evacuated from a high-radiation zone around the plant.
"The ground is ruined," Ueda said. "I think it will be a long time until things return to normal."
Experts say people would have to eat enormous quantities of produce or dairy before getting even the amount of radiation contained in a CT scan, but cesium is a concern because it can build up in the body and high levels are thought to be a risk for various cancers. It is still found in soil in Germany, Austria and France 25 years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It is also found in wild boar in Germany, making the pigs off-limits for eating in many cases.
Officials also said on Friday that they had lifted a ban on shipments of farm products grown in certain areas of Japan for the first time since the massive earthquake and tsunami, which killed as many as 25,000 people. The ban was lifted on spinach and the leafy vegetable kakina grown in Gunma prefecture, as well as on milk produced in the western part of Fukushima, farthest from the plant.
Plant workers have spent the past month frantically trying to stop radiation from spewing by restoring cooling systems, but they still have a long way to go. On Saturday, they continued pumping nitrogen into the chamber of a reactor to reduce the risk of a hydrogen explosion.
Two 190,000-pound concrete pumps that have been retrofitted to spray water were on their way to the plant from Atlanta and Los Angeles. The pumps can be operated by remote control from two miles (three kilometers) away and will help reach parts of the plant that have been off-limits because of high radiation levels.
Also on Saturday, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. continued pumping contaminated water into the sea. That operation, needed to clear subdrains under reactors and make room in a storage facility for water with higher levels of contamination, will continue into Sunday. It was supposed to end Saturday but was extended because workers were taking extra care pumping the subdrains, TEPCO spokesman Ryo Shimizu said.
There were no new problems at Fukushima Dai-ichi from a magnitude-7.1 aftershock that knocked out electrical power to millions of people and brought a renewed sense of anxiety to northern Japan.
All but about 260,000 homes and businesses had power restored by noon Saturday.
The government said Saturday that it would tighten requirements for backup generators at nuclear facilities after some failed during the aftershock. There were no known problems stemming from the failures.
"We have boasted that there are layers of safety features and nuclear power plants are problem-free," said Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's nuclear safety agency. "But now we must reflect on what just happened, be more flexible and review everything inside out and take steps as we find them necessary."
The morning following the aftershock, convenience stores sold out of basics such as water and snack foods, and supermarkets switched back to rationing purchases, though in a far less severe manner than in the aftermath of the magnitude-9.0 quake that spawned the tsunami. Some people have been without power ever since.
For tens of thousands living in shelters because they lost their homes in the tsunami or were evacuated from the area near Fukushima Dai-ichi because of radiation concerns, or both, the aftershock was an unpleasant reminder of what they have been through.
Matsuko Ito said she screamed when the violent shaking woke her up around 11:30 p.m. She's not sure she can take much more.
"It's enough," the 64-year-old while smoking a cigarette outside the shelter where she has been living in the small northeastern city of Natori. "Something has changed. The world feels strange now. Even the way the clouds move isn't right."