¹ The website of the Fukushima prefectural government translates Fukushima kenmin kenkō chōsa as the “Residents' Health Survey,” but in this article, I will employ the term “Prefectural Health Survey”. See here. [All footnotes are by the translator].

² The website of the Fukushima prefectural government translates Fukushima kenmin kenkō chōsa as the “Residents' Health Survey,” but in this article, I will employ the term “Prefectural Health Survey”. See here.

³ Yamashita was a Nagasaki-born second-generation hibakusha. After working at the Nagasaki University School of Medicine, he visited Chernobyl in 1991 in order to conduct research on children suffering from thyroid cancer. Since then, he has visited Chernobyl over a hundred times. In light of his experience in Chernobyl, shortly following the meltdown of nuclear reactors in Fukushima in 2011, Yamashita was invited to serve as a radiation risk management adviser to Fukushima Prefecture. He is known for his claims, regarding radiation risk in Fukushima, that exposure to 100 mSv of radiation per year is safe and that radiation does not affect people who are “happy and laughing” but rather affects those who are “weak-spirited” and who “brood and fret.” See “Japan Admits 3 Nuclear Meltdowns, More Radiation Leaked into Sea; U.S. Nuclear Waste Poses Deadly Risks” Democracy Now! June 10, 2011. Transcript is available here.

⁴ The Fukushima prefectural assembly, in response to a petition opposing cutbacks in health screenings, agreed to maintain the program at its regular meeting on October 13, 2016. See “Fukushima Daiichi genpatsu jiko kōjōsen kensa kibo iji o Kenmin kenkō chōsa, kengikai ga seigan saitaku” (Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, thyroid examinations will remain at the same scale; Prefectural assembly adopts petition)

⁵ Leukocytosis occurs when white cells (the leukocyte count) are above the normal range in the blood. It is frequently a sign of an inflammatory response, most commonly the result of infection, but may also occur following certain parasitic infections or bone tumors. See here.

⁶ The “maternity passbook” is issued to a woman when she reports her pregnancy to the municipal government of her residence. The book provides health advice, and documents the prenatal development of a baby as well as post-delivery health of mother and child. It also allows the holder to receive free public health services. See the website of Fukushima Prefecture: “Health of prefectural residents”.

⁷ See “Fukushima kenkō chōsa: ‘himitsukai’ de kenkai suriawase” (Prefectural Health Survey: Producing an agreement by a secret meeting) here and here. The original article in Mainichi Shimbun on October 3, 2012 has been taken down from their website.

⁸ Article 26 of the act states: “Based on the Basic Guidelines for Reconstruction and Revitalization of Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture may conduct Health Management Surveys (meaning surveys to estimate radiation exposure, conduct health checkups on thyroid cancer in children, and otherwise manage residents' health care effectively; the same applies hereinafter), covering persons who had addresses in Fukushima as of March 11, 2011 and others equivalent thereto.” The document is available here.

⁹ The 3.11 Fund for Children with Thyroid Cancer was established on September 8, 2016, with the purpose of supporting thyroid cancer patients and their families. Donations are accepted at the organization website. The first round of applications for the fund began on December 1, 2016. See more information here.

¹⁰ Since this article was published, the number of thyroid cancer patients among those 18 years old and younger at the time of the accident has increased from 131 to 145. “18sai ika no kōjōsengan, kei 145nin ni Fukushima ken kensa” (The examinations show a rise of thyroid cancer patients among children to 145), December 27, 2016.