Date： January 10th (Tuesday), 2017, 10:00-12:00
Venue： Middle-sized Room No. 201, Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, CSEAS, Kyoto University

Title： What I learned during the agricultural reconstruction in Fukushima
Speaker： Professor HAYASHI Takahisa, Tokyo University of Agriculture

Abstract：
The earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, led to a series of accidents at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, which caused the dispersal of large amounts of radionuclides into the atmosphere and ocean, resulting in a major disaster. Following the Fukushima disaster, the president of our university asked me to work on the Soma project on agricultural reconstruction on May 6, 2011, based on a university grant (18 million yen per year). Four faculty members and I agreed to work on the project. My area of responsibility was forest trees. I also asked my lab members, including one scientist (R. Kaida), two graduate students, and 8 undergraduate students to join the project.
　　　　The forests in rural areas have become enormous unnatural repositories of 137Cs, which has a long half-life of 30.17 years, even though the half-life of 134Cs is only 2 years. 137Cs in leaf litter and mulch can become a component of the soil, and from there, some of it can be incorporated into trees, as observed after the Chernobyl disaster. Nevertheless, the Japanese Forest Agency has not determined the permissible level of 137Cs in wood in Japan. Later, I recognized the presence of the “Mokuzai mura,” the wood mafia in Japan.
　　　　Incidentally, Japanese Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) asked me to assist in the recuperation of the fruit trees in Fukushima, because Fukushima is the second-largest region for fruit production in Japan. One of the famous products from the region, “Anpo Kaki”, was seriously impacted due to high levels of radiocesium contamination in persimmons. Since peaches were almost free of contamination, one of the students tried to produce “Anpo Momo”. About 100 years ago, the residents of Fukushima learned the sulfur fumigation method used in California for the production of golden raisins, and applied it to persimmons. The sulfur fumigation method in California was originally brought from Armenia in 1815. I noticed relatedness between the production method and my previous work.
　　　　When we started working on the trees in the Minamisoma Forest in August 2011, I found some trees dying in the field and asked a farmer about the cause. He answered that this might be due to earthquakes, main shocks with aftershocks. Rumi-san is now working on this project. The results are markedly exciting!

Bionote: T. Hayashi is a professor of Bioscience Dept at Tokyo Univ of Agriculture. He received Ph.D at Tohoku Univ (1981) and worked as Posdoc at McGill Univ (Canada), as Res Assoc at Atlantic Richfield Co. (USA), as Res Sci at Ajinomoto Co., and as Assoc Prof at Kyoto Univ. His research interests lie in the area of plant cell wall, ranging from molecular biology to forest science. Ref: T. Hayashi (1989) Xyloglucans in the primary cell wall, Ann Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol, 40, 139 (cn 621).

Moderator: Noa NISHIMOTO, CSEAS, Kyoto University