back to article Google Street View releases devastated Fukushima town tour

Google has released Street View images of the unfortunate town of Namie-machi, Japan, which was devastated by the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and the tsunami it caused, then rendered uninhabitable by the Fukushima Daichi nuclear cockup. "Two years have passed since the disaster," the town's mayor Tamotsu Baba writes on the …

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  1. Anomalous Cowturd
    Unhappy

    So sad.

    It happened on my fiftieth birthday.

    A day that I, and many others will never forget.

    R.I.P. all who died that dreadful day.

    1. 4.1.3_U1

      Re: So sad.

      Just how long after the Google cars drive around do the images appear online?

      I drove past one about 2 weeks ago - when can I expect to see my car?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looks pretty decent to me

    Have you been in Denver recently?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Looks pretty decent to me

      Detroit you mean.

  3. Esskay
    Pint

    Not just a politician

    The guy sounds like a person, rather than the typical mayor - I reckon in a lot of western countries, when the destruction hit, the politicians would be the first ones out and the last ones back - no voters in the city = no need to be there.

    Great to see this guy cares enough about the city to not just tell people how much good he's doing, whilst glossing over the bad, but actually showing the world what has happened.

  4. Interceptor

    "Get out of here, Stalker!"

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      "I said come in, don't stand there!"

  5. Mystic Megabyte
    Unhappy

    Sad

    It's sad that the ACs above find this humorous. People died there and could not be immediately recovered because of the radiation.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: Sad

      [citation needed]

  6. kdh0009
    Thumb Up

    Thumbs up to Google

    Good on Google for their involvement here. I'm sure they haven't done it purely out of the goodness of their hearts but still a nice thing to do.

    Good use of driverless cars (presumably), I knew there must be an application for those somewhere.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Thumbs up to Google

      Why do you assume it is a driverless car?

      This ain't the interior of Tchernobyl block 2.

      Btw, the 2013 issue of "(GRS-S-53) Fukushima Daiichi 11. März 2011 - Unfallablauf, radiologische Folgen (2., überarbeitete Auflage)" is out.

    2. The Axe
      FAIL

      Not driverless

      You can see the driver in the mirror at this location.

      https://maps.google.com/maps?q=%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC,+%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E7%9C%8C%E5%8F%8C%E8%91%89%E9%83%A1%E6%B5%AA%E6%B1%9F%E7%94%BA&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.493064,140.995115&spn=0.001215,0.002642&sll=37.760834,140.474728&sspn=0.635121,1.234589&geocode=FTofPAIdzn9nCA&hnear=Namie,+Futaba+District,+Fukushima+Prefecture,+Japan&t=m&layer=c&cbll=37.493182,140.995093&panoid=OYt1D9wiPm8g_q8A1EUG7w&cbp=12,62.24,,0,0&z=19

      Presumably you know very little about the radiation levels. They are very low.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If you ask me

    Google should outfit their Street View car with a Geiger counter tied in to the GPS, so that any contamination can be mapped out.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Holmes

      Re: If you ask me

      Stop with the genius "high school science" ideas already. For detailed mapping, you would need to take soil samples. Anything else, use a Global Hawk.

      Meanwhile, check out this map

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        Re: If you ask me

        50 micro-Sv/h seems to be max, values are generally below that.

        If you drive around for 10 hours (at the max value), you are still below the EPA recommendation for annual exposure of a member of the public. At that point, all depends how much stuff you put into your system or whether you get a few X-rays later.

        1. Drew 11

          Re: If you ask me

          If you really think any data coming out of the self-regulated nuclear energy sector or their paid university minions is remotely believable, well...

          1. Combustable Lemon
            Black Helicopters

            Re: If you ask me

            "If you really think any data coming out of the self-regulated nuclear energy sector or their paid university minions is remotely believable, well..."

            Yeah, you're right. I too have invested in a tin foil hat and feel safer already.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Disaster pr0n for sickos

    We had to get the police to roadblock our area to the public after cyclone Yasi. Too many rubberneckers drove in to look at the mess. Sick bastards.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Childcatcher

      Re: Disaster pr0n for sickos

      They should at least have stopped to help out.

      On the other hand, fire up a stand to sell "disaster burgers", make some money. You will probably be taxed for that kind of entrepreneurship, if not hauled away for profiteering or gouging.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Disaster pr0n for sickos

        fire up a stand to sell "disaster burgers"

        Most people's stuff had been swept away by the storm surge or was under two metres of sand.

    2. hayseed

      Re: Disaster pr0n for sickos

      At least they weren't looting.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Disaster pr0n for sickos

        At least they weren't looting.

        There wasn't much left to loot.

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Slartybardfast

    It's not completely deserted, for instance the traffic lights are still working and in the view below,

    https://maps.google.com/maps?q=%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC,+%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E7%9C%8C%E5%8F%8C%E8%91%89%E9%83%A1%E6%B5%AA%E6%B1%9F%E7%94%BA&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.494473,140.994029&spn=0.024005,0.05034&sll=37.760834,140.474728&sspn=0.635121,1.234589&geocode=FTofPAIdzn9nCA&hnear=Namie,+Futaba+District,+Fukushima+Prefecture,+Japan&t=m&layer=c&cbll=37.494369,140.994054&panoid=rDcKDfKCUihVyNzK4l-pqQ&cbp=12,352.79,,1,1.78&z=15

    You can see a car coming in the opposite direction. You can see the driver and their passenger.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      of course not..

      Apple's map application has been sending people there for months, Google are the latecomers ;-)

    2. Eddy Ito

      Traffic lights

      I don't know the traffic lights are "working" in the normal sense. To me it looks like they are flashing yellow on the main through way and red on the cross streets. For instance as you approach or depart from this light on the starting street it is only seen yellow or apparently off whereas if you approach from this side it appears only to be red or off. Oddly, for some reason the opposite side jumps a block or two so it's clear that for some reason the G-car didn't go that way.

  11. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
  13. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

    Shrine and Visitors.

    The effect of the visitors uncannily disppearing if you come from another direction freaks me out.

    More people in one of the reality slices

  14. taxman

    Still being looked after

    https://maps.google.com/maps?q=%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC,+%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E7%9C%8C%E5%8F%8C%E8%91%89%E9%83%A1%E6%B5%AA%E6%B1%9F%E7%94%BA&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.492226,140.994458&spn=0.01992,0.038581&sll=37.760834,140.474728&sspn=0.635121,1.234589&geocode=FTofPAIdzn9nCA&hnear=Namie,+Futaba+District,+Fukushima+Prefecture,+Japan&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=37.492322,140.994431&panoid=9HpmyJMxaCzTMpcBE69eJA&cbp=12,351.09,,0,-1.33

  15. Martin Budden Silver badge

    The roads look surprisingly clean.

    I suppose the roads must have been washed & blown clean by two years of weather. Even so it seems strange to me; I had expected that a tsunami followed by two years of abandonment would have resulted in silt, weeds, debris etc all over the roads.

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