Revising evacuation status

Japan will begin discussions earlier than originally planned on redefining which areas are subject to evacuation orders.

Such discussions became feasible on Monday when the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company, at their monthly progress review, revised their timetable for bringing the nuclear crisis under control.

According to the revised plan, the second stage, involving a state of cold shutdown of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, will be achieved by the end of this year, one month earlier than originally targeted.

The revised timetable says temperatures around the Numbers 1, 2, and 3 reactors are less than 100 degrees Celsius, and that the amount of radiation being emitted has dropped to about 100 million becquerels per hour.

This is about one 8-millionth of the level when the crisis began, and about half that of a month ago.

It also says additional radiation exposure in areas just outside the plant is estimated at 0.2 millisieverts per year at the most.

But many problems remain, as the government has yet to announce the details of the decontamination work that must be done in areas affected by the evacuation orders.

"酷日本"活动在新加坡启动

为期一个月的"酷日本（Cool Japan）"活动在亚洲的信息中心--新加坡拉开帷幕。当前，日本的最新流行时尚和动漫等在亚洲各国大有人气，这项活动就是为了加强宣传日本的流行文化。

两国的政府及经济界代表等250人出席了昨天（6日）举行的开幕式，日本经济产业副大臣松下忠洋在致词时说："把打造'酷日本'的日本中小企业和年轻设计师的潜能与新加坡的信息能力结合在一起，一定会为扩大亚洲消费市场作出重大贡献。"

日本的时尚与动漫等流行文化在亚洲各国也大有人气，但与竞争对手韩国相比，推销宣传工作有所不及，从商业角度来说并未取得成功，为此，日本政府决定将流行文化作为国家发展的一个新的增长点，给予大力扶持。

日本经济产业省表示希望在中国和印度也举办同样的活动，共同开发动漫形象，并宣传销售在震灾中受灾严重的东北地区的土特产。