Mascot bird warns kids of radiation

Kibitan warns, radiation can make children sick

AFP-Jiji http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121111b3.html - Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012

A grinning cartoon mascot modeled after a bird has been enlisted to teach children in Fukushima Prefecture how to remain safe from radioactive fallout spewed during the nuclear disaster. Kibitan — a plump, yellow cartoon character with stubby wings and boots — is warning youngsters to stay away from puddles and ditches, where large quantities of radioactive materials tend to accumulate. In a leaflet issued by Fukushima's nuclear crisis task force, Kibitan, inspired by the narcissus flycatcher, asks children to promise to wash their hands and gargle with water as soon as they return home. The smiling Kibitan also explains what radiation is and cautions that it can make children sick if it gets inside their body.

"It is especially disturbing to see that there are many hot spots around playground equipment, exposing children, who are most vulnerable to radiation risks," a Greenpeace scientist said in October.

The nuclear catastrophe discharged radioactive materials into the environment over a wide area and rendered swaths of agricultural land unusable. Experts caution that decommissioning the No. 1 plant and making areas around it habitable again will still take decades.