HOT SPOTS - Sprague David S. Sprague, National Institute for
Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan The triple disaster
of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident that struck eastern
Japan in March 2011, reconfirms the criticality of space and
location in the cruel happenstances of human life. The disaster
experienced by each individual depended very much on where one
was located, whether downtown Tokyo or a coastal fishing
village. The tremor strength differs greatly by whether you are
standing nearer the epicenter or on solid ground or in lowland
landfill or on higher floors of buildings or in a train. For
tsunami victims, only a few meters may have differentiated life
from death as the water crashed through their hometowns, which
may or may not have been placed within pre-designated tsunami
vulnerability zones. The residents of Fukushima and its
neighboring prefectures are adjusting to new background levels
of radiation determined literally by the vagaries of the wind
and rain depositing variable am