Do people visiting from Japan have radiation on them?

Question:

I am doing an exchange in a week with students from Yokohama/Tokyo, my friend's mom is one of those stupid crazy church people that are really wimpy, ignorant of true facts, and over controlling/protective. She will not let her daughter (my best friend) hang out with me and the kids from Japan in fear that they have radiation on them and that being around them will, in the future affect her daughter's children(birth defects caused by radiation) and when it is my turn to go to Japan(if the trip is not canceled) she will not be allowed to hang out with me ever again because I will have radiation on me. Is her mom just being a typical stupid and crazy church goer b*tch or could your children actually be born with birth defects if you are around the little or zero amount of radiation that the Tokyo kids may have on them? and just for extra info: me and my friend are both 17, my friend and her mom are Korean, I am white and we live in Canada, my friend's mom hated me anyway and I think she is just using this radiation stuff as an excuse to not let me and my friend hang out.

Answer:

Yes, her mother is WAY overreacting. Radiation is like germs. It is everywhere already, perfectly harmless, not impacting anyone's life in the slightest, and completely ridiculous to be feared.

I'm sure she has allowed her daughter to eat bananas, potatoes, beans, and nuts. But guess what? Those have radiation! Along with basically *all* foods. I'm also sure that if her daughter got hurt and needed an X-ray, she wouldn't tell the doctors to not do it because of fear of radiation. And any plane ride has given her and her daughter radiation as well, along with any trip above sea level. I bet you've seen a microwave in her house, I bet she talks on her cell phone all the time, and I bet she has no qualms with letting her daughter spend hours working on the computer. Those all give off radiation too.

It is literally impossible for you, her daughter, or anyone else to get sick or irradiated by coming in contact with anyone from Tokyo. Not only because no one in Japan is irradiated (no one!!) or dangerous, but because it makes no sense. You will also be perfectly fine if you do go to Japan. There is nothing to worry about.

The thinking that her mother has right now is the exact same thinking that people had (and some still have) toward the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And just as bad as the people who did (and still do to this day) think that HIV or AIDs is contagious through saliva or mere contact and will refuse to help someone in need due to the chance they might have this disease.

Next time you talk to her, I think you should present her with actual facts and not myths about radiation because it's people like her who keep spreading the lies that makes everyone freak out without understanding what nuclear energy and radiation is actually about.