Palo Alto middle school students originally slated to visit Japan this summer will stay in California instead after district officials called for the reconsideration of the trip, citing concerns over nuclear radiation and the lack of resources.Keiko Nakajima, who teaches Japanese at Jane Lathrop Stanford and Jordan middle schools, originally arranged for a trip to Japan with middle school Japanese students this summer. However, the delicate situation in Japan prompted Palo Alto Unified School District officials to suggest cancellation of the visit.“[The] PAUSD doesn’t approve our trip because of radiation concerns and other reasons,” Nakajima said. “After serious consideration and discussion, we decided to cancel our trip to Japan. We cannot put our students at risk with so many unknown factors.”Students had planned to visit Palo Alto’s sister city, Tsuchiura, in the Ibaraki prefecture of Japan.In an email to Nakajima, Associate Superintendent Ginni Davis said that an imminent trip to Japan would be unreasonable, given the limited availability of basic resources such as drinking water.“The nation [Japan] is suffering and has made it a priority to conserve their resources for the Japanese people who are without drinking water and basic supplies,” Davis wrote. “It is very poor timing to send our students now to consume resources.”Davis added that radioactive leakage from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant poses a potential threat to trip participants.“Tsuchiura is close enough to the nuclear plant and effects from radiation to be of concern for our students who should not, unnecessarily, be exposed to danger,” Davis wrote. “The potential for harm and the risk of more powerful earthquakes when the students plan to be there outweigh the benefits.”Tsuchiura is located 170 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.Despite worries over nuclear radiation, a recent email from Tsuchiura city officials indicates that radiation levels in Tsuchiura pose no significant health risk.“Even on the Fukushima side of Ibaraki [prefecture], detected radiation levels are 0.122 to 0.836 microsieverts,” Ms. Wada, a member of the Tsuchiura Board of Education, wrote. “The numbers change from day to day, but are not at levels that have an impact on health. Tsuchiura itself is hosting over 200 evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear plant area.”Nakajima said that the current situation in Japan would not affect future Japan trips.