Vibrantly Democratic Taiwan's Lawmakers Brawl Over Nuclear Plant Referendum

It's for the show, says AP. But still, Taiwanese have more gusto than Japanese, throwing punches, throwing water bottles...

From ABC News quoting AP (8/2/2013; emphasis is mine):

Taiwan Lawmakers Brawl Over Nuclear Plant Bill

Taiwanese lawmakers exchanged punches and threw water at each other Friday ahead of an expected vote that would authorize a referendum on whether to finish a fourth nuclear power plant on this densely populated island of 23 million people.

Nuclear power has long been a contentious issue in Taiwan and became more so following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. While many Taiwanese consider nuclear power generation an unacceptable safety risk for the earthquake-prone island, economic analyses suggest disruptive power shortages are inevitable if the fourth plant is not completed.

Friday's fracas pitted the pro-referendum forces of President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling Nationalist Party against strongly anti-nuclear forces affiliated with the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party. DPP lawmakers occupied the legislative podium late Thursday night amid vows to disrupt the vote. It had not taken place by midday Friday, but with a large Nationalist majority in the 113-seat legislature, the referendum bill is expected to pass easily.
Taiwan Nuclear.JPEG

Construction of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant began in 1997 but was halted while the DPP was in power between 2000 and 2008. If the referendum is passed it could become operational by 2016.

Physical confrontations broke out early in Friday's session. Associated Press television footage shows some eight people pushing and shoving in one scrum. Two people scuffled on the floor, while others tried to separate them. More than a dozen activists in bright yellow shirts chanted and waved signs on a nearby balcony, and several of them splashed water onto lawmakers below. A few water bottles were thrown into the fray.

Some DPP lawmakers object to the idea of any nuclear referendum at all, while others say that the language in the bill needs to be changed because it is prejudicial. According to the bill under discussion, referendum voters would be asked to vote on whether they agree with the proposition that "the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant should be halted and that it not become operational."

Taiwan began transitioning away from a one-party martial law regime in 1987 and is regarded today as one of Asia's most vibrant democracies. But its political process has been undermined by occasional outbursts of violence in the legislature, much of which appears to be deliberately designed to score points among hardline supporters on either side of the island's longstanding political divide.

It is not very clear in the article, but Taiwan's ruling party is pro-nuclear, pushing for this referendum.

For more on growing anti-nuclear movement in Taiwan, here's from Energy Tribune (3/13/2013; emphasis is mine):

Anti-Nuclear Storm Brewing in Taiwan

By Tim Daiss

There is a storm brewing in Taiwan. But this time it’s not a killer typhoon blowing in from the South China Sea or even an earthquake, which often plagues this island country. It’s the fight over the future of nuclear power.

In one corner are environmentalists, academics, an alarmed populace and even Taiwanese celebrities. In the other corner are politicians, government planners and Taipower, the country’s state-owned power utility.

In fact, public outcry against the county’s proposed fourth nuclear plant has reached a fever pitch, prompting a referendum to be held later this year. At stake is a new nuclear plant already about 90 percent completed in New Taipei City. The plant is scheduled to come online by 2015.

...Taiwan’s geographical location, which sits on the boundary between two converging tectonic plates, is indeed cause for concern. Additionally, the country is in the proximity of a volcano group. Opponents also cite the fact that Taiwan’s three existing plants are all located in one area, New Taipei City, which makes it even more vulnerable to natural disaster that could lead to a series of chain reactions.

The country’s anti-nuclear faction also points to nuclear waste as another problem, since nuclear waste has to be buried between 610m and 1,200m underground in a geologically stable area for a period of 10,000 years and up, they claim, citing a Taiwanese government paper. Critics claim that an adequate burial site cannot be found in Taiwan.

...However, the pro-nuclear camp has friends in high places, including current Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou. Ma repeatedly defends his government’s nuclear stance and promises, even guarantees nuclear safety before allowing commercial operation of the new plant.

Though pro-nuclear, Ma seems to be taking a pragmatic approach to the problem. “We can reduce nuclear power gradually, but it will be hard to achieve this goal in a single step,” he said at a March 2 meeting with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members that call for a halt to construction of the fourth plant.

Ma added that the government would respect any decision made by the public on this issue in the upcoming national referendum, which itself has become a political bloodbath as both sides try to work referendum details to suit their own agendas.

(Full article at the link)

Tweet

#Radioactive Japan on 2nd Anniversary of #Fukushima Nuclear Accident: "Beyond-Nuclear" Demonstrations (Same Old, Same Old)

Nothing has really changed after the nuclear accident on March 11, 2011.

2 to 3 months after the March 11, 2011 disaster, just when the extent of radiation contamination became known - sewer sludge, ashes from garbage incineration exceeding 8,000 becquerels/kg - some people and organizations started the events of "beyond-nuclear" demonstrations, with celebrities and activists on stage telling the audience how they oppose nuclear energy.

It was not really about Fukushima or the residents of Fukushima, not really about radiation contamination and what to do with it; it was this beautiful concept of life without nuclear power. Then-LDP Secretary General and current Minister of the Environment and son of Shintaro Ishihara called "beyond-nuclear" movement a "mass hysteria" in June 2011.

I didn't think much of the moniker, "beyond-nuclear" or datsu genpatsu 脱原発, from the beginning.

About a year later, starting in March 2012, a group started the protest in front of the prime minister's office to oppose the restart of nuclear power plants. It's a "single issue" movement, the organizers said. The Friday protests were extensively covered by independent journalist Yasumi Iwakami. The movement fizzled after the organizers met with then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, and disdainful remarks from the organizers for the protest participants drew criticisms.

Meanwhile, food contaminated with radioactive cesium continued to be sold throughout Japan, so-called "hot spots" in Kanto and Tohoku regions remained mostly untouched, people continue to live in the contaminated middle-third of Fukushima Prefecture for one reason or another (job, children don't want to leave, etc.), and people are returning to the more contaminated ocean-third of Fukushima as the government promises them extra compensation money if they return. There has been a curious lack of coverage even by the independent journalists of contaminated food and wide-area disposal of disaster debris.

Two years later on March 10, 2013, people are still doing the same "beyond-nuclear" protest.

Here's from Hibiya Park in Tokyo, as tweeted by @noiehoie:

It's certainly a lot of people. It is as if I were back in September 2011.

I did like those local protests against particular politicians, though. The one against Yukio Edano in Saitama stood out.

========================

Today's Tokyo, Sky Tree, from this tweet. A windy, hazy day:

Tweet

Italian Physicist Antonino Zichichi: "Nuclear Technology Is the Safest Technology That Exists, Anti-Nuclear Movement Is Meaningless"

and the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident happened because of human errors.

(Uh... A M.9.0 earthquake and over 30 feet tsunami hitting the nuclear power plant right on the coast, didn't they have something to do with the accident?)

Italian nuclear physicist Antonino Zichichi was interviewed by Jiji Tsushin in February at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

From Jiji Tsushin in the series on the second anniversary of the March 11, 2011 disaster (3/3/2013):

脱原発は「無意味」＝安全対策、人為ミス排除を－伊核物理学者【震災２年】

Two years since the disaster: Italian nuclear physicist says anti-nuclear movement is "meaningless", focus on safety measures and eliminate human errors.

イタリアの素粒子、核物理学の第一人者でボローニャ大名誉教授のアントニノ・ジキキ博士（８３）が時事通信のインタビューに応じた。原子力技術は「人類の最も安全な発明」とした上で、脱原発は「全く無意味」と明言。東京電力福島第１原発事故は人為的ミスで起きたとの認識を示し、知識を持った専門家による安全対策が不可欠だと述べた。

Dr. Antonino Zichichi (age 83), one of the most prominent particle and nuclear physicists in Italy and professor emeritus at University of Bologna, spoke with Jiji Tsushin. Dr. Zichichi said the nuclear technology was "the safest human invention", and declared anti-nuclear movement was "totally meaningless". According to his understanding, the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident was caused by human errors, and safety measures developed by knowledgeable experts would be indispensable.

ジキキ博士は原子力エネルギーについて、「（従来技術では）１ユーロでサンドイッチ１個買えるとすると、（原発では）１００万個買える」と述べ、再生可能エネルギーの優位性がまだ確立されていない中、効率的なエネルギー源としての原子力の利用価値の大きさを訴えた。

On nuclear energy, Dr. Zichichi said, "Suppose we could buy one sandwich with one euro, using the conventional technology. (Using nuclear energy,) we could buy one million sandwiches [with one euro]", emphasizing the utility value of nuclear energy as an efficient source of energy while renewable energy hasn't been established as superior energy.

さらに、「世界人口約７０億人全てが今のような生活ができるのは原子力の貢献によるものだ」と主張。原子力に頼らず現在の生活水準を維持することは「不可能」とし、福島原発事故後にドイツやスイスなど欧州で広がった脱原発の動きに批判的な見解を示した。

He asserted that "it is because of contribution of nuclear energy that the world population of 7 billion can live the way they live now". He said it would be "impossible" to maintain the current standard of living without relying on nuclear energy, and was critical of the movement away from nuclear energy in Germany and Switzerland and other parts of Europe after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

原発の安全対策に関しては、米スリーマイル島原発などでの事故は知識を持たない作業員の対処ミスが原因とし、「（安全性は）際限なく向上させることは可能だが、人的（ミスが起きる）要素を認識すべきだ」と強調。原子力技術は「高い専門知識を持った科学者が管理する必要がある」と語った。

As to the safety measures for nuclear power plants, nuclear accidents such as the US Three Mile Island accident were caused by mistakes of workers who did not possess knowledge, he said. He emphasized that it would be possible to enhance safety infinitely but that we should recognize where human error could occur. Nuclear technology, he said, "needs to be managed by scientists with high levels of special knowledge".

I wonder if Jiji's reporter dared (or bothered) to ask him about nuclear waste management and disaster cleanup cost. I suppose not. His strange calculation of 1 euro one sandwich doesn't make any sense to me. And to have him say that the nuclear accidents are caused by lowly workers not scientists.

If anything, lowly workers are the ones who intimately know how a plant works and has technical knowledge and expertise, and that was the case in Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. A renowned nuclear scientist who happened to be the chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission at the time of the accident panicked, and admitted nearly one year later that he couldn't sleep and didn't even remember what was going on in the first week of the nuclear accident.

I don't believe there is any technology that is immune to human errors, but to a nuclear physicist like him, errors are for mere mortals. If only people like him were in charge, there would be no accident.

Mere mortal Italians showed infinite wisdom, in the eyes of many in the world, when they rejected the restart of nuclear projects in Italy in the national referendum in June 2011.

They also showed wisdom as they booted out the unelected Goldman Sachs technocrat from their government.

Tweet

Ms. Kada's New Party (Japan's Future) Would Allow Nuke Plant Restarts As Long As They Are Deemed "Safe and Necessary" by the Government

(Update) She "clarified" her comments in the afternoon. According to Asahi, she said she had simply outlined the procedure for the restart in her morning comment.

============================

From Asahi Shinbun (12/1/2012):

未来・嘉田代表、原発の再稼働容認「安全性担保なら」

Mirai's President Kada would allow restart of nuclear power plants "if safety is secured"

日本未来の党代表の嘉田由紀子滋賀県知事は１日午前のテレビ番組で、原発の再稼働について「原子力規制庁が安全性を担保し、必要という判断を政府がした場合には再稼働になる」と話し、条件を満たせば再稼働を容認することもあるとの考えを示した。

President of Japan's Future Party　(Nippon Mirai) and Governor of Shiga Prefecture Yukiko Kada said in a TV program in the morning of December 1 that the restart of nuclear power plants "would happen if the Nuclear Regulatory Agency ensures safety and if the government makes the decision that the restart is necessary", indicating she may allow the restart if these conditions are met.

また、嘉田代表は「安全基準があれば動かしたらいいだろうと理屈では正しそうだが、われわれはゴミをこれ以上増やさない」とも述べ、使用済み核燃料の総量規制の必要性を強調した。

Ms. Kada also said, "It sounds reasonable to restart [nuclear power plants] if there are safety standards, but we will not increase [nuclear] waste any more", emphasizing the necessity to control the total amount of spent nuclear fuel.

If we recall, Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant was inspected by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and deemed safe and secure. NISA was abolished and Nuclear Regulatory Agency has been created, but even the new agency cannot protect nuclear power plants from earthquakes and tsunamis. Besides, none of the deficiencies

I can almost guarantee that my tweet of this Asahi article will have very few retweets by my Japanese followers. No one wants to hear a bad piece of news that may damage their hopes and dreams of bright nuclear-free future of Japan.

Well, this is interesting. Just yesterday when I accessed Ms. Kada's party site, there was a manifesto with six major policies. Now that's gone. Instead, there is one sentence telling us her party will announce the manifesto on December 2. (Shame on me for not copying yesterday's page...)

Meanwhile, Mr. Taro Yamamoto, 38-year-old actor turned anti-nuclear activist who has been pressing for protecting children from radiation contamination, has decided to run for office, either as an independent or by forming his own party. He will hold a press conference at 5PM on December 1.

Tweet

Buddhist Monks Sit-in, Calling Christians to Join Them; Ultra-Right Joined by Ultra-Left in Hunger Strike Against Nuclear Power Plants

Buddhist monks in Matsuyama City in Ehime Prefecture in Shikoku are staging the sit-ins to protest against the prospect of restarting Ikata Nuclear Power Plant, which sits just outside the largest active fault in Japan (Median Tectonic Line)　and part of the plant is built on the landfill. The monks are calling out to Christian churches to join them in the protest.

From Ehime Shinbun (4/29/2012):

宗教関係者が「伊方反対」の座り込み　松山

Religious leaders staged sit-in against the restart of Itaka Nuke Plant in Matsuyama

四国電力伊方原発（伊方町）の再稼働に反対する県内の宗教関係者らが２８日、松山市湊町５丁目の坊っちゃん広場で座り込みを始めた。同日は県内の僧侶や信者ら約２５人が宗派を超えて集まり、１時間にわたり「原発を止めよう」などと書かれたのぼりを掲げて読経をした。

Religious leaders in the prefecture [Ehime] against the restart of Ikata Nuclear Power Plant operated by Shikoku Electric (in Ikata-cho) started the sit-in in a town square in Matsuyama City on April 28. About 25 people including Buddhist monks and the followers across the different sects gathered there, and chanted the Buddhist scriptures for an hour with the banners that said "Stop nuclear power plants".

座り込みは市内の住職ら７人が２０１１年９月に結成した「フクシマの子供を守り原発を止める仏教者の会」が実施。原発に反対する宗教関係者の輪を広げようと県内３００以上の仏教寺院やキリスト教会に呼び掛けている。

The sit-in was carried out by "Buddhists for protecting children in Fukushima and stopping nuclear power plants" that was formed in September 2011 by 7 people including the chief priests of Buddhist temples in the city. The group is calling to more than 300 Buddhist temples and Christian churches in the prefecture to join them in the effort to oppose nuclear plants.

呼び掛け人の一人で観音寺（同市三番町１丁目）の垂水正和住職（６０）は「原発の再稼働は命の問題であることを多くの人に知ってもらいたい」と話していた。

One of the members of the group, chief priest of Kannon Temple, said "Restart of the nuclear plant is a matter of life, and I would like more people to know that."

座り込みは５月４日までの午後５時から１時間。

Sit-ins will continue until May 4, from 5PM for one hour.

And independent journalist Ryusaku Tanaka reports that two men are doing the hunger strike to protest against the restart of Ooi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture in front of the Prime Minister's Official Residence. One is a 26-year-old ultra-right nationalist, the other is a 40-year old ultra-left Communist who was a card-carrying member of the Japan Communist Party until 4 days ago when he left the party to carry out the hunger strike.

Tanaka reports that 26-year-old Yujiro Yamaguchi wants to stop the restart of Ooi Nuke Plant:

「再稼働が我慢ならないんですよ」と率直な答えが返ってきた。「政府は“安全だ”と言ってるが、それはあり得ない。政治家の発言がコロコロ変わる。そんなことより補償をちゃんとしろよ」

"I can't allow the restart. The government says it is "safe", but that's impossible. The politicians change their stories too often. They should compensate the victims [of the Fukushima nuclear accident] first."

40-year-old  Yasushi Seshita (it could be one of 6 different reading of the same character sets), when asked by Tanaka if he had any compunction against doing the hunger strike with the ultra-right nationalist, said:

 「国を良くするのに右も左もない」

"There is no right or left to make this country better."

Tanaka reports that Seshita has received a tweet from the leader of a ultra-right group expressing worry about his health. Seshita is happy that they are united in the opposition.

(Photos by Ryusaku Tanaka)

Tweet

Anti-Nuclear Poster by Famous Japanese Illustrator Makoto Wada

The image is from www.stopnuclear.net.

This has caused a storm on Twitter and Twitter-related platforms in Japan, with many accusing the illustrator of "fanning the nuclear fears unnecessarily and of discrimination" against people in Fukushima. If you read Japanese, here's the togetter collection of such tweets.

I think it upsets many because Wada's poster is too real. A nuke plant in the background spewing radioactive fallout, and a mother and a child. Other posters are either abstract, or do not have human figures in the poster in a life-like setting.

I personally think it is a brilliant work, like Professor Hayakawa's map.

You can view over 200 posters at www.stopnuclear.net.

Makoto Wada's other works can be viewed here.

Tweet

Rankin Taxi Presents Anti-Nuclear Reggae: "Radiation Is Strong, Radiation Is Powerful, It Doesn't Discriminate, and You Can't Beat It"

(From the mirror video at Tokyo Brown Tabby)

This is a mirrored video from http://youtu.be/uNiOr3odYpw
The original video description: Japan reggae artists MC Rankin and Dub Ainu Band deliver a cautionary message about radioactive material through this song and music video "You Can't See It, and You Can't Smell It Either."

"You can't see it, and you can't smell it either - 誰にも見えない、匂いもない 2011- "


By Rankin Taxi & Dub Ainu Band
Words & Music: Rankin Taxi

If you pronounce "Nuclear" like Japanese, nyu-ku-ri-ah, it sort of rhymes with Fukushima, fu-ku-shi-mah

Tweet

WSJ Runs a Hagiography of Naoto Kan, Former PM of Japan Who Presided (Unfortunately) Over the Fukushima Nuke Accident

A political "rags to riches" story, says Wall Street Journal writer Toko Sekiguchi.

The article is totally uncritical, glossing over everything that happened under Kan's watch since March 11, 2011, and is written in a simple English to match the simplistic content that doesn't read like a Wall Street Journal at all.

What's the occasion anyway for this hagiography? Kan is attending the Davos meeting, annual confab of the world's rich and powerful in Davos, Switzerland, and is saying "No More Nuke Plants". Oh isn't that great.

"I'm pouring most of my time and energy into promoting renewable energy, and I'm having a great time"

From Wall Street Journal (1/25/2012):

Japan's Former Premier Takes Antinuclear Campaign to Davos

By TOKO SEKIGUCHI

TOKYO—Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan returns to the world stage this week, part of a campaign to reinvent himself as a global antinuclear activist nearly a year after he oversaw his government's widely criticized handling of the Fukushima Daiichi accident.

"I would like to tell the world that we should aim for a society that can function without nuclear energy," he said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, previewing his speech scheduled for Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Mr. Kan was last in the spotlight in August, when he tendered his resignation as prime minister barely a year after taking office, and just over five months after the March 11 tsunami triggered the Fukushima meltdowns. He was forced out by the parliamentary opposition and by critics inside his own ruling party, who blasted his handling of the accident and, more generally, his strong-willed, improvisational style of governing.

Japan runs through prime ministers so quickly—Mr. Kan is one of six men to have held the title in the past five years—that former ones rarely wield influence domestically or internationally. But Mr. Kan is betting he can break the mold, by reverting to his prelegislative career as a civic activist. Before entering Parliament in 1980, he worked as an advocate for affordable housing for Tokyo's long-suffering salarymen.

"People tell me that I've gone back to my roots," he said in the interview, his first with a non-Japanese news organization since leaving office. "I'm pouring most of my time and energy into promoting renewable energy, and I'm having a great time," he added.

Mr. Kan has been traveling the world. On a recent trip to Spain and Germany, his alternative-energy inspection tour included visiting solar-energy control centers. As he talked of energy-efficient building codes and described a visit to a Japanese biomass community project, flipping through PowerPoint printouts, the 65-year-old Mr. Kan flashed a youthful smile—an expression he rarely showed during his tumultuous administration.

While his successor, Yoshihiko Noda, is pushing to restart closed reactors in Japan and to promote Japanese nuclear-reactor exports to countries such as Vietnam and Turkey, Mr. Kan is now pursuing an alternative-energy agenda, hoping to use his connections to make headway. "I think we should aim to create a world in which people do not need to depend on nuclear energy, and it would be ideal if Japan can become a model country for the world," he said.

In some ways, it is a likely end to what had been an unlikely career. In a political rags-to-riches tale, Mr. Kan won his first national election on his fourth grass-roots campaign bid as a member of the smallest opposition party at the time. But the issues raised then by a leftist activist-turned-politician of a miniparty went unheeded as Japan made the transition from its breakneck postwar growth to the bubble economy, protected by an iron triangle of big business, the nation's bureaucracy and the Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled continuously since 1955.

"We used to talk about defeating the LDP, to eliminate the bureaucrat-led, special-interest politics," said Jiro Yamaguchi, a Hokkaido University political- science professor and longtime friend of Mr. Kan. "It sounded like a dream back then. No way did I think that he'd be premier one day."

Early in his career, Mr. Kan developed an interest in renewable energies, and he still proudly shows a fading picture of himself as a young, long-haired legislator visiting a Colorado wind farm. He discussed wind power during a parliamentary session in 1982, drawing a rebuke from the then-minister of science and technology, who, according to the legislative transcript, chided him: "Don't use it as a reason to reject nuclear power; don't get too excited or carried away."

Mr. Kan recalled that exchange with bemusement, saying nuclear power wasn't even part of that discussion. He said the official's reflexive response demonstrated the ruling government's obsession with the technology. At the time, Japan was still recovering from the oil crises of the 1970s, and nuclear power was emerging as the alternative to foreign oil.

As Mr. Kan rose to power, he came to embrace the national consensus that Japan should ramp up its use of nuclear energy.

Mr. Kan said that as a young politician, he believed atomic power was only a transitional energy source. But " as our party grew in size, many of us began to see nuclear power as a safe power that should be more aggressively utilized," he said.

By the time his Democratic Party of Japan wrested control from the LDP in a historic 2009 victory, the new government had adopted the LDP's pronuclear policy, promising to build 14 new nuclear reactors by 2030. Nuclear power was repackaged as clean energy, becoming the centerpiece of the DPJ's plan to cut carbon emissions by 25%, in relation to Japan's 1990 output levels, by 2020.

March 11 changed that. Mr. Kan had to make gut-wrenching decisions, including rejecting a request from Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to pull workers back from the increasingly dangerous reactors. "It was the first time since World War II that a Japanese leader was asking people to risk their lives," he said.

In his mind, he said, he simulated an worst-case evacuation scenario that included the 35 million people in the Tokyo metropolitan area. "Not only would we lose up to half of our land, but spread radiation to the rest of the world," he said. "Our existence as a sovereign nation was at stake."

"Just when he reached the peak, an accident that questioned his very core erupted," said veteran lawmaker Satsuki Eda, a Kan ally for three decades.

Four months after the accident, Mr. Kan used the bully pulpit of the premiership to declare that he was revising Japan's energy policy, aiming eventually to rid the country of all its nuclear-power plants. He called the technology's risks impossible to contain. The announcement surprised his own cabinet ministers, who were notified of the decision only hours beforehand, and shocked a political system in which consensus-building skill is prized.

Even onetime close allies within the ruling party questioned Mr. Kan's competence in handling the accident and his response—blaming his impetuous style for aggravating the costly chaos. "Mr. Kan is a skillful politician when on the offensive, forcefully breaking through and overcoming barriers—but crisis management and day-to-day communication with the public is not an offensive skill," said Yukio Edano, Mr. Kan's chief spokesman during the height of the crisis, told reporters last month.

Mr. Kan remains unapologetic: "A large part of people's criticism against me was that I acted spontaneously or just off the top of my head. But for me, that's a positive thing. If you're not inspired, you can't act."

Now, unfettered by the burdens of office, he has more freedom to act. "He's finally back to his normal self," said Mr. Eda.

Write to Toko Sekiguchi at toko.sekiguchi@dowjones.com

Tweet

Slow and Rude Awakening of Japanese Citizens Over the Nuclear Crisis

They are nowhere near the majority ( who eat any food and go anywhere without a single worry about radiation contamination), probably not even 10% of the population. But thanks to the net and particularly the social media like Twitter, the Japanese people now have a direct tool to observe how the officialdom works, firsthand.

The most recent case in point happened yesterday, over the so-called "public hearing" held by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The public hearing was about the approval of the result of the so-called stress test of one of the nuclear power plants operated by Kansai Electric Power Company (Ooi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture, in the so-called "Nuclear Ginza").

NISA and the Ministry clearly thought it was conducting a routine "public hearing" where the experts would rubber-stamp the conclusion already reached by the Agency which is staffed with employees from companies in the nuclear industry on temporary assignments and where the public, if any were there, were supposed to sit there quietly to observe the proceedings. Yesterday, NISA was to ascertain the safety of the Ooi Nuke Plant, paving the way for the re-start, and was expecting a smooth sailing. It did ascertain, but it was decidedly not a smooth sailing.

The citizens who went to the public hearing didn't want to just sit and listen, and sensing trouble the NISA quickly moved to close off the meeting, telling the citizens to watch the proceedings on a monitor in a separate room. When the citizens said no, and didn't obey NISA's order to stay in the separate room and entered the conference room, the Agency called in the police.

Then the order apparently quickly went to the media to report the incident as it was happening and paint the protesters as lawless and rude. Here's one typical report by Nippon Television News (1/18/2012); just about every sentence is incorrect:

１８日夕方、経産省の原子力安全・保安院の協議に反原発派の団体が乱入し、警察が出動する騒ぎとなっている。

An anti-nuclear group has forced its way into a meeting held at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under METI, and the police has been called in.

　保安院は１８日、大飯原発（福井・おおい町）３・４号機の運転再開の判断の前提となるストレステストの妥当性について話し合い、全国で初めて「妥当」とする判断を示す予定だった。しかし、反原発を掲げる市民団体らが別室に設けられた傍聴席から会議室になだれ込んで協議を妨害したことから、経産省は警察の出動を要請したという。

The NISA was expected on January 18 to discuss the appropriateness of the stress test that would be used to determine whether to re-start the Reactors 3 and 4 at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant (Ooi, Fukui Prefecture) and to declare it would be "appropriate" to re-start the plant. However, the citizens' groups who were against nuclear power plants barged in to the conference room from the separate room set aside for the public [to monitor the proceedings] and disrupted the proceedings, so the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry called the police.

　警視庁によると、市民団体らは建物内で座り込みを続けている。

According to the police, the citizens' groups are doing the sit-in inside the building.

The reality was:

• It was not an organized "group" of anti-nuke protesters but a bunch of citizens, including people from Fukushima Prefecture who were exercising their right as citizens to participate in a "public hearing";

• They lined up and obtained the tickets to participate in the hearing;

• The meeting was open to public, but the NISA decided to move the public to a separate location to avoid interruption;

• They didn't barge in violently as portrayed by the MSM, didn't interrupt the proceedings, but they were asking questions as concerned citizens.

And how do we know that? Because an independent media (IWJ) was net-casting the whole thing live, and people were tweeting, watching the netcast live.

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yukio Edano, whose refrain as the chief cabinet secretary was "There is no immediate effect from radiation" (he now says he only meant for a couple of days or weeks at most), called the citizen's behavior "unacceptable" and said that "some of the commissioners are being forced to remain in the room". How dare the lowly citizens interrupt the government scientific proceedings beyond their comprehension?

Two commissioners left the meeting in protest when the NISA did hold the meeting 4 hours later in a separate room shutting out the citizens entirely.

As Sankei Shinbun (1/18/2011) reports:

関西電力大飯原発のストレステスト（耐性検査）に関する経済産業省原子力安全・保安院の専門家会議の委員のうち、井野博満東京大名誉教授ら２人は１８日、保安院が傍聴を認めずに会議を開催したことに抗議し、会議を欠席した。

Two commissioners on the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency's expert panel to assess the stress test conducted on Ooi Nuclear Power Plant operated by Kansai Electric Power Company left the meeting in protest. Hiromitsu Ino, professor emeritus at Tokyo University and another commissioner protested against the NISA's decision to hold the meeting without the public attending.

　井野氏は「保安院は（傍聴を認めないのは）前回の会合で不規則発言があったためというが、議事が数分遅れた程度。そんなことを理由に傍聴者を排除するのはおかしい」と強調。

Ino emphatically said, "The reason for NISA not to allow the public to attend the meeting was supposedly some irregular remarks [from the public] in the previous meeting. But that only delayed the proceedings by a few minutes. It is absurd to exclude the public for such a flimsy reason."

　元原子力プラント設計技術者の後藤政志委員も「国会でもヤジは飛ぶ。そんなことも許容できないなら保安院はさらに信頼を失うだろう。傍聴者を締め出し、密室でやるような議論には参加できない」と述べた。

Commissioner Masashi Goto, a former nuclear power plant engineer, said "You get heckled in the Diet. If NISA cannot tolerate such a minor thing, the agency will further lose credibility. I cannot participate in a meeting behind closed doors where the public is shut out."

　井野氏は、保安院が大飯原発のテスト評価を妥当としたことに対し「総合的安全評価というが、ほんの一部の評価をしただけだ」と批判した。

Ino also criticized the decision by NISA that the stress test for Ooi Nuke Plant was appropriate. "They say it was a comprehensible safety evaluation, when in reality only a small portion was evaluated."

Professor Ino is the one who said the other day that a Containment Vessel at Fukushima II (Daini) Nuclear Power Plant was broken from the March 11 earthquake.

Some on Twitter are still incredulous that the police was on the government's side, not on the citizens' side. Other long-held beliefs in a trust-based society that have been shattered, at least for a portion of the population, since March 11, 2011 include:

• The government of all levels, from national to municipal to an unofficial unit of "self-governing" neighborhood association, exist to protect citizens;

• The government officials don't lie, for the most part;

• Producers and distributors are honest, caring about the safety and quality of the products that they produce and sell;

• Food in Japan is safe, and the government will make sure it remains that way;
  

• The police is there to protect citizens;

• Public hearing means the public get to voice their opinions;

• They can trust the experts because they are from prominent academic institutions in the country;

• They can trust the politicians because they are from prominent academic institutions in the country;

• They can trust school teachers because they are from prominent academic institutions in the country;
  

• If it is reported in the mass media, it must be true;

• Nuclear power plants are safe.

• and on and on and on...
  

The list is endless and still growing. Too bad it took one of the worst nuclear accidents in history for the citizens to realize they've been had.

Tweet

From 9/19 Anti-Nuke Rally: "Don't Take Away Our Lives"

said Ms. Ruiko Muto at the No-Nuke Rally in Tokyo on September 19, 2011. Ms. Muto is a member of "Action Committee for Decommissioning 40-year-old Fukushima Nuke Plant." This committee was established in November 2010, before the accident.

According to Tokyo Brown Tabby's description on the youtube video, Ms. Muto runs a coffee shop in Miharu-machi in Fukushima, using natural energy. Miharu-machi is the only town in Fukushima Prefecture whose mayor distributed potassium iodide pills to the residents and told them to take the pills.

The speech is not exactly my cup of tea, but I just wanted my readers to know that there are people like her in Japan who try calmly and patiently to educate, inform, and call for actions.

If only she, and people like her stopped thinking "Don't take away our lives". Stop pleading the government not to take your lives. Just tell them that you won't let them.

Translation by Emma Parker (full transcript at the link) and captioning by Tokyo Brown Tabby.

Tweet

Photographs of 60,000-Strong Anti-Nuke Demonstration in Tokyo: Japanese MSMs Called It "A Parade"

Looking at this aerial photographs taken by Mainichi Shinbun (one of the better ones in terms of even coverage on nuke issues in Japan; another is Tokyo Shinbun), it sure looks more than 60,000 to me. People who actually participated in the event seemed to have the same impression as mine (on this blog comment sections, and on twitter), that it was far bigger than official number by the police (30,000).

Mainichi quotes the organizers' number of 60,000 people, and also quotes the number by the police (30,000):

Meanwhile, photos from Germany's Spiegel and France's Le Monde, who used the photos from AP and other agencies. Spiegel puts the number at 60,000:

and Yomiuri, who says "more than 30,000 people gathered" (exactly the police official estimate):

Asahi, slightly better perspective but not much, but the article does quite the organizers' number, 60,000 people:

and the US paper Forbes, without photo, says "tens of thousands of people marched", but the article title declares "Thousands march against nuclear power in Tokyo". Thousands??

Many participants in Japan are indignant that their demonstration was called a "parade", as if this was some festival attraction. Well, give the media time to learn. To me, it's amazing that the MSMs like Yomiuri and Asahi covered the event at all, and even had photographs. Asahi and Mainichi sent in their own photographers for the event. (Yomiuri's looks like Jiji Tsushin's photo.) I would take it as a sign that the anti-nuke movement may be crossing the threshold in Japan in terms of the number of people, and the MSMs cannot simply ignore anymore.

Calling it a "parade" and using the lowest official estimate by the police as the number of participants is a classic way to belittle a movement.

Tweet

60,000-Strong Anti-Nuke Rally in Tokyo: How High Was the Radiation Level?

One demonstrator got curious and turned his personal survey meters on from his home in the high radiation Kashiwa City in Chiba Prefecture to the rally in central Tokyo.

He found that right by the sidewalk where smartly dressed young people were walking by, the radiation level near the ground under a tree was 0.31 microsievert/hour. It was about 30 meters from the Jingu-mae Intersection near Omote Sando, he said.

The Tokyo Municipal government's official measurement is 0.06 microsievert/hour.

On his blog, he called the experience "surreal", seeing the cheerful demonstrators and seeing the high number on his survey meter.

Much as I admire people finally standing up, I wish there were more people like him, armed with personal survey meter and measuring everywhere. Personally, radiation contamination is a more pressing, immediate problem that people can still do something about it, while stopping the nuke plants is a longer-term project.

Tweet

People from All Over Asia Protest in Front of TEPCO Head Office

The photo was uploaded on August 2 on Twitpic. The person who took the picture tweeted to one of the independent journalists covering the Fukushima accident as "People from all over Asia are protesting in front of TEPCO's head office right now. Are you aware of that?"

Tweet

#Anti-Nuke Animation "Uncle Genpachi & Tama" Series

The series was made before the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident, in Japanese. Now the creator has made the entire series (5 videos) in English.

Tama is the name of Uncle Genpachi's cat, who stands up and starts to speak in anger on hearing misinformation about nuclear energy or nuclear power plant. It's quite funny and informative at the same time. Each video is no more than 3 minutes, but to the point.

Video 2: http://youtu.be/Ss07TiyQD7M
Video 3: http://youtu.be/s0f537N9JwQ
Video 4: http://youtu.be/NHwAaEzWl6U
Video 5: http://youtu.be/32-KVvMPjgE

Tweet

Japan's LDP: "Anti-Nuclear Movement Is Mass Hysteria"

Here we go, politicians true to form. The Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) Nobuteru Ishihara diagnosed people who don't want nuke plants as suffering a "mass hysteria".

It's all in your heads, folks.

The father of the LDP Secretary-General is Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo since 1999.

Yomiuri Shinbun (12:01AM JST 6/15/2011):

自民党の石原幹事長は１４日の記者会見で、「脱原発」の動きに関し、「大きな事故（福島第一原発事故）があったわけだから、集団ヒステリー状態になるのは分かる」と語った。

The LDP's Secretary-General [ Ishihara spoke in the press conference on June 14 and said about the "No Nuke" movement, "It is understandable that people are suffering a mass hysteria after a big accident (like the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident)"

　原発に代わるエネルギー確保の難しさを指摘した文脈での発言だが、表現が不適切と批判される可能性もありそうだ。

His remark was in the context of pointing out the difficulty of securing the energy source other than the nuclear power, but it is conceivable that it will be criticized as inappropriate.

There is a group of politicians across the party lines who want to build nuke plants deep underground (link is in Japanese at Asahi Shinbun). The membership includes 4 former prime ministers and several party leaders. Their idea is to bury the nuke plant once an accident happens, as if that would change the fact that Japan is an earthquake-prone country.

Who's hysteric?

Tweet