2 years after Fukushima, Japan one step closer to restart nuclear reactors

Map of nuclear plants in Japan

Nuclear operators in Japan have applied to restart 10 reactors, potentially paving the way for a widespread return to nuclear power in coming years. Four companies applied under new rules introduced following Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

Hokkaido Electric, Kansai Electric, Shikoku Electric and Kyushu Electric submitted applications to restart the plants under the new regulations on Monday and sent applications for a total of 10 reactors at five plants. The new rules require nuclear operators to put in place better safeguards against disasters including tsunamis, earthquakes and terrorist attacks. 

NRA chairman Shunichi Tanaka said that bringing safety standards to international norms would "take a long time". The NRA is responsible for determining whether the reactors meet the new safety standards. The nuclear companies are then required to seek approval from national and regional politicians. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants Japan's nuclear reactors to be restarted. The country relied heavily on nuclear power for its energy supply prior to the 2011 disaster. The earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011 crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing meltdowns at three nuclear reactors. Engineers have since stabilised the plant but years of work lie ahead to fully contain the disaster and tackle its effects. 

NRA chairman Shunichi Tanaka

The Nuclear Regulation Authority admitted that the awareness of the dangers related to working with nuclear technology had been weak prior to the disaster, and it said that it hoped new standards would force the companies to change their approach. "The new regulations include extremely stringent requirements that the operators would not be able to endure if they don't change their culture" said the authority chairman Shunichi Tanaka. He added that the new regulator had what it took to impose the new regulations. "We have large authority and powers. If the operator does not comply with our regulations, they won't be able to operate, let alone restart their reactors." 

Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democrats must act carefully "to avoid compromising the independence of the new regulator, which is struggling to build credibility with a public whose faith in nuclear power was shaken after meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Daiichi plant." The Nuclear Regulation Authority has said it will take at least six months to review nuclear plants, after which the consent of communities that are host to reactors is needed. 2 years after Fukushima, Japan's nuclear thriller unfolds...

Japon: "Mythe des lendemains qui chantent" 

"The Myth of Tomorrow"

Painting by Taro Okamoto

Au Japon on parle beaucoup des chiffres du chômage à 4,1% en ce début d'Eté 2013. Attention, les précaires sont considérés comme ayant un emploi dans les statistiques officielles. Donc le chiffre 4,1% c'est de la propagande avant les Sénatoriales de Juillet. Les statistiques du "secteur du luxe" sont bien plus réalistes. La majorité de la population japonaise s'appauvrit, la classe moyenne à 7 ou 8 million de ¥/an se retrouve à 3 ou 4 à 5 millions ¥/an. En revanche les plus riches comme ailleurs sont de plus en plus riches. Le recours aux précaires s'accroit au Japon. Et cela ne fait que commencer. La méthode Abe n'est pas "people friendly." Que les observateurs étrangers ne se laissent pas berner. Une série de reportages régulièrement depuis 20 ans dans le Japon réel m'en ont convaincu. Les "curtain down streets" les magasins à la grille fermée, près des gares, pivot et poumon sociétal du Japon, c'est dorénavant le paysage quotidien des agglomérations.

Des pans entiers des 160 milliards d'euros du plan de relance japonais sont dores et déjà offerts généreusement au "ゼネコンZenecon", les "General Contractors"du BTP japonais qui utilise de la main d'oeuvre corvéable et malléable, proche parfois des organisations mafieuses. Elles aussi très bien encadrées et infiltrées dans les zones grises au coeur du pouvoir japonais.

Ce "mythe des lendemains qui chantent", les agences de communication habituellement utilisées par le gouvernement japonais (Dentsu par exemple) l'ont mis en marche par une mise en scène en 2011 à la demande des conservateurs du PLD alors en opposition sur le thème du "comment financer durant 30 ans la reconstruction du Tohoku" suite au terrible séisme, tsunami et accident nucléaire de 2011? Ces stratégies anesthésiantes sont des exemples du rêve éveillé que font les japonais devant leurs télévisions qui nous livrent un paysage prétendu d'un Japon heureux. Mais on ne montre que des reportages de gens bien installés, de jeunes enjoués, de filles appétissantes croquant la vie, de projets technologiques, de gens partant en vacances. Alors que le Japon est déformé, souffre et vieillit sans s'occuper du 3e âge et des jeunes, et repoussant en d'autres sessions parlementaires des décisions pourtant jugées importantes.

J'étais impressionné de voir l'autre jour les miroirs déformants et autres symboles de l'histoire naturelle et sociale du Japon qui sont présentés dans le nouveau musée de l'Université de Tokyo au 2e et 3e étage du magnifique immeuble de la JP Post devant la gare-hotel de Tokyo. Des découvertes bienveillantes et des outils industriels datant de la colonisation et des découvertes d'après Meiji aux mains de dirigeants nationalistes d'un Japon qui n'a toujours pas travaillé en 2013 sur son devoir de mémoire, bien au contraire puisque des tests politiques de nationalistes comme le maire d'Osaka Hashimoto cherchent à faire naitre en l'esprit nippon une logique de révisionnisme et de non implication dans les horreurs de la guerre d'invasion des années 30 et 40, au lieu d'infléchir ces politiques qui sont reprochées bien au delà des frontières maritimes japonaises. Camus déjà parlait du Japon dans un livre dans lequel il fait dire à l'un de ses personnages que le Japon est un pays merveilleux où les gens meurent fous mais heureux.

Mais comme les observations de bien des français en Asie ne comptent hélas pas beaucoup dorénavant, je porte ici les déclarations acides de mes collègues de la presse allemande. Pour 2 ou 3 des grandes plumes de la presse quotidienne allemande (la presse allemande a de nombreux bureaux de journalistes correspondants de la Germanophonie ici), et bien cette politique Abenomics ne portera pas ses fruits. Le Japon devra choisir. La stabilité et la défense d'un modèle social cohérent ou bien des réformes drastiques qui vont éclater le modèle "harmonieux" japonais. La traduction qu'en fait un diplomate japonais de mes amis: "en réalité cette harmonie est basée sur le sacrifice des japonais, aujourd'hui comme durant la guerre." On aimerait tant croire les mythes du Premier ministre qui réinvente la réalité économique d'un Japon qu'il dit être "de retour" alors qu'en fait Shinzo Abe, et son équipe qui n'a nulle confiance en ses hauts fonctionnaires, recours à des stratagèmes d'antan: la planche à billets.

L'avenir du Japon c'est la Chine et une interaction intelligente en Asie Pacifique, allant bien au-delà des échanges commerciaux. La Chine a d'immenses demandes technologiques, éducatives, législatives, sociales. La modernisation de la Chine, celle des pays riches d'une Asie accompagnée par la Russie de plus en plus puissante est un thème de réflexion en ce 21e siècle pour les dirigeants japonais qui rêvent en secret de modifier les codes de l'alliance bâtie après guerre (1945). Une analyse qu'un officiel d'un grand ministère japonais m'a ainsi confirmé cette semaine en privé.

Combien de temps faudra-t-il à monsieur Abe pour l'admettre publiquement ou du moins pour mettre en marche les projets qui pourront devenir réalité d'ici 2020 - 2030? Les révolutions technologiques, communications, industrielles, énergétiques, mondialisées, les passerelles du développement entrant dans la logique des grands ensembles économiques vont-elles faire leur entrée au Japon comme elles semblent le faire ailleurs?

Le cauchemar serait que Shinzo Abe constatant son échec économique abandonne d'ici 2 ou 3 ans ses ambitions de politicien japonais et au final ne réalise qu'une chose selon l'agenda politique courte-vue décidé outre-mer avec la modification de la Constitution pacifiste japonaise et l'entrée dans l'ère hasardeuse des politiques de défenses collectives du Japon dont l'absence est vue aujourd'hui même par les faucons américains comme "un obstacle à l'alliance militaire."

On peut commencer à esquisser les pires scénarios. Un Japon qui compte moins ou peu car les grandes décisions sont prises ailleurs, comme toujours, et sont entretenues par la litanie de quelques diplomates, universitaires, voire par des désinformateurs patentés. Abe croit en un Japon prêt au sacrifice? Non! La jeune génération ne suivra pas et les autres sont trop vieux pour se bousculer au portillon, ils entendent encore les cris de douleurs de leurs victimes chinoises, coréennes, philippines ou indochinoises.

Japan's Fuji-san granted World Heritage

おめでとうございます！Japan's Fuji-san granted World Heritage status by the Paris based Unesco. Congratulations to our Japanese friends! Japan's Mount Fuji has been announced as a World Cultural Heritage Site by the UNESCO World Heritage committee. Annonce célébrée par la région du Fuji san. Le Fuji san 富士山 a inspiré les artistes et les poètes et est considéré comme une montagne sacrée objet d'un pèlerinage depuis des siècles, visité par 300 000 randonneurs chaque été. 

My report for RTL France.

https://soundcloud.com/jo-l-legendre-koizumi/japans-mount-fuji-world

Photo ©JLK2013 with Japan Air Self Defence Forces

France Qatar Dual Strategy 

French President François Hollande who is arriving in Qatar on June 22 on an official two-day visit (G11 meetings in Doha) will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including the ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Interior, Trade and Transport. Then he will go to Jordan for talks with king Abdullah that will focus on recent American lead efforts to revive peace talks between the Palestinian authority and Israel as well as means to support Jordan in hosting Syrian refugees. Qatar and France are "historical partners". Both like soccer. Hollande wants to reaffirm and continue relations, sending a message that "change in leadership doesn’t change national partnership" writes Hamza Jilani in the Gulf Times. 

En français, disons que "le jeu de carte est présentement en train d’être redistribué dans les mains de la jeune génération. Les Qataris étaient un peuple de bédouins, c’est-à-dire que toutes les personnes qui ont aujourd’hui plus de 50 ans, ont vécu sous des tentes sans la climatisation, connaissaient la vie dure et n’ont pas eu accès à une éducation poussée. S’ils n’ont pas eu les connaissances techniques, la vieille garde Qatari est par contre douée d’une intelligence intuitive. A chaque clan ses filières, secteurs d’activités associés. En fonction du secteur d’activité, le bon interlocuteur n’est donc jamais le même. Et attention à ne pas confondre le pouvoir politique des intérêts économiques, tant les deux sont intimement liés. Mais seul le pouvoir politique comptera à la fin écrit MP Relecom. Beaucoup en France sont redevables des efforts du Qatar, les Qataris en sont ils remerciés? Y-a-t-il une nouvelle communication qui doit se mettre en place? Oui sans nul doute surtout quand l’apparence officielle dissimule toujours des jeux de cour et d’équilibre entre les clans...

What is the "Abenomics"? 

 Paul Sheard of Standard & Poor's

Abe no what?

Q&A with Paul Sheard of Standard & Poor's

"Abenomics" is essentially two things. One is a policy thrust to end Japan’s chronic deflation. The other is a policy thrust to try to raise real growth. The approach to ending deflation is a very aggressive monetary policy. Abe was able to engineer that because he had the opportunity to replace the governor of the Bank of Japan and the two deputies. Abe has marketed his economic policy program as having three “arrows”: a plan to end deflation and combat the strong yen; “flexible” (that is, somewhat expansionary) fiscal policy management for two to three years; and a growth strategy, centring on deregulation and attempts to promote innovation and improve industrial competitiveness (structural reforms). The aim, after years of deflation and low real growth, is to achieve 2% consumer price inflation and 3% nominal GDP growth. These are ambitious targets.

Shinzo Abe, prime minister with his 3 Arrows or more...

What is the most significant part of Abe’s growth policy?

It’s really a very conventional policy mix: end deflation and try to raise growth through structural reform. Every administration says they want to do the latter. It’s really the former, ending deflation, that is in substance most significant here. What is revolutionary is that the previous governor of the Bank of Japan said, in effect: No, you can’t do it. Or, the way to do it is through structural reform. Abenomics has structural reform and reflation as the two thrusts. It has decoupled the two, whereas they were linked under the previous administrations’ thinking.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda 

Might it end Japan's economic stagnation?

I am more confident that we’re going to see a change in the macro atmospherics in Japan through reflation, because the structural side is just much harder to do, and it takes longer. Governor Kuroda has surprised the world with his clear and decisive communication and bold policy action. He has come in and said: I can do this. Give me two years. And he has greatly simplified the framework. But brave words need to be backed up by very aggressive action. And the announcement that they will double the monetary base, double the duration of the Japanese government bond (JGB) portfolio, double the

amount of risk assets and if that’s not enough do more, is certainly setting sail in the right direction.

by Paul Sheard US based Chief Global Economist Standard & Poor's, he worked 17 years in Tokyo and was a guest speaker at the press club, Tokyo June 19th 2013, emceed by Anthony Rowley, Tokyo bureau chief of the Singapore Business Times.

Reportage Fukushima Dai Ichi - 12 June 2013

We walk down the stairs equipped to enter Fukushima Dai Ichi  [JLK, up right]

Eng: Excerpts from my story today at the Fukushima nuclear plant: "Here around 10:45 we walk down the stairs with our group of journalists in the administrative building Fukushima Dai Ichi. I am walking with my four colleagues (I am up right on this pool picture) to enter the stricken plant under high radioactivity. Tepco confirms that Cs (caesium) and Sr (strontium) and others such as Am (Americium) are especially found in contaminated waters. Tepco has not rejected yet the waters in the Pacific ocean. Tepco also built a huge 52-meter high structure next to the reactor 4 to allow a transfer in 1533 fuel rods in a cooling pool located in an adjoining building. I also enclose the report of radioactivity of Tepco. I noted an error because my dosimeter recorded 1500 μSv (microsieverts per hour) facing the reactor 3 and not just 1240 μSv. It was an exhausting day." Added quotes: (pool of reporters) The upper part of the No. 4 reactor building was blown off in a hydrogen explosion. The canopy covering it will prevent further leakage of radioactive substances when workers remove spent nuclear fuel from the building.

 From what I see, there is just micro progress on Fukushima, Tepco cannot contain the contaminated water leakage, cannot store all water, considers leaking it to the ocean nearby, polluting the sea life. Regarding the melted core, most dangerous issue that will take decades, there is no appropriate technology, robot prototypes did not work, or were lost in buildings. Nuclear workers have still not been able to determine location of the nuclear fuel. Tepco tries not to answer to difficult questions as we noticed with the plant chief Takahashi. When we start asking too many, the guys say the conference is finished. Some foreign reporters complained about it. Really we hear that France is to help Japan to clean up Fukushima. If there is really something Areva and co can do to help at Fukushima it would be more than welcome trust me. This is priority. The other priority being the nuclear waste accumulated everywhere on Japan nuke plants... Fukushima is hell on earth for the time being with these "sorcerer's apprentices."

Fukushima Dai Ichi radioactivity map 12-6-2013

Fr: "Ici sur le site dévasté de Fukushima vers 10:45, ce mercredi 12 juin 2013, on descend l'escalier avec notre groupe de journalistes dans le bâtiment administratif Fukushima Dai Ichi (photo pool) Fukushima Tepco confirme que césium et strontium notamment figurent dans les eaux contaminées. Tepco n'a pas encore rejeté ces eaux en mer. Par ailleurs Tepco a construit une énorme structure haute de 52 mètres à côté du réacteur 4 pour permettre de transférer 1533 barres de combustible dans une piscine de refroidissement situé dans un bâtiment attenant. Je joins le rapport de radioactivité de Tepco. J'y note une erreur, car mon dosimètre a enregistré 1500 μSv (microsieverts par heure) devant le réacteur numéro 3 et non 1240 μSv. C'était une journée exténuante."

Exploded still 2 years and 3 months after...

うそだろ！Usodaro!  I will be damned!

"Invitations are often extended in Japan without meaning to invite anyone when (and because) the context of the invitation makes it obvious that an invitation is not really intended and the invited person is expected to politely decline… On the other hand, knowing my relationship to the hosts, something more than a bowl of rice with tea poured over it was definitely in order, although the meal might have been a trifle more elaborate than I had expected. I would have been indeed surprised had the hostess simply served a bowl of rice with tea over it. It would not have been far from the mark in interpreting the event to mean either that the friend’s luncheon invitation was actually pro forma… Now, did my hosts tell me a lie? Were they insincere? Or did they try to mislead me when they had agreed to treat me to ochazuke? If you assume that people always have to say what they mean literally, then the answer is yes. But an intriguing part of the cultural assumption operating in this context is that both hosts and guests are supposed to say what they do not mean, that they are supposed to know that they are supposed to say what they do not mean, and moreover that they each know what the others really meant to say but did not say without being told. Hosts and guests are thus in collusion, acting out their parts in the everyday drama of Japanese social life..."

I shall remember to be cautious before to accept an invitation from Japanese bureaucrats to follow some international events or fairy tale press conferences held in Japan. I'll look suspicious especially with invitations from those whose job is to act as host in need of popularity. There are rotten flowers in the corners.

Extracts from: "Ethnography of Dinner Entertainment in Japan"

Toru Hashimoto censured by his voters or absolved?

Toru Hashimoto at the press club Tokyo May 27th 2013

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, after his comments on "comfort women" May 13 and his press conference May 27 to criticise media he accused of misinterpreting his words, is expected now to face a censure motion filed by Osaka local politicians later today May 30th. Battle begins after what is perceived in Japan as shameful statements. Will the nationalists supporting Shinzo Abe let him in the lion cage alone?

Youtube: http://youtu.be/96Jce5xofHA

VDO © 2013 Joel Legendre Tokyo

Lessons from Chernobyl for Fukushima by Prof. Yablokov

Dr. Yablokov in Tokyo

Fukushima: Consequences for people and the environment? One expert who does not believe in the official figures of governments and international organizations, such as the IAEA and WHO, is Dr. Aleksei Vladimirovich Yablokov. Dr. Yablokov was a science advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, I met Dr Yablokov and asked him about the low dose risks, I also asked him what are the thyroid cancers risks for children of Fukushima after March 11th, 2011 and also if there is a political lesson to hear from Chernobyl?

VDO Tokyo May 21st, 2013.

http://youtu.be/G2hWESE5j58

Osaka Mayor Hashimoto's Outrage to Women

Japan Restoration Party (JRP) co-leader and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's remarks that the "comfort women" system of wartime sexual servitude was necessary are ''inappropriate'' in the eyes of 71 percent of respondents to a new Mainichi Shimbun poll, 21 percent thought his remarks were ''appropriate.'' Poll conducted on May 18 and 19. He confirmed. 

The comfort women system was made of above 200,000 women from Korea, China, and the Philippines among others who were forced to serve in military brothels catering to the Japanese soldiers. In other words: sexual slavery organised, controlled and monitored by militaries and pimps.

Toru Hashimoto who is the co-head of Nippon Ishin No Kai told Shintaro Ishihara, the other co-leader of the Japanese opposition party, on Sunday that he has no intention to withdraw his recent remarks that have triggered outrage both at home and abroad. The US department branded remarks by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto defending Japan’s wartime system of sexual servitude as "outrageous." 

Toru Hashimoto said the public's "lack of reading comprehension" has caused his remarks to be taken as trying to justify the wartime sex slaves have been "misunderstood." 

Then US Representative Mike Honda, [with whom I worked on war issues early 2000s) who spearheaded a 2007 House resolution that took Japan to task on the issue, called Hashimoto’s remarks "repulsive" and said the comfort women, using Japan’s euphemism for the wartime sex slaves, suffered "horrific" physical and psychological scars. Also US Representative Steve Israel said he was "disgusted" and that Japanese officials should offer apologies to ageing former comfort women instead of "abhorrent" explanations.

Quotes: Japan Times: "In 1995, Japan issued a broader apology expressing “deep remorse” for war suffering. The 1993 statement remains a sore point for nationalists who contend that authorities did not directly force comfort women into sex and that the system was set up to prevent random rape. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, known for his conservative views on history, did not comment directly on Hashimoto’s remarks but said Japan shared the pain of survivors and stood by past statements."

Politically, this dreadful episode happens while current prime minister Shinzo Abe, helped by his neo conservative troops (Taro Aso, and Chief cabinet secretary Suga) is now willing to change the Constitution, article 96 to allow the modification of article 9 renouncing to war. A climate improper to sending clear peaceful signal to Japan's neighbours.

But the statement continues also about Okinawa and here we come to very crucial point regarding how Japan handled the system: 

"Hashimoto write on his social media account on Twitter. "Let me go straight to the point. When America occupied Japan, didn't they make use of Japanese women?" Hashimoto has a million Twitter followers. "I can't help but point out that it is unfair for America to criticise only Japan by putting aside acts by its own country." Hashimoto added that (The United States) should face what the US military did against local women, in particular Okinawa women when they occupied Japan." The Allied powers had been in control of Japan until 1952 after WWII. Then handed over Okinawa to Japan in 1972. 

Frequent crimes have been reported involving US military servicemen, accused of improper behaviours, but also of rapes and various offences, especially the 1995 case : Wikipedia: "The 1995 Okinawa rape incident refers to a rape that took place on September 4, 1995, when three U.S. servicemen, U.S. Navy Seaman Marcus Gill and U.S. Marines Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet, all from Camp Hansen on Okinawa, rented a van and kidnapped a 12-year-old Japanese girl. They beat her, duct-taped her eyes and mouth shut, and bound her hands. Gill and Harp then raped her, while Ledet claimed he only pretended to do so out of fear of Gill. The incident led to further debate over the continued presence of U.S. forces in Japan." E o Q.

Adding to this accumulation of revulsive and abominable tragedies, there is one element that has been mentioned often by historians and journalists. France and Germany army had their "Bordel militaire de campagne" set during WW1 and WW2, made of obliged women, many kidnapped and enslaved and of prostitutes. We can remember here the amazing life of Marthe Richard, prostitute, pilot, spy and then politician who worked towards the closing of brothels in France in 1946. 

In Japan after WW2 [Pictures] there also is the case revealed in the book of Robert Whiting "Tokyo Underworld" (Random House, Vintage) who revealed in 1999 that after the war the Japanese government was involved into the creation of the RAA, the Recreation and Amusement Association, a group, the author writes, which was set to "sleep with Americans." Made "to sate the much anticipated and much dreaded Yankee libido while sparing the virginal flower of young Japanese female hood." End of Quotes.

As Japan Times Osaka based staff Eric Johnston wrote May 18th: " They say he’s been made a scapegoat for saying out loud what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration and many of his supporters privately think. Then there’s the theory the remarks were a form of misplaced anger over the lack of Diet action on Nippon Ishin’s key goals. Hashimoto has vehemently denied he was advocating a modern-day comfort women system. But his anger at what he perceives to be American hypocrisy on human rights is clear."

Consequence, one for the time being and more ahead if Hashimoto can't stop the fire: Your Party’s Yoshimi Watanabe told reporters: "I don't understand the type of person who freely continues to say things that destroy public trust. We appear to be straying off course" TBS reported [May 20th].

Indeed.

It is a tragedy that in Japan and in our world, people involved in politics do not always succeed in harmonising sound and respectful policies which would fit the needs, belief, and respect of the population as if these politicians, obsessed by popularity, could only deliver slogans and statements ruffled by tormenting psyche and nightmares. 

There also is a possibility of a manipulation or a setup to destabilise the Mayor of Osaka. Yet, he is the one who was quoted with those nauseating words. Hashimoto said he will clarify his views at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on May 27.

http://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Underworld-Times-American-Gangster/dp/0375724893