FILE - In this May 9, 2014 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin heads to speak at a navy parade marking Victory Day in Sevastopol, Crimea. Angry with the West’s response over Ukraine, Russia is moving rapidly to bolster ties with North Korea in a diplomatic nose-thumbing that could complicate the U.S.-led effort to squeeze Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear weapons program. Russia’s proactive strategy in Asia- which also involves cozying up to China and had been dubbed “Putin’s Pivot” - began years ago as Moscow’s answer to Washington’s much touted rebalancing of its military forces in the Pacific. (Ivan Sekretarev, File/Associated Press) By Associated Press June 4 at 10:32 AM TOKYO — Angry with the West’s response over Ukraine and eager to diversify its options, Russia is moving rapidly to bolster ties with North Korea in a diplomatic nose-thumbing that could complicate the U.S.-led effort to squeeze Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear weapons program. Russia’s proactive strategy in Asia, which also involves cozying up to China and has been dubbed “Putin’s Pivot,” began years ago as Moscow’s answer to Washington’s much-touted alliance-building and rebalancing of its military forces in the Pacific. But it has gained a new sense of urgency since the unrest in Ukraine — and Pyongyang is already getting a big windfall with high-level political exchanges and promises from Russia of trade and development projects. Moscow’s overtures to North Korea reflect both a defensive distancing from the EU and Washington because of their sanctions over Ukraine and a broader, long-term effort by Russia to strengthen its hand in Asia by building political alliances, expanding energy exports and developing Russian regions in Siberia and the Far East. For North Korea, the timing couldn’t be better. Since the demise of the Soviet Union and the largesse it banked on as a member of the communist bloc, the North has been struggling to keep its economy afloat and has depended heavily on trade and assistance from ally China. Sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs have further isolated the country, and Pyongyang has long feared it could become too beholden to Beijing. Better ties with Russia could provide a much needed economic boost, a counterbalance against Chinese influence and a potentially useful wedge against the West in international forums — and particularly in the U.S.-led effort to isolate Pyongyang over its development of nuclear weapons. “By strengthening its relationship with North Korea, Russia is trying to enhance its bargaining position vis-à-vis the United States and Japan,” said Narushige Michishita, a North Korea and Asia security expert at Japan’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. Michishita added that showing Washington he will not be cowed by the sanctions was “one of the most important factors” why Putin is wooing Pyongyang now. Moscow remains wary of having a nuclear-armed North Korea on its border. But over the past few months it has courted the North with various economic projects, political exchanges and a vote in the Duma, the top Russian legislative body, to write off nearly $10 billion in debt held over from the Soviet era. It has pledged to reinvest $1 billion that Pyongyang still owes into a trans-Siberian railway through North Korea to South Korea — a project that is still in the very early stages. That, together with a pipeline, would allow Russia to export gas and electricity to South Korea. Michishita noted that the same day the United Nations’ General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Russia and North Korea were busy signing an economic trade cooperation pact. The warming began around July last year, but it has accelerated as Moscow’s antagonism with the West has grown. Moscow sent a relatively low-ranking representative to the 60th anniversary of the end of fighting in the Korean War that month. But since then, it has hosted North Korea’s head of state at the opening of the Olympic Games in Sochi and, in March, sent its minister in charge of Far East development to Pyongyang. A three-day visit in April by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev, who is also the presidential envoy for Russia’s far eastern federal district, marked the “culmination of a new phase in Russian-North Korean relations taking shape — a sort of renaissance if you will,” Alexander Vorontsov, a North Korea expert at the Russia Academy of Sciences, wrote recently on the influential 38 North blog. “It is still an open question whether the current crisis in Ukraine will result in any more substantial shifts in Russian policy toward North Korea, particularly in dealing with the nuclear and missile issues,” Vorontsov said in his blog post. “With the West increasing pressure on Russia as a result of differences over Ukraine, the very fact that Moscow and Pyongyang are subject to U.S. sanctions will objectively draw them together, as well as with China.” Since 2003, a series of multilateral talks have been one of the primary means of pressuring North Korea to denuclearize and to coordinate policy between the six main countries involved — China, Russia, the United States, Japan and North and South Korea. Though still seen as one of the best tools the international community has to pressure Pyongyang on the nuclear issue, the talks were fraught from the start because of the North’s unwillingness to back down and the lack of a unified stance among the five other nations. With North Korea showing no signs of giving up its nuclear option, some analysts believe a widening rift between Russia and the U.S. could weaken future six-party talks. “North Korea’s motivations and actions are driven by the leadership’s perceptions, world view, and ideology,” said Seoul-based analyst Daniel Pinkston, of the International Crisis Group. “That remains the same. As long as the leadership is wedded to son’gun (Military First) ideology, they will not denuclearize before the rest of the world does. And that’s exactly what their government and media say repeatedly.” Michishita, the Japanese security expert, said the Moscow-Pyongyang thaw could just muddy the waters. “North Korea will not denuclearize anyway,” he said. “A better relationship with Russia might be a positive factor for North Korea in coming back to the six-party talks. But North Korea will certainly try to use it to enhance its position vis-à-vis not only the United States and Japan, but also China.” ___ Talmadge is the AP’s Pyongyang bureau chief. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/EricTalmadge. Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Thilawa Residents Formally Complain to Tokyo
RANGOON — Three residents from the Thilawa Special Economic Zone near Rangoon have filed a formal complaint to Tokyo about the negative effects of Japanese investment in the area. It is the first formal complaint filed under the objection procedures of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since the restructuring of Japan’s international aid body in 2008, according to NGOs Thilawa Social Development Group and Mekong Watch. An objection letter has been received by JICA examiner Dr. Sachihiko Harashina in person, the NGOs said in a statement on Monday. “The objection outlines damages that the villagers from the 400 ha. area of Phase 1 of the project have incurred in their relocation from their homes and land,” the NGOs said in the statement. These damages included “loss of farmland and access to farmland, loss of livelihood opportunities, impoverishment, loss of educational opportunities for the villagers’ children, substandard housing and basic infrastructure in the Myaing Tha Yar resettlement site and loss of access to clean water.” The statement warned that residents from another 2,000 hectare area that will be used in a later phase of the project would likely face similar problems. “The government and authorities are not listening to us villagers,” said Mya Hlaing, one of the three residents who filed the complaint, according to the statement. “We have tried to tell JICA how things really are in Thilawa by repeatedly submitting letters to JICA requesting appropriate resettlement and compensation measures, as required by their guidelines and international standards. JICA has not listened to our voices.” Minari Tsuchikawa, from Mekong Watch, a Japanese NGO that monitors Japan-related projects in Mekong Region, was quoted as saying, “Even while the examiners carry out their investigation, the Japanese government and JICA must take steps to ensure that there is no further deterioration in the standard of living of the affected people, and urgent measures are needed to understand and address the villagers’ living conditions and concerns.” She added, “How JICA handles this case will be a litmus test for other projects in [Burma].” JICA has a 10 percent stake in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, while three Japanese companies hold 39 percent stake. The Burmese government and a joint venture of nine Burmese companies have invested the remaining 10 percent and 41 percent, respectively.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Japan, Russia could reach compromise over territorial row: Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday Japan and Russia could reach a compromise over a territorial dispute involving Russian-administered islands off Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido if they follow the spirit of "hikiwake," a judo term for a draw. Putin said he was surprised that Japan has imposed sanctions, together with the United States and the European Union, on Russia over its annexation of Crimea, southern Ukraine, indicating his dissatisfaction with Japan's move. While Japan has suspended the negotiations process over a territorial dispute involving the islands, Russia stands ready to resume the talks, Putin said during a meeting in St. Petersburg with representatives of news agencies from major economies, including Japan's Kyodo News. While Putin has shown a willingness to visit Japan as early as fall at the invitation of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the plan may be affected by strains over Crimea. The disputed islands -- Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group -- were seized by the Soviet Union following Japan's surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1945, and the territorial row has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty. Putin said the sovereignty of Shikotan and the Habomai islet group is on the agenda of the bilateral talks as the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration does not address the issue. The disputed islands are known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia. ==Kyodo Copyright 2014 Kyodo News International. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
OPINION: Asians cannot count on "magic bullets" from U.S. for their problems
By Hiroki Sugita TOKYO, May 1, Kyodo Every time the U.S. president visits Asia, there are agreements, such as the "Global Alliance" or the "Strategic Partnership," which are well received in Asian countries but very modest in terms of concrete actions and effectiveness. In his late April visit to Asia, President Barack Obama was gracious enough to tell the people in the countries he visited exactly what they wanted to hear. Of course, Asians are happy right now, but we cannot ignore deeper doubts about whether he will follow through on what he said. In Tokyo, the first stop of President Obama's Asian trip, he said that the Senkaku Islands fall under the Japan-U.S. security treaty, in a show of U.S. commitment to defending the Japanese-administered islands against any attempt by China to seize them. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan praised Obama's statement, which no previous U.S. president has voiced, as "epoch-making." Japanese security experts say that the statement is the best way to deter China from starting any military operations against the islands in the East China Sea. Then, in Seoul, Obama rebuked Japan and pleased South Korea. At a press conference with President Park Geun Hye he described "comfort women" as a "terrible and egregious" violation of human rights and for the first time urged Mr. Abe to address the issue with the South Korean government. Many of the comfort women who were forced to work at Japanese military brothels during World War II were from the Korean Peninsula. President Park followed Obama by saying delightedly, "I really look forward to efforts made by the Japanese side." In Manila, Obama announced a defense pact that would give American forces greater access to Philippine military bases and facilities, including airfields and seaports. The main purpose of the pact is to fend off China's military expansion in the South China Sea. Asians except Chinese welcome all of Obama's words and policies. Many Japanese even support the "comfort women" statement. Although Obama's comfort women comment clearly puts Abe in an awkward position, it may act as a catalyst to end the bickering between Japan and South Korea over this issue. According to U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, the remark was in line with the purpose of Obama's trip, namely to cement ties with Japan and South Korea and to encourage improved dialogue between these nations. However, the question is: to what extent can Obama oversee the implementation of these words and agreements? Asians were joyful when Obama announced the U.S. pivot to Asia three years ago after its long and enduring Middle East military ventures. But, we soon found in dismay the policy (later called "rebalancing") more rhetorical than real, as it lacked follow-up measures. Since the pivot announcement, Obama has cancelled two trips to Asia to deal with domestic political affairs, and last year he gave silent approval to China's Air Defense Identification Zone, over protests from Japan. One of the pillars of the pivot is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which was intended to create an Asia-Pacific free trade zone. During this trip to Asia, Obama made it clear that the United States would not make meaningful concessions to Japan and other TPP countries on trade negotiations for fear of angering some U.S. industries. Again, it is clear that Obama places domestic politics above Asia rebalancing. Even the Senkaku statement is not so assuring. At the Tokyo press conference, Obama avoided answering a question about the use of U.S. military force if China were to make a military incursion into the Senkakus. He explained that what he had said about the U.S. commitment to the islands was nothing new; it just repeated the U.S.'s historical interpretation of the U.S.-Japan security treaty. This response gave the impression that he would be very hesitant to use any kind of force. Given Obama's weak reaction to his declared redline regarding the use of chemical weapons in Syria and his ineffective response to the crisis in Ukraine, some Japanese naturally wonder whether the Senkaku statement is another Obama redline that would be easily ignored. Considering China's substantial economic and military strength, it is highly unlikely that the United States would get involved in a confrontation with China over a group of small and inhabited islands. Because of strict budget cuts, the U.S. military cannot meaningfully strengthen its presence. Yoko Iwama, a professor at the National Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, noted, "The Ukraine crisis shows the U.S. still has to put a great deal of efforts into Europe to counter Russia. It is too much to ask the U.S. to show strong presence both in Asia and Europe." Although security ties with the United States are the foundation for stability in the region, Asian countries would be wise not to expect much from the United States in the events of conflicts. It is equally important that Asian countries strengthen their own individual defense capabilities and build better relations with China. Obama has a unique capability to please host countries, as we saw in his April trip to Asia. In November, he will go to Beijing to attend the annual Asia-Pacific leaders' meeting. He most likely will reiterate strategic relationships with China for global and regional agendas, which the Japanese and Filipinos will not be happy to hear. In Tokyo he called on Japan to have talks to de-escalate the tension over the Senkakus saying, "I've said directly to the prime minister that it would be a profound mistake to continue to see escalation around this issue rather than dialogue and confidence building measures between Japan and China." If the issue is not resolved by November, then Obama in China may blame Abe for not doing enough. Asians should not be happy or disappointed each time the U.S. president makes a statement on the region. We can't expect magic bullets from the United States for Asian problems because they do not have quick solutions. Therefore, we Asians must find our own solutions to the Senkakus, comfort women, China, and any other issues we face. (Hiroki Sugita is managing feature writer of Kyodo News.) ==Kyodo
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Japan may set 2-stage approval by Cabinet over collective self-defense
Japan may set a two-stage approval process for the Cabinet before lifting the self-imposed ban on exercising the right to collective self-defense, ruling party sources said Thursday, as the outlook remains uncertain for the ruling bloc to reach an early agreement over the controversial issue. The New Komeito party has proposed to the Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the Cabinet first approve a roadmap of legal challenges that need to be tackled, and then what steps Japan will take, including reinterpreting the Constitution to allow the exercise of the right to collective self-defense, the sources added. The two-stage process would enable the government to make necessary preparations to draft legislation after the first stage, while New Komeito can buy time and put off what could be the most contentious issue of deciding whether Japan should defend allies under armed attack in collective self-defense. The plan has been floated as a compromise for the ruling parties to avoid a rift and some LDP lawmakers have expressed their support, although the government has yet to give the nod, according to the sources. Tokyo is seeking early approval in time for the planned revision to Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines by the end of the year, and hopes to revise relevant laws from an extraordinary Diet session in the fall. In the first round of approval, the Cabinet would recognize a set of domestic legal challenges in three major areas -- how to handle "gray zone" incidents that are not considered full-fledged military attacks on Japan, U.N. peacekeeping and collective security operations, and whether to exercise the right to collective self-defense, the sources said. The LDP and the junior coalition partner New Komeito started their debate earlier this week on reworking Japan's legal framework amid security threats from an assertive China and North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs. The parties have already decided to focus on "gray zone" incidents first, rather than tackling the controversial issue of collective self-defense from the start. Some New Komeito lawmakers have suggested the ruling bloc should not wait until they can agree on all of the three areas to start drafting legislation, but the LDP has insisted that the three should be a package. Prime Minister Abe is seeking to secure the support of the ruling parties for lifting the self-imposed ban by a Cabinet decision, but New Komeito remains cautious about reinterpreting the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution that has never been amended since 1947. Japan has maintained it has the right to collective self-defense but cannot exercise it due to the constraints of Article 9. In a report submitted to Abe last week, a panel of security experts argued that collective self-defense falls under "the minimum" level of defense allowed under the supreme law and called for changing the current interpretation. ==Kyodo Copyright 2014 Kyodo News International. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/140522/japan-may-set-2-stage-approval-cabinet-over-collective
Friday, May 23, 2014
Is Collective Self-Defense in Japan's Future?
The environment in which Japan exists is changing. Tokyo must change along with it, or live at the mercy of others. Michael Mazza, May 20, 2014 inShare.1On Thursday, May 15, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that his government was officially launching discussions on revising the constitution’s interpretation to allow for collective self-defense. That it was clear this was coming does not make the announcement any less momentous. For sure, Abe does not have a smooth path to updating the government’s interpretation of the Japanese constitution. The Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition partners are not keen on the change, there is resistance within the LDP itself, and Japanese voters remain skeptical. At the end of the day, however, the arguments for allowing collective self-defense are persuasive, and if Abe can continue delivering on his promise to revitalize the economy—first quarter GDP growth reached 5.9 percent, and a major fiscal stimulus is planned for the second quarter—he just may get his way. A primary argument from the opposition is that permitting collective self-defense will inevitably lead to Japanese involvement in overseas conflicts in which the country has little at stake. The argument is both alarmist and assumes an exceedingly narrow definition of the national interest. It has become clear that a broadened interpretation of the constitution would put well-defined limits on when Japanese forces could act to defend others. Opening the door to collective self-defense does not constitute a blank check for armed intervention abroad. According to the Japan Times, a government panel that studied the issue concluded that Japan should aid another under attack “if such an attack could lead to a direct attack to Japan, critically damage the Japan-U.S. military alliance, considerably affect the international order, or remarkably damage the life and rights of the Japanese people.” None of these is a peripheral interest. Rather, Abe and his advisers see the right to exercise collective self-defense as necessary to ensure the security and prosperity of Japan as well as regional peace. Regional peace, meanwhile, increasingly appears to hang in the balance. China is antagonizing its neighbors and testing the United States at a troubling clip. Pyongyang is testing missiles and threatening to detonate a nuclear device while the two Koreas exchange artillery fire in the Yellow Sea. Tens of thousands of Taiwan’s citizens recently took to the streets to protest closer ties to mainland China. And right now, ships are firing water cannons at and ramming each other off the Vietnamese coast, while Chinese vessels attempt to starve out Philippine marines on Second Thomas Shoal. An incident leading to escalation—either unwanted or intentional—is no distant possibility. Japan’s current leadership knows that Japanese interests extend far beyond the southern Ryukyu islands. That Abe should want tools to defend Japanese interests further afield—whether it be to ensure continued freedom of navigation or protect an Asian order in which states do not resort to aggression to achieve their ends—should come as little surprise. Still, although pursuing a revised interpretation of the constitution is both natural and rational, it is also revolutionary. Even if applied in only a very narrow range of scenarios, exercising the right to collective self-defense will be a monumental change for a country that has more or less outsourced its own self-defense since the end of World War II. There are implications for defense spending and for the types of forces Japan fields—for how they train, how they operate, and how they interact with foreign militaries. There are implications for Japan’s foreign policy—for the types of relationships it pursues and the defense agreements it forges. Finally, there are even implications for Japan’s identity. Japan’s people have defined their country as a pacifist one for decades. But should the Maritime Self-Defense Forces one day lawfully come to the defense of a U.S. warship under attack or of a Korean freighter beset by Somali pirates, there will naturally be questions about just what it means for Japan to be “pacifist.” None of this is to say that Abe is acting rashly or impulsively. Rather, he has recognized that the environment in which Japan lives is changing. Japan must change along with it or live at the mercy of others less hesitant to shape the world to their own desires. Michael Mazza is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Follow him on Twitter: @Mike_Mazza.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
JAPAN-NEWS SUMMERY-3014-05-20
News Japan's trade deficit narrows on slower imports Associated Press via Yahoo! News - 3 hours TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's trade deficit narrowed in April after the yen strengthened and a sales tax hike dampened demand for imports of consumer ... Japan's Trade Deficit Narrows on Slower Imports ABC News - 8 hours Japan's trade deficit narrows in April as import growth slows following sales tax hike Japan's exports pick up steam in April CNBC - 9 hours Japan's exports rose 5.1 percent in April from a year earlier, above analyst forecasts in a Reuters poll for a 4.8 percent rise, data ... Japan should cut corporate tax, consider GPIF legal overhaul-LDP draft proposal Reuters via Yahoo! Finance - 22 hours TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party will urge cutting the corporate tax rate while expanding the tax base in a bid to ... Japan's Fukushima operator begins groundwater release to ocean Reuters via Yahoo! News - 4 hours TOKYO (Reuters) - The operator of Japan's destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant began releasing groundwater that it said is within legal ...
Friday, October 7, 2011
Korean television dramas are not the real problem
The Japan Times Articles
Korean television dramas are not the real problem
By PHILIP BRASOR
On July 23, actor Sosuke Takaoka tweeted that he was sick of all the Korean dramas on Fuji TV, a network he "used to be indebted to," and demanded more "traditional" Japanese programming. "If anything related to South Korea is on," he continued, "I just turn it off." The backlash was swift, and the actor eventually apologized for his rant, saying many people had misunderstood him. In any case his talent agency fired him soon thereafter.
Dropping the ball: The Fuji TV building in Odaiba, Tokyo FABIAN REUS, CREATIVE COMMONS
Takaoka's comments were understood to be the catalyst for the demonstrations outside Fuji TV's offices on Aug. 7. Hundreds of people carrying Japanese flags and singing the national anthem called on the network to stop broadcasting Korean content. As with Takaoka's comments, response to the protest was divided. Some agreed with it, while others despaired over the obvious outpouring of anti-Korean nationalism if not downright racism.
But there was another reaction, characterized by comedian-musician Ryo Fukawa, who said on his FM radio show that however one interprets Takaoka's opinions, he had a right to voice them. "Freedom of speech is only a phrase in Japan," he declared. This sentiment was echoed by show biz columnist Yoshiko Matsumoto, who wrote, "I am not interested in Korean dramas, but if I said that, would I become a target?" Some might say the fact that both Fukawa and Matsumoto said these things proves they're wrong about freedom of speech, but neither have any direct relation to television. Fukawa admits that he's washed up on TV because of his attitude. Matsumoto makes her living from writing.
Takaoka, on the other hand, happens to be married to Aoi Miyazaki, one of the most popular actresses in Japan. The tabloid press, which loves to pick on men whose wives are more successful than they are, would like nothing better than to see them divorce. The weeklies Bunshun and Friday demanded to know why Miyazaki hasn't left her husband over his comments. Matsumoto takes a different tack: "Why doesn't she publicly defend him?"
The reason she doesn't do either is that she's protecting her own interests, which depend on TV, and Takaoka's beef is not so much with Korean pop culture but with Fuji, which presumably no longer hires him. For sure, his anger indicated latent resentment toward Korea, which is ironic since his most famous role was a Korean-Japanese character in the movie "Pacchigi," but his real complaint is against Japanese TV, whose reliance on Korean product is one aspect of a larger issue that he may see as a brake on his career. From 2 to 5 p.m. every weekday, Fuji TV broadcasts Korean dramas. According to a Fuji employee interviewed by the weekly magazine Gendai, these dramas garner a 4 percent audience share, which isn't great but is nevertheless "good for that timeframe," and "licensing Korean dramas is really cheap." The decision to run Korean content is a financial one.
The circumstances surrounding Takaoka's dismissal are vague, but his agency relies a great deal on TV. According to a recent article in Shukan Post, the complacency of mainstream media pundits in the face of Japanese television's towering irrelevance is in direct proportion to the existing commercial networks' stranglehold on the airwaves. Citing countless examples of pointless programming, the article fixed TV's decline as starting in the 1980s, when the first wave of Japanese TV producers — mostly idealists who entered the industry to change society — were replaced by a new generation who wanted to make money. They didn't even solicit advertising. Sponsors threw money at them.
The secret to their success was lack of competition. The five networks were given the rights to public airwaves practically for free, and the yearly usage fees remain ridiculously low. In Japan there are 128 TV stations that, altogether, pay about ¥5 billion a year in fees and make ¥3 trillion a year.
According to the Post, politicians are in thrall to broadcasters because TV is seen as the only key to electability in Japan. When analog broadcasts stopped on July 24, it freed up 200 megahertz of bandwidth, an incredible resource for the nation, but rather than auction off frequencies to broadcast ventures, the government does nothing. There are rumors that the networks will receive some bandwidth to broadcast "one-seg" TV programs to cell phones, but the one-seg boom has passed, eclipsed by smart phones. Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano has suggested that the reconstruction of Tohoku be funded by a tax targeting cellphone users. Relative to how much bandwidth they use, providers already pay 200 times what broadcasters pay for rights to the airwaves.
Without competition, quality is an afterthought, and the Post shows how commercial TV became a game of one-upmanship. If somebody had a popular show, you copied the format. When this sort of thing goes on long enough, all shows become the same show. With ad revenues down drastically, the point now is to save money, and it's much cheaper to buy Korean dramas than it is to produce original shows. When Panasonic recently pulled its long-time sponsorship of the drama series "Mito Komon" TBS cancelled it, even though it was still popular, rather than look for a new sponsor. Programming, and thus public service, is no longer the prime task of broadcasters. TBS made more money last year from real estate than from advertising sales; and one reason home shopping is so prevalent on TV is that the networks now have their own catalogue sales subsidiaries. Fuji TV's is Dinos, which means a portion of the money Dinos makes over the air goes to Fuji TV. A professor interviewed by the Post says this is a violation of the Anti-monopoly Act (Dokusen Kinshi-ho).
Takaoka's anger inflamed jingoistic resentments, but few media pundits identified the real source of his discontent, which was the sad state of Japanese TV. It doesn't mean he shouldn't apologize, but his inability to understand and articulate that discontent appears to be a symptom of the equally sad state of public discourse. When no one knows what they can or can't say, they never get the chance to learn how to say it.
Philip Brasor blogs at philipbrasor.com.
The Japan Times: Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011
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Political elite can't stand outsiders
The Japan Times Articles
Political elite can't stand outsiders
By PHILIP BRASOR
Yoshio Hachiro's stint as the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the new Yoshihiko Noda administration was not the briefest cabinet assignment on record, but it was certainly one of the most controversial. News outlets reported that it was "public outrage" over two remarks he made which forced Hachiro to quit. In the absence of evidence, we have to take their word for it.
Phased out: Yoshiro Hachiro, former minister for Economy, Trade and Industry. KYODO PHOTO
One of the remarks, that the area around the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor was a "town of death," supposedly offended the people who had been evacuated from the region, but the media have been describing the place in similar terms for months now. The Japanese Twittersphere is still buzzing that it wasn't the public that was offended by Hachiro's remark but rather Tokyo Electric Power Company, which is still working out a payment system for residents harmed by the accident. Hachiro stated at his news conference when he assumed the METI position that "in principle" he would work to phase out nuclear energy.
Hachiro's other transgression, a joke about contaminating reporters with radiation after returning from Fukushima, is more problematic. It's obvious that at the time he allegedly made the joke Hachiro thought what he said was off-the-record, but as journalist Masaru Sato commented on Fuji TV, the ground rules for what's on- and what's off-record in Japan are "vague," and since every media outlet printed or broadcasted a different quote it's not clear exactly what Hachiro said or who first decided to report it. During his resignation news conference he apologized without actually owning up to the joke. One unidentified reporter interrupted Hachiro in a derisive tone and was shouted down by another journalist. A Kyodo News editor pointed out on TBS that news conferences are for asking questions, not for "prosecuting public figures." The joke, if he made it, was certainly careless, but given Hachiro's gregarious personality it likely sprang from a misplaced sense of camaraderie rather than from any cynical impulse. What he didn't understand is that the press, no matter how friendly they might seem, is waiting for such a moment since gaffes are so fun to report.
TV personality Daniel Kahl tweeted that Hachiro's remarks were "insensitive" and that he "must be a scion of some political dynasty." In fact, Hachiro is one of the few people in the Diet who did not have political connections, family or otherwise. He worked in a Hokkaido agricultural cooperative and later stood for election under the banner of the Social Democratic Party. During his political career he has always professed an affinity for farmers that was more sincere than that of most party politicians, who tend to look upon the agricultural sector as a constituency ripe for exploitation. When reproducing the "town of death" quote, the mainstream press neglected to report the next sentence Hachiro uttered: "We have to change this situation."
Japan is run by elites — powerful bureaucrats, corporate leaders, people with pedigrees — and while many other countries operate under similar sorts of regimes, Japan's ruling class is empty of ideology, unless you consider money the manifestation of a particular philosophy.
Take the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, a private educational establishment set up in 1979 by the late Konosuke Matsushita, founder of the Panasonic group, as a kind of finishing school for future Japanese leaders. Prime Minister Noda is a graduate, as are 37 other Diet members, 27 from the Democratic Party of Japan and 10 from the Liberal Democratic Party. The media are busy analyzing the institute in order to isolate the philosophy of the new administration, which isn't very difficult. Matsushita was a fiscal conservative and supporter of a strong alliance with the United States, but his main purpose for the institute was to give bright young people without any connections a means of getting into politics.
The institute has helped unconnected political aspirants gain office at both the national and local levels, and in the process has itself become a bastion of elitism. The school receives about 200 applications a year and accepts a half dozen. One of the truisms about elites is that they only identify with other elites. According to a Myojo University professor interviewed in Tokyo Shimbun, national assembly persons, whether they got in through a family connection or Matsushita's institute, are instilled with the "Nagatacho logic," which says that all political activity is based on who you agree with. That fact of political life explains the obsession within the DPJ over which members support kingpin Ichiro Ozawa. Matsushita Institute grads may learn how to cultivate their leadership qualities by cleaning toilets and perfecting their calligraphy, but in the end it all comes down to how to accumulate influence, which means money.
It's no secret that bureaucrats control the central government, but it goes further. Thirty-one of the current 47 prefectural governors used to be employed in various federal ministries, and many were elected with the help of local private sector concerns they worked with while they were bureaucrats. The governors of Saga and Hokkaido are former METI officials whose families have ties to energy companies that go way back. Both are now working to get nuclear reactors in their prefectures back online.
Policy is decided from on high, but the elitism of the average politician is only useful in internecine matters: Who's on top this month? It's why Naoto Kan was so poisonously vilified, not only by the opposition, but also by lawmakers in his own party. He was no more inept than any other prime minister of the last three decades, but he was the first — and probably the last — prime minister who entered politics through a non-government organization. Kan started out as a community organizer. That just doesn't happen, and the elites, which include the people controlling the media, couldn't stand it, so what chance did Yoshio Hachiro have?
Philip Brasor blogs at philipbrasor.com.
The Japan Times: Sunday, Sep. 18, 2011
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Welfare system not faring well
The Japan Times Articles
Welfare system not faring well
By PHILIP BRASOR
Ten years ago, in her book "Nickel and Dimed," Barbara Ehrenreich chronicled her own experience as a subsistence-level American wage-earner during a period of relative economic vigor. She found a whole class of workers who lived — and would always live — from paycheck to paycheck. In the afterword to the recently published tenth-anniversary edition of the book, Ehrenreich says that in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown, these people now have to compete for minimum-wage jobs. Ever since President Bill Clinton overhauled the welfare system, many poor Americans no longer qualify for assistance, which means they have nothing to fall back on. The "safety net" has turned into a "dragnet," since, in line with the contraction of welfare eligibility, many state and municipal governments have effectively "criminalized homelessness."
In spirit, Japan's public welfare system is closer to America's than it is to Europe's. Citizens do not have a right to be supported by the government. Some claim they do and as proof point to Article 25 of the Constitution, which states that all people have the right to "maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living." But Article 27 states that people have the right "and the obligation" to work. What this means in practice is that a person who applies for welfare must pass a rigorous screening process that can include personal disclosures, such as whether or not the applicant has access to support from a relative or even a lover. The applicant has to conform to certain notions of impoverishment. I've heard that in the 1960s and 70s, potential welfare recipients would hide "inessential" possessions like color TVs when a case worker visited.
The authorities will support you as long as you understand your place vis-a-vis someone who is "productive." In America, welfare recipients are often characterized as leeches who have learned how to scam the system. In Japan, the equivalent negative image is less harsh but, given the context, perhaps more effective. Receiving welfare is a social stigma. The idea is to shame recipients into getting back into society, where "everybody" works for a living. That's why when Japanese people get their first full-time job, they are dubbed shakaijin, or "members of society."
According to a recent documentary broadcast by NHK, this strategy may no longer work. The number of welfare recipients nationwide is over 2 million, the highest it's been since the system was launched in 1950, after which it continued to drop steadily until bottoming out in 1996. Central and local governments now give out ¥3.4 trillion in welfare benefits a year, equal to 10 percent of all tax revenues.
The local government with the heaviest burden is Osaka, where 17 percent of the city budget goes to welfare payments. NHK found that a substantial portion of the recipients are able-bodied males between the ages of 20 and 60. In the past, long-term welfare recipients belonged to one of three categories: elderly people, single mothers and the chronically ill or handicapped. The remaining recipients were people who were temporarily out of work, meaning their ranks were constantly changing. The number of unemployed in Japan hovers just under the 5 million mark, and as one case worker explained, most of the new additions to the welfare rolls are men who were employed as haken (contract workers), non-regular employees who could be laid off easily. After thousands of these workers lost their jobs in the financial meltdown of 2008, the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare issued a directive to local governments to ease up on the requirements for receiving welfare. In principle, people who can work don't qualify, but in order to provide relief to this large group of newly unemployed workers, the government said that they now did.
Many are still on welfare, a situation that has as much to do with a change in social psychology as it does with continuing economic stagnation. At one point in the documentary, NHK visits the apartment of a man in his early 50s who used to work for a real-estate company. He receives ¥126,700 a month, at the end of which he has ¥40,000 left over. Though it's much less than what he received when he was working, he says he's "comfortable," which is why he has no desire to look for a job.
With each additional example NHK presented, it became clear that these men were not merely lazy. They have no desire "to be in society." One reason is the unstable haken lifestyle. As one welfare recipient in his 20s pointed out, he doesn't go to employment offices because he's afraid of "being asked to move away" from his wife and newborn daughter. As long as he can survive on welfare, he'll stay with it. But the problem goes deeper. One Osaka caseworker says that most of the 60 men assigned to him have "lost the will to work," and that has led to self-isolation. In this regard, the strategy of keeping people off welfare by threatening them with social ostracism backfires: These men prefer to be ostracized.
An underground economy has built up around these men. Yakuza organize illegal gambling dens with free food and drink to attract welfare recipients. And since these men also receive free medical care, doctors ply them with drugs they don't necessarily need and then charge it all to the public health insurance scheme. The recipients turn around and sell the drugs on the black market.
The central government is now asking local governments to refuse welfare payments to men who can work. That's easier said than done, especially with the present job market. Employers are increasingly demanding specific skills, if not experience, even for minimum-wage jobs such as food service. Many of these unemployed welfare recipients, including those who want to work, don't qualify. According to antipoverty activist Makoto Yuasa, who was interviewed on the program, taking away welfare could be "dangerous," because the next step down for these men is "nothingness."
The Japan Times: Sunday, Sep. 25, 2011
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Saturday, July 2, 2011
Doubled sales tax by '16 gets nod Time frame kept vague; hike depends on economy
By NATSUKO FUKUE and HIROKO NAKATA
Staff writers
Yielding to strong opposition from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the DPJ president, approved a social security and tax reform plan Thursday that will enforce a 10 percent consumption tax "by the mid-2010s," instead of its initial target of fiscal 2015.
Naoto Kan
The deal agreed on by Kan's government and his DPJ also stipulates that the sales tax will only be hiked, presumably in stages, if the economy improves.
Despite the compromise, Kan hailed the agreement.
"I think today's decision is a historic one," he said. "(We) should move forward to reform the social security systems and tax so future generations will receive better social security services."
The mid-2010s refers to a time frame "between 2014 and 2016," said Kaoru Yosano, state minister in charge of fiscal policy and Kan's point man on social welfare and tax reforms.
With social security expenses continuing to balloon, the government "has to make an important decision after 2015," said Yosano, indicating the government envisions a further tax hike beyond that year.
The government's initial plan to finalize the reforms by June 20 was postponed after the timing of the tax hike sparked fierce criticism from many DPJ lawmakers on the party's tax reform panel.
The plan states that a tax hike is necessary to tackle mounting debt and social security costs as society rapidly ages. It also touches on the necessity of reducing social security outlays, including a hike in medical fees for patients aged between 70 and 74 to 20 percent from the present 10 percent, and also stipulates the need to lift the age people will start receiving pensions to between 68 and 70, up from the current 65 years old.
Meanwhile, the plan focuses on expanding the safety net for the young, such as by extending the pension system for regular employees to part-time workers.
The government's Social Security Council estimates an additional ¥2.7 trillion will be required in fiscal 2015 if the reforms are implemented.
While some ruling bloc lawmakers criticized the tax hike plan, analysts welcomed the reforms, saying the country's huge budget deficit and fears of a further downgrade of Japan's sovereign debt rating make raising the consumption tax inevitable.
"It is important to show people how big a tax burden they will inevitably have to shoulder due to growing social welfare costs," said Hideo Kumano, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
Social security expenses are projected to increase to ¥47.4 trillion in 2015 from ¥32.7 trillion in 2010, according to the Social Security Council.
Katsuhiko Fujimori, manager and chief research associate of social policy at Mizuho Information and Research Institute, said, "The government has no choice but to raise the sales tax when the country is burdened with such huge debt," adding the plan should have specified the timing of the tax hike. "It's also important to make the social welfare system more substantial in the aging society," he said.
The political vacuum created when Kan announced he will resign without specifying the timing of his exit is lowering confidence in Japan's sovereign debt rating.
Moody's Investors Service said last month it may downgrade the country's sovereign debt rating due to heightened concerns about faltering growth prospects and a weak political response to the mounting public debt.
In calender 2010, Japan's public debt reached 198.4 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, according to the Finance Ministry, twice as high as the level in the U.S. and France.
Monday, April 18, 2011
က်ေနာ္တို႔ ႏိုင္ငံသားအားလုံးရဲ့ မြန္ျမတ္တဲ့ ေစတနာ အလွဴလိုက္ပါ လုပ္အားေပး လိုသူမ်ား ဆက္သြယ္ စာရင္းေပးၾကပါရန္ ဖိတ္ေခၚအပ္ပါသည္၊
Sunday, April 17, 2011
က်ေနာ္တို႔တေတြ အေၾကာင္းအမ်ိဳးမ်ိးေၾကာင့္ မိခင္ႏိုင္ငံက ထြက္ခြာလာခဲ့ၾကတယ္။ က်ေနာ္တို႔ရဲ့ စား၀တ္ေနေရးေၾကာင့္ က်ေနာ္တို႔ရဲ့ ပညာေရးေၾကာင့္ က်ေနာ္တို႔ရဲ့ ယံုၾကည္ခ်က္ေတြေၾကာင့္ မိခင္ေျမကို စြန္႔ခြာလာခဲ့တဲ့ က်ေနာ္တို႔ ဒီေနရာကို ေရာက္လာခဲ့ၾကတယ္။ ဒီေနရာေလးက က်ေနာ္တို႔ကို ဆီးၾကိဳ ေထြးေပြ႔ခဲ့တယ္၊ က်ေနာ္တို႔ကို ေနရာ ထိုင္ခင္း ေပးခဲ့ၾကတယ္။ က်ေနာ္တို႔ကို အသက္ရွင္ ေနထိုင္ခြင့္ က်ေနာ္တို႔ယံုၾကည္တဲ့ လမ္းမွာေလွ်ာက္လွမ္းခြင့္ေတြ ေပးခဲ့ၾကတယ္။
ဒီေနရာဟာ က်ေနာတို႔ရဲ့ ဒုတိယ အိမ္ပဲျဖစ္တယ္။ ဒီေနရာေလးဟာ က်ေနာ္တို႔ရဲ့ နားခိုရာပဲျဖစ္တယ္။ဒီေနရာေလးရဲ့ အဆိုးအေကာင္း အက်ိဳးအေၾကာင္း အားလံုး က်ေနာ္တို႔နဲ႔ ဆက္စပ္ ပတ္သက္ေနတယ္၊ က်ေနာ္တို႔ကို ရိုက္ခတ္ေနတယ္၊ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ ေရာက္ေနတဲ့ ဒီေနရာေလးမွာ လြန္ခဲ့တဲ့ မတ္လ ၁၁ ရက္ေန႔မွာ အင္မတန္ ၾကမ္းတမ္းတဲ့ သဘာ၀ေဘးဒဏ္ တခုက်ေရာက္ခဲ့တယ္။ဒီေဘးဒဏ္ေၾကာင့္ လူေတြ အေျမာက္အမ်ား အသက္ဆံုးရံႈးခဲ့ရတယ္။ အိုးအိမ္စည္းစိမ္ ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ေတြ မယံုၾကည္ ႏိုင္ေလာက္ေအာင္ ပ်က္စီးသြားခဲ့တယ္၊ ဒီလူေတြဟာ က်ေနာ္တို႔ရဲ့ မိသားစုေတြပဲ။ ဒီလူေတြဟာ က်ေနာ္တို႔ရဲ့ ညီအကို ေမာင္နွမေတြပဲ။ က်ေနာ္တို႔တေတြ အားလံုး ေ၀မွ်ခံစားၾကရေအာင္၊ က်ေနာ္တို႔တေတြ တတ္ႏိုင္သမွ် ေမတၲာ တုန္႔ျပန္ၾကရေအာင္ အားလံုးကိုဖိတ္ေခၚပါတယ္။
ဂ်ပန္ငလွ်င္ႏွင့္ ဆူနာမိ ေဘးဒဏ္ခံခဲ့ရေသာ ေနရာေဒသမ်ားသို႔ လုပ္အားေပးႏွင့္ ဂ်ပန္ငလွ်င္ႏွင့္ လုပ္အားေပးႏွင့္ အစား အေသာက္ ခ်က္ျပဳတ္ ေကၽြးေမြး အလွဳျပဳလုပ္မည္ ျဖစ္ပါ တယ္၊ ဒါဟာ က်ေနာ္တို႔ရဲ့ အမိျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံက ယဥ္ေက်းမႈ တခုပဲျဖစ္တယ္။ ဒါဟာ က်ေနာ္တို႔ ႏိုင္ငံသားအားလုံးရဲ့ မြန္ျမတ္တဲ့ ေစတနာ အလွဴပဲျဖစ္ပါတယ္၊
အစီအအစဥ္ (၁)။ ။ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံသားမ်ား။ အဖဲြ႔အစည္းမ်ားမွ စုေပါင္းလွဴဒါန္းထားေသာ အလွဴေငြမ်ား ေပးအပ္လွဴဒါန္းမည္၊
အစီအအစဥ္ (၂)။ ။ကယ္ဆယ္ေရး စင္တာမ်ားတြင္ ေနထိုင္ေနရေသာ ဒုကၡသည္မ်ားအတြက္ ေန႔လည္စာ တနပ္ ခ်က္ျပဳတ္ ေကၽြးေမြး လွဴဒါန္းမည္။
အစီအအစဥ္ (၃)။ ။လမ္း အေဆာက္အဦး တခုခုတြင္ သန္႔ရွင္းေရး လုပ္အားေပး ေဆာင္ရြက္မည္၊
သြားေရာက္မည့္ေနရာ။ ။ မီယာဂိခရိုင္၊ အိရွိႏိုမခိ ျမိဳ႔ (Miyagi ken, Ishinomaki town)
သြားေရာက္မည့္ေန႔ရက္။ ။ဧျပီလ ၃၀ ရက္ေန႔(စေနေန႔) ည ဂ နာရီ စတင္ထြက္ခြာမည္၊
တနဂၤေႏြေန႔ မနက္ေရာက္မည္။ တနဂၤေႏြ ေန႔တေန႔လံုး လုပ္အားေပး ေဆာင္ရြက္မည္။ တနဂၤေႏြေန႔ ညေန ၄ နာရီတြင္ လုပ္အားေပး ရပ္နား၍ ညေန ၆ နာရီခန္႔တြင္ ျပန္လည္ထြက္ခြာမည္။ တိုက်ိဳသို႔ ေမလ ၂ ရက္ေန႔တနလာၤေန႔ နံနက္ ၄ နာရီခန္႔တြင္ ျပန္ေရာက္မည္ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ လိုက္ပါ လုပ္အားေပး လိုသူမ်ား ဆက္သြယ္ စာရင္းေပးၾကပါရန္ ဖိတ္ေခၚအပ္ပါသည္၊
လုပ္အားေပး လိုက္ပါမည့့္သူမ်ားအားလုံး မိမိစားစရိတ္ျ္ဖင့္ လိုက္ပါရမညျဖစ္ပါ၍ တဦးလွ်ွင္ ယန္း၁၀ ၀၀၀ သတ္မွထ္ ထားပါသည္။ အစားအေသာက္ခ်ကျ္ပဳတ္ ေကၽြးေမြးျခင္း အစီအစဥ္အတြက္ ဟင္းလွ်ွာ၊ အစားအေသာက္၊ ေရ၊ ေစ်း၀ယ္ စားရိတ္ စသျဖင့္ ထဲ့၀င္ လွဴဒါန္း ၾကပါရန္ ႏိႈးေဆာ္ တိုက္တြန္း အပ္ပါသည္၊
ဆက္သြယ္ရန္- စုံစမ္းရန္- စာရင္းေပးသြင္းးရန္
ကိုသန္းေဆြ။ ၀၉၀ ၄၉၆၄ ၉၇၁၈ ကိုေက်ာ္ေက်ာ္စိုး။ ၀၉၀ ၆၀၃၁ ၄၈၉၄ ကိုမိုင္ေက်ာ္ဦး။ ၀၉၀ ၉၈၃၁ ၇၁၉၂၊ကိုေဇာ္မင္းခိုင္။ ၀၉၀ ၉၂၀၀၃၈၃၁ ကိုကိုေအာင္။ ၀၉၀ ၁၅၀၆ ၂၈၉၃ ကိုဘုန္းလိႈင္။ ၀၉၀ ၅၃၁၈ ၅၀၅၄ ၊ ကိုျမင့္ေဆြ။ ၀၈၀ ၄၀၀၅ ၇၀၉၈ ကိုေမာင္ေမာင္ဦး။ ၀၉၀ ၆၇၉၈ ၀၁၃၇ ကိုဘုန္းျမင့္ထြန္း။ ၀၉၀ ၄၂၂၁ ၁၉၈၈ ၊ကိုရဲျငိမ္း။ ၀၈၀ ၅၀၇၀ ၀၀၈၀ ကိုလွေအးေမာင္။ ၀၉၀ ၂၅၂၅ ၁၉၆၆ ကိုလိႈင္ေအး။ ၀၉၀ ၂၂၅၈ ၃၃၀၇ ၊ကိုျမတ္သူ ၀၈၀ ၃၄၂၄ ၂၇၅၉
Posted by PNSjapan at 9:11 AM
Labels: ႏႈိးေဆာ္ျခင္း
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Defiant Japanese boat captain rode out tsunami
Oshima, Japan (CNN) -- Susumu Sugawara looks bemused and a little embarrassed at all the attention he's getting.
The 64 year old has become a local hero on the Japanese island of Oshima. Smashed boats adorn the coastline of this once-idyllic tourist spot, but Sugawara's pride and joy, "Sunflower" is intact and working overtime transporting people and aid to and from the island. It can hold around 20 people at a time.
When the tsunami came, everyone ran to the hills. But Sugawara ran to his boat and steered it into deeper waters. "I knew if I didn't save my boat, my island would be isolated and in trouble," he tells CNN.
As he passed his other boats, used for fishing abalone, he said goodbye to them, apologizing that he could not save them all.
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2011 Japan Disaster
Tsunamis
Then the first wave came. Sugawara says he is used to seeing waves up to 5 meters high but this was four-times that size.
"My feeling at this moment is indescribable," he says with glistening eyes. "I talked to my boat and said you've been with me 42 years. If we live or die, then we'll be together, then I pushed on full throttle."
"Here was my boat and here was the wave," he says, holding one hand low and the other stretched high above his head. "I climbed the wave like a mountain. When I thought I had got to the top, the wave got even bigger."
Sugawara's arms flail wildly as he describes the top of the wave crashing down repeatedly onto his boat. "I closed my eyes and felt dizzy. When I opened them, I could see the horizon again, so I knew I'd made it."
Then the next wave came. Sugawara can't remember if there were four or five waves, but he says he did not feel afraid, he was just focused on steering his boat.
Suddenly the sea was completely calm and he knew he had beaten the tsunami. Sugawara stayed at sea until dark, pumping water from the boat's engine room. He believed his island had been destroyed by the wave. He says he didn't cry but felt angry and utterly helpless. He didn't know if his family had survived.
Trying to get back to Oshima, he had to navigate carefully past wrecked houses, boats and other debris that floated past him. The island of Oshima was in complete darkness; the only way he could find his way was with the guide of raging fires at Kesunnuma -- 5 kilometers (3 miles) away.
For twenty days, he has been making hourly trips to the mainland. For the first two weeks at least he provided almost the only connection with it. Without Sugawara and the Sunflower, the island would have been completely cut off.
He doesn't ask passengers for money if they have none. Those that can, pay just 300 yen (US$3.5) towards fuel.
Oshima is an island of just 3,500 people. Locals say 35 of them are confirmed dead and some are still missing, though they don't know how many. Others are believed to have taken their boats out to sea and tried to ride the tsunami like Sugawara but didn't make it.
The supermarket owner, Tadaomi Sasahara, tells me he gave all of his food away for free after the disaster. Many islanders then brought their food from their homes and shared it out.
He adds, "Everyone used to look out for themselves on this island, but after this, the whole community is now helping each other."
With his supermarket shelves empty, he now helps Sugawara with his hourly trips to the mainland.
Sugawara risked his life for his boat and his island -- one of the very few to ride a tsunami and to live to tell the tale.
Status report: Reactor-by-reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) -- Since March 11, the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been in various states of disrepair after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck the area.
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Here is the latest on each reactor and efforts to prevent further releases of radioactive material.
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Reactor No. 1
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Early Sunday afternoon, the electricity source used to power the No. 1 unit's cooling systems was switched from a temporary diesel generator to a more permanent, external power supply, the International Atomic Energy Agency noted on its website.
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In addition, some (but not all) lighting has been restored in the No. 1 unit's turbine building, where large amounts of pooled, highly radioactive water had been found in the basement.
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Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official with Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency, said Sunday that the parameters appear stable in the No. 1 reactor. Temperatures are gradually going down, he added.
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This is in sharp contrast to earlier in the crisis, when temperatures in the No. 1 reactor once topped 2,700 Celsius (4,800 Fahrenheit), according to an estimate from Areva, one of the world's top nuclear energy companies based in France. In such intense heat, much of the water used to cool the reactor's nuclear fuel rods may have boiled away, contributing to the full or partial exposure of the fuel rods (and little to cool them) and the significant release of radioactive vapor.
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The No. 1 reactor is considered to be in shutdown mode, according to its owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company.
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Radioactive water that had been pumped out of the No. 1 unit's turbine building into a condenser was emptied on Sunday afternoon into a storage tank, reports Tokyo Electric.
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Nitrogen is slated to be injected into the No. 1 reactor, an attempt to minimize the possibility of the dangerous buildup of hydrogen, after Tuesday. A hydrogen explosion -- an indicator of possible core damage -- blew the roof and upper walls off the building housing the reactor on March 12.
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A camera was installed Sunday in the exposed maintenance tunnel leading to the No. 1 unit's turbine building, where highly radioactive water had been found last week. The goal is to pinpoint how water got into the tunnel, which had been used for electrical cables but wasn't supposed to contain liquid.
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Nishiyama on Saturday knocked down a claim made a day earlier by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu that 70% of the No. 1 reactor's core has suffered severe damage. Noting that sensors have been unreliable, Chu said the calculation was based on the fact that radiation levels have been too high for workers to get inside. But Nishiyama said that Japanese authorities' data indicates only 3% damage to the unit.
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Tsunehisa Katsumata, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company that runs the nuclear power plant, said last Wednesday, "Looking at current conditions ... there are no options other than decommissioning" the No. 1 reactor, as well as Nos. 2, 3 and 4 units. This would mean that the reactor would never be used to produce electricity again.
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This reactor's core has been damaged, but its containment vessel was not, according to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, an industry trade group that tracks information from government and Tokyo Electric officials. The containment vessel is a concrete and steel structure that keeps radioactive material inside the reactor.
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Lighting has been restored to the No. 1 and No. 2 units' control room, though the overall power supply in both is subpar.
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Reactor No. 2
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Tests from Saturday on water in the concrete pit outside the No. 2 unit's turbine building -- the same spot where water is rushing directly into the Pacific Ocean through a roughly 20-centimeter (8-inch) crack -- showed radiation levels 7.5 million times the regulatory limit, a Tokyo Electric official said. More recent findings showed a slight drop to 5 million times the norm.
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But the utility company also noted Tuesday that the radiation levels diminished sharply as one moved away from the leak, consistent with their assessment that the spill might have a minimal effect on sealife.
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For 2.5 hours on Monday, water was injected into the No. 2 unit's nuclear spent fuel pool, Tokyo Electric reported Tuesday on its website. That water cooling process was powered by what the utility called "a temporary, motor-driven pump."
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Attempts failed Saturday and again Sunday to plus the cracked concrete shaft outside the No. 2 reactor's turbine building. Pictures showed highly radioactive water gushing through the crack and directly into the ocean.
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Plan C is to install a silt fence along a damaged sea wall surrounding the plant, Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency said Monday. This will take several days to complete, a Tokyo Electric official said Tuesday.
The aim of this screening, which is usually used to halt erosion at construction sites, is to prohibit the spread of radioactive particles into the sea. Workers also have injected a dye tracer into the water to help them track the dispersal of such particles.
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Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Monday that authorities opted to dump 11,500 tons of that's collected in and around the Nos. 3 and 4 units for the "safety" of the No. 2 reactor. He called the decision "unavoidable," saying that while the Nos. 3 and 4 units' is radioactive, these levels are nowhere near as high or as dangerous that from the No. 2 unit.
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As of Sunday afternoon, an external power source was being used for the No. 2 unit's cooling system. This replaces the temporary diesel generator in use in recent days.
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Cameras have been set up monitor areas in and around the No. 2 unit's turbine building, an attempt to get more information about water levels and potential leaks, said Nishiyama, the nuclear safety official, on Sunday
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Conditions in the No. 2 reactor core appear to be stable, he added.
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Areva estimates that the temperature in the No. 2 reactor core at one point in the crisis soared as high as 1,800 Celsius (3,200 Fahreinheit).
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The No. 2 reactor is officially shut down, reports Tokyo Electric.
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As with the Nos. 1 and 3 units, there is a plan to inject nitrogen into the No. 2 reactor in order to prevent a buildup of hydrogen that might cause an explosion. One such blast occurred at the No. 2 unit on March 15.
A Tokyo Electric executive said last week that, "looking at current conditions," the No. 2 reactor and three others would be decommissioned -- meaning it would never be used to produce electricity again.
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Lighting has been restored to the No. 1 and No. 2 units' control room, though the overall power supply in both is subpar.
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Reactor No. 3
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The level of water in the No. 3 unit's turbine building as well as in an exposed maintenance tunnel is high, a Tokyo Electric official said Tuesday.
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On its website, the utility company claimed that the water level in the tunnel had increased by 15 centimeters on Sunday. The theory is that water from the No. 4 unit's turbine building was somehow reaching the No. 3 unit's trench. The water level stabilized by Monday, after workers stopped transferring water in the No. 4 unit's turbine building.
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From 5 a.m. to after 7 p.m. Monday, water was sprayed using a concrete pumping truck to cool down nuclear fuel at the No. 3 unit, Tokyo Electric reported Tuesday.
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Loose water found in and around the No. 3 complex has shown high levels of radiation, but nowhere as high as that in the No. 2 unit, said Edano.
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Recent data on key parameters, such as pressure levels and temperature, suggest that the No. 3 reactor is relatively stable, the nuclear safety official Nishiyama said Sunday.
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An outside, more permanent electricity supply began powering the cooling system used to cool nuclear fuel in the No. 3 reactor on Sunday afternoon, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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This cooling system -- including back-up and primary power sources -- had broken down earlier in the crisis. At one point, temperatures reached as high as 1,800 Celsius (3,200 Fahreinheit) in the No. 3 reactors, according to an analysis from Areva.
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Tokyo Electric said Monday on its website that the No. 3 reactor is considered to be in shutdown mode.
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On Sunday, workers were in the process of setting up a monitor in the exposed maintenance tunnel outside the No. 3 unit's turbine building, into which radioactive water had been leaking.
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Japan's nuclear safety agency earlier announced plans to pump in nitrogen -- a non-flammable substance -- into the No. 2 reactor and two others in a bid to prevent an explosion caused by the buildup of hydrogen. Eleven people were injured on March 14 when one such explosion occurred at the No. 2 unit.
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Like the Nos. 1, 2 and 4 reactors, the No. 3 reactor is likely to be put out of service permanently even after the crisis resolves, Katsumata said Wednesday. Among other issues, the use of seawater in the post-crisis response has corroded the reactor, experts have said.
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The No. 3 reactor had been of particular concern because it is the only one to use mixed-oxide fuel that contains a small percentage of plutonium, which is also a byproduct in other reactors. A small amount of plutonium was detected in soil samples on the plant grounds last week, Tokyo Electric reported Monday. Edano said last week that it was "likely" the plutonium came from this reactor.
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The cooling pool where spent fuel is stored may also have been damaged, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum reports.
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Freshwater has been injected into the No. 3 reactor core in order to prevent overheating of nuclear fuel inside.
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The No. 3 reactor is believed to have suffered core damage, and a hydrogen explosion did extensive damage to the building surrounding the reactor March 14.
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Reactor No. 4
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The level of water in the No. 4 unit's turbine building as well as in an exposed maintenance tunnel is high, a Tokyo Electric official said Tuesday.
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For five hours Sunday night, freshwater was sprayed from a concrete pumping vehicle into the No. 4 unit's spent nuclear fuel pool, according to details on Tokyo Electric's website.
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The utility company announced Sunday that two workers, ages 21 and 24, had been found dead in the No. 4 unit's turbine building. The men, who suffered multiple traumatic injuries, had been missing since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Their bodies were found Wednesday, though Tokyo Electric said it waited several days to notify the public in order to let the victims' families know first.
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Some lights in the No. 4 unit's turbine building were turned on for the first time Thursday since the natural disaster.
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This reactor was offline in a scheduled outage when the earthquake hit. Still, it has had several major problems since then, including a March 15 fire that damaged the building that houses the reactor.
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The nuclear fuel rods were in the unit's spent fuel pool, but not in the reactor itself. The reactor's pool of spent nuclear fuel was "possibly damaged," which is why authorities have made repeated efforts to pour water onto the structure.
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Reactors Nos. 5 and 6
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Water has pooled up in the basements of the Nos. 5 and 6 units' turbine buildings, Edano said Monday.
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Tokyo Electric reports on its website that this amounts to about 1,500 tons of this water.
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The radiation level of this discharged water is about .6 millisieverts per year, according to Tokyo Electric. For reference, a person in a developed country is naturally exposed to 3 millisieverts per year.
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Beginning Monday night, that water was pumped out and dumped directly into the Pacific Ocean. The cabinet minister said there was "no choice" but to dump such water into the sea, rather than putting it in storage tanks, because that space was needed for more highly contaminated water from around the No. 2 unit.
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While those reactors' remained stable, Edano said this water had to be pumped out soon because it threatened to derail the electricity that is being used to power the systems' cooling the fuel rods in the Nos. 5 and 6 units' spent nuclear fuel pools.
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These two reactors were not in operation at the time of the earthquake and had been in "cold shutdown," Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency reports.
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The reactors were shut down for a scheduled outage when the quake hit and there are no major issues with the reactors and cores themselves. The cooling systems in the pools of spent nuclear fuel are thought to be functioning, though there are continued concerns about keeping power running to the systems.
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Three holes were punched in each building earlier to relieve pressure and prevent a feared hydrogen explosion.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Japan nuke plant dumps radioactive water into sea
AP – A Buddhist monk, offering prayer, walks through the area destroyed by a tsunami in Yamada, Iwate prefecture, … By MARI YAMAGUCHI and YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press Mari Yamaguchi And Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press – 18 mins ago
TOKYO – Workers began pumping more than 3 million gallons of contaminated water from Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean on Monday, freeing storage space for even more highly radioactive water that has hampered efforts to stabilize the reactors.
It will take about two days to pump most of the less-radioactive water out of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, whose cooling systems were knocked out by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
Radioactivity is quickly diluted in the ocean, and government officials said the dump should not affect the safety of seafood in the area.
Since the disaster, water with different levels of radioactivity has been pooling throughout the plant. People who live within 12 miles (20 kilometers) have been evacuated and have not been allowed to return.
The pooling water has damaged systems and the radiation hazard has prevented workers from getting close enough to power up cooling systems needed to stabilize dangerously vulnerable fuel rods.
On Saturday, they discovered that some radioactive water was pouring into the ocean.
The less-radioactive water that officials are purposely dumping into the sea is up to 500 times the legal limit for radiation.
"We think releasing water with low levels of radiation is preferable to allowing water with high levels of radiation to be released into the environment," said Junichi Matsumoto, an official with plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Workers need to get rid of the highly radioactive water, but first they need somewhere safe to put it. Much of the less-radioactive water being dumped into the sea is from the tsunami and had accumulated in a nuclear waste storage building.
The building is not meant to hold water, but it's also not leaking, so engineers decided to empty it so they can pump in the more-radioactive water. The rest of the water going into the sea is coming from a trench beneath two of the plant's six reactors.
More water keeps pooling because TEPCO has been forced to rely on makeshift methods of bringing down temperatures and pressure by pumping water into the reactors and allowing it to gush out wherever it can. It is a messy process, but it is preventing a full meltdown of the fuel rods that would release even more radioactivity into the environment.
"We must keep putting water into the reactors to cool to prevent further fuel damage, even though we know that there is a side effect, which is the leakage," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan's Nuclear Safety and Industrial Agency. "We want to get rid of the stagnant water and decontaminate the place so that we can return to our primary task to restore the sustainable cooling capacity as quickly as possible."
Engineers have been using unusual methods to try to stop the more highly radioactive water leaking into the sea.
They thought it was coming from a crack in a maintenance pit they discovered Saturday, but an attempt to seal the crack with concrete failed, and clogging it with a special polymer mixed with sawdust and shredded newspapers didn't work, either.
They dumped milky white bath salts into the system around the pit Monday to try to figure out the source of the leak, but it never splashed out into the ocean.
In the meantime, workers plan to install screens made of polyester fabric to try to stop some of the contamination in the ocean from spreading.
Although the government eventually authorized the dumping of the less-radioactive water, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said officials were growing concerned about the sheer volume of radioactive materials spilling into the Pacific. It is not clear how much water has leaked in addition to what is being dumped purposely.
"Even if they say the contamination will be diluted in the ocean, the longer this continues, the more radioactive particles will be released and the greater the impact on the ocean," Edano said. "We are strongly urging TEPCO that they have to take immediate action to deal with this."
Experts said Monday that at this point, they don't expect the discharges to pose widespread danger to sea animals or people who might eat them.
"It's a very large ocean" with considerable powers of dilution, noted William Burnett of Florida State University.
Very close to the nuclear plant — less than half a mile (800 meters) or so — sea creatures might be in danger of problems like genetic mutations if the dumping goes on a long time, he said. But there shouldn't be any serious hazard farther away "unless this escalates into something much, much larger than it has so far," he said.
Also Monday, a spokesman for the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, Sergei Novikov, told reporters that Japan has requested Russia send it a vessel used to decommission nuclear submarines, and that Moscow was considering the request.
"If the Japanese side arranges answers to the questions we sent them, it can be transferred ... within a very short period," Novikov said, according to a statement on Rosatom's website. The nature of the questions wasn't specified.
Novikov said the vessel, called the Landysh, was built with Japanese funds under the "Global Partnership" program to help dispose of liquid nuclear waste from decommissioned submarines.
The crisis has unfolded as Japan deals with the aftermath of twin natural disasters that devastated much of its northeastern coast. Up to 25,000 people are believed to have died and tens of thousands lost their homes.
The situation at the Fukushima plant has brought protests in Japan and raised questions around the world about the safety of nuclear power. Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told delegates at a nuclear safety conference Monday that the industry cannot afford to ignore these concerns.
"We cannot take a business-as-usual approach," Amano said.
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, who was in Tokyo this week to meet with TEPCO's chairman, defended the industry when asked by a reporter if the Fukushima incident would cause global concern about nuclear safety.
"This is an industry that's had an extremely safe track record for more than 40 years," Immelt said. "We have had more than 1,000 engineers working around the clock since the incident began and we will continue in the short, medium and long term working with TEPCO due to this horrific natural disaster."
All of the plant's reactors were designed by GE, and Immelt offered assistance in dealing with the electricity shortage brought on by damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility and other power plants. Japan is expecting a shortfall of at least 10 million kilowatts in summer, and Immelt said gas turbines with both short- and long-term capabilities are on their way from the U.S.
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Associated Press writers Ryan Nakashima and Noriko Kitano in Tokyo and Jim Heintz in Moscow and science writer Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.
Democratic Party of Japan is standing up well to the tragic earthquake and tsunami
Democratic Party of Japan is standing up well to the tragic earthquake and tsunami
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is standing up well to the tragic earthquake and tsunami and the Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, is gaining in stature. Despite this, the media in Japan is often too critical and people should remember the shortcomings of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) during the Kobe earthquake which struck in 1995.
Factionalism is a huge problem in Japan and this applies to the main political parties and back stabbing, power constraints, no focused hierarchy which is united, and other factors, is hindering the political system in Japan.
Therefore, prime ministers resign quickly and factions once more start to focus on their respective power concentrations. This leads to a cycle of “nothingness” and shortsightedness and it is refreshing to hear Naoto Kan stating that he will serve out his term and not resign.
Irrespective if people support the current DPJ led government or if they are loyal to the LDP or other minor political parties; it is instrumental for the political system to have stability and people in Japan and the media need to take the rough with the smooth.
Karel van Wolferen, the author of The Enigma of Japanese Power, states “Amid the horrifying news from Japan, the establishment of new standards of political leadership there is easy to miss – in part because the Japanese media follow old habits of automatically criticizing how officials are dealing with the calamity, and many foreign reporters who lack perspective simply copy that critical tone. But, compared to the aftermath of the catastrophic Kobe earthquake of 1995, when the authorities appeared to wash their hands of the victims’ miseries, the difference could hardly be greater.”
This is a fair point and the current crisis in Japan is much more devastating than Kobe in terms of the numbers of people killed, the fact that the 2011 earthquake also led to a destructive and deadly tsunami and added to this you have the nuclear factor and the fear of radiation.
This is not to understate the Kobe earthquake because this earthquake also killed many people and over 6,000 people died and this earthquake was truly devastating.
However, the earthquake which struck on March 11, 2011, is the first earthquake in the world to compose of an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. Therefore, the DPJ, which is beset with factionalism, just like the LDP, is doing a good job given the circumstances.
Karel van Wolferen, referring to the Kobe earthquake, states that “This time, Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) government is making an all-out effort, with unprecedented intensive involvement of his Cabinet and newly formed specialized task forces. The prime minister himself is regularly televised with relevant officials wearing the work fatigues common among Japanese engineers.”
The Kobe earthquake in 1995 epitomized the aloofness of the LDP and appeared to be based on consensus thinking and bureaucratic mindsets which were ill prepared to act promptly. Also, the earthquake appeared to be based on stratification because according to Karel van Wolferen many people were left to look after themselves because the main priority was to focus on people who “belonged to corporations or religious groups.”
The DPJ ended the monopoly of rule under the LDP and for bureaucratic mandarins the consensus faced a new approach because the philosophy of the DPJ is that elected officials should rule and be made accountable for their actions.
Since the DPJ took power it is clear that career officials, the judiciary, and all the mechanisms under the tight bureaucratic ship have faced power concentration issues and it is not easy for the DPJ to alter the status quo and mechanisms of power in Japan.
The American government under President Obama undermined the first DPJ leader, Yukio Hatoyama, because the Obama administration appears to look down on Japan and instead of a genuine discussion about Okinawa; it was a case of dictate and enforcing an American objective and ultimately this led to the resignation of Yukio Hatoyama.
This was an auspicious start for the new DPJ government and added to this initial setback the Ichiro Ozawa “shadow” continues to linger and he is not helping the cause of the Naoto Kan government.
Karel van Wolferen also lambasts the media in Japan because he states that “Japan’s main newspapers have mostly backed the status quo as well. Indeed, they now appear to have forgotten their role in hampering the DPJ’s effort to create an effective political coordinating body for the country. A half-century of reporting on internal LDP rivalries unrelated to actual policy has turned Japan’s reporters into the world’s greatest connoisseurs of political factionalism. It has also left them almost incapable of recognizing actual policy initiatives when they see them.”
However, despite everything the DPJ is focused under Naoto Kan and the government is being very transparent and daily briefings can be seen on television. It is obvious that some mistakes will be made during the current crisis because all governments would struggle under such an enormous crisis.
Despite this, the Kan government is thinking on its feet and the government is part of the people and if we think about the Kobe earthquake; then clearly the LDP government at the time was aloof and rigid.
The future of the current Kan administration is still uncertain because of factional politics in Japan, the Ozawa “shadow,” major economic issues which have been created by the LDP, and power concentration mechanisms are still potent within the body politic of Japan.
Yet the current leader of Japan is holding up well and decisions are being made promptly and transparency is part and parcel of the Kan administration.
leejay@moderntokyotimes.com
http://www.moderntokyotimes.com
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