Great news for the Japanese viewing audience! Arnie’s video reports concerning the situation in Fukushima and the global Nuclear industry are now being translated into Japanese! There is now a fairewinds.jp web page, still under construction, but worth viewing. Thanks to all the volunteers that are making it happen!
Tag Archives: Anti-Nuclear
Must read article from Kansai Scene
I was tipped on this fantastic article about Japan’s on going nuclear nightmare and the causes behind it. This is a super read from someone who truly knows Japan, its culture, history, and inner workings! You must read this.
Here is a short clipping to whet your appetite, follow the link to read the whole article.
Amakudari : Japan’s system of amakudari (literally, ‘descent from heaven’), in which bureaucrats retire from their ministries to take up lucrative positions in the companies they formerly ‘regulated,’ means that there is no real distinction between regulator and regulated in Japan. Indeed, it’s probably fair to say that certain powerful industries actually regulate the ministries that are tasked with regulating them. There is a simple reason for this, which anyone who has ever lived in Japan will immediately understand: in Japan, sempai is for life. Keep in mind that the retired bureaucrats who have become industry executives remain sempai to the younger bureaucrats who remain in the ministries (their former kohai). It is unthinkable that these kohai could effectively regulate their former sempai — for it would involve an inversion of one of the most fundamental relationships in Japanese life. Perhaps no industry is as rife with amakudari as the nuclear industry. Tepco is typical, with four company vice presidents between 1959 and 2010 coming from Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Commission, the main ministry tasked with overseeing the nuclear industry.
Koide straight talking to the Government
小出さんのはなしきいたほうがいいとおもいいます！
The Kyoto University professor Koide recently appeared before the Japanese Diet to make a presentation. Here are a few clips
Rankin Taxi and Ainu Dub Band!
New Anti-Nuclear song out on YouTube now! Love this track! A long time Japanese reggae star, “Rankin Taxi” has teamed up with the seminal Ainu band from right here in Hokkaido, “Ainu Dub Band”. An instant classic that will probably not be getting much air time on the major radio stations.
Watch it here with english or Japanese subtitles. Then post/twitter/facebook etc.,! Spread the word!
Kakukaihatsu-Hantai
This is some info in Japanese about the Nuclear Power Plant called Monju in I think its, Ishikawa prefecture. Still in the building stages, from what I heard they had an accident there on March the 6th, just before the Earthquake. The news about that got lost due to the 9.0 Check it out if you can read. Click the link below for the full PDF version.
Or click this link for even more.
http://www.kakukaihatsu-hantai.jp/syomei
Stop ザ 平和ぼけ
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Nice work Keng!
One of my favorite bloggers, Keng has created a nice piece of art work. I think it is a sticker, I have to get some! I want to start seeing this message all over Japan.
Japan news updates
“Amakudari” has put us all up shit creek without a paddle.
From NHK world news in English.
68 top bureaucrats assume exec posts at utilities
Japan’s industry ministry says a total of 68 former top bureaucrats have assumed executive posts at electric power companies after retiring from the ministry over the past 50 years.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which oversees electric companies, surveyed 12 firms on the number of former career-track bureaucrats that the companies have employed as executives or advisors.
The ministry found that three former chiefs of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy took post-retirement jobs at utilities or related companies.
They include Toru Ishida, who resigned as an advisor to the Tokyo Electric Power Company last month amid the nuclear crisis at the utility’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The ministry also found that 13 former elite bureaucrats currently hold senior positions at power companies.
The industry ministry faces mounting criticism over the practice known as “amakudari,” in which bureaucrats obtain post-retirement jobs at private companies that they have supervised.
The ministry urges its senior officials and those at energy- and nuclear power-related agencies to voluntarily refrain from accepting post-retirement jobs at power companies.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 12:48 +0900 (JST)
Now here is a good new story. This is the kind of thing I have been hoping for from the Japanese public!
Shareholders call for nuclear plant closures
NHK has learned that shareholders of five electric power companies in Japan are calling for the utilities to decommission their nuclear power plants in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
About 400 stockholders of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the Fukushima plant, submitted official documents in support of the proposal.
Shareholders of at least four other power companies — Kansai Electric, Chugoku Electric, Kyushu Electric and Tohoku Electric — have made similar proposals.
On Monday, a group of 232 stockholders of Tohoku Electric submitted documents calling for the company to abolish its nuclear power plants.
The group says the potential risks of nuclear power generation are too great for any single company to afford.
The group urged the utility to decommission its nuclear power plants and to end its investment in the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing businesses.
The power companies are expected to examine the proposals and submit them to a vote at their annual shareholders’ meeting. The meetings are typically held by the end of June.
Attention is now focused on what decisions will be made at the meetings amid growing public concern about nuclear power generation.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 12:09 +0900 (JST)
And finally better later than never?
Belated release of radiation forecast data
The Japanese government is about to begin releasing data projecting the spread of radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that it initially withheld for fear of causing panic.
The data in question is in a computer system called SPEEDI that predicts the spread of radioactive substances based on actual radiation measurements at various locations and weather conditions.
A joint task force of the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company says about 5,000 undisclosed bits of data will be released from Tuesday.
The information will be carried on the websites of the science ministry, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and the Nuclear Safety Commission.
The secretary-general of the joint task force and prime the minister’s advisor, Goshi Hosono, apologized for the delay in releasing the data.
Hosono said the task force withheld the information because some data were based on overly rigorous assumptions and feared it may trigger panic.
But he said the task force now believes that panic can be avoided if it offers proper explanations on the projections. He also promised to promptly release all such data in the future.
Hosono said the task force will carry out a monthly check of how TEPCO is proceeding with its plan to bring the nuclear crisis under control.
The utility firm announced a recovery roadmap on April 17th that calls for stabilizing the situation in 6 to 9 months.
Monday, May 02, 2011 19:34 +0900 (JST)
You can find that Data here.
They don’t show this on TV
This is the kind of footage the mass media edits out of their nightly broadcasts. There is a lot of talk going on about all the animals left inside the Exclusion Zone, a huge number apparently.
Here are some people trying to rescue dogs abandoned by people who had to leave to evacuation centers.
The Neil Hartmann Weblog 