Madness engulfs Japan

SUBHEAD: The tragedy of 3/11/11 and the horrors of Fukushima Daiichi has unhinged the Japanese mind.

By Juan Wilson on 4 December 2013 for Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2013/12/madness-engulfs-japan.html)


Image above: Zaha Hadid Architects' proposal for Japan's new national stadium to be built for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. From (http://damoncoulter.photoshelter.com/image/I0000qQkANyZU7NU).

It has been my opinion that the terrorist attacks on America on 9/11/01 that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and seriously damaged the Pentagon drove the United Stated to madness.

The ramifications are still roiling through our bloodstream - an endless war against the Middle East and Fascist security measures at home that include spying on every communication Americans make and a militarization of our police and transportation systems.

Well we are not alone. The tragic events in Japan two-and-one-half years ago have driven Japan into a madness that leads straight to Fascism. Officials will often argue that they are only trying to keep the public calm and avoid panic, but it is more likely officials want to protect themselves (or their handlers) by "saving face".

In Asia the cultural attribute of "saving face" still has a powerful hold. Japan is no exception. With regards to the government and industry handling of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster this is proving to compound the problems.

The Daily Beast: Jake Adelstein, Nov. 29, 2013: [...] even politicians inside the ruling bloc are saying, “It can’t be denied that another purpose is to muzzle the press, shut up whistleblowers, and ensure that the nuclear disaster at Fukushima ceases to be an embarrassment before the Olympics.” [...] And most tellingly, Masako Mori, the Minister of Justice, has declared that nuclear related information will most likely be a designated secret. For the Abe administration this would be fantastic way to deal with the issue of tons of radiated water leaking  [...] There seems to be no end to stopping the toxic waste leaks there but the new legislation would allow the administration to plug the information leaks permanently. As [it] continues to pour into the ocean and our food supply, it is an ominous sign that the Japanese government refuses to disclose information about the levels of pollution [...]  

Bloomberg’s William Pesek, Dec. 2, 2013: The entire process has echoes of George Orwell. [...] if I grab a beer with a bureaucrat and ask the wrong question, could I end up in handcuffs? Ambiguity reigns. Last week, the No. 2 official in [Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, Shigeru Ishiba, issued a dark warning to anyone like me who might dare to question the bill. In a Nov. 29 blog post, the LDP secretary-general likened any such challenge to “an act of terrorism.” He’s since stood by his ominous statement. [Update: Read Ishiba's apology here] [...] “How can the government respond to growing demands for transparency from a public outraged by the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear accident if it enacts a law that gives it a free hand to classify any information considered too sensitive as a ‘state secret’?” Reporters Without Borders asked in a Nov. 27 statement. Essentially, the group argued, Japan “is making investigative journalism illegal [...]

Japan Times, Dec. 3, 2013: With the contentious state secrets bill slated to clear the Upper House this week, citizens have been holding daily protests in front of the Diet building, denouncing the law as emblematic of the “rise of fascism.” [...] Atsuko Ikegami, 45, also decried what she viewed as the state tightening its grip on citizen access to critical information, including about nuclear crises. [...] “When those (anti-nuclear) rallies happened, I thought, ‘Well, the Japanese people finally learned to stand up and make their voice heard,’ ” Ikegami said. “But the bill could subject these activists to constant spying by the state [...]”

Control of information and spying are only one aspect of the problem. Coverups and denial of the dangers have lead directly harming the public. Reassurances on the safety of food grown and fish caught in areas impacted by radioactive plumes are one aspect. Another are the faked reports of low radiation distribution where topsoil has been removed before testing for radiation. See (http://enenews.com/concerns-japanese-govt-is-manipulating-radiation-readings-levels-much-higher-than-monitoring-stations-indicate). Self-delusion and xenophobia, and paranoia are rampant as well: 

PNAS scientific journal published by Japanese scholars, Oct. 5, 2011: about 20 percent of Japanese land, including Tokyo, is contaminated with highly toxic radiation. It is obvious that agricultural products are also contaminated as the land is polluted with radioactive materials. The contamination on land will last approximately 300 years.

EXSKF, Nov. 28, 2013: The 33rd Ministry of Justice human rights essay contest for junior high school students has been won by a student in Miyagi Prefecture who wrote not buying Fukushima’s peaches because of radiation fear was the same as him being “discriminated” against by his classmate for being a Chinese national. Refusing the Fukushima produce because of radiation fear is tantamount to racial discrimination, according to the student and the Ministry of Justice who selected his essay as the best of the best this year. [...] Not buying Fukushima produce, as the government tells you to? You’re racist [...]

Korea Times, Dec. 2, 2013: More than two and a half years have passed since the “meltdown” at Fukushima nuclear power plant but the exact extent of the damage remains uncertain. Worse, it has been left unrepaired. Thus, experts and citizens worry about the catastrophic impacts on health and safety. [...] Kim Ik-joong, a biology professor from Dongguk University, said that radiation at Fukushima nuclear power plant was at least seven times as much as that at Chernobyl [...]

The Japanese government effort made to presented Tokyo as the best venue in the world to host the 2020 Olympics is one sign of the self-delusion of the country. There is little doubt now that Japan will never return to business as usual. Fuskushima Daiichi is a festering wound that cannot be "healed". It is merely a question of how bad will it be... and that won't be known even by our great-grand-children.

Japan is not alone in its madness. The US government is in denial and obscuring the risks to health of the Pacific Ocean and the West Coast. So is Canada.

Even the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot be trusted. According to itself, the IAEA "serves as the world's central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field." As a referee to protect the public and the environment one has to wonder when it has spent over half a century encouraging the development of the peaceful applications of nuclear technology.

If you want to know how intense the madness can be in Japan see The Cove. It was the winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, The Cove follows a high-tech dive team on a mission to discover the truth about the dolphin trade as practiced in Taiji, Japan. This movie uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.


Video above: Trailer for "The Cove", 2009. Horrific secret slaughter of dolphins uncovered in Japan. From (http://youtu.be/4KRD8e20fBo).

See also:
Mission Impossible: What future Fukushima? 8/30/13

Japan government engaged in a vast, duplicitous and fruitless campaign to decontaminate Fukushima Prefecture..