Pressure builds in Japan's nuclear divide

Pressure builds in Japan's nuclear divide
By Daniel Leussink

TOKYO - Following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant six months ago, nine prominent Japanese intellectuals have launched a popular movement that seeks to abolish nuclear power and the closure of all nuclear power plants in Japan.

The group, which includes Nobel literature prize laureate Kenzaburo Oe and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, plans to collect 10 million signatures in support of their proposal for a nuclear-free Japan. On Monday, the group organized a colorful demonstration followed by three vocal protest marches through Tokyo, attracting about 60,000 people.

The theme of the demonstration was "Sayonara genpatsu," "Goodbye nuclear power plants."

Satoshi Kamata is one of the intellectuals behind the movement. The 73-year-old author and freelance journalist covered Japan's

 
nuclear industry for over four decades, also publishing articles and books on Toyota and the citizens' movement against the construction of Narita airport, Japan's primary international airport. He was a speaker at the event on Monday.

Kamata spoke with Asia Times Online about the historical significance of the demonstration in a coffee shop near Kiyose station, a 25-minute train ride from central Tokyo, on Sunday. That was a day before the demonstration took place.

Asia Times Online: What are your expectations of tomorrow's demonstration?

Satoshi Kamata: Demonstrations in Japan are a little bit different from demonstrations in the United States or Europe, where hundreds of thousands protesters might protest against nuclear energy. In Japan, nationwide demonstrations attracted 10,000 or 20,000 protesters in total so far. This time, we hope 50,000 protesters will come.

We are collecting 10 million signatures against nuclear energy and have invited many well-known writers and thinkers to take part in this protest. There are around 100 supporting figures including Yoji Yamada [a famous filmmaker) and Masazumi Harada [a doctor known for his treatment of sufferers from the industrial Minamata disease] who back our movement in addition to the nine of us who called out publicly.

On March 24 next year, we will hold a follow-up rally in Hibiya Park. That rally will be held to present the 10-million signature petition against nuclear energy to the national government. We'll also hold other demonstrations and cultural events, such as concerts, before then.

ATol: What are the main issues against which the demonstration is directed?

SK: Japan should stop the nuclear power plants it already has, refrain from building new plants and shift to renewable energy. Earlier this year, [then prime minister Naoto] Kan decided that the Hamaoka nuclear power plant [in Shizuoka prefecture] would be stopped. But all nuclear plants should be stopped.

And if this happens, the order through which it happens is very important because there are many types of nuclear power plants and some plants are older than others. The Monju fast breeder reactor [a temporarily-suspended MOX fuel plant in Fukui prefecture] and the Rokkasho reprocessing plant [in Aomori prefecture, undergoing test operations] should be disabled.

The government should make a schedule to decide the month and year by which nuclear power plants will be stopped.

ATol: Could you indicate some of the crucial issues that nuclear energy in Japan faces at this stage, half a year after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Tohoku?

SK: The new government of [Prime Minister Yoshihiko] Noda said that the nuclear power plants will be restarted after conducting safety checks on them.

But in August, only 12 out of 54 reactors were running normally. All of them will go offline for regular maintenance checks before May next year. If the current situation continues, all nuclear reactors in Japan may be offline before then. [Before the Fukushima accident, Japan depended on nuclear for about a third of its power supply, but the government has now abandoned plans to increase that to 50%.]

Eighty percent of the Japanese public opposes nuclear energy. The people will have to raise their voice in order to stop the operation of these nuclear power plants.

ATol: Some critics say that Japan would face a severe energy shortage if every reactor in each nuclear power plant will be stopped. What are your thoughts on this?

SK: Only 12 out of 54 reactors are operating normally at the moment, 42 reactors are not running. But Japan has avoided an energy shortage so far.

In addition to that, Japan has a reserve of thermal power plants and other types of plants such as natural gas plants and coal plants. These could provide a solution for the time being, as long as the move to renewable energy will go faster, even if it is only a little bit. But the government and power companies have not invested enough in renewable energy so far.

A crucial point will be to find out if [outside] experts could become more involved in enlarging the role of renewable energy.

ATol: Shifting away from nuclear power completely might also lead to higher electricity rates?

SK: If electricity becomes a little bit more expensive there is nothing we can do about it. But if nuclear power plants continue to be operated like they are operated now, radioactive nuclear waste will be created and the problem of what to do with that will be thrown on future generations. The moral problem is whether that is good or not.

If you only think about cheap energy, radioactive waste will gradually build up. The question is whether or not that should be allowed.

ATol: How did Japan historically come to rely on nuclear energy as the only nation on earth to suffer atomic bomb attacks?

SK: The nuclear energy policy started under the influence of [then minister of Science] Yasuhiro Nakasone after he returned from the United States in around 1960. [Nakasone served as prime minister from 1982-1987.] After the introduction of technology, the government came to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and made it look very different from the atomic bomb. It was viewed as a clean energy. A bright image of prosperity was promoted with it.

The atomic bomb victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki never came together with those who opposed nuclear energy. But that changed as a result of the disaster in Fukushima. The suffering from the atomic bombs and the development of nuclear power were two things that were opposed until now.

ATol: What is your view of the nuclear energy industry?

SK: The government promoted nuclear energy as a favorable thing and local communities received financial benefits for accepting nuclear power plants.

The nuclear industry is like the big bad wolf from the fairy tale. [Little Red Riding Hood] Grandma won't open the door to let him in the house. But when she looks under it, she thinks it is not the wolf but her granddaughter. So she opens the door and the wolf eats her. The house is Japan and grandma the local communities.
It might be hard for foreigners to understand, but there is not a single organization in Japan that judges nuclear power objectively.
Eisaku Sato [former governor of Fukushima prefecture] said that police and the thieves are the same people. He was made into a scapegoat over illegal financial dealings of his brother's company. He gave up his post. I say that the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry [responsible for developing nuclear energy] and the Nuclear Safety Commission work together like the pitcher and umpire in baseball.

ATol: What is the long-term relevance of the demonstration of September 19?

SK: There won't be the same number of protesters as at demonstrations opposing nuclear energy in Germany or France, but it is a start. For Japanese citizens, it is very uncommon to express their private views in public. Many citizens are hesitant to comment on politics openly. And we don't have a history of demonstrations, so we have to build a new history of joining them. Tomorrow is a start.

When South Korea was ruled by a military dictatorship, many citizens resisted it. Some of them were given the death penalty as a result of their resistance and of course that was not good. But eventually the actions of these protesters changed the government.

Daniel Leussink is a Dutch journalist in Tokyo. His website is www.danielleussink.com.

(Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online [Holdings] Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

View the original article here

Pressure cooker politics for Japan's next leader - Xinhua

TOKYO, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Naoto Kan has declared he will leave office after a protracted period of legislative jockeying, setting the stage for the nation to see its sixth prime minister in just five years.

As potential successors ramp up their cajoling of key intraparty groups and senior party officials ahead of DPJ presidential election scheduled next Monday, the inherent rifts in the DPJ have once again come to the surface, leaving many political pundits wondering if the next party leader will have enough support from within his own party to successfully lead the nation through a myriad of pressing political, social and economic obstacles.

STACKED DECK

In many respects, Kan's successor will be playing political blackjack with the deck stacked against him.

The new leader will most certainly have to contend with far more problems than were on Kan's plate when he took over from former prime minister Yukio Hatoyama -- who himself resigned over broken campaign promises just nine months after the Democrats won national elections, defeating the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and ending more than 50 years of almost unbroken control of government.

"Prime Minister Kan is on his way out of Japan's revolving door for leaders and this is of no great surprise in the grand scheme of things, as when public support rate plunges, it's only ever a matter of time in Japan and Kan's have dropped to a record low of 15 percent," Laurent Sinclair, an independent research analyst for pacific affairs, told Xinhua.

"Whoever's next, in what is viewed by the international political community as an increasingly whimsical directorate, will have to contend with a soaring yen, crafting and implementing a multi-phased post-nuclear crisis energy policy, as well as ensuring reconstruction efforts are continually prioritized," he said.

Even if the next leader hits the ground running, Sinclair said that Kan's inability to hold a fractious party together and garner support from opposition parties, coupled with a perceived lack of leadership following the March twin disasters -- punctuated by his conspicuous absence in the days and weeks after March 11 as Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano seemingly became the nation's interim chief -- points to deeper, fundamental flaws in Japanese politics.

He added that the nation's new leader, while tackling the fallout from Kan's era, must still also comprehensively address the burgeoning issue of Japan's mounting public debt and ever- increasing costs of a graying society.

Indeed, Moody's Investors Services Inc. on Wednesday cut Japan' s credit rating by one notch citing concerns about the government' s ability to reduce its mountain of debt and implement long-term fiscal sustainability measures.

Notably, the ratings agency also highlighted the frequency of Japan's political leadership switches as a key factor "obstructing the implementation of necessary fiscal measures to bring down its debt."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reported that Japan's gross debt will be equivalent to 233 percent of the size of the economy this year and is set to increase in the coming years by the government's expectations for annual budget deficits of at least 7 percent through 2015, which far exceeds nominal growth rate.

With plenty of hurdles to contend with, the nation is hoping a bold, forthright leader will fill Kan's mercurial shoes, but nobody is holding their breath as both the public and politicians are under no illusions that the biggest obstacle for any could-be consummate leader, lies deep within the ruling DPJ itself.

View the original article here

Asian Shares End Mostly Lower; Japan Exporters Remain Under Pressure - Wall Street Journal

By V. Phani Kumar in Hong Kong and Virginia Harrison in Sydney

HONG KONG (MarketWatch)--Most Asian markets surrendered gains to end lower Monday as worries about the European debt crisis and global economic outlook kept investors on edge.

"Weak growth outlook remains the headwind for risky assets. We expect no lasting respite from the ongoing risk aversion until a clear direction on additional [U.S. Federal Reserve] stimulus emerges and until [there's a] significant reduction in euro-zone debt anxiety," said Prakash Sakpal, an economist at ING Financial Markets Research.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 1.0% lower, as hopes that authorities would ...

By V. Phani Kumar in Hong Kong and Virginia Harrison in Sydney

HONG KONG (MarketWatch)--Most Asian markets surrendered gains to end lower Monday as worries about the European debt crisis and global economic outlook kept investors on edge.

"Weak growth outlook remains the headwind for risky assets. We expect no lasting respite from the ongoing risk aversion until a clear direction on additional [U.S. Federal Reserve] stimulus emerges and until [there's a] significant reduction in euro-zone debt anxiety," said Prakash Sakpal, an economist at ING Financial Markets Research.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 1.0% lower, as hopes that authorities would ...

View the original article here

Japan Premier, Under Pressure to Quit, Drops Plan to Meet With Obama - New York Times

The top government spokesman said Friday that Japan had stopped trying to organize the trip, which was to have taken place in early September. The spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, said that the trip was impossible given “Japan’s current political situation.”

This seemed to be a reference to growing speculation in political circles that Mr. Kan could soon step down — as early as the end of next week, according to some local press reports. That would open the way for an election within his governing Democratic Party to choose a successor.

Some politicians say that this internal party election could happen on Aug. 28 or Aug. 29, though others are calling for the party to hold a longer American-style primary in order to foster a healthy policy debate. Jockeying has begun to succeed Mr. Kan, with a half dozen Democratic lawmakers already putting up their hands.

Mr. Kan has faced growing criticism for what many here see as his ad hoc and inconsistent response to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in March. Mr. Kan, who took office just over a year ago, is also blamed for his perceived inability to point a new direction for a nation that was already gripped by economic and political stagnation before the triple disaster.

In the face of such criticism, Mr. Kan promised in June to step down once he wins passage in Parliament of a series of key bills, which political analysts say he hopes to be the legacy of his short-lived administration. These include a bill to foster use of green energy, and another to fund the costly reconstruction of the tsunami-ravaged northeast, where 20,000 people are dead or missing.

Mr. Kan has tried to make a late comeback by calling for a phasing out of nuclear energy in Japan, hoping to tap the deep misgivings toward atomic power here after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. But he has run into resistance from within his own party, where the nuclear industry holds strong political influence, and skepticism among the Japanese public, who view him as unable to fulfill his promises.

In recent days, Tokyo has been filled with talk of who might replace Mr. Kan. A front-runner is Banri Kaieda, the minister of trade and industry, whose ministry had direct authority over the nuclear power industry. In June, Mr. Kaieda also vowed to resign in a dispute with Mr. Kan over nuclear policy.

But most of the candidates have been younger, untested and relatively unknown lawmakers who seem to lack a strong base of support within the party or the public. This has raised the specter of yet another weak, short-lived prime minister, which could only prolong Japan’s stagnation.

Mr. Kan’s successor would be the sixth new prime minister in five years.

Some candidates have begun calling for a “grand alliance” with the largest opposition party, the Liberal Democrats, in hopes of ending the current stalemate in Parliament, where the opposition controls the upper house. But the formation of such a large and unwieldy coalition could also add to paralysis by yielding watered-down compromises instead of the bolder action many Japanese voters seem to want.

On Friday, Mr. Edano, the spokesman, said that Japan’s foreign minister had conveyed news of Mr. Kan’s cancellation to the U.S. ambassador, John V. Roos. Mr. Edano told reporters that Mr. Roos “showed understanding.”

Japanese news reports said Tokyo was now trying to arrange a meeting between Mr. Kan’s successor, whoever that may be, and the American president on the sidelines of a United Nations general assembly in New York in late September.

View the original article here