On 2012 March 19, The Asahi Shimbun reported that the “city of Osaka, the largest shareholder of Kansai Electric Power Co., will call on the utility to abolish all of its reactors “at the earliest possible time” and today, Mainichi Daily News commented that Osaka had “stirred ripples”. Articles are reproduced below. Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s suggestion to phase out of nuclear power, surely surprised KEPCO investors but also citizens for its unusual thoughtfulness.
Kansai is the western region of Japan where Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara cities lie and, depending on definition, the nuclear power plant shore-lined prefecture of Fukui, where a 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed 1% of population and completely damaged 79% of buildings in 1948. Besides, prevalent winds blow from Fukui towards the huge drinking water Biwako reservoir and aforementioned Kansai cities. Under the radioactive fallout in case of such an earthquake would also be prefectures of Gifu and Aichi, an industrial heartland centered on Nagoya city, where Toyota, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Toray Industries (worldwide leader in the carbon fiber industry that should make Boeing Dreamliner fly someday) are based. A new powerful earthquake in Fukui would probably relegate Japan a few ladders down the economic rankings. Kansai is already under severe economic stress – it always was but for a brief decade of national euphoria called the “bubble”.
Since about 30 years ago, poor Japanese regions exchanged time and again their votes and security against subventions and nuclear power plants. Whenever subventions would dry up, they would agree for a new reactor building. Nowadays that these are idled and that subventions have run out, poor regions cannot start a new cycle and are pushing and being pulled to ramp up their radioactive waste “management” business. In the same vote buyout scheme as for nuclear power plants, over-sized incinerator plants have been built and left unused due to their capacity threshold being over the actual amount of waste. Poor prefectures now plan to upgrade these little used, dioxin-spitting facilities so that they could operate at a wider range of waste quantities and include some kind of filtering for radiation. This scheme represents a large economic boost promise in terms of construction work, which is the main employment outside large cities – and under the control of yakuza gangs, who request some sustained business to replace the drop in their recruiting services for nuclear plant workers.
Radioactive waste are largely above what is considered as “low-level waste” worldwide and its incineration in current facilities turn their prefecture into secondary radioactive sources, the primary being Fukushima, still emitting as of 2012 March 22, a year after. Current secondary radioactive sources include 23 wards in Tokyo, Tomakomai (Hokkaido) and Shimada (Shizuoka, where Japanese green tea comes from).
Many prefectures have requested to become secondary radioactive sources, including places where the transportation hazard, time and cost had prevented the Japanese government to push for it such as Okinawa. However, Okinawa is surviving only by the presence of the US army and its underlying economy is threatened by a possible redeployment in Japan, in Guam or elsewhere. Tourism has been declining since about 5 years ago in Okinawa and will not pick up when it will effectively become a secondary radioactive source. Food in supermarkets in Okinawa come from all over Japan as it does not produce much besides beef which become labeled “Kobe” beef after spending 1 year in that heavily industrialized city. Okinawa cows are rather skinny so it must be quite a terrible feeding process that turn them into extra-fatty meat one year later in Kobe warehouses. There have been some scandals of radioactive wood used to bake pizzas in Okinawa, schools have been forced by parents to cancel radioactive snowball gifts, some vegetation like mosses from irradiated areas have been planted in Okinawa, etc. Okinawa is not a nuclear-free land anymore: this concept does not apply to any Japanese territory anymore one year after the disaster. As an advice to nuclear refugees from the no man’s land, if you cannot leave Japan, it is safer to settle down in cities where you can work to sustain a healthier lifestyle, not necessarily to the far end of the archipelago where they have no job; no sense about radio-protection; no clean food choice – and where you will be stuck when they start incinerating radioactive waste.
How does the new denuclearization scheme fit in with the irradiated waste incineration plan and is it for real? Kansai is searching for ways to revitalize its broken economy and incineration is one leg. The other leg is nuclear decommissioning, a potentially profitable business. It takes 5 years for nuclear combustible to cool down, under active controlled systems (or not so controlled systems). Then the proper decommissioning operations begin (and probably never really end). As an actual example, if we look at Sellafield in the UK, a mere 2 square mile facility, the official planning states that decommissioning and closure of the site is planned for 2120 (right: 108 years from now). After this stage, management of radioactive materials is forever. Therefore, decommissioning of the 3 reactors in Mihama, 4 in Oi and 4 in Takahama – and maybe Monju / Tsuruga – all in Fukui prefecture and globally called the Nuclear Ginza, could create a 300 years business, not including the storage and monitoring of million-year long radioactive waste. It could easily give a job to anyone and sustain the local economy. Additional benefits would come from the development of health care – did we mention that Osaka was a biotech center ?
Japanese pharmaceutical companies had trouble to compete globally because their drugs are not properly tested and have resulted in accidents and because they lack innovation. However, in the grand Osaka renewal scheme of joint radioactive waste incineration and nuclear decommissioning, there would be plenty of test subjects and Japan would have an incomparable lead in radiation-induced diseases, even though they would not be marketed as such: auto-immune diseases such as the Kawasaki syndrome, pneumonia, heart attacks, leukemia and all sorts of cancers, or any other kinds of affections described by Pr. Bandazhevsky, even in children (sic).
How is it that decommissioning would make the population sick? Nuclear reactor decommissioning is a task forecast to take over 1 century in the case of Sellafield but nuclear projects always get behind schedule (Areva EPR project in Finland as a relevant example). As a rule of thumb, you can at least double the time (in the case for Olkiluoto, Finland, Areva started in 2005, due to be completed in 4 years – now maybe in 9 years, probably 12) and since it is impossible to rule out wars, economic depressions, natural disasters and social unrest over the period of a century, it could take 4 to 500 years to carry out. The probability of the job being properly done to the end is marginal and our grandchildren, if they ever live, will most likely have to deal with no man’s lands in every place there used to be a nuclear power plant in the 20th century. Working in a nuclear power plant make people sick, they have in Japan, as well documented, not only in Fukushima. Work ethics are shoddy here and tasks are carried out by the 6th level of untrained sub-contractors aka yakuza firms. Nuclear Ginza and other locations in Japan like Tokaimura and Genkai accumulate accidents and are regularly leaking radioactive material, not surprisingly. Now let us project this over the next 500 years for a large segment of society busy cleaning a mess and adding to it at the same time: everyone would get sick, even if Hosono, Noda and Edano, the devilish Trinity as it were, were not working so hard to distribute contaminated food over all the territory – which they are. Mutations get transmitted to people who are not involved in the multi-generational task, weakening the whole society. As a side-note, it is of course impossible to decommission Fukushima nuclear plant within 40 years: it will never be really clean, no matter the official whitewash.
Recently 2 Japanese researchers apologized because they had taken some bone-marrow samples from cancer patients during surgical operations without anybody knowing: with radiation-induced diseases, all Japanese medical researchers would be able to experiment, publish their results and test new drugs on unsuspecting patients. When the Japanese war criminal in charge for human live dissection and experimentation during the war became the head of the top medical institute in Tokyo and was never bothered except for a moment by the Chinese woman who recognized him, anything can happen. Unit 731, Masaji Kitano and Green Cross all over again. Kansai, with Nuclear Ginza, you invested in a future treasure trove for your biotech and pharmaceutical industry (sic) ! Just as some people do not get black humor, let us note here that we are being sarcastic and we do not wish this nightmarish scenario to happen, quite the contrary but we are at a loss as to how prevent it. Japan has yet to come to term with its dark past and its present shows that it is never far behind – humor is a way to get some relief in the terrible situation we are now, and black humor can be offensive. Current Japanese politics are just as offensive.
So it could be for real and it would be the least damaging, as the alternative would be to wait until the next great Fukui earthquake and a fireworks over Nuclear Ginza.
Another possibility is that Hashimoto does not really intend to denuclearize Kansai, but is only trying to gain more KEPCO shares, some financial compensation or a special investor status from KEPCO for Osaka city in exchange for a time extension, a percentage increase in nuclear-produced electricity or such compromise.
Whichever, the pain only begins.
Mainichi Daily News – Osaka stirs ripples with planned anti-nuclear power pitch at KEPCO shareholders meeting
A decision by the Osaka Municipal Government, Kansai Electric Power Co.’s biggest shareholder, to suggest abolishing the company’s nuclear power plants at a general shareholders meeting in June has stirred ripples.
The municipal government is expected to ask the Kobe and Kyoto municipal governments, which also hold shares in the power company, to follow suit, but individual shareholders, who account for one-third of the company’s shares, could also sway the company.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has underscored the city’s right to make proposals as a shareholder from the time of the Osaka mayoral election last autumn. Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) President Makoto Yagi has sought dialogue with the city, stating, “I’d like to provide a full explanation to win understanding of our business activities.” However, guidelines compiled by the Osaka Municipal Government’s energy strategy council on March 18 declared “an end to all nuclear power plants as soon as possible” — seeking complete abolition of nuclear power. At present KEPCO appears unlikely to comply with requests to eliminate nuclear power.
Commenting on the issue to reporters on March 19, Hashimoto said, “This is not a suggestion to reduce nuclear power plants to zero without any strategy. We will consider the process leading to the time when there are no more nuclear power plants, and make suggestions as a shareholder.” He has requested that KEPCO present forecasts for future electricity supply and demand. Since the mayor is not seeking an immediate suspension of nuclear power, it is possible that the two sides could make concessions during further discussion on supply and demand based on such data.
The Osaka Municipal Government holds roughly 8.9 percent of KEPCO’s issued shares, followed by the Kobe Municipal government at about 3 percent, and the Kyoto Municipal Government at about 0.5 percent. Referring to the other two cities, Hashimoto said, “I believe that they will move together with us. We were chosen in the elections and we have the voters behind us. We cannot be treated as a mere 13 percent shareholder.”
However, KEPCO has many corporate investors, such as financial institutions, which hold a combined 29 percent of KEPCO’s stock.
“The decisions of corporate investors are based on economic rationality. Their views regarding nuclear power have not changed due to the nuclear power plant accident (in Fukushima Prefecture),” commented one representative of a major financial institution, suggesting the municipal government’s suggestion would not easily win approval.
At the same time, individual shareholders hold about one-third of KEPCO’s stock, and in past years, citizens groups have proposed abolishing nuclear power. However, at the general shareholders meeting in June last year, after the outbreak of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, such proposals received only 3.9 percent support.
Nevertheless Koji Morioka, the ombudsman representative of NPO shareholders and a professor in Kansai University’s Faculty of Economics, comments: “The weight of a proposal by the biggest shareholder (the Osaka Municipal Government), which holds about 10 percent of the shares, is different. There may be many shareholders who see this as a major flow in one direction and support it.”
Source: (Mainichi Japan) March 21, 2012
The Asahi Shimbun – Osaka city seeks abolition of all Kansai Electric reactor
The city of Osaka, the largest shareholder of Kansai Electric Power Co., will call on the utility to abolish all of its reactors “at the earliest possible time” during a general shareholders meeting in June.
Kansai Electric is eager to restart its reactors, which have all remained idle following the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant last year. But the city, which controls a 9-percent stake in the utility, said Kansai Electric’s 11 reactors “could ruin shareholder value.” It also said the company should focus its financial resources on renewable energy sources.
The plan for the shareholders meeting was included in draft proposals released on March 18 by a task force jointly established by Osaka city and the Osaka prefectural government, which have been working together on energy strategy.
The task force is expected to decide a proposed schedule for the utility to end its reliance on nuclear power generation at its next meeting on April 1.
Kazuhiro Ueda, a professor of global economy at Kyoto University’s graduate school who heads the task force, said the group will urge other shareholders of the utility to support the proposals.
“Nuclear energy is a technology that humans cannot control,” Ueda told reporters. “We will work out the details to leave no room for ambiguity.”
Osaka city will also urge Kansai Electric to adopt additional measures to “secure the absolute safety” of the reactors and enable them to withstand powerful earthquakes and tsunami.
During campaigning for the mayoral and governor’s elections held on Nov. 27 last year, eventual winners Toru Hashimoto and Ichiro Matsui, respectively, promised to press Kansai Electric to reduce its reliance on nuclear power generation.
Before the Fukushima nuclear disaster started in March last year, about half of Kansai Electric’s power output was generated at its nuclear power plants, the highest ratio for a utility in the nation.
But in the summer last year, then Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered stress tests for all reactors before they can be restarted.
With all of its reactors offline, Kansai Electric, whose service area includes Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, has been hit by rising fuel costs to run its thermal power plants.
Kansai Electric and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s administration have been pushing to restart two of the four reactors at the company’s Oi plant in Fukui Prefecture before the summer, when electricity demand peaks.
The two reactors would be the first to go online since the nuclear accident.
The task force proposed that Kansai Electric operate reactors for minimum output and periods only if a power shortfall is expected this summer and after all other energy-saving measures have been exhausted.
The utility should build gas-generated power plants to ride out a possible energy crisis resulting from the idle reactors in the near future, according to the proposals.
Its proposals also included establishing a permanent method to dispose of spent nuclear fuel.
The city will also call on Kansai Electric to reduce the number of directors, employees and contributions to politicians, as well as disclose the directors’ remunerations.
In addition, Osaka city will advocate a large-scale introduction of renewable energy sources to replace reactors as a midterm and long-term objective.
Utilities in Japan handle both power generation and transmission, allowing them to essentially maintain regional monopolies.
The task force said the transmission of electricity should be handled by a separate company for the Kansai region.
Shigeaki Koga, former senior official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry who advocates the separation of power generation and transmission by utilities, and Tetsunari Iida, an expert on renewable energy sources, worked as special advisers for the task force in drafting the proposals.
Makoto Yagi, president of Kansai Electric Power Co.
March 19, 2012
(Source)
survivaljapan 
Hashimoto is an opportunist, plain and simple. If being anti-nuclear is what’s hot, he’ll be anti-nuclear, this year, anyway. When he chooses an anti-democratic would-be autocrat like Tokyo Governor Ishihara as a potential ally (and Ishihara is the “brains” [or lack of same] behind Tokyo’s ill-advised acceptance of radioactive debris), then we can be sure that principles are not his strong point.
One of the things we have going here is the absolutely insane logical end of the Japanese concept of fairness (or should I call it “share the pain”): it’s just not fair that Tohoku should have to bear all that radiation alone. Instead, if it’s spread out all over the country, then there will be no reason to flee the radioactive areas, for no place will be safe from radioactive exposure.
I would expect any politician worth its salt to be an opportunist and I don’t mind as long as it is driving him to do the common good. The problem in Japan is that “common good” is still understood as economic development at all costs, even though the country has reached post-industrialization state and has been needing to relax on GDP and focus on HDI for some years – but it is stuck on full gear ahead, no brakes. Hashimoto probably abides to this concept although he may surprise us again (not too likely though) so if anti-nuclear, to take your example, meant increased GDP for Kansai and hence more power for Osaka and himself of course, I agree with you that he would probably embrace it.
Actually it’s interesting that economic gain (through the incineration of radioactive waste) seem to matter more to him than political obedience to the US-imposed nuclear power policy, as can be seen with Hashimoto’s clash with CIA operator Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings CEO Tsuneo Watanabe, as reported by Japan Today (see below their article). As a side-note, this is a dangerous position for Hashimoto and it would not be surprising if something happened to him – I doubt the US see with a keen eye the second most populated region of Japan turning its back on a program patiently developed since the end of the war, with strategic military not to mention economic purposes.
Again I agree with you on the lack of principles but again this is really what being a politician is about in real life: principles are only to get elected unfortunately. I am sure that you will have noticed that no politician fulfills their promises whichever party or country they belong to. Hashimoto was elected on the promise of an economic renewal for Osaka and the odds are against him with the crumbling local electronics industry. The power of a politician to improve an economic situation is greatly overrated, as opposed to his nuisance power.
Fortunately, the generation gap between Ishihara and Hashimoto, their egos, their contrasting styles (Tetsuo Watanabe calls Hashimoto “Hitler”: Ishihara is an intellectual and could be compared to an older Goebbels who will not submit), the competition between them (Hashimoto will dump Osaka as soon as he has a chance to lunge for Tokyo – you have noted that “principles are not his strong point”), etc. make them unlikely allies. Hashimoto bumps into people – Watanabe and others, scared by his individuality – and it is quite probable that every politician is his enemy. As you can read in the comments of another post, he attracts fools and haters who are not even Japanese.
The warped concept of fairness that you mentioned is called “kizuna”. Originally it meant some friendliness towards your fellow man in society, and was really a Confucean reaction propaganda from elder men towards the younger generation which they feel is escaping their control, not sharing their values especially of respect toward them. Kizuna has undergone a new transformation and as you said now means “share the pain”, and as Hosono Goshi made clear, “at all cost”. It is a political agenda that makes little economic sense.
It was demonstrated that north-eastern prefectures have already cleared up much of the rubble and has already reconstructed, contrarily to what Hosono and Noda declared. Besides, radioactive waste is actually a raw resource which these prefectures want to keep as a source of income to replace the nuclear power plants.
Kizuna is a concept in which Japan is engaged and will carry through even if it does not make sense nor money: it is one of these unstoppable trains aptly described by Alex Kerr in “Dogs and Demons”, no brakes and full speed until it crashes.
Japanese always want to believe that they are different from other nationals but this is actually a form of what is called, in social psychology, “commitment”. French are also committed for instance to developping their nuclear power industry although it is clear that even without any accident (unlikely hypothesis), normal decommissionning will turn their country into a Gruyere cheese of no man’s lands in the next century wherever a nuclear power plant used to be in the last one. So even commitment in national policies is not properly a Japanese feature.
Recent history teaches us time and again that such a concept never dies (Kerr provides examples for this in his book). It means that Hosono and Noda may go down, and they will sooner than later, the next government will carry on their tracks. It is hard to conceive especially for Americans, who usually think that they can control their environment and that determination and skills can change the world. Indeed, for any nationals, it is hard to accept that this is a hopeless situation (“where there’s a will, there’s a way” – unfortunately, the will of Japanese bureaucracy to carry out crazy and foolish projects is the hardest). Yet, the opportunity window to crush Kizuna in its egg has closed and now it will keep on soaring until it burns its wings near the sun, a setting sun.
It has been proposed by Christopher Busby that the Japanese government was indeed trying to avoid its responsibilities in compensating irradiated people, by spreading and uniformizing the radioactivity over the country. These days, I rather think that it is just another stupid “kozo” or concept, as Kerr describes them, and it will go on without any reason: Japanese will die simply because of bureaucratic inertia and blindness, not because of an evil masterplan.
Kizuna has become a kind of experimentation of irradiating a whole country and is comparable to wartime human experimentation: it is not because there is no scalpel and immediate pain that it is less damaging in the medium term, especially to children. The difference is that Japan applies it to its own country and that other countries could stop it, especially the US. Kizuna may go down in history books in the west as a dirty word, close to Unit 731, but not quite as evil, just plain dumb.
Japan Today – Osaka mayor, Yomiuri boss trade dictator insults
TOKYO —
Who’s more of a Nazi, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto or Tsuneo Watanabe, chairman of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings?
“He reminds me of Hitler,” Watanabe wrote of Hashimoto in the April issue of the monthly Bungei Shunju. Hashimoto, reports the information website Zakzak (March 19), lost no time in tweeting a rejoinder: “It seems to me Mr Watanabe is the one who’s the real dictator.”
Is this serious? The crudity of their repartee makes it hard to think so, but these are powerful (and therefore, one hopes, serious) people. Hashimoto, 42, is a rising political star and Watanabe, 85, owns Japan’s – and the world’s – largest newspaper, which in turn owns the Yomiuri Giants baseball team. Last fall, Watanabe’s role in the firing of Giants general manager Hidetoshi Kiyotake was regarded by many as unwarranted interference, and in the controversy that followed, Watanabe reportedly said, “I am the last dictator.”
Hashimoto has also been accused of having a dictatorial streak. A comment he made last summer suggests that the notion is not altogether anathema to him. Musing on Japan’s political paralysis, he was reported as saying, “What Japanese politics needs today above all is dictatorship – at least the power of a dictatorship.” More recently, in a February interview with the Asahi Shimbun, he said, “In an election, the people indicate the broad direction they want [the government to follow], and give [elected politicians] a kind of carte blanche” regarding how to get there.
That, says Zakzak, is what set Watanabe off. “This reminds me of Hitler,” Watanabe said. Hitler no sooner became chancellor (in January 1933) than he passed the Enabling Act that permanently dissolved parliament. “That,” said Watanabe, “is how fascism started” in Germany. Hashimoto’s comment, he said, “is a very ominous sign.”
Nonsense, ripostes Hashimoto. There is no comparison, he argues, between today’s Japan and Germany of the 1930s. Today, Zakzak quotes him as saying, “power derives from fair elections. No dictatorship can arise from fair elections.” Or, he goes on to say, from a system in which governing term limits are firmly entrenched and government unfolds under relentless media scrutiny. “I myself,” said Hashimoto, “make a point of being available to media coverage as often as I can, and making all information public.”
His parting shot: “In contrast, isn’t it Mr Watanabe who struts like a dictator, not only at the Yomiuri Shimbun but in politics, finance, and baseball?”
What, Zakzak wonders, will Watanabe say to that?
Source: Japan Today, Kuchikomi Mar. 23, 2012 – 06:09AM JST
Alex Kerr – “Dogs and Demons” about the instoppable “kozo”, for consulation. Buy the book!
Of course I know Dogs and Demons; I first came to Japan as a student in 1962 (making me much older than Hashimoto and half a generation younger than Ishihara). I’ve lived in western Japan for the past 20 years. Now that I’m retired, I’m spending more of my time on the island of Guam (there’s a direct flight from my city) because cold winters and the cumulative emotional erosion of life here are taking a toll, both physical and psychological.
The battle between Hashimoto and the primeval (or should I say “prime evil”) Watanabe is a fascinating read. Still, I do think that Hashimoto’s populism is a dangerous one. I think I understand his hostility toward the establishment, given his background, but he really belongs more to the legacy of the comedian governors (Tokyo’s Aoyama, Miyazaki’s Higashikokubaru, Osaka’s “Knock” Yokoyama) in his appeal than to the reformists. For American counterparts, think Jesse Ventura, Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwartzenegger.
An amusing anecdote about the Yomiuri Shinbun: when the paper was having a subscription drive, a salesperson came to the door accompanied by a chinpira who actually threatened me with bodily harm in my own home. I really don’t care for the Giants (but that’s a whole seires of essays). Fortunately, Watanabe is usually there to muck things up.
As far as Hashimoto and Watanabe calling each other Nazis, I’d have to say they’re both right.
Thanks for sharing your views and experience, I am pretty sure that we are many who feel the same as you.
Alex Kerr’s “Lost Japan” also made a strong impression as it crystalizes all the issues that a Japan lover may feel without putting a finger on what is wrong (after all, love is blindness they say) until one opens their eyes and becomes somewhat estranged, although other places around the world are not necessarily nicer. I wish we could save Japan from global radiocontamination but it seems that we will lose Japan on that front too.
Retiring on a warm island is probably what I would really need as well however I must provide my family with a living so it’s not in the cards !
As far as Japan’s nuclear policy is concerned, it seems that Japan was a willing conspirator with the CIA and the US nuclear industry. All that “lost” plutonium. . .
It’s more than I really want to worry about.
Indeed. It’s always handy to have an ICBM kit and a screwdriver. Worldwide, military use of nuclear technologies has been sold with its supposed benefit coming with civil applications. Maybe it’s about time to enter in a Strategic Power Limitations Talks after the SALT and START agreements fashion or extend the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to the civil domain (wishful thinking of course).
Japan has been willing to please the US on many issues, from Okinawa to TPP, and has secretely tried to develop its own nuclear weapon during and after WW2 as was revealed by Wikileaks I think but I cannot put my hand on the document now – for sure we have enough to worry about without digging too deep into that.
By the way, the original meaning of kizuna is “hobble” (as of a horse) or “fetters.” It’s sort of like our word “bond,” which first meant to be tied by rope, then tied by contract, finally to be tied by relationship.
Thank you for these precisions – next meaning for kizuna is then naturally a noose.