Japanese Government Planning "Nationalization" of "Affected Areas"

April Fool's joke? I don't know. The Japanese government, who has been criticized outside Japan as "behind the curve" in dealing with the Fukushima nuclear plant crisis, is well ahead of the curve when it comes to possibly nationalizing the land in the areas affected by the March 11 earthquake/tsunami and by Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

A government seems always very quick on one particular thing: to expand its reach anywhere they can get away with. "Never waste a good crisis." And the Japanese government has not just one but three - earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident.

Yomiuri Shinbun (3:12AM JST 4/1/2011) reports:

政府・民主党が東日本巨大地震の被災からの復興に向け、４月中の成立を目指す特別立法の概要が３１日、明らかになった。

An outline of the special legislation for rebuilding after the March 11 earthquake (Higashi Nihon Kyodai Jishin, East Japan Great Earthquake), which the administration and the ruling party (Democratic Party of Japan) want to pass by the end of April, was revealed on March 31.

　津波被害を受けた海沿いなど生活再建が難しい土地が少なくないことや、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所事故対応の長期化も見据え、国が集団移転の費用の４分の３を負担する現行制度を見直し、負担割合を引き上げる。

Since there are quite a few places along the Pacific coast that suffered tsunami and where it may be difficult to rebuild, and with a possibility of prolonged resolution to the Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, the current system of the national government paying the three-quarters of the mass relocation cost will be revised, and the ratio will be raised.

　集団移転後の空き地を国が速やかに購入、国有地化する仕組みも導入し、地域の一体的な再整備を進めることで地域再建を図る。

A system will be introduced to allow the national government to quickly purchase the empty land after the mass relocation of the residents and nationalize it, so that the recovery and rebuilding can be done in a systematic manner.

財源面では、レギュラーガソリンの全国の平均価格（１リットルあたり）が３か月連続１６０円を超えると旧暫定税率分（約２５円）を減税する制度を廃止する。減税を実施すると数千億円単位で減収になるためだ。

As to the funding source, gasoline tax cuts of 25 yen (30 cents) when the average regular gas price per liter exceeds 160 yen three months in a row will be abolished. The tax cuts could result in reduced revenue of several hundreds of billions of yen (several billion US dollars).

(Why don't they just sell US Treasuries?)

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