Saturday, September 10, 2011

Japan's Trade Minister Yoshio Hachiro Resigns in 8 Days

For ostensible reasons, you can read about them here (Huffington Post).

"Tatemae" (facade) reasons are that he called the area immediately surrounding the broken nuke plant "a ghost town", and that he tried to rub radioactive materials on his protective clothes against reporters who are the members of the official press club.

And a big chorus of "Oh he hurt the feeling of people in Fukushima! Poor victims!" was orchestrated.

(What else would you call a deserted town around the nuke plant, other than "a ghost town"?)

Many in the independent and alternative media don't think they are the "hon-ne" (real) reasons. They believe his stance on nuclear power plants (he wanted to phase out) and his plan for radical restructure of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (he wanted to remove certain pro-nuke officials), and his reservation about TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pan-Asian free-trade scheme promoted by the United States).

Mainstream media reporters couldn't even agree on what exactly the minister said about contaminating the reporters with radioactive materials, which led many to believe this was one of those crafted stories to put up as a facade for taking down a person that they and their friends in the government do not want.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, if he really wanted to make such changes, he'd have better been a tough guy and not resign after the first attacks.

FigNewton said...

I've read the translation as 'town of death', rather than 'ghost town'. Which is more accurate? Town of death seems more offensive, but neither as much as TEPCO/government's ineptitude. They're actions, every step of the way, have made the situation worse than it should have been.. and is.

Anonymous said...

To be exact, he called it the "town of death". Ghost town is probably less "rude" as ghost towns often means people have left the place. "Town of death" especially in the context of the Fukushima accident means a) people have died, b) the survivors have left, c) the land is dead.

All of which are true but not well received by a population based on emotions and hope.

These days the Japanese tend to run on emotions rather than facts.

Baseless rumor, cute plutonium-kun, sharing of radiation .. the list goes on.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

"Town of death", as far as I'm concerned, is a willful, literal translation which doesn't mean much in Japanese language. When I read the original Japanese "死の町", it was clear to me what he meant, a deserted town with no living soul, and that's how it's been understood in Japan, IMHO. But now, people are more and more Americanized. They want to take the snippet and use out of context when it suits their purpose. Even better, they quote the foreign press who decided to translate the characters and came up with "town of death". (Maybe they used Google translation.)

There's a word "死の灰", if you literally translate the meaning of each character, it means "ash of death". But the word is always translated into "radioactive fallout", because that's what it is in non-technical Japanese.

If you read Yomiuri and Nikkei's editorials (which by the way read almost identical), they breathlessly criticize the resigned minister for his reluctance for TPP and nuclear power. I suppose they cannot really criticize him for Fukushima, because he is one of the few politicians who have been actually helping Fukushima people. There are many Fukushima people who are upset over his resignation, not over his supposed remarks.

Anonymous said...

It is sad when officials have to resign for telling the truth. If I were forced to resign over something like this I wouldn't apologize about it, my last act would been to release all the official information under my control that supported my position.

Let's all keep in mind the officials in charge are willfully feeding the victims of Fukushima and beyond food that would have been a crime to sell before 3/11. If one or two farms had contamination problem before 3/11 they would have been shut down and their products would have been recalled. But when a majority of farms show contamination suddenly we come to find virtually any level of contamination is "safe" or it won't cause "immediate" harm. "Won't cause immediate harm" is the most fiendish of their proclamations of course people in the know understand what this means if you get sick it usually won't happen for years, maybe not even in your generation.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the list goes on ..

Take our Fuku beef, and like it.
Radiation like an Angel's Smile.
Peaches are for sale, sold by the smile of an Ass.
Share our desire to contaminate you.
And the foreigners w/the blanket "gutless" labels, not a peep from the dirty bomb experts?

"Let's all keep in mind the officials in charge are willfully feeding the victims of Fukushima and beyond food that would have been a crime to sell before 3/11."

worth repeating

Anonymous said...

"It is sad when officials have to resign for telling the truth. If I were forced to resign over something like this I wouldn't apologize about it, my last act would been to release all the official information under my control that supported my position."

(cr here) Yes, I (who can't play games enough to vie for such positions) would tell what's going on, too,
(unless The Powers That Be were threatening harm to my family members- even then, wouldn't it be safer to document and tell the public about the threats?
But, in this case, if they live in Japan, they are already being harmed!)

There are many people who resign because they are not allowed to do their jobs properly without telling the public what they know, unfortunately.

paul said...

Can someone confirm. I have found this article, and am trying to understand it.

Seems ex minister is said to have been targeted because he actually made a previously non binding 1 SV binding? (or so I think, especially page 5)

My understanding:

-originally BINDING 20 MS/year
-then NON BINDING 1 MS/year
--Under him, BINDING 1 MS/year

Peace Philosop0hy Center says it should be the life of the child, which is another point, but at least am trying to find out if he indeed did make the 1 MS binding?

Am I reading the article correct? Japan Today censored my posting of it. I am about to write to the Japan Times, but want to be sure of my facts.


Reliable article? Are there others? Alarmed papers such as the Japan TImes, even though using non kisha club reporters, repeat only the accusation he insulted Fukushima residents.
http://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/19475?page=5

Thanks

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@Paul,

20 millisievers/year was the max limit set by Ministry of Education for children at school. Then they reluctantly had 1 millisievert/year for children at school as a target (no commitment). Then, Hachiro says he had the PM and Hosono agree to 1 millisievert/year limit for children at school and outside school, including internal radiation.

20 or 1 or 1 including internal radiation, I think they are still talking about the "target" after their impossible and bogus "decontamination" effort.

I don't know what you mean by "binding", as the radiation level in Fukushima already far exceed 1 millisievert/year. All they can talk about is that they will target 1 millisievert/year as an ultimate goal.

paul said...

Hi and thanks arevamirpal::laprimavera

Thank you! What you summarize is what I understand: First 20 millisieverst/year but after much protest, then reduced it to 1 (BUT no commitment, which is the same as my use of NON BINDING, meaning it was meaningless and false gesture since they did not have to do anything). JTimes used the term NON BINDING, but as you say NO COMMITMENT.

And then you mentioned "Hachiro says he had the PM and Hosono agree to 1 millisievert/year limit for children at school and outside school, including internal radiation."

This is one thing I do not see mentioned in the press reports. I am trying to find links to English or Japanese news reports. Because this would make people realize he is being targeted by TEPCO mafia (I guess). I am trying to spread awareness of his being targeted since japan Times only reports the official story that he insulted people in Fukushima. and japan Today web site has already censored by mentiong of it, which they can't do as easily if i have the link of a news story.

So any links to stories on this would be appreciated.

Of course, as Satoko Norimatsu and you point out, even this is meaningless because the total radiation is already over that, But if Hachio actually said that, it is evidence of the reason he was ousted.

Thank you.

paul said...

oops---I thought i answered this....I meant as you said, no commitment.
Thanks!
So--20 ms/yr.
Criticized by medical experts.

Then 1 ms, but no commitment (non binding on the gov). So again, useless.

Then, you report that Hachiro, Hosono and the PM agree to 1 Ms both in and away from school This sounds quite good, though Satoko Norimatsu or the Peace Philosophy Center warns it is not yet enough as they should measure beyond a year...but still, this sounds like the reason they got rif of him,

What I am looking for are reports in Japanese or English or any language. Where is it written that they agreed on this. So far I have seen it on asyura.com, but I am trying to see how far this was reported and why it has not been reported more widely.
Thanks!

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