Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Governor of Tokyo Wants to Buy Senkaku Islands, and Vice Governor Says They Will Have Enough Donations from Citizens to Buy

What is this? What is the point, any point, for the Tokyo Metropolitan government to buy the tiny islands in Okinawa Prefecture?

No, it's not to relocate 40 million residents in the Tokyo metropolitan areas.

Shintaro Ishihara, irascible governor of Tokyo, says he's doing it because the Japanese national government is such a wimp against the foreign claims (form China and Taiwan).

From Daily Yomiuri (4/18/2012):

WASHINGTON--The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to buy three of the Senkaku Islands to "protect them," Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said in Washington on Monday.

The Senkaku Islands, which are administered by Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, are claimed by China and Taiwan.

Ishihara said in the speech the owner of three islands in the five-islet chain--a man living in Saitama Prefecture--has agreed to sell them to the metropolitan government.

In addition to the three islands--Uotsurijima, the largest in the group, Kita-kojima and Minami-kojima--Tokyo is interested in purchasing Kubajima, another island in the chain, the governor said.

Kubajima is owned by a relative of the man in Saitama Prefecture.

Ishihara is visiting the United States at the invitation of the organizer of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington.

"The islands are the sovereign territory of Japan, and were returned at the time of Okinawa's reversion [to Japan from the United States in 1972]," he said. "[China] later began to claim them. This is outrageous."

Ishihara said the central government should have purchased the three islands.

"However, the central government is too scared to do anything," the governor said. "The Tokyo metropolitan government will protect the Senkaku Islands. How can anyone complain about the Japanese buying the islands to protect the nation's territory, regardless of which country opposes such a move?"

Following the speech, Ishihara told reporters the metropolitan government would propose that the Okinawa prefectural government or the Ishigaki municipal government jointly manage the three islands.

Asked how much the islands would cost, Ishihara declined to give a figure. "It's not that expensive," he said.

Located about 410 kilometers west of Okinawa Island, the main island in the prefecture, the Senkaku Islands consist of five uninhabited islets. Only one, the 0.06-square-kilometer Taishojima is state-owned.

The central government has been leasing the four other islets from their owners, mainly for maintenance and administration purposes. During fiscal 2010, it paid annual fees of about 21.1 million yen for the 3.82-square-kilometer Uotsurijima; about 1.5 million yen for Kita-kojima (0.31 square kilometers); and about 1.9 million yen for Minami-kojima (0.4 square kilometers).

The rent for 0.91-square-kilometer Kubajima has not been disclosed at the owner's request.

China and Taiwan claimed the Senkaku Islands after it was discovered in 1969 that the continental shelf around the islets is rich in oil reserves.

In September 2010, a Chinese trawler collided with two patrol boats of the Japan Coast Guard near the islands. Other Chinese boats have intruded into Japan's territorial waters.

===

Govt mystified by plan

The government has not been informed of the Tokyo metropolitan government's plan to purchase the three Senkaku Islands, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tuesday.

"The government has maintained contact with the owners [of the Senkaku Islands]," Fujimura said during a morning press conference. "However, we aren't aware of [the Tokyo metropolitan government's plan]. Whether we'll discuss [the islands with the local government] is a matter to be considered later."

The governor has already secured the agreement from the owners of the islands after 6-month negotiation, according to Yomiuri Japanese news (4/18/2012).

Vice Governor of Tokyo and academic Naoki Inose says they will be inundated with donations from citizens to buy these three islands, no problem. Each island is estimated at 300 to 500 million yen, so the maximum 1.5 billion yen to buy all three. Not that much, Inose says.

And who is all praise for this "bold" move by Ishihara? The boy wonder of Osaka City whom the Japanese media from NHK on down have been busy hyping up as the next leader of Japan (right one in the photo).

Bright future.

Clearly they have nothing better to do with their time.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Radiation debris found in Tokyo.

Now where will they put it.

Maybe an island somewhere?

Anonymous said...

A resident intention is disregarded
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzAVltx2fwc&feature=player_embedded#!

Chibaguy said...

Is Tokyo now a separate country? What is wrong with these people? I see several more pressing problems other than buying islands that no one can use.

Anonymous said...

As we seen in the case of the Liancourt Rocks such topics can lead to a form of nationwide nationalistic 'coma' so blowed up in the right way it could be a powerfull distraction.

Anonymous said...

maybe they can start some new land reclamation - Tokyo bay might get pretty full at the current + planned incineration - not sure I'd like to live their but I'm sure I'd be happy - especially with the extra radiation. Tepco advises dont worry we only measured a few gamma rays! there is no need to worry about alpha and beta - they don't travel far and they promise they have not escaped the containment!

Anonymous said...

Why did people elect this guy ? People get the government they deserve.

Anonymous said...

Who is this guy? What year was the disaster?

"Frank Harris, an Australian expert of nearly 25 years in radiation protection, said he had seen people "physically ill" from worry in Japan in 2010 following the major earthquake and feared radioactive disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant."

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/pacific-hwy-radiation-scare-sparks-testing-20120418-1x7b2.html

Anonymous said...

I'm all for sending all the debris Ishihara accepted to his backyard, and then let him pay for the transfer to the Senkaku.

Chibaguy said...

@anon 5:27, what happened in 2010? I hope that is what you are leading to.

Anonymous said...

yo ho ho & a bottle of rum.
P.S. TOKYO is considered a separate country

Anonymous said...

The nuclear industry is saying all radiation sickness is in the mind, before they even have the facts needed to make a judgement

Frank Harris is saying the sick workers at Port Maquarie, Australia who were working on the side of the road and became ill, were experiencing the same sickness that they are touting for people in Japan.
ie it's only stress.
But the workers in Australia didn't know there was any radiation in that area until AFTER they became ill. So it could not have been stress or worry.

AND Frank Harris, Chief Advisor Radiation Governance and Product Stewardship at Energy Resources of Australia, thinks the Fukushima disaster happened in 2010. If the report is correct.

This is the 1980 report. December 4 PORT MACQUARIE, AUSTRALIA
An accident near Port Macquarie involved a truck carrying a 60-litre drum labelled ‘danger radioactive – Americium 241′, plus a smaller container labeled ‘Caesium 137′ and foodstuffs. When Sydney police called the Atomic Energy Commission at Lucas Heights for advice, they were told to call back later ‘when the AEC opens’. Dr. John McKay of Port Macquarie claimed that 16 people who attended the accident are suffering from symptoms of radioactive poisoning.

Anonymous said...

Frank Harris has also said it is impossible to get sick from radiation in Australia.

So maybe they SHOULD send all that debris to Australia as it won't affect them.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news-old/pacific-highway-radiation-did-not-cause-vomiting-expert/story-fn3dxity-1226331656461

Anonymous said...

Ishihara has long been an idioit. It is disheartening that Tokyo could not field a mayoral candidate to displace him sooner. Hopefully this will be his last term in office. Please Japan, vote this guy OUT - ANYONE BUT ISHIHARA!

Anonymous said...

It's not only Shintaro Ishihara who is an idiot, but also his son Nobuteru, who made some really bad remarks about patients who receive feeding through a stomach tube. Retards who should be voted out of office.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fd20120219pb.html

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