Tuesday Humors: Naoto Kan Sues Shinzo Abe for Defamation, Self Defense Force Dispels Baseless Rumors on Ibaraki Beach, NRA Starts Nuke Plant Inspection, TEPCO's Shares Jump 12% in One Day

You really can't take any of them seriously, can you?

Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan sues current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for defamation, over Abe's email magazine's mention of Kan "stopping the injection of seawater into the reactor and later taking credit for seawater injection". According to Kan, that's patently false. Why is he suing Abe now, for the mail magazine article that appeared in May 2011? I suppose in Kan's mind the lawsuit should boost the chance of his party, Democratic Party of Japan, in the coming Upper House election (July 21 for most of Japan).

From Sankei Shinbun (7/16/2013; part):

安倍首相のメールマガジンは平成２３年５月２０日付配信。首相は「東電はマニュアル通り淡水が切れた後、海水を注入しようと考えており、実行した。しかし、やっと始まった海水注入を止めたのは、何と菅総理その人だった」と記載。その上で「海水注入を菅総理の英断とのウソを側近は新聞・テレビにばらまいた」としている。

Prime Minister Abe's mail magazine was distributed as of May 20, 2011. According to Prime Minister [Abe] wrote, "Following the manual, TEPCO was planning to inject seawater after the supply of fresh water depleted. However, it was Prime Minister Kan himself who stopped the seawater injection which had just started." Further, he wrote "[Mr. Kan's] advisors then spread the lie in newspapers and TV that injection of seawater was Prime Minister Kan's heroic decision."

菅氏は「内容は全くの虚偽の情報に基づく。私の名誉を著しく傷つける中傷記事だ」と述べた。

Mr. Kan said [in the press conference he held in the Diet building], "The content is based on totally false information. The article has severely damaged my honor."

(Go ahead and laugh now.)

Next, Self Defense Force tanks and ship on the Ooarai beach in Ibaraki Prefecture. Saturday July 13 was the beach opening day for Ooarai in Ibaraki, the town become famous because of a popular "anime" based on the town.

To an outsider (including myself), the anime, "GIRLS und PANZER", is totally hilarious, totally detached from the reality-based world where everyone else lives but the Japanese in Japan. It is about a world where cute high school girls are well-trained and versed in "the way of tanks" (like "the way of tea" or "the way of flower arrangement").

Ooarai requested tanks and a training ship from Self Defense Force to attract more people to town on the beach opening day, as the town's beach is suffering from "baseless rumors". Self Defense Force obliged, as it wants to increase recruitment. So the event was a triple-win: Ooarai dispelling baseless rumors, anime fans getting to do their cosplay on the real tanks and real ship, and SDF promoting itself to the population.

See how they all enjoy the day on the beach... (Screenshots of a TV report of the event from this blog at 2ch; click to enlarge):

Next, Asahi Shinbun reports (7/26/2013) that Nuclear Regulatory Authority has started the examination and inspection of 10 reactors at 5 nuclear plants. They are:

Hokkaido Electric: Tomari Reactors 1, 2, 3
Kansai Electric: Takahama Reactors 3, 4, Ooi Reactors 3, 4
Shikoku Electric: Ikata Reactor 3
Kyushu Electric: Sendai Reactors 1, 2

(For the locations of these plants, see my post from July 5, 2013.)

According to Asahi, assessment of Ooi reactors won't be done while the faults inside the compound are being investigated, and assessment of Tomari Reactors 1 and 2 will be delayed as Hokkaido Electric wants Reactor 3 to be assessed first. (That's the reactor where use of MOX fuel is planned.)

So, there are 6 reactors to be assessed. Asahi says three teams will each assess two, three reactors concurrently, and one team is specialized in earthquake/tsunami assessment. There will be 80 people at Nuclear Regulatory Agency (secretariat of Nuclear Regulatory Authority) doing the assessment. And all this to be finished in about 6 months.

NRA spent less than 6 months coming up with the safety regulatory standards, and now will spend 6 months (or less, my guess) in applying the standards.

(You can laugh now.)

And last but not least, for no good reason that I could find, TEPCO's shares jumped 12.6% in one day on Tuesday in Japan. Contaminated groundwater found along the seawall must be bullish for the stock. After all, for a long time now, particularly in the US but also elsewhere, bad news is good news, and bullish for the stock market.

From Nikkei Shinbun, TEPCO's intraday chart (7/16/2013):

The 5-year chart shows a shallow cup and handle pattern, and if that plays out TEPCO's shares could be going over 1,300 yen:

"OT" humor: Russia's RIA Novosti reports (7/15/2013) that "US Urges Russia to Protect Reporters, Human Rights Activists", and "Putin Blasts US for Intimidation in Snowden Asylum Saga".

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