(Anything Goes Series - 5) When Nikkei Is Under Pressure (Finally), Remove BOJ Governor

Why? You can see why. Yen tanks, and the Nikkei Stock index soars by over 4% in one day.

Bank of Japan Governor Shirakawa's tenure was to end in April. Instead, he said today that he would resign soon.

The results:

Yen

Nikkei

Two BOJ commissioners who opposed the 2% inflation target in the last policy meeting, Takehiro Sato (from Morgan Stanley where he was a managing director and chief economist) and Takahide Kiuchi (from Nomura Securities where he was the chief economist) now say they will do their utmost best to achieve that target.

If you think "WTF?" like I did, that's quite a historical, traditional mentality in Japan. During the warring days in 15th and 16th centuries, it was quite common for the soldiers and lords who were defeated to join the victorious and fight alongside the victor, to atone for the sins of the past of having dared oppose the victor. The game of "shogi", Japanese version of chess, allows the opponent's pawns that are captured to be used again, against the opponent.

Now defeated, the two commissioners will be vigorously push for the 2% inflation target that they opposed.

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(Anything Goes Series 4) #Fukushima City's Tap Water "Safe and Delicious", To Be Served at Events in Fukushima to Eradicate Baseless Rumors

A 500-milliliter bottle sells for 100 yen.

This is the latest in the non-stop effort by people in Fukushima since March 11, 2011 to insist it's nothing but baseless rumors, not radioactive materials, and people in Fukushima are hurt by such rumors. To prove it is baseless rumors, they bottle the tap water in Fukushima City and sell it to you.

Nearly 2 years after the accident, that their land has been radioactively contaminated by the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident clearly hasn't sunk in to most of the residents who continue to live in the prefecture. And at this point, it doesn't look like it will ever sink in, even a millimeter.

From Fukushima Minyu, local Fukushima paper (2/1/2013):

「安全でおいしい」　福島市の水道水ペットボトルをＰＲ

"Safe and delicious", bottled tap water in Fukushima City being promoted

福島市水道局は同市の水道水ペットボトル「ふくしまの水」を使い、安全性ＰＲに乗り出している。市内で開く会議やイベントでの利用を各種団体などに呼び掛け、安全な福島の水を多くの人に飲んでもらい、東京電力福島第１原発事故の風評被害払拭（ふっしょく）につなげる。

The municipal water department of Fukushima City has embarked on a PR campaign to appeal safety using "Fukushima no Mizu [Fukushima water]", the city's tap water in plastic bottles. They are asking the organizers planning conferences and events in the city to use the bottled water so that many people can drink safe water in Fukushima. They hope to eradicate the baseless rumors from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

「ふくしまの水」は同市の水道水を詰めたペットボトル。観光ＰＲなどを目的に２００８（平成２０）年に販売を開始、市内の名所花見山をデザインしたラベルも昨年度リニューアルした。放射性物質の検査も行っており、ボトルには放射性物質が検出されていないことを示す「ＮＤ」と書かれたシールを貼り、安全性をアピールしている。

"Fukushima no Mizu" is bottled water filled with the city's tap water. It went on sale in 2008 for tourism promotion. The bottle label was updated last year with the design featuring Hanami-yama, city's popular tourist destination. Radioactive materials are tested, and the bottles have stickers that says "ND", indicating there was no radioactive material detected, to emphasize safety.

震災後、市内では県外からの人が多く集まる会議なども増えた。「多くの人に実際に水を飲んでもらえれば、風評被害が払拭できる」。市水道局はこうした会議やイベントを主催する企業、団体にペットボトル利用の呼び掛けを始めた。評判も上々という。

After the March 11, 2011 disaster, there have been conferences [held in Fukushima City] with many people from outside the prefecture. "If we could have these people drink our water, we would be able to eradicate baseless rumors." The city's water department started to ask corporations and groups that held these conferences and events if they wanted to use the bottles with the city's water. [The water department] says they are getting excellent reviews.

同水道局の阿部利秀技査と菅野孝文副主査は「福島市の水道水は摺上川を原水としたおいしい水。安全性も十分に確保しており、ぜひ利用してほしい」と話している。水道水ペットボトルは１本５００ミリリットル入りを１００円（税込み）で販売している。事前注文が必要。

Officials at the city's water department say, "Tap water in Fukushima City is from Surikamigawa River and it is delicious. Safety is amply secured, so please use it." A 500-milliliter bottle of Fukushima City tap water sells for 100 yen (including sales tax). Pre-order is required.

The detection limit is 1 becquerel/kg in Fukushima City's testing. Before the Fukushima nuclear accident, the Japanese government routinely monitored the radioactive materials in the environment. For tap water, the detection limit ranged from 0.074 to 0.185 millibecquerel/liter in case of Fukushima Prefecture (according to Japan Chemical Analysis Center's database). Note the unit: millibecquerel, one-thousands of a becquerel.

I fondly recall Goshi Hosono's sidekick who drank treated water at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant to demonstrate how safe the water is after the elaborate treatment. Iodine and cesium were ND, but the water was full of tritium.

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(Anything Goes Series -3) "Danger of Active Faults Is Baseless Rumor", Says Tokyo University Geologist

The others chime in, and say, basically, "Let's coexist with nuclear power plants that sit on top of active faults."

Very interestingly, the pro-nuclear Sankei Shinbun's article echoes the open letter by the US Energy and Commerce Commission to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with its curious emphasis on "performance-based" policy.

The article by Sankei Shinbun quotes a physicist, a nuclear engineer, and an marine geologist among others who say the Nuclear Regulatory Authority's new safety regulation proposal is not based on science but is pure fiction.

I'm afraid the entire country of Japan is pure fiction at this point.

Sankei's article starts with a very tricky headline as if it were the NRA who says it is possible (for nuclear power plants) to coexist with active faults. It is not, but unless you actually read the article, Sankei readers wouldn't know that.

From Sankei Shinbun via Yahoo Japan (1/30/2013; part; my comments in square brackets in blue italic):

地震・津波原発の新安全基準骨子案　「活断層との共生可能」

Proposed new safety standard outline for nuclear power plants in the event of earthquake/tsunami "It is possible to coexist with active faults"

科学的根拠失った規制を危惧

Fearful of regulation without scientific basis

原子力規制委員会が２９日に骨子案をまとめた地震・津波に関する原発の新安全基準。活断層の真上に重要施設の設置を禁止したが、全国に約２千本あるといわれる活断層大国の日本では「耐震設計で活断層との共生は可能」との見方も出ている。科学者らは失われた科学技術への信頼回復を目指す一方で、安全を強調するあまり科学的根拠を失った規制がまかり通ることを危惧している。

On January 29, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority announced its outline proposal for new safety standard for nuclear power plants in the event of earthquake and/or tsunami. The new standard would prohibit the installation of important facilities on top of active faults, but there are people who think it is possible to coexist with active fault with anti-seismic design in the country where there are about 2,000 active faults. Scientists are trying to restore the trust in science and technology which was lost [in the wake of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident], but at the same time they are worried that with too much emphasis on safety the regulations without scientific basis will go unchallenged.

[Go unchallenged? OK, who are those scientists?]

元文相で物理学者の有馬朗人氏は２５日に都内で開かれたシンポジウムで、東日本大震災でも無事だった東北電力女川（おながわ）原発（宮城県）や東京電力福島第２原発（福島県）を取り上げ、「活断層があってもどうすれば安全が保たれるか研究開発を進めればよい」

In a symposium held in Tokyo on January 25, former Minister of Education and [nuclear] physicist Akito Arima cited Tohoku Electric Power's Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant (in Miyagi Prefecture) and TEPCO's Fukushima II (Daini) Nuclear Power Plant (in Fukushima Prefecture) as having survived the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and said, "Even if there is an active fault, all we need to do is do R&D to maintain safety."

[Well said, Dr. Arima, but nuclear physics doesn't address how to construct buildings on top of an active fault, does it?]

東京大の岡本孝司教授（原子炉工学）は「本当に重要なのは活断層かどうかということではなく、放射性物質が漏れるリスクがあるかどうかだ。だが、その議論がない」と指摘。その上で「規制委での議論は科学とはいえず、小説の世界だ」と断じた。

Professor Koji Okamoto of Tokyo University (nuclear reactor engineering) says, "What's more important is not whether it is an active fault, but whether there is a risk of radioactive leak. But there is no discussion [of the latter]." He concluded, "The discussion at the NRA is not science. It is a world of fiction."

[So, a nuclear reactor engineer calling the discussion by the top seismologists and geologists a fiction. That makes sense. Not.]

首都大学東京の山崎晴雄教授（地震地質学）は「活断層が危ないというのは風評で、原発反対運動の口実として使われている」と指摘。

Professor Haruo Yamazaki of Tokyo Metropolitan University (seismogeology) points out, "Danger of active fault is a baseless rumor, and it is used as a pretext in opposing nuclear power plants."

[Baseless rumor.]

This newspaper is incredible for its choice of words like "go unchallenged", as if the NRA trying to be on the conservative side of science were the bullies punishing the industry for no good scientific reason.

The article continues, saying that the definition of active faults has changed over time - from 50,000 year-old faults to 120,000 to 130,000, and now to 400,000-year-old faults - and the new benchmark of "400,000 years" is "meaningless", quoting a marine geologist. (A marine geologist should know very well about land geology, shouldn't he?)

Right on cue, a faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Parties has started to make noise about the commissioners of Nuclear Regulatory Authority, who have been installed without the consent from the National Diet by then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. They say they have doubts about these commissioners because of their extremely strict conditions for the restart of a nuclear power plant, and particularly because of their opinion that Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant (that sits on active faults) has to be decommissioned.

LDP has already bullied Bank of Japan into submission (whatever Governor Shirakawa says now to defend himself as "independent" is ludicrous). Nuclear Regulatory Authority next?

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(Anything Goes Series-2) Highly Contaminated Fukushima Hills to Be Fully Open for Cherry Blossom Viewers, Harbinger of Explosive Recovery in Fukushima

Or so it is hoped in Fukushima City.

The country was incomprehensible to the outside world for a long time. It has become incomprehensible even to some of its citizens after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

The hills in question, Hanami-yama, are famous for cherry blossom trees, but they are also located in Watari District, the most contaminated district in Fukushima City. Professor Mori of Tokyo University picked up an earthworm in that district whose castings had 1.37 million becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. That's also where the rice was harvested whose radioactive cesium exceeded 1,500 becquerels/kg.

According to Ministry of Education, as of now, the radiation level in the parking lot at the trail head is 0.528 microsievert/hour at 1 meter from the ground, a drop from about 0.7 microsievert/hour after decontamination done on what looks like January 13 and 14, 2013. However, the level has been creeping up again since.

Anyway, this is what the Fukushima local newspaper Fukushima Minpo (1/30/2013) reports:

花見山、全面開放再開へ　復興の起爆剤に

Hanami-yama to be fully open, hope is that it will trigger explosive recovery

「桃源郷」として名高い福島市の花見山は２月から、全面開放を再開する。２９日、同市内で開いた花見山観光振興協議会総会で決定した。昨年は花木の養生のため「花見山公園」内の立ち入りを制限していたが、ファンの熱い要望に対し、園主の阿部一郎さん（９３）はじめ、地元住民が応えた。東京電力福島第一原発事故の風評被害に苦しむ観光関係者は地域観光復興の起爆剤になると期待する。

Hanami-yama in Fukushima City is dubbed as "hidden paradise". Starting February, it will be fully open to visitors, as per the decision by the Hanami-yama tourism promotion association at its general meeting held in Fukushima City on January 29. The entry was restricted last year so that the trees could recuperate, but this year the local residents including the owner of the land Mr. Ichiro Abe (age 93) responded to a strong demand from the [cherry blossom tree viewing] enthusiasts. People in the tourism industry which has suffered from the baseless rumors after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident hope that [opening the hills to the visitors] will trigger an explosive recovery of the local tourism.

花見山は、春の観光名所として人気で、入り込み数は平成２２年に３２万人を記録。しかし、東日本大震災、原発事故後の２３年は９万４千人と減少した。２４年は１０万１千人。観光客数が増え、花木が弱ってきたため昨年は、立ち入りを制限し周囲のみの散策となった。

Hanami-yama is a popular destination in springtime. In 2010, there were 320,000 visitors. However, after the March 11, 2011 disaster and nuclear accident, only 94,000 visited. In 2012, 101,000 people came. As the number of visitors increased, the trees grew weakened. Last year, the entry was restricted, and walking only around the periphery was allowed.

本来であれば３年ほどの養生が必要だが、市などに再開放を望む声が多く寄せられたことや、震災と原発事故からの復興を成し遂げるため、阿部さんら地元農家が再開を決断したという。

The trees would need about three years to properly recuperate, but the local farmers including Mr. Abe decided to reopen as many people wrote to the city asking for the reopening, and to achieve recovery from the disaster and the nuclear accident.

２月１日から園内を開放。４月６日から２９日（予定）までは周辺の道路で交通規制やシャトルバス運行を行う。また、同協議会のホームページで放射線量などの情報を提供する。４月のシーズン本格化までに駐車場の除染などを行い不安解消にもつなげる。

The park will be open on February 1. From April 5 to 29, the traffic control will be in place and shuttle buses will be operated. The tourism promotion association will provide radiation information on its homepage. The parking lot will be decontaminated by the busiest season in April to dispel fear.

同協議会の土田充会長（８０）は「全国から励ましの声も受けた。より多くの人をお迎えしたい」と期待。瀬戸孝則市長は「にぎやかな春が戻り、市民の心に力を付けてくれる。地元の皆さんにも感謝したい」とコメントした。市観光コンベンション協会の渡辺和裕会長（６２）は「震災後、観光のダメージも大きかった。三春の滝桜、八重の桜ブームの会津など各地と連携も見込める」と期待した。

Mr. Mitsuru [?] Tsuchida (age 80) is hopeful. He said, "We have received encouragement from people all over the country. We would like to welcome as many people as we can." Fukushima City Mayor Takanori Seto said, "Lively spring will be back, cheering the city residents. I would also like to thank the local residents [in Watari District]." Mr. Kazuhiro Watanabe (age 62), chairman of the city's tourism convention association, said expectantly, "Damage to tourism has been severe since the disaster. We are looking forward to collaborate with other areas [with famous cherry blossom trees] such as Minaru's cheery trees and Aizu, now popularized by [NHK's year-long drama titled] "Yae no Sakura (double cherry blossoms)."

So, according to the paper (I'm sure that's the popular and only acceptable meme in Fukushima) the reason why the hills were closed off to visitors last year was to give cherry trees a rest, as the trees suffered stress from too many visitors that went from 320,000 in 2010 to 94,000 in 2011. That makes sense, doesn't it?

I wonder if Mr. Abe, 93, and Mr. Tsuchida, 80 really know how contaminated their hills are.

Again, the meme of "visitors from afar will give cheers to the local residents" is there. Just like elementary school kids in Osaka Prefecture were to cheer the residents in another highly contaminated city in Fukushima (Date City), and just like the Tokyo Municipal government wanting to host the 2020 Olympics so that Tokyo residents and people in Japan can receive cheer and vigor from people around the world visiting Tokyo for the occasion.

Explode away, I say.

Hanami-yama before the nuclear accident (2010), from this blog:

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Anything Goes in #Radioactive Japan under LDP: Government to Allow Rice Growing in Former Evacuation Zones, Areas That Exceeded 500 Bq/kg in 2011

It's not just the stock market (superbly bid up by Goldman Sachs so that they can sell to the suckers) that's gone wild in Japan. Everything and anything, including allowing rice to be grown in the most contaminated areas in Fukushima.

Here's the latest from the publicly funded news station NHK News (1/29/2013):

福島県内 コメ作付け制限緩和

Within Fukushima Prefecture, the restriction on rice growing will be loosened

農林水産省は、福島県内のコメの作付け制限を一部の地域で緩和し、おととしの検査で１キログラム当たり５００ベクレルを超える放射性物質が検出された地域についても、出荷前に全袋検査などを行うことを条件に、作付けを認める方針を発表しました。

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries have announced its policy to loosen the restriction on rice cultivation in areas in Fukushima Prefecture, and allow farmers to grow rice even in the areas whose rice tested with radioactive cesium exceeding 500 Bq/kg in 2011, as long as all the rice bags are tested before they are shipped.

農林水産省が２９日発表した、ことしのコメの作付けの方針によりますと、福島県で去年作付けを行った地域については、ことしも引き続き全袋検査などを行うことを条件に、作付けを認めるとしています。

According to the policy announced on January 29 by the ministry, the areas in Fukushima that grew rice last year will be allowed to grow rice this year as long as they continue to do the tests including testing all the bags of rice.

また、去年は作付けが制限された、緊急時避難準備区域に指定されていた地域や、おととしの検査で１キログラム当たり５００ベクレルを超える放射性物質が検出された地域についても、水田の管理計画を作成し、出荷前に全袋検査などを行うことを条件に、新たに作付けを認めることになりました。

Also, the areas that were restricted from growing rice, such as emergency evacuation preparation zone and the areas where radioactive materials [cesium] exceeding 500 Bq/kg were detected in the tests done in 2011, will be allowed to grow rice as long as there are management plans for the rice paddies in place and all bags of rice are tested before shipping.

また、警戒区域や計画的避難区域、居住制限区域などに指定されている地域では、作付けの再開に向けて、ことし試験的にコメを栽培することにしています。
林農林水産大臣は会見で、「地元の意向を踏まえたうえで、作付け再開に向けた取り組みを後押しできるよう、準備を進めてきた。被災地の農業の再建ができるだけ早く進むようにしたい」と述べました。

In the [former 20-kilometer] evacuation zone, planned evacuation zone, and areas designated as limited habitation, rice will be grown this year as an experiment for the restart of growing rice [in the future]. Minister of Agriculture Hayashi said in the press conference, "Based on the intention of the locals, we have been preparing to help support the efforts to restart the growing of rice. We would like to see the agriculture in the disaster affected areas get rebuilt as soon as possible."

Intention of the locals??? What about the intention of the consumers?

Consumers have been too considerate and reasonable, I'm afraid. The most people on Twitter say about food contaminated with radioactive cesium is that they do not support or participate in the government campaign of "Eat and Support". Most of them (with few exceptions here and there) don't want to hurt the feelings of farmers in the contaminated areas in Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, and northern Kanto. Saying they don't support the government campaign has done nothing to stop the distribution of contaminated food throughout Japan and beyond (in Thailand, for example).

It is not true that "all of Japan has been contaminated, and therefore food grown everywhere is contaminated", as people often quote Kyoto University's Koide as saying. From what I've read, what Dr. Koide is talking about is the contamination from the atmospheric testing, not necessarily from the Fukushima accident. But he doesn't make it clear, and people do not bother to make it clear.

There are clean(er) food items available from west Japan and Hokkaido where the fallout from Fukushima was negligible. And yet, the Japanese are told to eat food grown in the contaminated areas, so that the farmers there can make money and recover (so that the national government does not need to compensate them). Those who can afford quietly buy from western Japan. Those who cannot simply give up.

I've always disliked Professor Hayakawa's attacks on consumers who do not protest against contaminated food but who do against wide-area disposal of disaster debris which happens to be also contaminated with radioactive materials. I still disagree with Professor Hayakawa on disaster debris, but I have to agree with him on food.

If, for example, people who used to gather in great numbers in front of the Prime Minister's Official Residence in Tokyo every Friday last year had shouted "We don't want to eat contaminated food!" instead of single-issue chanting of "No restart of nuke plants!", I wonder what difference it might have made. I know it wouldn't have happened, as the organizers of the event was for "eat and support", and contamination in Tohoku and Kanto was non-issue for them.

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