Goshi Hosono Didn't Run for DPJ Leadership in December, Because His Infant Daughter Just Died

First, from the news, as reported by News Post Seven (2/7/2013; my summary, not the literal translation):

Overwhelming number of DPJ politicians wanted Goshi Hosono to run in the DPJ leadership election in December, after Yoshihiko Noda resigned, taking responsibility for the disastrous election result, but Hosono resisted the call. He didn't explain why to the disappointed supporters.

In a gathering in January, Hosono finally told them the reason, that his infant daughter had died right before the December leadership election. According to the source who attended the gathering, Hosono said, "I knew it was the time to put the party first, but I thought it was the time to devote myself to my family, as the father."

According to the source, Hosono's child was due this June but was born 6 months prematurely. Hosono was at his wife at the hospital every day. They named the baby with the name that the family had prepared, and called the baby by the name to encourage her. But the baby died a few days later.

Hosono eventually accepted the position of the secretary-general of the party, a very powerful position, after his wife told him to do so. "You are a politician. Do what you are good at, for the party."

And here are some examples of the reaction (on a togetter) from anti-nuclear net citizens to Mr. Hosono and his wife's personal tragedy. While couching with words like "poor child", they say:

It's probably from eating contaminated rice and contaminated food from Fukushima. He's got what he deserves.

It's nothing but God's punishment.

It's because Hosono is guilty of spreading radioactive materials [in reference to the wide-area disposal of disaster debris].

[Against people who said he should be considerate to a parent who just lost his baby daughter,] So it's OK for such a person to hurt others as long as he lost his daughter? You're crazy.

God's punishment. So it's OK for them to talk like Shintaro Ishihara　(who said the March 11, 2011 tsunami was God's punishment), as long as they are against nuclear power.

There are similar kind of tweets over the plant engineering company whose workers were killed in the hostage-taking crisis in Algeria recently. They say the workers deserve the fate, because they work for a company that designs nuclear power plants. They also say the Japanese government sent a government jet to bring the surviving workers home because the company is part of the nuclear industry. (And yes, all these are somehow a sinister plot by the United States.)

Then, these tweets are apparently effectively used by the "other side" to discredit the anti-nuclear people. Then, there are people who attack the person who complied the togetter, calling him "scum" for trying to make people look bad.

"Whatever" is all I can say at this point.

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Goshi Hosono: "Japan Will Really Go Down the Drain Without a Couple of People Like Myself..."

Is that so, Mr. Hosono?

At this point, all I can do is to do what's good for repelling radioactive materials - laughing out loud. LOL. Better yet, ROFLMAO, to get some more exercise.

Goshi "Do you think this craft piece is contaminated? Do you?" Hosono, ex-Minister of the Environment and current chairman of DPJ policy bureau (what policy, that's another issue), said to his eager audience in Tokyo that he is preparing himself for shouldering the burden of governing the country. Like a hero in a Greek tragedy.

From Jiji Tsushin (11/12/2012):

民主・細野氏「国背負う準備、始める」

DPJ's Hosono "I'll start preparing for carrying the country on my back" (becoming the prime minister of Japan)

　民主党の細野豪志政調会長は１２日朝、都内で行った講演で、「国を背負っていく人間が持つべき内政外交のビジョン、それを遂行する人間関係のネットワークをつくらないといけない。その準備を始めたい」と述べ、将来の代表選出馬に改めて意欲を示した。　

DPJ's Goshi Hosono, chairman of the party's policy bureau, gave a speech in Tokyo in the morning of November 12, in which he said, "We need the vision for domestic and foreign policies that one has to have in order to carry the nation forward, and we need the network of people to realize that vision. And I want to start preparation", indicating his eagerness to run in the DPJ leadership election in the future.

　細野氏は「どうしても首相にならないといけないと思っているわけではない」とする一方、「私のような人間が何人かいないと、この国は本当に駄目になる。今の永田町を見て、国政を担う態勢を整えている政治家が少ない」と語った。

While Mr. Hosono said "It's not that I have to become the prime minister", he continued, "Japan will really go down the drain without a couple of people like me. Looking at Nagata-cho [the national government] today, there are too few politicians who are preparing themselves for the governing of the nation."

Schoedinger's cat is dead; the cat is alive. It's all wonderful world of endless possibilities until you open the door, collapse the possibilities and face the reality. Many in Japan, including Hosono, have chosen to live in the endless possibilities.

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Japan's LDP Chooses Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as Party Leader, and Goshi Hosono Resigns as Minister in Charge of Nuclear Accident to Prepare for Election for DPJ

(UPDATE 9/26/2012) Here's a link to the confidence-inspiring poster of Mr. Abe, detailing what he and his party would do if returned to power (for those of you who read Japanese):

http://www.s-abe.or.jp/wp-content/themes/politicianA/img/seisaku2012.pdf

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If Liberal Democratic Party wins back the next election (Lower House, to be held sometime next year), he will be the prime minister of Japan for the second time.

5 years ago, he simply quit as the prime minister and LDP leader after encountering some minor difficulty in negotiating with the opposition (DPJ). He is an elite from a political family which has produced prime ministers and councilmen. His own father was the foreign minister under Prime Minister Nakasone. Reading his profile on Japanese wiki, he looks and sounds like a typical "third generation".

Tokyo Governor Ishihara's son didn't do well at all. (I hope he retires to Senkaku Island now, taking his daddy with him.)

From Nikkei Shinbun (9/26/2012; part) reporting on the party election result just announced:

自民党総裁選は26日午後、決選投票の結果、１回目の投票で２位だった安倍晋三元首相が石破茂前政調会長を破って勝利した。２位候補の逆転は56年ぶりで、安倍氏は2007年以来、５年ぶり２度目の就任となる。いったん辞任した総裁が再び登場するのは1955年の自民党結党以来、初めて。

The LDP leadership election was held on September 26, and after the final round of voting, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was the 2nd in the first round of voting, won the election by defeating Mr. Shigeru Ishiba, former chairman of the party policy bureau. It was the first time in 56 years that the candidate placed 2nd in the first round won in the final round. For Mr. Abe, it will be the second time as the party leader since he resigned the same position in 2007. It will be the first time for the party to have the party leader who resigned from the post before, since the party was formed in 1955.

In case you are not aware, despite the official name the party is not "liberal", just like DPJ under Yoshihiko Noda has been shown to be not "democratic".

Now, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda as the leader of DPJ elected by overwhelming majority of the party has appointed Goshi Hosono as the party's new policy bureau chairman, replacing Seiji Maehara (whom many call a puppet of the US). As the result, Goshi Hosono resigned as the minister in charge of nuclear accident and focus on the election strategy for the party.

So much for his word that he decided not to run for the DPJ leadership election because he wanted to focus on the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident and the cleanup effort.

Also, Finance Minister Jun Azumi will resign, as he becomes the deputy secretary-general of the party. Not much loss here, as he is a rank amateur when it comes to finance and economy.

So, as far as the politicians in Japan are concerned, the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident looks to be totally behind them. It is indeed a "post-accident phase" they are in, as IAEA's Director-General Yukiya Amano said the other day, 1,660 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium in apples in Chiba notwithstanding.

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Goshi Hosono To Run Against Noda in DPJ Leadership Election, "There's No Stopping Now"

(UPDATE 9/7/2012) It looks like Hosono flip-flopped. Now he says he is not running. What a surprise. His reason, according to Yomiuri, is just incredible: 2 weeks of campaigning for the DPJ leadership election will distract him from important tasks for the recovery of Fukushima. That recovery hasn't really happened after one year and 6 months, and he wants us to believe this particular 2-week period in September is too critical. (As I said, incredible.)

(H/T anon reader)

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Oh what a surprise. (Not.)

These DPJ politicians are indeed from outer space, if they think propping up this man will win them the election. But then, more than half the country's population still rely on newspapers and TV who have started touting him as "Prime Minister-in-waiting".

Goshi Hosono is the one who, as the personal assistant to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan, admitted in April last year they knew it was a core melt but just didn't feel like telling that to people.

He's also the one who whipped out a craft piece made of disaster debris in front of an angry crowd at the Kyoto JR Station in March this year and said, "Do you think this is contaminated? Do you?"

From Yomiuri Shinbun (9/6/2012):

細野氏、民主党代表選に出馬の意向

Mr. Hosono will enter the leadership election of the Democratic Party of Japan

野田首相（５５）の党代表任期満了に伴う民主党代表選（１０日告示、２１日投開票）をめぐり、これまで出馬に慎重な姿勢を取ってきた細野豪志環境・原発相（４１）が、出馬する方向となった。

Goshi Hosono (age 41), Minister of the Environment and minister in charge of the nuclear accident, has been treading cautiously so far on whether he will enter the race to elect the president of DPJ to be held (notification on September 10, voting on September 21) on the expiration of term of office of Prime Minister Noda (age 55).

複数の細野氏周辺が５日、明らかにした。党内には、次期衆院選の顔として若い細野氏の出馬を期待する声が広がっている。出馬すれば、再選を目指す首相への有力な対抗馬となるのは確実で、事実上の一騎打ちとなる。

Multiple sources close to Mr. Hosono revealed on September 5. An increasing number of people within the party are hoping for the young Hosono to enter the race, as the "face" of the DPJ in the coming Lower House election. If he enters the race, he is likely to be the single major contender against the prime minster who is seeking reelection.

これまで細野氏は、記者会見などで「代表選は考えていない」と繰り返してきた。しかし、５日夜には「民主党が生まれ変わった姿を見せるべきだ」と語り、最終的に出馬要請に応じざるを得ないとの意向を固めた模様だ。

Mr. Hosono has repeatedly said that he is not considering entering the leadership election. However, he said on the evening of September 5, "We should show that the Democratic Party of Japan has been reborn", indicating he would have no choice but eventually agree to running for the position.

細野氏は６日未明、出馬を求める若手議員らの働きかけについて「重く受け止めなければいけない。民主党を何とかしなければいけないという思いもある」と周辺に語った。細野氏周辺は「出馬の方向で止まらないだろう」と述べた。

In the early hours of September 6, Mr. Hosono told his people that the approach from the younger politicians [urging him to run] should be "considered gravely. I do think I have to do something to [save] the Democratic Party of Japan." His people said, "There's no stopping now."

It's quite remarkable to read the Japanese mainstream media reporting on this news, whether it is Yomiuri or Mainichi or someone else. They completely ignore what he has done (or rather, not done) in the past year and a half, and there's not a single mention of his handling of the wide-area disaster debris, decontamination effort, or disaster relief.

An earlier Yomiuri article (9/5/2012) captures the thinking of some of the supporters of Goshi Hosono. The anonymous politician in the article quite openly says,

「細野氏が首相になれば支持率は５０％まで上がるかもしれない。国会答弁などでボロが出ないうちに、臨時国会冒頭で解散だ」

"If Mr. Hosono becomes the prime minister, the approval rate may shoot up to 50%. Before he makes a fool of himself in the Q&A sessions in the National Diet, we will dissolve the Diet at the beginning of an extraordinary session of the Diet [and call for an election]."

Well that's about right.

Mr. Hosono has a book recently published by the way, titled "Testimony - 500 Days of Nuclear Crisis". It's not that he wrote it himself, but he was interviewed by a journalist who compiled the interview into a book. Get it while you can, the book from the Prime Minister-in-waiting.

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DPJ Leaders Urge Goshi Hosono to Run for DPJ Leadership Election (=Automatically, the Next Prime Minister of Japan)

Here you go, international fans of Goshi Hosono, Prime Minister-in-waiting ...

From Mainichi Shinbun via Yahoo Japan News (8/31/2012):

＜民主代表選＞細野環境相に出馬を打診　輿石氏ら

Democratic Party of Japan Leadership Election: Koshiishi et al urges Minister of the Environment Hosono to run

民主党の輿石東幹事長や樽床伸二幹事長代行、細野豪志環境相、松本剛明前外相ら衆参の国会議員７人が３１日夜、東京都内の飲食店で会談した。民主党代表選（９月２１日投票）を巡って意見交換し、細野、樽床、松本の３氏の中から野田佳彦首相（党代表）への対抗馬を擁立することが必要との認識で一致した。「選挙の顔」として党内に待望論がある細野氏に出馬を促したとみられる。出席者によると、輿石氏は明確な意見を言わなかった。

Seven DPJ politicians of both Upper and Lower Houses, including Azuma Koshiishi (Secretary-General of the DPJ), Shinji Tarutoko (Acting Secretary-General of the DPJ), Goshi Hosono (Minister of the Environment), and Takeaki Matsumoto (former Foreign Minister) met at a restaurant in Tokyo in the evening of August 31. They exchanged views over the DPJ leadership election (on September 21), and agreed that it was necessary to support one of the three - Hosono, Tarutoko, Matsumoto - as a rival candidate against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. It is thought that they urged Mr. Hosono to run, as he is being touted within the party as the "[Party's] Face in the [General] Election" and as Prime Minister-in-waiting. According to those who attended, Mr. Koshiishi didn't make his opinion clear.

代表選をめぐっては首相への対立候補擁立を模索する動きが活発化しているが、細野氏は原発災害の被災地対策に全力を挙げる考えを示している。

Over the leadership election, there have been active movements recently to support rival candidates against the prime minister. Mr. Hosono has said that he will give his best in helping the areas affected by the nuclear disaster.

If these people think Mr. Hosono as the prime minister will win them the general election, they must be from one of the dark, distant, outer planets or asteroids of the solar system.

I still remember the DPJ leadership election from last year, after Prime Minister Naoto Kan finally agreed to actually step down. Banri Kaieda (backed by Ichiro Ozawa) and Yoshihiko Noda went to the 2nd round. In between the first and the second rounds, NHK casually informed the viewers (NHK was live broadcasting from the election) that one of the candidates eliminated in the 1st round would throw his support behind Noda. That was a total fabrication, but it may have tipped enough undecided DPJ politicians to vote with the winner (a la NHK). Mr. Noda became the surprise winner. He continues to surprise (in a bad way) to this day.

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#Radioactive Japan: Miyagi, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Chiba to Have Final Disposal Sites for Highly Radioactive Ashes from Garbage Incineration, Sludge

Goshi Hosono's Ministry of the Environment is on the sudden offensive against citizens and residents of Kanto and Tohoku, again.

According to the Yomiuri Shinbun article, the Ministry of the Environment is already talking with the officials in the municipalities in three prefectures to built final disposal sites in their cities and towns.

As the wide-area disposal of disaster debris winds down as it is now widely revealed that there is simply not enough debris to widely distribute, Mr. Hosono looks desperate to do something so that he can claim he has made people "share the pain".

From Yomiuri Shinbun (8/21/2012):

汚染ごみ焼却灰、４県の国有地に最終処分場

Final disposal sites for ashes from contaminated garbage to be built in the land owned by the national government in four prefectures

東京電力福島第一原発事故後に発生した高濃度の放射性物質に汚染されたごみの焼却灰や汚泥の処分を巡り、環境省は、宮城、栃木、茨城、千葉の４県については県内に１か所ずつ、国有地に最終処分場を設けることを決めた。

Concerning the disposal of ashes from incinerating the contaminated garbage and of contaminated sludge as the result of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, the Ministry of the Environment has decided to build a final disposal site in the land owned by the national government in each of the four prefectures, Miyagi, Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Chiba.

９月末までに候補地を選定、提示する。

The locations will be selected by the end of September and announced.

　原発事故以降、東北、関東地方のごみ焼却施設や上下水道施設では、放射性セシウムが濃縮された焼却灰や汚泥が大量に発生。１キロ・グラムあたり８０００ベクレルを超える廃棄物は国の責任で処分することになっており、９都県で計４万２５７５トン（８月３日現在）に上る。

Since the start of the nuclear accident, a large amount of ashes and sludge with high concentration of radioactive cesium has been generated at garbage incineration plants, water purification plants and sewer treatment plants in Tohoku and Kanto regions. The waste with more than 8,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium is to be disposed of by the national government. As of August 3, the amount of such waste is 42,575 tonnes in 9 prefectures [including Tokyo].

　同省は、特に発生量が多く、保管場所の確保が難しい４県では国有地を活用することとした。宮城、栃木、茨城の３県で市町村の担当者を集めた説明会を開くなど、すでに調整に入った。

The Ministry has decided to utilize the land owned by the national government in the four prefectures where particularly large amounts [of ashes and sludge highly contaminated with cesium] have been generated and the storage space is hard to find. In Miyagi, Tochigi, and Ibaraki, the Ministry has already held meetings with officials in local municipalities in an effort to finalize the plans.

So, the local officials have been talking with the Ministry for some time. I bet they haven't said a word about it to the residents.

Who said "Render unto Caesar"? Render unto TEPCO the things which are TEPCO's.

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Goshi Hosono's Fancy New Webpage: Alt Code for the "Send" Button - "please fill out the form below and click "I will support the wide-area debris disposal" button"

I wrote about the fancy new website for Goshi Hosono to publish (ghost-written) letters to the citizens of Japan last week to apologize for his past sins, which, according to one of the blog's readers cannot be adequately viewed on the smartphones.

Then, over the weekend I started to see the tweets saying "See the source code!". So I did.

And this is what the tweets were talking about: the alt code for the "send button" to send your message from the site. The top is what it is now, and the bottom is from the cache of the same webpage (with relevant parts in green rectangles):

Now: "Please send us your opinions and requests."

Cache: "For those of you who supports "Disaster Debris Disposal by Everyone", please fill out the form below and click "I will support" button."

Oops... The highly paid ad agency who built the site simply reused the old template for the mail form for the wide-area disaster debris disposal site, copied and pasted the code.

What they didn't count on was that many net citizens in Japan would watch everything that this particular ministry and this particular minister do with deep suspicion, and it took them no time to look at the source code and spread this information on Twitter, saying "Look, if you click the button to send your opinion, they (Hosono's ministry) will count it as a vote of approval and support for wide-area debris disposal!" I got the news from one of the tweets of this blog, which was probably the first one to alert people.

Someone at the ad agency seems to have caught on quick enough and modified the particular alt code, but before the webpage was cached and the damage was done. Another one for Hosono, but he seems to be too thick-skinned to feel anything.

(Alt code specifies what text message or description is displayed when the image is not loaded for some reason - in this case, "send" button.)

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Building a Fancy Website, Minister of the Environment Goshi Hosono Apologizes to Citizens and Says "We Will Do Better From Now On" (But Wide-Area Debris Disposal Will Continue)

On a site which looks like it cost a small fortune to design and built (probably by one of the major PR firms in Japan), Goshi Hosono as the Minister of the Environment (he is still the minister in charge of the nuclear accident) posted a letter to the citizens of Japan, apologizing for his past sins and promising a better future.

The site came online yesterday (August 10) in Japan.

Net citizens are laughing, or fuming with anger (either for the silly content or for Hosono wasting their money).

Poor Mr. Hosono. Can't win no matter what, because he won't do the only thing he can win - to stop the wide-area disaster debris disposal.

The site looks like this. The letter is written in a traditional Japanese format - from right to left, top to bottom. (Click to enlarge.):

Here's what Mr. Hosono says (my best effort to retain the poetic prose of the original):

Letter to everyone [he says in an honorific form of Japanese, "みなさま"] - No.1
To Every Citizen of Japan.

Hello. This is Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment.

I believe that the Ministry of the Environment's
way of communicating with you and
providing information to you hasn't been optimal, and I am sorry.

Great East Japan Earthquake generated disaster debris, and
there are issues of decontamination, particularly in Fukushima Prefecture;
but we have to take back our environment where our children and grandchildren can live in safety,
and that's our mission at the Ministry of the Environment.

However, to make you feel safe,
information has to be transmitted and explained to you in an easy-to-understand manner,
and we have failed, that's the way I feel.
That has led to your distrust in the government, causing everyone who wants recovery
to doubt the government unnecessarily,
I reflect on it deeply.
I am very sorry.

We will change our way.
Problems occurring right now,
what we're thinking, and what we're actually doing,
by showing data,
we will explain to you so that you understand.

(further to the left, not in the image above)
As part of our effort, my personal thinking, and
what I would like to share with you,
in a few installments
I will tell you about them in a letter like this.
Thank you, and I look forward to communicating with you.

August 10th, 2012 (Heisei Year 24)

Goshi Hosono
Minister of the Environment

One thing Mr. Hosono, as a politician, doesn't know how and doesn't do well: to shut up, to keep quiet.

The bottom half of the web page has a form with which you can send your opinions and ideas. I added the labels for your reference. For the "location" field, the bottom of the drop down menu is "overseas" for those of you outside Japan. (Click to enlarge.)

Apparently many net citizens of Japan have been expressing their opinions using this page, and the server was down for a while. But now it's back online.

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Messrs Edano and Hosono Comment on 45,000-Strong Protest at PM Official Residence on June 22, 2012

As I posted earlier, they were inside the Prime Minister's Official Residence as the protest was on-going.

Portirland blog, posting the TV Asahi's program video (probably will be taken down shortly by Asahi soon), shows what the response was from each of them.

"Minister, there is a huge demonstration right now outside the Official Residence, against the Ooi Nuke Plant restart..." What do you think?

First, Mr. Yukio Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry:

(...) No comment.

Then, Mr. Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment/Minister in charge of the nuclear accident, with the same question:

I'm in a hurry now.

Then Hosono's car scooted right past the demonstrators:



Here's the video of the 11-minute segment in Asahi's report, while it lasts, if you understand Japanese. Ministers' non-comment and comment are about 5:40 into the video. Extremely brief.

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Goshi Hosono on NHK, Trying to Spin Radiation Exposure in #Fukushima Last Year, Ooi Restart This Year

Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment and Minister in charge of nuclear accident, and former personal assistant to former PM Naoto Kan when the Fukushima nuclear accident started, appeared on NHK's program "Close-Up Gendai" on June 18, 2012. Here's the segment where he blurts out a story he must have carefully memorized (in an occasionally mangled speech) to impress the NHK viewers on the sincerity of the government when it says Ooi Nuclear Power Plant is safe.

In it, Hosono speaks of radiation exposure "kindly experienced by the residents" of Namie-machi, Fukushima Prefecture.

I transcribed what Hosono said in the video and translated below.

First he briefly talks about the restart of Ooi Nuclear Power Plant:

すべてが出来ているとは申しません。課題があるのは事実です。しかし、今の段階でやれることは国もやっているし、そして地元の福井県もやっていただいてるというように、思っています。

I am not saying we've done everything. It is true that there are problems. However, all that can be done at this stage is being done by the national government, and the local prefecture, Fukui Prefecture, is also kindly doing it, I believe.

The first two sentences seem true enough. But the third? From the governor of Fukui Prefecture, we know that all Fukui Prefecture did was to rubber stamp what the "experts" said, and to rely on the word of the KEPCO president that he would try his best. Hosono says everything that can be done is being done, and that is what he believes. What if he's wrong? "Out of expectation" - 想定外 (soh-tei-gai) of course.

Then he refers to the residents of Namie-machi in Fukushima in particular, and says he cannot forget about them:

あのー、特に浪江町の方々のことがですね、私頭から離れないんですよ。あの時１０キロ、そして２０キロという避難のですね、判断をしたわけですけれども、政府は。その時にあの、きちっと方角を示すべきだったのが示されなかったと。あのそこでたくさん被曝をしていただいたという状況ではない、と言うことはですね、後ほど確認は出来ましたが、それを経験をした皆さんの思いというのはですね、我々はほんとに忘れてはならないと思ってます。

Uh, about people in Namie-machi, I cannot help thinking about them. Back then [first few days of the nuclear crisis], first 10-kilometer, then 20-kilometer evacuation areas were determined and set, by the national government. At that time, uh, the direction [in which Namie-residents should evacuate] should have been given but it wasn't. Uh, it's not that much radiation exposure was kindly experienced by the residents, that we were able to confirm later. But the thoughts and feelings of people who experienced it, I think we should never forget.

Again, the first two sentences seem true enough. It was the government under PM Kan whom he served as a personal advisor who confidently (at that time, I remember) declared 10 kilometer-radius evacuation zone was more than sufficient, and the further away people went from the crippled plant the far less risk they would have from radiation exposure. Hosono now says the government should have told the residents which direction to go. Well it did. It told the residents to move as far away from the plant as they reasonably could, i.e. all directions.

As to whether Namie-machi residents were exposed to much radiation, I don't believe it has been "confirmed". There is no meaningful data on early radiation exposure suffered by the residents in Fukushima Prefecture, because government officials, from the national government on down, didn't allow researchers to conduct a meaningful survey of enough people in the early days and weeks of the accident. Namie-machi is where the radiation level of 330 microsieverts/hour were measured on March 15, 2011 by an official from the Ministry of the Education and Science. Not only many Namie residents remained for weeks after the start of the accident, but they were eating the food and drinking water that were contaminated, without knowing.

Then, Hosono tries to reassure the audience by mentioning the special surveillance system for Ooi Nuclear Power Plant:

だからこそですね、政府としては特別な監視体制というのをひいてまして、えーしっかりと原発の状況をですね、政府として、えー監視をするということをやってます。そして、あの、事故がないという状況を作らなければなりませんが、万万が一、なんらかのトラブルがあった場合は、それをそれぞれの自治体にですね、的確に情報が伝わるような仕組みも作っているんですね。

For that very reason, the national government is implementing the special surveillance system [for Ooi Nuke Plant], uh, to closely monitor the situation at the nuclear plant. And, uh, we have to create a situation of no accident, but if by any remote chance there is a trouble, we are building a system so that the accurate information will reach the affected municipalities.

We also know what this "special surveillance system" that Hosono is talking about. It is the Ooi Nuke Plant Off-Site Center, 7 kilometers away from the plant, at the foot of the peninsula where the nuclear power plant is located, manned by the senior vice minister from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry assisted by a KEPCO vice president and NISA bureaucrats, all of whom will be babysat by managers from the plant manufacturers. Just like the Off-Site Center for Fukushima I Nuke Plant, everything relies on the electricity not cut off even in the case of a severe accident.

Hosono looks as if he doesn't understand anything he is saying. The female interviewer, a veteran announcer at NHK I think, is not there to ask questions but to help Hosono along so that he can regurgitate what he's been fed as quickly as possible.

(H/T anon reader for the video)

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Goshi Hosono Admits to Harvard Professor: "We Should Have Admitted to a Core Melt Possibility"

Goshi Hosono, as the minister in charge of the nuclear accident, met with the Harvard political professor Michael J. Sandel, to whom Hosono said that his government should have admitted a core melt (meltdown) possibility earlier.

Well, the government actually did, very early, like the very next day of the disaster on March 11, 2011. But the Kan administration quickly replaced the official of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency who spoke about the possible core melt in the press conference at noon on March 12, 2011. So they officially admitted, as if by mistake, in the initial confusion. Then, they were busy backtracking from that statement until several weeks later. Even for those who heard and read about the statement, I don't think it registered on them as people weren't as educated about things nuclear at that time as they are now.

For that matter, the government, with Mr. Edano as the spokesman, didn't officially tell the public that there was an explosion of Reactor 1 on March 12, 2011, until after 5 hours had passed.

When Goshi Hosono as a personal assistant to then-Prime Minister Kan went on a TV program in April 2011 and said "We knew it was a meltdown but we just didn't feel like telling people", there was hardly any reaction from the media or the general public.

And now here's what Goshi Hosono said to the Harvard professor, via Kyodo News (5/29/2012):

細野氏「溶融認めるべきだった」　米のサンデル教授と対談

Mr. Hosono met with US professor Sandel, said "We should have admitted to a core melt"

細野豪志原発事故担当相は２９日、熱気あふれる政治哲学講義で知られる米ハーバード大のマイケル・サンデル教授と内閣府の担当相室で対談し、東京電力福島第１原発事故直後の対応に関し「炉心溶融している可能性があることを率直に認めた上で対応していれば、政府発表に対する信頼もかなり変わっていたかもしれない。問題があったと思っている」と述べた。

Goshi Hosono, minister in charge of the nuclear accident, met with Professor Michael Sandel of Harvard University, known for his lively lectures on political philosophy, in his office in the Cabinet Office on May 29. Concerning the government response right after the start of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, Hosono said, "If we had frankly admitted to the possibility of a core melt, people's trust in the government announcement may have been different from what it is now. I think there was a problem."

　情報公開の在り方をめぐり細野氏は「国民は総体としては非常に冷静で、さまざまなことについて議論ができる」とした上で「そういう国民に対する情報の出し方、コミュニケーションの取り方は変わっていかなければならない」と強調した。

Over the information disclosure, Mr. Hosono said "On the whole, Japanese citizens are very calm and able to discuss various subjects". He went on to emphasize that "With such citizens, the information disclosure and the communications should be changed."

"We should have admitted to a core melt", Hosono now says. Several years down, he may be saying "We should have never done the wide-area debris disposal", says one of my Japanese twitter followers after reading the Kyodo News.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Third Tour for the Press on May 26, 2012 May Have the Press on Reactor 4 Operation Floor

It looks TEPCO/Government allow the press inside Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant every three months. The first tour in November last year was only for the reporters and cameramen who belong to the Press Clubs (Japanese and Foreign). The second tour in February allowed the independent media (Iwakami's IWJ and Nico Nico went). The third tour will again allow the independent media, again IWJ and Nico Nico.

What's different this time is, according to the worker who tweets from Fuku-I:

• Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment and Minister in charge of the nuclear accident, will go with the press on the tour;

• They will get off the bus right near the Reactor 4 building;

• Hosono and the press representatives may go up the reactor building to see the reinforcement work beneath the Spent Fuel Pool, and go up to the top floors.

The worker who tweets from Fuku-I thinks the reason why Goshi Hosono is coming may be to dispel the rumors circulating around the globe about Reactor 4's building "listing" (leaning, about to collapse, whatever). Bad choice, as Goshi Hosono would be the last person that people would believe. But that aside, the worker doesn't seem particularly worried about Reactor 4 (he never has). From his tweets (here and here):

世論や世界は4号機ばっか騒ぐけど、地震がきて崩壊するのは他も同じじゃないのかなぁ。他号機だって使用済み燃料あるし、まして炉内に燃料が残ってる。1号機や3号機も爆発してるけど補強はやってないよ。今まで何回か震度5がきたけど幸いに大丈夫だった。ちょっと怖かったけど…

People in the world are making a fuss about Unit 4, but I think the other reactor buildings would be the same as Unit 4 if an earthquake hits. Other units also have spent fuel, and what's worse there is still fuel inside the reactors. Units 1 and 3 also exploded but they haven't been reinforced. There has been several earthquakes with seismic intensity of 5, but luckily they were OK. I was scared a bit...

だからと言って楽観的なわけじゃないよ。震度7がきたらわかんないもん。でも危ないのは4号機だけじゃなくて、どれも同じだと思ってる。4号機は来年秋位から使用済燃料を取り出すけど他の号機はまだまだ先の話でいつ使用済み燃料取出すか決まってないからね。

It's not that I am optimistic. No one knows what will happen if an earthquake with seismic intensity of 7 hits. But it's not just Unit 4 that is dangerous. They are all the same. They will start removing the spent fuel from Unit 4 in the fall of next year, but it hasn't been decided when the spent fuel in other Units will be removed.

Independent journalist Ryuichi Kino was tweeting he entered the "lottery" to go to the plant....

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Political Remarks of the Day from Goshi Hosono, Ichiro Matsui (Governor of Osaka)

The former we've known long enough to not to expect brilliant comments from. The latter teams up with the boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City (who is being set up as the next prime minister - the horror, the horror) and is eager to accept disaster debris to Osaka and burn and bury in the Osaka Bay.

First, Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment and Minister in charge of the nuclear accident, from Yomiuri Shinbun (5/12/2012):

福島は核燃料最終処分場の適地でない…細野氏

Fukushima is not suited to become the final disposal site for nuclear fuel, Mr. Hosono says

細野環境相は１２日、福島県郡山市で、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所が立地する同県大熊町からの避難住民を対象に開かれた政府主催説明会に出席した。

On May 12, Minister of the Environment Hosono attended the meeting in Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture with the residents who evacuated from Okuma-machi, where Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located.

　同町を含む双葉郡８町村について、参加住民から「日本の核燃料の最終処分場になる可能性があるのではないか」との懸念が出されたが、細野氏は「福島では大きな津波があり、最終処分場の適地ではない」と明確に否定した。

The residents expressed worries to Mr. Hosono that the final disposal site for nuclear fuel in Japan may be built somewhere in the Futaba-gun's 8 municipalities including Okuma-machi. Mr. Hosono definitely denied the possibility, saying "Fukushima was hit by a big tsunami, and therefore it is not suited to become the final disposal site."

Ummm. All of Japan's nuclear reactors are located right on the ocean, and just about the entire Japanese archipelago is full of active faults running through it. There are plate junctions capable of producing large earthquakes and tsunami.

Next, Governor of Osaka Ichiro Matsui tweets, trying to convince people in Osaka that the disaster debris from Tohoku is totally free of plutonium:

瓦礫処理について、誤解されている方が多いようですが、岩手県に福島原発事故による、プルトニウムの飛散はありません。プルトニウムは比重が重く遠距離飛散は確認されていません。

Many people seem to misunderstand about the debris disposal. But plutonium from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant accident didn't reach Iwate. Plutonium's specific gravity is large, and it is not confirmed to have flown a long distance.

Uh... Researchers have found Fukushima-origin plutonium in Lithuania. (Maybe Lithuania is located just south of Fuku I Plant?)

I don't think the Ministry of Education and Science ever tested the soil samples for plutonium outside Fukushima and southern Miyagi. But that shouldn't deter these politicians (or the radiation/nuclear experts for that matter) from declaring one thing or another. If they keep repeating it, sooner or later it will become "true", particularly in the post-Fukushima Japan.

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Goshi Hosono's Incomprehensible Remark About Radioactivity of Disaster Debris

This philandering minister is in charge of the Fukushima nuclear accident and in charge of decontamination and disaster debris spreading.

From his April 3 press conference, by the reporter named Suwa and appeared in the blog by Ryusaku Tanaka, independent journalist:

諏訪：セシウム134と137だけの測定で大丈夫と大臣はお考えだそうだが、なぜか？

細野：セシウム134、137で測れるのは、これまでさまざまな測定をしてきたなかで、セシウムで測れば、それ以外の核種は、それよりも非常に、いわゆるその放射性物質においても、ベクレルにおいても、放射能というレベルにおいて懸念はない。

Suwa: You believe measuring cesium-134 and cesium-137 is enough. Why?

Hosono: What can be measured by measuring cesium-134 and cesium-137, of all the measurements we have done so far, if we measure using cesium, then the rest of the nuclides, more than that to a great degree, in so-called radioactive materials, or in becquerels, on the level of radioactivity, there is no concern.

Did you get it?

Hosono did his utmost best by using all the words he had heard, clearly without understanding any of them, since March 11, 2011 - cesium, nuclide, radioactive materials, becquerels, radioactivity. He could have spared the embarrassment by simply saying "I don't know."

He is one of those politicians in their early 40s whom the mass media want to portray as the next prime minister, although he is being eclipsed these days by the mayor of Osaka who behaves like a kindergarten bully in a sand box. A great future either way for Japan and the Japanese.

A fish rots from the head down.

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Disaster Debris Wide-Area Disposal PR in Kyoto: Ministry Official Wearily Says "Unprecedented Number of Protesters..."

Yomiuri Shinbun Kansai version did carry the report on the Ministry of the Environment event in the Kyoto Station yesterday.

From Yomiuri Shinbun Kansai version (4/1/2012):

京都へのがれき受け入れ要請に反対派４００人抗議

400 protesters against disaster debris acceptance into Kyoto

環境相がチラシ配布断念

Minister of the Environment canceled the distribution of the fliers

東日本大震災で発生したがれきの広域処理問題で、細野環境相が３１日、ＪＲ京都駅前（京都市）で山田啓二・京都府知事らと受け入れへの理解を訴えた。細野環境相は「自分のことだけでなく、宮城や岩手のことを考えて下さい」と呼び掛けたが、受け入れに反対する市民ら約４００人に取り囲まれ、予定していたチラシ配布を中止した。

On March 31 in front of the Kyoto JR Station (in Kyoto City), Minister of the Environment Hosono appealed for accepting the disaster debris in Kyoto. He was flanked by other officials including Keiji Yamada, governor of Kyoto. The minister called to the crowd, "Please think about Miyagi and Iwate, not just about yourselves." But residents opposing the debris acceptance surrounded him, and he had to cancel the distribution of the [promotional] fliers.

　環境省の「みんなの力でがれき処理プロジェクト」の街頭イベント。３月１１日に東京から始まり、関西では初開催となった京都が５か所目。市民らは「広域処理反対」「ガレキいやどす」などと書いたプラカードを掲げ、「帰れ」「子どもを守れ」などと声を上げた。

It was a street event rolled out by the Ministry of the Environment, "Disaster Debris Disposal Project, by Joining Hands". It started in Tokyo on March 11, and this Kyoto event is the 5th event, and the first in Kansai Region. Citizens held up signs that said "We are against the wide-area disposal" "Debris, No" [in Kyoto dialect], and shouted "Go back" and "Protect children".

　同行していた同省職員が「今までにない反対派の数だった」という騒動になったが、細野環境相は終了後、「諦めることはできないので、できるだけ多くの地域で受け入れていただけるよう（広域処理を）前進させていきたい」とやや疲れた表情で話した。

An official at the Ministry of the Environment who accompanied the Minister admitted, "This was an unprecedented number of protesters." Minister Hosono spoke after the event, looking a bit tired. "I cannot give up. I want to proceed on the wide-area disposal, so I hope to persuade as many locations as possible."

It was not just a number of people against it that was unprecedented; ordinary citizens shouting down the minister of the national government and other politicians was unprecedented.

If I strictly translate what Yomiuri called "反対派", it is "opposing faction", as if this was an organized movement by an established/existing organization. From what I saw, the only "organized" movement was those few men holding up signs that said "Kizuna (ties that bind)", "Let's promote wide-area disposal", with characters neatly printed.

To view the Kyoto residents shouting down the politicians including Hosono, chanting "go back, go back", or "protect children", go to my previous post.

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(UPDATED with Video) Goshi Hosono Is Being Shouted Down by Protesters in Kyoto

Hosono and his officials are right now in Kyoto, trying to persuade Kyoto residents that they have to accept disaster debris, and the protesters want to have none of that. Hosono has to shout to be heard over the ruckus.

He's trying to appeal to the people in Kyoto by showing some craft piece made by a Miyagi elementary school child. "Do you think this is contaminated? Do you?"

Live at Yasumi Iwakami's IWJ UStream: http://t.co/nk7UkkdN

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Update 3/31/2011:

Here's the recorded video of the event.

At about 7 minutes into the video: No.3 guy at Ministry of the Environment (politician) starts to speak, appealing to the small crowd at Kyoto Station how important it is to help out the people in the disaster affected area whose towns are still buried under the mountain of debris. "See this photo?" he says.

Shouting starts about 8 minutes. "We're against it!" (Hantai!)

At 8:55, you see two guys in bright green vests holding up signs that says "Kizuna". How much more blatant can you get, to show you are the Ministry's shills?

At 11:30, Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment, takes the stage. He is immediately being shouted down by angry crowd. He has to change the microphone to be heard above the shouting.

At 16:00, Hosono desperately grabs a craft piece made by an elementary school kid in the disaster affected area, and tries to tell the angry audience "Do you think this is contaminated? Do you?" People keep shouting at him, "Kaere, Kaere (Go back, go back)".

At 23:00, Governor of Kyoto takes the stage. People keep shouting him down.

At 27:40, Fukuyama, DPJ politician from Kyoto and advisor to then-Prime Minister Kan when the disaster struck, takes the stage. People keep shouting "Go back, go back". Fukuyama pleads with them that he is from Kyoto, and he comes back here. People keep shouting "Go back, go back".

People are telling him to go back to where he belongs, which is the center of the central government who wants Kyoto to accept and burn debris.

At 32:00 Fukuyama resorts to citing "democracy" as the reason why these protesters should quietly listens to him. People keep shouting "Go back, Go back".

Video streaming by Ustream

That was rich. "Democracy". Was it a democracy to simply decide to spread the disaster debris all over Japan without even asking people?

Good for Kyoto people. I've never seen anything like this where people refuse to quietly listen to a politician, and instead they shout them down.

I am surprised that they didn't call in the police, but as Iwakami's IWJ was there netcasting live, that would have really made the already ugly scene for the Ministry of the Environment even uglier.

There is ZERO coverage of this incident in the national newspapers, not even in their local Kyoto versions. All there are in the local versions of the national papers is how eager and willing and ready Kyoto is to accept and burn the disaster debris.

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Goshi Hosono Is Now On Twitter

The minister in charge of the Fukushima nuclear accident and the Minister of the Environment Goshi Hosono has just started tweeting.

You can follow him if you want, at @hosonogoshi54.

So far, only two tweets, following no one, and 1,097 people following.

Let him know what you think of his:

• "decontamination" scam that benefit largest construction companies in Japan;

• wide-area disposal of disaster debris that has been contaminated with radioactive materials, toxic chemicals;

• his handling of the Fuku-I accident, etc.

Just be aware that Twitter Japan is run by a person with ties to the Japanese government. (But at this point, who doesn't have ties to the government, among TPTB?)

When the nuclear accident started last March, he was an assistant to then-Prime Minister Kan. He was the one who said "We knew it was a meltdown but just didn't feel like telling anyone", as soon as a few days after March 11, 2011.

Most recently in Kitakyushu City in Kyushu where he descended to drum up support for wide-area disposal of disaster debris, he didn't even know how many tonnes of disaster debris were there in Ishinomaki City, when asked by a reporter. He froze, and then looking for someone who could assist him. Before that, he was apparently making up a story of Kitakyushu City building a temporary incineration plant. The city officials later said, "That's news to us."

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Ministry of the Environment TV and Online Commercial on Disaster Debris

Goshi Hosono and his increasingly powerful (= a lot of money) ministry appeal to your emotions to take 33 kilograms of disaster debris per person. What would you say?

Ordinary citizens all over Japan who oppose bringing the debris into their midst to be burned are armed with data and logic.

They're not talking the same language.

But luckily for Hosono and the Ministry of the Environment, what counts is the unthinking majority. And some punks like the youthful-looking mayor of Osaka openly say you have to obey the government in a democracy once the government make it a rule or law with either the majority's consent or their lack of dissent.

The Ministry of the Environment commercial, captioned by Tokyo Brown Tabby:

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Japanese Politicians' "Performance" This Year Is to Measure Radiation of Disaster Debris on the Street Corner

Remember the "performance" by politicians (then-Prime Minister Kan, for one) in spring and early summer last year of eating "delicious and safe" fruits and vegetables from Fukushima? Many celebrities and TV personalities joined in, putting pressure on people to eat Fukushima produce.

This year, the spring performance by politicians is to measure the radiation dose of disaster debris on the street corner to convince citizens that "disaster debris is just as contaminated as air in your city". The event captured by Iwakami Yasumi's IWJ live was in Kawasaki City on March 18, 2012.

(I substituted the video with the one with the subtitle by Tokyo Brown Tabby.)

The mayor of Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture who stands to the right of Hosono in the video is originally from Fukushima Prefecture. As soon as April last year, he declared that his city would accept debris from FUKUSHIMA and burn it in the city to help Fukushima recover. That's how one of the earliest anti-disaster debris movement started in Kawasaki, by alarmed residents there. For more about this former career bureaucrat mayor, see my post from 2/20/2012.

Watching this video, I felt sick. These politicians, with Minister of the Environment Goshi Hosono in the middle, just act according to the script as the residents keep heckling them -"What's the point of measuring air radiation dose?" "If you burn it, radioactive materials will get concentrated!"

The one with the microphone in the beginning is, I think, the No.3 guy in the Ministry who said "No one trusts the government data". Here he is, shouting into the microphone peddling the government data.

The Ministry of the Environment wants to push disaster debris contaminated with radioactive materials (240 to 480 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, no other nuclides measured). By this bizarre demonstration, the ministry is trying to tell the residents that the survey meter that measures air radiation levels can detect 240 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium which they consider "safe" in post-Fukushima surrealistic Japan.

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Goshi Hosono Short on Facts on Debris-Peddling Commercial

The Ministry of the Environment has a 2-minute-long commercial featuring Minister Goshi Hosono, aka disaster debris pusher, in front of the mountains of disaster debris in Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture.

Just about every single sentence he utters is short on facts and accuracy and full of misrepresentation.

From the Ministry of the Environment commercial below, translated and captioned by Tokyo Brown Tabby:

Hosono: As you can see, this is a huge mountain of debris.

Fact: Debris is actually neatly piled up, because it has been removed from the immediate coastal areas hit by the tsunami and is being stored there, as you can see at 0:26 into the video. But the disaster debris wide-area processing is being sold on the perception that the tsunami debris is still littering the streets and people's backyards after one year.

Hosono: Ishinomaki City cannot complete the disposal alone.

Fact: In fact, the city can. The debris are being stored on the landfill on the bay, not bothering anyone nearby. The city has budgeted nearly 200 billion yen (US$2.4 billion) to do the debris disposal, building 5 new incineration plants on the landfill and in the process creating 1,250 jobs. None of the sister cities of Ishinomaki City has been asked to take the debris.

Hosono: The debris is the remnants of people's lives.

Fact: Yes it is. So? Is that the reason to spread it all over Japan? Wouldn't the pieces of lives of people in Ishinomaki want to remain in Ishinomaki?

Hosono: There are people in the city who are discouraged to see the debris in front of them...

Fact: The debris is on the landfill, removed from the areas where people live and work. It is not in front of them.

Hosono: Please assist the nation-wide disposal...

Fact: Ishinomaki has 6 million tonnes of debris. Of that, 10 to 20% of the debris is what the Ministry of the Environment wants to spread to the rest of Japan because "Ishinomaki cannot do it alone". It doesn't add up. It may lengthen the time it takes to dispose of the debris by 20% at most. It may take 6 years instead of 5. Or 12 years instead of 10. It doesn't seem like such a vast difference.

Hosono: See, we measure radiation ... (using a survey meter that measures only gamma ray radiation)

Fact: You cannot measure the contamination on the debris by a survey meter unless the contamination is in the order of tens of thousands of becquerels per kilogram.

Hosono: I ask your cooperation of nation-wide disposal of safe debris...

Fact: No one trusts the "safety" standards of the national government, particularly those set by the Ministry of the Environment.

And the ultimate fact is that this wide-area disposal of the disaster debris was decided in May when the radiation contamination was thought (by the government) to be occurring in Fukushima Prefecture alone. Everything was set to go, with the heavy support from the big businesses, when radioactive materials started to be detected outside Fukushima. So what do you do when the situation changes? As far as the Japanese government goes (as with most governments in the world), keep pushing no matter what. Big money is at stake.

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