Minister of Reconstruction: "We Don't Know How Much Has Been Spent on What and Where"

And why not?

Because his agency, modeled after the one that had existed in the wake of the devastating 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, didn't tally. There was no plan to do so either.

Children at play, whether it's in Japan or in the US or the EU.

From Tokyo Shinbun (11/14/2012):

被災地で使った復興予算額　復興相「分からない」

Amount of money spent for recovery and reconstruction in the disaster affected area: "We don't know", says Minister of Reconstruction

平野達男復興相は十三日の衆院予算委員会で、東日本大震災の復興予算のうち、被災地で使われた金額や割合について「明確に整理したデータはない」と明らかにした。復興予算のずさんな扱いがまた鮮明になった。

Minister of Reconstruction Tatsuo Hirano said in the Lower House Budget Committee meeting on November 13 that "there is no data compiled" to account for the amount for the money spent in the disaster-affected areas out of the total recovery/reconstruction budget for the March 11, 2011 disaster. It is another example of the lax treatment of the reconstruction budget.

平野氏は二〇一一年度に計上された復興予算十五兆円のうち、執行されたのは全体の六割に当たる九兆円だったと説明。九兆円のうち、被災地で使われた額は「正確には分からない」と述べた。

Mr. Hirano explained that 60 percent, or 9 trillion yen has been spent, of the total 15 trillion yen recovery/reconstruction budget for the fiscal 2011 [that ended on March 31, 2012]. Of 9 trillion yen, he said he didn't know the exact the amount spent in the disaster-affected areas.

執行された予算が実際に現場の業者にどれぐらい回っているかと質問されたのに対しても、「聞き取り調査をしないと分からない。データを集めるのには時間がかかる」と答えた。

When questioned how much of the money actually spent had gone to the companies that did the actual work [of recovery/reconstruction] in the disaster-affected area, Mr. Hirano answered, "We will have to interview [the businesses] and find out. It will take time to collect the data."

復興予算が実際に被災地で使われた予算額については、現在、復興庁で集計中。

The Reconstruction Agency is now tallying the amount of money actually spent in the disaster affected area.

もともと集計する計画はなかったが、復興予算が被災地の再生と無関係な事業に使われていることが明らかになったのを受けて、急きょ集計することになった。

As it has been revealed that the projects not related to the recovery of the disaster-affected areas got funding from the recovery/reconstruction budget, the agency has decided to tally up the amount even though there was no plan to do so.

What kind of projects got funded? Here are some examples:

• Remodel the tax collection agency's offices throughout Japan so that the tax collectors can continue to operate even in a major disaster;

• Counter the activities of anti-whaling groups;

• Training in the prisons in Hokkaido and Saitama, so that the prisoners won't commit crimes in the disaster-affected areas once they are released;

• Seismic retrofit for the government buildings throughout Japan

• Renovate kitchens and baths in the Self Defense Force camps outside the disaster-affected areas

The last one I approve. It was not just SDF soldiers in Tohoku who were deployed in Tohoku right after the March 11, 2011 disaster.

The most cynical is the first one, remodeling of the tax offices so that the government continues to collect taxes in the next major disaster.

The general election cannot come soon enough, but it's just too bad you cannot vote out the bureaucrats who make their living out of taxpayers' money.

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Japan's Reconstruction Agency Says Infra Will Be Ready in 2 Years in Former Evacuation Zone in Fukushima So That People Can Return, Now That the Agency Has "Grand Design"

The country is either in denial, or in delusion, or in both. Or in the same mental state when many truly believed that bamboo spears wielded by young girls could down the B29 bombers. It may have taken 26 years for the Ukrainian government to contemplate redeveloping part of the evacuation zone around Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, but the Japanese will do better than that and do it in three years since the start of the accident.

The Reconstruction Agency, modeled after the one that was set up right after the devastation of Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, says it now has a "Grand Design" (or Gurando Dezain in English that has a meaning only in Japan) for the recovery and reconstruction of the areas around Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Well, the problem is that people have already started returning, whether the infra is ready or not, or whether the national government has a "Grand Design" or not.

From Tokyo Shinbun Evening Edition (part, link won't last long; 9/4/2012):

復興庁　２年後には帰還可能に

Reconstruction Agency says evacuees can return in 2 years

復興庁は四日、東京電力福島第一原発事故に伴い避難区域などが設定された福島県十二市町村の復興の在り方を示した「グランドデザイン（取り組み方針）」を決定した。避難指示を解除した区域では二年後には帰還可能な環境を整備すると明記した。そのためのインフラ整備や長期避難者への生活支援、地域経済再生に向け、国は「長期にわたって十分な財源を確保する」とした。

On September 4, the Reconstruction Agency finalized its "Grand Design" that lays out the reconstruction of 12 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture which have been designated as "evacuation areas" of one kind or another after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The plan explicitly says the environment that will allow the residents to return will be in place in 2 years in the areas where evacuation orders have been lifted. To do so, infrastructure improvement, support for long-term evacuees and recovery of local economy will be necessary, and the report further says the national government "will secure ample, long-term funding to achieve them".

...

目標として二年後を目安とした短期は、避難指示解除準備区域の上下水道、道路を含むインフラ復旧を進める。五年後の中期は産業振興や営農支援により復興を加速。十年後以降の長期は雇用規模の回復に取り組む。

The 2-year short-term targets will include the rebuilding of the infrastructure such as water and sewer services and roads in the areas where the evacuation orders have been lifted. In the 5-year medium term, the reconstruction is to accelerate by industrial development and support for the farmers. After the 10th year, the plan will address the long-term goal of employment recovery.

除染の長期目標も示し、十二市町村のうち住民の帰還を先行して進める地域を優先し、自然放射線を除いた追加被ばく線量を年一ミリシーベルト以下に抑える。

The long-term goal of decontamination is also stated [in the Grand Design]. In the 12 municipalities, decontamination will be done in the areas where the evacuees will return, so that the additional radiation exposure above the natural background is limited to 1 millisievert per year or lower.

また、長期避難を強いられる自治体の住民が帰還まで他地域に集まって暮らす「仮の町」構想でも、国が受け入れ側の自治体に対し協力依頼や財政支援を行う。

As to the "temporary town" plan where the residents of the municipalities will live together until their return home, the national government will ask the host municipalities for cooperation and provide them with financial support.

It will be incredibly costly. What's worse, it probably will not work the way they plan.

What's even worse, in the areas where the evacuation order has been lifted, the residents are already returning to their homes without any electricity and running water. Their homes and lands haven't been decontaminated at all. When the national government started to "decontaminate" the evacuation zone last year, all they did was to send general contractors (who sent their subcons) and Self Defense Force soldiers to the towns and villages inside the evacuation zone and decontaminate the municipal government offices. What good is that for the returning residents?

The worker who has been tweeting since March last year from Fukushima I Nuke Plant was clearly distressed (I think it was either July or August this year) when he saw people who had just returned to their home in Naraha-machi (that's where J-Village, the staging area for Fukushima I Nuke Plant work, is located). He tweeted that these people were washing things in the nearby river. He told the husband and wife that they shouldn't be doing it (to which they answered they didn't have running water so they had no choice), and that they should wait till he came back with clean water.

He tweeted, "Their home is not even decontaminated! Why do the government return these people?"

So that the government/TEPCO (now one and the same, financially) does not have to pay compensation, I guess. I can't come up with any other good reason.

(Speaking of the Great Kanto Earthquake, the massacre of Korean residents after the quake was triggered by the rumor which was intentionally spread by Matsutaro Shoriki when he worked for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Shoriki became the owner of Yomiuri Shinbun immediately after he resigned from the Police the next year. He was also a known CIA asset after the war. It fits, doesn't it?)

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Japan's Reconstruction Agency Official at JETRO Seminar: "we can assure you no more spread of radioactive substance from the plant"

In a prepared statement, Mr. Yoshinori Suematsu, a member of the Parliament, working for the Reconstruction Agency as State Secretary for Reconstruction said to the attendants of the Seminar on Promotion of Foreign Direct Investment in the Area Damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquakes at the JETRO IBSC Hall on 23rd March 2012, said the following:

When it comes to the severe accident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, you surely know that the nuclear reactors had been well treated and achieved cold shutdown condition at the end of last year. Thus we can assure you no more spread of radioactive substance from the plant.

Emphasis is mine. Did you know that? Surely you know.

(H/T Enformable)

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Post-Nuke Reconstruction Plan for Fukushima Prefecture: World-Class Radiation Medicine, Radiation Contamination Removal, Renewable Energy

When the governor of Fukushima started to say "post-nuke", I thought "OK, he must have found a new way to benefit from the close ties with the national government, other than nuke, or in addition to nuke."

According to Yomiuri Shinbun, the latest and final version of the Kan administration's plan for recovery and reconstruction after the March 11 earthquake/tsunami for Fukushima Prefecture will include a host of government research institutions going to Fukushima, with the related industries - heavy electric, utilities, pharmaceutical, etc. - tagging along.

Dr. Shunichi "100 millisieverts are no problem" Yamashita is already in Fukushima, salivating at the unique, world-first opportunity to study the long-term effect of radiation on children. Also, Fukushima University and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, of Monju fame, have signed an agreement to cooperate in research and development of the world-class decontamination technology, among others. (Links are in Japanese.)

That the government research institutions rushing to Fukushima makes me wonder if the whole plan is one gigantic experiment using the land, water, air, people, animals, crops, forests and mountains in Fukushima to develop world-class technologies in radiation medicine and decontamination, and renewable energy that the government and the industries can later capitalize on.

Yomiuri Shinbun (3:03AM JST 7/27/2011)：

東日本大震災の復興に向け、政府が今月末に取りまとめる復興基本方針の最終案が２６日、明らかになった。

The final version of the recovery and reconstruction plan that the government was to submit by the end of this month was revealed on July 26.

原 発被害に苦しむ福島県に、医療や再生可能エネルギーにかかわる研究開発の拠点を整備し、政府系研究機関の関連部門の進出を進めることで復興を後押しする考 えを打ち出した。住宅の再建が難しい被災者には、低家賃の「災害公営住宅」を提供することも盛り込んだ。政府は２９日にも復興対策本部を開き、方針を正式 決定する。

The plan will include the research and development centers for health care and renewable energy in Fukushima Prefecture, which suffers damages from the nuclear plant accident. The government will support the recovery by sending the government research institutions to Fukushima. For residents who cannot rebuild their homes easily, the government will provide the "disaster public housing". The government will set up the headquarters for recovery and reconstruction on July 29, and formally decide on the plan.

　最終案では、原子力災害の復旧・復興について「国が責任を持って対応する」と明記。放射性物質に汚染された土壌の除染や災害 廃棄物の最終処分については、「必要な措置を講じる」とした。また、福島県に「世界をリードする医薬品・医療機器の研究開発拠点」や「再生可能エネルギー の世界最先端の研究拠点」を整備し、関連産業の集積を目指す考えを示した。自宅を失った被災者には「災害公営住宅」を提供し、希望する入居者には将来的に 売却する構想も盛り込んだ。

In the final version of the plan, it is clearly stated that "the national government will be responsible" in recovery and reconstruction from a nuclear disaster. As to the decontamination of the soil and the disposal of disaster debris, the plan says [the government] will "take necessary measures". It also mentions the creation of facilities for the "world-class pharmaceutical and medical equipment research and development" and the "world-class renewable energy research" in Fukushima Prefecture, which are to attract the related industries. For the residents who have lost their homes, the government will provide the "disaster public housing", which will be sold later to those who want to purchase the homes under the scheme.

So here's one answer to the question posed by a resident in the youtube video below that captured the confrontation between the Fukushima residents and the national government officials over evacuation:

"People in Fukushima have a right to avoid the radiation and live a healthy life, too. Don't you think so?"

Well, the government needs them inside Fukushima for all these grand projects. Besides, the government doesn't care about that right for anyone outside Fukushima either.

(h/t for the video, @FukushimaAppeal, @jamesballen)

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