A Tale of Two Farmers

This post is about farmers, and especially for farmers, whether in Japan or abroad. The story starts with my daughter’s eighteenth

"Is this straw safe?" (photo by Hiroshi Kawaii)

birthday party last Saturday, which was intended to be a beef barbeque, Japanese-style, on a big teppan grill. My daughter is actually not crazy about meat, but the men in the family are, and since they’re the grillers we can’t deny them their beef. I had plenty of fresh vegetables prepared for the ladies (I’m not crazy about beef either), and Yaki-Soba ready to serve at the end. Problem was……irradiated beef has been floating about various regions of Japan, and folks feel more than a bit anxious about buying any meat at all. This month, high levels of radioactive cesium were detected in beef originating from cattle in Fukushima Prefecture….cattle from farms outside of the evacuation zone, who had unfortunately been eating rice straw which had been contaminated by radioactive rainwater. The cattle had been slaughtered, the meat shipped out to various prefectures across Japan, bought by consumers, and presumably already savored in summer barbeques such as the one we were planning. The central government has been racing to locate unsold meat and has promised to buy back whatever they find and take responsibility for disposing of it, but people across the country are still in an uproar about lax testing standards (the cows were tested for radiation levels only on the surface of their hides, which gave no indication that they bore internal radiation poisoning), and no-one has an appetite for meat.

Except my son. When I declared we would have a meat-less birthday celebration for his sister this year, he flounced, pouted, and proclaimed himself ready and willing to risk radiation poisoning for the sake of his meat (red meat is not, after all, an everyday thing in Japan, and my son looks forward to these indulgences). In the end, we compromised and bought a small amount of Australian beef, paying a ridiculous price for it; this made my son inordinately happy, though the birthday girl couldn’t have cared less.

From the consumers (my son’s) point of view, the irradiated beef scandal is a pain in the neck. From the Fukushima farmers’ point of view, of course, it’s another chapter in the continuing saga of their fight for survival. Some farmers are organizing, finding support, and attempting to make a go of it. Others have given up. And at least one has taken his own life, in a grim story devoid of light but full of lessons. Let me begin with the story of that farmer.

"Do not be defeated by the nuclear accident. Do your best." (photo by Jun Kaneko)

On July 2nd, the Asahi Shinbun reported a 54 year old farmer from the village of Soma (Fukushima Prefecture) was found dead in his shed, having left a suicide note scrawled on the shed wall in white chalk. “Remaining dairy farmers: Don’t be defeated by the nuclear accident. Do your best.” Before the quake, the farmer had lived on the farm with his Filipino wife and two sons, caring for his 40 head of cattle and selling compost as well. He was looking forward to expanding his farm, buying new equipment, and attending his oldest son’s entrance ceremony for elementary school. After March 11, everything changed. Soma village is 50 kilos from the Daiichi Power Plant; it is technically outside of the heavily contaminated evacuation zone, but not far enough away to absolutely guarantee the safety of livestock and food products. The farmer was forced by the government to halt shipments of milk, and began the heartbreaking routine of feeding and milking his cows, then pouring the milk into the ground. He continued for a month, feeding and caring for his herd without a source of income.

In the meantime, his wife returned to the Philippines, taking the two children with her. She was responding to pressure from her own government to evacuate the prefecture, as did many foreigners in the months of March and April. This may be difficult to fathom, but many other international families made the same choice. Also, the March 11th quake hit the village of Soma hard. The aftershocks, which were frightening enough in the Tokyo area, must have continued to terrify the farmer and his family, as well as the explosions and unstable condition of the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Rumors of radiation poisoning were running rampant, and noone knew what was actually happening. His wife had to choose between a safe haven for her children and staying to support her husband–either choice would’ve been difficult and painful. She chose the former, and from that point on the farmer’s life must have lost any remaining sense of purpose. Just two weeks later he fled the country himself, taking refuge with his wife’s family in the Philippines. Neighboring friends and family picked up the pieces he had left behind, dividing up his cows and taking over their care and feeding.

I wish that the story could’ve ended at that point, with the farmer finding a new life and identity in his wife’s country. Instead, he was back in Soma in early May; he returned alone, to an empty farmhouse and barn. Apologizing to the friends who had taken care of his cows, he explained that he had wanted to stay with his wife abroad, but had been unable to speak the language. I imagine a shy man, jobless and tongue-tied, at the mercy of his mother-in-law and extended family, and can empathize to some extent. Being illiterate in any society is a challenge, and the emotional strain of being unable to express oneself or-conversely-to be understood is one that those who have never travelled or lived abroad will never know. It can make you crazy.

The story ends soon after the farmer’s return to Soma. An agricultural co-op worker visited his farm to deliver a magazine, and found him dead in his own shed. An accompanying letter read, “To my wife and children, I am sorry. I was a father who could do nothing. ” Two hundred local farmers, friends, and family attended the funeral, as well as his wife and children.

This story was particularly disturbing to me; the farmer (whose name was not released to the press) was unable to help himself, desperately lonely, financially pressed, and facing an unknown future. In Japan, suicide is a way of saving face, restoring one’s pride, and making reparations. With no support system in place for farmers after the quake, suicide must have seemed to be his best option. After the quake, farmers in the Fukushima area were in limbo, with no income, no guidelines, no reliable source of information, and no organized support, either practical or emotional. The farmer who took his life faced this situation alone after his wife left, and the burden was simply too heavy. Unable to re-invent himself, yet unable to return to the life he knew, he chose an early exit, apologizing for his own failure to change events that were beyond his control.

Now let’s do a three-point-turn: back up and listen to another farmer’s story, with quite a different twist. This farmer, Yoshizawa-san, is from Namie Village, which lies inside the evacuation zone. Namie is now a ghost town; residents are scattered through different towns and prefectures, some returning periodically (in organized excursions) to check on their houses and grounds. Yoshizawa-san supports a herd of 300 cows within the evacuation zone, and carries a special permit enabling him to return to his farm once

Villages like Namie have become ghost towns.

a week to feed and care for his herd. The cows, by the way, have been condemned to slaughter for some time now. They have been drinking radioactive water, eating radioactive hay, and breathing radioactive air. Though they have no external symptoms, they are marked by internal radiation poisoning, and their milk is worthless on the market-likewise, their meat. Yoshizawa knows this–it is irrefutable. Yet he is waging a determined campaign to save them, and has even collected more strays to add to his herd in the process. He has painted, “Save them or die trying!” on his barn’s roof and on signs along the road to his farm, and has allowed independent film makers access to his property (sneaking them in under a plastic tarp on his truck, as they did not have the required entry passes) to take photos and interview him. His cows (and his neighbors’ abandoned cows, who have voluntarily joined his herd) are roaming free on his property, subsisting mostly on grass and the hay that he delivers weekly. They still come to greet him when he arrives, he says, and he has no intention of deserting them. Yet he realizes that within six months, there will be no grass left on his property for grazing, and he fears slow but inevitable starvation. Yoshizawa-san vows to keep his cows alive out of respect for the animals, and also as a protest against both the government and TEPCO, who created his situation by promoting nuclear power. Watch the video, and you can’t help but admire the man: he is well-spoken, passionate, organized, committed, and has a natural
magnetism that will aid him in his cause. He already has the film-makers on his side. Here is a man who intends to control his own fate at whatever cost. Enough said! Here’s the video of Yoshizawa, explaining just why the government should allow him to save his cows.

Smart man, eh? And brave as well. Where central and local governments have been unable to bring order from chaos, individual leaders have been springing up, giving hope and purpose to those around them who’ve been unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Truth is, Yoshizawa-san can’t see the light either, but he’s willing to live with that uncertainty. I will follow his story if possible, though news from the true inside is harder and harder to come by these days.

Lastly, I want to return to the story of the two film-makers (remember? Yoshizawa-san snuck them into his farm under a tarp). They’re an international couple: Junko Kajino and Ed M. Koziarski. Their goal is to produce a film documenting the efforts of organic farmers in Tohoku in the post-quake months (years? I’m not sure). They intend to follow the lives of local farmers from planting to harvest, to see how they adapt to the changed conditions of the air, water, and soil in Fukushima since the nuclear disaster. They believe in sustainable agriculture and energy, and hope to produce a documentary for international broadcast and distribution. They are staying at the “Colors of the Seasons Farm”, 45 miles from the Daiichi plant, and just twenty miles outside of the evacuation zone. Their host family, the Yoshidas, are an extended family (even the grandma puts in a day’s work) whose specialty is “firefly rice”, so named because after the family stopped using pesticides and began farming organically, fireflies returned to their neighborhood. The father of the Yoshida family says of their proximity to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, “We don’t know if our crops will be safe. We can’t ignore this issue. But we won’t stop cultivating our land. We need farmers to nurture the environment, nature and culture, and pass them on to the next generation. ” They realize that they their produce may not be salable, but at least they will be self-sufficient.

The film-makers, Junko and Ed (I hope I am not being too familiar) have a web site called “Uncanny Terrain”. It’s chock-full of interviews, photos, and thoughts from people living on the inside of the evacuation zone, and those in the grey area just outside . Here’s the link; I know you will enjoy it, and learn something as well. http://uncannyterrain.com/blog/ In closing, I’d like to quote from the Uncanny Terrain blog. The two film-makers ask a crucial question that the country as a whole, and all countries with functioning nuclear reactors, need to consider. Here’s what they have to say: “After suffering the world’s only nuclear attacks in World War II, Japan emerged from poverty and devastation and entered into a period of unprecedented technological innovation and economic growth. Can today’s Japanese respond to this catastrophe with new forms of innovation that will allow this nuclear-dependent society to continue providing healthy food to its people, and live in better harmony with the natural world?” Let us hope they can. Let us support those farmers who have not yet given up the battle, and say a prayer for those who did not make it. The animals, too. Thank you again for reading, and take care in the summer heat.

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Tanabata, Temper Tantrums, and the Prime Minister ‘s Woes

The Colonel is ready for Tanabata...

Colonel Sanders is decked out in different seasonal costumes several times a year here in Hadano City, and this past week he’s been celebrating the Star Festival, or “Tanabata”.  The Tanabata Festival comes from China, and is a more romantic version of Groundhog’s Day. Two lovers in the sky (the constellations Vega and Altair, or  Orihime and Hikoboshi in Japanese) are separated by the milky way, and are only allowed to see each other once a year: on the seventh day of the seventh month. If July 7th is rainy or cloudy, it is said that the lovers cannot meet. Whatever the weather, children across the country sing a special song in their Nursery Schools (I think my kids still remember it), and write their heart’s wish on a “fuda”, or vertical strip of paper. Their parents make a small tree of bamboo branches, and children tie their wish onto a branch, along with paper chains, origami ornaments, and anything shiny and festive. These Tanabata trees are seen about town as well, and towns that host yearly festivals with fireworks go all out with more large-scale and elaborate decorations that attract tourists from far and wide.

I love peeking at the childrens’ wishes (this is allowed) whenever I pass a Tanabata display; many are like short letters to Santa, but some are also quite touching. Children pray for the health of their pets, for good grades at school, and this year, for the recovery of the disaster victims of the Tohoku region in Northern Japan. Meanwhile, in Tohoku….NHK News reported that parents at Ishinomaki Elementary School (which lost 68 students, and count 6 still missing) held a Tanabata gathering to pray for the safe return of the missing children.  In Fukushima Prefecture, children made decorations together, many writing on their ofuda that they wished “to play outside again”. Who can blame them? Across the nation, children, their teachers, and their parents, wrote encouraging messages to the people of Tohoku for Tanabata, urging them to “Ganbaru!” (Do your very best) in the face of hardship. This is a good thing, right?

Steve Yamaguchi hard at work (photo by Masaru Komiyaji)

Well, it depends on who you ask.  Steve Yamaguchi, a naturalized Japanese citizen living in Yamagata Prefecture (just North of the worst-hit areas in Tohoku), claims to hate the phrase “Ganbaru” , because of what it implies.  In a recent interview with Mamiko Takahashi of the Asahi Shinbun, Yamaguchi (who arranges tours of the disaster areas for volunteer workers), speaks his mind. “The word oozes with a sense of despair because it implies bearing with an issue that has been forced upon oneself……everyone thinks,’there is nothing I can do, and since I cannot change it, all I can do is do my best.` That also leads to resigning oneself to not always achieving the desired results. ”  Yamaguchi also expressed his frustration with what he sees as “passivity” in the people of Tohoku. “I think everyone should be much more angry at politicians and local government officials….As someone from the Tohoku region, what I am concerned about is the feeling that people are becoming passive and holding the feeling that `someone else will do it for me.`…..A strong leader will not be born unless there are strong followers.”

Yamaguchi’s thoughts echo those of the blogger from Chiba Prefecture who I wrote about in my last post; the guy known as “Our Man in Abiko”.  Our Man was concerned at the number of people still in shelters, speculating that their “patience” was really closer to passivity and lack of courage. My own thought on the matter is that it takes a foreigner living in Japan ( Yamaguchi is a Japanese citizen, but raised and schooled in California) to say what needs to be said, and to do so respectfully as well.  Protests are happening, and people are raising their voices and organizing themselves, but hardly in proportion to the extent of the suffering and indignity that disaster victims are continuing to experience.  Too many people seem to be too quiet, having resigned themselves to waiting rather than taking action. And, as both the blogger from Chiba and Steve Yamaguchi point out, waiting in itself cannot effect change or serve a positive  purpose.

Having said that, let me now introduce a cautionary tale. Saying what you think will never be effective if you do not mind your

Ryu Matsumoto. "Don't blame me, I'm Type B !"

manners. And a big part of manners is simply having empathy: the ability to imagine the feelings and reactions of another. The biggest and most surprising news of the week was the three-day career of the newly-elected Minister of Reconstruction, Ryu Matsumoto. Matsumoto had something to say about passivity as well, but said it badly…. want to hear what happened?  Okay, sit tight. Immediately after his appointment, Matsumoto travelled to Tohoku to meet with local government officials for the first time. In Miyagi Prefecture, he was kept waiting in a reception room, which so offended his pride that he refused to even shake hands with the Miyagi governor when he arrived. “When a guest comes, you have to be present. I will shake your hand after the meeting.” he said, not bothering to hide his irritation.  He then continued on to Iwate Prefecture, where he professed his ignorance of the geography of Northern Japan ( this met with understandable dismay ), and stated, “We (the central government) will help those places that come up with ideas to help themselves, but not those who don’t.”  Finally, Matsumoto, sensing that he might have been out of line, ordered reporters present not to publish those remarks. Well, of course they not only published them, but promptly put a video of the interview up on you tube for all to see.

I happened to be listening to the news as the video clip was aired on NHK, and was aghast. I sometimes have trouble with technical terminology in Japanese, but Matsumoto’s rough language and lack of “keigo” (polite terminology) were perfectly understandable to me. My face burned for the governor of Miyagi as he was left  with his outstretched hand untaken, and my jaw dropped when I heard Matsumoto confess his ignorance of Tohoku geography (“because I’m from Kyushuu”, he explained). The only thing I could not understand was how on earth this man had been chosen for such a crucial appointment, requiring delicacy and diplomatic skill as well as brain power and energy.  Surely the first words from his mouth should have been, “I am so sorry for your loss.”  And as for the issue of passivity, or dependance on central government, surely an encouraging, rather than bullying, approach was in order. And finally….the icing on the cake…..Matsumoto attempted to excuse his behavior. Howso?  By blaming it on his blood type.  ”I’m  a Type B .” he explained, noting the Japanese belief that B types can be irritable and quick-tempered.  That finished off any last remnants of sympathy I might have felt for the now-former Reconstruction Minister, who resigned two days later. Whew. Maybe its no wonder that folks in Tohoku have given up hope if that’s the best the central government has to offer.

So the central government is a mess, with the Prime Minister determined to have his way despite the protests of the opposition party and lack of support within his own party as well.  He still promises to step down (“in the future”), but not until three important bills have been passed. The third of these bills, a measure to promote renewable energy sources, is the one that could change Japan for the better. It’s what could shape a new future for the country and turn a disaster into a positive prototype for other nations. I am absolutely in favor of the bill, as are other outspoken anti-nuclear people in the news. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Kan seems to be angering everyone and achieving nothing in his determination to rein in the nuclear power companies. This is not entirely his own fault, but he ultimately absorbs the blame.

For instance (this is a long story, with twists and turns, but it ends up back with the Prime Minister looking bad, I promise), late last week, Kan announced that local officials would be responsible for deciding whether or not off-line reactors would be re-started after their scheduled safety checks (35 of Japan’s 54 reactors are currently closed). The governor of Saga Prefecture in the southern island of Kyuushuu was the first to be requested to decide. Suddenly, a previously unknown political figure from a little-known southern prefecture was big news. Knowing that his decision was a bellwether, as other governors in other Prefectures would be influenced by his decision, Governor Yasushi Furukawa took his responsibility seriously, appearing on TV several times and weighing the pros and cons carefully. “It is easy,” he stated, “to see the business groups who favor restarting the reactors, but the public unease that opposes it is shapeless.” In order to give voice to the “shapeless public unease”, a public hearing,  broadcast on live television, was held. During the meeting, e-mails and faxes from viewers were read on the air; four of the letters read were in favor of re-starting the plant, and Governor Furukawa subsequently decided to do so. I heard the news, was disappointed, and went off to work….only to wake up the next day to a totally different situation.

It seems that many of the e-mails that were sent in to the public hearing were actually faked–written by employees of a subsidiary of Kyushuu Electric Company (these big companies let the little ones do their dirty work) in order to prejudice TV listeners and the Governor of Saga in favor of re-starting. Well!!  Of all the dirty tricks!!  The Governor of Saga was furious, and the Mayor of Genkai (the town in which the plant in question is located) withdrew his support immediately. Still open-mouthed from the Matsumoto scandal, people across the country were yet again disgusted (though there is hardly even an  element of surprise by now. One almost expects the bizarre these days). Plans to re-start the Genkai plant were on hold again, and things were back to where they started, until……the next chapter began.

On Wednesday, July 6th, Prime Minister Kan announced that all off-line reactors would be

Prime Minister Kan is a lonely guy (photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon, Reuters)

subject to “stress tests” before being allowed to re-start, thus negating his previous edict that local officials would be allowed to decide whether to re-start or remain off-line.  The stress tests would take time, and would keep the reactors off-line until sometime in 2012. Well!  The timing was certainly unfortunate. Kan, who had also shouldered the blame for the disastrous appointment of Matsumoto as Reconstruction Minister, was now reviled for backtracking and causing confusion.  Friday’s Asahi Shinbun reported, “Prime Minister Kan’s recent decision to conduct stress tests at all nuclear power plants stunned not only industry ministry officials but also the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency”.  The Governor of Saga and Mayor of Genkai were yet again indignant (all that soul-searching, and going on-line again would not now be possible until 2012 after all!), and Kan’s already tarnished image became blacker still.

Well, thank goodness my husband is an International Political Economist, and news addict. He’s a Professor at the University of Tokyo (I rarely mention this fact, as most Japanese then immediately forget that I exist at all, and wonder if he has a blog or is available for public speaking.  Hopefully you will not leave this blog immediately and try to Google him, but in case you are tempted to try, I refuse to provide his first name ) , and of course, stays on top of what’s happening in the world.  Anyway, he’s the one who informed me, while industriously ironing his own white shirts (so I may use my time to write this entry) that the decision to impose stress tests was not Kan’s decision at all, but an edict from the International Atomic Energy Agency.  ”Oh, really?” I thought, and went back through the weeks’ newspaper articles to read more closely. The Asahi Shinbun clearly stated it was Kan’s decision, but the Japan Times (based on an article from Bloomberg news) claimed the order came from the European Commission. Both newspapers agreed that the stress tests would be conducted not just in Japan, but across Europe and in China as well.  So, although the country desperately wants to pin the blame on Kan, it looks like he was simply responding to the dictates of an international committee of experts. It IS a shame that Kan’s proposal for local officials to decide their own fate came before the stress test order, which effectively cancelled it out. Unfortunate timing, a big muddle, and–in the end–a Prime Minister who cannot win the love or trust of his own people. He is a science nerd, and has a vision to change the future of the country, but his own enthusiasm and nerdiness work against him. Such a shame that more people hate him now than ever.

The bottom line is that so far–and we are officially past the rainy season now and into the full heat of summer-the country is managing just fine, even with the majority of nuclear reactors closed down for inspections and upcoming stress tests. Folks across the country, still in shock from the devastation of an entire region, are stubbornly refusing to use air conditioners ( or setting the thermostat almost uncomfortably high), keeping lights dim or off, and finding clever and inventive ways to stay cool without using electricity. I write this seated by an open window to catch the breeze, cooled by a rotating fan, and wearing a plastic pack of water wrapped in a stylish handkerchief around my neck. These little neck-packs

A small-scale "green curtain"...

cost only five dollars at the local drugstore, and are wildly popular with my small students, who have them in a variety of patterns.  Cities and towns are turning off lights, shutting down drink machines, and planting “green curtains” along the sides of public buildings. These are vine-like vegetables and flowers trained to grow up along the building’s side, providing a natural shady curtain and keeping the inner rooms cooler.  Businesses and industries, of course, are a different story, and there are dire predictions for Japan’s economy with the limited supply of energy that will be available in the coming months….or years? But this is my husband’s territory, and it is too soon to say how well companies will manage with the resources available.

The stress tests are a good thing. The fates are working against Prime Minister Kan, but he is committed to reforming a corrupt and undeniably dangerous system that has already crippled a good portion of Japan’s main island, and reverberated through the rest of the country, if not the world. In closing, let me quote from another outsider with an opinion on the situation: the German sociologist Ulrich Beck, who was interviewed in Munich by reporter Hirohito Ohno. Speaking of the advanced age and vulnerability the majority of Japan’s nuclear reactors, Beck made a chilling comparison. “It’s like people are on board an airplane for which there is no landing strip, or they are actally using the brake of a bicycle in an airplane.”…..  Good heavens–let me off the plane at once.  And I will continue to hang my hopes on the Prime Minister, for lack of a more confidence-inspiring and capable leader at present. Hang in there, Kan-san….or should I say, “Ganbatte”?

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Courage, Troublemakers, Whistle-Blowers, and a Taxi

Shelter Life: neat and tidy...but still dreary. (photo from Asahi Shinbun)

Fight or flight?  Stay or leave?  An English teacher and former journalist living in Chiba prefecture who goes by the pseudonym of  ”Our Man in Abiko” gives some insight into the “fighters”: those who are still, three months down the road, living in the shelters of Ishinomaki and other cities in Northern Japan devastated by the quake and tsunami. In a visit to Ishinomaki to distribute goods to shelter victims, “Our Man” and his co-volunteers were saddened by the fact that people continued to remain in shelters or dilapidated houses.  In his “Free Tohoku” blog entry on June 22, he posted photos, described the relief efforts, and admitted, “All the volunteers from different prefectures all think the same thing: Why are these people still here?”

Why indeed? The question must have weighed on him, as exactly a week later, an article appeared in the web publication “Japan Echo”, entitled “Fight or Flight: The Tests We Face”, written by the same “Our Man”, and containing some words of wisdom from a local Buddhist priest. “You might think the strong fight and the weak fly, but if any generalization fits it is the opposite,” writes Our Man, in his eye-opening look at the reality of shelter life. Our Man argues that though many of those still living in schools and gymnasiums are there for practical reasons (no money, no home, still looking for lost family members, waiting for disaster relief money, etc.), a good many are there simply because they lack the courage to move on and strike out on their own.  Higuchi Nobuo, a Buddhist priest who spoke with their group, reinforced this theory, stating point-blank, “They’re (the shelter residents) not strong-they have no courage to leave. Lots of newspapers have said that Japanese people are patient so they’re here, but that’s wrong. They simply don’t have the courage to leave. There’s an element of patience in people here, but they’re not waiting for anything.” Of course, this was not meant to be a blanket statement indicting people who suffered more physical and emotional loss in one day than most people experience in a lifetime; many of those still in shelters, for instance, are elderly and lack physical strength as well as resources.  Still, the words of the Buddhist priest and the English teacher rang true to me. I came away from the article greatly saddened myself.

Lack of courage (which has often, as Our Man and the Buddhist priest both note, been mistakenly portrayed by the media as humility or patience) is a topic that, once introduced, deserves a thorough and unbiased examination.  I cannot do it justice. Folks in Japan do have opinions, both about politics, about nuclear energy, but they have been silent for decades.  Apathy, or lack of courage?  Perhaps both.  Martin  Fackler, writing for the International Herald Tribune, published an article in this weekend’s paper, speculating that, “…a deep apathy as well as a fear of being ostracized prevents many here who are concerned about nuclear power from taking action.”  In light of this, let’s take a look at a few of the courageous and opinionated  folks making news in Japan right now. They’re meeting with mixed success, but at least they’re trying…..and making a splash.

SPLASH! An unidentified (at least to the public) stockholder faces the Tokyo Electic Power

TEPCO stockholders lined up for the annual meeting(photo by Toshiyuki Hayashi)

Company officials and suggests they “Jump into the reactors and die!”  Emboldened by this, another stockholder suggests “hara-kiri” (ritual disembowelment) might be more fitting.  Well, why don’t they sell their stock and break their connection with the disgraced TEPCO (you might wonder)?  The answer is a good one: because they belong to a block of 402 shareholders who bought their shares a decade (or two) ago, with the sole purpose of causing trouble for TEPCO.  Yes, they are anti-nuclear protesters, who have showed up at the annual stockholders’ meeting faithfully for twenty years, each year submitting a proposal to abolish nuclear power, and each year returning home in defeat. This year, however, they were especially hopeful, and local authorities were especially fearful, arranging for 250 riot police (outnumbering the members of the anti-nuclear block!) to provide extra security during the six hour meeting.

It was, as you might expect, an action-packed, drama-filled six hours, described  by Washington Post World reporter Chico Harlan as, “…a go-round of apologies and jeers” between TEPCO officials and the “raucous audience”.  TEPCO’s chairman apologized profusely, only to face a motion for dismissal brought forth by a nameless stockholder (teary-eyed, says the article) declaring, “If you are really feeling responsible, how dare you serve as chairman!”  Yet the upshot was…….defeat on all counts, yet again, for the anti-nuclear block. The sleazy chairman retained his post, and the motion to abandon nuclear energy in Japan was again defeated, as the majority of the shareholders submitted votes via the internet to defeat the anti-nuclear block. Well hey, this time those guys made the news, big time—and as heros, rather than troublemakers. That’s progress, right?  I’ll bet they slept well that night, knowing they’d fought the good fight and given their cause some excellent PR.

Kei Sugaoka (photo by Jim Wilson, NY Times)

And let me just mention how valid that cause is, as I move on to more courageous troublemakers. Though every blog entry I’ve written has mentioned TEPCO and how their criminal negligence and dishonesty has “ruined Japan” (admitted by an anonymous TEPCO executive who was recently interviewed by reporters Jake Adelstein and Stephanie Nakajima in the Atlantic Monthly Wire), there are still more revelations to come. The article by Adelstein and Nakajima (“TEPCO: Will Someone Turn off the Lights?”), further describes the turn of events at the annual stockholders’ meeting, and features an interview with Kei Sugaoka, a Japanese-American engineer who had worked at the Fukushima Number One reactor….until asked to falsify data.  Sugaoka became a whistle-blower eleven years ago in June, relating the series of events that led to his departure from TEPCO, and his disillusionment with Japan’s nuclear industry as a whole.  According to Sugaoka, in the year 2000, he found cracks in a vital piece of equipment called the “steam dryer”.  Upon reporting his findings, he was ordered to edit a video of the reactor so that the cracks were not visible. He refused, but the edited video was made by another worker and used as evidence of the plant’s compliance with safety levels.  In 2002,  an investigation revealed that TEPCO had been falsifying data for over two decades. The plant was shut down for inspection, and the cracks fixed, but no criminal charges were filed.

Sugaoka speaks out yet again in the Atlantic Monthly article, in reaction to TEPCO’s claim that the the tsunami was an “unprecedented” disaster (attempting to absolve themselves from a good deal of responsibility and blame) .  In his words, “TEPCO knowingly used a defective, misaligned piece of equipment for over a decade and doctored video footage showing massive problems. Is it any surprise that the reactor would eventually break down? The containment vessel was never designed to withstand an earthquake. Reactor One is 40 years old, it should have been shut down ten years ago. What was the Japanese government thinking when they gave them firm permission to extend the reactor life for another ten years? And that TEPCO had the audacity to ask, should tell you how close their ties are to the Japanese government.” Words from an experienced professional and an insider that came too late to prevent disaster, but still need to be heard and remembered as the Japanese government and local prefectures struggle to decide the nation’s future energy policy.

Next, let’s talk about the ladies. On Friday, Bloomberg news did a fascinating piece on a

woman named Atsuko Ogasawara, who is carrying out her late mother’s wishes by refusing to sell the family’s log bungalow to the J-Power Electric Company. She has refused to sell for some twenty years now, forcing J-Power to move it’s still-under-construction nuclear reactor back 250 meters, and causing them no end of frustration.  Though her neighbors have, without exception, taken generous payments from J-Power and abandoned their houses in favor of the facility (which is set to open in 2014), Ogasawara is standing firm. She lives in the rural village of Oma, on the very northern tip of Honshu, “where Pacific bluefin

A choice piece of maguro, courtesy of bluefin tuna shipped straight from the port of Oma. (Photo from advertisement for Yoshino-Zusshi)

tuna weighing as much as 555 kilograms are still caught using a rod and line.”  These same fishermen, however, have chosen to support the nuclear power plant, in an effort to revitalize the town’s economy and ensure that young people stay around.

Though J-Power insists that they have only “encouraged” Ogasawara to sell her land,  she sees things differently. She describes the harassment faced by her mother which led to her reluctance to even answer the phone, and has saved letters and notes sent from J-Power over a period of years as evidence. She has been followed by unidentified men, and plagued by callers threatening to sabotage the family fishing boat.  Her small house lies just a stone’s throw away from the nuclear plant construction site, and she is not budging, refusing to be intimidated by threats or won over by the promise of easy money (she has rejected an offer of more than 160 million yen for her rustic little cabin).  Her cabin has become a focal point for Japanese anti-nuclear protesters, and she has finally won support and praise from like-minded strangers across the country.  Whatever the outcome of her battle, this must be at least some consolation for her, after years of swimming upstream on her own.  Ogasawa does not believe in hypocrisy; she has equipped her cabin with solar panels to ensure that she will never need to be dependent on the plant whose existence she has consistently fought against.  Her justification for two decades of protest is simple: “If nuclear plants are safe for people to live near, they should build one in the middle of Tokyo, ” she says stubbornly. If one believes that any life is valuable, then yes, this is true.  Lives in rural Northern Japan are just as valuable as the lives and ensuing infrastructure of Tokyo, and the country needs both to survive and preserve its balance. The country’s balance has been thrown off by the multiple disasters, and the courage of folks like Ogasawara-san is needed to set things aright again. In her case, fight rather than flight was the brave choice.

Finally, here’s a photo of a well-known (depending on your circles) Japanese reggae singer

Rankin' Taxi wants YOU!

who goes by the name “Rankin’ Taxi”.  He’s one of the multitude of singer/songwriters who have been re-writing old hits with new anti-nuclear lyrics, or penning new and wildly popular tunes protesting TEPCO and nuclear power in general. Radio stations will not play their music, but young people find them on you tube, and their music gets thousands of views-the number steadily increasing.  The theme of Rankin’ (Mr. Taxi?) ‘s latest popular video is the lack of discrimination shown by nuclear radiation.  In “You Can’t See It, You Can’t Smell It”,  a multitude of world leaders, movie stars, sports players, anime characters, and even famous monsters (both Godzilla and Mothra make an appearance) flash across the screen,  juxtaposed against images of nuclear explosions.  Mr. Taxi is undoubtably glad to be getting attention with his music, but under the circumstances, it’s hard to celebrate. (“I sang, and people listened, but it came after the fact so it was almost like salt in the wound,” he said ruefully in a recent interview).

Still, no movement is complete without music, and Mr. T. is undoubtably underestimating his own potential to effect change from here on in. He’s got young people (and those of his own generation, like myself) interested, and other musicians stirred up as well. Friday’s  International Herald Tribune says an “electricity-free music festival” is planned for August 15th in Fukushima. Wouldn’t it be excellent to get them all together for that event: the Suicide Squad of old guys who want to go in and clean up TEPCO, “Our Man in Akibo” (the blogger and activist from Chiba), the anti-nuclear TEPCO shareholders, Sugaoka-san the whistle-blower, Ogasawara-san (the lady who refuses to be bought), and of course Mr. Taxi.  Now THAT would promise to be some event. Thank you all again for reading, and good night.

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