Hydrangeas and Revolution!

Japanese anti-nuclear protesters in Tokyo (AFP photo/Toru Yamanaka).

While I’ve been busy teaching children to wrestle with nouns, verbs and adjectives (if you can recognize them, you’ve won the fight),  history has been in the making in Tokyo.  For weeks, I’ve been following friends’ accounts of the Friday evening anti-nuke demonstrations outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Kasumigaseki, and wishing desperately that I could join them. Kasumigaseki is a full two hours away from my station, Shibusawa; making the commitment to go would mean canceling classes for the entire day at my English cram school, necessitating apologies, explanations, and full refunds for the day’s lost lesson.  In addition, I’d face the disapproval of  my in-laws, my staff, and a large roomful of irate mothers.  Although the demonstrations in Tokyo have now been officially labelled “Revolution” by the Japanese media, mothers of my students would be unimpressed by my throwing responsibility to the wind and charging off to Kasumigaseki.  In a matter of time, I would be out of work.  Many of my students, however, would think my actions were “kakko ii” (cool! awesome! whatever young people in the US say now. da bomb??).  I do not know if this would be enough consolation for the loss of income.  I guess you can tell by now that this will be an unusually personal blog post.

So, let me continue.  In desperation (as I said), I stooped so low as to beg my husband to attend the demo in my stead.  Knowing exactly what his answer would be even as I began my plea bargaining, I swallowed hard and used  my persuasive powers. “Your field is

Here’s the hubbub that my husband hates (AFP photo by Rie Ishii).

International Political Science! ” (this is true), and  ”How can you not go?? All your colleagues will be there!” (not true, and we both know it), and  ”You’re really going to get on the train and leave Tokyo just when all the action’s starting??” (he works in the heart of the city and  hates all the hubbub. Of course he’s going to get out of town before a demo) .  So, as I knew from the onset, it was all in vain.  There is no budging a very stubborn academic, although I was bound to give it a shot.  I am not one to bribe or blackmail, so when persuasion fails, I let things be.

It pains me to admit that I was not present at this past Friday’s massive demonstration (attendance estimated at between 40 to 50, ooo people).  Indeed, I have not been to a single one of the Friday protests.  I have been sending telepathic messages in the vague direction of Tokyo for months on end: “PLEEEASE HOLD YOUR PROTESTS ON DAYS THAT ARE CONVENIENT FOR ME.  ALSO, NO EARLY MORNING MARCHES. (respectfully yours, etc.) ”  This method has actually been partly successful, and I have been able to attend several good-sized demonstrations without sacrificing a work day.  The Friday demos, however, did not change to Saturday no matter how hard I willed them to.  And so, in lieu of my actual attendance, I will write about the build-up to the demo, the demo itself,  and a bit about my own family’s response.

Friday night protests had been going on for months although,  as one commentator on EX-SKF’s blog admitted, at first the action seemed more symbolic than influential.  Slowly but surely, however, attendance began growing, though there was no advertisement other than Twitter, Facebook posts, and group emails.  I believe the steady increase in popularity of the demos stemmed from the recent (and continuing) string of disappointments and betrayals felt by citizens across the country.  Particularly painful was the recent rejection–no, the refusal to even consider–of a literal truckload of papers containing the signatures of Tokyo citizens demanding a

The governor of Tokyo, behaving badly. I hope his mother is no longer around to see this. (photo by Sumio Kanematsu)

referendum on nuclear power.  Volunteers had collected 320,000 signatures ( “It was easy,” one of the signature-gathering volunteers told me during a visit to the anti-nuclear tents in Kasumigaseki. “I had no trouble getting people to sign. ” ) and presented them to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on June 20th.  The citizen representatives were met with rudeness and  rejection.  The rejection for their referendum request was by a 2-1 margin, and the rudeness was from Tokyo’s Mayor, Shintaro Ishihara, who made the thumbs-down sign to spectators gathered to witness the event.  Having taught English in this country for thirteen years, I know that this means more than “no”.  My students informed me straight off the bat in those first few months that it’s the equivalent of “Shinei!” or “You die!”  Seeing the shock on students’ faces whenever I used this simple gesture, I very quickly learned to strike it from my repertoire.  Ishihara-san, knowing full-well the implications of the gesture, did not hesitate to use it in public. Shame on you, cantankerous old man!

There was bad feeling all around, as the citizen representatives complained of being dismissed too easily, and of presenting their case to a group of officials who had already made up their minds to reject the proposal long beforehand. Which is probably true.

Rowdy citizens? ( AFP photo by Toru Yamanaka)

Tokyo officials, on the other hand, complained of “rowdy” spectators preventing them from doing business properly.  No comment there from me; I have yet to witness even a speck of “rowdiness” as I define it (unruliness, destruction of public property, deliberate acts of violence, etc.) at any of the rallies or protests I have attended in the past year.  On the contrary, folks seem almost unnaturally well-behaved and peaceful.  Someone inside the assembly building must’ve shouted an anti-nuclear slogan or something?

The attempt to hold a citizen’s referendum on nuclear power in Tokyo clearly failed. Several months earlier, a similar attempt had been made in Osaka; that attempt also ended in failure. But the biggest setback of all was the central government’s decision to re-start two reactors at the Oi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture.  The decision came suddenly, and was met with shock and disbelief by a majority of citizens who were ready to battle the summer heat without relying on nuclear power.  As William Pesek states in a Bloomberg news article, “When more than two-thirds of the people in a democracy of 126 million are against something, a leader might bother to listen. That’s how many Japanese want the reactors to remain offline. Noda ignored that increasingly vocal majority and cleared two reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Ohi nuclear plant to reopen.”

This Mainichi Shinbun article also details the fuss that ensued, and readers can easily imagine the feelings of anger and betrayal felt by not just ordinary Japanese citizens, but by officials of nearby cities whose future would be at stake in case of an accident.  Local officials in Oi City, however, agreed to the re-start.  Hear what correspondant Justin McCurry has to say about their entanglement in the “Nuclear Power Money Tree” in this Christian Science Monitor article.

Buddhist monks engaging in prayer and fasting outside the entrance to Oi Nuclear Power Plant (photo from Kiyoshi Inoue’s album).

The Japan Times directly opposed the re-start in a an editorial piece entitled  Regrettable “go” on Reactors, making the point that the Prime Minister and his team would have done better to come up with a plan of action well beforehand to ensure that the energy supply would be sufficient during the summer months , with or without nuclear power. Businesses and individuals have been more than willing to cooperate since last year’s disaster, and not taking advantage of the chance to implement lifestyle changes and seriously reduce energy use is “mottanai” (a wasted opportunity).  As an example of the kind of changes hoped for by the Japan Times editor, my father-in-law recently attended a neighborhood meeting about reducing energy consumption in the summer months. This prompted him to call the electric company and arrange to reduce the maximum amount of electricity we can actually use (from 50 amps to 40) without experiencing a power failure. This basically means we cannot run five air conditioners at one time in the house….as if this frugal family would ever dream of such a thing!  We will be saving money each month, and the country will save resources as well. “If everyone did this, there’d be plenty of electricity to go around all year long,” said the wise Grampa Iida.   The JT editors also mention the enormity of the risk involved in this decision, as no-one truly believes the Oi reactors are completely disaster-proof, and the nuclear safety watchdog committee proposed by the government is not yet a reality.

Mainichi Shinbun photo of the June 22 demo outside the Prime Minister’s residence. That’s a lot of people in a very small space!

In the end, the hasty announcement of the re-starting of reactors at the Oi plant was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back.  This past Friday, June 22nd, saw the Kasumigaseki district overwhelmed with protestors.  And this time, the major Japanese mainstream media were there, from Asahi Shinbun to the Mainichi Daily News.  There were interviews with individuals and live footage from the street;  one reporter even ventured into the government building where officials were attempting to work. The noisy din from outside had penetrated through to interior (EX-SKF describes it as “deafening”), and the Prime Minister could not have been a happy camper. The reporter attempted to get a reaction from both the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of  Economy, Trade and Industry, both of whom were at a loss for words.  There are many official and non-official versions of the event, but I always enjoy EX-SKF, so here’s his report.

The demo made the NHK news at 10:00 on Friday night–a rather long segment devoted to the demo and the anti-nuclear movement–and I grinned in astonishment as I whacked my unsuspecting husband.  ”Look!  There you are!  I told you so: you missed history! You could’ve BEEN there!”  And, for the first time, he did not huff in dismissal or make light of the situation.  My friend Kimiko said it was the same with her husband.  And my guess is that the mainstream media coverage probably tipped the scales in our favor for other dubious husbands as well.  It’s hard not to let out a satisfying cry of, “Woo-hooo!” , and so I will allow myself to do so, once (there–it’s over and done with) .  For over a full year now, I have attempted to refrain from the use of slang expressions, curse words (that’s an easy one, actually), or excessive !!!!  (that one’s not so easy) in the interest of being taken seriously, so I feel a certain reward is long overdue. !!!!

Thank you for indulging me, and now back to business.

I did not hear the term “Hydrangea Revolution” until this morning, when I opened up facebook to find a post from Jacinta, along with her own beautiful photographs of hydrangeas taken in her neighborhood. After reading that one post, the phrase seemed to pop up repeatedly, all day long.  The Friday demonstrations have been compared to the big, bold, brazen blooms ( are they not? nothing wimpy about hydrangeas) that are made up of myriads of tiny blossoms pressed together. What began as a series of small symbolic gatherings has become a huge, spirited protest that the media can no longer ignore. Make no mistake: there is much work yet to be done, and on the surface, nothing has changed. Still, people who were once thought of as embarrassments to society have now gained a measure of respect. With that respect will come increased power and influence. So I must remember that the revolution is not about me, and swallow my disappointment at not being part of the Friday demonstrations that led to the big event.  And I must also send out a heartfelt thanks to those friends that did participate (Jacinta! Angela! Izumi! Scott! Sumiko?).  Nice work!  I haven’t made it to Tokyo on a Friday yet, but I’m proud to be on the same side as such good people.  I’m part of the big, brazen bloom….Woo-hooooo!

How’s this for big and brazen?? (taken here in Hadano, by yours truly)

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Can Hole Diggers and Acorn Gatherers Save the Earth?

It takes patience to save the earth.  It’s not glamorous, and most times its downright dull.

Japan’s Tree Guru, Akira Miyawaki.

Back in 1958, a young Japanese researcher working on a German nature preserve complained to his mentor about the tedium. His words fell on unsympathetic ears, and he was firmly instructed to dig more holes. The researcher, Akira Miyawaki, is now referred to as Japan’s “tree guru”; well into his 80′s, he is currently heading the project to redesign the coastline of the city of Sendai (Miyagi Prefecture), creating a forest-covered embankment to protect the heart of the city from future tsunamis. He’s developed a new theory of forestry that bears his name, travelled the globe (visited 17,000 places, according to one estimate), and single-handedly planted 40 million trees. Yet he got his start studying the humble weed (majored in “Weed Ecology” at Hiroshima University), and digging holes in Germany….for two long years.

So what was all the hole digging about?  Basically, it was about studying the soil of the nature preserve, which was actually a non-productive wasteland at the time, searching for

Luneburg Heath Wildlife Park in Germany, where Miyawaki got his start digging holes (photo by Micheal Gabler, 2012).

clues. What was the forest like in its original state, hundreds of years ago?  What traces remained of the flourishing ecosystem that had once existed?  Miyawaki slogged on digging his holes, testing the soil, recording his findings, and beginning to understand nature in a new way.  He learned that, with patience, what man has destroyed can be rediscovered and reconstructed.  To be more specific: careful study of damaged environments reveals much about the ecosystem as it once was.  It is possible to then “re-generate” the area’s natural vegetation by planting a mixture of the same species that existed in the past, which are perfectly suited to the soil and climate of the area.  No longer absorbed by weeds, the young researcher became obsessed with re-creating entire forests.

Armed with his new ideas, Miyawaki returned to Japan from Germany.  To his dismay, he was promptly ignored.  This was Japan in the 1960′s, and business was booming.  No-one was interested in saving the environment, the forest, or even a single tree.  With no audience for his research, the Weed-Man-turned-Tree-Guru went back to slogging away on his own.  He began walking across the country compiling data, making vegetation maps,

Example of what Miyawaki-san considers a “fake” forest: all trees same height, same species, carefully pruned, and ramrod straight (taken here in Hadano City).

and maps of potential new forests based on former species that had once flourished.  Very few remnants of Japan’s ancient forests existed, as most had either burned, or been converted to arable land or real estate.  What remained were manmade forests (“fakes” as he referred to them) , often consisting of only one or two species and thus lacking in biodiversity.  Methodically, he studied the forests as he had in Germany, testing the soil and searching for clues as to what trees had once flourished in these areas.  He kept at it for ten years.

At last, in the early 70′s, the realization that Japan’s natural environment was in dire straits began to set in.  Suddenly, Miyawaki was “popular”, and his idea for creating “authentic” forests of densely planted species indigenous to their environment was given a name: the Miyawaki Method.  Miyawaki advocated planting a mixture of appropriate species at random, which would ultimately result in forests with trees of tall, medium, and low height, serving as barriers to both fire and flood, and supporting a diversity of plant and animal life.  These native trees would be rooted deeply and firmly in the soil, thus preventing erosion.  Weeding and management would be required for the first three years, but thereafter the forests would fend for themselves and

Remnant of one of Japan’s fast-disappearing ancient forests, the “authentic” kind. Miyawaki estimated that only .06 % of Japan’s sacred groves are still in existence (photo of forest on Yakushima).

continue to flourish.  These forests would be known as multi-layer “community forests”, and serve as havens of biodiversity.  The first such forest in Japan was created in 1971, through the joint efforts of local residents who gathered acorns, grew trees from seedlings, and held a ceremony to mark the planting of the seedlings.  Their efforts  eventually resulted in a spacious forest boasting a canopy of over twenty meters in height.

Miyawaki went on to organize and oversee the planting of many more “authentic” forests, both in Japan and abroad.  He became a noted scholar and director of the Japan Center for International Studies in Ecology, and is currently Professor Emeritus at Yokohama University, as well as a recipient of the Blue Planet Prize for environmental conservation.  A quick Google search reveals photos of a small man with a twinkle in his eye and a good-humored grin, planting seedlings in China, Malaysia, Borneo, Kenya and other countries desperate to restore health to land damaged by industrialization.  He was, in fact, abroad in Indonesia when the Great East Japan Quake struck. Deeply disturbed by the tsunami coverage of coastal destruction, he rushed back to his own country to put his expertise to work in Northern Japan.

Miyawaki arrived in Tohoku shortly after the quake, and was dismayed to realize that

A full year after the tsunami, uprooted pine trees still littered the shores of Rikuzentakata.

entire forests had been swept away by the tsunami.  These forests bordering the shoreline were largely made up of pine trees, whose roots had not penetrated deep into the sandy shore; they were uprooted in their entirety, not only having failed to serve as tsunami barriers, but having caused secondary damage as they were washed inland.  Of course, the most famous of these coastal forests was in Rikuzentakata, where only a single pine remained standing in what was a grove of 70,000 trees which had been planted over two centuries before.

Wasting no time, Miyawaki and  Doryu Hioki, a Buddhist priest from Sendai’s Rinno Temple, began surveying the ravaged coastline of Miyagi.

The Tabunoki, or Machilus, flourishes throughout Japan. Its resilience was proven in last year’s tsunami

Their purpose?  A thorough assessment of the remaining trees along the shore, to discover which species had stood firm and provided protection from the force of the tsunami, and which species were unable to withstand the raging waters. After touring several of the most severely damaged areas,  Miyawaki and Doryu were encouraged to note “green walls” of Tabunoki (Machilus) which remained standing.  Houses directly behind the thick-bodied, pliant, firmly-rooted trees were also standing.  In one case, a Tabunoki remained standing, its roots partly exposed, although most of the surrounding soil had been washed away.  Clearly, the Tabunoki would be central in the reconstruction of Sendai’s coastline, and Miyawaki’s plan for a Green Tide Embankment began to take shape.

Miyawaki’s project, an “authentic forest of life”, will serve as a memorial to lives lost and as a symbol of new beginnings.  The forest will be planted over a mound, in which processed debris from the quake and tsunami will be buried.  The mound will form an embankment stretching along the coastline, protecting human lives and property and weakening the force of future tsunamis.  Tabunoki will be the main species, supported by other native species of varying heights.  After the first three years, the forest will not need tending, and will continue to flourish for…..9,000 years!  Now that’s smart long-term planning.  The forest will come to fruition through the efforts of ordinary citizens, who have been gathering seeds from the Tabunoki, planting them, and tending to the seedlings.  Private enterprises and NPOs will fund the project.  Miyawaki’s goal?  To transform the coast of Sendai into an authentic forest of 40 million trees within 20 years.

Long ago, Japan’s forests were sacred places, dedicated to the gods and protected from

Shinto ropes mark this tree as part of a “sacred grove”. (photo by Ray Kinnane)

destruction by unspoken taboos.  Spirits dwelled in the rocks, plants, and trees, and men were forbidden to intrude.  Even today, my friend Misao only cuts trees from the forest on a certain day of the year (in February), when it is said that the spirits will not be angered.  These days, sacred groves such as those made famous in Miyazaki Hayao’s  ”Mononoke Hime” are nearly extinct.  Forests are man-made rather than “authentic”; they are vulnerable to disaster, and are no longer sacred.  One could  say that the image of the sacred grove has been further profaned since last March, when the forests of Tohoku were poisoned by cesium.  Men dare not enter these forests, children are forbidden to play in them, and their bounty goes unharvested.  Miyawaki Akira dreams of creating new sacred groves in Japan, and has dedicated his life to this end.  In his own words, ”Forests are life itself. Humans have survived until today supported by forests. The life for surviving tomorrow begins with creating true ‘forests of life’ by planting trees today.”

Miyawaki Akira and other respected and knowledgable figures such as C.W. Nichol have made significant progress in repairing the damage done to the environment due to a combination of greed, thoughtlessness, and lack of vision.  They have also become popular and well-loved educators, spreading their message of conservation and care to Japanese

Japanese citizens protesting on June 15th, outside the Prime Minister’s headquarters in Kasumigaseki.

citizens and foreigners living in Asia as well.  As long as the Japanese government insists on following a nuclear agenda, their entire life’s work is at risk.  I am deeply saddened and disappointed at Prime Minister Noda’s announcement that the Oi Nuclear Power Plant will re-start two of its reactors this summer, in spite of citizen protests, lack of proper and timely safety precautions, continued delay in establishing a nuclear watchdog committee free from inside influence, and new and irrefutable evidence of large quakes yet to come. While the nuclear industry and the central government think ahead as far as September, risking everything on the fallacy that they have made adequate preparations to withstand anything that might befall from hereon in (my guess is that no-one believes this now) , Miyawaki and other unsung heros are thinking in terms of thousands of years.  They fight the good fight to preserve the earth, which is the true source of our life and nourishment.  As Rinno Temple priest Doryu Hioki states in the video below,

“Until now, it has been considered right to change and adapt nature for human convenience using power and technology.  The Great East Japan Earthquake taught us this lesson: Science and technology are not meant to control nature, but to be used as pieces of wisdom making it possible for us to coexist with nature…..Now is a turning point of history. We have to shift from the age when materialism was central to an age where every life and soul will be loved tenderly. The Green Tide Embankment that protects life is a wisdom for living with nature.”

It is my hope that my children and grandchildren will be able to visit, or even live near, one of the new authentic forests being created.  As their generation will be responsible for the decommissioning of Japan’s remaining nuclear power plants and finding a storage solution for decades of accumulated nuclear waste products, it does not seem too much to hope that they might also enjoy the benefits of the forest as well.  I hope against hope that the Green Tide Embankment and other similar projects come to fruition.  Take a look at the video, and see what comes of patiently digging holes and gathering acorns.

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