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CREATED:20180109T052700Z
DESCRIPTION:1/11 SF Japan Consulate Protest-Stop Restarting Nuclear Power Plants in 
 Japan and Defend The Families of Fukushima\nThursday January  11, 2018 3:00 
 PM\nSan Francisco Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St./California St.\nSan 
 Francisco\n\nThe Japanese Abe government continues to restart nuclear power 
 plants despite the failure to even contain and remove the radioactive 
 meltdowns at Fukushima. Radioactive water continues to be pumped from the 
 melted down reactors.  The families who escaped Fukushima are also facing 
 demands by the government to return to Fukushima who they have declared is 
 now “decontaminated”.  There are still thousands of tons of radioactive 
 water in tanks surrounding the Fukushima plant and the government wants to 
 release this contaminated water into the Pacific ocean.\nAlready billions 
 of dollars have been spent a “clean up” that in large part is removing 
 top soil and putting this in hundreds of thousands of bags. This 
 contaminated soil not only is scattered throughout Fukushima but the 
 government is also trying to bribe other prefectures or states to dispose 
 of this contaminated soil partly by burning it. You cannot make this up but 
 the government is actually engaged in spreading the contamination in 
 Fukushima to other parts of Japan and obviously the world.\n\nPrevious 
 Japanese governments had also denied that Chernobyl nuclear disaster was 
 something that could happen in Japan. Foreign Ministry officials made a 
 concerted effort to downplay the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 to 
 promote nuclear power and avoid friction at a Group of Seven summit in 
 Japan, ministry documents showed.\nThe documents released on Dec. 20 also 
 showed a sense of overconfidence in the safety of nuclear power in Japan 
 that may have led in part to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 
 2011.\n\n\nThe government is also preparing for the likelihood of a major 
 earthquake which they say could kill 320,000 people and has a 70% chance of 
 happening in the next 30 years. The idea that an earthquake of that 
 magnitude would not create Fukushima meltdowns throughout the country is 
 ludicrous yet the Abe government continues to churn out propaganda that 
 everything is “under control”. The massive Nakai Trough earthquake is 
 expected and the government is spending millions of dollars to prepare for 
 it yet it continues to restart nuclear power plants that would likely 
 explode in such an earthquake destroying the whole country and not only 
 destroying Japan but contaminating the rest of Asia and the world.\n\nAt 
 the same time, the Abe government has linked up personally with Trump and 
 has bought billions of dollars of military hardware during Trump’s visit. 
 The government is also moving to develop and produce nuclear weapons which 
 as the support of the Trump government.\n\nAs part of the militarization 
 and rise of racism and xenophobia, the government is spending $500 million 
 to deny that the “comfort women” were sex slaves of the Japanese 
 Imperial Army during the 2nd World War. They don’t want to continue to 
 help the families but they are spending hundreds of millions to deny the 
 history of Japanese imperialism?\n\nThey have also passed a secrecy law to 
 intimidate journalists and a conspiracy law that might in the future be 
 used  to arrest people who are suspected of talking about maybe having a 
 protest against nuclear power which is seen by the government as a critical 
 necessity for Japan.\nIt is time to speak out for the Fukushima families 
 and against the restart of nuclear power plants. Join us on January 11, 
 2018 at the Japanese Consulate.\n\n\nSpeak Out and Rally initiated by\nNo 
 Nukes Action Committee\nhttp://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/\n\nLDP Abe's 
 Madness-Decontaminating Fukushima By Removing Top 
 Soil?\nhttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/12/25/national/town-futaba-kicks-off-radiation-cleanup-eye-2022-revival/#.WkE-kRSFC-Q\n\n\nDecontamination 
 work begins Monday in the town of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, to make it 
 habitable again by spring 2022 under a government-led reconstruction 
 project. | KYODO\nNATIONAL\nTown of Futaba kicks off radiation cleanup with 
 eye on 2022 revival\nKYODO\nDEC 25, 2017\nARTICLE 
 HISTORY\nPRINTSHARE\nFUKUSHIMA – Cleanup work kicked off Monday to make 
 radiation-tainted Futaba, one of the towns hosting the meltdown-hit 
 Fukushima No. 1 power plant, habitable again by around spring 2022 under a 
 government-led recovery project.\nCleanup and demolition crews are trying 
 to decontaminate the town, which was tainted with fallout from the 
 plant’s triple core meltdown after the March 2011 mega-quake and tsunami. 
 The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., is 
 shouldering the cost.\nThe work at Futaba marks the beginning of a series 
 of government-led projects to make areas designated as special 
 reconstruction zones livable again, with an emphasis on new 
 infrastructure.\nAbout 96 percent of Futaba has been designated as 
 “difficult to return to” zone, and an evacuation advisory is still in 
 place for the entire town, which hosts the stricken power plant with 
 neighboring Okuma.\nThe cleanup will be concentrated in the special 
 reconstruction zone, which covers 555 hectares accounting for 11 percent of 
 Futaba.\n“The reconstruction efforts will help motivate residents to 
 return to their homes,” Futaba Mayor Shiro Izawa told officials involved 
 in the project.\n“We want you to carry out the work while thinking about 
 the feelings of the citizens awaiting the day they can return,” he 
 said.\nOverseen by the Environment Ministry, the first steps will involve 
 removing the top layer of soil in the area near Futaba Station, trimming 
 grass along the streets, and dismantling nearly 60 houses and public 
 facilities.\nAlong with Futaba, seven municipalities in Fukushima 
 Prefecture have been designated as zones that are difficult to return 
 to.\nThe government is aiming to lift the evacuation advisory near Futaba 
 station by the end of March 2020, when the Joban Line plans to fully resume 
 operation.\nSome evacuees from Futaba had mixed emotions about the start of 
 the work.\nA 69-year-old woman residing in a temporary shelter in Iwaki 
 said that her house is in the special reconstruction zone but that she had 
 given up hope of returning because she evacuated over six years ago.\n“If 
 this was two or three years after the disaster, I might have a choice to 
 return. But my house became run-down and I got old. Realistically speaking, 
 I don’t think I can live there now,” she said.\nOn the other hand, 
 Masamichi Matsumoto, who also fled to Iwaki, welcomed the project, saying, 
 “I’m glad that a step has been taken to rebuild the town for the 
 future.”\nHe said it is unlikely many citizens will return, partly 
 because a nearby facility will be storing contaminated soil collected from 
 the cleanup work.\n“But I hope that Futaba will become a town where 
 people can visit some day,” Matsumoto, 54, added.\n\n\nNew guidelines 
 outlined to deal with quake that may kill 320,000 
 \nhttp://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201709270052.html \nBy TAKAOKI 
 YAMAMOTO/ Staff Writer \nSeptember 27, 2017 at 18:20 JST \n\n\nPolice 
 officers help an "injured resident" leave a building in an earthquake drill 
 in Yatomi, Aichi Prefecture, on Sept. 1, 2016. The aim of the drill is to 
 prepare for a massive Nankai Trough earthquake along Japan’s Pacific 
 coast. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) \nNew alert guidelines concerning a 
 long-expected and much-feared Nankai Trough earthquake that could claim 
 320,000 lives will be activated in November. \n\nThe government’s Central 
 Disaster Management Council outlined the strengthening of measures to 
 prepare for such a contingency in its final report submitted to Hachiro 
 Okonogi, minister of disaster management, on Sept. 26. \n\nThe trough is a 
 shallow seabed depression that runs 700 kilometers along the Pacific seabed 
 off Shizuoka Prefecture and down to Kyushu. \n\nThe Japan Meteorological 
 Agency (JMA) will provide alerts to people in the region facing the trench 
 when they find evidence of extraordinary underground phenomena on strain 
 meters and other gauges installed in the Tokai region. The largest city 
 there is Nagoya. \n\nBulletins will also urge residents to confirm where 
 their shelters are located and how to reach them. They will be reminded to 
 have emergency supplies on hand and secure household furniture to stop it 
 from falling over. \n\nA panel of experts to be set up by the JMA will 
 evaluate this evidence and determine if it could be linked to a possible 
 megaquake. \n\nThe JMA will also call an emergency meeting of officials 
 from government ministries and agencies to weigh up disaster management 
 options. \n\nThe chances of a massive Nankai Trough earthquake occurring 
 within the next 30 years have been put at 70 percent after a study by 
 government experts, who said up to 320,000 lives could be lost. Such a 
 quake would have a magnitude of at least 8 and possibly even 9. \n\nThe 
 last big Nankai trough earthquake, in 1854, caused thousands of deaths. 
 \n\nThe new system will replace the existing disaster preparedness plan, 
 which was based on the concept that predicting a megaquake within a range 
 of a few days could be possible. \n\nThe council dumped this longstanding 
 view in August. \n\nThe panel concluded that it is impossible to predict a 
 possible megaquake on the basis of scientific findings, which finally 
 reflects what many seismologists had long argued. \n\nThe Nankai Trough 
 consists of three main sections, from east to west, Tokai, Tonankai and 
 Nankai. \n\nSeismologists fear that Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai earthquakes 
 could occur simultaneously in a worst-case scenario. \n\nThe current 
 disaster preparedness plan was compiled under the 1978 special measures 
 concerning countermeasures for large-scale earthquakes. It was designed to 
 prepare for the long-anticipated Tokai earthquake, which is predicted to 
 strike off Shizuoka Prefecture. \n\nUnder this old plan, the prime minister 
 was expected to declare an emergency warning when the Tokai quake was 
 predicted by experts. Train services would be suspended while other 
 measures kick in. \n\nUnder the new system, the JMA will issue bulletins 
 for residents in the region of expected danger zones for the Tonankai and 
 Nankai earthquake, not just the Tokai temblor. \n\nThe expanded preparation 
 will involve 707 municipalities in 29 prefectures. The preparedness for the 
 Tokai earthquake concerned 157 municipalities in eight prefectures. \n\nBut 
 the suspension of banking services, which is part of the old plan, will be 
 dropped. \n\nThe government will also draft guidelines for local 
 governments that could be affected by the disaster so they can draw up 
 evacuation plans based on their needs in advance. \n\nMeetings will be held 
 with local governments and businesses in the prefectures of Shizuoka, Kochi 
 and Aichi, and after investigating local circumstances draw up the central 
 government's guidelines. \n\nJapan spends scant energy on 
 renewables\n"since 2011, the government, working with power utilities and 
 the media, have pushed the narrative that nuclear power is the only 
 effective means of reducing 
 emissions.”\nhttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/01/06/national/media-national/japan-spends-scant-energy-renewables/#.WlEAhRSFC-Q\n\n\nEnergy 
 crisis: Reporters are taken on a tour of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power 
 plant on April 14, 2017, as workers begin its decommissioning process. 
 Though the power plant's meltdown raised awareness of nuclear power issues, 
 some believe nuclear power still has a future in Japan. | KYODO\nNATIONAL / 
 MEDIA | MEDIA MIX\nJapan spends scant energy on renewables\nBY PHILIP 
 BRASOR\nJAN 6, 2018\nARTICLE HISTORY\nPRINTSHARE\nDec. 11, 2017, marked the 
 20th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty signed by 84 countries who 
 committed to limit the release of greenhouse gases, which are considered 
 the cause of global warming. Japan, of course, was one of the signatories, 
 and a Dec. 14 feature in the Asahi Shimbun reviewed Japan’s performance 
 in carrying out the protocol’s aims.\nWhen the treaty was signed in 1997, 
 a prevailing opinion was that any measures taken to halt global warming 
 interfered with economic growth, which is why developing countries had such 
 a hard time with it. However, as Asahi points out, many of these measures 
 subsequently turned into growth-oriented “business opportunities,” 
 mainly in the realm of renewables.\nEveryone believes Japan suffered a huge 
 setback in its emissions goals after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 
 March 11, 2011, which caused a meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear 
 power station that, in turn, led to all the country’s nuclear reactors 
 being shut down. As a result, Japan started importing and using more fossil 
 fuels, leading to higher carbon-dioxide emission levels. Some people, 
 including environmentalists, have urged Japan to put nuclear power reactors 
 back online in order to reduce these emissions, which, beyond how they 
 exacerbate climate change, have the more immediate effect of causing 
 disease and death through air pollution.\nBut Asahi points out that 
 Japanese CO2 levels were not dropping even before the accident. In 
 accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, Japan pledged to reduce its greenhouse 
 emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels in the first phase of the 
 agreement, from 2008 to 2012. During that period Japanese emissions 
 actually increased by an average of 1.4 percent a year, but due to the 
 purchase of emissions credits from countries that exceeded their reduction 
 targets and absorption of CO2 through Japanese forests, Japan was able to 
 reach its target.\nMore significantly, the increase in CO2 was accompanied 
 by a loss of GDP. In 1997, Japan ranked fourth among OECD countries in 
 terms of per capita GDP, but had dropped to 19th by 2014. Similarly, in 
 1997 Japan was fifth in terms of “CO2 productivity” — the amount of 
 money made per ton of CO2 emissions — and 20th in 2014.\nSo while the 
 country was producing more CO2 under the Kyoto Protocol, it was also losing 
 money while doing so, especially when you compare Japanese growth and 
 emissions reduction to those in other countries. Between 2002 and 2014, the 
 U.K.’s nominal GDP rose by 62.1 percent and its emissions dropped by 24.8 
 percent; Germany, 32 percent and 13 percent, respectively; even the U.S., 
 which scorned the Kyoto Protocol under George W. Bush, posted 58 percent 
 growth and 4.4 percent reductions. Japan, however, saw negative growth of 
 -0.4 percent while reducing CO2 by only 1.9 percent.\nThe reason, according 
 to Hikaru Kobayashi, an economics professor at Keio University who helped 
 negotiate the protocol, is that other countries bolstered their efforts to 
 reduce emissions by investing in technologies centered on renewable energy 
 sources such as wind and solar. Japan did not. And since 2011, the 
 government, working with power utilities and the media, have pushed the 
 narrative that nuclear power is the only effective means of reducing 
 emissions.\nThis narrative is important because the public’s concerns 
 over its energy needs come down to two things: cost and safety. Climate 
 change is not paramount in the average person’s mind. They want cheap 
 energy and they don’t want to live near a nuclear reactor, regardless of 
 arguments that say radiation from the Fukushima meltdown is not as 
 dangerous as people think. Commercial media are married to the government 
 line because power utilities spend a lot of money on advertising, despite 
 the fact that, until recently, they faced no competition as regional 
 monopolies.\nA prime example of this sort of advertising was a 
 controversial 2016 commercial broadcast in Niigata Prefecture extolling the 
 safety measures to be implemented for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power 
 plant when it goes back online.\nWith this scenario in mind, it was 
 interesting to watch NHK’s Dec. 17 documentary about the “business” 
 of renewable energy throughout the world, most of which was recorded at the 
 recent COP23 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bonn, where Japan was more 
 of an observer than a participant.\nThe program pointed out that most 
 developed countries, including the two top CO2 producers— the U.S. and 
 China — are aggressively adopting renewables, and while they may have 
 been prompted to do so as a response to climate change, they have embraced 
 these new energy sources because they can make money out of them. In that 
 regard, Japan is seen as being way behind the curve. As international 
 business people told NHK during the course of their coverage, Japan has 
 relinquished its role as a technology innovator owing to its stake in coal, 
 which it wants to export to other countries.\nThe program hardly mentioned 
 nuclear energy at all, possibly because the impetus of the global 
 renewables offensive is the defeat of fossil fuels as a primary energy 
 source. The theme was that Japan is missing out on economic growth 
 opportunities by ignoring renewable energy. NHK is the only broadcaster who 
 could ever say such a thing since it doesn’t rely financially on sponsors 
 such as Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (Tepco), which 
 discourages the development of renewables if it interferes with its mission 
 to revive nuclear power.\nLast week, the Asahi Shimbun reported on a 
 proposed Diet bill, drawn up by a citizens group headed by former Prime 
 Minister Junichiro Koizumi, that would force utilities such as Tepco to 
 shift transmission capacity reserved for nuclear power — and which 
 isn’t being used now — to renewables. Many startup energy companies are 
 failing because they don’t have access to transmission cables, which are 
 still owned by the former monopolies.\nObviously, lack of business savvy 
 isn’t the main reason Japan is missing out on the worldwide renewable 
 energy boom.\nPapers show ministry played down Chernobyl nuclear 
 disaster\n“The accident occurred at a nuclear plant unique to the Soviet 
 Union, and such an accident would be unthinkable in Japan,” the 
 ministry’s statement 
 said.\n\nhttp://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201712210043.html\nTHE ASAHI 
 SHIMBUN\nDecember 21, 2017 at 15:30 JST\n\n\nForeign Ministry officials 
 made a concerted effort to downplay the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 
 to promote nuclear power and avoid friction at a Group of Seven summit in 
 Japan, ministry documents showed.\n\nThe documents released on Dec. 20 also 
 showed a sense of overconfidence in the safety of nuclear power in Japan 
 that may have led in part to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 
 2011.\n\nSoviet officials announced on April 28, 1986, that a nuclear 
 accident had occurred in Ukraine. It would become the worst nuclear plant 
 disaster in history.\n\nAccording to the documents, Foreign Ministry 
 officials scrambled to gather information about the nuclear accident ahead 
 of the Group of Seven summit in Japan that started on May 4.\n\nThe United 
 States was initially passive about issuing a G-7 declaration that 
 criticized the Soviet Union for the accident.\n\nWashington and Moscow at 
 that time were negotiating an agreement to reduce their nuclear arsenals, 
 and U.S. officials did not want to push the Soviet Union into a corner with 
 criticism about Chernobyl.\n\nAlthough then Prime Minister Yasuhiro 
 Nakasone wanted a G-7 statement that touched upon the nuclear disaster, 
 Japan and other G-7 members were promoting nuclear energy. So the 
 declaration that eventually emerged downplayed the possible dangers to the 
 environment and human health from the Chernobyl disaster.\n\nThe diplomatic 
 documents showed that terms that might disrupt plans to push forward 
 nuclear power generation were gradually deleted from the final 
 statement.\n\n“The confidence of national leaders about the safety of 
 their own nation’s nuclear plants emerges from the documents,” said 
 Kazuhiko Togo, a former Foreign Ministry official who now heads the 
 Institute for World Affairs at Kyoto Sangyo University. “There was likely 
 a sense of overconfidence that the accident happened because it occurred in 
 the Soviet Union.”\n\nThe course taken by Japan veered widely from that 
 of European nations regarding nuclear power.\n\nMany European nations were 
 directly hit by radioactive materials from the Chernobyl plant, and public 
 sentiment in those nations quickly turned against nuclear power.\n\nOne 
 year after the Chernobyl accident, the Green Party emerged as a political 
 force in West Germany based largely on its anti-nuclear stance. A national 
 referendum in Italy led to a landslide victory for anti-nuclear 
 forces.\n\nHowever, in Japan, the then Ministry of International Trade and 
 Industry, which was in charge of nuclear power generation, showed a 
 different stance in a statement issued on April 29, 1986, immediately after 
 the Soviet Union announced the accident.\n\n“The accident occurred at a 
 nuclear plant unique to the Soviet Union, and such an accident would be 
 unthinkable in Japan,” the ministry’s statement said.\n\nPublic debate 
 on the need for greater safety at Japan’s nuclear plants did not deepen 
 despite cover-ups of problems at a nuclear plant operated by Tokyo Electric 
 Power Co. and an accident at a Hokuriku Electric Power Co. nuclear 
 plant.\n\n“Japan did not think seriously or make preparations whenever it 
 was faced with a nuclear incident,” said Tatsujiro Suzuki, a former vice 
 chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission. “As a result, its failure 
 to learn from its past lessons led to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant 
 accident.”\n\nJapan also failed to keep up with international moves to 
 strengthen the safety of nuclear plants.\n\nIn 1988, the International 
 Atomic Energy Agency asked member nations to establish measures to deal 
 with severe accidents on the precondition that such events are 
 possible.\n\nHowever, Japan did not obligate nuclear plant operators to set 
 up these measures.\n\nThe U.N. Convention on Nuclear Safety, which took 
 effect in 1996, carried a provision calling on signatory nations to 
 separate their safety oversight agencies from the agencies that promote 
 nuclear power.\n\nJapan did not fulfill that obligation.\n\n\n(This article 
 was compiled from reports by Ryosuke Ishibashi, Masanobu Higashiyama and 
 Toshihide Ueda, a senior staff writer.)\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/01/08/18805750.php
SUMMARY:SF Japan Consulate Protest-Stop Restarting Nuclear Power Plants in Japan and Defend The Fa
LOCATION:Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery Near California\nSan Francisco
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/01/08/18805750.php
DTSTART:20180111T230000Z
DTEND:20180112T000000Z
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