Deny, Deny, Deny

The worst nuclear crisis ever is upon us, but Tokyo continues to deny the reality of what it faces. As does the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

IAEA: No Indication of Nuclear Reactor Meltdown in Japan

However under current Japanese leadership it is but a lap dog of Tokyo.

"Yukiya Amano, a veteran Japanese diplomat who heads the IAEA, said the agency was discussing details with Tokyo."

Both their assurances that nothing 'serious' is occurring flies in the face of reality. Over the weekend they went from one to two to three nuclear plants blowing up,

Japan crisis: third explosion raises spectre of nuclear nightmare

Japan's nuclear safety agency said Tuesday's explosion at the plant's No.2 reactor was caused by hydrogen. There was no immediate word on damage, but Jiji news agency quoted the trade ministry as saying radiation levels remained low after the blast, the third at the plant since Saturday.

And as coolant ran out and nuclear power rods were exposed to the atmosphere still denial from Tokyo and IAEA.

Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expressed confidence Japanese authorities were doing all they could to restore safety at the sites and said a Chernobyl-style disaster was "very unlikely."

He spoke as Japan scrambled to avert a meltdown at a stricken nuclear complex after a hydrogen explosion at one reactor and exposure of fuel rods at another, just days after the devastation that killed thousands.

I have been following the nuclear disaster in Japan as soon as it occurred on Friday, posting updates on my Facebook page. Through out this period as news of the damage to these reactors was reported, the official line, which continues even today, has been deny, deny, deny.

The Japanese government and their UN lacky continue to insist that they 'have it under control', they reassure us that nothing serious or to terrible is occurring,.

The reality as report after report shows is that Japanese authorities and their electrical companies are not in control and lack the resources to actually deal with this crisis.

TOKYO, March 15 | Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:29am EDT

TOKYO, March 15 (Reuters) - Japan's prime minister was furious with the power firm at the centre of the nuclear crisis for taking so long to inform his office about a blast at a stricken reactor plant, demanding "What the hell is going on?".

Kyodo news agency reported that Naoto Kan also ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co on Tuesday not to pull employees out of the Fukushima plant north of Tokyo, which was badly damaged by last week's earthquake and has been leaking radiation.

"The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the the premier's office for about an hour," a Kyodo reporter quoted Kan telling power company executives.

But being too proud to ask for help, which would incur obligation (giri), which is why they have not responded to international offers of help. They would rather deny they require help in dealing with this disaster because that would oblige them to admit to weakness.

Daily denials of the serious nuclear crisis they are facing is belied by hourly reports of yet another explosion, or continuing lack of water to cool the nuclear power rods.

The word Meltdown has been used since Friday, and they deny the reality. Their plants are in critical condition, their are indeed melting down. Whether they are equivalent or like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island or Hanford, is irrelevant. They are in the process of critical collapse. Only if their containment shells hold and the superheated rods are cooled, will there be no meltdown.

Should there be a melt down or two or three, then this situation will be a completely different scenario , another reason reassess Nuclear Power and especially policies regarding closing old plants like these.

These plants were built in the 1970's and even then were problematic.

In 1972, the first warning was issued about the vulnerability of the sort of General Electric reactors used in Fukushima in Japan

Government regulators knew of a heightened risk of explosion in the type of nuclear reactors used at the Fukushima plant in Japan from the moment they went into operation.

Safety inspectors at America's Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) warned as early as 1972 that the General Electric reactors, which did away with the traditional large containment domes, were more vulnerable to explosion and more vulnerable to the release of radiation if a meltdown occurred.

Michael Mariotte, director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, said: "The concern has been there all along that this containment building was not strong enough and the pressure containment system was not robust enough to prevent an explosion."

The ageing GE reactors are regarded as less resilient then newer models. Dr Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environment Research, said: "They are not designed to contain these explosions. They are not designed to contain an aircraft crashing into it. Modern reactors are significantly different. Designs built from the 1980s onwards don't have the vulnerabilities of mark one reactors."

All six of the reactors at the Fukushima Two plant, which has suffered two explosions, are GE-designed boiling water reactors. Five are the original mark one design and went on line from 1971 to 1979.

And that is also part of their denial, the reality that the reason these plants are so hard to shut down is that they are past their prime and the technology is flawed by comparison to modern nuclear power plants. And despite knowing their shortcomings the Japanese electrical industry and the government kept them operating hoping nothing terrible would ever occur. That is not contingency planning nor risk planning.

Japanese campaign groups have also warned of problems at the Fukushima 2 plant including a failure of the generator when the plant lost power in June last year.

In addition to the Fukushima 2 plant, eight reactors of the same design are in use in Japan at nuclear facilities at Tsuruga, Hamaoke and Shimane. Like the Fukushima plants, all three are also on Japan's main Honshu island.

Nuclear reactors of the same design are in widespread use in America.Of the 104 reactors currently in use, 23 are of the same GE mark two design, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Twelve more are a modified version of the boiling water reactor.

And instead of being taken offline they were used beyond their time. This is the core problem of why these plants now are a danger to Japan and the whole planet.

Japanese isolationism and xenophobia are the problem, they no longer are an isolated culture on an isolated island, an island unto themselves. Having entered the atomic age, their island culture now has an impact on the whole planet. Their culture of doing things Japanese style now threatens the planet.

Humpback Victory

Japan halts humpback whale hunt
CNN International -
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japan has "temporarily halted" its much-criticized plan for a humpback whale hunt in the seas near Antarctica, said the chief Japanese government spokesman on Friday.
Japan removes humpback whales from Antarctic hunt Reuters UK
Whaling: The Japanese positionBBC News

Now lets end Japanese whale hunting period.

Stop Japan's Whale Hunt

Japan's Scientific Whaling Hoax

Japan's Whaling Outrage

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Tora, Tora, Tora

Today is the day that America used to celebrate as the Day of Infamy. Since 9/11 it has fallen into second place. To commemorate the occasion, I highly recommend watching Tora, Tora, Tora the unique American Japanese co production that is one of the best war movies ever made and the best on the attack on Pearl Harbour.

"Tora" means "tiger" in Japanese

It was denounced by the U.S. as an unprovoked preventive attack. Today it has been adopted by the U.S. as official policy of the Bush administration and is known as the right to preemptive attack.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" Speech

To the Congress of the United States:

Yesterday, December 7, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State of form reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government had deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our Nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces -- with the unbounded determination of our people -- we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The White House, December 8, 1941

Excerpt from the 'Day of Infamy' Radio Address

• WAV Format, Windows (528K)

SEE:

Not MacArthurs Republican Party

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Japan, MacArthur, Pear Harbor, Tora,Tora,Tora, WWII, war movies, day of infamy, FDR, War in the Pacific,

Japan's Scientific Whaling Hoax

Apparently rumours are that Japan might consider abandoning their hunt of the endangered Humpbacks. However that is a classic red herring.

More: Rumours from Tokyo: Humpbacks to be spared the harpoon?

This is pretty incredible, and will be wonderful if it happens. Of course, saving the 50 humpbacks may be a red herring by the whalers; with everyone excited about the humpbacks - which are threatened and very iconic - it's easy to forget about the 50 less recognisable endangered fin whales and the 935 minke whales that the whaling fleet plans to kill over the next few months.

The bottom line is that Japan's Whaling operations are not for science but sushi.

Catching whales for science is a hoax

The Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) and the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) make more frequent defences of their research than usual - probably feeling the pressure. Here is an analysis of the failed research by our whales specialist John Frizell.

By John Frizell

In 1987, the ban on commercial whaling came into force for Japan. Yet despite the ban the whaling fleet which had previously conducted the commercial hunt sailed at its usual time to the same whaling grounds in the Antarctic to take the same species of whale they had caught the year before and return them to Japan boxed in 15 kg cardboard cartons, ready for sale. This was made possible by ‘scientific’ whaling.

When the last remaining high seas commercial whaling company in Japan was dissolved in 1987, it gave its factory ship and catchers to a new company whose shareholders were all companies formerly involved in whaling. In the same year a non profit organisation called the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) was founded. The new company that now owned the whaling fleet donated nine million US dollars to the ICR. The ICR promptly chartered the whaling fleet from the new company and set off for the Antarctic using the factory ship, catchers and crew from the commercial hunt to catch whales in the name of science.

See my Facebook campaign to oppose Japanese Whaling. I have also posted a link in the sidebar to the left.

Here are some posts from fellow progressive bloggers on the outrage of Japans Whale Hunt.

Japan Whaling Again

Primitive Japanese Whaling Practice Resumes

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Japan's Whaling Outrage

Clearly the sushi market sets the 'scientific research' agenda in Japan.

Japan hunts 50 humpback whales for research

As if the stupidity of their phony 'scientific research' expeditions for whales, whale hunting by any other name, was not bad enough now Japan intends to hunt the endangered Humpback Whale.

In Moby-Dick, Herman Melville describes the Humpback Whale as "the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the whales, making more gay foam and white water than any other of them".

Guess Star Trek IV is not as popular in Japan as it is here. Or perhaps it lost something in the translation.

The Esperanza, Greenpeace's anti-whaling ship, could use the Enterprise's help now.

Because they won't get any help from the Canadian Government.


Send letters of protest to the Embassy of Japan in Canada
255 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 9E6
Tel: (613) 241-8541
Fax: (613) 241-7415
infocul@embjapan.ca

And copy your protest letter to your MP and the Party Leaders.

I am so outraged over this I have started a Facebook cause.

BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS: A Japanese whaling ship harpoons a whale off Antarctica, in this file picture.

A defiant Japan embarked on its largest whaling expedition in decades Sunday, targeting protected humpbacks for the first time since the 1960s despite international opposition. An anti-whaling protest boat awaited the fleet offshore.

The whalers plan to kill up to 50 humpbacks in what is believed to be the first large-scale hunt for the once nearly extinct species since a 1963 moratorium in the Southern Pacific put the giant marine mammals under international protection.

The mission also aims to take as many as 935 minke whales and up to 50 fin whales in what Japan's Fisheries Agency says is its largest-ever scientific whale hunt. The expedition lasts through April.

Japan says it needs to kill the animals in order to conduct research on their reproductive and feeding patterns.

While scientific whale hunts are allowed by the International Whaling Commission, or IWC, critics say Japan is simply using science as a cover for commercial whaling.

The Japanese hunt, which puts meat from the whales on the commercial market, is growing rapidly despite an increasingly vocal anti-whaling movement. This winter season's target of up to 1,035 whales is more than double the number the country hunted a decade ago.

The head of Japan's Fisheries Agency said Sunday the fruits of Tokyo's research would help prove that sustainable whaling is possible.

"The scientific research we carry out will pave the way to overturning the moratorium on commercial whaling, which will better help us to utilize whale resources," Shuji Yamada told the ceremony.

The focus on this year's hunt is the humpback, which was in serious danger of extinction just a few decades ago. They are now a favorite of whale-watchers for their playful antics at sea, where the beasts — which grow as large as 40 tons — throw themselves out of the water.

Humpbacks feed, mate and give birth near shore, making them easy prey for whalers, who by some estimates depleted the global population to just 1,200 before the 1963 moratorium. The southern moratorium was followed by a worldwide ban in 1966.

Since then, only Greenland and the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have been allowed to catch humpbacks under an IWC aboriginal subsistence program. Each caught one humpback last year, according to the commission.

The American Cetacean Society estimates the humpback population has recovered to about 30,000-40,000 — about a third of the number before modern whaling. The species is listed as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union.

Japanese fisheries officials insist the population has returned to a sustainable level and that taking 50 of them will have no impact

"George and Gracie," the humpback whales in Star Trek IV,
were Walt Conti's first animatronic creations back in 1986.

GreenPeace Follow the Great Whale Trail!

Today we launched the Great Whale Trail, following the migration of humpback whales from the warm tropical waters of the South Pacific, where they breed, to the icy Southern Ocean around Antarctica, where they feed. And we're doing it via satellite tracking and Google Maps. Nifty.

It's a collaboration between Greenpeace and scientists studying humpback whales in the South Pacific. We provided the financial support, while the humpbacks have been tagged by the Cook Islands Whale Research, and Opération Cétacés (New Caledonia). Why are we doing this? Well, it's simple, really: whales must not be allowed to die in the thousands for needless, discredited "research," - like that carried out by the Japanese whaling fleet. We're satellite tracking whales in the Southern Ocean to prove that non-lethal means can be used to do some real research!

The Great Whale Trail follows the migration of humpback whales from the warm tropical waters of the South Pacific, where they breed, to the icy Southern Ocean around Antarctica, where they feed. Click on the whale icon to see more information about the individual whales.

The whales are heading to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, which should be a safe haven for them. Unfortunately, whaling still continues there.

Why the Japanese Fleet can't use this map to find and kill the humpbacks.

Greenpeace has a long history of defending the whales of the Southern Ocean by activists putting themselves between the whale and the harpoon. We would never let a whale be put in danger. The posting of the location of the whales on this website has been delayed to ensure the whaling fleet cannot locate them through the Great Whale Trail.

In addition, to justify their whaling as "science", the Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) fleet is obliged to follow strict pre-determined search patterns or 'transects', when they hunt the whales. They claim this is to show that they are doing random population sampling. Any deviation for a single whale or large groups would automatically negate their so-called "scientific" programme.

Real live Humpback Whale and her calf courtesy Greenpeace.

SEE:

Your Sunday Bible Reading: Moby Dick

Belugas

Our Whales Are Missing

High Crimes On The High Sea's

Dolphins Say Scientist A Dim Wit

Whales Were Not Always Vegans

General Jackson Slaughters Luna

Canadian Anti-Whalers Attacked

Confrontation on the High Seas

Piracy on the High Seas

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Pension Fraud Brings Down Japans Government

In a society that once had cradle to grave employment for its workers Japan for the past twenty years has been in an economic downward spiral. Each attempt to follow American recommendations to privatize their economy has exposed Japan's political establishment as incompetent if not downright criminal.

This weekends election exposed the weakness of such reforms in Japan as well as other existing capitalist economies as they rely on looting public pension funds for venture capital.

However, voters on Sunday were obviously far more concerned with bread-and-butter issues that directly affect their daily lives.

Key among those issues was concern about the state of the public pension system.

Even though the government passed legislation to reorganize the scandal-tainted Social Insurance Agency, the public was clearly not convinced that everything had been done to address their concerns about 50 million or so missing pension accounts or whether the new entity would operate in an efficient manner that would ease their fears about retirement.

Abe learned late last year about the pension debacle, but did nothing to deal with the matter until Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) raised this issue in the Diet, triggering a public uproar this spring.

Abe had no alternative but to come up with measures at the last minute to placate the public.

Abe promised to sort out every single pension account and notify individuals by next March at the latest about the status of their payments.

However, opinion surveys showed that the public had not yet forgiven the government for its handling of the problem.

In contrast, Minshuto focused on the pension issue by again proposing a minimum pension program. It also proposed other livelihood measures, such as steps to bridge the growing disparity in incomes as well as moves to help Japan's farmers and child-rearing families with direct subsidies.

Sunday's results left no doubt that Minshuto's policies resonated with voters. The major political question now is whether Abe will continue as prime minister.

SEE:

Japanese State Capitalism

Gambling On Your Future

Public Pensions Fund Private Partnerships

The Importance of Savings

Social Insecurity The Phony Pension Crisis

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