ABOVE: The defunct Maiya department store (left) and
Rikuzentakata's former City Hall next door.
On February 8th, the Mayor of
Rikuzentaka city in Iwate prefecture, Mr. Futoshi Toba, made a scathing
indictment of Japan's useless politicians. Speaking to the Japan Times, he
said: "Looking back, the LDP and DPJ spent almost two years either engaged
in political power struggles and an election - and nothing moved forward. It is
absolutely ridiculous that the disaster area was affected by politicians playing
their own game of musical chairs."
He cited the examples of
Tokyo disallowing the construction of a supermarket, because the land was
registered as farmland. Also, the town requested gasoline to help with search efforts
back in 2011, but when SDF troops brought the supplies they were not allowed to
distribute them because they were 'ministry property' and needed licensed
vendors.
"The vertically divided
bureaucracy got in the way," said Toba. "I feel that the officials
lacked the normal emotions of a human being. People without a human heart should not become involved in politics or
become bureaucrats to govern the state."
Rikuzentakata lost 1,735
people on March 11th - 7% of its population. Toba's own wife was one of the
deceased. Today, a large part of the city is still flat, barren land waiting to
be redeveloped.
On April 18th 2011, Patrick
Fox reported this news item in his
blog, Not Fox News.
APR 28th THE DIRTIEST
BUSINESS
Katsunobu Sakurai is the Mayor of Minami-soma city in
Fukushima prefecture, one of the cities damaged by both the earthquake and
radiation contamination from the Daiichi reactor. At the end of March, he
released a video criticizing the Japanese government and appealed to the world
for help. The video went viral thanks to Youtube and he has already been
declared one of 2011's most influential people by Time magazine.
On
the 25th of April, Sakurai held a press conference to call for an international
forum, in Minami-soma, to discuss and develop renewable energy sources and how
to cope with the threat of nuclear disaster. In his speech, he pointed out the
need for foreign governments, companies and individuals to get directly
involved with Japan in general and Fukushima in particular. The country will not
be able to cope on its own.
"I
want my city to become the global center of industries that will transcend
nuclear power generation", he said.
By giving this speech, he's made Minami-soma the world's
first Post-Apocalyptic City.
The next day marked 25 years since the nuclear accident at
Chernobyl.
Looking back, this sounds
pretty ironic, but sadly predictable, doesn't it?
In December 14th 2012 when
the election fever was at its height, the candidates paid lip service to the
reconstruction of Tohoku, but the local residents have been arguing ever since
that this has not translated into action. In Sendai, the construction of new
homes is still in the planning stages, and local municipalities claim it will
take "a few years" before the 3,000 displaced families can move into
new residences. Over the last year, people living in the affected areas have
consistently complained about the slow progress made in repairing key
infrastructure such as roads, port facilities and breakwaters. Emi Suda, a
51-year-old oyster farmer, summed up the local attitude in the Japan Times, Dec
14th; "Politicians engaged in power
games are paying no attention to disaster victims. I want them to come to
the affected areas, see the reality and hold talks. If they observe what's happening
here with their own eyes, they won't waste their time jockeying for
power."
The politicians, of course,
have no intention of taking Ms. Suda up on her offer.
These days, the politicians
are not happy just playing power games, of course; they've got a taste for war
games. Following the exchange of hostile words over ownership of the Senkaku
Islands, Chinese warships locked their weapons fire-control radar onto a
Japanese SDF destroyer and helicopter when they got too close, at the end of
January. Also, on February 7th two Soviet jet fighters made an incursion of airspace
over Hokkaido, near a group of islands that are another bone of contention -
this time between Japan and Russia.
The opinion of foreign
residents of Japan, whom I have spoken to, is sheer disbelief. Why, they say,
can't Japan remain friends with its neighbors in Asia? Why, if Japan's economy
is in a state of permanent decline, can't they attract visitors and investment
from Korea and China, instead of antagonizing them?
The answer, I suspect, is
that the Nationalists seized their chance at the Dec 2012 election, and are
busy consolidating their power. They would do anything rather than accept help
from 'dirty Asians'; they would do anything.
Even destroy their own country. Rather than inviting immigrants here to
revitalize the countryside and the depressed urban areas, they will revise the
history textbooks, conceal the truth about the Japanese atrocities committed in
World War II, and brainwash a new generation into being good little Nihonjin who obey their senpai and don't ask questions. In the
two moths he has been in power, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed an
interest in revising the official apologies on wartime aggression (made in
1995) and government-sponsored sex-slavery (made in 1993). As the nation grows
older and the economy shrinks, Japan will turn its back on the rest of the
world, and the old guard of fascists will remain in power forever.
What can we do to stop it?
Quite a lot, actually. Ignore the scum that floats at the top of the national
government, just as they are ignoring us.
Take responsibility for our
own lives, our own communities. To the people of Tohoku: Tokyo is not going to
help you. It's time to cut your ties, tell the bureaucrats to f#$% off, reach
out to your non-Japanese allies, and fend for yourselves. To all non-Japanese
residents of Japan; it's time to stop tolerating this evil, and start becoming
full-time trouble-makers.
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