Fukushima replaces economy as Abe\u2019s legacy issue<\/a>,\u201d it is truly mind-boggling that Japan\u2019s most senior leaders don\u2019t seem to be able to acknowledge the worst crisis in their nation\u2019s history since the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.<\/p>\nThis is no time for economic miracles or bubble economies. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to be living in the past or simply wandering around dreaming of a nonexistent \u201cbeautiful Japan.\u201d If Tokyo Electric Power Co. is deceitful, inept, corrupt, possibly guilty of professional and\/or criminal negligence, so what?<\/p>\n
Tepco\u2019s continuing blunders and secretive approach to all cleanup operations in Fukushima is a glaring reminder that Japan\u2019s \u201cold boy\u201d network is still very much intact. If the Liberal Democratic Party is all about money politics, then its $22 billion nuclear energy deal with Turkey in May \u2014 which Abe helped to close \u2014 was an indication that industrial growth for its own sake and money trumps all else in Japan (as in the United States).<\/p>\n
Is the prime minister colluding with Tepco to keep a lid on the true extent of the radioactive disaster so as not to \u201cjinx\u201d the nuclear power plant deal with Turkey or other possible deals in the future with countries in need of \u201ccheap\u201d energy.<\/p>\n
Back in 2011 the nuclear village took a massive radioactive dump on the trusting inhabitants of Fukushima, the surrounding prefectures in Tohoku and, indeed, on the entire nation. And now the village idiots act as if they don\u2019t want to clean up their mess, even as the stench of it grows more repugnant by the day.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace, the World Health Organization and the world\u2019s media are all kept at arm\u2019s length or ignored completely. Sometimes it\u2019s nice to be an island nation. The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan can, at times, seem like a vast moat keeping the rest of the world at a safe distance.<\/p>\n
The pretense that the catastrophic 3\/11 event was an \u201cact of the gods\u201d and could not have been anticipated by mortal man is just face-saving nonsense. How is it that the mayor of a small fishing village in Iwate Prefecture, the late Kotoku Wamura, was able not only to foresee the risk of another devastating tsunami along the Tohoku coast but also to take drastic action to keep his beloved town safe? The survival of Fudai must be a terrible embarrassment for those Japanese who continue to blame the heavens or their own culture for the horrible calamity that befell Fukushima.<\/p>\n
It is a pity that the old boy network in Japan didn\u2019t collapse during the same fateful week that the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant did. I fear it will take another such disaster to finally awaken the nation. The Emperor\u2019s rare public commentary just after 3\/11 seems to have fallen on deaf ears. And if Japan\u2019s ruling elite won\u2019t listen to the Emperor, they won\u2019t listen to anyone. Ah, what hubris.<\/p>\n
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer\u2019s own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.<\/p>\n
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