The Japan Times has published an article regarding a post-mortem on the Japanese government’s handling of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. I have every sympathy for the people who were scrambling to resolve the problems on the ground. I have less for the political paranoia that got in the way.

Part of the problem is hard to blame on the cabinet; there have been some legendary examples of American cabinet officials being shockingly ignorant of the Presidential line of succession, even though they occupy extremely high positions in American government. So, one Japanese cabinet minister not even knowing that a particular agency existed – one that seems meant to warn the public about harmful levels of radiation – can be forgiven.

What can’t be forgiven is that then-PM Naoto Kan, who now parades as a born-again environmental crusader trying to finish off nuclear power for good (regardless of its short, medium, or long-term costs to Japanese civilization), became paranoid and came to believe that none of the information he was getting from the power company or from government agencies could be trusted. So, he started micromanaging, involving himself in the tiniest of details and creating a network of personal minions to “save the country” through his own hands, since he felt he was the only one who could be relied upon to do so.

The report apparently finds the government to have lied by telling the public there was no reason to panic when, upon the command of the cabinet, the government was preparing worst-case scenarios based on assumptions of truly horrible possibilities (no matter how remote). Apparently the government was supposed to tell the public to panic immediately.

Remember when they couldn’t get fresh water into the reactors to cool things off properly and they were going to start using seawater, but the effort didn’t start right away for some reason? Here, Kan “questioned” the effect of pouring anything but seawater, and the head of the Fukushima Daiichi (daiichi = #1) reactor prevented further catastrophe by “disregarding such concerns”.

Kan’s response is that he didn’t order anyone to not use seawater. People, people… in Japan, you don’t need to “order” someone not to do something in order to cause it not to happen. The PM’s “questioning” it was more than enough to put monkey wrenches into the gears for a while. Sounds like things didn’t get worse largely because he was told to jump in a lake on this one.

So after the Nuclear Safety Commission said a hydrogen explosion was unlikely and it happened regardless, the industry minister nudged Kan into completely disregarding what the “experts” said and tried to become a nuclear physics scientist and engineer overnight (likely while staying at a Best Western). All of a sudden, he knew better than everyone else. His decision to shut down all nuclear power was clearly part of his belief that he was saving the country. This is not to say nuclear power is ideal, but Japan has been taking it on the chin economically as a result. It wasn’t the cost-less, painless decision some portrayed it as.

Finally, what I consider his most unforgivable action is heading to Fukushima Daiichi on March 12, 2011, and inspecting the plant. As anyone even remotely connected to a military organization or anything similar will tell you, when a VIP comes to visit, everything stops. No work of any meaning gets done at all. To inflict this situation on an unfolding disaster was reckless, and we are fortunate nothing even worse happened as a result of such interference.

The whole thrust of this suggests a vast immaturity of government. I mean, I understand why this happened from the top of the elected government on down. I don’t understand how they could have allowed it to happen. It’s losing your head. It’s basically panicking. It’s a complete loss of trust in anyone who’s ever studied nuclear issues and is Japanese. They didn’t even accept American experts coming straight into the Prime Minister’s office at first. It’s not said why. Maybe Americans couldn’t be trusted either. Who knows? There is no easy solution to paranoid leadership.

So, I’m sorry to see my worst, most cynical suspicions confirmed. Pots do not boil faster because you watch them, and nuclear crises do not get solved faster because you micromanage them.

As a final note, I recently found out that the whole reason fuel rods were stacked into pools of water within the reactors’ buildings is because environmentalists successfully blocked any political approval of proper disposal of those rods for such a long time that there’s just no place to put them. There is apparently hope that this situation will shut down the entire nuclear industry there even without political dictates to shut reactors down forever. How touching. Fuel rods were the likeliest source of a truly huge disaster. – J

そこまで！ (That’s far enough!)

Normally, I wouldn’t deign to be defending the Japanese people against their own government, but even I have my limits. Just how many elected ministers will go down in flames insulting their own disaster victims? This is ridiculous.

Here’s the latest example at the Daily Telegraph. Now look, I have some small sympathy for his calling someone who didn’t take shelter with tsunami warnings blaring “idiots,” but that’s not the sort of thing that people want to hear from their elected leaders.  Let the idiots rest in peace. Deliberately jabbing the eyes of the living with needles is not just bad politics; it’s terrible for the country.

I will not list the numerous examples of other ministers being idiots themselves in their insulting or mocking disaster victims, or saying things like they’re not sure anyone does have a right to a radiation-free life. (Keep in mind, I’m a nuclear power moderate here, but downplaying the legitimate concerns of ordinary people is in extraordinarily poor taste.)

More to the point, this minister replaced a predecessor who had to step down a mere three months ago for being a jackass to the governor of tsunami-battered Miyagi prefecture. Supposedly the minister berated the governor for being late (I have no idea if he was or not) and refused to even shake the man’s hand.

Notice the American-style apology at the end of the article. That’s one piece of Western culture that should never have migrated eastward.

About the only good thing we can say is, at least it wasn’t on the level of the tsunami. This link at the Mainichi Shimbun details tolls of dead and missing; just scroll down a little for a lot of photographs related to this latest weather related disaster. I don’t want to infringe on their copyrights. Even for Japan, this was a direct typhoon hit that broke some rain records. Best wishes to everyone there.

The March 11 (“3/11”) earthquake and tsunami disaster striking Japan has brought into sharp relief the basic resilience and sense of unity of the Japanese people. Whatever the faults of Japan, this is one of Japan’s underlying strengths. Japan’s history includes a lot of respect for nature, in part because nature’s fury is so regularly beheld  through typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, and so forth. Resilience is  therefore a virtue well suited to Japan.

Resilience in society means coming together for a common purpose. This is by no means a trait unique to Japan; whatever their other divisions, Arabs have an ancient tradition of hospitality that suits a desert people. Japan has an ancient tradition of coming together as a society to rebuild. This includes a high level of social organization. Westerners are familiar with Japan’s famous rallying around government relief efforts and emergency support services, but that is only what can be done in the first hours and days.

As great as the suffering from  the earthquake and tsunami are across the eastern edge of the Touhoku region (Touhoku: lit. “North-Eastern”), the Fukushima nuclear disaster stands out because, quite simply, it’s hard to think of rebuilding when the disaster is still ongoing.  It may be a slow burn rather than a “meltdown” right now, but radioactively speaking, the region is still far too hot for the residents’ comfort.

Fukushima City is in the relative north of the southernmost prefecture of Touhoku.

Since this is a regional disaster in terms of degree, even though the aftershocks can be felt throughout the entire country, events like Comiket (for “Comic Market” verbally mashed together) are still ongoing. In preparation for the next one, in December (official site here), more than one self-published manga has arisen to speak out about the trials and difficulties of the people affected by the “3/11” disaster.

Through art, the resilience of Japanese culture expresses itself,  but it is not an individual expression: it is a call to arms for society to unite after the disaster, not just during it. That,  after all, takes more work, and is a longer-term process.  Of course, for the people directly affected the most, it is still very much an ongoing disaster.  Through manga, certain writers are working to keep these events fresh in Japanese minds outside the Touhoku region.

Some are even working towards English translations of their works to further spread awareness about the tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear plant disaster aftermath to the rest  of the world. I have mentioned it before, but I am helping one group in such an effort. I think the sensationalist, low detail Western media can benefit from being offset by cultural works created by people directly affected.  These are voices that should be heard.

Society coming together is not just a physical act. It is a social and spiritual one. Even so, there are many practical things that will need to be done to support the disaster victims. Over time, I intend to do more to provide tangible assistance in cooperation with Japanese people (or 日本人、nihonjin) themselves, because building bridges across the language and cultural barriers is a large part of what I learned Japanese for. Now is the time to go from theory to practice.

Even so, what we can all do, spiritually, is give our moral support, and that is something I do very freely in this instance.

For example:

頑張って、日本！

(Hang in there, Japan!)

みんなが応援しますよ。

(We’re all rooting for you.)

May Japan recover and grow even more vibrant, as it has done many times before. It won’t be easy – it never is – but rising from disaster is a human trait that,  as a human being, I choose to take pride in.  – J