Japan Finds Somalia's Starvation

Western media had been reporting the starvation in east Africa since this spring; nevertheless Japanese media seem to have been ignoring this issue until NHK, Japan's public broadcast company, reported Somalia's crisis on August 18th.
As soon as NHK carried this story, a lot of Japanese Twitter users started to tweet comments like "what can we do for Africa?" or "how can we donate to Africa?"
It is quite fortunate that many of us have a bit of an allowance to help other countries in need, even though some of the regions in Japan are still busy recovering from the recent disaster.

from Tokyo

Tokyo Endures the Hottest Summer

It has been very hot this summer much more than usual in Tokyo, nevertheless air conditioner's is set 1 or 2 degrees higher than normal here and there including trains and stations. This circumstance forces us to become more patient than most summers.
Tokyo residents are forced to save up to 15% of electricity because of insufficient supply caused by the accident of Fukushima nuclear power station, which used to supply approximately 25% of electricity for Tokyo area. Needless to say it was destroyed by tsunami (also by our Prime Minister's misjudge).
Fortunately, however, the Japanese are naturally very loyal and very patient, hence most of us have succeeded to acquire a lot of skills to save electricity.
Evil politicians, who intended to enhance the public opinion to support nuclear power, appear to have failed. They might have underestimated the perseverance of the Japanese. No matter how severe the circumstances become, the Japanese foster their capacity to persevere such situation.
Some say that aborting nuclear power enhances global warming. It's true that burning fossil fuel produces CO2. However CO2 density of the earth is now minimum in these 600 million years. No matter how much we burn oil and gas, CO2 percentage will change little. It is hard to believe that such a small amount of change can affect global climate.
To begin with, the data which is said to prove global warming were fabricated by the agency of the U.K.. Intelligent people may know that it's just a fallacy which was created to weaken Arabian oil money and to enrich people who earn from nuclear industry or environmental industry.

from Tokyo

Stop the Folly of the Big Cat

Who is encouraging the unstoppable yen rise?
The currency market appears to evaluate Japan higher than the EU, which has been spoiled by its weaker members; much higher than the U.S., which is leaving substantially more than 16% of its labors unemployed.
The appreciation of yen may reflect the fact that the Japanese society, in spite of its current suffering from earthquake and radioactivity, may be evaluated as being more stable than the Anglo-Saxon-driven economy zones.
I can certainly agree to some extent. I can indeed live peacefully in Tokyo, despite the fact that parts of northern-east Japan still remain damaged.
However the market appears to be overvaluing Japan. Japan is still vulnerable to invisible threats- for example, radioactivity, as well as the potentiality of future earthquakes.
I would say that the appreciation of yen derives from weaker dollar rather than higher yen. This situation is likely to have been caused by the folly of the US, represented by its useless wars against invisible terrorists.
Remember Vietnam. All that the stupid war left were a huge garden tomb and a huge scale of debt. Everyone knows it was not the U.S. military but Coca Cola and McDonald's that opened the mind of eastern world.
The more the U.S. military attacks terrorists, the more they revenge. It is not carpet bombing but serene lifestyle that makes terrorists remove their weapon. The sun is stronger than the north wind.
Anyway unfortunately this absurd currency level is likely to last for quite some time, until the U.S. stops foolish wars which benefit only the military industry. Only after these circumstances change, a stable society and a reliable economy will be realized, which then would be the fundamentals of a strong dollar.
Of course I know no one can imagine that the crazy big cat will calm down and lower his paw so easily so far.

from Tokyo

How to Die

There is a word "juryo" or "grave of luck" in Japanese, which implies that if one builds its own grave during his or her life, it will bring about longevity. Prince Umayado, the ancient prince of the imperial family, otherwise known as "Shotoku Taishi", believed in "juryo" and built his own grave when he was too young to think about his own death.
Although I'm not affluent enough to build a grave early in my life, I do know that I need to spend time preparing to die, so that I am ready to encounter the end of my life anytime.
In most countries, it is traditionally known that death is a time of justice. What one is asked by "the judge" when crossing over, is not what one has done, but one's own thoughts- including how he or she perceives its own actions.
Reflection, there may be. Regret, however, there should not be.
To the extent possible, I'd like to welcome this time with consolation of mind and with a sense of fulfillment, knowing that I have done everything I ought to have done.
In this sense, death just might be life itself.

from Tokyo

One Day Trip to Fukushima

Last week I went to Fukushima prefecture office with my colleagues to see an executive person in order to discuss about a long term support for revival of ruined area by Tokyo-based companies. However my wording seemed to be a little bit wrong. "Revival?" the executive laughed in self-deprecation. "Far from revival. We are still suffering."
Iwate and Miyagi, two prefectures which were damaged by tsunami, located north of Fukushima ,have already started to reconstruct the ruined regions. But Fukushima is still continuously being suffered by "invisible tsunami", radioactive substances scattered by broken nuclear reactors.
I recognized it is not so easy to support this district as long as four reactors are out of control.
After the discussion, I left Fukushima Pref. office for Haramachi-city, which is located only 15 miles from reactors. Iitate route is the shortest cut to Haramachi.
The traffics were much heavier than I had expected. A lot of cars including army vehicles were coming and going. However I found nobody waking there.
Rice field along the street remained dry because nobody has taken care of it for a long time. Despite the season of planting rice it looked like the scene of winter while it was surrounded by green weed of early summer.
There is a beautiful rural scene about 25 miles away from broken reactors. However when I imagined invisible particles were flying here and there I hesitated to open the window of the car.
Haramachi-city is only 15 miles from reactors, less than 2 miles from restricted area, nevertheless the radioactivity level is much lower than Iitate probably because of geographical reason. I was surprised to find two Japanese restaurants were open there while all McDonald's shops were closed around there. One seems to have decided to function as a social infrastructure while the other gave it up.

from Tokyo

Too Big for Children

"We did what artists should do", said a young girl member of "Chim-Pom", the self-professed artists' group who is said to have added a graffiti on Taro Okamoto's wall painting at Shibuya, Tokyo.
The group pasted the Taro-style-mimicking parts which remind people of broken reactors of Fukushima on the wall painting, "Legend of Tomorrow", one of Taro's masterpieces. Fortunately the group members seem to respect Taro and his work, a great artist, so that the precious work was not hurt by the prank.
"I recognize they have done it as guerrilla instant histrionics obviously in an artistic context", the superintendent in Taro Okamoto Museum said calmly. "However nothing new to be praised is found from their cheap work".
Taro might be too big to play with such children.

From Tokyo

Why Nuclear?

I remember it was in 90's that the excuse for nuclear propulsion changed drastically.
When I was a child teachers used to tell me "Nuclear power should be promoted because the amount of oil is limited". However as soon as people recognized that oil and natural gas are more abundance than they had imagined the excuse was substituted abruptly by "global warming".
As some of you may be aware the real reason is not such a peaceful one. A country which can run nuclear power plants can easily develop the technology to manufacture an atomic bomb in case it is required. That's why Japan has been eagerly promoting nuclear power.
In this sense Japanese electric power companies including TEPCO, which is struggling with uncontrollable monsters (they used to be called nuclear reactors) at Fukushima, might have been victims.

from Tokyo