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The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy In Japan

Bysubcultureist

Sep 5, 2012

By Richard Wilcox

Note: We’d like to thank Mr. Wilcox for his submission to the blog. While some of this material has appeared elsewhere, Mr. Wilcox has also found an abundance of interesting quotes and references that are enlightening and informative.  Normally, I’d edit out the few nice things Mr. Wilcox has to say about me personally, but I’ve decided to print the article as is. Please pardon me. Also a per the course these days, the views expressed by Mr. Wilcox do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of JSRC.  It is an opinion piece that makes its point well. 

Thank you for your understanding. –Jake and the JSRC team

The article was originally posted here: Activist Post: The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy in Japan

“End of the day, factory whistle cries, Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes” – Bruce Springsteen, Factory (1)

“Bring us the living dead. People no one will miss.” – Fukushima official’s request to Yakuza (2)

“TEPCO’s involvement with anti-social forces and their inability to filter them out of the work-place is a national security issue … Nuclear energy shouldn’t be in the hands of the yakuza. They’re gamblers and an intelligent person doesn’t want them to have atomic dice to play with.” – Japanese Senator (3)

While not cited in Mr. Wilcox's article, this early independent report on TEPCO and the nuclear accident was highly critical of the company and suggested that the earthquake may have triggered the meltdown.

The technological issue of nuclear energy is intertwined with the exploitation of human labor in a hierarchy of interests, and how human labor is expended is an economic and moral issue. The Grand Scientific Project from the time of Francis Bacon up to the Manhattan Project of Oppenheimer and Fermi has been a dangerous gamble for humanity even though the advertised purpose is that progress is good.

The exploitation of labor at nuclear plants depends on the tools of social engineering, of government, mass media and schools. This is the hidden and shameful side of today’s materialist society and belies our complicity in a criminalized culture.

Inefficient and corrupt employment practices at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) are prolonging the disaster. Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) outsources 90 percent of the work to subcontractors, mainly utilizing Japan’s criminal syndicates, “the Yakuza.” Japan is still a middle class society and most people will not volunteer for nuclear work. Japan risks running out of workers who have not exceeded their legal radiation limits.

Considered to be “Japan’s largest organized crime group” — who are on the radar of the US Treasury Dept. (another big crime group) (4) — the Yakuza offer a service to society by sopping up its losers and giving them a dodgy occupation.

Journalist, Jake Adelstein, an expert on the Yakuza, risked his life as a reporter on the crime beat in Japan. Not because of shoot outs or knife fights, but because he had to take up smoking cigarettes in order to fit in with police and yakuza! These short video interviews offer a useful introduction into how the Yakuza operate (5; 6). Tepco’s relationship with the Yakuza is a cesspool of corruption from the highest to the lowest levels in its organization. “A senior National Police Agency officer, speaking on grounds of anonymity said, ‘TEPCO has a history of doing business with the yakuza that is far deeper than just using their labor’ ” (Op. cit. “The Yakuza and the Nuclear Mafia”).

Adelstein notes that the Yakuza has 86,000 members in Japan, of the 22 major organizations the “Yamaguchi” has almost half of all members. The Yakuza are:

“[c]riminal trade associations legally recognized by the Japanese government … They exist out in the open. The Japanese government regulates them and there are laws restricting their behavior but as criminal organizations themselves they are not banned. It is very difficult for the police to do an investigation that goes all the way up to the top. It’s problems within the Japanese law itself. There’s no plea bargaining, very limited wire tapping, no witness protection program … no undercover work allowed. The Japanese police are never able to destroy the Yakuza” (Op. cit. interviews).

“[T]he nuclear business-industrial-political and media complex in Japan known as the ‘nuclear mafia’ … [the nuclear industry] is a black hole of criminal malfeasance, incompetence, and corruption’ …. The government tacitly recognises their existence, and they are classified, designated and regulated. Yakuza make their money from extortion, blackmail, construction, real estate, collection services, financial market manipulation, protection rackets, fraud and a labyrinth of front companies including labour dispatch services and private detective agencies. They do the work that no one else will do or find the workers for jobs no one wants …. The Fukushima plant is located in the turf of the Sumiyoshi-kai, which is the second largest yakuza group in Japan with roughly 12,000 members” (Op. cit. “How the Yakuza went Nuclear”; “The Yakuza”).

Without the dregs of society to do the dirty work, modern society could not exist its present, most hypocritical form. Most people do not want to get dirt under their fingernails and prefer to apply nail polish or chat on their iPhones.

Working in nuclear power plants in Japan is not considered an honorable and elegant trade, like cabinet making or industrial design, but a brutal, labor intensive experience. While the Yakuza organization itself is an evil, the workers themselves can be considered heroes. The amount of excruciating heat, hard work, physical and mental stress and radiation they endure is inhuman. Even working at a normally functioning reactor is not easy or safe work but the FNPP is highly radioactive.

Fearless Reporter Tells All

Adelstein reviews an astounding new book, “The Yakuza and the Nuclear Industry,” by undercover Japanese reporter, Tomohiko Suzuki (Op. cit. “The Yakuza”). Suzuki truly risked his life, due to radiation exposure and possible threats, to bring us the details from the Nuclear Hell Zone. The book reveals scandalous information such as that mentally handicapped people are recruited to work in the nuke plants by the Yakuza. Suzuki compares the Yakuza with Tepco:

“Yakuza may be a plague on society … but they don’t ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and irradiate the planet out of sheer greed and incompetence.”

Having lived in Tokyo for many years, I concur. I am not a fan of Yakuza culture and can see in my daily experience that the Yakuza have a degrading effect on society. But as long as you don’t mess with them– they won’t mess with you. In this way, the streets of Tokyo remain fairly safe.

Suzuki points out that “Japan’s nuclear mafia … [is a] conglomeration of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, the shady nuclear industry, their lobbyists” with the Yakuza at the center. Is Suzuki implying that the Yakuza run the Nuclear Mafia? It is certainly true that Tepco could not fulfill a nuclear workforce without them. According to Adelstein:

“As the scale of the catastrophe at Fukushima became apparent, many workers fled the scene. To contain the nuclear meltdown, a handful of workers stayed behind, being exposed to large amounts of radiation: the so-called ‘Fukushima Fifty.’ Among this heroic group, according to Suzuki, were several members of the yakuza …. ‘Almost all nuclear power plants that are built in Japan are built taking the risk that the workers may well be exposed to large amounts of radiation …. That they will get sick, they will die early, or they will die on the job. And the people bringing the workers to the plants and also doing the construction are often yakuza’ (Op. cit. “How the Yakuza”).

The very workers who are attempting to shore up the situation at FNPP, many of whom are Yakuza, are being blamed by local people in Fukushima for the disaster. A recent survey reported that 30 percent of 1,495 workers at the site suffer from severe mental health issues. The survey does not even include the most exploited workers at the site (7).

Nuclear Situation Deteriorating

Akio Matsumura is a renowned Japanese diplomat and “founder and Secretary General of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival.” He sounds like the right man for the job to tackle the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Unfortunately, his warnings are falling on deaf ears. In a recent column he reported that the “Skilled Veterans Corps for Fukushima, along with 700 members, want to help clean up” the FNPP. Most of the volunteers are in their older years so getting cancer is not as great of a threat, whereas younger workers could die prematurely. The group’s representative, Mr. Yamada, “doesn’t believe TEPCO has the technological capabilities to deal with the long term issues. TEPCO, he says, doesn’t believe this either. TEPCO’s plan, according to Yamada, is to contain the radiation in the next 40 years. He estimates they will need 50 years or perhaps much longer.”

Matsumura thinks more aggressive actions won’t be taken:

“Regrettably I do not expect much of an outcome. After 17 months, the situation is worsening and unless Japan requests the independent assessment team and guarantees a huge budget to carry out the team’s technical advice, the US government will not step in” to help (8).

US nuclear policy is equally dangerous, thus, a safe and speedy resolution to what appears to be an insurmountable problem is not on the horizon. Tony Boys worked as an interpreter for nuclear expert, Dr. Chris Busby, on his visit to Japan last year. Boys told me:

“They may be ‘rebuilding’ at the FNPP, but I don’t think that solves the fundamental problem. You know how the Japanese love to do something cosmetic to make things look good because they don’t know how to really do it properly, but have to do ‘something’ ? Well, I think that’s largely what is going on at the site.”

Radio host, Jeff Rense, whose website has studiously reported on the nuclear catastrophe and all of Japan’s botched policies, told me that “everything they do is horrendous.” For example, Japan’s decision to ship contaminated Fukushima soil all the way across the country is truly stupefying (9).

Prime Minister Noda recently rejected protester’s requests to shut down the nuclear reactors. As the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes told Noda in a face to face meeting, “[w]e the people do not believe you” regarding his empty promises to phase out nukes in the future. The Nuclear Mafia are restarting reactors even though they are unnecessary for electricity production. An overwhelming majority of people want to abolish nuclear power (10; 11; 12). Having contaminated the world with quadrillions of becquerels of radiation (petabecquerels), Tepco is under a pseudo nationalization process that funnels tax money into their pockets yet maintains their autonomy (13).

Worker Shortage

A common practice among workers in nuclear plants is to hide their real exposure rate of radiation. Because there are legal limits of radiation exposure, workers will take off their dosimeters, or cover them with lead. In normal times in Japan workers could also migrate from one plant to the other without indicating previous work experience, and work “under the table.” How long it takes to get sick and or die from such a practice is anyone’s guess.

If the “living dead,” the people “no one will miss” and the dregs of society can’t be coerced into sacrificing themselves, how about top Tepco executives or pro nuclear professors from Tokyo University for a helping hand? Good idea! But first you will have to chase them down on the golf course. NHK reports that:

“[M]any workers crucial to the effort are reaching the limit for radiation exposure …. University of Tokyo Professor Kazumitsu Nawata warns of the consequences of losing nuclear plant workers with necessary expertise. He says young workers must be trained due to the need for massive manpower to fully bring the Daiichi plant under control.”

Is Professor Nawata volunteering other’s children for this dirty job, or maybe his own children would prefer to work in the High Sievert Zone? Tokyo University bears a heavy responsibility for the current catastrophe for its role in legitimizing the Nuclear Mafia.

A notable percentage of workers are leaving once they have reached the legal radiation limits. Of the 3,000 daily workers, “[s]ome of the firms have adopted stricter exposure standards … so that they do not breach the limit and become unemployable” (14).

A number of recent incidents have highlighted the scandal over worker safety, including:

* Over 140 workers have been found to have used fake names when getting jobs doing reconstruction work and are presently unaccounted for (Op. cit., “The Yakuza”).

* Workers have purposely left integral dosimeter off their person while at work. “Tepco is pushing the responsibility to their sub-contract companies but has no solution for the shortage of nuclear workers” which indicates “major staffing problems” at the plant (15; 16).

* Some workers themselves think the only solution to shoring up the plant will be “human wave tactics” as were employed at Chernobyl (17). If that is the case, where will the necessary workforce come from? In order combat the dwindling labor force, Tepco and subcontractors are knowingly telling workers to fake their radiation data. The practice is “believed to be part of a widespread practice at the plant” (18; 19; 20).

Former General Electric nuclear plant inspector, a whistle blower who previously exposed dangers at the Fukushima plant–that were ignored–Kei Sugaoka, admitted that he had heard of young workers in the Taiwan nuclear industry dying from cancer due to radiation. When he worked in Taiwan he says “[t]hey made us wear lead vests to falsify radiation exposure … All the lead did was cover our dosimeters” (21).

Despite the need to quickly resolve the situation, workers are given weekends off, but are also being recruited for decontamination in the 20 km zone. Speculation is that restart of other reactors in Japan will worsen the worker shortage. Japan seems to be going in too many directions at once (22; 23; 24).

The Nuclear Workforce

French sociologist, Paul Jobin, “began research on Japanese and Taiwanese nuclear plant workers in 2002, mainly at Fukushima Daiichi,” and he did follow up interviews after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

Jobin notes that:

* Subcontracting labor at nuclear plants in Japan began shortly after their creation, in the mid-1970s. “In France, this trend would develop after 1988, reaching a rate of 80% by 1992.”

* “According to NISA’s data, in 2009, Japan’s nuclear industry recruited more than 80,000 contract workers against 10,000 regular employees.”

* Part time employment is carried out in order to limit labor costs “whether in France or Japan, the nuclear industry nurtures a heavy culture of secrecy concerning the number of irradiated workers.”

* Before the Fukushima disaster, “only 9 former workers received compensation for an occupational cancer linked to their intervention in nuclear plants.” This number is probably far lower than the real number of those who suffered from working at NPPs.

* “[S]tatistics from TEPCO (dated November 30, 2011) reported 3,745 workers on the site in March (about 1700 TEPCO employees and 2,000 subcontractors), and 14,000 for the time from April to October. The overwhelming majority … were subcontractors.” But even these figures may not include many low level but highly irradiated workers.

* Radiation exposure depends on one’s status in the hierarchy. Tepco executives and high or mid level engineers are spared exposure, while “there is systematic camouflage of the collective radiation of the most exposed front line workers.”

* Since March 11, 2011, Jobin estimates “that around 30,000 workers have been exposed to significant levels of radiation, some for a few days, many for more than one month” (25; 26). How many of these workers are desperate or “mentally handicapped” to begin with? No wonder they are being used by the Nuclear Mafia as disposable work-bots. Hiroaki Koide, nuclear reactor specialist at Kyoto University says “[t]he truth of the matter is that the subcontract workers don’t really know the dangers of radiation and they don’t know how to protect themselves.” For example, wearing protective masks are so uncomfortable that many workers remove them during their work shift (27). How many health issues have been caused as a direct result of the work? In one case, the worker had been exposed in less than a year to levels far beyond what is considered normal lifetime background radiation. He suffered a heart attack (28).

Worker Rights Advocates Fight For Social Justice

Hifumi Okunuki is an expert in labor law and spends much of her time fighting for the rights of Fukushima’s forgotten heroes. She notes that “the working conditions at Fukushima No. 1 are an emergency within an emergency” and that “special laws should be promulgated to guarantee the safety and fair treatment of the workers.”

“Japan’s Labor Standards Office has thus far recognized only 10 cases of radiation sickness caused by working conditions due to the inherent difficulty in proving causation in individual cases …. Management faces quite serious, possibly criminal, liability if while understanding the risk radiation exposure poses, they endanger those working on-site through a complicated web of outsourcing. Article 87 of the Labor Standards Law holds firms that outsource responsible for workplace safety and sanitation for workers employed by their subcontractor …. Illnesses caused by radiation exposure from nuclear power plants are covered by Japan’s Act on Compensation for Nuclear Damage.”

Unsurprisingly, the Japanese justice system which plays an integral role in siding with the Nuclear Mafia has “yet to see a major court case over radiation-related deaths” (29).

A new report from the venerable non governmental organization, Citizens Nuclear Information Center (CNIC), in Tokyo, highlights the FNPP worker issue. One whistle blower reported that in years past:

“Worker accidents are usually covered up inside the nuclear plant. Even if workers suddenly fall ill, they are not allowed to call an ambulance. In my case, after having been left unattended for three hours, I was taken to hospital in a colleague’s car. I therefore suffered aftereffects later and became physically handicapped. Of all accidents occurring in the nuclear power station, 90% were concealed.”

However, thanks to growing international attention, some of the conditions at FNPP have slightly improved. “Currently, ambulances are allowed to come into the nuclear power station and there is a doctor onsite 24 hrs a day“ (30).

Tepco’s Blind Eye

According to CNIC (Ibid.), the system for employing nuclear workers relies on an economically pyramid shaped, “multi-layered structure” of contractors and subcontractors which makes profits for executives and employees. Investigations have revealed the “[p]resence of subcontractors affiliated with crime syndicates and their employees.” In the year 2000 it was known that “350 companies were involved” at the FNPP and that many of the Yakuza employees or subcontractors are presently involved in the clean up operations.

* “Under the utility, there are plant makers, subsidiaries of TEPCO and the plant makers, large, medium- and small-sized construction and repair companies, independent master carpenters and plumbers.”

* The Yakuza enforce a severe hierarchy “between the group leader and the members” which is akin to the military and effective for getting dangerous work accomplished.

* “[I]n 2006, TEPCO reportedly attempted to drive the gangsters … out of the plant.” The Yakuza said: “Do it if you think you can.” Tepco blinked.

* ‘[P]olice arrested leading members of a gangster group affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate based in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture’ who were ‘charged with violation of the Temporary Staffing Services Law.’ A president of a local company who ‘was deeply involved in the staffing of the nuclear power station and was the president of the local chamber of commerce and industry, as well as a member of the Fukushima Prefecture Nuclear Power Plant Town Information Council’ was arrested on suspicion of ‘illegally possessing a gun.’

* “Workers hired by the lowest-level subcontractors were paid only around 5,000 yen [$60] per day, and were not covered by social insurance or employment insurance …. the current average daily wage is said to be 8,000 yen, although TEPCO pays 60,000-70,000 yen per capita to the principal subcontractor.” Everyone in between ‘takes a cut from the worker’s wages.’

In other words, it’s an economic racket. Although an “effective” system, “[i]llegal acts, such as the forgery of health reports … and not allowing workers to subscribe to health insurance and employees’ pension plans, are rampant,” but are tolerated by Tepco. This draws into question how effective such workers can be given the intimidation of violence from Yakuza bosses and the poor working conditions. The “problem is still beyond TEPCO’s control because the subcontractor system is deeply multi-layered and complex, and because the yakuza are so deeply entrenched in the system.”

Destroying Democracy

The 1995 documentary film, Nuclear Ginza, is valuable for its historical perspective on nuclear workers in Japan (31). Corruption, payoffs and coverups were the norm, then and now. As one worker whose health was damaged said,

“The big companies treat workers like objects or tools to be thrown away when no longer needed. Japan is considered a rich advanced and democratic country but its just an illusion I think.”

A Buddhist monk, Mr. Nakajima, who had worked for years to help the plight of workers noted that “[u]nfortunately in Japan, the sad reality is that democracy has been destroyed in the areas where nuclear power exists.”

Streets Of Fire

Adelstein and Suzuki (Op. cit.) supply additional information of a particularly lurid and grim nature:

* Yakuza have a saying: “When a man has to survive doing something, it’s the nuclear industry; for a woman, it’s the sex industry.”

* One mid-level executive in the organization even defends the role of his members in the Fukushima disaster. “The accident isn’t our fault,” he said. “It’s TEPCO’s fault. We’ve always been a necessary evil in the work process. In fact, if some of our men hadn’t stayed to fight the meltdown, the situation would have been much worse. TEPCO employees and the Nuclear Industry Safety Agency inspectors mostly fled; we stood our ground.”

* “Organized crime groups from Kyushu are bringing workers as well. Many of the workers are homeless people, debtors to yakuza loan sharks, or former yakuza who have been expelled from their group.”

* Tepco refuses “to name the companies they use for outsourcing labor, background security checks, and general security at the nuclear power plants.” Recall Tepco’s feigned ignorance about government investigator’s accusations against them for “collusion.” Such bland dismissals on the part of Tepco are curious in light of the voluminous evidence to the contrary. The Tepco president’s denials of any collusion is an obvious lie (32; 33).

* “Suzuki discovered evidence of Tepco subcontractors paying yakuza front companies to obtain lucrative construction contracts; of money destined for construction work flying into yakuza accounts; and of politicians and media being paid to look the other way.”

* “His fellow workers, found Suzuki, were a motley crew of homeless, chronically unemployed Japanese men, former yakuza, debtors who owed money to the yakuza, and the mentally handicapped.”

* “Suzuki claims the regular employees at the plant were often given better radiation suits than the yakuza recruits. ‘Almost every day a worker would keel over with heat exhaustion and be carried out; they would invariably return to work the next day. Going to the bathroom was virtually impossible, so workers were simply told to ‘hold it.’ ’ ”

* “According to Suzuki, the temperature monitors in the plant weren’t even working, and were ignored. Removing the mask during work was against the rules; no matter how thirsty workers became, they could not drink water.”

* “The risk of radiation exposure was 100 per cent. The masks, if their filters were cleaned regularly, which they were not, could only remove 60 per cent of the radioactive particles in the air.”

* “Suzuki found people who’d been threatened into working at Fukushima, but others who’d volunteered. Why? ‘Of course, if it was a matter of dying today or tomorrow they wouldn’t work there,’ he explains. ‘It’s because it could take 10 years or more for someone to possibly die of radiation excess. It’s like Russian roulette. If you owe enough money to the yakuza, working at a nuclear plant is a safer bet. Wouldn’t you rather take a chance at dying 10 years later than being stabbed to death now?’ ”

Conclusion

Faced with an ongoing radioactive nightmare which is contaminating Japan’s food and water supply, what should be done? The Nuclear Mafia’s ethos is silken sewn into the socio-political Kabuki theater of a post modern Japanese society, which seems helpless to save itself. Maybe Ambassador Matsumura, with his international political connections of good will, and the Skilled Veterans for Fukushima would be good people to turn to for advice.

References

1. Factory
http://www.springsteenlyrics.com/lyrics/f/factory.php

2. How the Yakuza went nuclear http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-in/9084151/How-the-Yakuza-went-nuclear.html

3. The Yakuza and the Nuclear Mafia
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/12/yakuza-and-nuclear-mafia-nationalization-looms-tepco/46803/
4. U.S. Treasury Dept. Penalizes Japan’s Largest Organized-Crime Group
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/world/asia/united-states-sanctions-japans-largest-organized-crime-group-yakuza.html

5. Jake Adelstein
http://wheelercentre.com/videos/video/jake-adelstein/

6. Jake Adelstein on Tokyo’s yakuza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0uz0z_NH4U

7. No. 1 workers’ stress, stigma jeopardizing motivation
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120816a5.html

8. Fukushima Needs a Hero
http://akiomatsumura.com/2012/08/862.html

9. Kagoshima to be the final disposal site of nuclear waste
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/08/kagoshima-to-be-the-final-disposal-site-of-nuclear-waste/

10. Noda unswayed by talks with rally leaders
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120823a1.html

11. Power use falls; reactors unneeded
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120822a3.html

12. Antinuclear Japan: Nearly 90% of Public Comments on National Energy Policy Are “Zero Nuke”
http://ex-skf.blogspot.jp/2012/08/antinuclear-japan-nearly-90-of-public.html

13. Mismanaging Risk and the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Jeff-Kingston/3724

14. Fukushima nuclear workers reaching exposure limit
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120824_29.html

15. Worker left integral dosimeter in the bus on purpose
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/08/nuke-worker-shortage-worker-left-integral-dosimeter-in-the-bus-on-purpose/

16. WSJ: Experts say manipulated radiation readingshttp://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/07/23/fukushima-watch-doctoring-dosimeters-how-far-did-it-go/

17. Fukushima worker “Human-wave tactics will be needed, problem is if they can collect human workers”
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/07/fukushima-worker-human-wave-tactics-will-be-needed-problem-is-if-they-can-collect-human-workers/

18. Tepco knew lead shields were made to cover dosimeters of Fukushima workers
http://enenews.com/tepco-knew-lead-shields-were-being-made-to-cover-dosimeters-of-fukushima-workers-boss-admits-to-making-them-use-covers-claims-he-was-frightened-of-radiation-alarms

19. TEPCO subcontractor used lead to fake dosimeter readings at Fukushima plant
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201207210069
20. ‘Growing concern’ over worker shortages at Fukushima Daiichi by gov’thttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443570904577542400362861824.html

21. Nuclear Worker: There’s been some people dying, young guys, of some weird cancers
http://enenews.com/nuclear-worker-young-people-dying

22. Worker confirms Tepco taking weekends off at Fukushima Daiichi
http://enenews.com/tepco-weekends-fukushima-daiichi-plant-worker

23. Recruit for decontamination worker in 20km area
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/07/recruit-for-decontamination-worker-in-20km-area/

24. Fukushima worker “Restart of nuclear plants will cause shortage of Fukushima workers”
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/07/fukushima-worker-restart-of-nuclear-plants-will-cause-shortage-of-fukushima-workers/

25. Dying for TEPCO? Fukushima’s Nuclear Contract Workers
http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=24543

26. Fukushima One Year On: Nuclear workers and citizens at risk
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Paul-Jobin/3729

27. Japan Nuclear Professor – Atomic Age Symposium II
http://enenews.com/japan-nuclear-professor-radiation-released-smoke-stacks-fukushima-plant-daily-basis-video

28. Fukushima Plant Worker Suffers Cardiac Arrest
http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2012082200902

29. Tepco liable for contract workers’ safety in Fukushima
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120821lp.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+japantimes+%2528The+Japan+Times%253A+All+Stories%2529

30. Clean-up operation at the nuclear accident site at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
http://www.cnic.jp/english/newsletter/nit149/nit149articles/05_Clean-up.html

31. Nuclear Ginza – Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNq0qyQJ5xs
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7okfjwy4Vw&feature=relmfu

32. Radioactive Rats, Nuclear Techno Geeks
And Life In The Damage Control Continuum
http://rense.com/general95/radioactive-rats.html

33. Japan’s Tepco baffled by criticism of its role in nuclear disaster
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/japan-nuclear-tepco-idUSL4E8IJ1S020120719

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11 thoughts on “The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy In Japan”
  1. Great Post Salute!
    I’d like to suggest adding these:

    More info you need to know about Nuclear:

    Nuclear Controversies
    http://is.gd/9wfPeU

    snip

    In 1995, the Director General of WHO Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, tried to inform on Chernobyl by organizing in Geneva an international conference with 700 experts and physicians. This tentative was blocked. The International Agency for Atomic Energy blocked the proceedings, which were never published. The truth on the consequences of Chernobyl would have been a disaster for the promotion of the atomic industry.

    This film shows the discussions at the following WHO- congress in Kiev in 2001, that lead to the fatal disregarding of internal radiation consequences throughout the nuclear world.

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    and these new words:

    More info you need to know about Nuclear:

    Nuclear Controversies
    http://is.gd/9wfPeU

    snip

    In 1995, the Director General of WHO Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, tried to inform on Chernobyl by organizing in Geneva an international conference with 700 experts and physicians. This tentative was blocked. The International Agency for Atomic Energy blocked the proceedings, which were never published. The truth on the consequences of Chernobyl would have been a disaster for the promotion of the atomic industry.

    This film shows the discussions at the following WHO- congress in Kiev in 2001, that lead to the fatal disregarding of internal radiation consequences throughout the nuclear world.

    The full transcript can be found here:
    vivretchernobyl.blogspot.com/2008/06/w-tchertkof-nuclear-controversies.html

    And these new words:
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    and

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    and

    Energy Fascism***

    *** http://is.gd/8MKQs0
    The Big Energy Companies conspiring to limit their customers choice as to the source of lower cost Energy in order to maintain their market share and cash flow at record levels.

  2. I have been watching Japan since 3/11/11 and it is fair to say that Japan’s Trillion Dollar Eco-Disast­er has also affected the lives many of us globally!

    I have considered myself a supporter of Japan and Japanese products for a very long time but 3/11/11 has fundamenta­lly changed my opinion of the Japanese Gov’t, their Nuclear Regulators and their Utility “Gangs”!

    I never considered that the Japanese Gov’t. would allow global radioactiv­e pollution to “be made in Japan” yet after 18 months it still continues to spread. Even now the ongoing radioactiv­e pollution (Leakage, dumping and the Burning of radioactive debris) continues to be covered up and or SPUN by TEPCO, with the Gov’t. Regulator’s approval!

    What I now understand is that the Japanese culture is lacking something very basic, which is the ability to just say N☢ to their Leaders AND HAVE THEIR LEADERS CHANGE! By not being able to say N☢, the Japanese people have no way to guide their Leaders or change their Countries RISKY Pro-Nuclear Reactor Policy!

    Japan is now doomed to additional suffering because Man cannot control Nature, despite what all their nuclear engineers wish for in their dreams… The entire Planet is now suffering!

  3. And it is not just reporters:
    Asahi: Top Japan radiation expert instructed by gov’t not to go to Fukushima — “Do not take any unauthorized action” http://enenews.com/?p=22438
    snip
    […] The next day, March 12, was a Saturday. He was able to see his family and went shopping with his 3-year-old son in the afternoon. When he returned home, his wife told him, “There’s been an explosion at the nuclear power plant.” Kimura flew into action. He changed into a suit and told his son, “Daddy will be gone for a while.” […]

    While hurriedly getting ready, Kimura sent e-mails to the four researchers he most trusted, Tetsuji Imanaka and Hiroaki Koide, both at Kyoto University; Toshihiro Takatsuji at Nagasaki University; and Satoru Endo at Hiroshima University. […]

    Kimura […] received a mass e-mail on his cellphone from the institute, which is an independent administrative institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The message stated, “Although there are many actions that can be taken, such as measuring radioactivity and other substances, please abide by the instructions given by this ministry and the institute. Do not take any unauthorized action.”

    Kimura was the only expert on radioactivity at the [National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health]. He was sure the e-mail was meant for him. He understood that it was sent out to stop him from going to the site.

  4. Thank you Captain D for your informative comments. Thanks to Jake, Mr. Suzuki and all the other real journalists who did the hard work though. This is a terrible situation, we have to face the truth. Face it we must.

    1. Salute to all those that have spoken out instead of remained silent while we are being Nuked (in slow motion) by the Japanese…

      ====

      A year and a half later and TEPCO continues to allow the Pacific Ocean (and the atmosphere) to be radioactively polluted like never before in history!

      Now the Government of Japan is a accomplice in this crime against humanity by enabling TEPCO to continue polluting, instead of replacing them with an international Group of experts.

      In reality the Japanese and TEPCO are now “NUKING” the Planet in slow motion while MSM remains silent except for the occasional “blip” on the news radar…

      Adding insult to Global injury, TEPCO is even now wanting to restart #5 and #6 reactors at Fukushima despite #1 through #4 still spewing radioactivity, despite the fact that about 90% of the Japanese people want nothing to do with Nuclear Reactors!

      It now appears that the Government of Japan is much more like the Government of N. Korea than anyone outside Japan would have thought possible before 3/11/11.

      The above comment was posted on this excellent site: http://wp.me/pDwKM-2G7

    2. Richard and or Jake

      Who questions our Elected Leader’s motivation and or sanity?

      At some point, one must ask themselves when is gross denial,
      … Best left for a trained mental profession­al?

      Case in Point, Japan is now suffering with a Trillion Dollar Nuclear Eco-Disaster, yet some commenting consider that it, in effect, is “no big deal”:

      Polluted Ocean, N☢ Problem, it will get better after a while….
      Polluted Fields, N☢ Problem, they can remove the upper layer
      Polluted Air, N☢ Problem, they can wear paper masks for a while
      Polluted Food, N☢ Problem, they can mix the good to dilute the bad
      Polluted Homes, N☢ Problem, they can power wash them clean
      Polluted Schools. N☢ Problem, they can clean them
      Polluted Cities, N☢ Problem, they can return soon…

      With answers like these from too many Leaders & Nuclear Profession­als, perhaps you would consider a followup article, asking this question:

      “What exactly would it take for you to STOP supporting­, all land based Nuclear Reactors like Germany is now doing and end this nuclear nightmare?”

  5. Japan Focus, Asia Pacific Journal. Japan’s Nuclear Village, Chinese nuclear power, Vietnam
    http://wp.me/pDwKM-2G5
    snip
    The “nuclear village” is the term commonly used in Japan to refer to the institutional and individual pro-nuclear advocates who comprise the utilities, nuclear vendors, bureaucracy, Diet (Japan’s parliament), financial sector, media and academia. This is a village without boundaries or residence cards, an imagined collective bound by solidarity over promoting nuclear energy. If it had a coat of arms the motto would be “Safe, Cheap and Reliable”. There is considerable overlap with the so-called ‘Iron Triangle’ of big business, the bureaucracy and Liberal Democratic Party that called the shots in Japan from the mid-1950s, and the evocative moniker ‘Japan, Inc.’, a reference to cooperative ties between the government and private sector. The nuclear village is convenient shorthand to describe a powerful interest group with a specific agenda, one that it has effectively and profitably promoted since the 1950s. (McCormack 2011).

  6. Radioactive water is just the tip of this nuclear iceberg!

    Water has mass and can be seen so it is the visible part of this nuclear debacle that cannot be ignored like the unseen poisonous radionuclides that are now circling the Globe!

    Want to know how bad things really are, just do the simple math on the radioactive water; compare how much is “stored” and how much is missing because it has been disposed of by design or ignorance!

    Sea contamination of 3946 days later:
    http://fukushima-diary.com/?p=13743

    and now this:

    Japan/korea sea contaminated as much as Tokyo bay
    http://fukushima-diary.com/?p=13902

    Some readers may not remember that the Japanese are also dumping the radioactive sludge left over from burning their radioactive debris, into Tokyo Bay so that when it later migrates out into the Pacific Ocean the Japanese cannot be “blamed” for dumping radioactive pollution (directly) into the Ocean, which is illegal…

  7. More info here:
    NUCLEAR POWER and MEDIA – theme for September 2012
    http://wp.me/phgse-7wI
    snip
    In countries where the nuclear industry is owned by private corporations, then we find that those same corporations either own, or have close links with, the mainstream media. Once again, the corporate ownership carefully manages coverage of nuclear issues.’ – e.g USA, Japan, Australia.

    Clare Booth Luce observed, may decades ago, that “one doesn’t need to put chains on people, if one can put chains on their minds”.

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