Kan Cabinet Adopts Internet Censorship Policy
It has been reported that the government is pressuring Internet providers to take down content. Most worrisome is that one of the criteria is criticism of Tepco or the manufacturers of nuclear power plant manufacturers like Toshiba or GE. The providers are asked to retain details of the posters. Noting the extraordinary number of Koan Keisatsu (FBI.CIA rolled into one) at recent anti nuclear demonstrations, it is feared that Japan is heading toward a Chinese government style policy of censorship and harrassment. One description of the order from the Japanese Cabinet says ” Japan ordered telecommunication companies to provide notices to websites and webmasters to remove messages from internet bulletin boards and websites that conflicted with the Government reported version of events. If the websites and webmasters did not comply the telecommunication companies are to shut down offending websites as this is considered a national security issue which is affecting public safety and contributing to public unrest. It was also ordered that email communications be monitored to prevent the spread of false rumors. “
See:
Japanese Government Targets “Harmful Rumors”:
http://shingetsublog.jugem.jp/?eid=75
Fukushima Residents Seek Answers Amid Mixed Signals From Media, TEPCO and Government. Report from the Radiation Exclusion Zone:
http://japanfocus.org/-Makiko-Segawa/3516
and
Kan Cabinet Adopts Internet Censorship Policy:
http://shingetsublog.jugem.jp/?eid=77
Media discouraged from reporting on tsunami, earthquake fallout, says CP
http://www.ifex.org/japan/2011/04/20/reporting_discouraged_following_disaster/
Here is a report of YOUTUBE blocking access to CNN. Although this is frivolous because anyone can still access the real CNN, and CNN is hardly a great news source, it shows the depth to which the government will go to try to block information. And while there is a lot of crappy ino, there is also some good stuff which accuses the government of downplaying the disaster and the dangers of radiation:
言論統制国、日本：今、日本恐ろしい国になろうとしている。米国CNNで放送していることも、「国民の不安をいたずらにあおる」として情報流通阻止。昨日 CNN情報U-tubeから削除され、CNNレベルまで削除するのかと怖くなる位。大手メディアは完全に統制下。今ソーシャルネットワークが
https://twitter.com/#!/magosaki_ukeru/status/60493115437494272
It appears that most Internet providers are being pressured. While we are attempting to piece together what is happening, people should know they can post news articles (originals only) to
http://japan.indymedia, or also to us. The former is independently hosted in Japan, and we are technically based outside Japan.
Please note that TokyoProgressive does not publish conspiracy theories (tsunami machines, etc.). We give space to alternative viewpoints and welcome factual articles and well written opinion pieces.
People can also get an account outside of Japan on one of the many non Japanese web providers.
Here is a report from NEW AMERICAN MEDIA from former Japan Times Weekly editor Yoichi Shimatsu
Japan’s Official Meltdown in Meaning: Tohoku Quake and Nuclear Monitoring
On March 13, Japan’s Prime Minister’s office imposed information control on news related to the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, citing the legal grounds of Article 15 of the Constitution. However, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano’s explanation might seem confusing, because Article 15 has nothing to do with limiting information releases related to national security.
The text of Article 15 reads:
“The people have the inalienable right to choose their public officials and to dismiss them. 2) All public officials are servants of the whole community and not of any group thereof. 3) Universal adult suffrage is guaranteed with regard to the election of public officials. 4) In all elections, secrecy of the ballot shall not be violated. A voter shall not be answerable, publicly or privately, for the choice he has made.”
Article 15 contains nary a mention of censorship–in fact, quite the opposite.
Constitutional experts can try to get their heads around this legal paradox, but all they’ll come up with is a migraine headache. To decipher Edano’s novel interpretation, it takes many years of political reporting inside the epicenter of twisted logic at Nagata-cho, home of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Diet (Japan’s parliament).
My previous gurus in Tokyo-style, old-school journalism prepared me well for this meltdown moment. Using crafty Machiavellian swordplay and Orwellian judo—and a healthy sense of humor–my departed sensei assumed their alter egos as script editors for high officials.
Were my teachers assuming their “official” guise today, they might explain things to their students at the loyal Capital Press Club in phrasing, such as:
“To serve the public and our citizens’ right to know, the democratic government of Japan shall from now on gather all information available on the present-day disasters and present this information to the mass media in a coherent and timely manner. The heads of all relevant agencies and ministries shall submit their reports to our central office and avoid making misleading comments harmful to the public interest. All facts will be verified and findings carefully reviewed to ensure the release of accurate and balanced findings, even if this arduous task takes months or years.”
Such wording is consistent with Japan’s mangling of its postwar democratic Constitution.
In the spirit of Article 15, as stated above, “The people have the inalienable right to dismiss their public officials.” The time is now to exercise that constitutional right.
The Alchemist’s Notebook
Now for some serious, scientific facts.
With the second in the series of nuclear-plant blasts, I dug out old textbooks from my university studies in organic chemistry. This blast, which blew apart the concrete structure of Reactor 3 at the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant, emitted a billowing cloud of yellow smoke, a telltale sign of chlorine gas. This follows on official admission that both explosions up to that point were caused by the combustion of hydrogen.
If so, why were those gases being emitted from reactor chambers?
Inside the pressure cooker, radioactive ions are ejecting electrons, which in turn are splitting the bonds that hold together water, or H2O. Hydrogen gas is thereby released on one side, and supercharged oxygen on the other. These gases create a bubble at the top of the reactor chamber. When vented through an escape valve, in order to relieve internal pressure, the extremely hot gases combine in fast combustion. Simply put, they explode.
A similar process is splitting the salt, called NaCl (sodium chloride) that is dissolved in the seawater being pumped into the reactors. Besides chlorine gas, free radicals of sodium – much more corrosive than drain cleaner, for example – are being released.
These two chemicals are eating away at the micro-fissures in the steel alloy chamber, whose crystal structure is gradually being fragmented by the extremes of fission-caused heat alternating with injections of cool water, as well as by the vibrations from the aftershocks.
The release valve itself is a potential weak point, because the exhaust filtration systems were probably destroyed in the blasts.
While the reactor chamber has four protective layers, the all-important steel lining is the main defense against a rupture that would trigger a total meltdown. Chlorine is highly toxic for the nuclear workers attempting to get the reactors under control. These brave men are heroic, but heroes are falling against the manmade monster.
Preparations for worst-case scenario need to be initiated in an international effort by the U.N. Security Council.
From Manga to Markets
This apocalyptic nuclear scenario–long predicted in Japan’s sci-fi manga and anime–should not catch us watching helplessly. The corporate deceivers, the creators of this real-life drama, beg to be reprimanded in the capitalist marketplace. That’s because punitive action will not come from the many politicians beholden to the nuclear lobby.
A spotlight must be cast on the big names of the nuclear industry–the likes of Toshiba-Westinghouse, GE, Bechtel, Areva, Babcock and Wilcox, as well as such operators as TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) and Consolidated Edison, plus the “usual suspects” list of financial institutions that support them.
This corporate-political Axis of Evil should be the target of an Internet divestment campaign and protest rallies. Politicians who receive nuclear-lobby funding should be exposed and voted out. The nuclear fakers among the anti-global warming movement need to be “defrocked.” Search engines that are now covering the tracks also require appropriate action.
If each of us waits for reddish lumps to appear on our bodies and clumps of hair to fall off, it will be too late. Action starts now, while you’ve still got a half-life.
Yoichi Shimatsu, former editor of the Japan Times Weekly, has covered the earthquakes in San Francisco and Kobe, participated in the rescue operation immediately after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and led the field research for an architectural report on structural design flaws that led to the tsunami death toll in Thailand.
Meanwhile here is some more good bilingial info:
SOME MORE GOOD ARTICLES
All can be accessed here
http://japanfocus.org/site/view/126
OR from WHAT’S HOT on this page:
http://japanfocus.org/site/view/126
David McNeill on how a warning from Fukushima’s ex-governor about Japan’s ‘nuclear absolutism’ was ignored, with tragic and devastating consequences.
R．ターガート・マーフィーの”Assessing the Economic Aftershocks of Japan’s March 11 Earthquake”の日本語訳
R. Taggart Murphy on the consequences of the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami, and atomic crisis.
福島原発事故後の日本のエネルギー選択肢 A new report by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability looks at Japan’s energy problems and prospects.
地震後なぜこれまで以上に日本を好きになったか David McNeill on Japan’s strengths in the aftermath of disaster.
「サイエンス」「ネイチャー」両誌における福島原発事故評価 A summary of the latest assessments of the Fukushima Daiichi crisis from leading journals “Science” and “Nature”.
不安か不誠実か－－中村幸一郎おろし Shukan Post reports that Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency bureaucrat Nakamura Koichiro was removed from press conferences for his early assertion that the Fukushima Daiichi plant was in meltdown.
ローレンス・ウィットナー[Lawrence Wittner]の”How Japan Learned About “Nuclear Safety”: The Politics of Denial”の日本語訳
“TEPCO, Credibility, and the Japanese Crisis”の日本語訳
福島発放射性物質放出監視の必要性 By Arjun Makhijani — More stringent, coordinated Fukushima fallout monitoring needed to determine radioactive iodine risk to U.S. milk and water
日本の致死的核ルーレットゲーム By Leuren Moret — We reintroduce a prophetic 2004 article that examined the many dangers of Japan’s nuclear power production.
危機よりの帰還へ向けて David McNeill reports from Minami-Soma City — As Japan’s government gets set to expand a nuclear evacuation area, the mayor of a city inside the radioactive zone speaks about his fears.
「許せない」−−東京電力の福島原子炉増設計画 In the midst of one of the most serious nuclear crises in history, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has submitted plans to build two more reactors in Fukushima.
福島における遺体 Radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi plant has left authorities unable to recover the bodies of up to 1000 quake and tsunami victims.
南相馬市よりSOS The mayor of Minami Soma, one of the cities closest to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, has posted vidoes appealing to the Japanese government and international community for supplies and evacuation assistance.
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) head Arjun Makhijani offers suggestions for how to move forward at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Are the workers at the Fukushima plant sacrificing their health and possibly their lives for company and country? Or are they older contract workers without adequate food or even blankets?
David McNeill reports from Fukushima on the plight of those left behind near the stricken Daiichi plant.
International scientific organizations sound in on the seriousness of the Fukushima crisis. Latest Update – 3.27 (Japan Time)
A collection of reports on the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. LATEST UPDATE 3.25 (Japan Time)
Lawrence W. Wittner considers the history of nuclear weapons and nuclear power in Japan.
R. Taggart Murphy considers the global economic repercussions of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami damage.
In the aftermath of the March 11 quake, a dramatic outpouring of international support for Japan. LATEST UPDATE – 3.30 (Japan Time)
An assessment of the difficulties facing survivors in Japan’s earthquake and tsunami hit Tohoku region. LATEST UPDATE 3.30 (Japan Time)
Criticism of the TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) response to Japan’s nuclear crisis recalls a history of misinformation and deception.
After years of warnings about the “North Korean nuclear threat” now suddenly the entire Northeast Asian region is subjected to the “Japan nuclear threat,” just as North Korea has been warning for years.…
It was once a family house in this northeastern corner of Miyagi Prefecture. Mum would have cooked dinner on the kitchen stove. Children may have played video games in the front room, facing…
The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) is asking an important question about Japan’s nuclear crisis that seems to have been ignored by the media and in announcements from the Japanese government and…
Tokyo is crawling unsteadily back on its feet. Its buildings are intact, its vast transport network is creaking back to life, cellphones work again, patchily. Planes land in the main international airports but…
当サイトの原発関連重要記事 Important Articles on Fukushima on this blog
Also
Fukushima Meltdowns Censored – NRC, TEPCO Closing Ranks in Massive Cover-up, Arnie Gundersen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enddg5VFftw
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