Japan lawmaker breaks taboo with nuclear fears letter for emperor

[bananas]

Source: Reuters

A Japanese lawmaker handed Emperor Akihito a letter on Thursday expressing fear about the health impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, breaking a taboo by trying to involve the emperor in politics.

Taro Yamamoto, who is also an anti-nuclear activist, gave Akihito the letter during a garden party, setting off a storm of protest on the Internet from critics shocked at his action.

"I wanted to directly tell the emperor of the current situation," Yamamoto told reporters, referring to the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo, which has been leaking radioactivity since it was battered by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

"I wanted him to know about the children who have been contaminated by radiation. If this goes on, there will be serious health impacts."

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-lawmaker-breaks-taboo-nuclear-fears-letter-emperor-110130052.html

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Wait, why is this considered "politics"? This transcends "politics" - it's unquestionably a disaster for Japan as well as a global disaster - rated 7 on the INES scale.

Why shouldn't the Emperor speak about it? Oh wait, he did - last year - he was censored:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/japan-in-uproar-over-censorship-of-emperors-anti-nuclear-speech/255025/

Japan in Uproar Over Censorship of Emperor's Anti-Nuclear Speech
Michael McAteer Mar 26 2012, 8:46 AM ET

Why did Japanese TV channels cut Emperor Akihito's address on the one-year anniversary of the Fukushima crisis?

There is a particularly sensitive accusation reverberating through online discussion boards and social media in Japan: that Emperor Akihito's speech on the one year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami was censored on TV for his comments about the nuclear disaster at Fukushima.

The 78-year-old Emperor Akihito had insisted on attending the memorial service, though he had been released from the hospital for heart bypass surgery less than a week earlier. While the emperor is technically just a figurehead, he is still deeply revered here. Many Japanese see him a source of guidance in times of political difficulty, which have been many in the last 20 years. His speech was highly anticipated. Unlike Prime Minister Noda, who never mentioned the nuclear crisis in his speech on the anniversary, the Emperor addressed it directly.

As this earthquake and tsunami caused the nuclear power plant accident, those living in areas designated as the danger zone lost their homes and livelihoods and had to leave the places they used to live. In order for them to live there again safely, we have to overcome the problem of radioactive contamination, which is a formidable task.

While this statement may seem more obvious than radical to outsiders, underneath the Imperial-grade Japanese understatement were two ideas that have become quietly explosive. First, he seemed to suggest that the nuclear crisis is not over, a "formidable task" yet to be overcome. This noticeably contradicts the government's official stance that Fukushima has achieved a cold shutdown and, for all practical purposes, the crisis is over. Second, it implies that it is not yet safe for people to return to areas stricken with high levels of radiation, at least not before the "formidable task" is "overcome." This, again, contradicts the government's position that it is now safe for people to return to almost all areas and that neither Tokyo Electric Power Company nor the national government are obliged to assist in long term evacuations.

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"The emperor's words were like a knife to my heart." tweeted @shun1sta, in a string of comments typical of the public reaction. "He seemed in such pain as well... I can only imagine the determination he felt to say what he did." "It seems to me that the Emperor was doing the most he could do, despite the constraints of his position, to communicate his opinion on the nuclear matter." "Surely the government asked him not to mention the nuclear crisis. He must have fought hard to tell the truth."

It is rare for Emperor Akihito, an accomplished biologist and the world's leading authority on certain species of Gobi Fish, to publicly take sides on any subject other than biology. It is said that his love for the sciences is partly due to the ease in which his colleagues can disagree with him. The reverence he commands in other spheres is so strong that, when it comes to politics, his opinion is considered a constitutionally guarded state secret. His normal silence only adds to the weight of his rare public statements on such matters.

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[Cooley Hurd]

1. The Government and TEPCO have not been forthright... at all...

Since the Emperor is a figurehead now, he can offer his opinion and they can simply ignore him... and likely will.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Actually, his "figurehead' status may help when he DOES say something...

...about a national problem or government policy. It's so rare that people may sit up and take notice and become more active on dealing with this huge disaster.

The government and Tepco won't listen, obviously--and apparently tried to suppress the emperor's statement--but we shouldn't underestimate the emperor's potential moral power nor the Japanese people's potential response to it, which could be profound, as to renewing Japan's democracy and getting Japanese and world action on this terrible, on-going menace.

Your view is superficial, in my opinion.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. Thanks!

Your view means nothing to me...

[yuiyoshida]

2. good! iiyo!

それは、皇帝がこの問題で彼の発言権を持っている時間です It is time the emperor has a say in this his problem.

[Art_from_Ark]

12. Nihon dewa

「皇帝」より「天皇」を使う。　たとえば、昭和天皇、平成天皇、天皇陛下。「皇帝」というのは、ナポレオンなどに使う　

[Peace Patriot]

4. "...to publicly take sides on any subject other than biology."

But what we are facing, with Fukushima, IS biology: the inability of biological organisms--including ourselves, and, of course, the critters in the sea, on whom we depend for a primary protein source and which contribute to the health and biological diversity of the life-giving, planet-healing ocean--to survive on-going, massive pollution by these horrible, horrible toxins.

It's such a basic of biology that the environment HAS TO SUPPORT biological organisms, that it goes without saying. Emperor Akihito is a biolgist. Who, better than a biologist, understands this most basic of biological facts?

It is rare for Emperor Akihito, an accomplished biologist and the world's leading authority on certain species of Gobi Fish, to publicly take sides on any subject other than biology. It is said that his love for the sciences is partly due to the ease in which his colleagues can disagree with him. The reverence he commands in other spheres is so strong that, when it comes to politics, his opinion is considered a constitutionally guarded state secret. His normal silence only adds to the weight of his rare public statements on such matters. --from the OP (my emphasis)

The problem is so big, so awful and so fundamental--and is so, um, biological--that the silent emperor had to speak out. He showed remarkable courage and devotion to Japan's people and to life on earth in doing so.

[Octafish]

5. No one could have imagined three nuclear reactors in full meltdown at once.

Of course, those people whose jobs it is (or was in a very few cases) to foresee just such a possibility also happen to have no idea on how to solve the calamity of three nuclear reactors in full meltdown at once, and the safe storage of their plutonium enriched spent fuel.

[DeSwiss]

9. I could. And did.

There are six reactors at the Fukushima site alone. All sitting on or near earthquake fault lines in an earthquake prone country.

- Nope, not hard to imagine at all when you think about it.....

[Octafish]

10. TEPCO was warned, but took the cheapskate's way out...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1148388&mesg_id=1152995

You know it, DeSwiss! The world needs more smart people. They're called Democrats.

[DeSwiss]

11. I saw what you did there!!!

- And don't forget the ''experts'' from GE who made it and installed it!!!!

[Katashi_itto]

6. What it boils down to is we will never eat from the pacific ocean again.

Remove that source of food from the ecosystem.

The Pacific Rim itself is gone in four to five years. Six hundred tons of radioative materials are pouring into the ocean a day.

This is worse than a metorite hit.

[True Blue Door]

8. Wow.

We in the West don't really understand the modern relationship of Japanese people to the Emperor. It's not like the Queen of England, who has been a frequent target of mockery since the 1970s, or like the Pope, whom Italians treat with the contempt of familiarity. The Emperor of Japan is basically a living statue embodying the national spirit and values, and they don't even really talk about him except in that context, with diligent respect and reverence. I'm not an expert on Japan, but I'm familiar enough to say that involving the Emperor would be seen akin to draping a topical political slogan on Mount Rushmore.

Akihito himself as a person isn't even relevant to the reverence shown the Emperor, so it's easy to understand why the state would feel justified in cutting off a speech where he spoke politically. Obviously some of it would be to protect Tepco and its political allies, but there are deeper cultural matters at work - they would think (or at least tell themselves) that they were protecting the Emperor from sullying himself with political speech. But it emphasizes the amazing extent of the Fukushima disaster that a Japanese political leader with something to lose would publicly solicit the Emperor's involvement.