Always shaky?

During the period from october to now, we've been looking at Japan News couple times a week in order to be able to post interesting News or development regarding their economy, the many natural disaster that occured during that period.

This last post from me will be about another earthquake that happened this thursday the 24th of november. A magnitude 6.1 second strike of the day happened and caused about 3,900 homes to miss electricity for an hour. Even if this isn't a big disaster that really needs to be posted I think it illustrates the whole situation in Japan. Since the Tsunami and the Nuclear Breakdown they have not been able to fully recover and every political move to get out of it is followed by other perturbation. In a conservative a proud country like Japan, it is hard to put new ideas into concrete actions. The instable governement struggled to stay in power and that resulted in many changes in the head of state.

Even if Japan gets out of their crisis by themselves they will always stay a little shaky due to their geographic location.

A first good decision by the new government

Today, on November 19^th, Noda, the Prime Minister of Japan, announced that he will invest 2 trillions of yens in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN). This investment is for the development of projects to strengthen regional integration. In a near future, he also said that he would like to boost the cooperation with the region from the ASEAN committee over maritime security and safety amid China's increasing assertiveness at sea. In this meeting, Japan also announced many other actions that their 2 trillions of yens will cover such as strategies to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the region that include deepening political and security ties, cooperation in ASEAN community-building and improving links between ASEAN and Japan. I think that this decision was one of the fist good decision that the new japanese government made. At least, this decision is one that promote peace and could help the japanese citizens. The other decisions made before this one by the government were to promote the Japanese reputation around the world and were often not democratic. Yes this decision is still to promote its reputation but at least, it is democratic.  

Radiation a Safe Source of Energy? Just take a Look at Japan...

If on the 14th 15,000 people were protesting against nuclear power in Japan. Today three radiation stories has been released. The contaminated water from the reactor is still not fixed and will not in a near future. The water that was used to cool the reactor has been in contact with the radioactive debris that went out when the reactor blew. This water is still contaminating the water that just passes by to cool the reactor so soon enough it will be all out in the ocean and still continuing to contaminate fresh source of water.

There is also another fact that has been mention that surprisingly many farm lands near Fukushima are no more cultivable. The radioactive level is too high for human consumption. The half life of the radioactive element found is 30 years so it is going to take couple decades before it is eradicated and still more to come to be back to what it was before if this ever happens.

On the same idea but a couple years back, a bottle believe to have contained radium has been found close to a supermarket still releasing 170 microsieverts per hour. This bottle was probably used for medicine the source mentions. But this should raise a question in one’s mind. If hospitals cannot deal carefully with their own radioactive waste how a big power plant playing with tons of those wastes can handle them without risks? Why can we find bottle of radioactive waste near a supermarket? Those questions will stay unanswered but people should be really careful before accepting a Nuclear power plant in their region because even governments officials don’t know or respect the security code surrounding the waste.

14th of November
Japanese reaction towards nuclear energy is getting bigger than ever. About 15,000 people gathered in Fukuoka to protest to dismantle all the nuclear power plant in Japan. The protesters were claiming that they want a soil free of nuclear contamination for their generation and the future. Korean People also joined the protesters to support the Japanese cause but also because if another big nuclear meltdown happens it could certainly affect Korea. The protests that started with few dozen of people is now rising to 15,000 and more people might want to join the green cause after the disaster they all witness.

Economic Growth of 6%: Thanks to Exportation!

14th of November
The Japanese economy is getting better this quarter. The economic growth is stated to be at 6% for this quarter. It is the only growth since the last four quarters. This significant growth is explained mainly by the export that had an increase of 6.2 percent while the accounts of 60% of the economy grew of 1% and the capital invested by companies raise by 1.%. Those growths can be explained by the Japanese government that is working on trade agreements which many countries. Government had talks with the US government on trade agreements and this is probably the main cause of the growth, being a trade partner with one of the world largest economy is beneficial for your local economy for sure.

Pacific Trade Agreement

The Japanese government wants to join a Pacific trade agreement involving many countries such as US, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. This trade agreement would be a free trade agreement and would therefore remove quotas and tariffs with these countries. But there is an organization that is totally against this trade agreement. It is the Japan's Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives. And they are against this trade agreement but for a good reason. This agreement would decrease the food security of Japan especially for the rice. Since that rice is one of the major source of food for Japan, it is not a good idea to engage into this agreement. Again, the government only cares about their reputation. They only care about their trades with the other countries to reinforce the Japan's exportation. They don't care about their citizens and not caring about their citizens is not democratic.

Will You Travel to Japan?

8th of November




Visa fee will be waived for tourist going to Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate to help rebuild the economy over there. It is a smart move by the government because this will promote long term vacancy on Japan soil. Also if the tourist money goes to local industries this will directly help the rebuilding because we all know that if there is an imminent need for facilities and infrastructure there will always be private owner willing to invest money to make money over that need.