Tag Archives: japan

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Japan & Iran avoiding U.S. & British controls, by developing their own insurance system for oil tankers!

2 June 2012, despite Japan just joining a trilateral military pact with the U.S. and Australia, getting oil from Iran is still of utmost importance to Japanese industries.

So much so that Iran and Japan are developing their own shipping insurance companies, to avoid the U.S./U.K. dominated shipping insurance business, and therefore get around U.S./European sanctions.

The European oil sanctions against Iran go into effect on 1 July.  Iran is considering laws that will allow their domestic shipping insurance industry to insure foreign ships.

Japan is now working to create an insurance system that will cover Japanese oil tanker ships carrying Iranian oil.  The system might be similar to one created to help Japanese airlines after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the U.S.  Prior to that Japanese airlines were insured through U.S. companies, but the U.S. companies drastically cut their coverage after the 11 September attacks.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Australia, Japan, United States agree to military pact! “Re-balancing region” against China!

“Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith joined Panetta and Watanabe in another trilateral meeting. The U.S., Japanese and Australian leaders agreed ‘to work through 2020 to refine and consolidate their trilateral defense relationship and support the network of existing alliances, forums and dialogues to meet a variety of common security challenges,'”-U.S. Department of Defense press release

2 June 2012, Australia, Japan and the U.S. have agreed to pursue a military pact that is in line with what an unnamed U.S. Defense official said was “…our rebalancing to the region.”

There are a lot of coded words and phrases in the Defense Department press release, all indicating that the U.S., along with dozens of countries in the Asia Pacific region, are falling in line against China!

But don’t blame Barack Obama, these Shangri-La Dialogue anti-China re-balancing meetings began under the George W. Bush administration.

According to Japanese news media reports, the new military pact between Australia, Japan and United States will include joint military industry developments.

Fukushima

One Year Later: Thermometers failing at Fukushima Daiichi, again!

Late on 1 June 2012, Tokyo Electric Power Company officials announced that more than half the thermometers on Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 2 have failed, or are failing!

TEPCo says 23 of the 41 thermometers are not working.  The thermometers are critical to maintaining safe temps inside the disable GE designed reactor.

Back in February 2012, failing temp gauges on Reactor 2 caused temps to rise above official cold shut down standards.  TEPCo later claimed it was simply a faulty gauge.

By March 2012, TEPCo actually stopped taking readings off several gauges on Reactor 1 as well as Reactor 2.

TEPCo says they will try to install new gauges…in July!!!

 

 

Business/Economics

What Economic Recovery? Toyota cash hoarding by selling bonds. Preparation for coming World economic collapse!

31 May 2012, Japan’s Toyota Motor Corporation announced a huge bond sell off, to raise lots of cash in case of global economic crash!

Reuters reporting that Toyota wants $2.5 billion USD to buy new equipment, however, NHK (nippon housou kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is reporting that Toyota needs “…to increase its cash on hand in case of contingencies stemming from the European credit crisis.”

Toyota already has $62 billion USD in cash on hand, so that doesn’t explain Reuter’s report saying they need the $2.5 billion for new equipment.   The last time Toyota sold bonds was in 2009, in response to the global credit crisis triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers!

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Bridgestone Tires says they’ve created way to make tires without petroleum. Biomass!

31 May 2012, Japan’s Bridgestone Tires, and a food company call Ajinomoto, have worked together to create rubber without the use of oil or rubber trees.

The process uses fermented starches, and other sugars, from food waste, or biomass.  The process is able to extract a necessary ingredient in making rubber; isoprene.

If everything works out Bridgestone hopes to mass produce the fermented tires by 2020.

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Problems, and hopes, for east Idaho’s Eagle Rock owner; Areva

Back in March, Areva announced a $3.2 billion USD loss, which is what it would cost to build the planned Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility near Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Now Areva, based in France, is struggling to raise cash just to survive.  But there is also some hopeful news for Areva.

29 May 2012, Areva announced “outstanding” performance results from their Steam Generator Repair Services crew.  They just finished work on the Indiana Michigan Power Donald C. Cook nuke plant:  “Constant monitoring and good peer checking by our team were the key factors that contributed to zero safety incidents and very low dose [radiation exposure].”-Mike Jefferson, Field Operations Manager

 

 

29 May 2012, Finnish media reporting that Areva is five years behind scheduled, for completion of Finland’s third generation nuclear power plant.  Areva officials blame it on the fact that no nuclear plant has been built in Europe for 20 years, resulting in troubles finding reliable supply chains for proper construction materials.

28 May 2012, The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency started taking final public comments on the possibility of Areva operating a uranium mine located 700 kilometres north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

15 May 2012, Areva announced that it will partner with Japan’s Mitsubishi to search for uranium in Australia.

2 May 2012, Areva announced it was selling its nuclear radiation measurement unit in Australia, to raise needed cash.  CEO, Luc Oursel, says the company needs to raise at least 1.2 billion euros by the end of 2013, to make up for huge loses!  He plans on doing that by selling off Areva assets.

At the end of April 2012, the country of Jordan announced that Areva and Mitsubishi were being considered to build the country’s first nuclear reactor.

 

 

 

Fukushima

Cesium contamination of soil in Japan, from study published in October 2011

The following quotes are from a cesium-137 soil contamination study reviewed in July, and published in October 2011, just months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster began.

“The soils around Fukushima NPP [nuclear power plant] and neighboring prefectures have been extensively contaminated with depositions of more than 100,000 and 10,000 MBq km-2…”

“…around 90% of the total deposition of 137Cs occurs with precipitation.”

“…most of the eastern parts of Japan were effected by a total 137Cs deposition of more than 1,000 MBq km-2.”

“Airborne and ground-based survey measurements jointly carried out by MEXT and the US Department of Energy (DOE) (21) show high 137Cs deposition amounts were observed northwestward and up to a distance of 80 km from Fukushima NPP. It was estimated from the first measurement that by April 29, more than 600,000 MBq km-2 had been deposited in the area, which is greater than our estimate of less than 500,000 MBq km-2…”

“Overall, however, the highest potential deposition occurred over the Pacific Ocean…”

The study used soil samples taken by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), U.S. DOE and independent sources. Again, this was during the first few months of the ongoing the nuclear disaster.

The study is titled Cesium-137 deposition and contamination of Japanese soils due to the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Business/Economics, International

Government Coverup: Japan’s nuclear policy commission suspended, too many pro-nuke lovers and secret meetings!

29 May 2012, The Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) suspended a commission which was reviewing the Japanese government’s official nuclear policy.

A number of members of the commission discovered that the policy review was being unfairly influenced by other members who were actually employed by the nuclear power industry.

On top of that, it was discovered that since May 2011 those members who are pro-nuke, or actually employed by the nuke industry, were holding secret closed door meetings with government leaders!

Demands were made that a independent third party investigate the closed door meetings. Instead the JAEC simply suspended the policy review commission, with a promise that they would create a new review commission that did not have pro-nuke industry panelists.

Fukushima

One Year Later: Tuna caught near United States contaminated with Radiation! U.S. media trying to downplay, it happened last year!

On 29 May 2012, the U.S. media reporting a group of California University researchers say that tuna caught off the California coast showed traces of cesium-134 & 137.  However, their discovery actually happened last year!

Stanford researchers tested blue fin tuna, caught near San Diego in August 2011, and found low levels of cesium.  The scientists, and the U.S. news media, are downplaying this pointing out the levels are too low to cause harm.

However, a similar study in 2008 showed that blue fin tuna had no radiation contamination at all.  Now realize that the latest study was done in August 2011, and the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi is far from over, radiation is still pouring into the Pacific Ocean!

Also, Tokyo Electric Power Company, just last week, reported that radiation emitted by the disaster reactors, between March and September 2011, was higher than what the Japanese government was reporting!

Back in November 2011, Greenpeace activists tested tuna and cod for radiation and found they were contaminated, the mainstream media ignored their findings!

ONE YEAR LATER: RADIOACTIVE RATS IN JAPAN

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Food Crisis: Japan now dependent upon other countries for fish, as much as a 74% increase!

25 May 2012, Japan’s Fishery Ministry reports a huge decrease in fish catches.  Blame the 11 March 2011 disasters.

The reports says the fishing industry in the northeast of Japan was hit hard by the disasters, and has not been able to recover enough to supply Japan with enough fish.  Supplies of local fish to Japanese markets is at about 78% of what it was before the disasters.

About 70% of the fishing boats damaged or destroyed have been repaired or replaced.

And don’t forget the fish that are radioactive.

As a result Japan has increased imports of Pacific saury (aka mackerel pike) by as much as 74%.  Oyster imports are up 20%.