Tag Archives: japan

International, Technology

Japan invents weapon against Freedom of Expression: The Speech Jammer

Japanese inventors have created a weapon to silence people expressing themselves.

The weapon works by playing back the talker’s words, with a 0.2 second delay.  The inventors discovered that such feedback of one’s own words will cause the speech center of your brain to lock up.

The inventors claim they did it to stop people who won’t shut up: “…some people tend to lengthen their turns or deliberately interrupt other people when it is not their turn in order to establish their presence rather than achieve more fruitful discussions.”  

International, U.S.

World War 3: Japan reveals plans to airlift their citizens out of Iran!

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have just revealed plans to evacuate Japanese citizens living in Iran!

On March 5, 2012, Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka made the statement in a Diet (parliament) session.

He said they are prepared to use C-130 transports, along with aerial refueling tankers, to “rescue” Japanese stuck in Iran, in case of “emergency”!

According to official Japanese numbers, there are about 700 Japanese citizens living in Iran, many are married to Iranians.

Fukushima

Japan Modern Day Atlantis round 8: New study says future Tsunamis a bigger threat than first thought

Officials with Japan’s Land Ministry have issued new warnings about the dangers of tsunamis.  They revised their estimations of tsunami damage, based on what happened on March 11, 2011.

They concluded that earthquakes of magnitude 8.4 or greater, just off Japan’s Pacific coastline, could generate huge tsunamis.

On the Pacific side of Japan, tsunamis could reach 12 meters (39 feet) high, and destroy eight of Japan’s 19 Pacific ports. Officials say the existing tsunami walls are not sufficient to protect the ports.

JAPAN MODERN DAY ATLANTIS ROUND 7 & WHAT ECONOMIC RECOVERY? PEOPLE FLEEING NUCLEAR DISASTER IN JAPAN DESTROYING THE LOCAL ECONOMY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: 5 People starved to death at Fukushima!

Local officials have revealed that not everyone was evacuated out of the 20km (12.4 miles) “No-Go” zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Officials have revealed that at least five bodies were found that showed signs of starvation.  Most of them were old people.  One man was trapped on the second floor of his home after the tsunami destroyed the first floor. He was found only two weeks after the March 11, 2011, disasters.   A woman was trapped because she could not walk, she was found in April 2011.

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Idaho will lose hoped for Nuclear Industry jobs, Areva loses $3.2 billion!

French nuclear industry giant, Areva, announced record losses on March 2, 2012.  They lost U.S.$3.2 billion!!!

The loss is directly tied to it’s incompetent African uranium mining operation (which looks like they bought a pig in a poke).  The French government is investigating, because Areva is actually a French government corporation, and they used taxpayer money to buy the pig in a poke mine!

Also, since the March 11, 2011, nuclear disaster in Japan, which has resulted in about 90% of their nuclear plants shut down, orders for fuel rods made by Areva have crashed!

Also, Germany’s decision to end the use of nuclear power plants will result in 1,500 Areva employees losing their jobs in that country.

On February 28, 2012, Areva announced it was “indefinitely” suspending its planned uranium enrichment project in Eastern Idaho.  Its called the Eagle Rock project.  Local contractors were notified in writing about the suspension.

Areva is trying to get money from the U.S. government. They were trying for at least $3 billion, but now, with such huge losses that won’t be enough!

Eastern Idaho is desperate for good paying jobs, and a lot of hopes were riding on the Eagle Rock project.

 

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Hokkaido Nuclear Plant fails to pass new safety tests!

On 29 February 2012, Japan’s Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency said Hokkaido Electric Power Company (HEPCo) failed to comply with new nuclear plant stress test rules.

Japan’s government officials have even more reason to get tough on nuclear safety, as an investigation into the Fukushima disaster revealed gross government incompetence.

The new stress tests are designed to force nuclear power plant operators to take into consideration major natural disasters regarding the reactor’s safety.  The  Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency said HEPCo failed to consider fault lines running under and around their Tomari nuclear power plant.

HEPCo only considered fault lines that were 40km (24.8 miles) away!  Government officials also say the new stress tests require consideration of fault lines as far out as 150km (93 miles).

 

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

World War 3: Japan threatens to cancel U.S. F-35 deal!

The controversial U.S. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is once again causing problems.  This time Japan’s Defense Minister, Naoki Tanaka, said no deal if there were anymore cost overruns, or delays in the F-35 project.

Japan had tentatively agreed to purchase four of the multi-million dollar aircraft.  Currently each F-35 cost $123 million!

But, recently the Obama administration suggested that, in order to cut the Defense budget, development and production of the F-35 should be delayed.  The F-35 has already see numerous delays over the past decade, and seen costs skyrocket.

Japan has yet to sign a contract to buy the F-35, but officials said if the price of the F-35 goes up, or it’s delivery date is delayed, they will not sign any deal to buy it.

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? & Corporate Evil: Nearly 1 million retirement plans destroyed, small companies could go bust

An investigation has revealed that investment firm, AIJ Investment Advisors Company, has lost most, or all, the money in retirement plans that affect more than 880,000 people!

More than half those plans are for people who’re still working.  The loss could actually force the companies they work for out of business!

Japan’s Labor Ministry says the Tokyo based investment firm lost the money belonging to 84 corporate retirement plans!  The majority of those plans  actually belong to medium and small businesses.

AIJ has been ordered to pay back those companies.  However, the Labor Ministry says if it can not, then under Japanese law those companies would have to come up with the retirement money on their own, and that could shut down some of the medium and small sized companies.

 

Fukushima

Experts say you can’t rely on Federal Government or Coporations in times of Nuclear Disasters!

A panel of experts, in Japan, have released recommendations for future nuclear disaster, and one of those recommendations is: Do not rely on corporations or national governments for help!

After investigating disaster response, regarding the ongoing General Electric designed Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster, experts say local governments should have full control of things like evacuations, and radiation monitoring, among other things.

An existing off site (off nuclear plant property) disaster response center failed, because it was overwhelmed with radiation contamination! The expert panel say in the future off site nuclear disaster response centers must be hardened against radiation contamination (you would’ve thought that was a no brainer).

The panel also recommends two radiation response centers; one located some distance from any nuclear plants, to act as a command & control center, and one near nuclear plants to act as a front line radiation monitor and to direct evacuations.

The panel says the response centers should be under control of local governments, not national/federal governments!  Also, local governments should have total authority, and not be reliant on nuclear power corporations for disaster response advice!  Months of investigations have revealed that corporations are grossly incompetent in that regard!

Already the national government of Japan, and Tokyo Electric Power Company, are downplaying the advice from experts.

 

Fukushima

Official Independent Investigation proves Gross Government & Corporate Incompetence regarding Nuclear Safety in Japan!

“The direct causes of the nuclear accident were the unpreparedness of Tokyo Electric Power…and the government’s lack of a sense of responsibility.”-Kitazawa Koichi, lead investigator

A Japanese government sanctioned independent investigation has revealed gross incompetence in the wake of the March, 2011, nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.  It also says that Tokyo Electric Power Company made the situation worse!

Six investigators interviewed more than 300 people, including Japanese and U.S. government officials.  However, officials at TEPCo refused to co-operate with the investigators! They have just published their findings, 28 February 2012.

The report calls government response “off the cuff”, and “too late” (as I was posting last year)!

The nuclear power plant operator, TEPCo, was ill prepared for a nuclear disaster, despite decades of telling locals they were prepared (as I posted last year).

The Japanese government, especially the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, failed to ensure the proper training for nuclear disaster response (as I posted last year).

The report also blames Japan’s complicated system of delegating authority and responsibility.  No one knew who was supposed to do what regarding the disaster; from top national government officials down to sub-contractors working for TEPCo (again, as I posted last year).

Things were so bad that local governments have been taking the initiative to try and deal with things like relocating residents, and decontamination efforts, with little help from the national government (again, I posted).

Also, many of the discoveries of radiation contamination came as a result of individuals and private groups, who took it upon themselves to pay for testing things like dirt, water, and even food, like beef, sold in grocery stores (again, I).

It was local governments who discovered farm crops to be contaminated (posted last year).

The report also says that information coming from the private sector to government officials was insufficient to make proper decisions. TEPCo officials simply dragged their feet when it came to dealing with specific issues, like cooling systems being shut down, and vents not being opened.

Not only did TEPCo drag their feet, but the investigators found that there was a back up cooling system that was functional, but TEPCo never used it!!!

Although Japan’s government has a crisis management policy, the investigators said it is totally useless!