Vice nuclear syndicate in Japan:The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy In Japan

Vice nuclear syndicate in Japan.
Nuclear syndicate in vice.

vice　 :　悪徳
Derail　:　脱線させる

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Abe’s assurance to IOC .
He is a liar.
He is a liar performed self-protection of for vice.
Sinzou Abe is a big liar.

He told a big lie in the Opening Ceremony of the 125th IOC Session that TEPCO is controlling perfectly the radioactive contaminated water in the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/96_abe/statement/201309/07argentine_naigai_e.html

Speeeches and Statements by the Prim Minster

Press Conference by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Following His Attendance at the G20 Summit Meeting in Saint Petersburg and the 125th International Olympic Committee Session

Saturday, September 7, 2013

 

Emperador Hotel, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1. Opening Statement
PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE:
Tokyo has been chosen as the venue to host the 2020 Olympic Games. I believe that we successfully demonstrated together with the people of Japan that when we all work together, our dreams come true.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the members of the International Olympic Committee who supported Tokyo to host the Games and, indeed, to everyone around the world who cheered Tokyo on.
I also wish to commend heartily the valiant efforts made in the campaigns conducted by both Madrid and Istanbul. We were in a truly neck-and-neck competition right down to the very final moments.
In addition, I would like to express my deep respect for the efforts made by Mr. Inose, Governor of Tokyo; Mr. Takeda, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee; the many currently active athletes, and all the other people involved, who have given their utmost to have the Olympic and Paralympic Games held in Tokyo. Were it not for your great efforts, I feel that we would not have succeeded in bringing the Games to Tokyo.
Our real work still lies ahead. We will move into preparations right away to ensure that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games are absolutely brought to a successful conclusion.
The very finest athletes from around the world will be coming to Tokyo. As the host country, it is our duty to enable all these athletes to realize their full potential and deliver their best athletic performances.
We will also work hard so that people all around the world will regard our efforts highly, saying, "Choosing Tokyo on that day was the right decision."
It is a thrill for me even to imagine Japan's athletes being active in the limelight on the major global stage of the Olympics and Paralympics. I would like them to welcome their fellow competitors from all over the world in Japan's spirit of fair play and sportsmanship.
But it is not only athletes that will arrive. Large numbers of overseas visitors will come to visit Japan. It is also incumbent upon us as the host nation to welcome them with the greatest possible hospitality.
I believe we have just grasped the ideal opportunity to have people realize, "Japan is really marvelous."
When the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, we received support from around the world towards reconstruction. I would like to express once more our appreciation for that. And it feels that this decision to have Tokyo host the Games is like hearing a voice of encouragement saying, "Gambare, Japan! Gambare, Tohoku! Keep working hard and give it all you've got!"
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games we will emphatically send out a message to people the world over, showing them a Japan that has accomplished laudably its reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake and a Japan that is active on the world's center stage. I consider this to be the very best way to show our feelings of appreciation towards the decision to have Tokyo host these Games.

2. Questions and Answers
REPORTER (HARA, NHK): I would like to offer my congratulations on the decision to hold the Games in Tokyo. What do you believe was the deciding factor in Tokyo's successful bid to host the Games, and what issues need to be tackled going forward? Also, it is said that the decision to hold the Games in Tokyo will have an economic ripple effect of some three trillion yen. How do you see this impacting your decision on whether or not to raise the consumption tax rate? Also, a variety of economic indicators have been improving recently. What are your thoughts at the present time about raising the consumption tax rate?

PRIME MINISTER ABE: I believe that our success is truly the result of the people of Japan and the entire nation coming together as one. Moreover, I think that this result means that we have been granted a tremendous opportunity for Tokyo and for Japan to shine at the very center of the world stage.
Bringing the Olympics and the Paralympics to Tokyo will impart a positive impact on a wide range of fields, including infrastructure development and tourism. We will also work to meet the expectations that we will spread the Olympic movement across the globe and host the Olympics in a safe and reliable manner. I consider these to be the issues for us to handle.
Next, as for the impacts on the economy, I want to dispel the deflation that has dragged on for 15 years and the economy oriented towards contraction, using the decision to hold the Olympics in Tokyo as the spark that triggers changes. Right now we have succeeded in attaining a major objective. We will now move forward aiming at this objective and reaching for this dream. It is this that will lead to truly changing the "retreating" mentality that we have had until now.
As for the consumption tax rate, there has been no change in my position. I will carefully examine the economic situation and make a decision this autumn after giving it thorough consideration.

REPORTER (SOLTIS, BUENOS AIRES HERALD): First of all, let me congratulate you on Tokyo's selection as the host of the 2020 Olympic Games. At the G20 summit meeting, the circumstances were such that not all of the leaders had the opportunity to converse with each other, but you spoke for a short time with President Xi Jinping of China while there. How do you expect this will impact the dispute (sic) with China surrounding the Senkaku Islands? Around the world, this dispute (sic) is seen as a source of needless tension in a region that is already facing issues with North Korea. I would like you to discuss Japan's stance on the Senkaku Islands.

PRIME MINISTER ABE: I would like to begin my answer by expressing my sincere appreciation to the people of Buenos Aires and to the people of Argentina for so warmly welcoming the Japanese delegation at this IOC Session.
At the G20, I held talks with a number of leaders. I had a bilateral summit meeting with the President of Argentina as well as bilateral summits with the leaders of the United States and Russia, among many others.
As for the Senkaku Islands, it is absolutely clear both historically and in light of international law that the islands are an inherent part of the territory of Japan. Indeed, the islands are under the valid control of the Government of Japan. Protecting the sovereignty of the nation's territory is a natural duty for the government, and we will address the issue in a resolute and level-headed manner.
At the same time, Japan's relationship with China is one of Japan's most important bilateral relationships. As a responsible nation in the region, Japan intends to advance dialogue with China taking a broad perspective, in accordance with a "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests." The door for dialogue is always open.

REPORTER (OTANI, THE SANKEI SHIMBUN): Congratulations on the selection of Tokyo to host the Olympics. Mr. Prime Minister, before you came here to Buenos Aires, at the G20 summit meeting held in Russia, you exchanged courtesies with President Xi Jinping of China and President Park Geun-hye of the Republic of Korea. In the weeks to come, there will be a series of international meetings, including the United Nations General Assembly and the APEC summit. Please share with us your thoughts on how you will aim to make bilateral summit meetings with them a reality.

PRIME MINISTER ABE: As I explained to President Xi Jinping while at the G20, I believe we should return to the starting point of a "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests" and then develop Japan-China bilateral relations from there. I look forward to the Chinese side also taking this same kind of position. The door for dialogue is always open on the Japan side. This is our position.
For Japan, the Republic of Korea is an important neighboring country with which we share fundamental values and interests. While there have also been some challenging issues between Japan and the ROK until now, I intend for Japan to continue to build up its communication and foster cooperative relations with the ROK, taking a broader perspective.

REPORTER (VITTAR, CLARÍN [ARGENTINA]): First of all, please accept my congratulations on the selection of Tokyo.
As for my question, I would like to ask how you will resolve the issue of the contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Also, in Japan, which is poorly endowed in energy resources, will you use other types of energy from now to replace nuclear energy?

PRIME MINISTER ABE: First of all, with regard to health-related problems, I will state in the most emphatic and unequivocal terms that there have been no problems until now, nor are there any at present, nor will there be in the future.
Furthermore, the government has already decided on a program that will resolve the contaminated water issue in a manner that is both meticulous and exhaustive, and execution of this program is already underway. I myself will take responsibility in ensuring the execution of this program.
As for our energy policies, we will continue to formulate energy policies that also incorporate the standpoints of stable energy supply and lower energy costs. Going forward, we will reduce the proportion of our energy supply that comes from nuclear power.
In order to do so, over roughly the next three years, we will accelerate to the greatest possible extent the widespread use of renewable energies and the promotion of energy conservation. We will make decisions on the restarting of nuclear power plants using the most stringent safety standards anywhere in the world.

(Ends)

[Japanese]

http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/96_abe/statement/2013/0907argentine_naigai.html

【安倍総理冒頭発言】
　２０２０年のオリンピック開催地に東京が選ばれた。みんなが力を合わせれば夢は叶う、このことを国民の皆様とともに示すことができたと思う。
　東京開催を支持して頂いたＩＯＣ委員の皆さんをはじめ、東京を応援して頂いた世界中の皆様に、心から感謝申し上げたいと思う。
　そして、マドリードとイスタンブールの誘致活動に尽力された皆様の健闘を、心より讃えたいと思う。最後の最後まで、大接戦であった。
　また、猪瀬東京都知事、竹田ＪＯＣ会長をはじめ、現役アスリートの皆様など、オリンピック・パラリンピックの東京招致に全力を尽くしてこられた関係者の皆様の努力に対して、深い敬意を表する次第である。この皆様の努力がなければ、東京招致は成功していなかったと思う。
　そして、ここからが本番。２０２０年の東京オリンピック・パラリンピックを必ず成功させるべく、早速、準備にとりかかる。
　世界中から超一流のアスリートたちが、東京にやってくる。開催国として、すべての選手の皆様が、その実力を出し切り、ベストな競技ができるようにする義務がある。
　そして、「今日この日、東京を選んだのは正しかった。」と、世界の人々から評価されるように頑張っていく。
　オリンピック・パラリンピックという世界の檜舞台で、日本の選手たちが活躍する姿。想像するだけで、わくわくしてくる。世界中のライバルたちを、日本のプレイと、そしてスポーツマンシップで、迎えてもらいたいと思う。
　選手だけではない。たくさんの外国からのお客様が、日本にやってくることとなる。最高のおもてなしでお迎えするのが、ホスト国である日本の責任でもある。
　「日本は素晴らしい」。そう思ってもらえる絶好のチャンスを、私たちは手にしたと思う。
　東日本大震災では、世界中の皆様から復興への支援をいただいた。改めて感謝したいと思う。そして、今回の東京開催の決定も、「日本、頑張れ！東北の皆さん、頑張れ！」という声をいただいたように思う。
　２０２０年の東京オリンピック・パラリンピックでは、東日本大震災からの復興を見事に成し遂げた日本の姿を、世界の中心で活躍する日本の姿を、世界中の人々に向けて力強く発信していく。これこそが、今回の東京開催決定への感謝の気持ちを表す最善の道であると考えている。

【質疑応答】
（ＮＨＫ　原記者）　東京招致決定に祝意を表したい。今回の東京招致決定の勝因と今後の課題如何。また、東京五輪の決定によって、３兆円の経済波及効果があるといわれているが、消費税率引き上げの判断に与える影響はどのようにお考えか。また、さまざまな経済指標が最近改善しているが、現時点で、消費税の引き上げについてどのように考えているか。

（安倍総理）　この勝利は、まさに国民が日本全体が一つになった結果だと思う。そして、この結果、まさに私たちは東京が、日本が世界の真ん中で輝いていく、その大きなチャンスを頂いたと思っている。
　オリンピック・パラリンピック招致は、インフラ整備、観光など幅広い分野にも良い影響を与える。そして、オリンピック・ムーブメントを世界に広げ、安全で確実にオリンピックを実施するという期待に応えていくこと。これが私たちの課題だと思う。
　そして、次に、経済に与える影響であるが、１５年続いたデフレ、縮み志向の経済を、オリンピック開催決定を起爆剤として払拭していきたい。今、私たちは大きな目標を得ることができた。この目標に向かって、この夢に向かって進んでいく。これこそがまさに今までの縮み思考を変えていくことにつながると考える。
　消費税については、経済情勢を見極め、この秋にしっかり判断する。この方針に変わりはない。

（ブエノスアイレス・ヘラルド　ソルティス記者）　まず最初に、２０２０年オリンピック東京招致に祝意を表したい。Ｇ２０では、全ての首脳同士が言葉を交わすことが出来なかった状況で、今回、安倍総理は、中国の習近平主席と短時間言葉を交わされた。このことは、中国との尖閣諸島を巡る争いについてどの様な影響を与えるのか。世界の中で、この争いは、既に北朝鮮問題を抱えている地域において余計な緊張の種と見られている。尖閣諸島についての日本の立場如何。

（安倍総理）　まずはじめに、このＩＯＣ総会において日本代表団を大変暖かく迎えていただいた、ブエノスアイレスの皆様、アルゼンチンの皆様に心から感謝申し上げる。そして、Ｇ２０では私は様々な首脳と会談を行った。アルゼンチンの大統領との首脳会談も行ったし、日米、日露等の様々な首脳会談を行った。
　尖閣諸島については、この諸島が日本国固有の領土であることは、歴史的にも国際法上も疑いない。現に我が国はこれを有効に支配している。自国の領土の主権を守ることは、政府としての当然の責務であり、我々は毅然かつ冷静に対応していく。
　同時に、日中関係は日本にとって最も重要な二国間関係の一つである。地域における責任ある国として、日本は「戦略的互恵関係」に則って、大局的観点から、中国との対話を進めていく考え。対話のドアは常にオープンである。

（産経新聞　大谷記者）　東京五輪開催決定に祝意を表したい。さて、総理は、ここブエノスアイレスに来られる前、ロシアで開催されたＧ２０の場で、中国の習近平国家主席、韓国の朴槿恵（パク・クネ）大統領と挨拶を交わされた。これからも、国連総会や、ＡＰＥＣ等、国際会議が続くが、どのように首脳会談の実現を目指していくのか、お考えをお聞かせ願いたい。

（安倍総理）　Ｇ２０の場で私から習主席に説明したとおり、私としては、「戦略的互恵関係」の原点に立ち戻って、日中関係を発展させていくべきであるとの考えである。中国側においても同様の姿勢を期待したいと思う。日本側の対話のドアは常にオープン。これが我々の姿勢である。
　韓国は、日本にとって基本的な価値と利益を共有する重要な隣国である。これまでも韓国との間には難しい問題もあるが、我が国としては、意思疎通を今後も積み重ね、大局的観点から、協力関係を構築していきたいと考えている。

（クラリン紙（アルゼンチン）　ビタール記者）　まず最初にお祝い申し上げたい。質問だが、福島第一原発の汚染水問題を如何に解決するのか。また、エネルギー資源の乏しい日本において、原子力エネルギーに代わって、ほかのエネルギーを使うということになるのか。

（安倍総理）　まず、健康に対する問題は、今までも、現在も、これからも全くないということははっきりと申し上げておきたいと思う。
　さらに、完全に問題ないものとする、抜本解決に向けたプログラムをすでに政府は決定し、かつ、すでに着手している。私が、責任をもって、実行していく。
　エネルギー政策については、引き続き、エネルギーの安定供給、エネルギーコスト低減の観点も含めて、責任あるエネルギー政策を構築していく。原子力比率は引き下げていく。
　このため、今後、３年程度の間に、再生可能エネルギーの普及と省エネルギーの推進を最大限加速させていく。原発の再稼働については、世界で最も厳しい安全基準の下で、判断していくこととしている。

Copyright© Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Public Relations Office. All Rights Reserved.

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http://fukushimaupdate.com/

Fukushima Update

Nuclear News from Japan

International Experts Join Tepco in Grappling With Fukushima

September 13, 2013

 

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Abe’s assurance to IOC on nuclear plant called into question

September 11, 2013

 

http://fukushimaupdate.com/abes-assurance-to-ioc-on-nuclear-plant-called-into-question/

Abe’s assurance to IOC on nuclear plant called into question

September 11, 2013

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Translator

via Japan Times / Sep 10, 2013 / One question that emerged among the public immediately after Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Olympics was whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an incorrect statement, or told an outright lie, about the contaminated water issue at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

During the Tokyo bid delegation’s final presentation before the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires on Saturday, Abe stressed that the “effects from the contaminated water have been perfectly blocked within the (artificial) bay” of the wrecked nuclear complex, and said “the situation is under control.”

Experts have long pointed out that irradiated water from the plant has kept gushing into the Pacific far beyond the man-made bay, although the government continues to claim that most radioactive materials have been contained within a silt fence that forms a barrier directly in front of reactor units 1 through 4. Reactors 1, 2 and 3 suffered core meltdowns in March 2011.
The silt fence was deliberately set up with many openings so it can withstand waves and tidal movements.

When disclosing the results of a simulation last month, Tokyo Electric Power Co. admitted that a lot of water — and probably radioactive materials — was penetrating the fence and pouring into the wider ocean. The simulation assumed that 50 percent of the water inside the fence becomes mixed with seawater daily due to tides and other factors.

Tepco, based on the findings, concluded that a maximum of 10 trillion becquerels of radioactive strontium-90 and a further 20 trillion becquerels of cesium-137 may have reached the ocean.
At a news conference Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga admitted that contaminated water has escaped through the silt fence. But at the same time, he stressed that surveys have shown that the levels of radioactive materials in coastal waters around the nation, including off Fukushima Prefecture, are far lower than international safety thresholds.

“Even at the maximum, the density of (radioactive) cesium is less than one-five hundredth of the World Health Organization standards for drinking water, which poses no (health) problems at all,” Suga said.
“So (based on this, Abe) said (in Buenos Aires that) the effect has been totally blocked” within the bay of Fukushima No. 1, Suga said.

However, Suga did not answer repeated questions on the possibility that the density readings might be lower simply because tainted water is being diluted with massive amounts of seawater, and not because Tepco or the government has the situation “under control” as Abe claimed.
Jota Kanda, a professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, pointed out that densities of radioactive materials within the artificial bay have stopped falling recently, despite the huge amounts of seawater that flow in and out every day.

This indicates a certain amount of new radioactive materials are flowing nonstop from the plant’s wrecked reactor buildings into the sea, he said.
Kanda, however, also noted that the total amount of radioactive materials detected in contaminated water samples has been so low that it is unlikely to pose any danger to human health.
Surveys of fish caught around Japan’s shores have shown no alarming concentrations of radioactive materials in recent months.

Related: PM Abe “Fukushima is under control”

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http://fukushimaupdate.com/situation-at-fukushima-not-under-control-says-tepco-official/

Situation at Fukushima ‘not under control’, says Tepco official

September 13, 2013

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Translator

via euronews.com / Sep 13, 2013 / A senior official from the company which operates the stricken nuclear power plant at Fukushima in Japan has admitted that the situation there is “not under control”.
However, within hours Tepco released a statement saying the official, Kazuhiko Yamashita, meant to say something different.
His comments came in response to a question at a meeting with the opposition Democratic Party. The politician asked whether the company considered the situation at the plant to be under control.
“I’m sorry, but we consider the situation is not under control,” came the reply from Yamashita.
In its subsequent statement, Tepco said what the official meant to say was that there were continuous problems with storage tanks, and when radioactive water leaked out it remained in front of the plant.
CONTINUE READING
Source: Euronews

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The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy In Japan

Posted by subcultureist on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 · 11

By Richard Wilcox

Note: We’d like to thank Mr. Wilcox for his submission to the blog. While some of this material has appeared elsewhere, Mr. Wilcox has also found an abundance of interesting quotes and references that are enlightening and informative.  Normally, I’d edit out the few nice things Mr. Wilcox has to say about me personally, but I’ve decided to print the article as is. Please pardon me. Also a per the course these days, the views expressed by Mr. Wilcox do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of JSRC.  It is an opinion piece that makes its point well. 
Thank you for your understanding. –Jake and the JSRC team
The article was originally posted here: Activist Post: The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy in Japan
“End of the day, factory whistle cries, Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes” – Bruce Springsteen, Factory (1)
“Bring us the living dead. People no one will miss.” – Fukushima official’s request to Yakuza (2)
“TEPCO’s involvement with anti-social forces and their inability to filter them out of the work-place is a national security issue … Nuclear energy shouldn’t be in the hands of the yakuza. They’re gamblers and an intelligent person doesn’t want them to have atomic dice to play with.” – Japanese Senator (3)

While not cited in Mr. Wilcox's article, this early independent report on TEPCO and the nuclear accident was highly critical of the company and suggested that the earthquake may have triggered the meltdown.

The technological issue of nuclear energy is intertwined with the exploitation of human labor in a hierarchy of interests, and how human labor is expended is an economic and moral issue. The Grand Scientific Project from the time of Francis Bacon up to the Manhattan Project of Oppenheimer and Fermi has been a dangerous gamble for humanity even though the advertised purpose is that progress is good.

The exploitation of labor at nuclear plants depends on the tools of social engineering, of government, mass media and schools. This is the hidden and shameful side of today’s materialist society and belies our complicity in a criminalized culture.

Inefficient and corrupt employment practices at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) are prolonging the disaster. Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) outsources 90 percent of the work to subcontractors, mainly utilizing Japan’s criminal syndicates, “the Yakuza.” Japan is still a middle class society and most people will not volunteer for nuclear work. Japan risks running out of workers who have not exceeded their legal radiation limits.

Considered to be “Japan’s largest organized crime group” — who are on the radar of the US Treasury Dept. (another big crime group) (4) — the Yakuza offer a service to society by sopping up its losers and giving them a dodgy occupation.

Journalist, Jake Adelstein, an expert on the Yakuza, risked his life as a reporter on the crime beat in Japan. Not because of shoot outs or knife fights, but because he had to take up smoking cigarettes in order to fit in with police and yakuza! These short video interviews offer a useful introduction into how the Yakuza operate (5; 6). Tepco’s relationship with the Yakuza is a cesspool of corruption from the highest to the lowest levels in its organization. “A senior National Police Agency officer, speaking on grounds of anonymity said, ‘TEPCO has a history of doing business with the yakuza that is far deeper than just using their labor’ ” (Op. cit. “The Yakuza and the Nuclear Mafia”).
Adelstein notes that the Yakuza has 86,000 members in Japan, of the 22 major organizations the “Yamaguchi” has almost half of all members. The Yakuza are:

“[c]riminal trade associations legally recognized by the Japanese government … They exist out in the open. The Japanese government regulates them and there are laws restricting their behavior but as criminal organizations themselves they are not banned. It is very difficult for the police to do an investigation that goes all the way up to the top. It’s problems within the Japanese law itself. There’s no plea bargaining, very limited wire tapping, no witness protection program … no undercover work allowed. The Japanese police are never able to destroy the Yakuza” (Op. cit. interviews).
“[T]he nuclear business-industrial-political and media complex in Japan known as the ‘nuclear mafia’ … [the nuclear industry] is a black hole of criminal malfeasance, incompetence, and corruption’ …. The government tacitly recognises their existence, and they are classified, designated and regulated. Yakuza make their money from extortion, blackmail, construction, real estate, collection services, financial market manipulation, protection rackets, fraud and a labyrinth of front companies including labour dispatch services and private detective agencies. They do the work that no one else will do or find the workers for jobs no one wants …. The Fukushima plant is located in the turf of the Sumiyoshi-kai, which is the second largest yakuza group in Japan with roughly 12,000 members” (Op. cit. “How the Yakuza went Nuclear”; “The Yakuza”).
Without the dregs of society to do the dirty work, modern society could not exist its present, most hypocritical form. Most people do not want to get dirt under their fingernails and prefer to apply nail polish or chat on their iPhones.
Working in nuclear power plants in Japan is not considered an honorable and elegant trade, like cabinet making or industrial design, but a brutal, labor intensive experience. While the Yakuza organization itself is an evil, the workers themselves can be considered heroes. The amount of excruciating heat, hard work, physical and mental stress and radiation they endure is inhuman. Even working at a normally functioning reactor is not easy or safe work but the FNPP is highly radioactive.

Fearless Reporter Tells All
Adelstein reviews an astounding new book, “The Yakuza and the Nuclear Industry,” by undercover Japanese reporter, Tomohiko Suzuki (Op. cit. “The Yakuza”). Suzuki truly risked his life, due to radiation exposure and possible threats, to bring us the details from the Nuclear Hell Zone. The book reveals scandalous information such as that mentally handicapped people are recruited to work in the nuke plants by the Yakuza. Suzuki compares the Yakuza with Tepco:
“Yakuza may be a plague on society … but they don’t ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and irradiate the planet out of sheer greed and incompetence.”
Having lived in Tokyo for many years, I concur. I am not a fan of Yakuza culture and can see in my daily experience that the Yakuza have a degrading effect on society. But as long as you don’t mess with them– they won’t mess with you. In this way, the streets of Tokyo remain fairly safe.
Suzuki points out that “Japan’s nuclear mafia … [is a] conglomeration of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, the shady nuclear industry, their lobbyists” with the Yakuza at the center. Is Suzuki implying that the Yakuza run the Nuclear Mafia? It is certainly true that Tepco could not fulfill a nuclear workforce without them. According to Adelstein:
“As the scale of the catastrophe at Fukushima became apparent, many workers fled the scene. To contain the nuclear meltdown, a handful of workers stayed behind, being exposed to large amounts of radiation: the so-called ‘Fukushima Fifty.’ Among this heroic group, according to Suzuki, were several members of the yakuza …. ‘Almost all nuclear power plants that are built in Japan are built taking the risk that the workers may well be exposed to large amounts of radiation …. That they will get sick, they will die early, or they will die on the job. And the people bringing the workers to the plants and also doing the construction are often yakuza’ (Op. cit. “How the Yakuza”).
The very workers who are attempting to shore up the situation at FNPP, many of whom are Yakuza, are being blamed by local people in Fukushima for the disaster. A recent survey reported that 30 percent of 1,495 workers at the site suffer from severe mental health issues. The survey does not even include the most exploited workers at the site (7).

Nuclear Situation Deteriorating
Akio Matsumura is a renowned Japanese diplomat and “founder and Secretary General of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival.” He sounds like the right man for the job to tackle the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Unfortunately, his warnings are falling on deaf ears. In a recent column he reported that the “Skilled Veterans Corps for Fukushima, along with 700 members, want to help clean up” the FNPP. Most of the volunteers are in their older years so getting cancer is not as great of a threat, whereas younger workers could die prematurely. The group’s representative, Mr. Yamada, “doesn’t believe TEPCO has the technological capabilities to deal with the long term issues. TEPCO, he says, doesn’t believe this either. TEPCO’s plan, according to Yamada, is to contain the radiation in the next 40 years. He estimates they will need 50 years or perhaps much longer.”

Matsumura thinks more aggressive actions won’t be taken:
“Regrettably I do not expect much of an outcome. After 17 months, the situation is worsening and unless Japan requests the independent assessment team and guarantees a huge budget to carry out the team’s technical advice, the US government will not step in” to help (8).
US nuclear policy is equally dangerous, thus, a safe and speedy resolution to what appears to be an insurmountable problem is not on the horizon. Tony Boys worked as an interpreter for nuclear expert, Dr. Chris Busby, on his visit to Japan last year. Boys told me:
“They may be ‘rebuilding’ at the FNPP, but I don’t think that solves the fundamental problem. You know how the Japanese love to do something cosmetic to make things look good because they don’t know how to really do it properly, but have to do ‘something’ ? Well, I think that’s largely what is going on at the site.”

Radio host, Jeff Rense, whose website has studiously reported on the nuclear catastrophe and all of Japan’s botched policies, told me that “everything they do is horrendous.” For example, Japan’s decision to ship contaminated Fukushima soil all the way across the country is truly stupefying (9).
Prime Minister Noda recently rejected protester’s requests to shut down the nuclear reactors. As the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes told Noda in a face to face meeting, “[w]e the people do not believe you” regarding his empty promises to phase out nukes in the future. The Nuclear Mafia are restarting reactors even though they are unnecessary for electricity production. An overwhelming majority of people want to abolish nuclear power (10; 11; 12). Having contaminated the world with quadrillions of becquerels of radiation (petabecquerels), Tepco is under a pseudo nationalization process that funnels tax money into their pockets yet maintains their autonomy (13).

Worker Shortage
A common practice among workers in nuclear plants is to hide their real exposure rate of radiation. Because there are legal limits of radiation exposure, workers will take off their dosimeters, or cover them with lead. In normal times in Japan workers could also migrate from one plant to the other without indicating previous work experience, and work “under the table.” How long it takes to get sick and or die from such a practice is anyone’s guess.
If the “living dead,” the people “no one will miss” and the dregs of society can’t be coerced into sacrificing themselves, how about top Tepco executives or pro nuclear professors from Tokyo University for a helping hand? Good idea! But first you will have to chase them down on the golf course. NHK reports that:
“[M]any workers crucial to the effort are reaching the limit for radiation exposure …. University of Tokyo Professor Kazumitsu Nawata warns of the consequences of losing nuclear plant workers with necessary expertise. He says young workers must be trained due to the need for massive manpower to fully bring the Daiichi plant under control.”
Is Professor Nawata volunteering other’s children for this dirty job, or maybe his own children would prefer to work in the High Sievert Zone? Tokyo University bears a heavy responsibility for the current catastrophe for its role in legitimizing the Nuclear Mafia.
A notable percentage of workers are leaving once they have reached the legal radiation limits. Of the 3,000 daily workers, “[s]ome of the firms have adopted stricter exposure standards … so that they do not breach the limit and become unemployable” (14).
A number of recent incidents have highlighted the scandal over worker safety, including:
* Over 140 workers have been found to have used fake names when getting jobs doing reconstruction work and are presently unaccounted for (Op. cit., “The Yakuza”).
* Workers have purposely left integral dosimeter off their person while at work. “Tepco is pushing the responsibility to their sub-contract companies but has no solution for the shortage of nuclear workers” which indicates “major staffing problems” at the plant (15; 16).
* Some workers themselves think the only solution to shoring up the plant will be “human wave tactics” as were employed at Chernobyl (17). If that is the case, where will the necessary workforce come from? In order combat the dwindling labor force, Tepco and subcontractors are knowingly telling workers to fake their radiation data. The practice is “believed to be part of a widespread practice at the plant” (18; 19; 20).
Former General Electric nuclear plant inspector, a whistle blower who previously exposed dangers at the Fukushima plant–that were ignored–Kei Sugaoka, admitted that he had heard of young workers in the Taiwan nuclear industry dying from cancer due to radiation. When he worked in Taiwan he says “[t]hey made us wear lead vests to falsify radiation exposure … All the lead did was cover our dosimeters” (21).
Despite the need to quickly resolve the situation, workers are given weekends off, but are also being recruited for decontamination in the 20 km zone. Speculation is that restart of other reactors in Japan will worsen the worker shortage. Japan seems to be going in too many directions at once (22; 23; 24).

The Nuclear Workforce
French sociologist, Paul Jobin, “began research on Japanese and Taiwanese nuclear plant workers in 2002, mainly at Fukushima Daiichi,” and he did follow up interviews after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Jobin notes that:
* Subcontracting labor at nuclear plants in Japan began shortly after their creation, in the mid-1970s. “In France, this trend would develop after 1988, reaching a rate of 80% by 1992.”
* “According to NISA’s data, in 2009, Japan’s nuclear industry recruited more than 80,000 contract workers against 10,000 regular employees.”
* Part time employment is carried out in order to limit labor costs “whether in France or Japan, the nuclear industry nurtures a heavy culture of secrecy concerning the number of irradiated workers.”
* Before the Fukushima disaster, “only 9 former workers received compensation for an occupational cancer linked to their intervention in nuclear plants.” This number is probably far lower than the real number of those who suffered from working at NPPs.
* “[S]tatistics from TEPCO (dated November 30, 2011) reported 3,745 workers on the site in March (about 1700 TEPCO employees and 2,000 subcontractors), and 14,000 for the time from April to October. The overwhelming majority … were subcontractors.” But even these figures may not include many low level but highly irradiated workers.
* Radiation exposure depends on one’s status in the hierarchy. Tepco executives and high or mid level engineers are spared exposure, while “there is systematic camouflage of the collective radiation of the most exposed front line workers.”
* Since March 11, 2011, Jobin estimates “that around 30,000 workers have been exposed to significant levels of radiation, some for a few days, many for more than one month” (25; 26). How many of these workers are desperate or “mentally handicapped” to begin with? No wonder they are being used by the Nuclear Mafia as disposable work-bots. Hiroaki Koide, nuclear reactor specialist at Kyoto University says “[t]he truth of the matter is that the subcontract workers don’t really know the dangers of radiation and they don’t know how to protect themselves.” For example, wearing protective masks are so uncomfortable that many workers remove them during their work shift (27). How many health issues have been caused as a direct result of the work? In one case, the worker had been exposed in less than a year to levels far beyond what is considered normal lifetime background radiation. He suffered a heart attack (28).

Worker Rights Advocates Fight For Social Justice
Hifumi Okunuki is an expert in labor law and spends much of her time fighting for the rights of Fukushima’s forgotten heroes. She notes that “the working conditions at Fukushima No. 1 are an emergency within an emergency” and that “special laws should be promulgated to guarantee the safety and fair treatment of the workers.”
“Japan’s Labor Standards Office has thus far recognized only 10 cases of radiation sickness caused by working conditions due to the inherent difficulty in proving causation in individual cases …. Management faces quite serious, possibly criminal, liability if while understanding the risk radiation exposure poses, they endanger those working on-site through a complicated web of outsourcing. Article 87 of the Labor Standards Law holds firms that outsource responsible for workplace safety and sanitation for workers employed by their subcontractor …. Illnesses caused by radiation exposure from nuclear power plants are covered by Japan’s Act on Compensation for Nuclear Damage.”
Unsurprisingly, the Japanese justice system which plays an integral role in siding with the Nuclear Mafia has “yet to see a major court case over radiation-related deaths” (29).
A new report from the venerable non governmental organization, Citizens Nuclear Information Center (CNIC), in Tokyo, highlights the FNPP worker issue. One whistle blower reported that in years past:
“Worker accidents are usually covered up inside the nuclear plant. Even if workers suddenly fall ill, they are not allowed to call an ambulance. In my case, after having been left unattended for three hours, I was taken to hospital in a colleague’s car. I therefore suffered aftereffects later and became physically handicapped. Of all accidents occurring in the nuclear power station, 90% were concealed.”
However, thanks to growing international attention, some of the conditions at FNPP have slightly improved. “Currently, ambulances are allowed to come into the nuclear power station and there is a doctor onsite 24 hrs a day“ (30).

Tepco’s Blind Eye
According to CNIC (Ibid.), the system for employing nuclear workers relies on an economically pyramid shaped, “multi-layered structure” of contractors and subcontractors which makes profits for executives and employees. Investigations have revealed the “[p]resence of subcontractors affiliated with crime syndicates and their employees.” In the year 2000 it was known that “350 companies were involved” at the FNPP and that many of the Yakuza employees or subcontractors are presently involved in the clean up operations.
* “Under the utility, there are plant makers, subsidiaries of TEPCO and the plant makers, large, medium- and small-sized construction and repair companies, independent master carpenters and plumbers.”
* The Yakuza enforce a severe hierarchy “between the group leader and the members” which is akin to the military and effective for getting dangerous work accomplished.
* “[I]n 2006, TEPCO reportedly attempted to drive the gangsters … out of the plant.” The Yakuza said: “Do it if you think you can.” Tepco blinked.
* ‘[P]olice arrested leading members of a gangster group affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate based in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture’ who were ‘charged with violation of the Temporary Staffing Services Law.’ A president of a local company who ‘was deeply involved in the staffing of the nuclear power station and was the president of the local chamber of commerce and industry, as well as a member of the Fukushima Prefecture Nuclear Power Plant Town Information Council’ was arrested on suspicion of ‘illegally possessing a gun.’
* “Workers hired by the lowest-level subcontractors were paid only around 5,000 yen [$60] per day, and were not covered by social insurance or employment insurance …. the current average daily wage is said to be 8,000 yen, although TEPCO pays 60,000-70,000 yen per capita to the principal subcontractor.” Everyone in between ‘takes a cut from the worker’s wages.’
In other words, it’s an economic racket. Although an “effective” system, “[i]llegal acts, such as the forgery of health reports … and not allowing workers to subscribe to health insurance and employees’ pension plans, are rampant,” but are tolerated by Tepco. This draws into question how effective such workers can be given the intimidation of violence from Yakuza bosses and the poor working conditions. The “problem is still beyond TEPCO’s control because the subcontractor system is deeply multi-layered and complex, and because the yakuza are so deeply entrenched in the system.”

Destroying Democracy
The 1995 documentary film, Nuclear Ginza, is valuable for its historical perspective on nuclear workers in Japan (31). Corruption, payoffs and coverups were the norm, then and now. As one worker whose health was damaged said,
“The big companies treat workers like objects or tools to be thrown away when no longer needed. Japan is considered a rich advanced and democratic country but its just an illusion I think.”
A Buddhist monk, Mr. Nakajima, who had worked for years to help the plight of workers noted that “[u]nfortunately in Japan, the sad reality is that democracy has been destroyed in the areas where nuclear power exists.”

Streets Of Fire
Adelstein and Suzuki (Op. cit.) supply additional information of a particularly lurid and grim nature:
* Yakuza have a saying: “When a man has to survive doing something, it’s the nuclear industry; for a woman, it’s the sex industry.”
* One mid-level executive in the organization even defends the role of his members in the Fukushima disaster. “The accident isn’t our fault,” he said. “It’s TEPCO’s fault. We’ve always been a necessary evil in the work process. In fact, if some of our men hadn’t stayed to fight the meltdown, the situation would have been much worse. TEPCO employees and the Nuclear Industry Safety Agency inspectors mostly fled; we stood our ground.”
* “Organized crime groups from Kyushu are bringing workers as well. Many of the workers are homeless people, debtors to yakuza loan sharks, or former yakuza who have been expelled from their group.”
* Tepco refuses “to name the companies they use for outsourcing labor, background security checks, and general security at the nuclear power plants.” Recall Tepco’s feigned ignorance about government investigator’s accusations against them for “collusion.” Such bland dismissals on the part of Tepco are curious in light of the voluminous evidence to the contrary. The Tepco president’s denials of any collusion is an obvious lie (32; 33).
* “Suzuki discovered evidence of Tepco subcontractors paying yakuza front companies to obtain lucrative construction contracts; of money destined for construction work flying into yakuza accounts; and of politicians and media being paid to look the other way.”
* “His fellow workers, found Suzuki, were a motley crew of homeless, chronically unemployed Japanese men, former yakuza, debtors who owed money to the yakuza, and the mentally handicapped.”
* “Suzuki claims the regular employees at the plant were often given better radiation suits than the yakuza recruits. ‘Almost every day a worker would keel over with heat exhaustion and be carried out; they would invariably return to work the next day. Going to the bathroom was virtually impossible, so workers were simply told to ‘hold it.’ ’ ”
* “According to Suzuki, the temperature monitors in the plant weren’t even working, and were ignored. Removing the mask during work was against the rules; no matter how thirsty workers became, they could not drink water.”
* “The risk of radiation exposure was 100 per cent. The masks, if their filters were cleaned regularly, which they were not, could only remove 60 per cent of the radioactive particles in the air.”
* “Suzuki found people who’d been threatened into working at Fukushima, but others who’d volunteered. Why? ‘Of course, if it was a matter of dying today or tomorrow they wouldn’t work there,’ he explains. ‘It’s because it could take 10 years or more for someone to possibly die of radiation excess. It’s like Russian roulette. If you owe enough money to the yakuza, working at a nuclear plant is a safer bet. Wouldn’t you rather take a chance at dying 10 years later than being stabbed to death now?’ ”
Conclusion
Faced with an ongoing radioactive nightmare which is contaminating Japan’s food and water supply, what should be done? The Nuclear Mafia’s ethos is silken sewn into the socio-political Kabuki theater of a post modern Japanese society, which seems helpless to save itself. Maybe Ambassador Matsumura, with his international political connections of good will, and the Skilled Veterans for Fukushima would be good people to turn to for advice.

References
1. Factory
http://www.springsteenlyrics.com/lyrics/f/factory.php
2. How the Yakuza went nuclear http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-in/9084151/How-the-Yakuza-went-nuclear.html
3. The Yakuza and the Nuclear Mafia
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/12/yakuza-and-nuclear-mafia-nationalization-looms-tepco/46803/
4. U.S. Treasury Dept. Penalizes Japan’s Largest Organized-Crime Group
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/world/asia/united-states-sanctions-japans-largest-organized-crime-group-yakuza.html
5. Jake Adelstein
http://wheelercentre.com/videos/video/jake-adelstein/
6. Jake Adelstein on Tokyo’s yakuza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0uz0z_NH4U
7. No. 1 workers’ stress, stigma jeopardizing motivation
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120816a5.html
8. Fukushima Needs a Hero
http://akiomatsumura.com/2012/08/862.html
9. Kagoshima to be the final disposal site of nuclear waste
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/08/kagoshima-to-be-the-final-disposal-site-of-nuclear-waste/
10. Noda unswayed by talks with rally leaders
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120823a1.html
11. Power use falls; reactors unneeded
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120822a3.html
12. Antinuclear Japan: Nearly 90% of Public Comments on National Energy Policy Are “Zero Nuke”
http://ex-skf.blogspot.jp/2012/08/antinuclear-japan-nearly-90-of-public.html
13. Mismanaging Risk and the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Jeff-Kingston/3724
14. Fukushima nuclear workers reaching exposure limit
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120824_29.html
15. Worker left integral dosimeter in the bus on purpose
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/08/nuke-worker-shortage-worker-left-integral-dosimeter-in-the-bus-on-purpose/
16. WSJ: Experts say manipulated radiation readingshttp://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/07/23/fukushima-watch-doctoring-dosimeters-how-far-did-it-go/
17. Fukushima worker “Human-wave tactics will be needed, problem is if they can collect human workers”
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/07/fukushima-worker-human-wave-tactics-will-be-needed-problem-is-if-they-can-collect-human-workers/
18. Tepco knew lead shields were made to cover dosimeters of Fukushima workers
http://enenews.com/tepco-knew-lead-shields-were-being-made-to-cover-dosimeters-of-fukushima-workers-boss-admits-to-making-them-use-covers-claims-he-was-frightened-of-radiation-alarms
19. TEPCO subcontractor used lead to fake dosimeter readings at Fukushima plant
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201207210069
20. ‘Growing concern’ over worker shortages at Fukushima Daiichi by gov’thttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443570904577542400362861824.html
21. Nuclear Worker: There’s been some people dying, young guys, of some weird cancers
http://enenews.com/nuclear-worker-young-people-dying
22. Worker confirms Tepco taking weekends off at Fukushima Daiichi
http://enenews.com/tepco-weekends-fukushima-daiichi-plant-worker
23. Recruit for decontamination worker in 20km area
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/07/recruit-for-decontamination-worker-in-20km-area/
24. Fukushima worker “Restart of nuclear plants will cause shortage of Fukushima workers”
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/07/fukushima-worker-restart-of-nuclear-plants-will-cause-shortage-of-fukushima-workers/
25. Dying for TEPCO? Fukushima’s Nuclear Contract Workers
http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=24543
26. Fukushima One Year On: Nuclear workers and citizens at risk
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Paul-Jobin/3729
27. Japan Nuclear Professor – Atomic Age Symposium II
http://enenews.com/japan-nuclear-professor-radiation-released-smoke-stacks-fukushima-plant-daily-basis-video
28. Fukushima Plant Worker Suffers Cardiac Arrest
http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2012082200902
29. Tepco liable for contract workers’ safety in Fukushima
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120821lp.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+japantimes+%2528The+Japan+Times%253A+All+Stories%2529
30. Clean-up operation at the nuclear accident site at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
http://www.cnic.jp/english/newsletter/nit149/nit149articles/05_Clean-up.html
31. Nuclear Ginza – Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNq0qyQJ5xs
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7okfjwy4Vw&feature=relmfu
32. Radioactive Rats, Nuclear Techno Geeks
And Life In The Damage Control Continuum
http://rense.com/general95/radioactive-rats.html
33. Japan’s Tepco baffled by criticism of its role in nuclear disaster
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/japan-nuclear-tepco-idUSL4E8IJ1S020120719

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http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/12/yakuza-and-nuclear-mafia-nationalization-looms-tepco/46803/

Jake Adelstein 14,229 Views Dec 30, 2011

The Yakuza and the Nuclear Mafia: Nationalization Looms for TEPCO

 

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the monolithic corporation that controls all electric power in Greater Tokyo, and runs the Fukushima Daichii nuclear plant that experienced a triple meltdown following the March 11 earthquake, is on the brink of nationalization according to Japanese government sources. The official reason is that the firm may not be able to handle the massive compensation payments it owes to victims of the meltdown without going bankrupt. Unofficially, the firm has such long-standing ties to anti-social forces, including the yakuza—that some members of the Diet, Japan’s national legislature, feel the firm is beyond salvation and needs to be taken over and cleaned up. A Japanese Senator with the Liberal Democratic Party stated on background, "TEPCO's involvement with anti-social forces and their inability to filter them out of the work-place is a national security issue. It is one reason that increasingly in the Diet we are talking de facto nationalization of the company. Nuclear energy shouldn't be in the hands of the yakuza. They're gamblers and an intelligent person doesn't want them to have atomic dice to play with."

In June we reported that yakuza were working at the Fukushima nuclear power plant as cleanup crews and manual labor, but the post-meltdown yakuza ties were only the tip of the iceberg. This month, a new book was published, Yakuza and The Nuclear Industry: Diary of An Undercover Reporter Working at the Fukushima Plant (ヤクザと原発-福島第一潜入記-鈴木-智彦) in which a former yakuza fan magazine editor Tomohiko Suzuki reports on the nuclear business-industrial-political and media complex in Japan known as the “nuclear mafia” and Japan’s actual mafia: the yakuza. The book is already generating controversy and renewed examination of Japan’s “dark empire” and its ties to the underworld. It presents more solid pieces of evidence that Japan’s nuclear industry is a black hole of criminal malfeasance, incompetence, and corruption.

 

It is not that the industry ties to anti-social forces were previously unknown. Engineers who worked for the firm noted the practice dated of employing yakuza members at nuclear plants dates back to the 1990s. Police sources also recognize that yakuza having been supplying labor to the area for decades. In the Japanese underworld, the nuclear industry is the last refuge for those who have nowhere to go. One yakuza explains it as folk wisdom, “Otoko wa Genpatsu, Onna was Seifuzoku･男は原発、女は性風俗”--, in other words, “When a man is has to survive doing something, it’s the nuclear industry; for a woman, it’s the sex industry.”

 

The Fukushima plant is located in the turf of the Sumiyoshi-kai, which is the second largest yakuza group in Japan with roughly 12,000 members; it has a well-known office in Tokyo’s Ginza District and operates under the banner Hama Enterprise. One mid-level executive in the organization even defends the role of his members in the Fukushima disaster. “The accident isn’t our fault,” he said. “It’s TEPCO’s fault. We’ve always been a necessary evil in the work process. In fact, if some of our men hadn’t stayed to fight the meltdown, the situation would have been much worse. TEPCO employees and the Nuclear Industry Safety Agency inspectors mostly fled; we stood our ground.”

However, while the symbiotic relationship between TEPCO and the yakuza has existed for decades, the relationship is officially “unacceptable.” The controversy became so great after the accident that TEPCO pledged on July 19 to try to keep yakuza members from participating in the reconstruction of the power plant and related projects. They have been working with the Japanese National Police Agency (JNPA) to accomplish this but sources inside that agency are dubious as to whether there have been any real results. TEPCO officials met with the National Police Agency and 23 subcontractors in July and created a conference group on organized crimes issues according to government sources and they have met several times since. TEPCO explained at the time, “we want to people to widely know our exclusionary stance towards organized crime.”

 

According to TEPCO and police sources, since the reconstruction project has picked up speed, the number of workers has dramatically increased to several thousand. The JNPA has directed TEPCO from as early as June, to keep the yakuza out—although many of the subcontractors of the subcontractors are known yakuza front companies. Over 140 workers have been found to have used fake names when getting jobs doing reconstruction work and are presently unaccounted for. In reporting for Yakuza and the Nuclear Industry Tomohiko Suzuki was able to get into the reactor as a cleanup worker under false pretenses partly by using organized crime connections. According to Suzuki, three of the fabled “Fukushima Fifty” who stayed behind during the most dangerous days of high-level radiation leaks were local yakuza bosses and soldiers. He does not specify which groups they belonged to.

*****

Even before the meltdown, it was very common for TEPCO to use temporary staffing firms that that would ultimately outsource work to organized crime front companies such as M-Kogyo in Fukuoka Prefecture and Yokohama which is backed by the Kudo-kai (工藤会). Organized crime groups from Kyushu are bringing workers as well. Many of the workers are homeless people, debtors to yakuza loan sharks, or former yakuza who have been expelled from their group.

 

In fact, in May, TEPCO’s Public Relations Department, when asked by this reporter, if TEPCO’s contracts with subcontractors have what are now standard “organized crime exclusionary clauses” (暴力団排除条項), a spokesperson replied, “We don’t have them standardized into our contracts. We don’t check or demand that our subcontractors have them in their contracts. We are considering doing so in the future.”

 

TEPCO has not responded to recent requests for clarification on any changes. or whether they have fully implemented the Japanese government issued guidelines for corporations who wish to avoid doing business with organized crime. TEPCO also refused to name the companies they use for outsourcing labor, background security checks, and general security at the nuclear power plants, “because to do so would be in non-compliance with personal privacy information protection laws.”

At the conferences with the police, TEPCO was supposed to share information with the police, learn the proper methods of dealing with organized crime shakedowns, and study how to do the paperwork to require the subcontractors to exclude organized crime from their businesses. However, TEPCO will probably not be held responsible for the second or third tier firms to which the work is further subcontracted. A senior National Police Agency officer, speaking on grounds of anonymity said, “I doubt these meetings with TEPCO have produced any great results. TEPCO has a history of doing business with the yakuza that is far deeper than just using their labor. Under the new laws that went into effect on October 1st, providing capital or profits to anti-social forces becomes a crime. The TMPD (Tokyo Metro Police Department) may have to issue TEPCO a warning. After the warning, there could be arrests.”

 

The same source noted that a TEPCO employee was arrested for insurance fraud along with a Sumiyoshi-kai member in May of this year but there was no evidence that TEPCO itself or any other TEPCO employees were involved in the crime. It only indicated that at least one TEPCO employee had organized crime connections. In January of 2003, it was reported that TEPCO had been making pay offs to the Sumiyoshi-kai for over twenty years via leasing plants and buying green tea from them. TEPCO also allegedly paid an Yamaguchi-gumi associate and former member, Takeuchi Yoichi, several thousand dollars to stop writing about safety problems at the Fukushima nuclear reactor in the 1990s. As Isao Mori reports in the recently published book Dirty Money (泥のカネ), after Mizutani Construction was named a sub-contractor on TEPCO's Fukushima nuclear reactor waste disposal project, it paid Takeuchi's front company "consulting fees" of around ¥120 million (roughly $1.5 million). The same firm also allegedly paid over a million dollars in under the table political donations to Ichiro Ozawa, former “kingpin” of Japan’s ruling party, the Democratic Party of Japan. (Ozawa is currently on trial for violations of the political funds control law.) Mizutani Construction executives have admitted in court that it was standard practice to pay off local yakuza groups and politicians to obtain construction contracts, including those in the nuclear industry.

One National Police official responsible for the Fukushima District said Takeuchi and his involvement with TEPCO were well known among law enforcement. "I know the name very well. There are credible reasons to believe that he shook down TEPCO in the past and he has certainly been the beneficiary of contracts related to Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant construction. Whether TEPCO was victimized by him or the relationship was more symbiotic, I can’t say.”

 

Police and underworld sources also allege that a Matsuba-kai related front company is handling waste disposal at TEPCO plants and that TEPCO executives as recently as this summer were going on golfing jaunts with Matsuba-kai members. The Matsuba-kai is one of the ten largest yakuza groups in Japan with a strong presence in Tokyo but not a major powerhouse.

 

The Inagawa-kai, the third largest organized crime group in Japan, with offices across from the Tokyo Ritz Carlton has also been involved in the reconstruction efforts. Most of the yakuza involvement is in procuring workers to do the jobs of laying pipes and cleaning up debris while being exposed to high levels of radiation. The yakuza bring the laborers there but do not labor there. However, heavy constructions and other work is being done by yakuza front companies or firms with strong yakuza ties.

 

When asked what were the major differences between the yakuza and TEPCO the same Senator paused for a minute. “The primary difference between TEPCO and the yakuza is they have different corporate logos.” He explained, “They both are essentially criminal organizations that place profits above the safety and welfare of the residents where they operate; they both exploit their workers. On the other hand, the yakuza may care more about what happens where they operate because many of them live there. For Tokyo Electric Power Company, Fukushima is just the equivalent of a parking lot.”

 

Jake Adelstein is an investigative journalist, consultant, and the author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan. He is also a board member of the Washington, D.C.-based Polaris Project Japan, which combats human trafficking and the exploitation of women and children in the sex trade.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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TEPCO, Nuclear Disaster & Spaghetti-Os: Bad Deeds Get Rewarded

Posted by jakeadelstein on Monday, September 2, 2013

Note: This article was originally published Monday, September 2nd 2013 at  7:54 pm as a dark joke about the nuclear industrial complex in Japan. On September 3rd, the Japanese government basically provided the punchline by announcing plans to spend 47 billion yen to clean up the water crisis at Fukushima. The whole thing has an artificial aftertaste that makes Campbell’s pasta in a can taste delicious in comparison. If you would like to know what I’m talking about, read on. 

Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, is getting a lot of criticism for its inept clean-up attempts of the Fukushima nuclear power plant site, which had triple-meltdowns in March of 2011—after the company had failed to take precautions which might have prevented the meltdown in the first place. There is also a 4^th reactor where spent fuel rods are waiting to be extracted, and if mishandled they have the potential to release huge amounts of radiation into the air. TEPCO, like the Central Intelligence Agency, has a wonderful legacy of failure, and now it literally has “a legacy of ashes”.



There is already close to 300 tons of contaminated water leaking from the plant into the ocean. The Nuclear Regulation Agency of Japan on September 2nd noted that an even more serious concern was large amounts of radioactive materials leaking into the ground water as well. On September 1st, it was reported that at one of the 1000 water tanks on the site, radiation levels were 18 times higher than previously measured–a whopping 1800 millisieverts. The reason the high levels hadn’t been detected earlier was that the devices near the leaking water tank maxed out at 100 millisieverts.
You can’t detect what you can’t measure.

In other words, it’s as if TEPCO measured the height of Jeremy Lin with only a 12 inch school ruler and proclaimed, “Mr. Lin is the world’s shortest basketball player.”
On September 9th, Shunichi Tanaka, the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency said at a press conference,  “I’m quite baffled by TEPCO’S total lack of any sense of crisis (at the site). It’s unfathomable.”

So I thought about it. And thought about it. And then I realized what the answer is. It has to do with spaghetti-os. I’ll explain later but the essence of what they’re doing is very simple. TEPCO is doing the worst possible job possible because every yen spent cleaning up the site cuts into their profits and the more they show themselves to be incapable, the greater the chance that the government (which already is their de facto owner) will take up the slack. It’s a brilliant plan.
TEPCO is in the wonderful position of being able to say: “Well, we know how to make a huge mess and run power plants but we don’t know how to clean up the mess. If you can do better, please do so. Heh.” (Bows deeply, shuffling, walking backwards.)

When the Japanese government steps up, they can step down and get back to business: selling energy and making money. The Government of Japan will essentially reward them for their incompetence.
I call this the Spaghetti-Os principle: the best way to avoid doing work you don’t like is do it just badly enough that no one will ever trust you to do it again, but not so badly that you get punished (or spanked) for it.

My little sister was the first to discover this principle, when she was about 10 and I was 13. During that time period, my parents had decided to institute a cooking night for each of us children, to teach us responsibility. One night per week, we were expected to cook dinner for everyone.
I cooked Barbecue Ramen Surprise and other fusion cuisine delights. I liked to cook. But my sister, Jacky—she was not into it. So after a few weeks of this, she managed to end the whole fiasco with one amazingly awful meal. She bought an industrial size can of Spaghetti-0s, a sort of processed pasta dish that tasted awful and looked worse, and she heated it up and served it to us. That was it. The whole meal was Spaghetti-os slopped into five bowls with a side of burnt Wonder bread toast, mangled with cold butter.

It was so inedible and disappointing that we all agreed to end “cook dinner for everyone night” that very night. After that, Dad cooked most of the meals. After all, it was crazy to ask Jacky to be a chef.
We just assumed that at 10, she just didn’t know how to cook. It was only years later that it dawned on me that she had deliberately made the worst meal she could within limits—not because she didn’t know how to cook, but because she didn’t like cooking. She preferred to play with her Barbie dolls or read books or watch TV.

Every time TEPCO screws up at Fukushima, they’re loading a spoonful of tangy inedible Spaghetti-os on our plate. Sooner or later, when we can’t take it anymore, Dad or Mom, is going to take the spatula away and TEPCO will be free to go back outside to play.
Because TEPCO knows that judicious incompetence is its own reward. It’s not that they are unproductive or lazy—they like to make messes, but like any spoiled little kid, they just don’t like to clean them up. That’s no fun. Cleaning up after the birthday party, that’s what parents are for.
Spaghetti-os, anyone?

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https://twitter.com/matuoka7ocean

matuokaisenokamikaze ‏@matuoka7ocean
@BarackObama Vice nuclear syndicate in japan:The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy In Japan. http://fukushimaupdate.com/abes-assurance-to-ioc-on-nuclear-plant-called-into-question/ … http://matuoka777isenokamikaze.blogspot.com/2013/09/vice-nuclear-syndicate-in-japanthe.html …

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matuokaisenokamikaze ‏@matuoka7ocean
@JoeBiden Vice nuclear syndicate in japan:The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy In Japan. http://fukushimaupdate.com/abes-assurance-to-ioc-on-nuclear-plant-called-into-question/ … http://matuoka777isenokamikaze.blogspot.com/2013/09/vice-nuclear-syndicate-in-japanthe.html …

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matuokaisenokamikaze ‏@matuoka7ocean
@Number10gov Vice nuclear syndicate in japan:The Nuclear Mafia Derails Democracy In Japan. http://fukushimaupdate.com/abes-assurance-to-ioc-on-nuclear-plant-called-into-question/ … http://matuoka777isenokamikaze.blogspot.com/2013/09/vice-nuclear-syndicate-in-japanthe.html …

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我々は、他の人以上に真実について、確かなことを知っているわけではない。

We do not know the reliable thing about the truth than other people.

しかし、真実でないことは、聞いたときに理解できる。

However, it can be understood that it is not true when we heard it.

虚偽は、意図的に創られる。

The falsehood is made intentionally.

悪徳によって、虚偽は、創られている。

The falsehood is made by vice.

話し手も、聞き手も、虚偽だとわかっている場合が多い。

We often understand that both a speaker and a listener are false.

話し手も、聞き手も、虚偽だとわかっている。

We understand that both a speaker and a listener are false.

人々を操作しよう。

Let's operate people.

人々を懐柔しよう。

Let's conciliate people.

利己的な行為を正当化しよう。

Let's justify a selfish act.

自己保身のために、権力を手にしよう。

For self-self-protection, let's have power in our hand.

耳障りな現実を否定しよう。

Let's deny harsh reality.

彼はうそつきである。

He is a liar.

彼は悪徳で保身されたうそつきである。

He is a liar performed self-protection with vice.

彼は悪徳の日本の原子力マフィアの一員である。

He is a member of the Japanese atomic energy Mafia of the vice.

彼は日本のデモクラシーを破壊している。

He destroys democracy of Japan.

我々は、社会の正義と真実を語るべきである。

We should tell the social justice and truth.


matokaisenokamikaze

２０１３年９月１４日　　September 14, 2013


付記：

No man can occupy the office of President without realizing that he is President of all the people.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Address at Madison Square Garden, New York City," October 31, 1936. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15219




210 - Address at Madison Square Garden, New York City
October 31, 1936

Senator Wagner, Governor Lehman, ladies and gentlemen:
On the eve of a national election, it is well for us to stop for a moment and analyze calmly and without prejudice the effect on our Nation of a victory by either of the major political parties.

The problem of the electorate is far deeper, far more vital than the continuance in the Presidency of any individual. For the greater issue goes beyond units of humanity—it goes to humanity itself.In 1932 the issue was the restoration of American democracy; and the American people were in a mood to win. They did win.

In 1936 the issue is the preservation of their victory. Again they are in a mood to win. Again they will win.

More than four years ago in accepting the Democratic nomination in Chicago, I said: "Give me your help not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people."

The banners of that crusade still fly in the van of a Nation that is on the march.

It is needless to repeat the details of the program which this Administration has been hammering out on the anvils of experience. No amount of misrepresentation or statistical contortion can conceal or blur or smear that record. Neither the attacks of unscrupulous enemies nor the exaggerations of over-zealous friends will serve to mislead the American people.

What was our hope in 1932? Above all other things the American people wanted peace. They wanted peace of mind instead of gnawing fear.

First, they sought escape from the personal terror which had stalked them for three years. They wanted the peace that comes from security in their homes: safety for their savings, permanence in their jobs, a fair profit from their enterprise.

Next, they wanted peace in the community, the peace that springs from the ability to meet the needs of community life: schools, playgrounds, parks, sanitation, highways—those things which are expected of solvent local government. They sought escape from disintegration and bankruptcy in local and state affairs.

They also sought peace within the Nation: protection of their currency, fairer wages, the ending of long hours of toil, the abolition of child labor, the elimination of wild-cat speculation, the safety of their children from kidnappers.

And, finally, they sought peace with other Nations—peace in a world of unrest. The Nation knows that I hate war, and I know that the Nation hates war.

I submit to you a record of peace; and on that record a well-founded expectation for future peace—peace for the individual, peace for the community, peace for the Nation, and peace with the world.

Tonight I call the roll—the roll of honor of those who stood with us in 1932 and still stand with us today.

Written on it are the names of millions who never had a chance—men at starvation wages, women in sweatshops, children at looms.

Written on it are the names of those who despaired, young men and young women for whom opportunity had become a will-o'-the-wisp.

Written on it are the names of farmers whose acres yielded only bitterness, business men whose books were portents of disaster, home owners who were faced with eviction, frugal citizens whose savings were insecure.

Written there in large letters are the names of countless other Americans of all parties and all faiths, Americans who had eyes to see and hearts to understand, whose consciences were burdened because too many of their fellows were burdened, who looked on these things four years ago and said, "This can be changed. We will change it."

We still lead that army in 1936. They stood with us then because in 1932 they believed. They stand with us today because in 1936 they know. And with them stand millions of new recruits who have come to know.

Their hopes have become our record.

We have not come this far without a struggle and I assure you we cannot go further without a struggle.

For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent.

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.

I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.

The American people know from a four-year record that today there is only one entrance to the White House—by the front door. Since March 4, 1933, there has been only one pass-key to the White House. I have carried that key in my pocket. It is there tonight. So long as I am President, it will remain in my pocket.

Those who used to have pass-keys are not happy. Some of them are desperate. Only desperate men with their backs to the wall would descend so far below the level of decent citizenship as to foster the current pay-envelope campaign against America's working people. Only reckless men, heedless of consequences, would risk the disruption of the hope for a new peace between worker and employer by returning to the tactics of the labor spy.

Here is an amazing paradox! The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine that system by this attempt to coerce the votes of the wage earners of this country. It is the 1936 version of the old threat to close down the factory or the office if a particular candidate does not win. It is an old strategy of tyrants to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them.

Every message in a pay envelope, even if it is the truth, is a command to vote according to the will of the employer. But this propaganda is worse—it is deceit.

They tell the worker his wage will be reduced by a contribution to some vague form of old-age insurance.

They carefully conceal from him the fact that for every dollar of premium he pays for that insurance, the employer pays another dollar. That omission is deceit.

They carefully conceal from him the fact that under the federal law, he receives another insurance policy to help him if he loses his job, and that the premium of that policy is paid 100 percent by the employer and not one cent by the worker. They do not tell him that the insurance policy that is bought for him is far more favorable to him than any policy that any private insurance company could afford to issue. That omission is deceit.

They imply to him that he pays all the cost of both forms of insurance. They carefully conceal from him the fact that for every dollar put up by him his employer puts up three dollars three for one. And that omission is deceit.

But they are guilty of more than deceit. When they imply that the reserves thus created against both these policies will be stolen by some future Congress, diverted to some wholly foreign purpose, they attack the integrity and honor of American Government itself. Those who suggest that, are already aliens to the spirit of American democracy. Let them emigrate and try their lot under some foreign flag in which they have more confidence.

The fraudulent nature of this attempt is well shown by the record of votes on the passage of the Social Security Act. In addition to an overwhelming majority of Democrats in both Houses, seventy-seven Republican Representatives voted for it and only eighteen against it and fifteen Republican Senators voted for it and only five against it. Where does this last-minute drive of the Republican leadership leave these Republican Representatives and Senators who helped enact this law?

I am sure the vast majority of law-abiding businessmen who are not parties to this propaganda fully appreciate the extent of the threat to honest business contained in this coercion.

I have expressed indignation at this form of campaigning and' I am confident that the overwhelming majority of employers, workers and the general public share that indignation and will show it at the polls on Tuesday next.

Aside from this phase of it, I prefer to remember this campaign not as bitter but only as hard-fought. There should be no bitterness or hate where the sole thought is the welfare of the United States of America. No man can occupy the office of President without realizing that he is President of all the people.

It is because I have sought to think in terms of the whole Nation that I am confident that today, just as four years ago, the people want more than promises.

Our vision for the future contains more than promises.

This is our answer to those who, silent about their own plans, ask us to state our objectives.

Of course we will continue to seek to improve working conditions for the workers of America—to reduce hours over-long, to increase wages that spell starvation, to end the labor of children, to wipe out sweatshops.

Of course we will continue every effort to end monopoly in business, to support collective bargaining, to stop unfair competition, to abolish dishonorable trade practices. For all these we have only just begun to fight.

Of course we will continue to work for cheaper electricity in the homes and on the farms of America, for better and cheaper transportation, for low interest rates, for sounder home financing, for better banking, for the regulation of security issues, for reciprocal trade among nations, for the wiping out of slums. For all these we have only just begun to fight.

Of course we will continue our efforts in behalf of the farmers of America. With their continued cooperation we will do all in our power to end the piling up of huge surpluses which spelled ruinous prices for their crops. We will persist in successful action for better land use, for reforestation, for the conservation of water all the way from its source to the sea, for drought and flood control, for better marketing facilities for farm commodities, for a definite reduction of farm tenancy, for encouragement of farmer cooperatives, for crop insurance and a stable food supply. For all these we have only just begun to fight.

Of course we will provide useful work for the needy unemployed; we prefer useful work to the pauperism of a dole.

Here and now I want to make myself clear about those who disparage their fellow citizens on the relief rolls. They say that those on relief are not merely jobless—that they are worthless. Their solution for the relief problem is to end relief—to purge the rolls by starvation. To use the language of the stock broker, our needy unemployed would be cared for when, as, and if some fairy godmother should happen on the scene.

You and I will continue to refuse to accept that estimate of our unemployed fellow Americans. Your Government is still on the same side of the street with the Good Samaritan and not with those who pass by on the other side.

Again—what of our objectives?

Of course we will continue our efforts for young men and women so that they may obtain an education and an opportunity to put it to use. Of course we will continue our help for the crippled, for the blind, for the mothers, our insurance for the unemployed, our security for the aged. Of course we will continue to protect the consumer against unnecessary price spreads, against the costs that are added by monopoly and speculation. We will continue our successful efforts to increase his purchasing power and to keep it constant.

For these things, too, and for a multitude of others like them, we have only just begun to fight.All this—all these objectives—spell peace at home. All our actions, all our ideals, spell also peace with other nations.

Today there is war and rumor of war. We want none of it. But while we guard our shores against threats of war, we will continue to remove the causes of unrest and antagonism at home which might make our people easier victims to those for whom foreign war is profitable. You know well that those who stand to profit by war are not on our side in this campaign.

"Peace on earth, good will toward men"—democracy must cling to that message. For it is my deep conviction that democracy cannot live without that true religion which gives a nation a sense of justice and of moral purpose. Above our political forums, above our market places stand the altars of our faith-altars on which burn the fires of devotion that maintain all that is best in us and all that is best in our Nation.

We have need of that devotion today. It is that which makes it possible for government to persuade those who are mentally prepared to fight each other to go on instead, to work for and to sacrifice for each other. That is why we need to say with the Prophet: "What doth the Lord require of thee—but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God." That is why the recovery we seek, the recovery we are winning, is more than economic. In it are included justice and love and humility, not for ourselves as individuals alone, but for our Nation.
That is the road to peace.

© 1999-2013 - Gerhard Peters - The American Presidency Project

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