Random Japan

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The justice ministry put the number of “flyjin”—foreigners who left Japan after the March 11 earthquake—at 531,000. Go on, everyone, take a bow!

The government is rethinking the draconian power-saving measures it had planned for the summer after TEPCO said it could crank out 52 million kilowatts of electricity by the end of July, instead of the previously stated 46.5 million kw.

Kevin Maher, who was canned as head of the US Office of Japanese Affairs because of comments he allegedly made in December, denied he ever called Okinawans “lazy.” He also claims he never said they are “masters of manipulation and extortion.”

Not everyone was resting up during Golden Week. Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto was scheduled to go on a six-day blitz of the US, Europe and Africa starting April 29.

Surprising absolutely no one, the Japan National Tourism Organization announced that the number of foreigners who traveled to Japan in March was half the number compared to last year.

The Public Security Intelligence Agency said that the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult still has about 1,500 active members.

Nine Japanese universities have clubbed together to found a Japanese public high school in Shanghai—the first ever such school to open overseas.

In what is being described as the largest per person donation from any country since the earthquake and tsunami, Taiwan has offered Japan ¥13.9 billion, which works out to ¥600 per capita.

Stats

41
Percent of voters polled by The Asahi Shimbun who said nuclear power generation should be either reduced or stopped—up from 28 percent in 2007

62.4
Percent of Tokyoites who have made “efforts to save electricity” since the March 11 quake, according to a survey by JTB

32.4
Percent who said they “watch television for longer periods of time than before” as a coping mechanism

1-3
Proposed temporary increase (in percentage points) to Japan’s current 5 percent consumption tax, considered by the government to help offset the rebuilding costs of March 11

¥2.5 trillion
Extra cash a one-point increase in consumption tax would generate per year

STREAKER ALERT
43-year-old Hanshin Tigers veteran outfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto’s consecutive-game streak came to an end at 1,766 at Nagoya Dome. He came in as a pinch hitter with two out in the eighth inning against the Chunichi Dragons, but when a baserunner was thrown out trying to steal second, Kanemoto was unable to complete his at-bat and did not take the field defensively. “I don’t care at all [that the streak ended],” he said. “I’ve often told the manager not to use me for just the record’s sake.”

TEPCO used a pair of US-made robots, called PackBots, to go where no man was willing to go—inside damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The bots took radiation measurements, among other things.

In other TEPCO news, the company has said that either the president or the chairman will resign in June to take responsibility for the nuclear disaster. They might both fall on the sword, but they are still trying to figure out who should stick around and be in charge during the ongoing fiasco. How Japanese of them.

The National Police Agency reported that over 90 percent of the March 11 earthquake/tsunami victims in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima died from drowning.

The NPA also said that more than 65 percent of those victims were 60 years old or older and that people in their 70s comprised the largest share of the victim total (24 percent).

Like An Apology

Will Help

He Chose

The Wrong Door

TEPCO Continues

To Be Stupid

LDP lawmakers regroup to promote nuclear power

2011/05/06
Lawmakers in the opposition Liberal Democratic Party established a task force to counter growing criticism against nuclear power generation, an industry that long supported the party when it ran the government.

The stated objective of Energy Seisaku Godo Kaigi (Joint council on energy policies) is to consider measures to balance supply and demand of electricity and to reconstruct energy strategies.

However, an LDP executive said bluntly, "We made the new group to protect nuclear power generation."

The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has led to huge anti-nuclear protests around Japan and prompted the ruling Democratic Party of Japan to rethink its energy policy, which includes the construction of more reactors.