Still "Praying for Japan" —Uncanny Terrain explores impact of 3/11 on Fukushima family farmers, animals, soil, & nuclear evacuees

Beautiful and heartrending trailer from Uncanny Terrain
a documentary film by Junko Kajino and Ed M. Koziarski,
who lived and worked with Fukushima family farmers struggling in the aftermath of 3/11

This film is a must for all who are continuing to "pray for Japan" — for all who support the safety of Japanese people and animals, the recovery of Tohoku, and the survival of traditional Japanese rural culture.

Fukushima, as with the rest of Tohoku, was a bastion of organic, natural farming; slow, traditional Japanese culture. The shock, trauma, and continuing nuclear radiation assaults that started on 3/11 has shaken the idyllic way of life and identity of Fukushima organic farmers to the core.  Now farmers, who worked to build up good, organic soil and food have undertaken the responsibility for ongoing decontamination and recovery efforts, while dealing with collective fears regarding radioactive contamination of their products and persons, and uncertainty regarding their future and that of their descendants in their ancestral homeland.

The organic farmers of Fukushima prefecture toiled for 40 years to grow safe, nutritious and delicious crops on their ancestral land while two nuclear power plants in the prefecture helped feed Tokyo’s increasingly voracious energy appetite.

Since the March 2011 tsunami triggered the meltdown that spread radioactive contamination on much of the lush farmland of Fukushima and eastern Japan, the farmers have been caught between a government in constant denial of the risks of radiation, and outraged citizens who brand the farmers “child murderers” for continuing to cultivate irradiated land.

But the farmers, researchers and volunteers are committed to building a comprehensive monitoring and reporting network to inform citizens about contamination levels in food, air, water and land, so families can make their own informed decisions; and advancing experimental methods to decontaminate soil or prevent crops grown on contaminated soil from absorbing radiation.

Fukushima has demonstrated the need for greater public vigilance to keep all our food and energy producers honest, not just about radiation but about all the potential [pesticides, GMOs, industrial and other toxic] contaminants that our collective appetites introduce into our bodies and our communities.

For all who love traditional Japan, this is a film to support and see. Much more at the film's website: Uncannyterrain.com. 

Nuclear-free activist Taro Yamamoto wins; Yohei Miyake via YouTube & Twitter: "Keep the Motivation..."

YOHEI MIYAKE Melodious Campaign Speech (Greens Japan) 

Nuclear-free candidate Taro Yamamoto won an Upper House seat after losing a bid for a Lower House seat in last December's election. The actor also opposed Tokyo's entry into  TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) negotiations.

Short news documentary on Yamamoto at Shingetsu News here on YouTube.

Beautiful Energy's Jacinta Hin's translation and comment on another Nuclear-free candidate, Greens' Yohei Miyake's concession via Twitter:

"I/we lost, but I/we gained so much". He also mentions the need for international collaboration for world peace. He got a lot of votes. He is a winner for me. This is just the start of his new journey.

三宅洋平 / Yohei Miyake @MIYAKE_YOHEI

やれる事はすべてやった。 もっとうまくやれる方法も沢山分かった。 負けたが、得

たものは大きい。 伸び代しかない。 次は強い党を作らないと、だね。 そして国際平和のための世界的な連帯作り。 おし、まずは走り込みだ！ ‪#‎176970票‬

 Read a terrific analysis of the media blackout, "blur" (?) of Miyake's campaign by J. T. Cassidy at Temple Valley Times and wrap-up by Martin Frid at Kurashi
..

Keiko Itokazu Wins Reelection in Okinawa!

Congratulations to Ms. Keiko Itokazu, and her many supporters, on reelection to her Upper House seat!  
(Photo: Keiko Itokazu on FB)

Keiko Itokazu, an Okinawan political leader strongly opposed to the proposed new mega-base at Henoko, Okinawa, was elected to a third term in the July 21 House of Councillors election.

Ms. Itokazu, head of the independent Okinawa Social Mass Party, beat Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidate Masaaki Asato, and other candidates in the Okinawa prefectural constituency where only one seat was contested this time.

In fall of 2012, she joined other MPs, Okinawa Prefectural Assembly members and local citizens in the all-Okinawa historic protest against US military V-22 Osprey flight training in Okinawa.

In January 2012, the regal political leader was a member of the 24-member Okinawan delegation that traveled to Washington and spoke with author and peace activist, David Swanson.

She is a co-chair of Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, together with Ms. Suzuyo Takazato, a globally recognized feminist peace activist who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

A native of Yomitan, Ms. itokazu served in the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly for three terms, starting in 1992, and was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 2004. After running unsuccessfully for governorship of Okinawa Prefecture in 2006, she was re-elected to the House of Councillors in 2007.

Matthew Penney (The Asia-Pacific Journal): Public Opinion and the July 21 Election in Japan

 Viral on FB:  Garei Zamamiya's photo of Yohei Miyake,

 respected musician, Greens candidate in Japan's parliamentary election, 

campaigning for "Nuclear-Free, TPP-Free, and politics for the people by the people" in Shibuya today. 

Some excerpts from Matthew Penney's analysis of the July 21 election in Japan at The Asia-Pacific Journal:

Article 9:

While it appears that a majority of the Japanese population support constitutional revision, they apparently do not want to make it easier to achieve. The same poll has 52% opposing revision of Article 9, the “peace clause”, with 39% supporting revision. Even among conservatives, concern for the economy seems to far outstrip the longstanding project of constitutional revision. When voters were asked about what issues they believe are important for the July House of Councilors election, the constitution came dead last.

Nuclear-free:

13% of Japanese want nuclear power done away with as soon as possible 24% want complete de-nuclearization by 2030, 22% want to see it done away with by 2040. 12% desire an end to reliance on nuclear energy sometime after 2040. 18% believe that Japan should continue to use nuclear power The portion of the Japanese population which expresses unqualified support of nuclear power has shrunk to a small minority. A full 71% express a desire to see nuclear power abolished. As with many political issues, however, economic growth seems central in the minds of Japanese voters. 

Conclusion:

Even if Abe’s expected election landslide materializes... the Japanese political environment is still far from stable. An Asahi poll carried out on July 13 and 14 tells an interesting story. While Abe’s electoral success is undeniable, only 36% of those polled wish to see the LDP gain a majority on July 21. Other polls show support for key Abe policies such as participation in the TPP free trade agreement slipping steadily since March. Landslide or no, the public still has many questions, and it remains to be seen whether Abe and the LDP have the answers.

Portrait of a Weapon Inventor as a Young Man: Hayao Miyazaki's Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)

Trailer for Hayo Miyazaki's Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises).  Based on the manga of the same name; in turn based on a short story by Tatsuo Hori, a prewar proletarian writer, poet and translator who died in 1953. Kaze Tachinu is a fictionalised biography of Jiro Horikoshi, chief designer of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, a long-range warplane used in bombing raids and kamikaze attacks during the Pacific War.

Interesting timing on the release of this film. Miyazaki's films invoke nostalgia for traditional Japanese community, family, and rural life; and contain anti-war and environmentalist themes.  In May of this year, Toshio Suzuki,  producer at Ghibli, the studio which produces Miyazaki's films, unequivocally pronounced his support for the Japanese Peace Constitution in an interview with Tokyo Shimbun (English translation at Anime News Network):

Suzuki spoke his support for the clause, saying, ”We should be proclaiming Article 9, which has brought peace to Japan, to the rest of the world.” He added, “I doubt most people outside of Japan even know that we have Article 9. After all, we have a self-defense force. They probably know about that. That's why we have to spread the word about the clause to the world. This peace that Japan has wouldn't have been possible without it."

Suzuki came to know the future Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki after Suzuki co-founded the magazine Animage for the publisher Tokuma Shoten. Miyazaki serialized his Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga in Animage, and Suzuki participated in the production of Miyazaki's film version in 1984. When Ghibli separated from Tokuma Shoten in 2005, Suzuki was appointed to head the studio. Suzuki stepped down as the head of Ghibli in 2008, but he has remained an active producer on all of its films.

(July 21 update: Detailed analysis by Matthew Penney just published at The Asia-Pacific Journal on Hayao Miyazaki, war, peace, and Article 9; cites the filmmaker's belief that Article 9 should remain the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy; and cites Studio Ghibli director (and Miyazaki collaborator Isao Takahata: “We sacrificed the people of Okinawa and became collaborators in [America’s wars].” )

(July 24 update: More background at Mainichi with a link to a Ghibli pamphlet outlining both the studio's and Miyazaki's support of Article 9.)

Fireflies

Have to share this magical photo of fireflies 

taken by KJ's amazing web designer, Rick Elizaga!

For more of KJ, visit  Kyotojournal.org

Green Action: MOX (mixed plutonium uranium) Fuel Shipment Arrives in Japan with No End-Use Determined

Via Kyoto-based Green Action: 

 27 June 2013, Takahama Town, Fukui Prefecture, Japan-- A shipment of MOX (mixed plutonium and uranium oxide) fuel arrived at Kepco’s Takahama nuclear power plant today located in Fukui Prefecture facing the Japan Sea.

Today’s shipment violates the Japan Atomic Energy Commission's determination, issued in 2003, requiring utilities to specify the end-use of MOX fuel before it is imported.

Kepco has not been given permission to restart its Takahama nuclear power plant. On top of that, the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority
(NRA) has not even established post-Fukushima accident regulatory standards for MOX fuel and its use.

According to the IAEA, unirradiated MOX fuel is direct-use nuclear weapons material. This shipment adds yet another 900kg (approx.) to the already 960kg of unused plutonium in MOX fuel located at 5 nuclear
power plants in Japan.

As of today, over 70 nations have opposed MOX fuel shipments and past shipments of separated plutonium. Japan, the UK, and France have neglected to undertake an environmental impact assessment on Japanese nuclear shipments. Furthermore, no compensation plan exists for damages in the event of an accident, and emergency planning is grossly inadequate.

Many Japanese prefectures are also on the shipment route. Citizens of local governments which face the Japan Sea have petitioned Kepco and the Japanese government for information on emergency planning and compensation for damages in the event of such an accident.

On 26 June, the Joint Action for Nuclear Free Korea composed of 78 groups including the nationwide Korean Federation of Environmental Movement (KFEM) issued a statement opposing the MOX shipment.

“Crucial quality control data for the MOX fuel has not been released by the French fuel fabricator Areva SA. Not even Kepco, its client, has been given details on the kind of impurities in the fuel and other important data that could affect the fuel safety. The French nuclear authority's remit does not include checking the quality of foreign fuel. Therefore, only Areva is privy to that information” stated Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of Green Action.

----------
References:
12, April 2013
Joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry regarding MOX fuel
shipment to Japan
http://www.greenaction-japan.org/internal/130412_MOX_US_State_Letter.pdf
5 March 2013
Letters sent to countries potentially on the route of the MOX fuel
shipment
http://www.greenaction-japan.org/internal/130305_Letter_en_route_MOX.pdf

Kyoto Journal is Back, with New Digital Issue

Via our friends and colleagues at KJ:

Kyoto Journal is Back, with New Digital Issue

With release of our 77th issue, the long-established all-volunteer-based Kyoto Journal is back in production!

Our transition from print to digital publication (and a total rebuild of our website) has been a challenging and time-consuming process. This issue puts KJ finally back on track as a quarterly melding of wide-ranging “insights from Asia,” noted for long-shelf-life content and distinctive design (now iPad-friendly too!)

Based in Kyoto, KJ’s network of contributors extends far afield: the 22 articles in this issue of over 200 pages take readers beyond the ancient capital to Hiroshima, Tokyo and Fukushima, to Korea, China, Nepal, Tibet, India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, delving into film and fiction, poetry, “off-the-beaten-track” travels, craft and calligraphy, architectural and archaeological investigations, yoga, post-disaster initiatives, and an informative reviews section.

Featured articles include:

• “Strong Children,” on a post-quake Tohoku support project, by Geoff Read

• “Engineering the Japanese Islands,” an interview with environmental historian Brett Walker, by Winifred Bird

• “Contested Terrain: Development, Identity and the Destruction of an Ancient City in Afghanistan,” a first-hand report by Isaac Blacksin

• “Between Darkness and Light: Reflections on Hindu India,” by Vinayak Bharne

• “Okamoto Taro; Nuclear Proliferation, and the “Myth of Tomorrow,” by Donald C. Wood and Akiko Takahashi“

• Tsa’lam: the Nomadic Route of Salt,” a yak-trail traced by expeditioner Jeff Fuchs

• Illuminating profiles of contemporary filmmakers Amar Kanwar, Koreeda Hirokazu, and Asoka Handagama

KJ was highly fortunate to have been supported by Heian Bunka Center from 1986 – 2010. The magazine is now a fully independent non-profit. Our next concern is to expand our subscriber base. Bandwidth and monthly charges for digital publication webtools aren’t cheap; we need to cover ongoing production expenses, hoping also to produce occasional specially-themed publications in print. Without a sponsor, we now depend on our readers — the KJ community — for vital support.

KJ is not a business. Neither staff nor contributors receive any payment.  We believe that KJ fulfils an important role as a place for non-mainstream material that digs deeper into the fertile soil of Asian experience. With the new potential of our website and digital format, we are eager to see KJ’s ongoing evolution, and to welcome new readers and subscribers.

Downloads of individual issues cost 1,200 yen (US$12.50). A full year’s subscription (4 issues) is an affordable 4,000 yen (about US$42). Check out our sampler of 77, and please sign up (or take out a gift subscription!), to help us keep on producing KJ.

We also have a newsletter – please sign up on our homepage and receive a full-length download of a classic issue, KJ 73, for free.



Visit the KJ website for more: http://kyotojournal.org/

Power of Okinawa: Irei no Hi 2013

Via The Power of Okinawa's great blog on Okinawan music and culture:

 

Today is Irei no hi – the day when the end of the Battle of Okinawa is commemorated throughout the Ryukyu Islands. As usual the biggest ceremony was held at lunchtime at Okinawa Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni, Itoman and I was there along with many others. It always seems to be a scorching hot day on the 23rd June and this was no exception as people gathered in the park under a blazing sun and in a temperature hovering around 32 degrees...

Masaharu Kina, the Speaker of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, made the most pertinent speech in which he noted that there are now 241,227 names on the Cornerstone of Peace (where the names of all those killed in the fighting are inscribed) following the addition of another 62 names this year. He also pointed out that this is a day when all Japanese should think about war even though Irei no hi is still a designated public holiday in Okinawa only. He went on:

"One of the lessons we learned from the sacrifices of countless irreplaceable lives during the war is that a people with no voice will perish. In light of our past being trifled with by national policies, and the currently unchanged situation of Okinawa, the people of Okinawa have held numerous rallies to demand the reduction and realignment of the U.S. military bases and alleviation of our burden. We have voiced our requests.

“Prompted by countless unreasonable actions against Okinawa, we, the people of Okinawa, are about to reach the limit of our patience. The non-partisan petition handed to Prime Minister Abe this January reflects our earnest collective will not to tolerate any more base burdens and to live peaceful lives.

“Under the circumstances we are here with solemnity on this day, which marks the anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. This is the day to inscribe indelibly into our hearts that such a miserable war should never happen again and to hope for a peaceful bright future.”

Women's Active Museum on War & Peace: "Military Does Not Protect Women: Okinawa, Japan’s Military Comfort Stations & Sexual Violence by the US Military"

Last 2 weeks  at the Women's Active Museum on War and Peace in Tokyo....

10th Special Exhibition

"Military Does Not Protect Women: Okinawa, Japan’s Military Comfort Stations and Sexual Violence by the US Military"

[ June 23, 2012 - June 30, 2013 ]

“Is it really possible to live in peace next to a military committed to exercising violence that trains night and day in ways to kill people?

This is the fundamental question posed by a woman in Okinawa who has been the victim of sexual violence by American soldiers.

As the Asia-Pacific War drew to a close, the lives of countless inhabitants were sacrificed in a 3-month land battle on Okinawa, which Japan viewed as a “barrier” protecting the mainland. Japanese troops deployed to Okinawa built comfort stations wherever they were stationed, over 145 in all, and turned women from Okinawa, Korea, Taiwan and the Japanese mainland into “comfort women.” After Japan’s defeat, rapes by US soldiers followed. Today, more than 40 years since the return of Okinawa to Japan, there is no end to the on-going incidents of sexual violence. The struggle of women continues.

The military deprived women of their lives and deprived the islands of peace. This exhibition conveys the reality of military as a repressive state apparatus of violence, focusing on the sexual violence of the Japanese military until 1945 and of the long-standing US military in Okinawa. It questions the responsibility of Japan for keeping Okinawa as militarized islands during and after the war.

Main Contents of the Exhibition:

• Okinawan History—from the Ryukyu Kingdom to assimilation policy under Japan rule

• Deployment of Japanese troops to Okinawa and the establishment of comfort stations

• A map of comfort stations throughout Okinawa

• The true face of the Okinawan War: civilian suffering, mobilization of school children and ‘mass suicides’

• Women who were in the Headquarters Shelter of Japan’s 32nd Army

• Women from Okinawa, Kyushu and Korea who were made ‘comfort women’

• Comfort stations on the islands of Tokashiki, Zamami and Miyako

• The American Occupation and sexual violence

• Women taking action against military sexual violence of the present and past