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

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.”

Sketches of Myahk explores indigenous Japanese roots - still alive in northern Japan & Okinawa

Sketches of MYAHK Trailer

スケッチ・オブ・ミャーク 宮古島スペシャル

Koichi Onishi's documentary film, Sketches of Myahk, is a fascinating exploration of Japan's obscured indigenous heritage still extant in northern Japan and  Okinawa:

"I think Aomori connections with ancient Japan are much like those of Miyakojima," said Onishi, adding that he intends to shoot his next film in Aomori Prefecture.

Miyako is pronounced "Myahk" by locals. Two types of songs have been handed down through generations: "Aagu" folk songs that differ in style from traditional verses of the main Okinawa island and "kamiuta" sacred songs...

"Aomori (Prefecture) is home to the Sannai-Maruyama archaeological site and many other ruins from the prehistoric Jomon period (14,000 B.C. to 300 B.C.). Psychics closely related to folk beliefs like 'itako' shamans are still very much alive in our everyday lives," Onishi said. "(Aomori and) Miyakojima share a common bond in the way they retain traces of ancient Japan."

More about this beautiful film at Asahi.

Background: DNA research has confirmed that Ainu and Okinawans are direct descendants of Japan's first people, the Jomon, who entered what is now known as the Japanese archipelago through the area now known as Sakhalin, original home (along with the Kuriles, Hokkaido, and northern Tohoku)  to Ainu. Therefore Ainu and Okinawan cultures give us a sense of the richness of indigenous Japanese (Jomon)  culture.

Geneticists have also confirmed that mainland Japanese have descended from intermarriage of Jomon and later immigrants from Asia who brought rice and metal culture to Japan during the Yayoi period which lasted from around 300 BCE to 300. The later-comers entered the archipelago through Kyushu. New findings show that cultural exchanges went in multiple directions, with Asian mainlanders adopting Jomon culture as well as the other way around.

Citizens seek justice for Fukushima residents, evacuees as Japanese government continues pursuing nuclear program

"Women of Fukushima" - trailer from Paul Johannessen on Vimeo.

Setsuko Kida, one of the most impassioned speakers amongst the six persons profiled in the  award-winning  documentary film Women of Fukushima, has recently returned to Japan from Geneva, Switzerland, where she addressed the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights during its hearing on issues related to Japan held at the end of April.

Kida, who was forced to evacuate her home (which was located between the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear reactors) following the disaster of March 11, 2011, has remained a tireless campaigner over the past two years for the Japanese government to recognize the rights of Fukushima citizens and give just compensation for their suffering. Her work includes attending various speaking events and street campaigning in Tokyo (including the ongoing Friday night anti-nuclear demonstrations in front of the Prime Minister's residence), where she reminds those in Japan that the ongoing repercussions of the disaster in their country are far from over.

Kida was accompanied on her trip to Geneva by Women of Fukushima producer Jeffrey Jousan, who spoke on her behalf in front of the UN Committee, as she does not speak English. Allotted only three minutes, the brief speech nevertheless poignantly and powerfully delineates the many problems that continue to face Fukushima residents following the crisis:

Setsuko Kida and Jeffrey Jousan, United Nations, April 29, 2013

In an e-mail sent to me from Geneva, Kida said the following:

It makes me sad that I have to come here and make an appeal regarding facts that the Japanese government is trying to cover up and hide from the rest of the world. I came here to let people know that Fukushima is still here, as well as to reveal the fact that the Japanese government is attempting to reinvigorate its nuclear power program in the name of economics--a move that endangers the very existence of civilization itself.

While here, I will only be able to circulate translated materials and make a short presentation. I am not sure about the extent to which this kind of lobbying will have an impact upon the committee members, but one thing is sure: continuing to merely protest in front of the Japanese Prime Minister's residence will do nothing to change the politicians in this country. If the same crowd of nearly 200,000 people were to come here and surround the UN buildings in Geneva like they did in Tokyo last year, I have no doubt that the Japanese government would get completely panicked.  In any case, the fact that a nuclear refugee such as myself has to come here on my own to make this kind of appeal makes me feel very much alone.

Kida's visit to the United Nations follows that of Katsutaka Idogawa, the courageous former mayor of Futaba Town near the nuclear reactors, who resigned in protest of the national government's failure to adequately provide for the safety of Fukushima citizens.

In Tokyo, meanwhile, citizens have wrapped up a ten-day hunger strike to protest the government's attempt to force them out of their tent outside the economic ministry offices, which they have been using as a base for grassroots anti-nuclear voices from Fukushima and elsewhere since the days following the 3.11 disaster. The hunger strike was held in the lead-up to the lawsuit, which began hearing arguments on Thursday, May 24th.

Speaking at the tent on the last day of the hunger strike, campaigner Michiko Saito (featured in the video below) told me that she has been protesting the use of nuclear power for the past 40 years--particularly following the accident in Fukushima--whose citizens she says have unfairly borne the burden of the nuclear power plants that are largely used to power electricity in the Tokyo metropolis. "Many of my friends from the movement have already passed away, and I feel horrible that they never got to see their dream of a nuclear-free Japan realized within their lifetimes," she explained."

Tokyo-based anti-nuclear activist Michiko Saito

The tent has consistently served as a space for citizens to speak out against a number of issues related to the anti-nuclear struggle, including the evacuation of children from Fukushima. A ruling is expected soon in a lawsuit on the matter, whose lawyer Toshio Yanagihara was quoted as saying, "I don't understand why an economic power like Japan won't evacuate their children - something even the fascist government did during World War II. This is child abuse."

Also taken up by activists in Japan have been efforts by the Japanese government to export its nuclear technology overseas. One such country is India, whose Prime Minister Singh is due to visit Tokyo next week, when he is expected to move closer toward signing a nuclear agreement with Japan's Prime Minister Abe. Citizens in India continue to protest several proposed nuclear power plants including one in the southern region of Koodankulam  -- the construction of which activist and author Arundhati Roy has likened to a "crime."

In anticipation of Prime Minister Singh's visit to Japan, activists in Japan and India are jointly spearheading a citizen's petition aimed at stopping the agreement from moving forward, which may be signed here. According to the petition:

Japan must refrain from exporting nuclear technology to other countries, especially non-signatories of the NPT and CTBT. The current policy option of exporting nuclear energy to countries like India, Vietnam, Jordan etc… are totally unjust while Japan is reeling under the huge financial losses posed by the Fukushima accident and its citizens are observing massive protests to demand a nuclear-free future and the victims of the triple meltdowns remain uncompensated.

       Anti-nuclear tent in front of Japanese economic ministry following end of hunger strike, 5/22/13

--Kimberly Hughes

Former Mayor of Futaba Town in Fukushima Appeals in 8 European Countries

Katsutaka Idogawa on protecting the right to evacuate: "The  20mSv/y limit 
dose is madness. Being exposed to radiation is an exposure to violence."

Katsutaka Idogawa, former Mayor of Futaba Town, the site of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, will travel to France, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, and Switzerland.  He will be reaching out to municipal leaders and citizen groups about the ongoing situation in Fukushima.

Seven days after the disasters of March 11, 2011, Idogawa temporarily evacuated town residents 45 kilometers away to Kawamata City. After witnessing ashes floating down from the sky, fallout from the explosion at reactor no. 1, and measuring radiation levels on his dosimeter, he came to the conclusion that the only way for the people of Futaba to be safe would be to be as far as possible. Without waiting governmental advice, he put the safety of the people first and arranged for the town to be relocated to Saitama prefecture.

On May 12 he will meet with citizen groups at Penly Nuclear Power Plant in Le Havre, France on the English Channel where fires in April 2012 led to radioactive leakage. For a map of nuclear sites in France visit the Greenpeace France the Nuclear Around You page. From May 13-15, he will participate in an international conference aboard Peace Boat on its way to Stockholm.  Participants include:

• Alain Correa (STOP EPR Network, France)- sign the petition to stop construction of next nuclear reactor here
• Olivier Florens (Europe Ecology – The Greens)
• Iida Tetsunari (Director, Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies)
• Lena Lindahl (Sustainable Sweden Association)
• Andrey Ozharovskiy (Nuclear expert with Bellona working to prevent the construction of a plant by Hitachi in Lithuania)
• Sato Kenta (“Fukushima Conference”, from Iitate Village)
• Yoshioka Tatsuya (Co-founder and Director of Peace Boat) 

Fire at Penly Nuclear Power Plant April 2012

After meeting with experts, politicians and citizens working on nuclear issues at an event organized by ICAN Sweden, IPPNW Sweden, and the Sustainable Sweden Association on the 16th, he will travel to the location of planned nuclear power plant at Pyhäjoki, Finland to meet with the mayor and citizens from the 17-18th. Despite protests, Toshiba has won the bid to build this plant making it the 6th plant in the country. According to the Nuclear Heritage Network, the site of the proposed plant, on the untouched Hanhikivi peninsula, is an important nesting area for almost twenty endangered bird species and migrating arctic birds. Furthermore, the plant is at risk of having no access to cooling water in the winter months due to pack ice in the gulf of Bothnia.

Signs warning of the radiation that goes hand in hand with the
 impending nuclear plant at Pyhäjoki. For more images click here

From May 19-22nd he will visit Helsinki and Latvia, making his way to the Middelgrunden Wind Farm in Copenhagen for May 24-25. He will end his tour with a presentations to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire on Article 9 & a World based on Democracy, Human Rights, & International Law

(Article 9 monument on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa. Photo: The Asia-Pacific Journal)

Via The Global Article 9 Campaign:

Message from Mairead Maguire, 1976 Nobel Peace Laureate, Co-founder of The Peace People, Northern Ireland:

I write to support Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and to appeal to the Japanese people and government to protect this wonderful Article 9, which is so important and a treasure for all of humanity.

This article is a commitment to peace and against war by the Japanese people and has since its inception given great inspiration not only to generations of Japanese people but many people around the world.

Being the only people in the world to experience the horror of nuclear war, Japan has carried out its great role to call the world to abolish nuclear weapons and war. With the spread of nuclear weapons and the ongoing policies of some governments of occupation, militarism, and war, there is a moral and spiritual responsibility for Japan and its people to increase their voices and efforts to call the world back from the brink of nuclear war and destruction.

A massive peoples movement is spreading around the world demanding the human family move beyond militarism and war to a world based on democracy, human rights and international law.

The Government of Japan can help lead this movement at the United Nations and amongst the world's nations by discussing Article 9 and the proposal that such an article could be included in every country's policy and constitution. This would be real leadership by the peace loving Japanese people who knows the suffering and pain of nuclear weapons and war and such a commitment would give hope to civil societies and governments trying to build a world based not on threat of violence and war, but on real democracy, human rights and international law.

Noh Workshop @ HUB Kyoto, where things appear and disappear

"Is it comfortable? Good, it shouldn't be!"

Noh means skill, noh means talent.humorous Dr. Diego Pellecchia reminded us of an often overlooked definition- possibility! Last Sunday, Diego led a workshop at  Kyohakuin, the venue for the HUB Kyoto initiative to bring change makers together in one place. Indeed, in a gorgeous venue with such a rich history, the possibilites truely are endless.

Originally the residence of a Nanga (Chinese literati style) painter in the Meiji era, HUB founding member Lucinda Cowing explained that following the Second World War, Kyohakuin became a finishing school for girls. Here, they were trained in the traditional arts, including tea ceremony and calligraphy, but also Noh theatre. Hence it is believed that the recently-restored Noh stage was built during this period.

Diego started the session by describing how he first began exploring his possibilities with Noh when he met Monique Arnaud in his home of Italy in 2006. After taking Noh classes from her there, he decided to pursue a PhD focusing on the reception of Noh theatre in Europe at the Royal Holloway University of London,  Drama, and Theatre Department.

Currently he is a student of Kongo school of Noh at the International Noh Institute in Kyoto. He also is a researcher at Ritsumeikan University and gives Noh workshops internationally. This workshop was his first in Japan.

For some of the participants, it was their first experience with Noh.  Others like former dancer Julien de Vries, used to watch Noh every Sunday at midnight on NHK. Another participant/observer was photographer Stéphane Barbery who took some stunning photos of the workshop that are available here.

Before moving on to Noh chanting and Noh movements, Diego explained how Noh represents the potential for things to happen. Noh starts with an empty stage. Things appear- the music, the masks, the costumes, the dances, the chants. When the performance is over- they disappear. Diego reminded the workshop participants to keep this in mind as they tested themselves at becoming one with the Noh chanting and movements.

"Noh is like a mirror- it is honest, it reflects."

The workshop focused on a shimai, a self-contained unit of a full Noh performance, entitled Oi Matsu, the Ancient Pine.  Oimatsu is the first shimai that Diego ever learned. It depicts how the protagonist Sugawara Michizane, after being expelled to Chikuzen, Kyushu from Kyoto, would long for days of old.  He reminisces on the plum and ancient pine trees that used to adorn his courtyard in the capital when the next day they appear to him in his Kyushu residence.  Click here for a synopsis of the entire play.

According to the Samurai Archives:

Oimatsu, literally "old pine tree," is an auspicious Noh play depicting, symbolically, an old pine tree. In this play, as throughout Noh and other theatrical and artistic traditions, the pine represents longevity and strength, especially through difficulties, as the pine is evergreen through the winter.

The participants would become the traveling ancient pine tree.

After leading the participants through the chants for the shimai, Diego explained how the performers, no matter what their size, would form a strong skeleton for the large and heavy Noh costumes that they would wear should they perform. The masks would block a large part of their vision— it's normal to be restricted to one eyehole, and not be able to see one's toes —they  so Noh performers must know the stage like the back of their hand. This also is why Noh performers seem to move as if they are sliding across the stage. Diego guided the workshop participants through the movements in their new skeletons.

"Focus on reproducing a beautiful shaper. You are now an old pine visiting from Tokyo to Kyushu."

All of the participants, experiencing Noh as performers for the first time, took a while to feel comfortable with the movements and chanting, which although steming back from 650 years ago, were very new to them.  It is no wonder that Noh performances take years of dedicated training to perfect the simple yet very technical movements.

Diego ended the workshop saying, " When you see a Noh performance, I am sure that you will think of it differently."
  
For those who missed this workshop, there will be more to come and Diego will be appearing for the first time as the shite lead role in a full production of a Noh play at the bi-annual International Noh Institute performance on June 29th, 2013. 

-Posted by Jen Teeter

Happy Earth Day!

Via Keibo Shinichi Oiwa Tsuji on FB

We can't put this better than our friend, eco-blogger Martin Frid, at Kurashi: 

I was lucky enough to walk through the Earthday market in Tokyo today, a regular Sunday. If you haven't tried it, you haven't experienced the more aware youth in Japan, all the NGOs, the amazing farmers markets, the hemp clothes, the organic tea, the hippie vibe. This is a city that cares about the environment, the state of the planet, the wholeness. We are all connected.

Pass the unwanted plutonium: Weapons grade plutonium shipped from France to Japan today

Greenpeace protests shipment at Cherbourg- Photo courtesy of La Stampa

Weapons-grade plutonium has been shipped from France for use in a MOX reactor in Takahama City, Fukui that is not in service. The fuel will travel past over 70 different countries along the way, many of which have been protesting the transport. There has been no environmental assessment of the impact of the radioactive shipment and countries along the way have not been adequately consulted. (See Green Action statement against the shipment in Japanese)

Opposition to the shipment has been felt not only in Japan, but around the world. Green Action, Citizens Nuclear Information Center (CNIC), Joint Action for Nuclear Free Korea,   Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC), Physicians for Social Responsibility, Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE), and Friends of the Earth, are urging U.S. Secretary of State Senator John Kerry to take action to stop the shipment due to the following concerns:

• No demand for plutonium fuel in Japan , no possibility for its use now, utility admits it is undetermined whether or not the fuel to be transported will be used ;
• Japan continuing to acquire, stockpile and attempt to scale up its use of weapons-usable plutonium, including efforts to start-up and operate the Rokkasho reprocessing plant;
• A flawed U.S. policy of supporting Japan’s plutonium program which does not contribute to, but on the contrary distracts from stabilizing on-going non-proliferation efforts in East Asia;
• Japan’s program and its U.S. support undermining on-going U.S. Republic of Korea (ROK) Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (123) negotiations, including encouraging ROK to seek reprocessing and separated plutonium;
• The impact of the shipment on exacerbating further tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the East Sea/Sea of Japan, particularly in relation to the nuclear program of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK); and,
• Inadequate transport security plan, including for passage through the Korea Strait.

 CORE’s spokesman Martin Forwood stated:

"Given that the upcoming shipment is being made at the request of AREVA because it has become tired of storing the fuel in France – and that KEPCO is reported as being undecided as to whether the MOX fuel will ever be used – these Barrow ships are doing little more than playing ‘Pass the Plutonium Parcel’ with a batch of unwanted and dangerous fuel."

 According to NHK world, on Monday French activists held protests against the shipment:

About 50 activists gathered at the northwestern port of Cherbourg on Monday... The activists wore headbands with the Japanese slogan saying "Stop MOX" and called for a halt to the delivery... A spokesperson for the activists said France is pressuring Japan by sending the fuel over when the country is trying to decide on new energy policies. 

For a video of the convey click here.

Videos of protests, courtesy of NHK here.

STOP MOX- Courtesy of Greenpeace Cherbourg Twitter Account

- Posted by Jen Teeter

Exhibition of Ainu woodwork and more at Yokohama Takashimaya

 From April 17th to the 20th, the 5th annual "Wood work, Wooden shapes" exhibition is being held on the 8th floor of Takashimaya in Yokohama. 

Nibutani-born Ainu artist Maki Sekine, whose carved wooden obon (tray) is seen in the poster above will have her woodwork and atush (elm bark carvings) on display. Maki Sekine just returned from Aotearoa (New Zealand) where she took place in the Aotearoa Ainumosir Exchange Program and some of her pieces on display are inspired by her interactions with Maori people she met there.

- Posted by Jen Teeter