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Japanese jingoism won’t help Fukushima’s refugees
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/03/11/commentary/japanese-jingoism-wont-help-fukushimas-refugees/
Japanese jingoism won’t help Fukushima’s refugees
by William Pesek
Bloomberg Mar 11, 2014
Does Shinzo Abe love soldiers who died during World War II more than Japanese living today?
The question might sound disrespectful. But I can’t help asking it as I survey the placards at anti-government rallies commemorating the third anniversary of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, which left almost 20,000 people dead or missing and erased entire towns. “Abe is AWOL,” says one. Another: “Nationalism Doesn’t Create Jobs!” The one that moved me most was carried by a 30-something mother wearing a “No Nukes” T-shirt: “My Kids Still Can’t Play Outside.”
After 1,095 days, untold billions of dollars of public expenditures and countless pledges to accelerate rebuilding efforts, radiation is still leaking at Fukushima. Only 3.4 percent of planned public-housing projects are close to being completed.
A whole generation of kids in the northeast Tohoku region are tested regularly for thyroid cancer. They can barely remember anything but temporary housing, and must wonder if outdoor playgrounds really exist.
If Prime Minister Abe spent even a fraction of his time helping tsunami-devastated towns and Fukushima’s nuclear refugees instead of fighting with Japan’s neighbors over history, Tohoku citizens would he much better off. Unfair criticism? Abe’s image-makers certainly think so; they play up his 13 visits to Tohoku since December 2012.
<snip>
But the government’s inability to handle its crisis at home belies its global ambitions. Time that should be allotted to sorting out Tohoku is squandered debating World War II atrocities, teaching “patriotism” to school kids, staffing national broadcaster NHK with like-minded conservatives and defending a prime ministerial visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where the souls of 14 Class-A war criminals are enshrined among the war dead. Abe seems to believe Japan has been victimized by history. So why is he ignoring Japan’s current victims?
<snip>
Japanese jingoism won’t help Fukushima’s refugees
by William Pesek
Bloomberg Mar 11, 2014
Does Shinzo Abe love soldiers who died during World War II more than Japanese living today?
The question might sound disrespectful. But I can’t help asking it as I survey the placards at anti-government rallies commemorating the third anniversary of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, which left almost 20,000 people dead or missing and erased entire towns. “Abe is AWOL,” says one. Another: “Nationalism Doesn’t Create Jobs!” The one that moved me most was carried by a 30-something mother wearing a “No Nukes” T-shirt: “My Kids Still Can’t Play Outside.”
After 1,095 days, untold billions of dollars of public expenditures and countless pledges to accelerate rebuilding efforts, radiation is still leaking at Fukushima. Only 3.4 percent of planned public-housing projects are close to being completed.
A whole generation of kids in the northeast Tohoku region are tested regularly for thyroid cancer. They can barely remember anything but temporary housing, and must wonder if outdoor playgrounds really exist.
If Prime Minister Abe spent even a fraction of his time helping tsunami-devastated towns and Fukushima’s nuclear refugees instead of fighting with Japan’s neighbors over history, Tohoku citizens would he much better off. Unfair criticism? Abe’s image-makers certainly think so; they play up his 13 visits to Tohoku since December 2012.
<snip>
But the government’s inability to handle its crisis at home belies its global ambitions. Time that should be allotted to sorting out Tohoku is squandered debating World War II atrocities, teaching “patriotism” to school kids, staffing national broadcaster NHK with like-minded conservatives and defending a prime ministerial visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where the souls of 14 Class-A war criminals are enshrined among the war dead. Abe seems to believe Japan has been victimized by history. So why is he ignoring Japan’s current victims?
<snip>
