Jason’s Random Thoughts

Over a year has passed since 新潟県 (Niigata Prefecture) suffered a massive offshore earthquake.  Measuring 7 on Japan’s scale of 7, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant quickly shut down the four reactors operating at the time.  Aside from an outdoor transformer catching fire and some radioactive material from a spent fuel storage pool leaking into the sea, there was no major damage to the plant.  The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has inspected the plant twice and found no serious damage to the facilities.  So this begs the question: Why isn’t the plant brought back online?

Disaster prevention was key in the design of this nuclear power plant, and the safety mechanisms worked near-perfectly.  The reactors were quickly shut down through automated systems, the rods were secured, and not one life was lost.  The facility was hit with a quake measuring 7 out of 7, in a country where Richter’s Scale just won’t do, and it’s still standing.  Surely this is a redeeming qualification to resume power generation in a country where a summer-time electrical consumption rate of 98.2% capacity is considered “expected.”

Oddly enough … no.

The seven nuclear power reactors, which together are capable of generating 8.21 GigaWatts (more than any other plant on Earth), will remain offline for the summer and probably until sometime in mid-to-late-2009.

About As Green As An American SUV

Electricity is insanely important in Japan as anything that can be plugged into a wall socket is plugged into a wall socket.  Chairs, sofas, coffee tables, aquariums, book shelves, digital scales, toothbrushes, and throw rugs.  Anything and everything that can have a computer chip, light bulb or fan, usually gets one … whether it’s necessary or not.  With such a reliance on power, the Japanese public will not tolerate such Third-World situations as rolling blackouts or, heaven forbid, brown-outs.  To this end, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) resumed operations at two thermal power plants in 横須賀市 (Yokosuka).  While this will help compensate for the lost power generation from Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, it will also emit an extra 30,000,000 tonnes of CO² into the atmosphere.

Yay.

Despite the rage and insults lobbed at China for their excessive use of coal-powered plants, few people pay attention to where their electrical power comes from.  With so much of the country flirting dangerously with shortages this summer, it’s time for us to think about these issues.  TEPCO must show that it’s implemented a dynamic set of safety measures if it wants to resume operations at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, and government agencies need to make more of an effort to educate the public on the need for nuclear power plants.

Whether this will happen, though, remains to be clear.

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Jeff Foxworthy had audiences around North America laughing several years ago with his “You might be a redneck” jokes and, while the jokes themselves are quite dated, the setup is not. So, as a tribute to the retired comedy act, and to oddities seen around Japan, here’s my rendition of the classic joke:

• If you have a steaming-hot cup of coffee and no steam, you might be in Japan
• If girls wear skirts high enough to show their underwear, but cover their ass when going up stairs, you might be in Japan
• If the posted capacity is 60 people and you call 90 “a slow day,” you might be in Japan
• If English is the unofficial second language, but nobody can understand it, you might be in Japan
• If a large coffee is 300 mL, but a regular beer is the size of a mini-keg, you might be in Japan
• If six people are walking down a crowded street, and insist on walking shoulder-to-shoulder, you might be in Japan
• If you’re paid for five days and expected to work six, you might be in Japan
• If you see someone who looks amazing in a dress, then later find out it’s a man, you might be in Japan
• If you’ve got 15 Louis Vitton handbags, and teeth more crooked than a Ferengi, you might be in Japan

Okay … Some of these are pretty weak. That said, I’ll open the floor to you. Can you think of any good “You might be in Japan” jokes?

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武島 (Takeshima) is a group of disputed islets situated between Japan and South Korea. The South Korean government claims this patch of land is sovereign territory and refers to it as Dokdo. Japan, on the other hand, steadfastly sticks to the position that the island group is an integral part of the country’s territory historically as well as according to international law. This has been the case for over half a century, and will likely continue to be the story for the same length of time.

We can see the same kind of story between Japan and Russia concerning the sovereignty of 色丹 (Shikotan), 国後 (Kunashiri), 択捉 (Etorofu), and the はぼまい (Habomai) group of islets just off the northern coast of 北海道 (Hokkaido). Unlike the situation with Russia, though, the South Koreans are much more ambitious with their dramatic territorial claims.

But who is the rightful nation to this semi-appealing group of rocks sitting exposed in the middle of the Sea of Japan?

Historical Perspective

Japan first took control of Takeshima in the early part of the Edo period (1603-1867). Before this time, there were no inhabitants on the islands, and the only significance this small region had was the fishing. The islets were put under the jurisdiction of Shimane Prefecture in 1905, and all was well and good with the situation.

This changed in the 1950’s, though, when South Korean President Syngman Rhee declared Takeshima as sovereign Korean territory and gave them the name of Dokdo (meaning “Independent”). This transpired shortly before the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into effect in 1952, where Japan’s internationally recognized sovereign territory was mapped out. Since this time, South Korean military personnel have illegally occupied the islets.

The Current Situation

South Korea and Japan are neighbours, both politically and geographically. The nations have worked together well in the past, and they’ll need to continue working together if they hope to create any lasting relations with North Korea and secure their position as an economic power-house on the Pacific coast. While there has been quite a lot of huffing and puffing on various subjects, the nations of South Korea and Japan are not all that different. Why the mention of a group of islets in a teachers’ manual warrants the recall of ambassadors and prompts official protests is beyond me.

The teacher’s book explicitly avoided talking about the Takeshima islets as though they were an integral part of Japan’s territory, and asked that lessons on this disputed collection of rocks be handled in the same fashion as how teachers currently discuss the disputed regions in the northern territories. This includes discussing the dispute between the nations, as well as the history behind the political impasses.

Looking at this from a third perspective, it’s clear that Japan’s Education, Science and Technology Ministry has clearly given a good amount of consideration towards South Korea and how they would view the instruction booklet. Despite this, the South Korean government is opposed to the move, and proved it by temporarily recalling their Ambassador to Japan, Kwon Chul Hyun.

That said, what Japanese school children are taught in school regarding these disputed lands could affect their sovereignty at some point in the future. If the residents of this nation are completely unaware of the history regarding Takeshima, they may let the region go at some point in the future to the Koreans, which could then affect Japan’s commercial concerns in the region.

Or so I’m told.

Diplomatic consideration belongs in government buildings and should have little to do with how Japan decides to discuss a portion of their history with the coming generations. Unlike the curriculum guidelines that are laid out by the ministry every ten years, the instruction manual is not legally binding. That said, it’s significance cannot go unnoticed as it often serves as a guideline when editing school textbooks and during classroom exercises. For this reason, publishers will have to commit themselves to providing incredibly clear explanations of the situation in their textbooks, while teachers must properly educate their students. This will be some slippery ground as nations tend to be quite sensitive about topics such as sovereign soil.

Finding a solution to the Takeshima islets issue will be incredibly difficult. Hopefully the governments of these two nations can sit down and rationally discuss the topic without upsetting too many of the ultra-nationalistic individuals on both sides of the sea. It’s incredibly important that Japanese people understand the issue and can state their case to the international community, but it’s also important to keep an open dialogue with their passionate neighbours.

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Japan’s summer is in full effect, bringing with it temperatures in excess of 35 degrees and humidity levels above 70%. Computers over-heat just by booting, the roads are unbearably hot before the morning rush, and people complain about anything and everything that isn’t going their way. On top of this, it’s that time of year when restaurants decide to close their doors forever. Unfortunately はなのまえ (Hana no Mae), a tofu restaurant in Konan City, is one of the affected businesses.

はなのまえ has some significance for both Reiko and I as this was the restaurant where I first officially met her parents. We had gone there in May of 2006 during my first visit to this country and, because everything had gone so smoothly, Reiko’s parents gave us the green light to continue seeing each other. This was great news, as neither Reiko or I wanted to disappoint her parents. Since then, we’ve gone half-a-dozen times as one big happy family and enjoyed the meal on every occasion. The place has always been full and the staff, while not always the quickest to respond, have always been friendly and mindful.

So it came as a bit of a shock when we learned that this restaurant would shut down in August of this year, never to open again.

All This, And More!

One of the things I enjoyed about eating at was the quality of the food. Before going to this tofu-ya, I had thought that there was only a limited number of things that could be done with the soy-based food. Twenty minutes after sitting down at the traditional Japanese tables, though, my opinion had changed quite a bit.

The culinary artists at はなのまえ certainly know how to take something as simple and basic as tofu, and turn it into a dish that is so good that you don’t mind running the risk for dementia or any other concerns people claim when it comes to the versatile food product. Whether it’s just a simple slice with flavourful miso sauce, or a lightly baked dish with thin sauce, eel, or squid, you will definately walk way with a different impression of tofu once your done. To top it all off, you won’t even mind getting the bill, as the meal is seldom over ¥2000.

If you do get the chance to visit Konan before August of this year, be sure to check out Hana no Mae. It’s a great little place and you won’t be disappointed.

Now for the next challenge … finding a new tofu restaurant in the area where the family can get together once a month or so to share a meal….

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Young people and tech-savvy buyers across Japan are breathing a sigh of relief as yet another proposed Digital Copyright Tax fails to make the grade. Consumers cheered and celebrated by running to the nearest electronics store to grab the latest Sony digital device or Apple iPod, proclaiming loudly that any attempt to tax them on digital media would be doomed to fail as governments cannot regulate what they neither control or understand.

Wait … that’s not right. This is Japan. People don’t pay attention to proposed taxes, un-clear regulatory practices, or “alternative sources for media”.

The legislation dubbed as the iPod Tax has been kicked around for years and would allow anywhere from 1-3% of a digital recording device go to recording companies, artists and song writers. Exactly who would get the lion’s share of the revenue, and how it would be distributed was not discussed, which likely means that the government wasn’t clear whether they should follow the same practices they have on the sale of blank CDs and DVDs, or create something “uniquely Japanese” to go along with just about everything else that happens in the House of Representatives.

Oddly enough, one of the reasons this tax failed was because the people responsible for putting the legislation together, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, could not come to an agreement with electronics manufacturers. They had hoped to put a tax only on portable digital music players, but the electronics manufacturers argued that more equipment could be added as a source for royalties. Older devices, such as MiniDisc players, DVD recorders and VCRs are already subject to copyright fees in this country.

It seems that politicians weren’t willing to add additional devices not because they were worried about the impact from consumers, who often don’t realize just how many taxes they’re paying on electronics equipment, but because they were completely unaware these other recording and playback machines existed.

Why This Tax Shouldn’t Be Implemented

To be completely honest, I’m surprised that the government even looked at implementing this tax. Sure, it was initiated and pushed for by the record industry but, in a country where everybody follows the rules, is it really necessary to put more taxes and paperwork into something?

I’ve asked over a hundred people in several prefectures from the ages of 15 to 65 whether they download music, software, movies or TV shows from the internet. A remarkable 97% of the people replied with “you can download movies and TV shows?”

Perhaps it’s just the people I talk to, but many of the individuals I’ve had the opportunity to discuss this topic with neither download music illegally, use P2P software, or use the internet for anything more than search, email and Mixi. To think that record labels need to be reimbursed for the miniscule amount of theft by taxing 100% of the population is more than a little crazy … it’s ludicrous.

Luckily the residents and visitors of Japan have been granted a small reprieve from the incessant taxation we’re subject to. If only we could do something about the Provisional Gas Tax.

What do you think of taxing digital players and recorders to “recover losses” by the various industries? Is this a realistic way to compensate artists, creators and companies?

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