Intermediate Storage Facility

After nearly three years from the great disaster in the First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, one hundred and thirty thousand people in Fukushima prefecture still in evacuation, leaving their own houses in restricted area. Some have been abide by governmental order of evacuation, while others do not get back to their houses even if they can. Anxiety about high radiation refrain them from returning home. The greatest problem in Fukushima is having no clear plan for building “intermediate storage facilities,” which temporarily stocks radioactive debris gathered throughout the contaminated land.

Politicians are enthusiastic in gaining points with reconstruction efforts. Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, visited Fukushima and showed his determination to the sufferers. “For promoting decontamination, intermediate storage facility is extremely important,” told Abe. “There is no revitalization of Japan without reconstruction of Fukushima,” Abe also reiterated his favorite rhetoric, which did not guarantee his effort to actual reconstruction.

The Minister of Environment, Nobuteru Ishihara, asked the people of two towns, Futaba and Okuma, to accept the facilities. The First Fukushima Plant is located over the border between them and 96% of those towns are designated to be “difficult to return.” With no clear words, Ishihara’s request implied that he hoped to build the facility in those towns, because residents would not return for a long time anyway.

His attitude accepted strong opposition from those people. “Is there any guarantee that the intermediate facility will not turn to final destination of the debris?” “Until the government determines where to build the final facility, we will not accept the intermediate,” are typical responses from the residents. Prime Minister and any other ministers have no idea for those questions, because they are too much relying on bureaucrats, who do not feel pain about evacuees’ hardships.

People in Fukushima other than in those two towns are seriously waiting for the facility. They leave contaminated earths, grasses or concrete debris on the backyard of their houses. With no specific statement, they expect Futaba and Okuma to accept the facility sooner or later. Those two towns are getting pushed into an isolated position among suffered cities and towns. Bureaucrats in Tokyo welcome this division, because the rift may make a breakthrough in negotiation with two towns.

This phenomenon may be a consequence of poor education in Japan, which heavily focuses on memorizing knowledge and ignores ability of persuasion through discussions. Elite bureaucrats have no skill to persuade town people and do nothing until time factor solve the problems. While spending long time, more elder people will die far away from their home.