One of the biggest concerns for the Japanese now is where
the nuclear debris should be buried. There are twelve prefectures which have
biologically dangerous debris contaminated with radioactive materials
disseminated from First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. While the national
government decided that the debris must be finally buried within each
prefecture, no local government has agreed with accepting them. For the
Japanese, it is not a matter of responsibility of citizens, but of egoism or
even power harassment among local residents.
Ministry of Environment designated radioactive debris, with
radiation of 8,000 becquerels a kilogram or more, must be buried in final
solution facilities built in each prefecture. As a result of government’s failure
in persuading people in the area about the necessity of those facilities, there
still remains 146,000 metric tons of debris unfinished in eastern Japan.
In Miyagi Prefecture, located in the north of First
Fukushima, Ministry of Environment picked one city and two towns as candidates
for the facilities. Minister of Environment, Nobuteru Ishihara, received hard
criticisms from those mayors, when he tried to explain the plan of national
government and was rejected by all of them lat July. Ishihara left the
discussion unsolved and get back to Tokyo, the attitude which was denounced by
the people.
In Tochigi Prefecture, located in the southwest of
Fukushima, the ministry abruptly named Shioya town in early August. As a place
of producing pure water, the town strongly opposed the offer. The ministry made
a same mistake in 2012, when it named Yaita city in Tochigi. All bureaucrats in
the national government need is ability of constructing consensus among the
people by getting rid of their elitist sentiment of looking down ordinary
people in local communities.
When it needs to persuade people to accept unfavorable
facilities, as seen in argument over relocation of U.S. Futenma Marine Air
Base, the politics always offered money as compensation. That logic is viable
only when pains and gains are balanced. In terms of radioactive materials, no
one knows how long the debris harms the community, making deals difficult. The
absence of appropriate calculation leads to firm opposition of the people,
mixed with accumulated skepticisms against the national government.
Stemming from irresponsibility of political leadership and
bureaucracy, there is no sense of moral obligation in Japan. The apathetic
ignorance on someone’s pain, being indulged in daily ordinary chores, is
fundamentally harming the society. This is the biggest impact of the great
earthquake and nuclear disaster.
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