JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Graham DeShazo
"Romney courts young evangelicals, promotes values" like intollerance and homophobia.
Posted in: Romney courts young evangelicals, promotes values
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Graham DeShazo
Boy, talk about shutting the barn door after the cat's out of the bag (I just love intentionally mixing metaphores!)! Thank you J-gov for protecting us citizens (and long-term foreign residents) by revealing what is apparntly UNIVERSAL violations of labor and safety laws (after several deaths of course)!
Warnerbro does raise an interesting point although I disagree with his implied conclusions. Deregulation as it has been practiced to date in Japan is a disaster. (Full disclosure: I am an MBA and an unappologetic cheerleader for capitalism.) Degregulation means that you lower barriers to entry and create more competiton which results in lower prices, more variety, better goods and services, etc. These are all good things. Deregulation does NOT mean that there are NO rules and businesse can do what ever the hell they want to make a profit. That is called CHINA, and I think we all agree it is not in the public interest.
On a related note, as an equally unappologetic cheerleader for Democracy as a form of government, this incident makes me ill that the government of the people has no interest in protecting their safety unless and until something goes wrong, people die, there is a scandal, or some combination thereof. I used to live in shock that the public would put up with these shenagans, but having lived here for so long, I have come to realize that after the first 50 or so scandals, you just kind of get used to it.
Posted in: Transport ministry probe finds evidence of negligence by bus operator
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Graham DeShazo
Who says you cannot have damatic change in Japan? All you need are morons in politics too hesitant to make a decision and too selfish about their own skin to lay out the facts to the country (with the notable exception of Sengoku who compared going non-nuclear to group suicide), A fear mongering media (where we they when it could have done some actual good? Oh yeah, they were following Ayumi Hamasaki), and a public that has forgotten that all economic decisions have tradeoffs.
Put together idiocy, panic, and delusion and wala! Japanese national energy policy! I would just reinforce a point or two mentioned above. Yes, the power is still on NOW. It is not JULY yet. By then power requirements will go up 20 to 30% and supply will not. Our ability to cover for nuclear power is soley due to polluting and finite fossil fuels that travel through the Straits of Hormuz with its long-noted political stability. The replacement power is much more expensive, and any lose of power over even a short period of time will contribute to long-term job losses as companies move production to China (where when you flip the switch, the lights come on ALL THE TIME. Hey, what a reversal of fortune that is, eh?)
In the interests of full disclosure, I know that some of you are against nuclear power. I myself am ambivalent. I think it can be used safely with the proper oversight. The real issue is whether the government will regulate it as it needs to. Certainly they do not have a good track record up to now.
Furthermore, I agree with many of you that a non- nuclear future is achievable if the country wishes to do so with the caveat that it is attainable LONG-TERM. One cannot simply shut down +/-30% of power generation and say, "oh well." That is not rational policy. Even the Green's in Germany did not envision so radical a step. If we want to go non-nuclear, we need to have a rational discussion of the future and how we are going to eventually replace these power stations while we continue to use them. Then we need to steadily build the replacement infrastructure so that the rap-up of alternative energy sources matches the phase-out of nuclear power. THAT is logical policy. This "Shut 'em down" talk is more akin to the tea-bagger nut-jobs that have overrun my home state of Kansas.
Posted in: Japan switches off final nuclear reactor
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Graham DeShazo
"Wate does a few scheduled blackouts matter to anyone?" This statement reveals an ignorance of the importance of reliable power that is truly stupifying. For one thing, the critical infrastructure (hospitals, communications, transportation) is interlinked to the rest of the grid and cannot be isolated. Furthermore, reliable electric power is the basis for a modern economy beit industrial production or information services. Without it, companies cannot operate profitably over the long-term. Without it, these same companies move production, and jobs overseas leading to economic collapse (and that is not too strong a term!).
Furthermore, Mr. Beer is exactly right. Instead of nuclear power, we now will burn much more fossil fuels which are finite, polluting, and subjiect to supply disruptions by lunatics in the Middle East. And we will do so at a much higher finacial cost.
I would like to embrace the promise of renewable energy as much as any tree-hugging anti-nuc person out there, but the fact is that the amount of infrastucture needed to replicate the existing nuclear capacity would take years, perhaps decades to build as it is a low-intensity power source. What do we do in the mean time? Shut down our factories and work in unlit, unheated offices for the next 10 -20 years?
I am fully aware of the risks that unregulated nuclear power entail. As much as I love to (and have) damn both the government and TEPCO, there is a cold, hard fact that needs to be brought into the open. Nuclear Power represents a key component of this country's REQUIRED (not desired) energy needs at the present time. If the country as a whole wants to move away from this source, that is certainly a long-term policy decision that can be made rationally and without significant impact to the economy or the population. However, those of you who think, "just shut them down and be done with it" need to return to reality. Imposing change this dramatic on an economy this large is not sound policy.
Posted in: Thousands rally in Tokyo ahead of last reactor going offline
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Graham DeShazo
What an idiot. This will make a bad situation worse and give well-intentioned negotiators on both sides less room to manuver. I guess he forgot that Kasumigaseki, not the Metropolitan Govt. makes national security decisions for Japan. Remember way back when in his first run for Govenor when he campaigned on a promise to "make the U.S. Army give back" land and an airfield in Western Tokyo? Still there. Let's hope the Chinese take a page from the U.S. playbook and ignore him.
Posted in: Ishihara says Tokyo plans to buy disputed Senkaku islands
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Graham DeShazo
So in theory one could make a submarine invisible to Magnetic Anomoly Detection. In addition, a country could protect it's critical systems from the Electro Magnetic Pulse of a Nuclear blast. Very interesting...
Posted in: New device invisible to magnetic fields
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Graham DeShazo
They CAN buy the food they need on the open market, they just CHOOSE to spend it on nuclear and missile technology instead. The leadership (OK, Totalitarian Dictatorship) has made a decision about the use of scarce capital resources. Let them deal with the consequences of those decisions.
As for those of you that say, "The Leadership does not care if their people starve", I agree with you. And if the leadership were not utilizing it's scarce resource to directly threaten the right of S. Koreans, Japanese, and Americans to live securely within their own boarders, I would be in favor of feeding every child in the North for as long as necessary. However, as reasonably objective person can see, the North is actively aquiring WMD (Actually nuclear capability. They have had advanced chemical and biological capabilities for some time now) and the means to deliver it with a modicrum of reliabiility.
Under these circumstances (e.g. the leadership of said starving country is threatening to blow us up and make that threat credible) no country is obligated by treaty or morality to provide the means for the North to continue its anti-social behavior.
Posted in: Should the international community provide food aid to North Korea?
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Graham DeShazo
I suppose this is a stupid suppostiiton, but one would think that with so much at stake financially, "Talento" stars, particularly women, would be extra-careful regarding contraception and unplanned pregnancies. I guess "stupid" does not go away once one hits it big.....
Posted in: Meisa Kuroki to make first appearance since marriage
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Graham DeShazo
"Protect the environment" Given their overall behavior on all things environmental, this claim is laughable. Roughly in the same neighborhood as the Iranians claim that they need Uranium enrichment for stable energy supplies. Make no mistake, the Chinese are practicing 21st Century Merchantilism using industry and trade for national/military development. I thought the WTO already ruled on this and said the Chinese actions had no merit. Can anybody update me?
If China thumbs its nose at a WTO ruling, what are the consequences likely to be?
Posted in: China defends rare earth export restrictions
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Graham DeShazo
Yes, by all means; Congratulations Valdimire! Congratulations on cheating in an election that even your opposition says you would have won anyway. Congratulations on destroying a free media, the beginnings of the rule of law, and a civil society. Congratulations on transforming your county's economy from one based on weapons and vodka, to vodka and oil. Well played, Sir! Now, why don't you go kill a wild animal while shirtless or something like that. Oh? Did that one already? Well, I am sure you will think up some other way to show us what a manly man you really are.
Posted in: Noda congratulates Putin; urges resolution to territorial issue
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Graham DeShazo
The most imprvoved bid would be none at all. Unfortunately, with the withdrawl of Rome, Tokyo stands a real shot at getting the damn thing and then we are going to have to pay for it. Yippie. At least I will be able to rent my flat to some foreigner for an insane amount of money during the festivities.
Posted in: Tokyo promises improved Olympic bid for 2020
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Graham DeShazo
One wonders how the public would react to being asked, "Would you give up nuclear power if it meant blackouts, economic catastrophe, job losses, higher electricity costs and more greenhouse gas emmisions?"
As one poster pointed out, this is not going to be a quick or cheap process. No nukes? Eventually that would be fine with me, but for right now, we need the power. Nobody other than the zelots is just going to sit at home in the dark, freezing in the winter and basting in the summer. Just not going to happen.
Posted in: No nukes
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Graham DeShazo
I was gonna say, " It's all fun and games until somebody's face gets chewed off."
Posted in: Getting warm
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Graham DeShazo
As an Economics teacher, all I can say is, "huh?"
Posted in: As advocates for free trade, we're concerned about adding an economy like Japan.
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Graham DeShazo
Well, he should have the blank stare part down pat.
Posted in: SMAP singer Nakai to play savant detective
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Graham DeShazo
Ivan, you nailed that one, buddy.
The best thing that Ishi could do for Japan (other than/in addition to paying back the Tokyo Shin Ginko losses/Tokyo Olympic expenses/etc.,etc.,) would be to....how shall I say this delicately? Pass on. In fact, I would even put my money where my mouth is (You put my money where your mouth is, so why can't I?): Ishi, if you croak TODAY, I will personally give 1,000 yen in alms at your funeral.
Ball is in your court, pal...
Posted in: Ishihara says he is ready to help new political party change Japan
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Graham DeShazo
A few points here. 1. It would take a lot of money to get me to wear anything that stupidyingly dumb on my head. 2. I am not 100% confident the old guy is still alive in this picture. 3. It's not the occasional Tsunami that scares me; It's the amount of unreported radioactive waste that has been introduced into the food chain. Good luck getting me to eat anything out of the Pacific Ocean for the next 35 years.
Posted in: Marine attractions
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Graham DeShazo
“We want to rebuild at all costs,” This comment alone shows why emotional decsions should be made at the national level. You don't do anything at all costs. There has to come a point at which it is better to abandon in place and allow time to heal what existing technology cannot.
I know you loved that area. I know you feel like you are getting the short end of the stick, but life is like that sometimes. This might be a little harsh, but the truth sometimes is.
Posted in: Radiation fears slow clean-up in Tohoku
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Graham DeShazo
Usually, I am against nationalization. It is bad for the economy and utilities should be like other businesses. Here, I will make an exception. TEPCO is in such deep do-do, and it's effect on the larger economy is so great that I think the Govt. should take over for a 5-10 year period.
There are to big qualifiers here:
First, All existing shareholders should be totally dilluted. The owner's helped create this mess with their lousy oversight and they should take it in the shorts as a consequence.
Second: there should be a set time limit after which the Govt. will definately send the company back to the private sector where it belongs.
If those conditions are met, I think most people would be willing to look at nationalization.
Posted in: Do you think Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) should be nationalized?
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Graham DeShazo
The Greeks can scream "National Sovereignty!" all they want. There are a couple of difficult facts to examine though. FIrst, the Greek govt. (duely elected by the Greeks themselves) did not do a partiularly good job of managing their finances themselves. If they had, the EU would not be in this mess in the first place. In addition, the Greeks have proven themselves incapable of making the reforms that they agreed to in the first place to secure EU help to save their collective asses.
Secondly, The EU nations (oh let's drop the charade and just say Germany) have the money that the Greeks need to survive. If they (meaning the Germans) are providing the bailout, they get to name the terms. If the Greeks don't like the terms, they can always look.......oh, that's right, they don't have any other options.
I predict that there wlll be face-saving accomodation where by an "advisor" will make "suggestions" to the Greeks regarding their budget. If the Greeks want to maintain their lifeline to EU funds, they will be "strongly encouraged" to listen to said advice.
Posted in: Greece scathing on German budget 'takeover' plan