JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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- ALT - Mie Prefecture - Yokkaichi City - June start
- NPO法人グローバル教育推進機構（GLAD), Mie
- Salary: ¥230,000 / Month For a full working month. Some months differ.
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- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
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Paul Arenson
Of course it rarely gets pointed out that many DPJ politicians (and the hypocritical LDP lookalikes who criticize the DPJ govt.) have been recipients of funding from Tepco and the nuke industry. Here is one report that does mention this:
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201201090001
As with Okinawa and bases, the politicians and bureaucrats use economic blackmail in order to coerce people into accepting the govt's will. They call it incentives, but it is really just blackmail. As with a well known Japanese documentary on the Fukui reactors 15 years ago that showed the power companies enticing farmers to work at the plans, who later died of leukemia, and then using "nuclear gypsies" to do the dirty cleanup work. These people are already hibakusha just from working in the Fukui plants and the power companies and bureaucrats deserve not only their rejection but criminal charges for inflicting this on the residents. But blackmail will win out, as people cannot live without jobs.
Posted in: Edano tries to convince Fukui that it is safe to restart nuclear reactors
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Paul Arenson
and in fact, it is in the us interest n maintaining its bases here to have Japan and south Korea panicked over NK. And that is why we have deraild our own have hearted peace peace efforts many times, provoking NK, and in fact we have targetted NK on numerous occasions with our own nuclear weapons many times.
Not saying the NK gov has many redeeming values, but saying we, a democracy that props up our own depots when it wants to--we gave Saddam's gas to use against Iran and created the likes of the Taliban and Northern Alliancec as a weapon against Russia, only to bomb civilians in an effort to get Bin Ladin and then give a few measly dollars and say, "sorry about that, accidents happen-- we have our own nuclear weapons destabilizing the world...in fact, we incinerated hundreds of thousands in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and created the whole nuclear industry that gave us Fukushima.
we do not speak from the moral high ground... we make the world ripe for the likes of NK to want arms because we are seen as a threat to them. At least in South Korea, more sonin Japan, other than Okinawa,there are people who say they fear the US military because it seeks to destabilize the region and make NK a greater threat than is. While most western media last year accepted reports that the North sunk a ship, many South Koreans opined in mainstream media that South Korea and/or the US fabricated the evidence or even sabotaged their own ship in order to keep fear in the hearts of Koreans.
Whatever is true, it shows that many in South Korea recall their own fascist past, when its dictators, as always befriended by th US, declared war on South Korean dissidents and massacred so many. Whose democracy is more mature? The fact that many South Koreans are notvreadyvto buy possibly manufactured stories about the North means they know that the gov, like the Us and Japan, seeks to manipulate public opinion in order to prop up the military industries that benefit so handsomely from any tension created by a real or imagined threat.
A good source on the complex history, which does not whitewash NK behavior but does expose U.S. lies can be found at japanfocus.org
Posted in: North Korea to invite observers to satellite launch
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Paul Arenson
all they had was goyo gakusha on their news shows-government mouthpieces from Todai. The real news was off the TV-reporters like Jimbo san. Experts like Koide Hiroaki not in the employ of Tepco. Shame on NHK for manipulating the news...they also delayed showing pictures of the hydrogen explosion while we were seeing it on alternative news ..
Posted in: NHK wins UK’s Television Journalism Awards for March 11 coverage
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Paul Arenson
And those who were not in the designated evacuee areas got no compensation. So many chose to stay because they were forced to by the govt. Leave and it is on your own responsibility, they were told. Some sent their kids to other prefectures while they stayed and endured both external and internal radiation via the food supply. We have to remain vigilant as those cockroaches who have helped to destroy lives and livelihoods go on to try and minimize the risks of living with nuclear power.
In Miyazaki and Nagasaki and a number of other places our network and others are helping to resettle or offer temporary stays to Fukushima families while the govt refuses to acknowledge the extend of the havoc they wreaked and that a large portion of Fukushima will never be recovered for habitation.
Posted in: Last evacuation center in Tohoku closes
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Paul Arenson
RE:" Civil servents are obliged to comply with the rules just as corporate employees are required to comply with corporate requirements. If they dont like it QUIT, if they dont follow FIRE THEM!!! "
To which I say, "Sich Heil".
In 1970 some of us were beaten by the football team of John Adams High School for refusing to pledge allegiance to the the flag of the United States of America. They were encouraged in this by the football coach.
This was during a time when we were burning the flesh of Vietnamese kids with Napalm, ravaging their jungles with Agent Orange, and exposing our GIs to the same, while also contaminating the Okinawan soil on which some of it was stored.
We like to think we are different than the Hitlers. No doubt Hashimoto would like to think there is a line that divides what he stands for from what thee pre war imperialists stood for. No doubt most of us from the US would like to pretend that incinerating people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not equivalent to Hitler gassing them at Dachau. We like to pretend that some vague notion of being on the correct side, the side of fairness, and democracy, insulates us from the charges that we behaved and behave like monsters. In reality, it is our actions that betray what we stand for, and this is why I support those who refuse to bow down to national symbols, to flags and anthems.
In the 1970s some of us were suspended for wearing the "peace sign" on our gym uniforms. Suspended by the same administration whose football coach encouraged his goons to beat us.
Thankfully some who were treated harshly by school policies were later protected by court rulings which said you had a right not to salute the flag. You did not have the right to disrupt the ceremony, but you could sit or stand quietly. And still the football team members attacked us. Or we were told that we should not protest because people in the Soviet Union did not have, er, our freedoms. Er, right.
In the end, It doesn't matter what petty laws are made to enforce behavior of kids and teachers. If you are forced to love your country, or at least bow down to its symbols, it simply reveals the pettiness of those who confuse education with submission. Leave out the fact that many in Japan who are forced in some prefectures to take what amounts to a test in patriotism are either not Japanese citizens or are of mixed heritage, which finds them being forced to buy into the "tan 'itsu minzoku" mythology.
This is about coercion and bullying. Bullying of teachers by the government. It is fascist, as some here have said. There are laws and there are laws . Unjust ones need not be obeyed. These are just such laws.
Actually one recent court ruling said that while requiring teachers to participate was not illegal, suspending them was. Clearly even the judiciary has a variety of opinions. But don't doubt for a moment that the true intention of the neoliberal Hashimotos is to to create a business friendly and compliant citizenry, the type who will not question the Tepcos of the nation, who will allow the State and corporations to screw them if it serves the national good.
Posted in: 8 Osaka teachers to be punished for refusal to sing national anthem
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Paul Arenson
As I wrote, many poor people have been underemployed and discarded. In 2008 Hakken Mura was established by the group Moyai precisely because neoliberal Japan had decided to discard its social safety net. Free will is one modern day capitalists would like to push: no big government means people blamed for their own downfall. Also, One correction I would like to make to something Net Ninja said--being "forced" to pay for things like health and pension is not a violation of some sort of free choice. Though imperfect, health and pension ARE part of the crumbling social safety net, albeit poorly administered and costly to the underemployed. Japan stands somewhere between the US here, with the Scandinavian countries still on top, with free care.
A problem is priorities--Japan chooses to spend more on promoting big business (Keidanren) and the military Japan pays the US huge sums for the privilege of having its troops occupy Okinawa and other bases in order to prop up support for the notion that without US troops, Japan would come under attack. (Most likely the opposite-the presence makes Japan more vulnerable. Plus, it allows the munitions makers to profit from supplying the military). Japan pays an enormous Omoyari "sympathy" budget for the privilege of stationing US troops, and then also pays additional for relocation of some to Guam, etc. And lots of this goes to support what many say are unconstitutional activities such as war in Weat Wsia and the Middle East.
If some of these funds were re-directed, no doubt they could benefit the poor.
Posted in: 3 people found dead apparently from starvation in Saitama apartment
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Paul Arenson
As Zichi say, it is not the first time. My volunteer work is with people living in poverty in Sanya near Asakua. Kita Kyushu is infamous in having rejected a person for social welfare benefits. A bit like Clinton in the US claiming his Workfare program would end (the conception by people who should know better ) welfare and handouts and bring pride to people. What happened was the jobs they were forced to take paid less than welfare and did not support their liives. Single mothers were hit hardest. In KK city, a man rejected for welfare and encouarged to work could not, and he starved to death. Taito-ku in Tokyo s infamous for its bureaucratic treatment of the homeless and former street people living at the edge. The causes of poverty are varied, but it is unfair to say people choose homelessness. People do drop out, or are abandoned by their families, and yes, alcohol and mental illness are both contributing factors or problems that occur with long term homelessness. Years on the street also bring distrust of people, often justified, as many homeless have been ripped off by labor contractors in the past to build YOUR homes (and yes, this includes people currently recruited by Tepco's proxy agents to decontaminate the Fukushima plant ). And yes, people do rip one another off. A difficult cycle to break free from, made worse by the neoliberalism that started under Koizumi and continues under people like Hashimoto. The society becomes crueler and crueler. now many of the homeless are former day laborers, but they are also old and unable to work for that reason to.
By the way, your help is needed in places like Sanya, Tokyo; Kotobuki cho in Yokohama; Kamagasaki in Osaka, etc. It is not true that homeless people are enjoying being on the street.And yes, there is food, at different locations, supplied by volunteers. And still people die. Just the other day in Sanya. happens every winter. A friend of mine also disappeared when someone saw him lying lifeless. now it is said he has been hospitalized, but no-one knows how soon the hospital discharged him.
IF they are lucky, a social worker will refer them to an agency where they can get help. If not, it is back on the street. And thank god for the free clinics operated by the likes of groups such as Sanyukai.
I pray no-one here who has not known poverty will ever have to encounter it.
Posted in: 3 people found dead apparently from starvation in Saitama apartment
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Paul Arenson
And all this points to another problem....the govt has been inviting reporters in to cover life as it supposedly gets back to normal....and they (JAEA) have first told reporters to don protective suits, then when the reporters entered the area, they did an about face and said it would agitate people, so please remove them, they said. And they have succeeded in removing radiation from 100 to 60 micro sievert in one case, but at the expense of using sub sub sub sub contractors and risking their health... And that is still a high figure. Rather better to make it like Chernobyl and keep it a forever no go zone. Decontamination is a publicity stunt. But that works against their plan to create the image that all is ok.....to pretend that the damage done is not as bad as it is, to rebuild confidence, to avoid the country going non nuclear. I think better to write off a large area of Fukushima. You cannot blame local people when they get angry that others shun them in a repeat of Hirishima syndrome...these people have no choice because the govt does not extend evacuation areas and all is voluntary. But neither can you blame people who are wary of products from the area, when there is no strict testing regime.... And so as Tepco and the govt play one against the other, they succeed in dividing the citizenry. As Zichi and others say, this thing will go on and on for a long time. People who have left are now as far as Miyazaki where we live, trying to rebuild their lives. People who have stayed are now having trouble where to place their anger-at those who left or at the corporation and govt which betrayed them. There is no easy way to deal with their rage, but the criminal acts of Tepco and the govt must be kept in full focus. Even now they are threatening to ban protestors who are camped out in front of METI....they want to wish anti nuclear sentiment away. And any real attempt the dangers will be swept under the rug so as to create the illusion of normalcy. A country which has still not addressed the lingering issues stemming from Minamata disease cannot be expected to act with morality here either.
Posted in: Fukushima's No. 2 reactor may be reheating
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Paul Arenson
Flu is not as prevalent in the summer because your mucous membranes are more moist.
Posted in: Flu outbreak hits more than 2.11 million nationwide
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Paul Arenson
Read the Japan Times article. It was, in fact, coercion, not so skillfully cloaked as encouragement. The article makes this plain. And it is standard operating procedure for the Japanese govt. It is NOT a slip up by a local employee.
And yes, as Kirsten says, closing the bases is what is needed. The Okinawan people are always bribed and coerced to host alf the US military in Japan, as they have one of the worst economies. The same way people in rural areas are bribed and coerced to accept nuclear plants. People at the lowest rung are always at the mercy of the bureaucrats/big business. That is why the recent book documenting Tepco use of Yakuza to hire day laborers is relevant. As is the song Human Error by punk band Frying Dutchman: .they make plain that the government will stop at nothing to brainwash people into thinking we need it, be it U.S. bases or nuclear plants.
And they make it plain that we almost always fail to learn what is important from the media. The above article is a case in point, whereas the Japan Times article does make it clear that this was a case of coercion. (Japan Times reporters are not members of the obedient Kisha club I have heard).
Posted in: Gov't under pressure to fire defense official over Okinawa election request
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Paul Arenson
The links:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Japan-Press-Weekly/184203278283357
A few articles down, starting with: "The Okinawa Defense Bureau has allegedly interfered......
And, one of the few mainstream articles to get it right: Defense chats in Okinawa said lobbying http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120203a3.html
Posted in: Gov't under pressure to fire defense official over Okinawa election request
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Paul Arenson
Here are the facts, from the Japan Press Service:
Moderator: The URL will suffice.
Posted in: Gov't under pressure to fire defense official over Okinawa election request
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Paul Arenson
Ah the hypocritical LDP and Komeito. It was the JCP which uncovered this, as they did the secret agreements on weapons at the reversion of Okinawa. The LDP, like much of the DPJ consists of ultra conservatives and "yes men" who say yes to American militarism. As we see with Tepco's Tohoku crimes, it is convenient for the LDP to bash the DPJ on its handling of things, but the fact is the LDP and DPJ have both long been in the pockets of Tepco. Edano was a major recipient of Tepco funds, but so were LDP politicians, and both promote the same pro business policies. No different on the question of US bases....they both trumpet how they welcome the US here to protect this nation, while the US uses bases here in part to wage war and to make things less safe by encouraging saber rattling from NK that would not be there if we did not have OUR nuclear weapons trained on them.
Check out Japan Focus for lots of historical documents on how this works.....
Okinawa, Tohoku....in whose interest does this government and most of the so-called "opposition" endeavor?
Posted in: Gov't under pressure to fire defense official over Okinawa election request
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Paul Arenson
All sorts of theories abound:
-Many little ones release pressure, a good sign. -Many earthquakes in the wake of the big one almost a year ago, normal. - Most recent: More earthquakes in the Kanto region a sign that the big one is coming in 4 years (at least 75 percent probability).
Which is true? Probably all of them.
Translation: There are so many factors in determining what a particular earthquake means, that it is almost pointless for the lay person to reach any conclusions. Any one of the above, if true, is counterbalanced by any of the others.
Conclusion: Be prepared. But don't be so scared that you cannot function.
Be aware of habits that are not helpful (such as posting questions here about evacuation orders if indeed you have not confirmed with your own ears that something like that has happened).
Anyway, all sorts of foolish behaviors, not limited to EQs. Such as people in Kanto trying to go to work in a typhoon. Or go home when one has hit. People in southern Japan would stay put. So just because your neighbor is doing it doesn't mean you should do it.....
When I first came to Japan 33 years ago, I actually had no idea what I was letting myself in for. I rationalized it be saying that if I had stayed in NY city, the likelihood of being knifed on the subway or walking home late at night was greater than being killed in an earthquake. Since crime is supposedly down in NY, I can't use that one anymore. But then, I am leaving Tokyo, and yes, the reason is 3/11. But no guarantee that where I am going, another similar event won't happen. Genkai nuclear power plant shows serious signs of metal fatigue that experts such as Koide Hiroaki say put people in that region at risk if the thing is not shut down.
So, what do we do when we can't fight nature, or the culture that encourages building nuclear power plants in a region where they pose a grave risk, or a society (like most) that places more emphasis on the well being of business than on its citizens (par for the course most places, and Japan is still way ahead despite its crap bureaucrats telling Fukushima mothers to vacate their encampment around the METI complex or face arrest, when is is METI that bears great responsibility for the disaster)?
The answer again is not to panic, but to be aware and have a plan. And yes, people in places like Tokyo are too complacent about the, risks, as they are about the safety of their food post the leak of radiation. To a certain degree, it is healthy not to panic. Since life must go on. But one should still be aware.
Aware of where their food comes from. Aware of what the schools serve for lunch. Aware of the nearest evacuation area if a large one comes. Know how to walk home if the trains stop running. And, if you think it's time to get out (which no-one but you can decide), neither believe that those who stay are foolish nor that YOU are being an irresponsible "fly-jin" if you do leave.
Some do not have the luxury of fleeing-- such as those in Fukushima hot spots not on the official lists, who would get no compensation if they left, factors such as employment and livelihood are not to be dismissed.
Yet those who ridicule those who take the dangers so seriously that they DO leave are not to be listened to either. We know that the government does not take the safety of the people seriously and that it prioritizes the economic infrastructure over all else.
Posted in: M5.5 quake hits Koshin, Kanto areas
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Paul Arenson
hats off--If you haven't meant one pro nukes who thinks like that, then you need to look a little more. MOST of the industry thinks like that. Tepco is not the exception. As Koide Hiroaki and others point out, we are facing a possible catastrophe at Genkai in Kyushu because the thing is so old, a form of metal fatigue risks another FD1. Building Hamaoka on active faults. Using people on the bottom economic rung to engage as nuclear gypsies. Covering up casualties in Chernobyl......this is not the exception; it is the norm. Listen to/read Human Error to get an inkling of who what the nuke industry is. If people outside the industry are pro nuke, it is not for lack of evidence how corrupt and irredeemable it is.
Human Error Link http://www.tokyoprogressive.org/content/human-error
Posted in: Radioactive crushed stone may have been used in over 80 buildings, METI says
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Paul Arenson
Viking ignores the fact that people living i the area have to contend with internal and external radiation, and the younger the age, the more risk. This flippant "just alarmist" dismissal is something we saw a lot of in the beginning, but as the extent of the lies, negligence, obfuscation and criminality has become known, as we learn of falsification of data for other plants, as we see how Tepco and the nuclear industry have bribed their way into our lives, how they have lied about the cause being the Tsunami rather than the earthquake, as we read whistleblower accounts of shoddy construction, as we learn about the possible biological effects from Chernobyl (decrease in # of species, for example) and that simular studies are being conducted now, as we learn that Tepco has used yakuza to employ day laborers whose lives are viewed as worthless, as we learn that the food supply is not being monitored systematically, we can only conclude that the risk is unknown, but that the more types of exposure, the worse, and that it is cumulative in many cases.
Here is a song that will teach a lot about not only the nuclear industry but how our lives are sold to the highest bidder....
HUMAN ERROR by Frying Dutchman with English lyrics http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q5p283KZGa8
Posted in: Radioactive crushed stone may have been used in over 80 buildings, METI says
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Paul Arenson
Mabo: "with a name like that...."
Racism has no place here. Cannot make assumptions about your nationality/ethnicity, but I know that ever since 9-11, even family members (I am American) stateside have been bitten by the racism/anti-terrorism bug. A relative asked me to stop sending her my TokyoProgressive newsletter (anti-war, anti-Empire) in 2002 because she didn't want to risk being called "the niece of a terrorist". Would not be surprised if Ali were on a no-fly list, as was Cat Steven ever since converting to Islam. And yet targeted killings and drone strikes by our side somehow evade the terrorist label.... So please stop equating Islam with terrorism.
I echo sfjp330's sentiments. Post 9-11 we see the militarization of police response to protest against all sorts of ills, including a continuation of war that Ali and, yes, King opposed (for which he was attacked by the so-called "liberal media" and even other activists), although this has been whitewashed from official history. You can check it out check it out online though; see his anti-war speech at the Riverside church--"Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence".
King and Ali spoke out against the racism that saw minorities recruited to kill other non-white people while they enjoyed less than equality in their own land. This was when there was a draft that saw the poor unable to escape military service those better off could through educational deferments; today the poor are still the first to go, since military service is one of the only open doors to advancement. This was when opposing the war earned such ironic gems as, "go back to Russia where they are not free like you are to say what you want". It seems we have not progressed very far since those days, when we are supposed to represent the freedom everyone else wants yet those who take a stand against our own brand of state sponsored terrorism are demonized and even criminalized for doing so.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
Posted in: Ali at 70: Legacy endures for new generation
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Paul Arenson
want to find out where he is going to be and picket him. Another democratic mayor, even ACLU member, and he came down hard on the Occupy LA protestors. Hypocrite protector of Wall Streeet using the excuse of unsanitary conditions to break up the protests like his fellow hypocrite mayor friend in Oakland, while letting Skid Row homeless continue to endure harsh and unsanitary street conditions. A coordinated response by big cities in response o pressure from the 1 per ent, he deserves being hounded while here.
Posted in: LA mayor to drum up business on Asia trip
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Paul Arenson
Go to democracynow.org or alternet.org to see the real news. Obama is of the 1 percent. Yet increasing support from unexpected quarters. Seattle former police chief, former Philadelphia police captain (arrested) National Lawyers Guild, and others decry increasing police state. Reporters from the main stream press arrested. 84 year old woman, pregnant woman, priest arrested. A veteran left with brain damage from Oakland storm troopers.
Not a rebublican vs Dem thing. Oakland mayor a democrat but defending criminal police conduct.
Reports of damage inflicted by protesters highly exaggerated and fabricated. Demonstrators represent a cross section of working class people of all ages. If this were Egypt or Tunisia, whose participants stand in solidarity, western news media would be talking about pro democracy movements...but because it is in the us, the strategy is to denounce them as crime bent, drug users, violent thugs. Reality is that the thuggery is by law enforcement on behalf of the bankers. And the mainstream news media defend the 1 percent. NY Times among the worst offenders.
Posted in: 'Occupy' protesters clash with NY traders, police
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Paul Arenson
The Japanese I know, they are camped out n front of keisansho. They are arrested by the police ffor protesting against Toden's crimes. . The Japanese I know are Fukushima organic farmers who want to evacuate but the govt says it is safe, so they are stuck, as they will not get compensation if they leave. The Japanese I know are not you. They do not blame foreigners. They blame authority and absolute obedience to it. They blame an education system which does not teach people to think for themselves. They detest cronyism between Tepco and METI. The Japanese I know are tired of those who loudly proclaim their nationalism Just like the foreigners I know, who detest nationalists in their country. In every country you will meet people who blame every ill on foreigners, on minorities. In every country you will meet people who want to believe that the govt is telling the truth. In every country you will find a compliant media to a certain degree. The Japanese I know neither trust their media nor do they automatically expect the foreign media to be right on all issues...for example, in my country the national media have historically been cheerleaders for war and capitalism. But the reporters, Japanese and non Japanese, who stayed and report what the Japanese mainstream do not report--Jimbo san for example, David McNeiil for another. They live here. They are not liars nor sensationalists. But they know that the kisha clubs to which most mainstream reporters belong demand they not report except what they are told. So if you are happy to live in such a world, you are welcome to. But know that increasingly many Japanese do not share that view. Increasingly people are learning they are being lied to so that METI can promote business as usual and the criminals at Tepco can go on falsifying safety reports and sell nuclear reactors to Jordan, to Indonesia and Vietnam.
It is always business as usual for them, but there is a culture of resistance growing in this land, not unlike what you see in Egypt, or in and around Wall Street these days.
It may not yet be a revolution, but the Japanese I know are tired of foreigner hating nationalists in their midst and they see you and the govt you defend as the enemy.
Posted in: New fission suspected at Fukushima nuclear plant