Posted on 08/19/2011 12:04:49 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Maher says 'nobody' in Japan gov't was in charge early in nuclear crisis
By Mari Yamaguchi
National Aug. 19, 2011 - 02:30PM JST ( 54 )
TOKYO —
Early in the Fukushima nuclear crisis, U.S. officials felt that nobody in Japan’s government was taking charge, and Washington considered evacuating American troops in a worst-case scenario, a retired U.S. envoy said Thursday.
When the March 11 earthquake and tsunami set off the crisis by crippling the Fukushima Daiichi plant and sending it toward meltdown, Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s administration initially acted as if it was only the plant operator’s problem, not the government’s, former diplomat Kevin Maher said.
“There was nobody in charge. Nobody in the Japanese political system was willing to say ‘I’m going to take responsibility and make decisions,’” said Maher, who coordinated U.S. help offered to help Tokyo deal with the crisis.
“Nothing was taking place at Fukushima Daiichi in terms of the government solving the problem” until about a week later when Tokyo and Washington launched a joint task force, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at japantoday.com ...
P!
Their "executive branch" governmental leaders were VERY POOR, and SUCKED.
Kind of like the USA these days.
North Korea would have staged a serious provocation, with Scuds, or perhaps occupation of a disputed island, or some kind of territorial incursion or outright terrorist act on Japan or another major city, even in the midst of chaos and tragedy.
No plan huh. Well, hopefully they will not make that mistake twice.
Of that there can be no doubt, sir.
They already decided to throw the baby along with the bath water: to make sure that nuclear accidents don't happen again they are stopping (and likely closing) all nuclear power stations.
Japan is not particularly rich in energy, so this will have consequences. Europe made the same decision, and when Putin was in Germany recently he assured Europe that there is plenty of energy available in Russia. He didn't mention the price, though. That would come later ;-)
This happens as clockwork in all wealthy nations. Unwilling to suffer any risk whatsoever, citizens go NIMBY. We see it now in all First World countries. They refuse to manufacture anything, protecting their gentle environment and fragile psyche of their people. People who want to work (be it in Sweden or the USA) are often seen as enemies, good only for confiscation of their wealth (that they don't deserve, of course.)
There already had been a plan in place to replace the now wrecked plant, and those like it, with better designed units that could not have leaked radioactive material like these did. Accelerating that plan, beginning with the most geographically vulnerable plants, would make sense, but not abandoning the whole idea of nukes.
The American bases on Honshu stayed open for business. The troops stayed put to help recovery and the base commanders monitored the radiation levels with their own personnel.
There was no evacuation of troops and no mandatory evacuation of dependents.
There are a lot of good things to admire about Japan's dedication to harmony "wa", the philosophy of "gaman" (to persevere or tough it out) and "gambaru" (to do your best) -- all of which are pretty much melded together in seikatsu tsuzurikata, most commonly defined as "Japanese pragmatism". This has been a cornerstone of Japanese educational philosophy since the 1920s and 1930s. Japanese schoolchildren are immersed in this ideology from their earliest years, and it shows.
Now, seikatsu tsuzurikata as it is generally understood, is loosely based on five principles. These are: awareness of Japan’s unique nature and national culture, acceptance of one's life role, non-competitiveness (defined as submergence within a group identify and equality within the group), acceptance of reality as it actually exists, and promoting goodwill and receptivity.
Taken together, all of these work to create a body of docile, hardworking, happy people who strive together in harmony -- but what they do not do, in fact what they specifically inhibit, is the identification, cultivation and promotion of strong leadership skills. It's simply not done. Individual success is only prized as a reflection of the overall success of the group.
Now, a lot of that has changed due to cross-cultural exchanges in the years since the end of World War II. But in the highest levels of government and society, it's still the defining code.
Thus, despite his position as the head of government, the Prime Minister of Japan is still a member of a number of groups. His position within those groups is important to him and is automatically reflected in his decision-making processes. It also slows them down because he automatically has to consider, deeply consider, how his actions will be seen by various members of the groups he belongs to.
This, I believe, is why Japan is so bad at reacting to fast-changing circumstances. Give a Japanese person a job that is completely defined, where every possible event has a designated response, and he/she is happy as a clam. Give him a unique situation where he/she is forced to wade into uncharted waters, and he's stuck. He falls back on the group and works to define the problem and develop consensus. That takes time, because no one else in the group wants to stick his/her neck too far above the crowd.
It's perplexing, but that's just the way it is. It's... Japan.
“Nothing was taking place at Fukushima Daiichi in terms of the government solving the problem” until about a week later when Tokyo and Washington launched a joint task force, he said.
You mean when it became crystal clear that the worse case scenario had indeed occurred. Never before in world history have 3 adjacent nuclear reactors simultaneously melted down and escaped their RPV's. Nothing but finger pointing cover stories here. And what exactly have they solved since the end of the first week ? Seems like they only have made the situation worse.
This is the worse cluster puck in history.
What should have had to be done was like D-day style operation. Instead TEPCO went about it as if it were a routine repair job. Patch up some damaged parts and they can have all reactors in good order. LOL.
While I can understand that no one in the government is a nuclear scientist, TEPCO should have had a liason to relay info 24/7 to whatever government employee was head honcho of the SHTF Department. Hate to say it but Japan just announced to the world that, outside their military, they can’t coordinate the island or its people. Not that we’re any better prepared. With such a small country, one attack, natural or otherwise, could be their demise.
Remember back in 1998 when NK fired the missile over us? That scared the crap out of me.. Didn’t know about it until after the fact, but didn’t know what to expect after that :/
Thank you.. I have been trying to explain that to non-Japanese for years... I could not have said it better myself :D
Speaking of Japan, have you all felt the ‘skock’ quakes in the last 3 days? felt like a JDam hitting about 1/2 of a mile away.. followed by a low lvl quake.. I think I dropped about 3 inched each time one hit >.<
Wondering if it is a build up..
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