NewsTrust - Japan - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

Fukushima's Apocalyptic Threat

Fri, 20 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Harvey Wasserman - May. 20 (Opinion) - 'Fukushima may be in an apocalyptic downward spiral. Forget the corporate-induced media coma that says otherwise…or nothing at all. Lethal radiation is spewing unabated. Emission levels could seriously escalate. There is no end in sight. The potential is many times worse than Chernobyl. Containing this disaster may be beyond the abilities of Tokyo Electric or the Japanese government.' Harvey Wasserman, Reader Supported News

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Japanese government announces cancellation of all new nuclear reactor builds

Tue, 10 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

greenpeace.org - By Michelle Frey - May. 10 (Comment) - “Instead of waiting for disaster to strike, governments around the world should now follow Japan’s lead, and adopt energy policies based on clean and renewable energy sources.”

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Interview - Dr. Alexey Yablokov - Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Talking Stick TV - Mar. 30 (Interview) - Dr. Alexey Yablokov is a prominent Russian scientist, environmentalist, former member of the USSR parliament, and environmental advisor to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the Gorbachev administration. Dr. Yablokov has been a leader in efforts to reveal conservation and pollution challenges in Russia such as illegal whaling and radiation

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'Theater of the Absurd' Comes to Life

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Danny Schechter - Mar. 26 (Opinion) - It's one thing to oppose a policy that seems to have a rational logic behind it, however disguised, deceptive, and misguided. It’s another to find policies built around a politician’s desire to deflect criticism, look good or act for the sake of acting. That’s the essence of absurd. We would like to think that our “leaders” know what they are doing and behave within some calculus of civilized norms. More often they act in a rushed manner on bad intelligence, or no intelligence at all, “defending” what they do with folksy aphorisms and unverified or unverifiable claims.

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Ann Coulter: 'Radiation is Actually Good For You' (Video)

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Talking Points Memo - By Meena Rupani - Mar. 18 (Opinion) - According to conservative columnist Ann Coulter, this whole Japanese nuclear crisis is overblown and "radiation is actually good for you" and the media isn't reporting its benefits enough. On The O'Reilly Factor last night, Coulter spoke about her recent column...

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Nuclear Planning for the Worst Not Enough

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

aolnews.com - By Andrew Schneider - Mar. 16 (Opinion) - As hopes dim for controlling the explosive self-destruction of six decomposing nuclear plants on Japan's northeast coast, safety experts around the world want to know what was missing in the tens of thousands of pages of repeatedly tested emergency drills crafted to cover every eventuality.

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Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants: The No BS Info on Japan's Disastrous Nuclear Operators

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Greg Palast - Mar. 15 (Opinion) - The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.

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Nuclear Power Madness

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Norman Solomon - Mar. 14 (Opinion) - Like every other president since the 1940s, Barack Obama has promoted nuclear power. Now, with reactors melting down in Japan, the official stance is more disconnected from reality than ever. Political elites are still clinging to the oxymoron of “safe nuclear power.” It’s up to us -- people around the world -- to peacefully and insistently shut those plants down.

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Some Perspective On The Japan Earthquake

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

kalzumeus.com - By Patrick McKenzie - Mar. 14 (Opinion) - I run a small software business in central Japan. Over the years, I’ve worked both in the local Japanese government (as a translator) and in Japanese industry (as a systems engineer), and have some minor knowledge of how things are done here. English-language reporting on the matter has been so bad that my mother is worried for my safety, so in the interests of clearing the air I thought I would write up a bit of what I know.

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Nuclear expert: “50-50 chance of a catastrophic radiation” from Japan

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By David Case - Mar. 14 (Interview) - To get independent answers about the risks faced by people, GlobalPost turned to Arnold Gundersen, a 39-year veteran of the nuclear industry. Now chief engineer at Fairwinds Associates, he has worked as a nuclear plant operator and he served as an expert witness in the investigation into the Three Mile Island accident.

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Japan Earthquake: Internet a Communications Lifeline as Telephone Lines Fail

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

seekingalpha.com - By Paolo Gorgo - Mar. 14 (Editorial) - Japan’s devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami put the country's telecommunications and Internet infrastructure under intense pressure. Millions of telephone lines were unavailable soon after the quake. Data connections were actually the least impacted, so that many Japanese turned to Web access in order to communicate with families and friends. Japan’s tsunami warning system worked properly, likely helping limit damage and loss of life.

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United Nations: Japanese Authorities Breached Human Rights of Greenpeace Anti-Whaling Activists

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By ane Kochersperger - Feb. 09 (Press Release) - The Japanese government breached a series of internationally guaranteed human rights by detaining two Greenpeace activists who had uncovered major corruption in the Japanese whaling program, according to a working group of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

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Lessons From the Japanese: Time to Stop Borrowing Money and Start Printing It

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

TruthOut - By Ellen Hodgson Brown - Nov. 23 (Opinion) - Miners used to keep canaries in coal mines as an early warning device. If the air was so bad that it killed the canary, the miners would soon be next. Japan may be the canary for the out-of-control deficit spending policies now being pursued in the United States and the United Kingdom.

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Time for Change

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Informed Comment: Global Affairs - By Philip J Cunningham - Sep. 20 (Opinion) - After half a century of one-party rule in Japan, a fresh approach to foreign policy and collective security is not really an option, it's a necessity. The Liberal Democratic Party, born of the ashes of WWII, branded with the imprint of US Occupation, has always been an odd hybrid, neither particularly liberal nor democratic, but an opportunistic mish-mash that was fine-tuned into a winning political machine.

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The St. Petersburg Times - Opinion - Islands Apart

Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

sptimes.ru - By Peter Rutland - May. 18 (Opinion) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin descended on Japan last week, accompanied by a dozen governors and more than 100 Russian business leaders. Yet the visit failed to break the impasse in Russian-Japanese relations over the four islands east of Hokkaido, which Russia seized in 1945. This means that the two countries are still without a peace treaty and an agreed mutual border 64 years after the end of World War II.

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Turning Japanese? We Could Do a Lot Worse

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

healthcare.change.org - By Tim Foley - Feb. 22 (Opinion) - We hear a lot about how Americans’ health care appetite for the latest technology and drugs makes us hard to compare to other nations, so let’s look at a country that has the highest number of CT scans per capita and more MRIs per capita than we do, not to mention a higher percentage of their health care dollars spent on drugs. Yet for all of this, they’ve created a universal health care system that provides health outcomes that are the envy of the world – the highest life expectancy for about a third of what the U.S. spends.

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Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton's Trip To Asia

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Paul B. Stares - Feb. 18 (Interview) - he Japanese are clearly very happy that Secretary Clinton is beginning with her Asia trip with Japan. And they clearly are reassured that Japan still counts in Washington's calculus. Tell us what are the leading sort of issues that she's going to be bringing up with the Japanese and what she's looking to hear from them.

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Mrs. Clinton Goes to Asia

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

National Review - By Dan Blumenthal - Feb. 16 (Opinion) - In fashioning her Asia policy, Secretary Clinton has a chance to make a clean break with her predecessors, who tended to view every Asian challenge in isolation. The United States can begin to view Asia as a whole, with interconnected problems and multilateral solutions.

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A Lost Decade Ahead?

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Real Clear Politics - By Robert Samuelson - Feb. 16 (Opinion) - The president says that Japan's history demonstrates the need for his "stimulus package." To the contrary, claim Hannity and other conservatives, Japan shows that stimulus plans don't work. Up to a point, they're both right. But the possible parallels between Japan's experience and our own are much broader and pose the question of whether we, too, might face a "lost decade."

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Class Breaks in Tokyo More Suited for Children

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

ednews.org - By Erin Irving - Feb. 06 (Editorial) - As the bell rang ending my first forty-five minute English lesson I expected the Japanese teacher to switch to the next lesson as would typically happen in an American elementary school. Instead, the third graders I was teaching immediately packed their notebooks into their desks, stood up, slid their chairs under their desks and scrambled down the stairs to the outdoor field as fast as they could. The teacher stayed in his desk and continued grading papers. I was confused. Could it be time for recess at 9:30 am? I followed the children outside to find that most of the 800 students in the school in urban Tokyo were running around completely rampant, jumping rope, playing soccer, climbing on the jungle gym and walking on stilts. Six teachers stood at designated places around the playground watching the children for injuries, but otherwise hundreds of kids ran around freely. Fifteen minutes into playtime, another bell rang. The kids hung the jump ropes and the stilts, threw the balls back into bins and ran back to class.

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Burma: Will Japan show its teeth next week?

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:06:09 -0700

Mutantfrog Travelogue - By Adam Richards - Sep. 30 (Opinion) - The Japanese government has gone from a basically hands-off approach to demanding full explanations at the highest level. Still, new prime minister Yasuo Fukuda has not gone ahead with sanctions and has decided only to demand an explanation and lodge an official protest over the incident. However, most significant is that major commentators have begun calling for Japan to initiate sanctions against the junta, which has so far not been a popular position as Japan has had a policy of so-called dual engagement, giving aid to the country while trying to maintain relations with democracy leaders as well.

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War and Peace: What Is It With Japan?

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:52:15 -0800

The Moderate Voice - By Shaun Mullen - Dec. 19 (Opinion) - Japan's conservative government has removed two pillars of its post-World War II pacifism. It now requires schools to teach patriotism and has upgraded its Defense Agency to a full ministry.

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