NPO in Fukui Selling Buddhist Rosaries and Bracelets Made of Rikuzen Takata Pine

whose bark was found with 1,130 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.



From Yomiuri Shinbun (12:59AM JST 8/23/2011):

「京都五山送り火」用の薪(まき)から放射性セシウムが検出され、岩手県陸前高田市の被災松を使った薪の販売を中止した福井県坂井市のＮＰＯ法人「ふくい災害ボランティアネット」が、セシウム不検出だった幹の中心部分を加工した念珠とブレスレットの販売を続けている。



A Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture-based NPO "Fukui Disaster Volunteer Net" has been selling the Buddhist rosaries and bracelets made out of the core of the trunk of the pine trees that was felled in the March 11 disaster in Rikuzen Takat City in Iwate Prefecture. The firewood made out of those pine trees was to be used at "Gozan no Okuribi" in Kyoto, but radioactive materials were detected [from the bark of the wood]. There was no radioactive cesium detected from the core.



　東角操代表は「安全な部分を使ってしっかり復興支援をしたい」と話す。



Misao Higashikado of "Fukui Disaster Volunteer Net" says his organization wants to support the recovery by [commemorating the disaster] using the safe part of the wood.



　「震災の記憶を風化させないように」との願いを込め、玉の一つに「３・１１」と刻んだ。７月下旬にインターネットで通信販売を始め、今月１６日の送り火の後、茨城大に検査を依頼したところ、幹の部分からはセシウムは検出されなかった。



One bead of the rosary/bracelet is engraved with "3.11", so that the memory of the disaster does not fade away. The NPO started to sell the rosaries/bracelets on the internet in late July. After the "Okuribi" on August 16, the NPO asked Ibaraki University to test for radiation, but there was no radioactive cesium detected from the trunk of the tree.



　念珠は３０００円、ブレスレットが１８００円。



A Buddhist rosary sells for 3,000 yen (US$39), and a bracelet sells for 1,800 yen (US$23).



　同ネットのホームページ（http://www.fukkou.org/contact-us/tyumon）で購入できる。



You can buy them at the website of the NPO "Fukui Disaster Volunteer Net", at http://www.fukkou.org/contact-us/tyumon

Disaster capitalism alive and well.



Oh wait, it is not really a capitalism. It's done by an NPO, non-profit organization. I should say "social entrepreneurism", then I'm totally politically correct.



(An NPO in Fukui Prefecture asking the university in Ibaraki Prefecture for testing? That's rather far, far away.)

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Japan's Minister of Education Visits Monju, Says Fast Breeder Is Necessary for Japan

Minister of Education and Science Yoshiaki Takagi, a former union official at a shipyard in Nagasaki before he ran for office, visited Monju, the troubled fast breeder reactor in Tsuruga City in Fukui Prefecture where Governor Nishikawa may be jockeying for an advantageous position vis a vis the national government on the Hokuriku Shinkansen (bullet train) project and opposing the re-start of the reactors in his prefecture.

From Nikkei Shinbun (8/3/2011):

高木義明文部科学相は３日、高速増殖炉「もんじゅ」（福井県敦賀市）を視察し、東京電力福島第１原発の事故を踏まえた安全対策の実施状況を確認した。

Minister of Education and Science Yoshiaki Takagi visited Fast Breeder Reactor "Monju" in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture to be briefed on the implementation of safety measures after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

　視察後に記者団の取材に応じた高木文科相は、「ウラン燃料を有効に使い、廃棄物をより少なくする研究開発は資源の乏しい日本に適している」と高速増殖炉開発の意義を強調した。一方で今後の開発方針は「政府のエネルギー・環境会議で、再生可能エネルギーの普及状況などをしっかり議論をする中で方向性が出てくる」と明言を避けた。

After the visit, the minister gave comments to the press, "Research and development to find ways to use uranium fuel more effectively and to reduce nuclear waste is a natural fit for Japan, which has scarce natural resources", emphasizing the importance of developing a fast breeder reactor. However, he avoided specifics of the future development policy and said "it will be made clear through the discussion of renewable energy in the government's energy and environmental committees".

　高木文科相は７月15日午前の閣議後の記者会見で、もんじゅについて開発中止を含めて検討する考えを示唆した後、同日夕に発言を事実上撤回した。

Minister Takagi hinted at discontinuing the development of Monju during the press conference after the cabinet meeting on July 15 morning, but effectively withdrew his comment in the evening of the same day.

Since Sellafield is closing its MOX-fuel plant specifically designed for the Japanese nuclear industry due to uncertain prospect after the Fukushima accident, Monju will be needed more than ever, if it ever succeeds in running for more than a few weeks.

Or the new generation of fast breeder reactor, to be built by Mitsubishi FBR Systems, which was set up by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2007. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was selected by the government (Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industries) and the Federation of Electric Power Companies as the core company to develop the next generation fast breeder reactor in 2006.

There is no "free market" for the nuclear industry.

(In case you are wondering why the Ministry of Education is involved in nuclear power, it's because the Ministry absorbed the Science and Technology Agency in 2001. The Science and Technology Agency was set up as an independent agency under the Prime Minister's Office in 1956, for the express purpose of promoting nuclear energy in Japan. Its first head was Matsutaro Shoriki, "father of Japan's nuclear energy" who was also the owner of Yomiuri Shinbun and Nippon Television Network.)

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Nuke Plant Politics: METI Sent Energy Agency Chief to Pursuade Governor of Fukui to Re-Start Nuke Plants

The head of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), met with the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in Fukui Prefecture to plot the strategy to press the governor of Fukui to agree to re-starting nuclear power plants in Fukui. The Chamber of Commerce chairman is one of the biggest supporters of the governor.

From Asahi Shinbun (7/25/2011):

原発の再起動に反対を続ける福井県の西川一誠知事を説得するよう、経済産業省の幹部が川田達男・福井商工会議所会頭に協力を働きかけたことについて、資源エネルギー庁は２５日、川田氏と面会したのは同庁の細野哲弘長官だったと明らかにした。一方、原発の再起動への協力依頼については「わかりかねる」としている。

The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy disclosed on July 25 that it was the Director General of the Agency, Tetsuhiro Hosono, who met with the head of the Fukui Prefecture Chamber of Commerce Tatsuo Kawada. But the Agency said it didn't know whether the director general had solicited Kawada's help in persuading the governor of Fukui, Kazumi (Issei) Nishikawa, who has refused to re-start the nuclear power plants [in his prefecture].

　川田氏は２４日、福井市であった県北陸新幹線建設促進同盟会総会で、原発の再起動に向けて海江田万里経産相が「安全宣言」を出した直後の６月２４日、同市内で経産省幹部と会談したと明かした。その際、「要望は積極的に協力する」と再起動への協力を求められたという。川田氏は幹部の個人名は明かさなかった。

Mr. Kawada revealed on July 24 in a general meeting in Fukui City for Hokuriku Shinkansen (bullet train) promotion for Fukui Prefecture that he met with a high-ranking METI official on June 24, right after Banri Kaieda, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry issued the "safety declaration" for the re-start of the nuclear power plants. Kawada said he was asked during the meeting to cooperate in re-starting the nuke plants [in Fukui Prefecture], with the official saying "we will make sure your request [for the re-start] will be expedited". Mr. Kawada didn't disclose the name of the official.

　同庁原子力発電立地対策・広報室は「細野長官に対し川田氏からは北陸新幹線の要望があった」と会談の事実は認めた。

The public relations department of the Agency admits there was a meeting between the two, that "Mr. Kawada pressed Director General Hosono for the Hokuriku Shinkansen project during the meeting".

　川田氏は県経済団体連合会会長も務め、西川知事の最大の支援者。

Mr. Kawada also serves as the chairman of the Fukui Prefecture Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), and is the largest supporter of Fukui Governor Nishikawa.

Governor Nishikawa, a career bureaucrat from the Ministry of Home Affairs (now the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) before becoming the governor of Fukui in 2003, may be against the re-start without concrete assurance from the national government as to the safety of the nuclear plants, but he has been pushing hard for the Hokuriku Shinkansen project (to extend the line at least to Tsuruga City in Fukui) which would greatly benefit his prefecture.

Give and take. Will the governor be persuaded by the Hokuriku Shinkansen?

In the meantime, in the meeting of the Nuclear Safety Commission on July 25, the Mayor of Tsuruga City in Fukui Prefecture was newly appointed as a commissioner in the nuclear disaster counter-measures subcommittee of the NSC. He and another bureaucrat from the Aomori prefectural government (also newly appointed on July 25; Aomori is where the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant is located) are the only two government people appointed to the subcommittee; the rest are the researchers at government and private nuclear research institutions.

The area along the Wakasa Bay in Fukui Prefecture is called "Genpatsu Ginza (nuke plant high street)" with total of 15 nuclear reactors in 5 nuclear power plants.

4 reactors are located in Tsuruga City alone at Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant (with 2 reactors), the Fast Breeder Reactor Monju and the Advanced Thermal Reactor (ATR) Fugen (being decommissioned).

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