(DRAFT - Gentle Readers please forgive typographical errors)
In Japan: Conservative Media sources provide a wealth of details;
Liberal Media, Government, appear to turn a blind eye.
Kyushu Electric's blatant disregard for public opinion seems to have aroused a distinct lack of outrage in most of the main stream Japanese media. One would never guess the power that opinion holds over the nuclear industry in Japan, if one did not already know: the power plants cannot resume business-ass-usual operation without the explicit consent of the people.
Still, as MSM Japan tells it, it comes as a surprise that it is a scandal at all. How strange that the President of this company, a rational and intelligent businessman, virtuous at heart, whose original intentions no doubt were good -- how strange that he should actually have to resign. Certainly this was not what he was expecting:
from E-mail scandal could amplify distrust of N-power The Yomiuri Shimbun The deputy head of Kyushu Electric's nuclear power generation department, when he attended a session of the Kagoshima Prefectural Assembly on Monday as a witness, categorically denied irregularities involving e-mails sent to the TV program, saying the company had "never asked anybody for anything" in connection with the hearing. On Wednesday, when the issue was taken up in Diet deliberations, President Manabe belatedly held a press conference. Asked about his involvement in the scandal, Manabe repeatedly said, "No comment," before finally saying, "Is it such a big problem?" His attitude is extremely insincere considering he is in a position to explain the matter in detail. Read more (appended) |
The Gentle Reader may ask, "What did this man do that was so heinous?" Had I the scruples of an industry newsletter (example screenshot below), I suppose it would be no stretch to reply with a feckless "Nothing less innocent than anyone would in his situation -- anyone that is, who had his proirities straight, who cared about the reconstruction and the recovery, and who knew -- and who would know this better than Mr. Manabe? -- that the swift return to normal operations of power plants such as Mr. Manabe's is prerequisite to rebuilding Japan. The industry appears to still be suffering from 3/11/11 -- if current indicators are correct, current Japanese public opinion inexplicably continues to oppose nuclear power. Some think this perhaps the fault of a this is only a vocal minority. Tepco's very unfortunate circumstances appear have been asking some employees to email the local television station from their home computers, rather than use those at work.
The local TV station was set to broadcast a nuclear themed documentary, which drew the interests of the workers. From the tenor of their response would be mined current information concerning the opinion of the public -- information which, it seems, would be decided the fate of The Intrepid And Lately Misunderstood Heroes In The Fight To Save Japan From The Horrors Of Global Warming, Power Outages, And Economic Uncertainty.
But -- its not like a few employees are going to fool anyone. Besides, it was only a pre-recorded television documentary or something, right? (Pretend that it had was convincing: Of course, you nod knowingly, joining with the unseen Forces Of Everyone Who's Someone in an Agreement of Reasonable Public Opinion. Thats what The Mainichi Daily News said:
from Kyushu Electric executive's order behind nuke plant restart email scandal Hideo Kishimoto, mayor of the town of Genkai, Saga Prefecture, speaks with Kyushu Electric Power Co. President Toshio Manabe at the Genkai Town Hall on July 4. (Mainichi) One order from a Kyushu Electric Power Co. executive apparently led to a flood of comments to a TV program from employees of the utility and its subsidiaries in favor of restarting nuclear reactors -- a flood that has led to accusations Kyushu Electric is attempting to manipulate public opinion. The Kyushu Electric operating officer apparently ordered a section chief to notify the company's nuclear power-related sections and connected subsidiaries that a local cable TV station would air a program on the reactivation of two nuclear reactors at the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant in Saga Prefecture. The section chief then sent emails to those sections and subsidiaries urging them to send comments to the program supportive of restarting the reactors. Read more below |
But unfortunately not what Reuters ("televised public hearing") or Asahi ("a public forum on atomic safety,") called it. More from Yomburi:
Prior to a public hearing for prefectural residents about the Genkai plant that was aired live via a local cable TV station in late June, Kyushu Electric instructed some of its employees, as well as staff of the company's subsidiaries, to send e-mails to the TV program in support of restarting the plant's reactors. To raise support among prefectural residents for the reactors' reactivation, the utility also called on the employees to send the e-mails from their home computers to hide their identities as employees of Kyushu Electric or its subsidiaries and to pose as members of the general public. [snip] There can be no doubt that the sending of the e-mails under the guise of ordinary residents of the prefecture was perpetrated systematically. The document sent to the recipients asking them to send the messages was in the form of a "request." But judging from the power relationship between Kyushu Electric's management, its employees and its subsidiaries, the recipients must have felt the document was more like an order. It was subsequently revealed that one of the vice presidents and other executives of Kyushu Electric were involved in the scheme to manipulate public opinion. Suspicion is very high that the e-mail scheme might have been carried out by Kyushu Electric as a whole. The hearing's purpose of listening fairly to opinions of the prefectural residents was made meaningless. Read more below |
Well, enough. The definitive scoop comes from , a true hero in this matter.
YOU WILL WANT TO READ HIS ARTICLE if you want the scoop on the sock-puppet emails (scrollable screenshot, link below):
YOU WILL WANT TO READ HIS ARTICLE if you want the scoop on the sock-puppet emails (scrollable screenshot, link below):
APPENDED
Well enough. I hope that enough sense is made of this post, because for now I am through -- I have some molten slag to publicize -- and perhaps even a real world to attend to.*
Oh and -- before I forget -- a hearty hat-tip to Damo邇 The Despiser Of Yamashitta for hipping me to this story. **
Be seeing you.
*(When I grow up I want to write a blog like.... she thinks, wistfully. For the rest of the sentence, EX-EKF comes right now most readily to mind.)
**And for fighting the good fight -- that is, 1) if Google-translate is not misleading me, and 2) despite any qualitative or quantitative differences in conspiritoriological theses (yes, and anti- and synth- as well as hypo-theses) that will have come to have been found between our nascent journals (after double and triple checking #1).
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