SOPA Hating is Everyone's Cause: But have you ever shared your other ones? Well, I did, and I just got personal.

"We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the way in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us."
--Friedrich Nietzsche

How many of your friends statused and/or tweeted something about stopping the SOPA/PIPA bills going through the US Congress and House in the next election? I'm grateful that these social media platforms make way for like-minded people to rally, spread information, and share support in order to conquer some serious bullshit going on. It's awesome that people show how much they care when one of their freedoms, access to information/knowledge/business/power, plug-ins to comfort and happiness is in jeopardy. Man, people get mad.

But like Nietzsche recognized long ago, when there are other less-represented or silenced people who have their freedoms hindered, or their lives endangered, and it does not affect us directly, we may be refusing to accept an idea. How many causes are going on right now within your own house, neighborhood, country, that need your support and alliance in order to bring equality, healthfulness, knowledge and happiness to those who reside there? Obviously, we are re-recognizing the strength of our power in numbers and solidarity when something as interconnected and all-inclusive as the Internet becomes endangered, and the masses come out from the shadows and speak up against censorship.
(Cont. below)


[Some background Radiohead to go along with my call to you, my friends]


There are times when I bypass articles about other people's causes, and forego signing their petitions because they don't affect anything in my life. I, too, ashamedly, am guilty of such behavior, but it is natural. We don't all have time to take in everybody's cause. Although, I do know that there are a few people out there in my networks whose passion and repetitiveness forces me to acknowledge the things they're requesting from me.

Since I'm in Japan, and have several highly activated:) (activist) friends, I have read countless articles regarding not only the status and health levels of the Tohoku area, as well as tons of personal accounts of people who are still suffering under the radar of both national and international news. Just today I read one from a woman who lives in a place deemed safe within Fukushima, yet her daily life is drenched with semi-conscious worrying of keeping the windows closed, drying laundry inside, watching her daughter leave for school carrying a radiation dosemeter with her, becoming annoyed when people say "gambarou, Nippon", and throwing away seemingly delicious produce from their garden. Where's the solidarity of millions posting on Facebook and Twitter, circumventing the pathetic National media, protecting their rights...to live without constant paranoia, fear, and invisible poison?

Since I'm gay, and have several highly gay friends:), I also keep quite updated with things going on in this front as well. With the campaign trail going strong, gay marriage and abortion issues are always up in the spotlight. Both of which, I support, by the way.

Just yesterday, Rick Santorum, one of the leading Republican candidates mentioned how he does not hate gays, and his views on marriage rights are just "public policy differences". WTF? Public policy is EVERYTHING!!!!

I think Rick Santorum, and the other anti-gay Republicans' voices and opinions should matter MUCH LESS than this kid's.


But, unfortunately, they don't. Children and adults who suffer from social condemnation live in this existence because of people like them who spread hate through "public policy".

Four years ago, when there was a California vote to overturn the rights to gay marriage, many people in my own networks, religious/conservative family members and friends, voted Yes, and weren't afraid to voice their opinion on why they did so. I wondered if they knew how this affected and still affects me. Did they not care because, as Nietzsche said, the idea was unsympathetic to them?


And even if California maintained gay marriage rights, I still wouldn't be able to live in the United States with my partner because immigration will not be allowed until gay marriage rights are recognized at the Federal level. So now as the situation stands, if I want to live together with my partner, I must reside here, in Japan.
I wonder, where's the blackout, the mass of stati and tweets standing up to this injustice?

The Occupy Movement, another cause close to my heart, has awoken the world just a bit, but not nearly as much as this SOPA/PIPA controversy, despite the cause involving 99% of the world's population.
Aren't you confused by this?


Because I agree with the facet of human nature that Nietzsche touched upon in his quote, I can't question why more people aren't impassioned with the desire to care for other people's causes. All I can do is understand that it exists.

Even so, how will anybody know my causes if I don't voice them, share them, status, tweet, blog, and gather more people to voice theirs as well. So today has inspired me to share my concerns for the world around me, and open my eyes to the causes and concerns surrounding those around me. Though I'm active on the internet, post and share often, I rarely discuss my deep personal concerns and experiences, but I guess I better start somewhere.

How about you? How will you support me? And more important to the collective cause, how will you call upon me to support you?

Who is Goshi Hosono and why should you care?

Goshi Hosono, a politician in the Democratic Party of Japan, House of Representatives, recently became the Minister of the Environment. He has been one of the key middlemen between government officials and TEPCO since the Fukushima Nuclear crisis. He is now is also in charge of developing the compensation packages for the victims of Fukushima. Hosono has recently been promoted to the position of Japan's Environment Minister after Prime Minister Noda replaced Kan. Before the March 11th earthquake, he represented Shizuoka Prefecture District 5, which houses the Hamaoka Nuclear Plant, deemed unsafe for operation soon after the Fukushima accident. He graduated from Kyoto University from the Faculty of Law. With a strong background in law and politics, and not nuclear science, many critics question whether he can make the best decisions regarding nuclear policy.

In his first interview as Environmental Minister on September 4th, Hosono made some controversial remarks. 「福島の痛みを日本全体で分かち合うことが国としての配慮だ], which means "everybody in Japan must share the pain of Fukushima". Within the same article, he also talks about Fukushima's local government refusal to house the storage facilities of the radioactive waste within the prefecture. His remark does not explicitly say that officials have decided to store the radioactive waste in other prefectures around Japan, however, his nuance and its relation to other topics reported in the article suggest that is what might come to be.

As Hosono's debut interview as Environmental Minister began to receive both national and international attention, NHK News pulled the story from their website. Luckily, the news cannot be erased from the newspapers which was released on September 4, 2011. Below is the report.

http://www.nhk.or.jp/lnews/fukushima/6055362251.html
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lnews/fukushima/6055362251.html
[From NHK News Japanese (4:42PM JST 9/4/2011):
原発事故で放射性物質に汚染されたがれきや土壌の最終処分場について細野環境大臣は４日の会見で「福島の痛みを日本全体で分かち合うことが国としての配慮だ」と述べ、福島県以外に設けたいという考えを示しました。

Minister of the Environment Hosono said in the September 4 press conference that "it is the consideration of the national government [or as Japan as the nation] to share the pain of Fukushima by everyone [or everywhere] in Japan", reiterating his intention to create a final processing facility outside Fukushima Prefecture for debris and dirt contaminated with radioactive materials from the nuclear accident.

これは４日行われた就任会見で、細野環境大臣が明らかにしました。原発事故で放射性物質に汚染されたがれきや放射性物質を取り除く除染作業で出た土壌などの処分をめぐっては、先月、菅前総理大臣が福島県の佐藤知事に対し、一時的に管理する中間貯蔵施設を県内に整備する方向で検討していることやその施設を最終処分場にすることは考えていないという意向を伝えています。

The September 4 press conference was his first as the Minister of the Environment. Regarding the disposal of the contaminated debris and dirt removed by the decontamination work, ex-Prime Minister Kan told Governor of Fukushima Sato last month that the national government was proceeding with the plan to create a temporary storage facility in Fukushima but it had no intention of turning this facility into a final processing facility.

４日の会見で細野大臣は、中間貯蔵施設について「具体的な場所や保管しておく期間については地元の理解がなくては進めることができない」と述べ、施設を設ける場所などについては今後、地元と十分話し合ったうえで決めたいという考えを示しました。

In the September 4 press conference, Hosono said of the temporary storage facility, "We won't proceed without consulting the local people in deciding the specific location and the duration of the storage", indicating the details will be worked out after consultation with the local people.

また、最終処分場については中間貯蔵施設とは別だという認識を示した上で、「福島の痛みを日本全体で分かち合うことが国としての配慮ではないかと思っている。福島を最終処分場にはしないということは方針としてできる限り貫きたい」と述べ、福島県以外に設けたいという考えを示しました。

As to the final processing facility, he said he considered it separate from the temporary storage facility, and said further, "I believe it should be the consideration of the national government [or Japan as the nation] to share the pain of Fukushima by everyone in Japan [or everywhere in Japan]. It is my intention to stick to the plan that the final processing facility will never be built in Fukushima", reiterating his idea of creating the final processing facility outside Fukushima Prefecture.]

Recently, many news articles as well as youtube videos of Japanese news reports have disappeared from the internet, including multiple articles accusing the Japanese government of hiring private companies to scan through news websites, private blogs, and twitter and expunge unfavorable news regarding the Fukushima meltdowns.

In this article from the Japan Times, Mr. Hosono is introduced as strong leader, who is going to reshape nuclear policy. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110913f1.html. If you'd like to hear more from Mr. Goshi Hosono himself, feel free to read through his blog written in Japanese.

As time continues to pass from the initial disaster, and as the clean-up efforts progress, there are still a lot of serious decisions that will be decided by officials, led by Mr. Hosono. The radioactive waste needs to be stored somewhere, and the time is coming when the decision needs to be made as to where. In fact, 76 cylinders of reprocessed radioactive material returned to Japan today from Britain, according to an article from the Japan Times. Protesters greeted the shipment with signs that said, "Keep Nuclear Waste Out". Although the final resting spot of the waste has not been determined, it is now sitting in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture. 900 more of these cylinders are scheduled to be transported between Japan and the UK within the next 10 years. Where will they end up? Is the transport of these materials secure? How many prefectures will have to "share the pain of Fukushima" by housing these cylinders of nuclear waste scheduled to arrive?

The truth is...

The truth is, that I wanted to write about the state of affairs these days, but frankly, i'm just too exhausted. I'm sick of listening to it, reading about it, caring about it. I know this mentality is dangerous, but I'm taking a break from it.

So, I lied. I will not write about anything radioactive, though I will still continue to drink my water from my purified water tank and wash my leafy vegetables with soap, and soak them for a long time, before eating. I've also haven't put any bare feet (nor hands) into the ocean yet this summer, despite living a 5 minute walk from the shore and visiting it often.

It's a real shame to yearn for what we once had.

UPCOMING POST (6/8/2011) : The Continuance of the Daiichi's

In terms of the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi dilemna, alot is being covered up, criticized, leaked.

With conflicting stories and government ambiguity, most people don't know what to believe and have no choice but to put it into the back of their mind and just keep living their life.

I'll write about my own experience about what news articles I've read, which ones I believe and don't believe, what my activist friends are talking about, what a Japanese protest looks like, and what I'm still doing living here despite my feelings of mistrust and confusion.

My story will come the next few days. I need some time to review all the materials I've read over the past couple of months.

If you have anything you'd like to send which is critical for me to read and write about in relation to this subject, please send me the link by email or Facebook.

See you Wednesday!

Below:
A protest sign worn by a senior activist in Shizuoka ken, who opposes Hamaoka Power plant, where a controversial aging nuclear power plant, similar in design to Daiichi, sits next to the coast on a huge fault predicted for a huge earthquake.



Below:
His shirt reads "hantai" which means "against, or opposing" in Japanese.

Off to Nagoya

After the explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plants, I became alarmed. Obviously. As did the whole world, right? Friends from every corner of the globe began to contact me to encourage me to fly home, and of course, so did family. I don't know if you could realize how strong the pull is of your mother begging you to get on the next plane out of a place shown on the news to be radioactively polluted.

But that is what happened.

My family and friends began to call and email, saying that they heard that Japan was a danger zone. However, within Japan, all news seemed to say that things were not that dangerous. Unfortunately, I am not fluent enough in Japanese to be able to read or understand Japanese news sources, so all I had to depend on was outside news.

This created a problem between Chu and I, because we were getting conflicting news updates. It caused a huge fight between us on the night after the Fukushima plants exploded. The yellow skies on the next day didn't help matters. I felt like Tokyo was a ticking time bomb, about to explode into dangerous zombie inducing air at any moment. However, from her perspective, things were bad but not at all apocalyptical.

Though, on that day, most of our close friends were already fleeing Tokyo towards foreign lands or at least more western/southern areas of Japan. I insisted that we leave the next day, but she insisted that she would stay and finish her jobs and meet up with me later. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to accept that. We already had problems that balanced on the fact that I didn't believe that she'd follow through on plans that involved our future, so when she refused to leave Tokyo, I thought that our relationship had hit our usual wall, only this time the issue in question was at the time, our lives. After a fight that left me in beers and tears, and her yelling at me in a way unlike any I had seen before, I gave up and fell asleep. The next day, she called me and said that she was ready to leave Tokyo because she thought it was too dangerous.

It wasn't until she had met up with me, and I handed her the Shinkansen ticket that she admitted that she didn't really think we should leave. She told me that she didn't believe that things were unsafe, but came with me because I was scared about not only the radiation, but also our relationship. She came because she thought this might be the final straw that might break up our relationship. I didn't say it at the time, but actually, that situation just might have done us in. Although I was later proven wrong, and it was actually safe enough to stay in Tokyo, I would have never been able to believe that she'd stand by me when I thought something was important enough to act upon, and to take a stand. This experience had exposed something about our relationship that couldn't be learned in any typical circumstance, and it is that it's strong and built on real love, the kind that you risk your job, health, and even life for.

So, we went to our friends' house in Nagoya. Lesley and Collen are awesome girls and let us stay at their humble abode. They had their own drama about the situation going on in Japan, dealing with their own families. By joining them, we could connect with others who felt the chasm between fear and the chasm between loyalty to our second home, Japan, and our family's worries. I can't express how much these ladies, as well as Chu, have done to make me feel like Japan is a good home. Lesley and Colleen are some of the best hostesses I know. The day they arrived, they took us to their famous "Chicken Shack" (since Nagoya is famous for chicken, ya know). While dining there, we felt the large 6.0 quake in Shizuoka. The next day, Colleen suggested we get outside and take a little walk around some nature rather than sticking to the TV news. What a great idea. Just getting away from noise of news and breathing some fresh air that smells of tree felt great.

After the girls left to the airport in the afternoon, we slept there for one more night before deciding that perhaps things are going to be able to be maintained in Fukushima. We woke up bright and early at 6am the next morning and took a bus home. I had taken that opportunity to shop for a bag of rice, and emergency supplies which were sold out in most Tokyo supermarkets, donating it at Second Harvest.

Despite those days being terribly worrisome, I'll admit that it was great to have a chance to visit with Colleen and Lesley, even if it was under frightening circumstances.