“Skilled Veterans Corps”. Good name. It took a politician to call them (publicly) a “suicide corps”. Way to go, Hosono! Diplomatic, eh?
This article has more details than the one Mike Rogers linked to yesterday.
More than 160 engineers, including many former atomic plant workers, aged 60 or older say they want to set up a “Skilled Veterans Corps” to help restore the cooling systems crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
via Japan retired nuclear workers ready for duty – Yahoo! News.
“We need to bring the participants’ voices to parliament as well as to the government,” said Hiroe Makiyama, an upper house member of the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan.
What the heck for? To make it look like the parliament and the government are actually doing something? As the man who came up with the idea, Yamada, said,
““A functioning cooling system is indispensable,” he pointed out. “But who is supposed to build it? Only people can do it”
Only people. And not politicians, but people who actually know what they are doing. As Masahiro Ueda, 69, a former nuclear power plant worker with more than four decades of expertise on water pumps of cooling systems, put it:
“Someone should take action. You can’t work properly at nuclear plants without specialist knowledge.”
“We will also consider the necessary legislation to back the project.”… said Hiroe Makiyama, an upper house member of the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan.
Why is legislation necessary?
“We are very thankful and want to accept their feeling of devoted action,” said Goshi Hosono, the special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan in charge of addressing the ongoing crisis, according to local media.
“But our principle is that we should stick to procedures that will not require such a ‘suicide corps’,” Hosono said.
Translation: we’d rather Tepco paid minimum wages to inexperienced sub-contractor workers who don’t know what they’re getting into, than nuclear industry veterans who know exactly what they’re doing and what the risks are, and are more than likely to criticize Tepco and the government’s strategies. Who needs that, sheesh! We’re in charge, and we don’t want anyone throwing doubts on our competence, duh!
And anyway, initiative is a dirty word. It upsets solidarity and harmony, the pillars that uphold Japanese society, doncha know.
"Slap on the wrist" (for initiative). Photo by Stephen Poff on Flickr (click photo to visit)
#1 by AyCray on May 30, 2011 - 2:54 pm
I am an intern working with one of the politicians supporting this project, and have been attached since the beginning of its formation. There is a very strong movement towards this, as daily more and more volunteers are coming forward to joing Yamada-san’s project. You demonize all of the politicans working in the Diet, even though you aren’t physically present during the meetings to see both sides of the issue. “Who needs that, sheesh! We’re in charge, and we don’t want anyone throwing doubts on our competence, duh!” is just belittling the politcians who are working very hard to think of all sorts of ideas to help with Fukushima’s recovery.
#2 by sheffner on May 30, 2011 - 9:06 pm
AyCray, Thanks for visiting and taking the trouble to comment. I admit, I may be guilty of sniping from the sidelines, but in my defence, I was not “demonizing” anyone. And I was not poking fun at all politicians, but at Hosono’s comments in particular. Please explain to me why politicians should be involved in this matter at all?
#3 by AyCray on June 1, 2011 - 1:35 pm
I feel that the government needs to attach itself to a project that would be popular with the citizens of Japan. The notion of sacrificing, or the attempt to go above and beyond the call of duty, is a Japanese trait ingrained in the mindset of the older generation of the Japanese populous. The people of Japan are starting to lose hope in their government, and the government needs to reassure them that they are trying their best to rectify the disaster that has struck the Tohoku area. One can see that the “suicide corp”, as Hosono has idiotically dubbed, is somewhat controversial, and with the backing of several politicans, it can gain more momentum and allow for others to join their cause. That said, Japanese people love their legal, political red tape more than the average bear, and this is just another example of it.
#4 by sheffner on June 4, 2011 - 11:37 am
Thanks for taking the time to write here. “The people of Japan are starting to lose hope in their government.” Yes, and why is that? And is it such a bad thing? See this collection of articles about angry citizens and voters. If people are beginning to see that an excessive faith in government has perhaps been misplaced, then I see that as a good thing. Politicians love to promise more than they can deliver. Perhaps voters are waking up to that fact.