radiation scare threatens japanese livelihood
DESCRIPTION
Looking at the world through liberal theory.TRANSCRIPT
Monsicha Hoonsuwan
Senior Capstone
Professor DeLaet
Liberalism Op-Ed
April 19, 2011
Radiation Scare Threatens Japanese Livelihood
“It’s all over for Fukushima produce,” mumbled a 64-year-old farmer from
Fukushima after hearing the Japanese government’s ban on all produce from the
prefecture due to radiation concern. The farmer lost all hope—the hope he had gathered
after seeing his 7,500 heads of organic cabbages survive the deadly quake. His cabbages
had gained a reputation of being safe and having high quality, thanks to 10 years spent
perfecting seeding, mulch and soil. Now, it meant nothing. And the farmer hung himself.
The fear of contamination caused by the radiation leak at Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant—the consequence of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked Japan
earlier this year—has caused a food crisis in the country with a 40 percent food security
ratio. Stores are running out of meal staples like natto, Japanese fermented soybeans, and
instant noodles. Such scarcity is partly a result of the Japanese heartland being struck by
the earthquake and the 10-metre tsunami. But—perhaps a more important reason—Japan
has always struggled to feed its 127-million population and has been reliant on food
imports; food security issue is nothing new for the only developed Asian country. In fact,
in 2009, Japan imported over $40 billion worth of agricultural products, making it the
third-largest agricultural importer in the world. What’s new is the radiation scare. Food
safety, the radiation contaminated produce in this case, has made Japan’s continuing food
insufficiency worse.
The story of a 63-year-old farmer is a good and tragic example of how food safety
concerns can severely jeopardize food security in the globalized economy. His case is
only the beginning. While the earthquake and the tsunami have directly affected many
farmers and fishermen, more worrisome consequences are yet to come. Japanese
agricultural sector, though does not produce food mainly for exports, will find it
increasingly more difficult to feed the country. Sure, the gap between demand and supply
of food will be met by imports from the U.S., Thailand and China. But can Japanese
citizens afford skyrocketing food prices as a result of scarce supply and higher
transportation costs? Moreover, is Japan economy strong enough to substitute local
produces with foreign imports? Poorer people in Japan will be heavily affected by rising
food costs, worsening food security condition for a large part of the country’s population.
The radiation scare is causing Japanese people to move away from local produce,
especially spinach, since the government has announced the ban. Ironically, the
government’s attempt to alleviate the fears by conducting tests and informing the citizens
which products are free of contamination have resulted in adverse effects. Ian Buruma,
the author of A Japanese Mirror, Inventing Japan, and The Wages of Guilt: Memories of
War in Germany and Japan, says the bureaucratic system in Japan, where tight-knitted
bureaucrats holding the policy-making power, has been accused of hiding information
from the public. This isn’t unwarranted. Under the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP)
government, Japanese bureaucrats were exercising power to make sure the growth of
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)—the owner of Fukushima Daiichi—was
unconstrained by other government policies. However, TEPCO has had a history of being
dishonest; it was reported that TEPCO submitted false report to the government about the
dangerous flaws at its nuclear facilities before. The strong link between TEPCO and
Japanese bureaucrats fuels skepticism. Japanese people doubt the government’s report on
food safety, thinking it might downplay the actual risks of contamination. Japanese
consumers then make a blanket decision to not purchase any products from the entire
affected prefectures. “When the Japanese government prohibited the sale of spinach from
Ibaraki prefecture, south of Fukushima, this created the overall perception that produce
from Ibaraki could be a health risk,” wrote Mark Notaras for United Nations University’s
Our World 2.0. The ban not only stops Japanese people from purchasing food that are
safe, but also worsening food shortages, escalating the country’s reliance on imports.
News travel fast in this connected, globalized world, but not all of the information
pertaining to the nuclear crisis at Fukushima is being conveyed to the global public. Bans
on Japanese fresh produces spring up in several countries. In the U.S., for example,
Whole Foods, a giant health food market, is taking precautions by urging their sushi
suppliers to stop sourcing ingredients from Japan altogether. Such a decision ignores the
fact that Japanese cabbage farmers 300 miles away from Fukushima are producing the
exact same high-quality vegetables. It also ignores the fact that on April 4, Taiwan’s
Atomic Energy Council tested 721 Japanese food samples for radiation and found no
dangers. Decreasing international and domestic demand means Japanese farmers are
under threat of going bankrupt. At the same time, Japanese people are facing self-
inflicted food shortages and rising food costs that will leave underprivileged citizens with
a level of hunger not seen since World War II. All due to an unwarranted fear.