"the children of Israel were fruitful" - Balance Sheet of Japan

Memory of 3/11 Tsunami Hit Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture

Balance Sheet of Japan

[updated on January 8]

The amount of total assets of Japan, including those held by businesses, banks, households, and the government, is 5385 trillion yen ($67 trillion at $1 = 80 yen).

The amount of total debts of Japan, including those held by businesses, banks, households, and the government, is 5134 trillion yen ($64 trillion at $1 = 80 yen).

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/x1konno/36064085.html

Though it is often said that the amount of Japanese Government debts is 200% of Japan's GDP, the balance sheet of Japan is stable.

However, to erase negative speculation and anxiety of the international community, the Japanese Government plans to raise a rate of consumption tax from current 5% to 10% in a few or several years, though this rate is fairly lower than in equivalent taxes in European countries and so on.

The last time the consumption tax rate was increased, namely from 3% to 5%, in Japan was in 1997.  This tax hike however resulted in a drastic increase in the number of suicides while contributing little eventually to improvement of the national financial state.

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/x1konno/36064085.html

It shows that a tax hike really kills people.  An economic theory that should apply to Japan is different from that applied to Greece or even Germany.  The Japan is a big country.  It has been the second largest economy next to the US for 40 years.  It has more resources than economists and journalists in the world think.  But, it has deeply rooted problems in society, too.

Yet, this alarming increase of the number of suicides in 1997 must be noted, since it was when the Japanese Gov. faced strong pressure from the American and British financial sectors to liberalize the Japanese financial industry.  Accordingly, the mindsets of Japanese leaders in the business/industrial sectors as well as of the Government changed.  They came to fully believe the Wall Street type of value judgement.  They started to neglect poor Japanese or accept a widening gap between the poor and the rich while 90% of the Japanese was confident that they belonged to the middle class in 1980's and early 1990's.

Now, suppose that households have total assets H, businesses B, and the Government G..

National Assets =  H + B + G

If the Government takes the amount of tax TH from households and TB from businesses,

Gov. Tax Revenues = TH + TB

But the Gov. has to spend all the tax revenues for social welfare (SH) and public work (SB) while the former is regarded as income of households and the latter of businesses.

Resultant Households Assets: H - TH + SH

Resultant Businesses Assets: B - TB + SB

Resultant Gov. Assets:  G + TH + TB - SH - SB = G

As TH + TB = SH + SB, for the Gov. spends all it collects in the form of taxation.

National Assets = (H - TH + SH) + (B - TB + SB) + G

= H + B + G + (SH + SB) - (TH + TB)

= H + B + G

Though there is no change in total assets of a nation, the issue at point is that TH is not equal to SH; TB is not equal to SB. Or usually, TH > SH and TB < SB.  Therefore, households get poorer and business become richer along with execution of taxation.

Households: H --> (H - TH + SH), decreasing.

Businesses: B --> (B - TB + SB), increasing.

So, in this scheme, the more the Gov. collects tax, the more a gap between businesses (rich men) and households (poor men) will be.  Accordingly, tax revenues from households will decrease.  If businesses resist paying more tax, the total tax revenues will decrease while households are getting poorer.  Put simply, if the total amount of the national assets does not change, money is being transferred from households to businesses through the tax system.

But, the Gov. may issue bonds (D) which are mostly purchased by domestic businesses (banks, etc.) in the case of Japan.  The money the Gov. obtains will be used for budget execution (D = SH + SB)..

Resultant Households Assets: H + SH

Resultant Businesses Assets: B + (D - D) + SB = B + SB

Resultant Gov. Assets: G + (- D + D - SH - SB) = G - D

National Assets = H + SH + B + SB + G - D  = H + B + G

= H + B + G

(Note: When the Government issues the bonds "- D," it can obtain money "+ D" from businesses.  When the businesses purchase the government bonds "+ D," they spend "- D." Here the case of no default is assumed. )

In this case, tax revenues from households will not decrease as their assets increase from H to H + SH.  It goes for businesses, too.  But the assets of the Government decreases from G to G - D.  Eventually, the Government has to raise tax to recover D or print and issue government notes in an amount of D to cancel "- D."

So, though there is no change in total national assets, if the Government collects tax, households get poorer; if the Government issues bonds, only the Government decreases assets or incurs debts.  This is close to Japan's case. The most important thing is that, unlike other countries, Japan can bear this Government's asset decrease of "G - D," if it is $ trillions, since it has many resources, including industrial power, a potential of collecting more tax, and the size of GDP  

As Japan sets the consumption tax rate at 5% now, which is lower than those in most of other countries, and issues Gov. bonds reaching hundreds of rillions of yen ($ trillions), Japan has at least so far taken reasonable measures to finance government administration and operations.  Nonetheless, it is alarming that the number of Japanese citizens who commit a suicide is more than 30,000 per year, which is more than the number of deaths in the 3/11 Tsunami Disaster.

Japan should continue to adopt the 5% consumption tax rate and issue trillion yen bonds.  But, it is time for Japan to introduce a new economics paradigm and a new financial theory.

(As for 200% burden of the Japanese Gov. debts over its GDP, it is mainly caused by the trend that tens of thousands of Japanese businesses transfer their factories, plants, and business to China and other Asian countries to leverage cheap labor costs in those countries.  It must be discussed in a different context than a simple national bankruptcy discussion.  But you should note that virtually 30% of GDPs of China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, etc. are originally Japan's.)

Yet, another point at issue is how far the Government can bear this deficit "D."  If "G - D" becomes minus, it would be a state bankruptcy.  To avoid it, as stated, the Government should raise a tax or print and issue government notes.  Bet, before it reaches this state, the Government would evaluate and calculate how much its basic assets "G" it has.

In Japan's case, it is probably 400% of its GDP.  Therefore, if "D" gets equal to 200% of GDP as is now in Japan, there is no problem.

G = 400% of Japan's GDP


D = 200% of Japan's GDP


Resultant Government Assets = G - D = 200% of GDP

So, though the debts (- D) the Japanese government incurs now reaches 200% of its GDP, there is no fear of state bankruptcy unlike Greece, etc.

(to be contributed...)

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Exo 1:7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
Exo 1:8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
Exo 1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
Exo 1:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Exo 1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

"the sons of God came to present themselves" - A Tohoku Story of 1189

Tokyo Street...

A Tohoku (Northeast Japan) Story in 1189

In 1157, Fujiwara Hidehira succeeded his father to be head of samurais of the Fujiwara clan and govern half of the north part of Honsyu Island of Japan today called Tohoku Region (where the 3/11 Tsunami Disaster occurred on March 11, 2011).

Fujiwara Hidehira could command 170,000 samurais in the region then called Ousyu from the regional capital Hiraizumi.  Hiraizumi was as prosperous as Heiankyo (Kyoto), the then imperial capital of Japan.  Buddhism was also actively pursued and revered in Hiraizumi with various elegant temples, including a golden temple.  Ousyu provided alluvial gold and excellent horses for Hidehira.  With riches the region produced, Hidehira worked on the imperial family and other noblemen in Kyoto, 1,000 km southeast of Hiraizumi, to consolidate his power, as the whole Japan was still under the imperial authority, though nominally in politics but substantially in culture, religion, and tradition.  Yet, as Ousyu was so remote from Kyoto, the territory of Hidehira looked like an independent nation as it was so free from political influences from the imperial court in Kyoto which was at the time actually governed by a strong samurai clan called Heishi.

But, another samurai clan called Genji rose and took over political power from Heishi through a fierce civil war and wide-area battles covering most of the south and central part of Japan. With the victory, the chief of the Genji clan Minamoto Yoritomo became institutionally the head of all the samurai clans in Japan.   Imperial families and noblemen lost any remaining political power that had been connected with military power of the Heishi clan.  Then, Minamoto Yoritomo set his headquarters in Kamakura (500-km east of Kyoto and 40-km southwest of Tokyo) as he was steadily supported by samurai clans living in the Kanto region sourounding Kamukura that faces the Pacific Ocean through a big bay near Mt. Fuji.  With time, Yoritomo naturally started to think about conquest of Ousyu, the only region out of his control in Japan.

Then, there occurred a ticklish incident that his younger brother Yoshitsune obtained a high post in the imperial court without permission from Yoritomo.  Yoritomo got angry and tried to capture Yoshitusne to punish him; then Yoshitsune ran away to Ousyu and hid in Hiraizumi under protection of the Fujiwara clan.  

So, Minamoto Yoritomo, who had already installed himself as the head of samurais all over Japan, requested Hidehira to hand over Yoshitsune as if testing loyalty from the Fujiwara clan in Ousyu.  But Fujiwara Hidehira rejected it.  Hidehira told his two sons to promise him to regard Yoshitsune as their lord and protect him till the end.  His sons wrote a letter of promise.  Soon after this episode,  Hidehira died of illness.

Subsequently, Minamoto Yoritomo sent an order to the Fujiwara clan in the name of the emperor to hand over his fugitive brother Yoshitsune.  But, following the instruction of their father,  Hidehira's sons turned it down.  When the imperial order was rejected again, Yoritomo tried to obtain an imperial order to subjugate the Fujiwara clan for real.  This time, Hidehira's sons were afraid of coming war.  So, they killed Yoshitsune and sent his head to Yoritomo as a proof of their obedience.  But Yoritomo blamed the Fujiwara clan for having killed Yoshitsune without permission from the head of samurai who was Yoritomo.  Yoritomo then again asked the emperor for  an imperial order to subjugate the Fujiwara clan.  But, before the imperial order was issued, Yoritomo started to mobilize samurais from all over Japan and organize troops (since he was the head of all the samurai in Japan, he did not need imperial permission to put down other samurai); then he started from Kamukura to Ousyu with nominally 280,000 samurai troops in 1189.  The Fujiwara clan with tens of thousands of samurai troops finally got determined to fight a desperate war which eventually turned out to be one of the greatest civil conflicts in the Japanese history.  

Minamoto Yoritomo eventually won this great war.  His samurai government in Kamakura now literally ruled all the samurai clans in Japan and all the territories in Japan.  Though he received an imperial title Shogun from the imperial court in Kyoto, the political capital of Japan was for the first time placed in eastern Japan, Kamakura.  Samurais came to constitute a new ruling class in Japan.  Unlike the Heishi clan who had governed Japan through a tie-up with the noble class in Kyoto, Kamakura samurai began to rule Japan directly with their own authority.  As the official start of Yoritomo's reign all over Japan from Kamakura  was dated in 1192, this year was regraded as the starting point of the warrior rule or the rule by the sword in Japan that lasted till 1867.

Even today, psychologically, I feel that Tohoku people have some complex feelings to Tokyo (also a samurai capital governed by the Tokugawa clan till 1867), since troops that destroyed glory of the Tohoku region the Fujiwara clan had established came from Kamakura which is close to Tokyo.

Yet, the glory of Hiraizumi, the capital of the Fujiwara clan, was fairly appraised and honored globally in 2011.

Historic Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumi is a group of five sites from late eleventh- and twelfth-century Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture,Japan. Proposed jointly in 2001 for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List under criteria ii, iii, iv, and vi, it was inscribed in 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Monuments_and_Sites_of_Hiraizumi

http://www.town.hiraizumi.iwate.jp/hiraizumi/top.html

(Yahoo Map)

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Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

"the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment" - Scallop Shell Candles

The Tokyo Station, This Winter...

Scallop Shell Candles 

There was a husband and wife living in MInami-Sanriku-Cho, one of hard hit towns by the 3/11 Tsunami of Japan.

They were engaged in marine product processing.  The husband ran his company with 30 employees.  However, on March 11, 2011, an M9.0 earthquake triggered a huge tsunami that washed away their home and a factory.  As the couple beforehand evacuated the home into a friend's house, they could survive the tsunami.  But, next day the husband went out alone to see condition of his factory only to fall on site and never recover.  A hardworking man died at 62.  At that time, he had scheduled to have a heart bypass in a hospital in 12 days.  So, his wife was left alone.  It passed 49 days (a period for Buddhist services for the repose of a deceased's soul held on) after the tragic death of her husband; then she realized that he would never come back.  She made herself busy helping other evacuees, cooking meals, and delivering material aid and goods in the town.  And one day her acquaintance suggested making candles.

Her husband kept a great heap of shells of scallops.  He intended to sell them as material for fertilizer.  And those shells remained in the back yard of the factory as a miracle remnant from the horrible tsunami that destroyed everything the couple made and built in their life.  So, she decided to use the shells.  She started to work on turning scallop shells into candles by washing them, drying them in the sun, pouring wax into them, and arranging them with beads and lame.  The shells finally look like part of an ocean.

https://plus.google.com/117012878133703613065/posts

Now, Hotate Candles (scallop candles)  are offered at 1,000 yen ($13) per piece.  They have already sold 8,000 pieces.

The surviving wife is now going her way supported by scallop shells and a fishing boat her late, self-made husband left after the 3/11 Great Tsunami of East Japan.

(The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper)

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Psa 1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
Psa 1:6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

"the seven churches which are in Asia" - From Letters to Editor

Tokyo...Last Year

The Tokyo Station...Several Years Ago

From Letters to Editor

A Japanese housewife wrote that she misses a Norwegian whale dish.  When she was a primary school girl in Osaka, they often served a Norwegian whale dish in school lunch.  She doesn't know even now why the menu was so named but the taste of cooked whale meat was delicious.  The school sometimes provided this menu for children 25 years ago in Osaka.  But now she married and lives in Shizuoka Prefecture. One day her child brought back home a menu card of school catering. As she was reading the menu card, she was reminded of the Norwegian whale dish, since it was the cuisine she liked the best among all the dishes served in the primary school.  She now thinks as the naming of the menu,  a Norwegian whale dish, sounded so fantastic, she usually asked for another helping when this dish was served.
(The Asahi Simbun newspaper)

A Japanese university student wrote that she loved rice omelet.  It brings her good fortune.  When she took an entrance examination for a high school, her mother asked her what menu she wanted for lunch to take in an examination hall of the day.  She asked rice omelet and her mother cooked it for her.  Rice omelet lunch worked excellently on her in an examination room.  Getting energy and impulsion from the lunch, she could have the best result.  Actually she could obtain a scholarship in the school due to a high score in the entrance examination.  On other occasions when she took various qualification examinations, the rice omelet lunch box her mother cooked for her always worked excellently, but without it, she could not score good points.  Yet, there is a big problem.  Her mother doesn't like eggs, so that she never makes rice omelet for her family.  Rice omelet is so special for the mother and the daughter.
(The Asahi Simbun newspaper)

A 47-year old woman who lived in Minami-Soma City was evacuated in the wake of the Fuksuhima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident.  She moved to an apartment house where her brother lived in Fukushima City.  Even in the place of Fukushima City 70-km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, water supply was cut off due to an M9.0 earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011.  So, she had to pick up some vessels and buckets and walked to a water tank truck.  Her heart sank in the same way as everybody living in Fukushima City.  But, around the water tank truck, children were not depressed at all.  They carried any small vessels to get water with energy.  As if defying pressure from the nuclear accident, Fukushima children lived lively.  It made her keep up her spirits in the somber time when the Fukushima Daiichi accident was still not well contained.  In April she returned to her home in Minami-Soma City which stretches 10km to 40km from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  Yet, she takes heart when she recalls the cheerful children in Fukushima City.      
(The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper)



(to be continued...)


*** *** *** ***


Today a CNN live broadcast on the Iowa primary election could be also viewed around Tokyo.

As an anchorman pointed to,  Mr. Romney won 30,021 votes in Iowa in 2008 but this time 30,015.  He looks very consistent in his operation though he is called a flip-flop in policy.

Anyway, as Mr. Ron Paul secured the third position, it is now apparent that the Occupy Wall Street movement has more influence on Republicans than the Tea Party movement has.  And Occupy Wall Street guys seem to choose a flexible, conservative, Republican candidate against the incumbent president Mr. Barack Obama, a flexible, liberal or progressive, Democratic candidate for the 2012 Presidential Election.   

In addition, it is a little unknown who Former President Mr. W. Bush really supports though Former President Mr. George H.W. Bush offered his support to Mr. Mitt Romney.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/george-hw-bush-backs-romney-criticizes-gingrich/2011/12/22/gIQABTzwBP_blog.html



Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

"All things were made by him" - Agenda: FRB

At a Great Shrine around Tokyo...

New Year's Visit to Shinto Shrine

Traditional Pilgrimage Proving 

Japanese Identity

Agenda: FRB

The 2012 US Presidential Election might have a secret agenda: FRB.

Aldrich set up two commissions — one to study the American monetary system in depth and the other, headed by Aldrich himself, to study the European central-banking systems and report on them.^[5] Aldrich went to Europe opposed to centralized banking, but after viewing Germany's banking system, he came away believing that a centralized bank was better than the government-issued bond system that he had previously supported. Centralized banking was met with much opposition from politicians, who were suspicious of a central bank and who charged that Aldrich was biased due to his close ties to wealthy bankers such as J.P. Morganand his daughter's marriage to John D. Rockefeller, Jr.^[5] In 1910, Aldrich and executives representing the banks of J.P. Morgan, Rockefeller, and Kuhn, Loeb & Co., secluded themselves for 10 days at Jekyll Island, Georgia.^[5] The executives included Frank A. Vanderlip, president of the National City Bank of New York, associated with the Rockefellers; Henry Davison, senior partner of J.P. Morgan Company; Charles D. Norton, president of the First National Bank of New York; and Col. Edward House, who would later become President Woodrow Wilson's closest adviser and founder of the Council on Foreign Relations.^[6] There, Paul Warburg of Kuhn, Loeb, & Co. directed the proceedings and wrote the primary features of what would be called the Aldrich Plan. Warburg would later write that "The matter of a uniform discount rate (interest rate) was discussed and settled at Jekyll Island." Vanderlip wrote in his 1935 autobiography From Farmboy to Financier :

I was as secretive, indeed I was as furtive as any conspirator. Discovery, we knew, simply must not happen, or else all our time and effort would have been wasted. If it were to be exposed that our particular group had got together and written a banking bill, that bill would have no chance whatever of passage by Congress…I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak of our secret expedition to Jekyll Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System.”

Despite meeting in secret, from both the public and the government, the importance of the Jekyll Island meeting was revealed three years after the Federal Reserve Act was passed, when journalist Bertie Charles Forbes wrote an article about the "hunting trip" in 1916.

So, executives representing the banks of J.P. Morgan, Rockefeller, and Kuhn, Loeb & Co contributed the foundation of FRB in 1913.

Since then FRB exchanged bonds the US Government issued with dollar bills (small interest-free government bonds) to circulate them in the financial market and the society.  American citizens pay tax with these dollar bills to the Government.  And the the US Government pays interest on the bonds FRB keeps to stockholders of FRB.

The point at issue is that US citizens holding dollar bills which are in principle small interest-free government bonds cannot receive interest on their bills.  But FRB gets full amounts of interest. Conversely if American citizens buy dollar bills (small government interest bonds) directly from the US Government with something valuable, they get interest from the Government as long as they hold dollar bills.  The interest US citizens could get is going into pockets of stockholders of FRB.  It is because FRB can buy and sell interest-bearing bonds the US Government has issued with interest-free dollar bills FRB printed (which can be called exchangeability of dollar bills with Government bonds). Or if the US Government issued directly government notes or government dollars without costs of interest payment to FRB, it would lessen financial burden of US citizens.  FRB is a survival of the era of the gold standard.

So, this is the origin of 99% vs. 1% based on the both of which the US Government functions.



(to be continued...)


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Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

"Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob" - Lessons from Fukushima Daiichi Accident

A Happy New Year

At Haneda Airport

In Tokyo...Great Tokyo of 2012...

...And a Scene in Tokyo...

Lessons from Fukushima Daiichi Accident

The lessons to learn from the 2011 Fukushima Daiiichi nuclear accident are as follows:

1) A nuclear power plant is vulnerable to a certain level of external physical impact, such as an M9.0 earthquake, a 15-meter high tsunami, etc. no matter how small an occurrence possibility of these phenomena have respectively.  No matter how rare it is, for example, if a meteoric stone hits a plant, it would cause a great disaster like Chernobyl or Fukushima Daiichi.

2) Parties in charge of controlling, managing, and supervising the nuclear energy industry and nuclear power plants are not well prepared for the worst case scenario.  Power companies pursue profits rather than safety due to their nature; regulatory bodies will not spend huge resources and budget to a worst case scenario if a chance of occurrence of such a scenario is very small or too small due to their restricted physical and regulatory capacity; and politicians do not support an idea of absolute safety of nuclear power plants since voters are not interested in such a remote thing as a possible nuclear crisis to be triggered by a meteoric stone.

3) This sort of nuclear accidents will surely occur somewhere on the earth.  It will not be caused by an M9.0 earthquake or a 15-meter-high tsunami, but a grave accident will surely happen in some country in future.  If any country continues to use, develop, or pursue nuclear energy, it must be prepared for a worst case scenario, that is, discharge of radioactive material or nuclear radiation in a large quantity from a pressure vessel, a containment vessel, and a containment building.

4) Hidden costs of a nuclear power plant is huge.  It must be prepared for a nuclear disaster, effective disposal of nuclear waste, and health problems of workers especially on site.  The Government should also provide huge financial incentives for villages and towns as well as residents and dwellers around a nuclear power plant for their acceptance of the plant.

5) The biggest issue that justifies use of nuclear energy is possible application of the nuclear energy technology to nuclear weapon development.  It is apparent that Japan's initial motivations of a nuclear power plant project included this issue when it started the project as early as in 1950's.

6) The nuclear energy technology is not so well advanced.  With further development, if it can fix all the nuclear problems, including a radiation problem and a spent fuel problem, it can continue to be used.  But, so far as now, no technological breakthrough is expected in this regard.  If it stops forever at the present level, it is safe and reasonable to abandon the nuclear technology.

7) By avoiding the nuclear energy, we can more strongly develop other new energy technology which is safer and more efficient with possible favorable by-products.  The nuclear power plant literally blocks a chance of studying, developing, and applying other new energy technology which is safer and more environment friendly.

8) The nuclear energy creates a closed community of parties concerned.  As this technology can be easily applied to nuclear weapon development, control, management and supervision of a security-related system applies also to this field.  Like military confidential information, they handle most of information related to a nuclear power plant.  Accordingly, only selected people are allowed to access such information. Important things are discussed and decided behind the closed door.  Hence, a closed community is created around big money used for building and developing nuclear plants.

9) Nobody understands a required level of safety measures for a nuclear power plant.  Its pressure vessel must be ten times thicker than it is now or its floor must be made of 4-meter-thick stainless steel with some layers equipped with a cooling function to avoid melt-through of heated nuclear fuel.  The concrete foundation of the nuclear vessel containment building must have 20-meter thickness.  In the site, there must be a water pool with a size of 100 meters x 50 meters x 20 meters for an emergency use, such as storage of contaminated water.  It must have a cooling water system that can work perfectly without electricity to safely cool nuclear fuel in a reactor vessel in case.  There is a need to have a storage room at a depth of 2000-meters under the ground in the plant to keep spent fuel in safety for a million years .



(to be continued...)

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Mat 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
Mat 1:3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;

"ye have need of these things" - Brief History of Development of Nuclear Energy in Japan

The Year of Dragon Coming Soon...

Brief History of Development of Nuclear Energy in Japan 

In April 1941, a general of the Imperial Army of Japan requested Rikagaku Kenkysuyo (RIKEN) to start research aimed at construction of an atomic bomb.  Rikagaku Kenkyuso had the first Japanese cyclotron.

In January 1943, the head of Rikagaku Kenkyuso submitted a report that it was possible to make an atomic bomb using uranium-235.

In July 1944, Rikagaku Kenkyuso started enrichment of uranium.

In March 1945, they obtained a sample from the uranium enrichment work only to find failure in enrichment.  Japanese scientists involved had no idea of using plutonium.

In August 1945, the Empire of Japan surrendered to the U.S., etc. putting an end to WWII.  The atomic bomb project of the Imperial Military was abandoned.
...

In April 1952, in the wake of conclusion of a peace treaty with the U.S., etc., a ban on Japan's development of nuclear energy was lifted.

In March 1954, the first budget proposal for nuclear development was submitted to the Japanese parliament called the Diet.

In December 1955, the Atomic Energy Basic Law was passed by the Diet.

In 1956, the Atomic Energy Commission was established in the Japanese Government to formulate Japan's nuclear development policy.
...

On October 26, 1963, Japan succeeded generation of electricity from a power demonstration reactor built in Tokai Village, Ibaraki Prefecture.

In 1966, Japan introduced a modified Calder Hall-type nuclear reactor from Britain to start 166,000 kW operation as the first of its commercial nuclear electricity generation.

In November 1970, Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. completed construction of a pressurized-water reactor (PWR), introduced from US Westinghouse, in the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant, Fukui Prefecture.  It is a type of light-water nuclear reactors.

In March 1971, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. completed building of a boiling-water reactor (BWR) designed by US GE, which is a type of light-water nuclear reactors, in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
　

Since then, Japan only built a light-water type of nuclear reactors.
...

In March 2011, an M9.0 earthquake occurred with its epicenter in the Pacific Ocean 150 kilometers off Fukushima Daiichi.  It triggered a 15-meter high tsunami which crippled four reactor units among six in Fukushima Daiichi situated 220 km northeast of Tokyo.


(to be continued...)

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Luk 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
Luk 12:30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
Luk 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

"love the Lord thy God with all thy heart" - Mt. Fuji Today

Tokyo... 

Haneda...

Airport

Mt. Fuji Today

Snow Capped Mt. Fuji (3,776 meters high)

100 Kilometers (60 miles) Far From

Around Tokyo...

And the Tokyo Sky Tree Tower (634 meters high) 30 km far

For Reference, Mt. Fuji Observed from the Middle of Tokyo...December, 2011




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(Today, access to this blog is mainly from Russia, the US, Germany, China, France, Poland, Austria, Australia, Canada, etc.)


Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

"Hear, O Israel" - Review of 2011

The Tokyo Station...

Review of 2011

According to The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper of Japan, the top news stories of 2011 chosen by the Media of developing countries are as follows:

1. Japan's Great Tsunami and the Fukushima Daiichi Accident


2. The Arab Spring


3. Removal of Osama bin Laden by US Special Troops


4. Occupy Wall Street Movement


5. European Financial Crisis


6. Bugging Scandal by a UK Media Company


7. Death of Steve Jobs


8. The First Space Docking by China


9. South Africa's Entry into BRICs


10. Global Population Reaching 7 Billion 

It is hard to predict what will happen in 2012 that might shake the world.

But, at the end of 2000, nobody foresaw the 9/11 Terror would be successfully carried out by AlQaeda and Osama bin Laden, while the terrorist group was intensifying their anti-American activities.  At the end of 2007, the foreclosure statistics were indicating an alert level and the oil price was ever increasing, but nobody thought that Wall Street would go on the verge of its ruin with Lehman Brothers disappearing and GM going bankrupt in the fall of 2008.  Yes, after the 2004 Sumatra, Indonesia, tsunami, the 2008 Sichuan, China, earthquake, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and the 2010 Chile mine accident, no Japanese dreamed that an M9.0 earthquake and  once-in-1000-year tsunamis would attack the Fukshima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and coastal areas facing the North Pacific Ocean.  Indeed, people could not see with their eyes every portent the God significantly put before them beforehand.

Any way, in my feeling, pious people will try to be more pious while bad guys will be spurred on into more evil deeds.  So, maybe an important concern must be how both the bright side and the dark side will balance with each other.

With a focus on categories of events, people will naturally check economy or otherwise security. The economic state of the world is so crucial for everybody's life now that the trend of globalization connects every market of each country with one another so tightly. And security matters can also involve hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens as the War on Terror has proved.  Presently the main attention is drawn by Iran due to its nuclear program.  In addition, even one of the poorest country in the world North Korea can be regarded so much by world major players due to its nuclear development venture.  In this context, the nuclear crisis is really a blind spot for all the people in advanced countries as well as developing countries.  The nuclear technology occupies the highest level of weapon systems.  It also symbolizes a cutting-edge state of energy technology applied to real economy.  It is also directly based on the level of science mankind has ever acquired.  Implication of the nuclear accident in Japan is deep and wide.  But, are there any other technological fields that might send a shock wave to the world comparable to that by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident?

In either case, a big or decisive event for mankind might fall on the world from the clear blue sky in 2012 wile everybody is watching it regardlessly.



(to be continued...)

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On a certain beech of the coast lines of Japan attacked by great tsunamis on March 11, there was a pinewood with 70,000 pine trees.

In the samurai era, that is, centuries ago, local people, including wealthy merchants, planted manually nursery pine trees one by one as a means to prevent damage by a tsunami.  But all of them except one were washed away by the 3/11 Great Tsunami.  The remaining one encouraged residents so shocked and overwhelmed by the scale of  the natural disaster they experienced.  But, recently it was found that the great pine tree was also dying due to damage at its root.

Yet, some people picked up seeds from the remnant of the pinewoods to grow them in pots.  Others are trying to graft small branches of the remaining and dying pine tree on other young pine trees.  The spirit of survival and recovery is going to be relayed.

http://okuribi.hujikumi.com/travel.html

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/yoshiboo_62/62061115.html

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/y58122001/52496565.html

http://ke1224.hamazo.tv/e2542838.html

http://shikokunomigishita.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-post_07.html

http://kirakuossa.exblog.jp/13111550/


Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

"God so clothe the grass" - From Tsushima to Pearl Harbor

Around the Tokyo Station

From Tsushima to Pearl Harbor

After the Empire of Japan defeated the Russian Empire invading Manchuria, Northern China, and the Korean border, some elites of the US Government started to regard the Empire of Japan as a future enemy.

Strangely, when the Empire of Japan was fighting a desperate war with the Russian Empire, the U.K. was on the Japanese side.  Even the U.S. and Germany did not want Russian victory.  France was a reluctant friend of Russia.  Italy even sold a naval ship to the Empire of Japan.  And, all the peoples colonized by Western Powers hoped that the Empire of Japan would give Russians any big blow.  The world was pushing the Empire of Japan to victory, no matter how narrow margin its victory was by.

(This victory of an Asian nation over a European nation really encouraged many Asian people dreaming of their independence from the Western Powers.)

After the Japanese-Russo War (1904-1905), the Imperial Navy of Japan had no matching enemy in East Asia.  The British Navy (with 6 aircraft carriers) could not keep a majority of its fleets in East Asia only to check the Empire of Japan.  The U.S. had to split its naval forces into the Atlantic theater and the Pacific theater.  France and the Netherlands (which colonized oil-producing Indonesia) could not compete with the Empire with their fleets.  China had virtually no navy.  So, the Empire of Japan had no threatening enemy in the Western Pacific.

However, it was apparent that if the US had put its national resources for real into building up its navy, it could have doubled or multiplied several times its naval capability.  Then, the Imperial fleets of Japan would have been forced to take a defensive side.  And actually, after the Japanese-Russo War, the Imperial Navy took a strategy to wait for advancement of US troops and fleets, in case, and take on them like the case of the Battle of Tsushima.  Hence, the Imperial Navy did not plan to invade Hawaii, the East Pacific Ocean, and California.  It was prepared for waiting, hitting, and destroying invading US fleets in case, like in the great naval Battle of Tsushima.

So, after the Japanese-Russo War, some elites of the US started to prepare for a future military collision with the Empire of Japan for the hegemony over the Pacific Ocean, East Asia, and especially China.  On the other hand, the Empire of Japan also continued to strengthen its military forces with an unfavorable expectation of any armed clash in the Pacific Ocean with the US. (At the time, the US colonized the Philippines and the Empire of Japan controlled, occupied, and governed Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria.)  

The most important point is that the Empire of Japan had no plan or strategy to advance to the east, namely, to Hawaii, the East Pacific, and California to occupy any American territories.  Its fleets were not formed and organized for a long-distance attack and a long-term expedition, such as the Pearl Harbor Attack which was actually carried out in December 1941.

Nonetheless, the Imperial Navy had built and operated 10 aircraft carriers as of December 1941 while the US had only 8 aircraft carriers at the time.  In addition, the Empire was building 3 more aircraft carriers while the US was making 5 more.  However, as the US had GDP 10 times more than that of the Empire of Japan at the time, it was also apparent that this balance of the numbers of aircraft carriers was just provisional.  The US would have manufactured 100 more aircraft carriers in a short period of time if a war had started.  So, if the provisional balance of the numbers of aircraft carriers was in favor of the Empire as of 1941, it was still a defensive measure for the Empire of Japan against industrially 10-times larger America.  

So, in this context, it is unthinkable that the Empire of Japan would first pull the trigger to start a war against the US.  If the Empire had had such an intention, it must have been based on a well formulated and polished plan (which the Empire did not have actually).

But, an unthinkable thing happened.  The Imperial Navy attacked US military bases on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941, mobilizing 6 aircraft carriers.  This is an opposite strategy to that for the Battle of Tsushima against the Imperial Navy of Russia.  The Imperial Navy started to sail into a long voyage with ever decreasing fuel oil but without any support from the world except almost nominal Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy.

(The real beneficiaries of the advancement of the Imperial military into South East Asia after Pearl Harbor were South East Asians who achieved independence from Western Powers after WWII, since Japanese troops had already defeated and drove Western forces out of South East Asia during WWII, though they tried to reestablish their colonial rule in the region after WWII in vain.)


(to be continued...)

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Luk 12:28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

"Now is my soul troubled" - Review of the Battle of Tsushima

Tokyo...

Review of the Battle of Tsushima

[Updated on Dec. 29, 2011]

One of the biggest events for Japan in the 20th century was the Battle of Tsushima which was fought by the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire in 1905.

The Battle of Tsushima, commonly known as the “Sea of Japan Naval Battle” in Japan and the “Battle of Tsushima Strait”, was the major naval battle fought between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War.

Date 27–28 May 1905 Location Straits of Tsushima 34°33.977′N 130°9.056′ECoordinates: 34°33.977′N 130°9.056′E Result Decisive Japanese victory
Belligerents
Imperial Japanese Navy	Imperial Russian Navy

Strength
total: 89 ships 4 battleships 27 cruisers 21 destroyers 37 torpedo boats plus gunboats, and auxiliary vessels	total: 28 ships 8 battleships 3 coastal battleships 8 cruisers 9 destroyers
Casualties and losses
117 dead 583 injured 3 torpedo boats sunk	4,380 dead 5,917 captured 21 ships sunk  (7 battleships) 7 captured 6 disarmed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsushima

This battle was not only one of the greatest events for Japan but also for peoples in the world at the start of the 20th century.  It was when China had virtually no central government and Korea was even under control of such China.  South East Asia was being colonized by the Western Powers, and great India, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, was occupied by Britain for long periods of time.  Part of the Middle East was under control of Turkey, but Turkey was losing traction against the Western Powers. Africa was completely colonized.  There was no hope for non-European/Christian people to get independence to prosper, because they had no money, industry, weapons, and so on comparable to the Western civilization.

But, the Empire of Japan defeated the Russian Empire.  It was the second war, following the 1894/95 Japan-Sino War, for the Japanese since they put an end to the samurai era in 1867 to modernize and westernize the nation. And, the tide of this War was decided in the Battle of Tsushima.

The Empire of Japan used several cruisers built in Japan for this Battle, but it mostly relied on 12 major battle ships and cruisers built in England, Italy, France, and Germany.  The Empire had enough money to purchase these naval ships from Europe even at the time (Japan was once the largest producer of silver in the world).  But after this battle, the Empire started for real to build all the necessary naval ships, including battle ships and even aircraft carriers, all by itself.

Yet, it does not mean that Japanese unique technology did not contribute to  the Battle of Tsushima.

1. Ijyuin Blasting Fuse
Japanese admiral Goro Ijyuin invented a new type of blasting fuses.  It is an instantaneous detonator with high sensitivity.

2. Shimose Powder
Japanese naval chemist Shimose Masachika invented powerful powder. Shimose applied Picric acid discovered in Germany to a new powder. Though today's TNT powder has detonation velocity of 6900 meters/sec, the Shimose powder explodes at 7350 meters/sec.
3. Type 36 Wireless Application
With relay devices made by German Siemens and induction coils made in Japan, this communication device had ability to communicate over 200 nautical miles.  A Japanese reconnaissance ship informed approach of the Russian fleets to the Japanese fleets and the headquarters in Tokyo, using this new type of radiotelegraph.

4. Underwater Cables 
Prior to the Battle of Tsushima, the Imperial Government of Japan laid submarine cables between Kyusyu (one of the four major islands of the Japanese Archipelago) and Taiwan.  The cables were then connected to British marine cables covering India and Africa.  Using this communication line, Tokyo could obtain information about locations and states of the approaching Russian fleets around the globe.

5. Miyahara Boiler
Japanese navy engineer Jiro Miyahara invented an effective boiler.  This invention was a big surprise for people concerned in the world at the time.  It was efficient, compact and manufactured at a lower price.  This boiler contributed to speeding up of Imperial fleets.

6. Higher Literacy Rate
At the time or around 1900, the literacy rate of the Japanese people was about 75%, which was higher that those in Western countries.  Accordingly, Japanese sailors could read manuals of modern weapons and systems to master them efficiently.  They could be more systematically trained than Russian sailors.

7. Rice Cooked with Barley
The Imperial Navy of Japan had a health problem; many sailors developed beriberi.  So, the Navy introduced rice cooked with barley as foods for sailors.  Then, drastically the situation was improved.  Before the Battle of Tsushima, physical conditions of Japanese sailors were good while there were many scorbutic patients among Russian sailors due to the lack of vegetables (Vitamin C).

(http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E6%B5%B7%E6%B5%B7%E6%88%A6)

So, behind the scene of the greatest naval battle ever fought, there were seven wonders on the Japanese side.

The Imperial Combined Fleet in the Battle of Tsushima in 1905,
 http://www.geocities.jp/kigiken/shipping2.html


(to be continued...)

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Joh 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Joh 12:28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.