I have written about the cozy relationship between business and government in the Japanese nuclear industry. There seems to be a universal pattern in countries with nuclear industries where the government supports the industry with subsidies, tax breaks and even state ownership of nuclear corporations. Regulatory agencies are in a confused position of having to both promote and regulate nuclear companies. Often, there is more promotions than regulation. In Japan, this intermingling of government and nuclear corporations is referred to as the "nuclear village." The Japanese Prime Minister Abe of Japan has made nuclear technology exports a major part of his economic revitalization plan.
Minoru Tanaka is a well known Japanese journalist who has published many articles critical of the Japanese nuclear village. In mid-December, he published an article in the weekly Shukan Kinyobi about Shiro Shirakawa who he called "the last big fixer." Shirakawa is the head of a company that "provides security systems for power stations owned by the electricity utility TEPCO." In the article, Shirakawa's business dealings with constructions companies, banks and nuclear industry companies are detailed in Tanaka's article. The details in the article show that many of these business arrangements are questionable at best. Tanaka explicitly accused Shirakawa of using his political conditions and industry connections to reap undeserved profits from the Fukushima disaster. But his powerful connections in industry and government have allowed Shirakawa to escape serious censure and punishment for his shady business practices. Shirakawa has brought a libel suit against Tanaka for about eight hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars. Many say that this law suit is intended to intimidate journalists and reduce the number of articles critical of the nuclear village in general and the handling of Fukushima in particular.
Tanaka is a freelance journalist. As such, he does not enjoy much support from the official Kisha press organizations. Freelancers in Japan have often been harassed for reporting on the Fukushima disaster. The Japanese government is fearful that an aroused and angry public could call for a serious debate about Japanese energy issues and even an end to all nuclear power in Japan. This would definitely be a serious blow to Abe's plans for a nuclear Japan. Shirakawa's lawsuit is what the Japanese refer to as a "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation" or a "gag" suit. In this type of suit, a power well-connected plaintiff attacks an isolated journalist.
The Abe government recently passed a new secrecy law. It is supposed to be aimed at military issues but is written very broadly. There are severe penalties for bureaucrats who leak secret documents and journalists who publish them. Critics of the new bill point out that government officials have the authority to declare what "constitutes a state secret under categories from defense to diplomacy, terrorism and safety threats." There is fear that without adequate oversight and provisions for transparency, the new law will be abused. If nuclear affairs are branded as state secrets by the Abe government, this new law would help hide the corruption and problems in Japan's nuclear village.
Minoru Tanaka at his libel trial:
