Flyjin and Right to Vote in Japan?

"Flyjin made poor decisions, and in the process shirked responsibilities, upended their lives, cooled relationships, wasted money (however insignificant it may have been to them given their circumstances), contributed to an unnecessary panic, and set themselves up for a well-deserved ribbing." - Flyjin.com


My attention has been drawn to a wonderful blog called "LetsJapan". The subtitle reads: Travel to Japan and discover its people, history, cuisine, scenery, culture & arts.

RAY CHARLES - HIT THE ROAD JACK

I think it is an excellent blog and if filled with insightful commentary complete with photos and videos. In a recent post,  The Flyjin Phenomenon and Some People Not Like Them the blogger writes:


I can’t think of when I’ve posted anything “controversial” on this blog.  I keep politics out and emphasize culture, the arts, food, sights to see, personal reminiscences and the lighter side of things.  For the most part.  This isn’t like those.  The Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami has altered some things.  See more, below the happy photograph of me, back in the day, living the Expat life.


The writer then goes on to explain what the Flyjin word means and the phenomenon as well as his astute observations and opinion: 

I dare say that soon, if not already, many Japanese will certainly be familiar with this term.  But, yes, it’s not a term that Japanese have been using to scold skedaddling foreigners with; it’s a term Gaijin have been using towards and about their fellow countrymen and countrywomen.  I’m not ambivalent about the issue.  As said, I find the Flyjins’ actions somewhere between disgusting and loathsome.

Then there are These People

Of course not every foreigner has fled Japan.  To those who stayed, who remain in Japan here and now, Japan is home and their neighbors are their neighbors and the thought of running out on them is just, well, it’s not even a consideration.  I have many foreign friends and colleagues in the Tokyo area who are not only staying put, but are going about with their lives and work.

+  Example 1: “Uptick in Business.”

The substantive part of an email I received one week ago from a colleague who works in downtown Tokyo (note:  “GW” is Golden Week):

Happy to have people come to Japan, we need the uptick in business.  Mid to late April should be fine for everyone.  I am already getting busy again and things are getting back to normal.  Just need to avoid GW and you will be all set.

The writer then goes on to list up English teachers who actually live in the earthquake and tsunami hit areas who didn't leave. People who were so dedicated to their lives, jobs and communities that they stayed on.

If any foreigner had an excuse to leave Japan during this crisis, no one would be criticizing those who lived in the worst hit zones... But there they remained. One English teacher remarked:

”It is overwhelming, mentally and physically to stay here but I want to stay,” said Katherine Sheu, 25, from Los Angeles, who has taught English at five elementary and junior high schools in the devastated city of Ishinomaki for the past three years. . .

”I love it here. I have many connections with my students, the teachers and the neighbors. I wouldn’t just leave,” Sheu said.

. . . Sheu had been touched by the way her neighbors in Ishinomaki welcomed her.  At a time when she was sick, they had checked on her and come to her aid.

”Just the way people cared about me and worried about me made me feel good. It changed everything.” Some gave her strawberries and tomatoes from their farms. ”You will never get that in Los Angeles.”

There are many more wonderful examples like the one above at LetsJapan. Please take a moment to look at it. While doing so, compare the leadership and dedication that these people - English teachers (who are often slated for derision by the foreigner community in Japan)! Compare the leadership and dedication show by these young people - who live near the disaster zone - with that of the foreign community - specifically foreign business executives - who ran from Tokyo and even as far away as Nagoya in Kansai while leaving their Japanese staff holding the bag.

The writer then goes on to point out another interesting repercussion that this entire Flyjin episode has probably caused. He writes:

Update.  1 April 2011.  One of many possible upshots.

I paraphrase what one British friend and colleague, living in Tokyo, married to a Japanese woman, related to me by email after he read this.  According to my friend’s wife, a recent topic of conversation that has been circulating among the Japanese involves the prospects of Gaijin getting the vote.  Whereas before the crisis most people appeared broadly in favor of permanent residents getting a vote, many now appear to have completely changed their mind as a result of the widespread exodus of foreigners, arguing (as my friend says, “convincingly, in my book”) that their actions have revealed that the depth of their commitment to society is perhaps not all it should be to warrant full emancipation.

My own wife is a former TV news announcer and is well-connected in those circles as well as being a fairly well-known writer. I asked her last night to investigate this amongst her Japanese friends and let me know what everyone thought. She did that for me last night. Basically, she said,

"Japanese people are quite forgiving and many have a "foreigner complex" whereby we don't expect the foreigners to do simple things like learn the Japanese language. We easily forgive them when they do not understand or fit in so well. It's even because many Japanese people themselves think that Japan has so many customs and rules that it is difficult for even us to know what to do in many cases. But, in our case, when we don't know, as japanese it is common sense that we consult each other and, in Japan, team work is what matters. A Japanese person would never flee when others in their family are in danger. Take, for example the Fukushima 50. That the foreigners fled instantly, before any consultations or warnings from the government, show us that they don't care about the group so they do not intend to be a part of Japanese society...  That's okay. Hence, all the people I talked to were of the opinion that foreigners are just that; We can't expect them to be responsible to anyone except themselves. Most of them certainly do not understand what the responsibility to us (Japanese) means so they shouldn't be allowed to vote. That isn't to say that all foreigners shouldn't be allowed to vote... But how can we separate the responsible ones from the ones we can't depend on?"

I understand. There will be more repercussions coming concerning those who fled. Now, I think, the worst thing they can do is to continue making excuses and attacking the messenger. The smart foreigners who fled unnecessarily will come back and - when in Rome do as the Romans do - quietly apologize to those they hurt; keep their heads down; be extremely humble; and try to remain silent for a long while (meaning that they refrain from boisterous behavior).

Take this advice from a half-Japanese who has lived with Japanese people all his life and lived here continuously since 1984... First coming here over 32 years ago. Call me a know-it-all but this is the way it is. If you wish to return smoothly take my advice and be humble, you'll help greatly in the healing process... The first thing anyone needs to do here in this country when there is a problem - whether they caused it or not - is to humbly apologize profusely and sincerely.

Japanese people will listen to your heart more than your words.

If you want to read more well-written commentary about this subject and just some wonderful things "Japan", I highly recommend "LetsJapan". 

Open Letter to All Sensationalist Reporters and Bloggers

I get so much paranoid tabloid-level sensationalist nonsense coming across my desk these days that I have decided to give up replying to each one and have decided to write this open letter to bloggers and "real" reporters on both the Internet and MSM.


Dear Friends,


This is an attempt to ask you all to do a little soul-searching and be a little bit more responsible in your writing and what you publish. I am not directing this to anyone in particular as these are unique times in our lives and I can see how I might even be guilty of what I am complaining about. So, please bear with me and take my words to heart and understand that, not just for you, these are words that I want to reflect upon myself too...

In these days of poor reporting and just plain bad information it is not useful for us to be adding to people's worries and fears. When we don't know the story all we can do is to stick with the facts. 


Let me repeat that: Just stick with facts. These are thing we know to be true: Fear mongering, innuendo, and sensationalism are doing no one any good.


Write to your hearts content, but if you are going to write "End of the World" type of content (like on Journalist Wall of Shame) then it might be best to state that it is so. Even Orson Wells' masterpiece, "War of the World's" was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. It was billed as drama!

Please be more responsible with your writing. I am trying my best to do so also. I think it is my duty (as a former newsman and host of CNN "Newswave" on JCTV until 1990). As a former B-grade news caster, I have seen a lot of crap reported as truth from "reputable" news sources. I have myself been guilty of doing that sort of reporting too! It is a shame that Internet news sources - the supposed alternative - would be found completely guilt - in many cases - of the same crime as the old school mass media.

Before you write about how this nuclear accident has ruined Japan or life in this country, consider facts:

At the end of WWII, Japan had over 2 million dead military and nearly 1 million dead civilians. Her cities had been carpet bombed into ruin. The economy and people were in shambles. Yet she recovered. 

Today? Not to downplay the suffering of those affected, but the disaster in Miyagi and surrounding areas is bad, but, in the long term view of things, merely a blip on the screen of Japan. Had this accident happened in Tokyo where 65 million people live (as opposed to the 750,000 in Miyagi), near the Tokai or Hamaoka reactor – that might result in a real catastrophe.

So far the numbers of dead from the nuclear reactor are: zero. One crane operator died at Fukushima when his crane collapsed during the earthquake. The numbers of dead, injured or missing from the earthquake and tsunami are at over 27,480. That is the real crisis.


Japan will soon recover from this mess. What she probably won't recover from - and what few write about - even those who claim some sort of economic expertise - is Japan's debt problem and her aged population. Now those things Japan may not recover from for a long time and those things are going to kill a lot of people.

If news reporters or bloggers want to report on the true crisis then write about those poor old folks, men, women and small children.

At the least, Mr. & Mrs. sensationalist reporter and blogger do something positive by doing the minimum and placing information on how to donate and help relieve the suffering of those people somewhere on your blog or in your article.

This continuation of the sensationalism, scare mongering and fear - along with an attitude of sorrow is doing no one any good. We need to get our lives back together. We need to be positive and grow.

Making excuses for why you ran away, scaring people, living in fear and anxiety are not the symptoms of a healthy mind. For the good of those who have suffered and lost loved ones and for our own good and the good of our families, we must return to our daily lives - and not feel guilty about it. We must laugh again and go out and have fun. We must get back to normal. We must be positive. We've got to get the economy rolling again.

Fear, anxiety and worry are not signs of mental health. Laughing, going out, being happy, enjoying life? These are signs of a healthy mind.

I am not advocating that everyone write "Happy Happy Joy Joy" all the time. But I am advocating responsible reporting and blogging and I am advocating that you stick to a subject that you are expert at... and, at least, post on your blog or article information as to how people can get off their asses and help those suffering up north as opposed to paranoid nail biting and worrying about the end of the world.

If you are not a part of the solution, you are part of the problem. 

You can find information on how you can help with the relief efforts at the very top of this page. Thanks.

Mish Shedlock Gives Out Blue Ribbon for Nuclear Hype

Mish Shedlock runs the Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis Blog; one of my favorite blogs in the entire world and a blog that I read religiously everyday. Sometimes Mish really cracks me up too!


In a recent post, Mish has given out his blue ribbon for over the top hype and sensationalist reporting. From Popeye Comments on Reports from Japan Mish quotes from an article entitled, "Who are the Liquidators?":


The prime minister of Japan has said that his government is “not in a position where we can be optimistic” about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. 

The sensationalist writer goes on then to conclude:

Is there any logical conclusion to draw from that statement other than that a large chunk of Japan is going to be uninhabitable?


I can imagine Mish throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. He adds: 


There is no point in reading an article beyond such absurd hype. There are hundreds of logical possibilities and conclusions one might draw.

The first thing on my mind certainly would not have been that a "huge chunk of Japan was about to become uninhabitable".


I would have thought something along the lines "the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is totally destroyed". However, I assumed that well over a week ago.

Note that the author did not even phrase his opinion as a "possibility" but rather as an inevitable "logical conclusion".

When you hit a sentence like that, you know the author is in competition for the blue ribbon for hype award. There is no point in reading further because the author has already completely discredited himself.


Mish is always incredibly informative and entertaining. Read more excellent commentary on Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis Blog here.

Goldman Sachs to Tokyo Employees: "Leave Tokyo and You're Fired!"

This is a story that broke over a week ago, but I think it holds a great lesson for everyone even in hindsight...

JOHNNY PAYCHECK - TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT

Everything in this world today revolves around technology or the economy. It doesn't revolve around sensationalism or hyperbole. As I quoted Tech Crunch in News for Intelligent People Criticize Japan Nuclear Sensationalist Reporting:


The news from Japan is both awful and appalling. Awful: 23,000 confirmed dead or missing, and counting. Appalling: pretty much anything to do with the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Nuclear meltdown like Chernobyl! Deadly contaminated milk and radioactive tap water! Tokyo a postapocalyptic ghost town! A plume of radiation that threatens America’s West Coast!

Where do they get these morons? Again, twenty thousand people are dead, and the drooling dimwits of the media can’t stop babbling about Fukushima, where exactly one person died – a crane operator who had the misfortune to be up in the cab of his vehicle when the fifth largest earthquake in recorded history hit – and fewer than 30 were injured, only a handful of whom required treatment for radiation exposure.

If you want to know the reality on the ground, you need to look at tech issues and economics. Take Goldman Sachs for example... (Please!) Even though I think Goldman Sachs are scum, I think it must be admitted that big, world-wide blood-sucking corporations don't screw around. Need a measurement of how dangerous Tokyo was during the height of the so-called "nuclear crisis" was?


Goldman Sachs told their Tokyo employees that if they left, they'd be out of a job. Flyjin.com reports:


When four executives from Goldman Sachs visited their Tokyo subsidiary last week, they told foreign employees in no uncertain terms that if they left Tokyo they would not have a job when they returned, according to a report by John Carney of CNBC.com.


Nah.... Do you think that one of the biggest companies in the world that is involved with finance and risk mitigation would be taking unnecessary risks? I don't. Do you? Why should they?


Nope. They just don't do that. They don't screw around with nonsense. From what I hear, their employees get paid over $200,000 US dollars a year.


They'd better not be running away with poop in their pants at that price.


The lesson here is that some of the world's top professionals at risk management and assessment judged the facts and concluded that there never was a huge enough risk to evacuate. This is important because, as a company operating out of the USA, if Goldman Sachs were wrong, they would be liable in US courts for hundreds of millions of dollars - if not more - in damages and liability claims from injured or sick employees.


I don't think it is difficult to deduce what this boils down to: Media hype and sensationalism is just that. The facts on the ground told a far different story.

FlyJin.com: Masterful New Blog!

There are some really smart young people out there and one has started a brilliant - and very fair - blog entitled "FlyJin.com." It is wonderfully written and gets my award for the best new blog of 2011.

In their latest post entitled: Why the Flyjin Flew: The 8 Factors That Led Them Astray Flyjin.com deftly spells out why people panicked in a much nicer way than I would have put it. Here's some choice parts from the article and some explanations of the reasons why people left:


Poor Decision Making

Flyjin made poor decisions, and in the process shirked responsibilities, upended their lives, cooled relationships, wasted money (however insignificant it may have been to them given their circumstances), contributed to an unnecessary panic, and set themselves up for a well-deserved ribbing.

Here are the factors that I think played into these bad decisions:

An Irrational Distrust of Authority

Governments, institutions and corporations are not always right and sometimes have interests that are different from ours. But in a situation like this the good people working in them usually give pretty good advice, often overly cautious advice, despite the flaws in the system. This is simple delegation: You listen to expert consensus, you don’t try yourself to become an instant expert.

Focusing on Worst Case Scenarios Rather Than the Most Probable

Worst case scenarios rarely happen. Fixating on dire predictions is akin to hypochondria. What about the French government?: Yes, they are an authority that should be considered, but they were an outlier here.

Faulty Interpretation of Contemporary Media Sources

Knowing how to ingest modern media is a necessary skill these days, but few seem to have mastered it. The “link bait” headline syndrome has spread to all media. Television news shows are not put together by experts searching for the truth, but rather by 26-year-old “segment producers” eager for controversy. Level-headed experts consulted by the media often lose it and give an ill-considered soundbite because they want the “As Seen on CNN” screen grab for the sidebar of their blogs.

The preceding "Faulty Interpretation of Contemporary Media Sources" is a succinct and concise statement that explains my thinking in one complete paragraph. I've said it over and over: After 30+ years in the mass media, I know BS when I hear it. It is understand able that most people do not have that understanding about how the media works. I do. I am an expert in it. I said the same thing (about mass media sensationalism) concerning swine flu, bird flu, SARS, Man-Made Global Warming, and Saddam Hussein's Nooklar weapons before the Iraq War.  How many people listen? Sadly, not too many. 

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"... Regular Joe-Blow on the street? "Keep fooling me over and over and over... I never learn." The article continues with another great point:

Getting Lost in Details Rather Than Grasping the Overall Gestalt

If you find yourself obsessively researching on the internet or glued to the television, you are starting to slip into the space inhabited by 9-11 Truthers. Reality is not contained in thousands of facts. Think less data, more common sense, a holistic integration of information that takes account of various weight factors. Some people are better at this than others, but the ability to make decisions in this way can be lost if you think too much. In A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson writes of how he obsessively researched bears prior to his Appalachian Trail hike and ended up being frightened to death throughout the trip.

You can read more of the Why the Flyjin Flew: The 8 Factors That Led Them Astray here: http://flyjin.com/why-the-flyjin-flew-factors/

Like I said, this is top quality writing and one of the best blogs I've seen in a long time. I liked it so much that I've added it to my blogroll. FlyJin.com! 5 stars! And my nomination for "Best New Blog of 2011"!

Japan Nuclear Holocaust?: The Scorecard so Far (Part Two)

This is part two of a series concerning the nuclear disaster in Japan - Well, not really in Japan, it's more in the tabloid and newsrooms around the world that desperately need to do something to keep their geriatric audience glued to the screens. You can read part one here.

THE RETURN OF THE CREATURE:

The UK tech publication The Register fills us in on the crisis on the ground with a new article entitled: Fukushima Fearmongers are Stealing our Jetsons Future - Hysteria Now Completely Disconnected from Reality:


As the situation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant slowly winds down, the salient facts remain the same as they have been throughout: nobody has suffered or will suffer any radiological health consequences.


The situation being as it may, the article goes on to talk about the continuing shock, panic and hysteria that still exists in Japan's nuclear no-man's news-land. The article continues:


Three workers who suffered noticeable but not dangerous radiation doses from standing ankle-deep in radioactive water – and possible minor burns equivalent to a mild case of sunburn – have been confirmed to have suffered no ill effects. Their "hospitalisation with radiation burns" was widely reported: the fact that they are – as was to be expected – perfectly fine was not.


Plant owner TEPCO has now decided to cut its losses, however, stating that it now considers that reactors 1 to 4 at the site will have to be written off: being near the end of their planned lives anyway, it makes no sense to spend much money on fixing them. The other two Daiichi reactors, Nos 5 and 6, were brought safely into a cold shutdown condition early on and TEPCO still expects to continue operations with these (as would be quite normal: both Chernobyl and Three Mile Island continued in operation as nuclear power stations following the incidents there).


It's true. These reactors were slated for decommissioning at the end of March 2011 anyway... But the closing was delayed by the "Good ol' boys" at TEPCO and the Japanese government.

So goodbye yellow brick road....

But wait a minute, Mike! (I can hear you say!) What about that deadly Plutonium? Oh, yeah, about that. The Register talks about that too (complete with funny headline):


PLUTONIUM FOUND AT FUKUSHIMA!! Probably from old weapons tests thousands of miles away, but hey, let's wet ourselves anyway

There has also been heavy reporting in the press regarding the discovery of very small amounts of plutonium isotopes at the site – producing less than one Becquerel of radioactivity per kilo of soil. (For context the human body naturally emits radiation around 50 Bq/kg). This is utterly insignificant in a health context but is possibly indicative of fuel damage in the cores – if the isotopes did in fact come from the cores. The levels in three of the five samples are so low, and of such isotopes, that it is quite possible they result from long-ago nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific. Two other samples contain some plutonium-238, a clue that they may be from the no 3 reactor which had plutonium in its fuel.

"[Those two samples] could possibly come from the accident," TEPCO spokespersons told World Nuclear News.

Often these facts have been reported in such a way as to suggest that the Fukushima events have led to contamination levels similar to those following nuclear weapons tests, which is utterly untrue.


So, folks. There you have it. Your update. It's not as exciting as nuclear death or as exciting as three headed beings, but so far the scorecard is:


Deaths from nuclear accident................................ 0
Missing from nuclear accident............................... 0
Deaths from earthquake and tsunami.....(over) 10,000
Missing from earthquake and tsunami....(over) 17,480


There was one death from the nuclear site but that was caused when a crane operator died when his crane tipped over... It had nothing to do with radiation...Yes. There's been a real disaster. But you'll find little of it being reported in the MSM... Starving children and people living in shelters and squalor don't make for interesting news to people living the way the media says they should in a consumer society.

X-RAY SPECS - ART-I-FICIAL

Please help those poor mothers, fathers, children and 
elderly in northern Japan who are suffering without 
shelter and supplies due to the recent disaster!

They thank you and I thank you sincerely. 
God bless!

http://bit.ly/gZXJBw

Thanks to Victor Vorski

For Every One Death Due to Nuclear Power, 4,000 Die Due to Coal

Seth Godin has a piece over at his blog that points out brilliantly something that I have been saying over and over about the Japan nuclear accident and mass media sensationalism: Things are being blown way out  of proportion. 

Drama is much more exciting than dull and boring

Seth Godin writes in Triumph of Coal Marketing:


For every person killed by nuclear power generation, 4,000 die due to coal, adjusted for the same amount of power produced... 

Regardless of the facts, too many people are guided by fear. Fear is not rational. 


Seth also links on to another article and chart showing the statistics comparing deaths due to differing energy sources. Interestingly, in one example, even though Solar power accounts for less than 0.1% of world energy and nuclear is 5.9% of world energy, more than ten times more people die annually from Solar power than nuclear power. 


I have pasted the chart here for your convenience:

Energy Source              Death Rate (deaths per TWh)

Coal – world average               161 

Coal – China                       278

Coal – USA                         15

(26% of World Energy - 50% of Electricity)

Oil                                36  

(36% of World Energy)

Natural Gas                         4  

(21% of World Energy)

Biofuel/Biomass                    12

Peat                               12

Solar (rooftop)                     0.44 

(less than 0.1% of World Energy)

Wind                                0.15 

(less than 1% of World Energy)

Hydro                               0.10 

(europe death rate, 2.2% of World Energy)

Hydro - world including Banqiao)    1.4 

(about 2500 TWh/yr and 171,000 Banqiao dead)

Nuclear                             0.04 

(5.9% of World Energy)

It is a lack of information and fear of the unknown that creates this sort of atmosphere amongst the public. I posted some simple, yet excellent and thought provoking videos about nuclear power which I would hope everyone would take 30 minutes to watch.  The odds of you dying from coal related emissions are over 4,000 times higher than the odds of you dying from nuclear power related emissions. If people played the odds and were sensible about this, they wouldn't be moving away from countries with nuclear power but would be moving away from old-fashioned coal burning nations into nations with nuclear power.


But fear is a greater motivator than calm, fact-based rational thinking as fear is an emotional reaction. It is this type of thinking that allows us to do things like, say, buying lottery tickets when you know that you have a greater chance of being killed by lightening than you do of winning the lottery.


Which reminds me that I have to get out and buy tickets for this weekend's lottery. The jackpot is over $3 million dollars, you know!


This is not to mention about how many millions of people have died and continue to die due to wars concerning the control of oil resources. There's no comparison to which have killed more people in the last 60 years: Oil or coal versus nuclear power.


Think about this: Nuclear power plants are not like nuclear weapons. Consider the case of Iran. Under IAEA rules,  Iran, as a signatory, can produce nuclear power, but not  nuclear weapons - as processing Plutonium for a nuclear power plant and processing Plutonium for a nuclear weapon are two totally different animals. They have the technology to make nuclear power, but to make nuclear weapons they would need to process the Plutonium in a technical process that is much more complicated and that process produces a product that is many many times more dangerous than what is produced at a nuclear power plant.


The trouble is that people today have equated nuclear power with the atomic bomb and nuclear weapons. I believe that this is due to years of conditioning and molding due to marketing efforts by the coal and oil industry. I'm glad to see others who are expert at media agreeing with me.  Nuclear power vs. nuclear weaponry? That's like comparing an apple with a herd of bull elephants or - like in the comparison that Seth Godin so aptly displays - like comparing the odds of dying in a car accident or from high blood pressure related diseases to dying in an airplane crash. 


When you live in western society and whenever the facts do not bear out what you believe, you can bet your bottom dollar that most probably tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on marketing, advertising and promotion to help create the ideas that you believe.