The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis: From Local Panic to Regional Anxiety
The crowds on Mt. Takao could not have been any different from those on any other weekend. The hikers on this iconic peak in western suburbs of Tokyo laughed and joked as they trudged upwards, not showing any sign that the bad news up north shown continuously on TV were taking a mental toll on them. But listen closely and the impression would change. Many hikers, many of them foreign in origin, just cannot stop mentioning that unmentionable doomsday scenario predicted by many professionals and amateurs alike regarding nuclear radiation.
Indeed, as time goes on, the nuclear crisis has become an international event, not just a Japanese domestic concern. The fear generated by the nuclear radiation in Japan probably has just as big of a mental impact on the citizens of China and Korea, two of the nations geographically closest to Japan and thus has the greatest potential to be hurt by spreading radiation from Fukushima. And ironically speaking, the panic occurring in those countries is becoming an beautifully ironic contrast to the calm stoicism prevailing in Japan.
A look at the recent news from the two countries shows why. In China, the headlines of the past two days have been all about salt. People across the economic spectrum rushed to their nearest supermarkets to stock up on salt (rumor has it that some woman bought 50 packages at once), in the hopes that the iodine content in salt can counteract any effect of radiation. As salt prices logically go up in such a situation, reports of protests breaking out near supermarkets and salt-producing companies have been spread.
Besides helping to further deteriorate the national image of China as an orderless country with a bunch of rowdy people, it at the same time, ironically and unnecessarily, really emphasizes the sheer aggressive nature of the Chinese populace when it comes to personal survival, something that really tend to contrast the sense of self-sacrifice that has been the main theme here in Japan. Well, at least it does show why Chinese people are so hardy as to be able to survive under any condition...
Perhaps just as ridiculous as the Chinese stocking up on salt has been the Korean media reports about the country already suffering a full-blown nuclear disaster. Media has been paying special attention to this year's annual visit to Korea by sandstorms from the Gobi Desert. It is rumored that highly radioactive Cesium has been detected in this year's sand that blanketed Seoul for days, causing a panic among the population and leaving the streets deserted.
The media has been quick to play the blame game on where the Cesium comes from: (1) the stuff from Fukushima, (2) China's nuclear power plants have serious issues too, (3) secret Chinese nuclear weapons storage facilities in Gobi Desert. The Sensationalization of the Korean media is about as ridiculous as their geographical ineptitude. Somehow, even though all of China's nuclear plants are south of the Yangtze River and Fukushima is much further to the east, Gobi winds from the northwest will bring nuclear radiations.
And if the Chinese nuclear facilities in the Gobi are to bring radiations, why did they not do so in the past years, but only this year? Perhaps they should think more to the North, where their ethnic brothers have been much busier building up new nuclear facilities with highly suspicious safety records...Either way, somehow as "nuclear" becomes a buzzword originated in Japan, it is the Sino-Korean relationship that gets damaged from a routine desert wind.
If the peaceful hikers on Mt. Takao taught me one thing, it is about the value of "now." Yes, we all understand, and do take about the fact that there may be a looming disaster that transcends national borders. But by panicking to an excessive degree, at a personal and national level, we only undermines our abilities to face the situation with minimal socio-economic disturbance. Like the hikers, we should all be enjoying the "calm before the storm" (if it has to be that way) and think about the unpreventable long-term consequences when they do occur.
Indeed, as time goes on, the nuclear crisis has become an international event, not just a Japanese domestic concern. The fear generated by the nuclear radiation in Japan probably has just as big of a mental impact on the citizens of China and Korea, two of the nations geographically closest to Japan and thus has the greatest potential to be hurt by spreading radiation from Fukushima. And ironically speaking, the panic occurring in those countries is becoming an beautifully ironic contrast to the calm stoicism prevailing in Japan.
A look at the recent news from the two countries shows why. In China, the headlines of the past two days have been all about salt. People across the economic spectrum rushed to their nearest supermarkets to stock up on salt (rumor has it that some woman bought 50 packages at once), in the hopes that the iodine content in salt can counteract any effect of radiation. As salt prices logically go up in such a situation, reports of protests breaking out near supermarkets and salt-producing companies have been spread.
Besides helping to further deteriorate the national image of China as an orderless country with a bunch of rowdy people, it at the same time, ironically and unnecessarily, really emphasizes the sheer aggressive nature of the Chinese populace when it comes to personal survival, something that really tend to contrast the sense of self-sacrifice that has been the main theme here in Japan. Well, at least it does show why Chinese people are so hardy as to be able to survive under any condition...
Perhaps just as ridiculous as the Chinese stocking up on salt has been the Korean media reports about the country already suffering a full-blown nuclear disaster. Media has been paying special attention to this year's annual visit to Korea by sandstorms from the Gobi Desert. It is rumored that highly radioactive Cesium has been detected in this year's sand that blanketed Seoul for days, causing a panic among the population and leaving the streets deserted.
The media has been quick to play the blame game on where the Cesium comes from: (1) the stuff from Fukushima, (2) China's nuclear power plants have serious issues too, (3) secret Chinese nuclear weapons storage facilities in Gobi Desert. The Sensationalization of the Korean media is about as ridiculous as their geographical ineptitude. Somehow, even though all of China's nuclear plants are south of the Yangtze River and Fukushima is much further to the east, Gobi winds from the northwest will bring nuclear radiations.
And if the Chinese nuclear facilities in the Gobi are to bring radiations, why did they not do so in the past years, but only this year? Perhaps they should think more to the North, where their ethnic brothers have been much busier building up new nuclear facilities with highly suspicious safety records...Either way, somehow as "nuclear" becomes a buzzword originated in Japan, it is the Sino-Korean relationship that gets damaged from a routine desert wind.
If the peaceful hikers on Mt. Takao taught me one thing, it is about the value of "now." Yes, we all understand, and do take about the fact that there may be a looming disaster that transcends national borders. But by panicking to an excessive degree, at a personal and national level, we only undermines our abilities to face the situation with minimal socio-economic disturbance. Like the hikers, we should all be enjoying the "calm before the storm" (if it has to be that way) and think about the unpreventable long-term consequences when they do occur.
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