I first like to introduce this quote by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
Since the 3.11, all these dirty practices that have been used for so many years in Japan have been revealed to us, and this is one of them.
Mr. Hiroaki Koide is an assistant professor at the Research Reactor Institute at Kyoto University, (whose comment was recently featured in the NY Times article "Japanese Officials Ignored or Concealed Dangers"), and I have relied on his great knowledge and expertise for a while in order to understand what is really going on in Japan. But, look at his title, "assistant professor." A title of assistant professor in Japan have somewhat different connotation, for example, in that of the United States. Assistant professor now in Japan has a term of 3 to 5 years that needs to be renewed if you want to continue with the position. And this position was created after the University Reform in the 1990's. Though Mr. Koide's position actually, I assume, is not termed since he has gotten the tile before the reform, the great professor, who has been fiercely consistent in his anti-nuclear messages as an expert in the field and who is so needed in what is going on in Japan now, is an assistant professor after long years of devoted and passionate researches and outreaches. And, amazingly, these "Goyo Gakusha" – patronized scholars – are all professors or even emeritus at famous universities, so many of which are from University of Tokyo!!
Mr. Koide's colleague, Mr. Tetsuji Imanaka, who is also working so hard conducting "accurate" researches on radioactive contaminations in Fukushima and elsewhere, is also an assistant professor. Mr. You Tanaka has been actively having seminars literally everyday all over Japan by teaching people how we can have the same level of living style without nuclear power, and his position has been an adjunct professor when he teaches classes in universities (though teaching is not his primary job).
You get my point. Why is that these most needed and most reliable scholars have all been excluded in having better positions in academia?
So here comes my list of "Goyo Gakusha" – scholars highly patronized by the government or business industries in order to gain grants and to be famous – and they have been so audacious in spreading how not to worry about radioactive contamination or how safe to even drink Plutonium (really, he should be sued) without a tiny bit of shame!!!
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Prof. Naoto Sekimura, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Engineering, Department of Quantum Engineering and Systems Science
He has been honorably considered as a leader of the Goyo Gakusha by anti-nuclear activists. My fav quote is "Plutonium is safe to drink." Please do so Mr.
Prof. Ken Nakajima, Kyoto University, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering
My fav quote is "Plutonium is heavy so it doesn't get spread out. Don't worry."
Prof. Muneo Morokazu, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Public Policy
He has said "I'm so glad that rain the other day all cleaned up radioactivity" and "Level of radioactivity was much worse at the time of nuclear testing so don't overreact."
Prof. Shunichi Yamashita, Nagasaki University, Graduate School of International Health Development
His best quotes are "Effect of radiation does not come to happy people. It only goes to sad people." "It's ONLY 1 in 100 people who gets cancer if you are exposed to 100milliSV per year" "We just don't know our future (after long-term exposure to radiation)…..only God knows."
Prof. Tatsuro Miyasato, Former Provost of Kyushu Institute of Technology
He wrote in the Koriyama City local newspaper (Fukushima Prefecture), "(survivors of the Nagasaki atomic bomb) ate all the vegetables and fish without a bit of concern. It was a great idea! They became smarter and healthier for having done that. What's wrong with the current concerned public!??" And he continued "There are data that people suffer from radiation live longer." Is he a wannabe of some kind of cultfigure or something? It's very hard to understand this guy.
Prof. Hiroshi Niino, University of Tokyo, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, and Chair of the Meteorological Society of Japan
He is the one who prohibited its members of the Meteorological Society of Japan from publicizing their own forecast of radioactive contamination. The reason he said was, "It interferes nation's disaster intervention if our members disclose their uncertain information to the public", "What is most important for disaster measure is to rely on single source of information." Are you really a scientist??
Prof. Emeritus, Shunsuke Kondo, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Engineering, and Chair of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission
On April 12, 2011, he went on TV right after the level 7 was confirmed and said "Levels are just a measure to report the condition, and it does not change a direction of nuclear power politics."
Prof. Hirotada Ohashi, University of Tokyo, Department of System Innovation
He has been the big advocate of nuclear power and has been active at many seminars and discussions in the past. He always clearly looks down on audiences while he maintains chilly smile on his face. He has said, "there is no way that hydrogen explosions occur at nuclear plants" "it is technically impossible that reactor containers get destroyed by any chance" and "one can even drink Plutonium and be safe." He has been missing in action since the Fukushima accident began. I would like to find him at University of Tokyo and ask to drink Plutonium.
Asso Prof. Keiichi Nakagawa, University of Tokyo Hospital, Department of Radiation Oncology
He keeps saying, "there is no data of increasing cancer incidents after the Chernobyl accident." My fav quote is "it is ok that cancer rate increases 0.5% due to the Fukushima accident." He thinks it's unnecessary to evacuate residents 20km within the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. He also said, "You can think your life gets a deeper meaning when you develop cancer. Don't get scared. Cancers are not that bad." I guess he gets more jobs when more people get cancer.
Prof. Ryugo Hayano, University of Tokyo, Bio Physics Department Chair
He is really a tricky guy. He is so good at spreading information that seems it's all not that bad by using twitter. He is so quick spreading it-doesn’t-seem-so-bad information, but really slow and cold about alarming data and information. He is damn so good at making himself look an ok guy. He is a type of a guy who can survive no matter what.
Prof. Blahblahblah, Osaka University
He has been using twitter and his blog to inform the public that nosebleeding is nothing to do with radiation exposures. There's a record of nosebleeding even at the Three Mile Island Acident, but he has decided to ignore these facts or he simply cannot read scientific articles? Plus, any clinical research on radiation exposure has not been conducted sufficiently anyways so how can he determine that nosebleeding is definitely not from radiation? Is he really a scientist??? Is he one of these who's receing "donation money" from the nuclear industry or does he just want to be famous…. from my observation in his aggressive attitudes, it looks more leaning towards the latter reason so I decided to conceal his name here. Watch out! He is online all the time. He'll come and get ya'll!
Kazuyo Katsuma, TV commentator, Visiting Professor of Chuo University Graduate School of Strategic Management
Agh, I personally can't stand this person for a long long time! Sorry but she is not a scholar but I guess she got a teaching position just being so famous on TV. She has said on TV, "It's abnormal to think radioactive materials are dangerous" "it's only a level of some kids getting thyroid cancer" and "radiation exposure has not caused any death compared to the tsunami"……… Well, get this. She was on a TEPCO TV advertisement in the past so let's figure how much she has been paid by the industry. Ha!
And the King of the Goyo Gakusha!!!
Haruki Madarame, Former Prof. University of Tokyo and Chair of Nuclear Safety Commission, Japan
He was also an employee at Toshiba – a nuke plant builder. He has amazing quotes, "You can't be too much in detail when you build a nuclear plant" "At the end, money all matters (when he was talking about giving increasing money to reluctant villages where the industry decides to build a nuke plant)." His last name has been replaced by DETARAME meaning bullshit in Japanese for quite some time. Congratulations, Mr. DETARAME, for being chosen for the King of Goyo Gakusha!!
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Too bad but there are more of these scholars. You can go to a special site on this.
But what's up with the University of Tokyo??? I thought the university has been ranked as a #1 school in Japan, but I guess it is #1 for hiring people who rely on a few, if not one, sources of information, that has been paid by the Nuclear Industry. I wonder what happened to the Japanese academia.
Much answer can be found in the University Reform that started in the 1990s.
Corporate companies started to step on the academic sanctuary by buying researches at universities. Japanese professors have to get grants for their researches on their own, and surely corporate companies are the ones who got the money. Then, scholars have to crate a research proposal that can be loved by these corporate industries. It's good for the corporate companies because there won't be any researches and studies that can damage their profits. Isn't it clear when you see a sparkling modern building of business school and a still-1950's-made ramshackle social science building at universities? Academic has been purchased by the business industry for some time, and many scholars who can kiss ass could go higher in the Japanese academia.
For example, it is now so famous that TEPCO has "donated" 600 million dollars to the University of Tokyo.
I don't think ALL of professors are these Goyo Gakusha, but even with these numbers of listed people above are pretty alarming. But, it gives me such an ill-feeling when I look at Mr. Koide and Mr. Imanaka who have devoted their life passionately by pursuing their academic interests in order to better our society, and they have been looked down and even ridiculed by the above named purchased scholars who had acted so arrogantly. It makes me want to puke (on the Goyo Gakusha)!!!
There was a purpose of using the quote by Joseph Goebbels at the beginning.
Most scholars that are on Japanese mainstream TV programs are all these purchased fallen scholars. I even want to refuse to call them scholars if I can. The industry's purpose of using them is so that audiences think, "Oh well, professor of University of Tokyo is saying it's ok to have my kids play outside and let's keep buying milk and veggies as usual." There are still many of these people who believe in these scholars. I personally have seen my friends with kids saying this, and it really breaks my heart.
Yes, it's true that people believe in lies if they are repeated enough.
I'm almost so certain that these fallen scholars don't care a bit about our lives and our children's lives. If we have increasing cases of infant thyroid cancer in 5 years, these professors will be living in their luxury houses with tightly closed doors and enjoying their retirement life without being responsible of what they are saying today. I promise this will happen.
This is pretty unacceptable to me.
