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Goshi Hosono Admits to Harvard Professor: "We Should Have Admitted to a Core Melt Possibility" Posted: 29 May 2012 03:14 PM PDT Goshi Hosono, as the minister in charge of the nuclear accident, met with the Harvard political professor Michael J. Sandel, to whom Hosono said that his government should have admitted a core melt (meltdown) possibility earlier. Well, the government actually did, very early, like the very next day of the disaster on March 11, 2011. But the Kan administration quickly replaced the official of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency who spoke about the possible core melt in the press conference at noon on March 12, 2011. So they officially admitted, as if by mistake, in the initial confusion. Then, they were busy backtracking from that statement until several weeks later. Even for those who heard and read about the statement, I don't think it registered on them as people weren't as educated about things nuclear at that time as they are now. For that matter, the government, with Mr. Edano as the spokesman, didn't officially tell the public that there was an explosion of Reactor 1 on March 12, 2011, until after 5 hours had passed. When Goshi Hosono as a personal assistant to then-Prime Minister Kan went on a TV program in April 2011 and said "We knew it was a meltdown but we just didn't feel like telling people", there was hardly any reaction from the media or the general public. And now here's what Goshi Hosono said to the Harvard professor, via Kyodo News (5/29/2012): 細野氏「溶融認めるべきだった」　米のサンデル教授と対談 Mr. Hosono met with US professor Sandel, said "We should have admitted to a core melt" 細野豪志原発事故担当相は２９日、熱気あふれる政治哲学講義で知られる米ハーバード大のマイケル・サンデル教授と内閣府の担当相室で対談し、東京電力福島第１原発事故直後の対応に関し「炉心溶融している可能性があることを率直に認めた上で対応していれば、政府発表に対する信頼もかなり変わっていたかもしれない。問題があったと思っている」と述べた。 Goshi Hosono, minister in charge of the nuclear accident, met with Professor Michael Sandel of Harvard University, known for his lively lectures on political philosophy, in his office in the Cabinet Office on May 29. Concerning the government response right after the start of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, Hosono said, "If we had frankly admitted to the possibility of a core melt, people's trust in the government announcement may have been different from what it is now. I think there was a problem." 　情報公開の在り方をめぐり細野氏は「国民は総体としては非常に冷静で、さまざまなことについて議論ができる」とした上で「そういう国民に対する情報の出し方、コミュニケーションの取り方は変わっていかなければならない」と強調した。 Over the information disclosure, Mr. Hosono said "On the whole, Japanese citizens are very calm and able to discuss various subjects". He went on to emphasize that "With such citizens, the information disclosure and the communications should be changed." "We should have admitted to a core melt", Hosono now says. Several years down, he may be saying "We should have never done the wide-area debris disposal", says one of my Japanese twitter followers after reading the Kyodo News.

OT: Zimbabwe's Mugabe as UN's International Envoy of Tourism Posted: 29 May 2012 12:15 PM PDT From UK's Guardian (5/29/2012): Robert Mugabe asked to be UN 'leader for tourism' The Zimbabwe president, accused of ethnic cleansing and bankrupting his country, asked to champion tourism With a line-up that includes Drew Barrymore, David Beckham, Orlando Bloom, and Ricky Martin, the UN's choice of ambassadors has been known to cause raised eyebrows or the odd smirk. Seldom, however, has there been such anger, or questioning of the organisation's credibility, as that greeting the appointment of a new international envoy for tourism: Robert Mugabe. Improbable as it seems, the Zimbabwean president, who is widely accused of ethnic cleansing, rigging elections, terrorising opposition, controlling media and presiding over a collapsed economy, has been endorsed as a champion of efforts to boost global holidaymaking. Despite that fact Mugabe, 88, is under a travel ban, he has been honoured as a "leader for tourism" by the UN's World Tourism Organisation, along with his political ally, Zambian president Michael Sata, 75. The pair signed an agreement with UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai at their shared border at Victoria Falls on Tuesday. Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper quoted Rifai urging tourists from around the world to visit : "I was told about the wonderful experience and the warm hospitality of this country … By coming here, it is recognition, an endorsement on the country that it is a safe destination." The agreement will also see the two southern African countries co-host the UNWTO general assembly in August next year. UNWTO said it had not appointed Mugabe to any formal position but acknowledged he would receive an open letter like other heads of state who have joined its leaders for tourism campaign. (Full article at the link) Well, the bigger the atrocities, the bigger the fame and recognition, it seems, for the power that be.

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