Japan: Scandal of private Japanese power industry

Report by Seizo Shimamura, Kokusai Rentai, (CWI Japan) in Tokyo


From - http://www.cwij.org/joomla/index.php
Translated at - http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4955

Following the fear generated by a mega-quake, the devastating tsunami and radioactive contamination, now the series of black-outs being imposed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) – owners of the deteriorating Fukushima Nuclear Power Station - are causing confusion and seriously disrupting the lives of people in the Metropolitan (Tokyo) Area.

These “planned blackouts” are on an unprecedented scale. Public transport, hospitals, schools, day nurseries as well as ordinary homes are all affected by the rolling cut-offs of electricity for 3-6 hours a day, leaving out central Tokyo where the central offices of the government and the big monopolies are situated. All this is on the grounds that, "the serious damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami to power-generating ability make it difficult to meet the electricity demand in the metropolitan area. Unless the planned blackouts are implemented, it may cause an unexpectedly massive black-out in the whole area including central Tokyo with all of its central government offices".

The blackouts have provoked large-scale resentment amongst the population in the Metropolitan area and also widespread criticism of TEPCO and the government who have arranged them. The policy appears to be promoting the idea that "nuclear power is essential to our lives after all". This is despite the fact that it is TEPCO’s own nuclear power station, its own mismanagement and their failure to have timely and clear emergency measures that is aggravating the disaster.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has pointed out that the Japanese thermal power plants are only responsible for 30% of their capacity and it is actually possible to supply sufficient power with the other thermal power plants even if all of the nuclear power plants were stopped. The black-outs start to look like a big conspiracy to impress people with the necessity of nuclear power, even after this horrific man-made disaster. And this is while the TV is repeatedly showing the atrocious situation and threat to health and life from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station.

It is true that TEPCO suffered quite a lot of damage to their key thermal power plants as a result of this earthquake but where can we get additional power from if not from the area covered by TEPCO and the Tohoku Electric Power Company (which also suffered major damage). Why can we not get excess power supplied from the areas not affected by the earthquake, namely Western Japan?

This is because of the situation very peculiar to the Japanese electric power industry: the frequency of the power grid is different in the West and the East (50Hz for the Eastern Japan and 60Hz for the Western Japan). This is what prevents supplying power from to the East from the West which did not suffer from the disaster and has sufficient power supply. This is one of the main reasons for the power black-out which severely affects civilian life. The commercial mass media gives the reason for this frequency difference as the introduction of the U.S.60 Hz grid in Western Japan and the German 50Hz grid in Eastern Japan.

Private power distribution companies separated on a regional basis during the Japanese industrial revolution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But there are important historical facts unwittingly or deliberately left out of the public account of how things stand today.

History

In fact, in the late 1940s, Japan’s electric power industries, which had been separate, were consolidated under the state. The Japan Electric Generation and Transmission Company, which had exclusive responsibility for power generation across the country, was a semi-state company. Under this arrangement, the entire electricity business was integrated. Undoubtedly, it was a very important chance to unify the frequency of electric power.

After the Second World War, the All Japan Electric Workers’ Union (AJEWU) was formed mainly by workers of this Japan Electric Generation and Transmission Company. Under the leadership of communists and left social democrats, militant strike struggles were developed. This organisation had a central role in the union organisations during the labour offensive after the war.

After the defeat of Japanese militarism in 1945 there was, in the late 1940s, a short-lived centre-left coalition government led by the Socialist Party intended to further develop the nationalisation of electric power as part of its democratic reforms. However, the U.S. military occupation set out to crush this movement and supported the birth of a right-wing Liberal government.

The U.S. occupation authorities broke up the Japan Electric Generation and Transmission Company and pushed a policy of segmentation and privatisation. It is obvious that they intended to repress the All Japan Electric Workers’ Union (AJEWU) because this was the militant union confronting not only monopoly capitalism and the conservative government but also U.S. occupation. (This process is similar to the privatisation of Japan’s National Railway in the 1980s and the attempt to smash the National Railway Workers’ Union, which played a leading role in the organisation of the left labour movement.)

The strategy of the ruling class was eventually successful. The electrical industry was divided up between private monopoly companies, based on nine separate regions again, and they lost their social and public character.

The All Japan Electric Workers’ Union (AJEWU) was dismantled and became the organisation of a tiny minority. Instead of the AJEWU, the Federation of Electric Power Related Industry Worker’s Unions of Japan was established - a right wing trade union. It advocated labour-management cooperation and organised many workers of the electric power sector. It is well known that this federation promoted the construction of the nuclear power stations. On the other hand, the All Japan Electric Workers’ Union (AJEWU) was forced into a minority and existed until the 1990s. It struggled jointly with the Anti-nuclear movement until that time.

No matter what form the end of the present catastrophe will take, the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, triggered by this large earthquake and tsunami, could still cause a serious disaster which will contaminate the neighbouring area of Fukushima and possibly, a large part of Japan and the ocean with radioactivity.

Even if the damage is limited and remediable, there is no doubt that it will cost an enormous amount of money for the restoration of agriculture, forestry and the fishing industry and the lives of the ordinary citizens. Who should be responsible for these costs? Needless to say, the electric power company (TEPCO) is responsible. TEPCO must be taken into the hands of the state again and run in the interests of the working class. Its assets and wealth should be injected into the reconstruction of industry and work to the benefit of workers and citizens.

The chaos of the power cuts in the Tokyo Metropolitan area has exposed the incapacity of the electrical industry to care for the needs of the people. Not only TEPCO, but all the electricity and power generating companies should be taken into public ownership under democratic workers’ control and management. This is the key to changing the nuclear power-oriented policy which does not care about people’s health and lives but serves the interests of monopoly capital.

Japan: Solidarity with the people of Japan

Rebuilding should not serve the interests of private developers

Report by Carl Simmons, Kokusai Rentai (International Solidarity - CWI in Japan)

The initial response to the quake has been one of shock and disbelief at the images coming from the Tohoku area. Although Osaka is several hundred kilometres from the areas affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami, many people here have family or friends in those areas. There is a general air or depression and despondency hanging over society. Comparisons have been made to the devastation following World War 2, although obviously the area affected is much more limited.
There is also nervousness about the prospects of a nuclear disaster as the authorities struggle to prevent a total meltdown at at least three nuclear reactors. Representatives of the government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) have appeared on television to tell us that the situation is under control and to reassure us that the amount of radiation people in the area have been exposed to is less than one CT scan. People are generally sceptical about this.
Japan’s privately-owned power companies and nuclear industry have a history of attempting to cover up accidents such as those at Monju in Fukui prefecture in 1995 and Tokaimura in 1999 and most people believe that the government is under-estimating the severity of the crisis so as not to provoke panic.
Sections of the foreign business community are already fleeing Tokyo. The US Seventh Fleet, with the aircraft carrier “Ronald Reagan”, which only yesterday we were told was standing by to “provide relief”, has withdrawn to a safe distance from Fukushima after detecting radioactivity. Most of the Japanese population has nowhere to flee to in a nuclear emergency, other than to sleep rough on the floor of an elementary school gymnasium or other public facility. Nearly 60,000 people have been told to evacuate their homes in the area around the reactors.
The anti-nuclear movement in Japan has long warned about the dangers of building reactors on or near to major fault lines. There have been ample warning signs such as the damage to a TEPCO plant in the Chuetsu-oki earthquake in 2007.
However Japanese capitalism has become heavily reliant on atomic energy, with nuclear reactors providing 30% of its power. Even if they succeed in avoiding a major nuclear disaster this time around, they are going to face a major energy crisis with many of their reactors out of action. In the case of Fukushima, the use of sea water to cool the rods almost certainly means that these reactors will never be restarted.
The authorities are now organising rolling power cuts in Eastern Japan, as well as urging consumers to economise on energy consumption. Incredibly though, Japan lacks an integrated national power grid. The industry is dominated by ten private regional power companies. Although the power supply in Western Japan is unaffected by the crisis, it is difficult to divert power because the grid in Western Japan functions on 60Hz, as opposed to 50Hz in the East. There are only three plants that can convert power generated in the West for use in the East.
A genuine workers’ party in Japan would call for the nationalisation of these ten regional power companies under workers’ control and management. This would enable a phasing out of nuclear power and the development of alternative energy sources. As the only country to have had nuclear weapons used against it, there is a strong fear of the effects of radiation and the population are particular sensitive to the nuclear issue. The crisis will undoubtedly give an impetus to the anti-nuclear movement, even if a major nuclear disaster is avoided. If it is not, then this will become a major and radicalising political issue.
Over the next few days, people’s attention is going to be focussed on the relief efforts. As in the Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, trade unions and community organisations will probably start their own relief efforts. Unions in the Kansai area are already discussing this. Many young people interviewed on TV in areas unaffected by the quake express a desire to do something to help those in the affected areas. As the days turns to weeks, though, the focus of people’s attention will shift towards reconstruction and the rebuilding of their communities.
Much has been made in the foreign press about the strict regulations governing building construction. However, this is far from the reality of the situation here. While regulations have been tightened over the years, collusion between the General Contractors, Politicians and city planning departments means that building regulations of any kind are often not enforced. In the Hanshin earthquake in 1995, many poor and elderly people were still living in temporary accommodation years after the quake because they could not afford to rebuild their houses. Most of the money provided for reconstruction was put into large infrastructure projects that provided business for the contractors, but little help for those made homeless by the quake.Socialists argue that the rebuilding should not serve the interests of private developers. The large General Contractors should be nationalised under workers’ control and management and communities rebuilt according to democratic plans drawn up by the neighbourhood committees, community and workers’ organisations.
The economic effects of the disaster will be severe. The Japanese Stock Market fell by 7% in one day, and has once again gone below the 10,000 barrier. Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan has talked about a “New Deal” effect, with reconstruction leading to a recovery of the economy.
It is true that after the 1995 Hanshin earthquake, after the immediate negative effects of the quake had worked their way through the economy, there was a limited recovery helped by reconstruction. While it cannot be ruled out that something similar could happen this time, the destruction is on a much larger scale than the 1995 quake. State finances are in a much weaker position than they were in 1995.
Already the Democratic Party government has retreated on promises to pay increased child benefits and is attempting to build support for an increase in consumption tax, arguing that this is necessary to support pensions and welfare for a rapidly ageing population.
There is little doubt the Japanese capitalists will attempt to place the burden for this disaster on the shoulders of workers and the poor. This will inevitably provoke resistance. However the crisis unfolds in the short-term, the future of Japanese capitalism looks beset with major problems.