Published on July 18, 2019.
This article republishes a chapter first posted on July 19, 2019, and, through an article in Shukan Shincho, discusses how solar-power development is causing landslide disasters, devastation of national land, public burdens, and increased CO2 emissions.
With anger toward Kan Naoto, Son Masayoshi, Fukushima Mizuho, the Asahi Shimbun, and NHK, it argues that the shutdown of nuclear power plants and the promotion of solar power are destroying Japan’s nature and national land.

July 18, 2019.
Did the editorial department of Shukan Shincho read the inference you wrote about this abnormal weather, including the torrential rains?
The following is a chapter I posted on July 19, 2019.
This morning, a friend who saw the advertisement for Shukan Shincho, released today, in the lower section of the newspaper said, “Did the editorial department of Shukan Shincho read the inference you wrote about this abnormal weather, including the torrential rains?” and bought Shukan Shincho and brought it to me.
Readers too will learn that my essay was once again 100 percent correct, but my point had been correct as an even more terrible reality.
At the same time, I felt the greatest possible anger toward the three people Kan Naoto, Son Masayoshi, and Fukushima Mizuho, and toward media such as the Asahi Shimbun and the news departments of NHK.
Japan, which, if counted from the time it took a unified form, has nurtured beautiful hearts on beautiful national land for 2,600 years; the words that all Japanese who love this Japan should now cry out are:
Stop solar power! Immediate total prohibition of solar-power development!
Immediate halt to fossil-fuel power generation exceeding 3,000 kW! Immediate start of operation of all fifty-four nuclear power plants!
Because there is no time left for us to learn that there is no other way to save our national land from the schemes of villains who devastate it.
Emphasis in the text other than the headlines is mine.
The ones forced to pay the price are the disaster victims!
The man-made disaster called “solar energy.”
A dream story is, after all, a story within a dream, not reality.
The same is true of solar energy, which was advertised as clean and having no burden on the environment.
Solar panels laid here and there throughout the Japanese archipelago under the banner of environmental consideration are now about to attack us as a man-made disaster.
It is said that when people are driven into a corner, they will clutch even at straw.
For example, in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, the hearts of many people were crushed.
In particular, in the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the world trembled at the leaked radioactivity.
There is a side to it that makes it understandable that people clung excessively to renewable energy centered on solar energy.
While explaining the usefulness of nuclear power became taboo, it was preached that if renewable energy were introduced as an alternative measure, a rosy future would open up.
At that time, the person who stood at the head was Prime Minister Kan Naoto.
An economic reporter explains.
“In 2012, the government expanded the feed-in tariff system under which electric power companies buy electricity generated by renewable energy such as solar power at high prices.
At the time, the unit price when electric power companies generated electricity using existing facilities was about 6 yen per kilowatt-hour, but the Kan administration decided, only for renewable energy, to buy it at the exceptional price of 42 yen per kilowatt-hour.
The purchase unit price itself has now fallen to around 20 yen, but the total purchase amount for renewable energy, which the public bears as a surcharge, reached as much as 2.7 trillion yen last year.”
At present, electricity from solar energy accounts for 3 percent of Japan’s total electricity generation.
For that, the public is bearing such a large cost.
Incidentally, total electricity sales are about 20 trillion yen.
Even so, if it were the source of funds to make a dream story appear on earth, it might have value, but if it was nothing more than “straw”—.
In September 2015, the levee of the Kinugawa River flowing through Ibaraki Prefecture collapsed due to heavy rain.
In fact, it has become clear that one factor was that a private solar-power company had excavated a natural levee in order to install panels.
This is not a dream story but a nightmare, and accidents also occurred in the recent heavy rains.
On July 5, solar panels installed on a slope in Suma Ward, Kobe City, collapsed over an area of about 400 square meters, and the Sanyo Shinkansen running immediately below temporarily suspended operations.
Then, on July 7, at a sloping site in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, a solar-power facility collapsed over an area of roughly 3,600 square meters.
“After that solar-power plant was built, earth and sand began flowing onto the national road and became a problem.
Around here there are three solar-power plants, and two of them were made by cutting down mountains, so it is frightening,”
Says a resident near the site in Himeji City.
Another resident also says, “This time, what collapsed happened to be in the middle of the whole area, but if the lower part had collapsed, it might have hit cars running on the national road or houses along the road.
I am frightened and anxious about what will happen during the next heavy rain.”
However, it is now impossible even to estimate how many similar dangerous locations there are nationwide.
Solar panels have invaded the national land to that extent, from one end of the country to the other.
“Under the political leadership of the Kan administration, regulations on the installation of solar panels were relaxed, and it became possible, in effect, to install them anywhere without permission.
As a result, forests were cut down throughout the country, covered with panels, and the environment came to be destroyed at the public’s expense,” says the aforementioned reporter.
Narabayshi Tadashi, specially appointed professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology, also says the following.
“The feed-in tariff system is a legal exploitation system.
If you use electricity, you are charged about 10 percent more for electricity than before, and for the socially vulnerable, this is a nuisance.
On the other hand, for the wealthy, even now it is a good investment destination yielding 11 percent a year.
For this reason, the solar bubble continues, and it has led to the disorderly installation of solar panels.”
Turning disaster-warning zones into bald mountains.
Unfortunately, Prime Minister Kan and those around him at the time completely closed their eyes to the possibility that solar energy was “straw,” that is, to its negative side.
Whether it is Mr. Kan or former Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro, it is strange that even now they seem to see none of the negative side, insisting only that “solar power must be increased,” as if continuing to clutch at straw.
In any case, in reality, because of the foolish policies already described, danger is imminent.
Even near the disaster-stricken areas this time, large-scale mega-solar developments are lined up one after another.
In the Sakuto district of Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture, slopes of about 410 hectares, equivalent to eighty-seven Tokyo Domes, are being scraped away with the aim of starting operation next autumn, and residents are crying out.
“Right now they are cutting down trees and digging up the roots, so even with just a little rain, soil falls from the mountain and the river becomes muddy.
I opposed it because I thought that once it was completed, the sediment would become a terrible problem, but once the land is bought, there is nothing we can do.
The company says it will build three dams so that the soil will not flow down, but they say that if heavy rain comes, they will be buried immediately.
They will dig up the tree roots too, so it is only natural that soil will keep falling downward.
If heavy rain comes after the power plant is completed, the mountain will collapse.”
Also in the Oi district of Okayama City, a plan is underway to cut down about 186 hectares of forest, equivalent to thirty-nine Tokyo Domes, and install mega-solar facilities.
Kayano Hidenori, chairman of the district’s federation of neighborhood associations, expresses concern.
“I learned of the plan in February last year, and I hear that a Tokyo company will cut down the trees, turn the area into a bald mountain, and install as many as 276,000 solar panels.
They say it has already acquired nearly 90 percent of the land.
Suitable places on flat land are becoming scarce, but because the panels themselves have become cheaper, forests are being targeted.
They probably think they can make a profit even after subtracting the construction costs of opening up the mountains.
The same thing is happening all over Japan.”
Under the banner of ecology, the profits of private companies are being prioritized over disaster prevention.
“This time, debris flows also occurred around here, and some people died.
In the basin directly downstream from the planned site, many places are sediment-disaster warning zones.
When I asked specialists, they said the planned development site consists of soft soil called decomposed granite soil, and that the ground is somehow being held together by the roots of trees such as konara oak.
That is why, in this torrential rain, landslides occurred even before construction began.
And yet, if trees are cut down over a vast area, I fear that even worse mountain collapses will occur.
We have submitted requests and resolutions of opposition to the prefecture and city, but Okayama, as a prefecture, is promoting itself as ‘Sunny Land Okayama’ and inviting solar-power generation……”
If “Sunny Land” means blazing sun after sediment disasters, it is no joke.
Yamada Tadashi, professor in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Chuo University, who is knowledgeable about disaster prevention and hydraulics, also says the following.
“As a general rule, mountains are held together because the roots of trees growing there support the surface soil and suppress the collapse and failure of the surface layer of the slope.
Therefore, if the trees disappear, the surface slips, and landslides become more likely.”
Far from ecological.
Even so, has today’s solar bubble not failed to make the slightest use of the lessons of Fukushima?
Okamoto Koji, professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School, points out, “The Fukushima accident caused enormous trouble for the local people.
Similarly, with solar power generation, the administration needs to manage it properly.
However, because solar power suddenly advanced, there are no regulations at all,” and continues.
“Putting solar panels on mountain slopes is the worst.
Considering safety, they should be placed in broad empty areas where nothing exists.
But under present conditions, anyone can build them anywhere if they want to.
As a result, cases have become problematic, such as in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, where solar panels have been disorderly installed on steep slopes where forests were cut down, and in Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture, where attempts were made to strip bare the area around a quasi-national park and place panels there.”
He says that no thought has been given to how much trouble this will cause surrounding residents.
Professor Okamoto also touches on the essential weakness of solar power generation.
“It cannot generate electricity at night.
Also, not only on rainy or snowy days, but even if it becomes slightly cloudy, the amount of electricity generated falls considerably.
Therefore, in order to use solar power generation, storage batteries capable of storing large amounts of electricity generated during the day are important, but the current storage systems are functionally insufficient.
Innovation is indispensable, but considering current technological capabilities, it is utterly impossible to develop an inexpensive storage system with sufficient performance in the next ten or twenty years.”
Narabayshi, mentioned earlier, adds the following.
“In Japan, the amount of sunshine time during which solar power generation is possible is about six hours per day on average.
Because the sunny-weather rate is about 50 percent, the actual operating rate of solar power generation is only 12.5 percent.
Moreover, its share of electricity is only 3 percent.
Adding hydroelectric and wind power to this, renewable energy accounts for 14 percent, and about 84 percent of the rest depends on thermal power generation.
However, thermal power generation emits large amounts of CO2 and is the least environmentally friendly.”
Japan, where most nuclear power plants are not operating, is said to be far from ecological even in comparison with European countries.
“Japan emits 540 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated, which is among the worst levels in the world.
Europe averages 311 grams, and within Europe, Germany, which like Japan has stopped half of its nuclear power plants and shifted to coal-fired thermal power generation, emits as much as 450 grams.
On the other hand, France, which supplies 78 percent of its electricity with nuclear power, emits 46 grams, and Denmark, which produces 49 percent from wind power, emits 174 grams.
In short, the very country where ecology is loudly shouted—Japan—is not ecological.”
Furthermore, as you know, the CO2 emitted in this way is regarded as the chief culprit of global warming, which frequently brings torrential rains that would previously have been unprecedented.
Solar power generation whose dangers are not even given a glance, and the resulting increase in CO2 and climate change.
It would probably not be an exaggeration to say that our country is now layering man-made disasters upon man-made disasters.
Then what should be done?
Professor Okamoto proposes the following: “There are parts where solar power generation is superior, and parts where nuclear power generation is superior, so we must use both skillfully.”
“It is wrong to conclude that all solar panels are bad because there are malicious cases; in fact, there are more businesses doing things properly.
Most nuclear power plants are also proper and convenient, but because of the Fukushima accident, people came to think that all of them are bad.
But rather than looking only at one part and marking it with a circle or a cross, we should judge by looking at the whole.”
Just as there is no immortality or eternal youth in this world, there is no policy and no energy source without a negative side.
Therefore, whether solar power or nuclear power, we should calmly discern both the positive and negative aspects, use them skillfully, and strictly regulate what should be regulated.
There is no other way to prevent man-made disasters.
What is required is not to clutch at straw; in other words, to remain calm.