2018-9-12
Now, of all times, Ryuichi Sakamoto must take the podium at a rally uncompromisingly opposed to nuclear power and declare, “It’s only electricity…”
The following is from an article by Yoshiko Sakurai, the only woman deserving of the People’s Honor Award, published in today’s issue of Shukan Shincho under the title “The Nuclear Regulation Authority’s Intellectual Laziness Caused Hokkaido’s Island-Wide Blackout.”
The passages between ＊ and ＊ are mine.
In the early hours of September 6, Hokkaido was struck by an earthquake registering a maximum seismic intensity of 7.
As of September 9, 42 people had died and one remained missing.
What further compounded the damage from the earthquake was the occurrence of Japan’s first blackout.
The loss of electricity brought all servers and factory motors to a halt, and New Chitose Airport, JR rail services, and logistics also stopped.
The water supply, pumped by electric motors, stopped as well.
Hospital life-support systems, dialysis machines, and incubators also ceased to function.
The strength and materials of fuel tanks for emergency generators at hospitals and other facilities are restricted by the Fire Service Act, and their fuel supplies do not last long.
A prolonged power outage directly threatens lives.
In fact, an extremely dangerous situation had occurred.
At around 5 a.m. on September 6, a hospital in Sapporo notified the fire department that an oxygen inhalation device being used by a baby girl under one year old had stopped, leaving her in serious condition.
The city of Sapporo explained that the girl had been transferred to another hospital and was receiving treatment, but as of September 9, there had been no clear report of her recovery, raising concerns about the baby’s health.
People suffering from kidney disease face serious consequences if they cannot receive dialysis for three days.
The blackout deprived patients of the water and electricity necessary for dialysis, placing their lives at risk.
Amid these circumstances, Hokkaido Broadcasting (HBC) reported at 7:27 p.m. on September 7 that “deaths believed to have resulted from the power outage have occurred.”
Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting (UHB) also released similar information at 9:45 p.m. that day.
According to these reports, “Two men—a company employee in his forties living in Shibetsu Town in eastern Hokkaido and a self-employed man in his seventies living in Kamifurano Town in the Kamikawa region—died of carbon monoxide poisoning on the evening of September 6 while using gasoline-powered generators.”
The senseless deaths of these two men were indeed caused by the blackout.
Human beings are not the only ones endangered by the loss of electricity.
The same is true of dairy farming, one of Hokkaido’s core industries.
Power was gradually restored, but in the meantime, there is a high probability that almost all vaccines for preventing mastitis in dairy cows became unusable.
This is because many vaccines, including those for human use, become unusable unless stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius.
＊Now, of all times, Ryuichi Sakamoto must take the podium at a rally uncompromisingly opposed to nuclear power and declare, “It’s only electricity…”＊
This article will continue.
I am someone who utterly despises both Ryuichi Sakamoto himself and the legacy media, composed of people afflicted with left-wing infantilism, who describe him as “world-renowned” and the like.
My aversion to self-proclaimed artists who make political statements with minds shaped by Asahi Shimbun editorials runs deeper than the sea.