Drawing on the frequent blackouts seen in the United States after power market liberalization, this essay questions the wisdom of introducing the same system in disaster-prone Japan.
It criticizes profit-driven power retailers and condemns NHK for failing to examine the true purpose and risks of electricity deregulation.

2016-02-04

In the United States, which liberalized its electricity market ahead of Japan, power outages of various scales occur on a regular basis.
It would not be an exaggeration to say they occur frequently.

Anyone who regularly watches Major League Baseball has probably seen games interrupted when the stadium lights suddenly went out, not just once or twice.

Japan is a country prone to natural disasters.
Just the other day, news reported that heavy snow caused fallen trees that cut off electricity to entire communities, leaving them isolated.

Put simply, companies that enter the electricity retail business merely to make money cannot possibly be operated by employees who possess the same sense of responsibility and awareness toward the nation and its people that Japan’s traditional electric power companies have maintained.
That this is the inevitable fate of systems built solely on economic principles is something even a kindergarten child can understand.

The notion that these companies participating in power sales have the ability or determination to restore electricity in the shortest possible time during disasters is completely unfounded.

Last night’s NHK news program revealed that it does not understand this reality at all.

In other words, NHK itself remains in a state of deterioration.

The NHK once enthusiastically broadcast the so-called Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal organized by Yayori Matsui, a former Asahi Shimbun reporter.
This absurd event, utterly unbelievable to the vast majority of Japanese citizens who work daily for the sake of others and for the nation, was aired by a broadcaster funded by public viewing fees.

The NHK’s degraded aspects, proven by last night’s news, still exist without correction.

After all, which Japanese citizen has ever complained about Japan’s world-leading, high-quality electricity supply.

For what purpose, and for whose benefit, is electricity liberalization being pursued.
If NHK has any pride or awareness as a public broadcaster, it should be thoroughly investigating and reporting precisely this question.

Do you really have the right to collect viewing fees when you cannot understand what is obvious even to me.