原発 Genpatsu

     Staying with a host family while attending a foreign college has altered a lot of my daily routine. One of the biggest things I do now is watch t.v. (mainly the news) and attempt to comprehend what I'm hearing and seeing, usually also with the aid of subtitles. My limited understanding of the daily new has developed well enough to understand when nuclear energy in Japan is being discussed due to its' high volume of debate in the recent year after the meltdown that occurred in Fukushima. Besides making me learn the Japanese word for nuclear energy, it also made me interested in how Japanese people felt about nuclear energy. Going to Hiroshima and visiting the museums there it was obvious as to why it is a hot topic of debate, radiation of land and people has grotesque and long lasting effects.

     Although my interest for this post does not lie in finding out about opinions about nuclear weapons, my trip to Hiroshima was a good base to gather information on what is known about radiation, weapon form or otherwise. While there I was able to come across information about a foundation for radiation research started here in Japan in 1975. I recommend anyone with interest in the effects of radiation browse the website which in in both English and Japanese : http://www.rerf.jp/index_e.html
     Talking to people in my neighborhood, it became apparent that the Japanese were in a tough situation as to what to do with nuclear energy. While most people said they would be glad to be rid of it, the major cities and business areas are large users of this energy and completely getting rid of it at this time would only cause energy problems and more reliance on fossil fuels. Here's an article with some brief statistics and information on energy in the 2nd paragraph : http://www.nbr.org/research/activity.aspx?id=163.The citizens fear and protest over nuclear energy are completely understandable and highly visible in the community. Just last weekend while walking in Kyoto I passed block after block of people marching in the streets with anti nuclear signs, although I wasn't carrying a camera these marches seem to occur often.

     One thing seems to be apparent, and that is the desire for alternate and safer forms of energy in Japan has established a strong foothold that will likely change the way the country invests and researches new sources of power in the coming years.

Urban Greenery

        Going through Japan I am often surprised at the amount of rice fields and other "urban" gardens mixed in next to housing. It gave me the impression that growing various flowers,vegetables, and other plants is definitely something that Japanese people do and are fond of. This is in comparison to the volume and size of gardens and other green spaces a person might find in the United States. While there are still people growing vegetables and flowers in the U.S., you would not find the volume of gardening in a similar size city. Asking around I was informed  that most small plots of rice are used only to feed one's family and any small amounts of excess are sold. I was also told that most people just enjoy growing flowers and other non edible plants too. It seems 5 years ago gardening was very popular in the Katano area, but recently it has dropped off, although I hardly had to leave the house to find gardens to photograph.

     Getting into the geographic layout of Japan was the most obvious answer to why gardening and small agriculture spaces are intermingled within most mid sized cities. Most of the country is very mountainous and uninhabitable, I was able to find a dated website with some statistics (although the geographic layout of the country has not dramatically changed in the past 10 years, which is what I was looking for statistics on): http://poza.net/japan/living4.html . Surprisingly urban farming is on the decline in Japan because of many factors from taxes to agrobusiness, despite being a substantial part of food consumed in the country. http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/japan’s-urban-agriculture-cultivating-sustainability-and-wellbeing/ Possible the mindset of "going green" will reverse this tide, but it is difficult to tell at the moment.