Monsicha Hoonsuwan Senior Capstone Professor DeLaet Liberalism Op-Ed April 19, 2011 Radiation Scare Threatens Japanese

Livelihood Its all over for Fukushima produce, mumbled a 64-year-old farmer from Fukushima after hearing the Japanese governments ban on all produce from the prefecture due to radiation concern. The farmer lost all hopethe hope he had gathered after seeing his 7,500 heads of organic cabbages survive the deadly quake. His cabbages had gained a reputation of being safe and having high quality, thanks to 10 years spent perfecting seeding, mulch and soil. Now, it meant nothing. And the farmer hung himself. The fear of contamination caused by the radiation leak at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plantthe consequence of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked Japan earlier this yearhas caused a food crisis in the country with a 40 percent food security ratio. Stores are running out of meal staples like natto, Japanese fermented soybeans, and instant noodles. Such scarcity is partly a result of the Japanese heartland being struck by the earthquake and the 10-metre tsunami. Butperhaps a more important reasonJapan has always struggled to feed its 127-million population and has been reliant on food imports; food security issue is nothing new for the only developed Asian country. In fact, in 2009, Japan imported over $40 billion worth of agricultural products, making it the third-largest agricultural importer in the world. Whats new is the radiation scare. Food

safety, the radiation contaminated produce in this case, has made Japans continuing food insufficiency worse. The story of a 63-year-old farmer is a good and tragic example of how food safety concerns can severely jeopardize food security in the globalized economy. His case is only the beginning. While the earthquake and the tsunami have directly affected many farmers and fishermen, more worrisome consequences are yet to come. Japanese agricultural sector, though does not produce food mainly for exports, will find it increasingly more difficult to feed the country. Sure, the gap between demand and supply of food will be met by imports from the U.S., Thailand and China. But can Japanese citizens afford skyrocketing food prices as a result of scarce supply and higher transportation costs? Moreover, is Japan economy strong enough to substitute local produces with foreign imports? Poorer people in Japan will be heavily affected by rising food costs, worsening food security condition for a large part of the countrys population. The radiation scare is causing Japanese people to move away from local produce, especially spinach, since the government has announced the ban. Ironically, the governments attempt to alleviate the fears by conducting tests and informing the citizens which products are free of contamination have resulted in adverse effects. Ian Buruma, the author of A Japanese Mirror, Inventing Japan, and The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan, says the bureaucratic system in Japan, where tight-knitted bureaucrats holding the policy-making power, has been accused of hiding information from the public. This isnt unwarranted. Under the Liberal Democratic Partys (LDP) government, Japanese bureaucrats were exercising power to make sure the growth of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)the owner of Fukushima Daiichiwas

unconstrained by other government policies. However, TEPCO has had a history of being dishonest; it was reported that TEPCO submitted false report to the government about the dangerous flaws at its nuclear facilities before. The strong link between TEPCO and Japanese bureaucrats fuels skepticism. Japanese people doubt the governments report on food safety, thinking it might downplay the actual risks of contamination. Japanese consumers then make a blanket decision to not purchase any products from the entire affected prefectures. When the Japanese government prohibited the sale of spinach from Ibaraki prefecture, south of Fukushima, this created the overall perception that produce from Ibaraki could be a health risk, wrote Mark Notaras for United Nations Universitys Our World 2.0. The ban not only stops Japanese people from purchasing food that are safe, but also worsening food shortages, escalating the countrys reliance on imports. News travel fast in this connected, globalized world, but not all of the information pertaining to the nuclear crisis at Fukushima is being conveyed to the global public. Bans on Japanese fresh produces spring up in several countries. In the U.S., for example, Whole Foods, a giant health food market, is taking precautions by urging their sushi suppliers to stop sourcing ingredients from Japan altogether. Such a decision ignores the fact that Japanese cabbage farmers 300 miles away from Fukushima are producing the exact same high-quality vegetables. It also ignores the fact that on April 4, Taiwans Atomic Energy Council tested 721 Japanese food samples for radiation and found no dangers. Decreasing international and domestic demand means Japanese farmers are under threat of going bankrupt. At the same time, Japanese people are facing selfinflicted food shortages and rising food costs that will leave underprivileged citizens with a level of hunger not seen since World War II. All due to an unwarranted fear.