THE SECRECY RULE ALSO PREVENTS MEDIA FROM REPORTING ON THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS JAPAN IS FACING OR ON ANY/ALL PUBLIC PROTESTS AGAINST THE ABE REGIME AND ITS AGENDA. .
"According to Susumu Murakoshi, president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations:
“The law should be abolished because it jeopardises democracy and the people’s right to know.”In short, Japanese politicians have carte blanche authority to incriminate anybody deemed to have broken the new secrecy law, as defined by the accuser. "
JAPAN ALSO DENIES JOURNALISTS THE RIGHT TO REPORT FREELY ON ITS ESCALATING MILITARY BUILDUP AND THE ABE ADMINISTRATION'S PUSH TO ACQUIRE NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
In a February 21-22, 2013 visit to Washington, the newly-elected Japanese Prime Minister pledged to escalate the Japanese military..
"Japan Marches Into a Military Revival" the Wall Street Journal reported.
"Japan's military is attracting new recruits."
JAPANESE NEWS MEDIA WOULD SCARCELY PRINT SUCH A THING!HOWEVER, THE SOMETIMES BRAVE AND DEFIANT 'JAPAN TIMES' DID STATE:
Abe explicit in call for amendment to Constitution's Article 9
[ Article 9 declares that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”]
"The proposal would also impose “duties” on the Japanese population, including to “respect” the national flag, anthem and the new constitution. It further states that “engaging in activities with the purpose of damaging public interest or public order, or associating with others for such purposes, shall not be recognized.”
In other words, the freedom to criticize the government would effectively be banned."
A FUROR ERUPTED AFTERWARD.
FEW IN JAPAN WANT TO FACE THE POSSIBILITY OF YET ANOTHER WAR AND ANOTHER HIROSHIMA OR NAGASAKI.
WARNINGS WERE ISSUED FOR THE PRESS:
"Japan’s Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Sanae Takaichia, a political conservative, warned in February that news networks that fail to remain “politically neutral” in news coverage could have their broadcast licenses revoked.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga defended Takaichi, saying she "only answered what is obviously true."
A group of prominent journalists, speaking at the Foreign Correspondence Club of Japan, said such comments have a chilling effect on news coverage.
"In Japan today, rather than the media watching the authorities, the government watches the media," said Shuntaro Torigoe, a former newspaper reporter and television news anchor."
WE SAW AN EXAMPLE OF THE DENIAL AND MEDIA CONTROL WHEN THE FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN AND OTHER PAST AND PRESENT JAPANESE DIGNITARIES SLAMMED ABE FOR NOT CANCELLING THE 2020 TOKYO OLYMPICS AND, INSTEAD, USE THE NATION'S RESOURCES TO STOP THE LEAKS FROM THE CRIPPLED NUCLEAR PLANT.
[SEE The Japan Times, November 4, 2015]
ALTHOUGH A GROUP OF CONCERNED JAPANESE CITIZENS PRESENTED THE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE WITH READINGS IN 2013 OF HIGH ELEVATION OF RADIATION ALL AROUND TOKYO, JAPAN STILL WON THE BID FOR THE GAMES.
QUITE BLUNTLY, JAPAN CANNOT AFFORD TO HOST THE GAMES!
As recently as July 2015, the INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) warned:
“Japan’s public debt is unsustainable under current policies. The country’s debt is 245% of GDP, substantially above Greece’s 175%.
Wherefore, on a fiscal basis alone, a country with Greece’s balance sheet is a stronger candidate to hold the Olympics.
According to The Economist magazine, Japan’s heavy debt load is “easily the highest in the world and still growing.”
As well, and more disturbing yet, also stated in The Economist: “Even a modest rise in borrowing costs could bring insolvency.
Like the Sword of Damocles hanging over the Abe government: (1) inflationary risks, or conversely (2) deflationary risks (if past trends continue), or (3) the unknown risks of out-of-control rampant radiation exposure from Fukushima [ALL] hover over the upcoming 2020 Olympics.
It is difficult to imagine conducting the Olympics in a region where [EVEN ONE] melted nuclear core is still at large."
YET ABE CONTINUES HIS MARCH TO 2020's OLYMPICS, RADIATION DANGER TO ALL VISITORS BE DAMNED!
NO MAJOR JAPANESE NEWS MEDIA CARRIED THE ABOVE FINANCIAL ASSESSMENTS.
EX-PRIME MINISTER NAOTO KAN HAS CAMPAIGNED AGAINST HAVING NUCLEAR REACTORS OPERATING IN SEISMICALLY VOLATILE, TSUNAMI-PRONE JAPAN SINCE THE 2011 DISASTER, AS HAVE MANY OTHERS IN GOVERNMENT.
ALTHOUGH SOME, LIKE KAN, WERE ONCE COUNTED AMONG THOSE WHO TOLD THE JAPANESE PEOPLE TO "SMILE AND THE RADIATION WILL NOT HARM YOU", HE AND OTHERS HAVE SINCE SEEN THE TRUTH OF NUCLEAR ENERGY....IT KILLS.
BUT EVEN UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS AND SCIENTISTS WHO HAVE TRIED TO MAKE STUDIES PUBLIC ABOUT THE ONGOING HEALTH RISKS, ESPECIALLY FOR THE CHILDREN OF JAPAN, FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, HAVE BEEN SILENCED INSIDE THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
WE ALSO SAW HOW ABE AND THE NEW LAW KEPT OR TRIED TO KEEP PHOTOS AND NEWS OF MASS PROTESTS BY THE JAPANESE PEOPLE AGAINST RESTARTING JAPANESE NUCLEAR PLANTS OUT OF THE LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL PRESS.
SEVERAL JAPANESE PHYSICIANS HAVE COME FORWARD TO TELL US THAT THEY HAVE BEEN WARNED TO NEVER SAY THAT DEATHS, NEW CANCERS, BIRTH DEFECTS OR RADIATION SICKNESS IN THEIR PATIENTS ARE THE RESULT OF THE INITIAL FALLOUT OR ONGOING FUKUSHIMA RADIATION LEAKS.
WE HAVE SEEN JAPANESE MOTHERS AND OTHERS RESORT TO USING FOREIGN NEWS MEDIA TO PLEAD FOR HELP TO MOVE THEIR CHILDREN TO SAFETY AWAY FROM CONTAMINATED ARES THAT THE ABE REGIME INSISTS ARE SAFE.
THE PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO RADIOACTIVE HOMES, LANDS, SCHOOLS, BUT THEY ARE BEING FORCED TO AS JAPAN'S FINANCIAL RESOURCES ARE BEING SPENT ON REBUILDING ITS MILITARY CAPABILITIES, PREPARING FOR THE OLYMPICS, AND PAINTING A ROSY PICTURE OF JAPAN BEING A NICE, SAFE PLACE FOR THE WORLD TO COME TO IN 2020.
MEANWHILE, FUNDING TO HELP AFFECTED FAMILIES RELOCATE OR STAY OUT OF RANGE OF THE WORST RADIATION-CONTAMINATED AREAS, OR GET MEDICAL TESTS FOR RADIATION-RELATED ILLNESSES HAS BEEN CUT OFF, RESIDENTS FORCED TO RETURN OR TRY TO MAKE IT ON THEIR OWN, EVEN THOUGH THEY LACK FINANCIAL MEANS TO DO SO.
INSTEAD OF SAFEGUARDING HIS PEOPLE, ALLOWING THE PRESS TO REPORT ALL THE NEWS, THE FACTS AND THE TRUTH, ABE WOULD RATHER SPEND BILLIONS ON THE OLYMPIC SHOW, THE NEW MILITARY, AND STIFLING EVEN INTERNATIONAL REPORTERS FROM INTERVIEWING FUKUSHIMA WORKERS, HIS OUTSPOKEN CRITICS AND NUCLEAR PROTESTERS.
"[IN JAPAN] Government pressure, weak institutional controls and a powerful state secrecy law cause a worrisome loss in press freedom.
The United Nations issued a blistering report last month after its independent expert spent a week in Japan interviewing journalists, educators and government officials.
"The independence of the press is facing serious threats,” the U.N.'s special rapporteur, David Kaye, said at an April 19 news conference in Tokyo.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders issued a report ranking Japan 72nd in press freedom of 180 countries surveyed.
That’s down 11 places since last year, largely on concerns about a state secrets law passed in 2013 that the report says could restrict coverage of such diverse topics as the Fukushima nuclear crisis and the Imperial family.
“The survival of independent news coverage is becoming increasingly precarious in both the state and privately-owned media because of the threat from ideologies, especially religious ideologies, that are hostile to media freedom, and from large-scale propaganda machines,” the report said.
Article 21 of Japan’s Constitution guarantees freedom of "speech, press and all other forms of expression" and expressly forbids censorship.
Government officials have denied bringing pressure on journalists."
THE JOURNALISTS KNOW BETTER!
THANKFULLY, MANY ARE SPEAKING OUT.
SO, TOO, ARE A GRASSROOTS SECTION OF THE POPULATION WHO JUST WANT TO FEEL SAFE AGAIN, WHO DON'T WANT TO BE INJURED OR KILLED BY FAULTY AND LEAKING JAPANESE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS.
THE MAJORITY OF JAPANESE CITIZENS ARE, REPORTEDLY, AGAINST A NEW MILITARY BUILDUP IN JAPAN.
THEY SEE ABE'S PUSH FOR THAT AS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
THE MAJORITY OF JAPANESE PEOPLE DON'T WANT NUCLEAR PLANTS RESTARTED....EVER.
THE MAJORITY OF JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR HEALTH BECAUSE OF FUKUSHIMA'S DAIICHI PLANT.
JAPANESE WOMEN OF CHILDBEARING AGE ARE SEEKING MORE ABORTIONS THAN EVER BEFORE, NOT WANTING TO RISK BIRTH DEFECTS.
THE FERTILITY RATE OF JAPANESE MALES IS DOWN, BUT NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO QUESTION PUBLICLY IF RADIATION HAS CAUSED THIS.
PEOPLE CAN'T EVEN PUBLICLY COMPLAIN ABOUT RADIATION-CONTAMINATED FOODS, WATER, LAND, OR ABOUT THE GROWING MOUNTAINS OF NUCLEAR WASTE BEING PILED UP IN PLAYGROUNDS, IN PARKS, EVERYWHERE.
AN AVERAGE CITIZEN CAN'T FEARLESSLY COMPLAIN IN "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR" OR OPINION SECTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS THERE....FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS GONE FROM JAPAN.
THE RULE OF SECRECY, THE LAW AGAINST SUCH A THING IS REAL!
HERE IN THE WEST, WE HAVE ONLY THE ABE ADMINISTRATION AND TEPCO, THE COMPANY WHO ORIGINALLY OWNED THE DAIICHI PLANT, TO RELY ON FOR RADIATION NEWS OUT OF JAPAN.
THE OUTRIGHT LIES THEY'VE TOLD CAN'T BE COUNTED THESE PAST 5 YEARS, BUT ANY JAPANESE REPORTER OR NEWS AGENCY THAT SPOTLIGHTS THOSE LIES IS IN DANGER OF JAIL TIME THERE.
"Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, Act No. 108 is extraordinarily broad and provides up to 10 years in prison for release of “state secrets,” which may be subjectively, not objectively, defined by government bureaucrats."
In 2012, the Investigative Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Power Stations concluded in its 448-page investigative report that the disaster was facilitated by a lack of an adequate legal system for nuclear crisis management, possible excessive meddling by the Prime Minister’s office during the beginning of the crisis and crisis command confusion between Tokyo Electric Power and the government.
The panel found that a culture of complacency regarding nuclear safety — likely from heavy government lobbying and assurances of non-interference — caused the disaster as much as the tsunami.
The report stopped short of suggesting collusion between Tokyo Energy Power and the government, which a Diet-appointed panel of experts DID conclude was likely."
HERE'S THE BOTTOM LINE...
WHEN ANY NATION, ANY WORLD LEADER BEGINS SUPPRESSING THE NEWS, PASSES LAWS TO SILENCE ITS CRITICS, TO PREVENT THE TRUTH FROM BEING SPOKEN OR PRINTED, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG, DEEPLY WRONG THERE.
GOVERNMENTS WITH NOTHING TO HIDE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FROM THE PRESS.
ANY GOVERNMENT WHO TAKES DRASTIC STEPS TO SILENCE ITS CITIZENS AND ITS PRESS IS A GOVERNMENT ITS CITIZENS MUST SEE AS A TYRANNICAL DICTATORSHIP, A GOVERNMENT TO RID ONESELF OF, A GOVERNMENT NO FREE PEOPLE CAN TOLERATE.
AND ANY NEWS MEDIA THAT COMPLIES WITH SUCH DEMANDS TO LIMIT OR OMIT ALL THE NEWS, THE TRUTH, SHOULD CLOSE ITS DOORS FOREVER IN SHAME.
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