The Time Magazine of 2 May has listed the World's Most Influential People, and there are two from Japan out of the 100. Both are there in connection with the "March 11" disaster. Dr.Kanno Takeshi is one of them. He is here because of his insight into the danger of tsunami, and his quick decision to evacuate as many of the in-patients as possible to the uppermost floor of his hospital, though he could not save all of them. He 'risked his life for others' and was the last to be lifted by a helicopter. Many more stories will be written of the dedication and courage like his after things have returned to normalcy.
But it is much too early to talk of the 'aftermath'. Since the "March 11" we have experienced about 2,000 after-quakes in Eastern Japan alone, and they are only those that have been felt by the human bodies. True, this is a country of quakes. But the normal figure for all of Japan is roughly 1,500 in a year. They have become a little less frequent in the past week or so, but we are far from certain if the moment of major quakes is over for now.
And look at what the tsunami has done to the coastal regions in Eastern Japan. As of 27 April, a month and a half on, more than 14,000 have died and more than 11,000 are still missing. Many fishing ports which have been playing an important role in our economy have been washed away, together with innumerable fishing boats estimated to be around 20,000. They belong not only to the region but are from all over the country, as the sea there is a very fertile fishing ground, one of the world's three major ones, where the cold current from the north meets the warm current from the south. Moreover some of the larger fishing boats have gone very far, to the most remote corners of the world, and are expected to return sooner rather than later to the ports without wharfs, storehouses and even the ice-making factories.
Fishing is only one example. The population of the region is getting less, and aging. There are few vibrant urban areas which can be the centres for rescue activities with their storing and housing and transport facilities. The administrative network is there, but some of the offices have been damaged, and, experts say, the machinery itself has been already weakened by the merger of towns and villages into bigger cities in recent years, with the bureaucracy less in touch with the ground reality.
This is the season for the transplanting of rice, but many rice fields are under mud, with salt in it. The super-express trains have been restored, but the they run in the interior part of the region. The reconstruction of the coastal traffic is almost left untouched, giving a great damage to the tourist industry which has boasted of a beautiful coastal view.
What has attracted our attention is that a number of factories which have been supplying parts to various industries, such as automobiles, have been damaged, and this has triggered a stoppage of the parent industries, accounting for the sharp decrease in the export surplus for March. An economic system which appeared to be very efficient has proved to be vulnerable.
In the midst of all this, and the nuclear plant accident, the OECD has said that Japan should raise its consumption tax from the present 5%. It is a startlingly unscientific message. 5% may be low, but did they also compare the cost of education, of medical care, of housing? Did they know that our income tax is not progressive? Did they know that our bank deposit generates practically no interest, or that employment opportunities have gone, and more so because of "March 11"? Raising the rate would be fatal. Of the Governors of the three Prefectures hardest hit, who were present at a conference on reconstruction, 23 April, only one supported the idea of more taxation. They know better.
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