Air pollution in Tokyo

Japan experienced severe environmental issues during the period of 1955 to 1970. In this period, air pollution was significant in industrial complex areas. The Yokkaichi industrial area, in which many petrochemical factories were located, was notorious for its air pollution. Air in the Keihin industrial area, including seaside areas of Kawasaki and Yokohama, was also contaminated by air pollutants originating from petroleum burning. Residential areas in Tokyo also experienced severe air pollution due to heavy traffic loads. A number of people were damaged by the air pollution, and people were even killed in the worst case.

During the period, a relationship between a cause and its result was simple. Production activities required oil burning, and pollution control technique was not matured. Thus, air pollution was inevitable issues at that time. A relationship between light and shadow were really understandable. You would have good reasons to say that economic activities were enemy to your environment at a loud voice.

I am currently living in a residential area in Tokyo, but am able to breathe air prevailing in Tokyo. I believe that acute toxicities arising from air pollution is not almost at a concerned level in Tokyo. This is thanks to recent emergences of environment-friendly vehicles and severe technical and regulatory pollution prevention measures taken in Japan for the past several decades. Although air pollution levels along main road side areas in Tokyo should be still taken cared about, I can find a residential place in the metropolitan Tokyo where I have not to take care about air pollution.


However, I cannot say anything about newly appearing air pollutants: radioactive substances coming from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. I am not totally sure whether the radioactive substances will cause negative impacts on your health in the future.

After 10 years

I was in Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001. I was there for my private trip. I was 20 years-old, and traveling over the U.S. by the national train company called AMTRAC. I arrived on L.A. at the end of August in that year, and started to move from L.A. to Arizona, Florida, New York, Boston, and to Washington D.C by the train.

I was in FBI at the moment when two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Centers. FBI had invited travelers to its headquarters, and I applied that tour, which was free of charge. When we were in a room designed for shooting practices, we travelers were forced to leave the headquarters without any explanation.

I was on a bench in a large park located in the center of Washington D.C. when an airplane crashed into Pentagon. I forgot the name of the park, but it should be famous one. The park included Smithsonian museums and Lincoln Memorial and others. I heard a large sound, and later I confirmed white smoke. And, the world has changed after those consecutive terrors.

The U.S. had a policy to put evils outside its own country, and attacked Afghanistan and Iraq. It was easy for us to understand logics preparing in the U.S. at that time. There were enemies in the Middle East, and you had to attack the enemies before the enemies attacked to you. You were always at the side of justice. With this simple logic, the U.S. has been spending huge USD and precious human resources for those wars.

This is a universal picture which you often encounter in your life. For example, cult religious groups such as Oumu Shinri Kyo played similar actions to the ones conducted by the U.S. Oumu seemed to believe that they were at the justice side, and all the worlds constructed outside Oumu were at the evil side, thus, Oumu had to attack the evils.

The same concept can be applied to our individual households. If a wife and her husband are both naïve and very honest, then they have to face many difficulties because honest people is always fighting against something (or, people who are always fighting against something are called as honest people.) If the wife and her husband find themselves at the side of justice and the remaining others at the side of evil, then the wife and her husband have a possibility to attach the remaining others.

In this sense, it is one of good ideas that we hold evils inside our own home.

Business Trip to Thailand (Second visit)

I have been and will be staying in Bangkok from September 5 to September 9, 2011 for my business purpose.

For socio-economic survey, I visited an open-air market in Bangkok yesterday. It was a very huge market. There were fish, meat, vegetable, and other foods as many varieties as I can imagine. An atmosphere prevailing in the market was totally different from other places where I visited during my stay in Thailand. Smells, sounds, faces of people and dogs floating or walking in the market impressed me very much. It was rather a chaotic atmosphere, which was similar to the one which I had during my stay in Mumbai in May, 2010.

Thailand has many faces.