nuclear-news

“No way that banks would provide financing” for nuclear power , says bank chairman

Bank chairman stands defiant with blunt anti-nuclear message, The Mainichi, 15 Aug 12, I was hardly getting anywhere trying to write about “hope” and the general election that’s supposed to come sooner or later when Tsuyoshi Yoshiwara, chairman of Johnan Shinkin Bank, appeared on television.

“Can the member corporations of the Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation) buy out nuclear reactors themselves and operate them?” he asked, point blank.

“There’s no way banks would provide financing,” he continued. “Corporations propose something (the continuation of nuclear reactors) that they can’t even do on their own, knowing full well that the burden will ultimately fall on the public. And yet they say that what they propose is ‘realistic.’ That makes no sense, and is most irresponsible.”

At a time when everyone is trying hard not to step on any toes,
Yoshiwara’s remarks have a rare straightforwardness to it. They had a
great impact as a public comment made by the top officer of a
financial institution, even granting that as financial institutions
go, he is a relative lightweight.

According to TV Asahi that ran the program, viewer reaction was split
in half between: “He’s gone and said what needed to be said,” and
“He’s disgraceful.” Regardless, Yoshiwara’s frankness on a popular
television show has created waves in viewers’ hearts……

Obara united shinkin banks nationwide, arguing: “Super-capitalism that
ignores local communities, moves forward without regard to people, and
is obsessed with efficiency, will bring a country down.” That Obara’s
passion managed to move even the then director of the Ministry of
Finance’s Banking Bureau Satoshi Sumita, and Sohei Nakayama, then
president of the Industrial Bank of Japan, is now the stuff of
legend…..
The scandals that continue to emerge from the finance industry both at
home and abroad, the disorder of massive stock corporations, and an
industrial system dependent on nuclear power are all interconnected.
Yoshiwara’s sharp anti-nuclear defiance at a historic turning point in
capitalism is neither an impulse, a jump on the bandwagon, nor a
political show. (By Takao Yamada, Expert Senior Writer)
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20120813p2a00m0na006000c.html

August 16, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Japan