Brave Japanese bureaucrat speaks out for reform of energy policy

Japan’s Lonely Brave Bureaucrat Speaks Out on TV Asahi Nuclear Free by 2045? 31 Mar 15 A former high level bureaucrat in the Japanese Ministry of Trade was one of the few public officials to bravely speak up for radical change in the wake of the earthquake-tsunami-meltdown catastrophe. The Economistwas one of the first in the English language media to report on Shigeaki Koga’s radical proposals for reform of national energy policy. In September 2011, The Economist reported his views:

“I believe this is the final chance for Japan to change,” Mr. Koga said in May, when I asked him during a wide-ranging interview why he was speaking out. “If I shut my mouth and obtain a good post in the ministry—even if I did that, in a few years Japan’s economy would plunge,” he said. “That is why I am taking on risks, and I don’t care if I have to resign. Because if I don’t speak out, Japan will not change. It is meaningless for me to be in the government if I cannot advocate reform.”

Since this time he has been shut out of meaningful participation in reform, but he has been a regular guest commentator on news programs. He has been a regular on TV Asahi’s evening news programHodo Station, but things took a bad turn in January, when, taking inspiration from the “Je suis Charlie” frenzy, he held up a placard during the broadcast stating “I’m not Abe.”

At a press conference afterwards at the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents Club, Mr. Koga explained the way he was being excluded from further appearances on Hodo Station:

(Reporter) Mr. Koga, just to follow up on this because your case may be very important for the future of Japan. Could you tell us if you are officially and publicly being “sacked” from your job?……….

Shigeaki Koga may be banished from certain media outlets for the time being, but I have a feeling we haven’t heard the last of him.

UPDATES:

MARCH 30, 2015: The Japan Times reported on the controversial broadcast a few days afterwards: Ex-bureaucrat blasts Abe on news program.

MARCH 29, 2015: Asahi Shimbun reported on the controversial broadcast the day after I wrote the above: Abe critic claims on air he was axed from TV program at behest of management.

Sources:

“The GoodBureaucrat.” The Economist. September 14, 2011.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/09/japans-shame

“ShigeakiKoga Criticizes Abe Administration’s Pressure on the Media,”

Japanese Perspective, February 27, 2015

“Abe critic claims on air he was axed from TV program at behest of management,” Asahi Shimbun, March 29, 2015.

Tomohiro Sasaki, “Ex-bureaucrat blasts Abe on news program,” The Japan Times, March 30, 2015. http://nf2045.blogspot.jp/2015/03/japans-lonely-brave-bureaucrat-speaks.html