In the aftermath of the triple disaster of March 2011, this issue is in line with the previous one and proposes a precise vision, after the past months, at the same time of the assessment to draw up and of the consequences to expect. Time has come indeed to analyse the management of the crisis by the Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Indisputably negative, that assessment announces the inevitable fall of the DPJ leader and throws once more the political scene of Japan into instability.

Two major questions are raised in that issue of Japan Analysis, with first of them the way the government of Naoto Kan handled the crisis. To what difficulties the government had been confronted to take the good decisions and to show efficiency? What reproaches are addressed to him? Criticism comes from the opposition as well as from his party and, after the defeats at the local elections of April 9 and the threat of the motion of censure of June 2, the resignation of Naoto Kan is not far. But it is also interesting to study on the one hand the management of the crisis by local authorities and by civil society, on the other hand, to draw general conclusions on crisis management and rebuilding in Japan, with a comparison to other countries.

The other issue is the nuclear question. The anxiety provoked by Fukushima has made people willing to challenge the programmes of nuclear development and to find alternatives. Two articles examine the drawbacks of nuclear installations, underlying their financial weight for small towns, compared in particular to the advantages of renewable energies. Debates on the energy future of Japan are more lively than ever in the political spheres as well as in the population, and will have to be taken into account by the party in power in the next months.

Summary

– CLOSE UP ON THE NEWS – 

Managing the aftermath of the March 11th earthquake and the crisis in Fukushima: the difficulties confronting the Kan administration (Arnaud Grivaud)

Reconstruction and risk management: some Japanese experiences (Adrienne Sala)

– POINTS OF  NEWS– 

Itô Hisao, “How to get out of nuclear dependency: considerations on independent local development”, Sekai (translated by Paul Noeuvéglise)

Son Masayoshi, “Towards a solar belt in Eastern Japan: Japan will rise again thanks to solar and wind ports”, Sekai (translated Amélie Corbel)

The inappropriate behaviour of the Kan government, Kawauchi Hiroshi interviewed by Yokota Hajime, Sekai (translated by Yann Favennec)

Japan Analysis N 23 July 2011