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Rebuilding Japanor ruining it

Main ideas about the article:

Immediately after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11th that crippled reactors at the

Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the authorities in Tokyo sent up a vehicle stuffed with

gauges to assess how dangerous the leakage was.

The government abandoned the mission because the vehicle got stuck in traffic . Later,

the government declared the Fukushima incident to be on the same level of seriousness as theaccident at Chernobyl 25 years ago.

Some accusations suggest that the prime minister, Naoto Kan, has comprehensively

mishandled the daunting array of disasters that together make up the biggest challenge Japan hasfaced since the second world war.

For all that, politicians from within his own party, as well as the opposition, are plotting

to oust Mr Kan.

On April 26th Yukio Hatoyama, a former prime minister, held a forum of 64 anti-Kan

parliamentarians from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

Meanwhile, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party is also seeking Mr Kans early

resignation.

None of the main parties has offered a compelling alternative for how to recover from the

disaster.

On April 26th Makoto Iokibe and Jun Iio, the two (non-government) leaders of Mr Kans

new Reconstruction Design Council, laid out their early thoughts on how to rebuild Tohoku.

The same day, Mr Kan announced his decision to appoint an investigative panel into theFukushima chain of accidents.

With some of his party against him, and the opposition unco-operative, it is not even

clear that Mr Kan will get emergency budgets approved by the Diet, let alone be able to promotedecentralisation and sound energy initiatives.

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Terms of article:

To gauge = to adapt to a specified measurement; measure precisely and against a standard

Bureaucrats= an official of a bureaucracy

Decentralisation= the spread of power away from the center to local branches or governments

Petty= contemptibly narrow in outlook

Damaging= designed or tending to discredit, especially without positive or helpful suggestions

Shortage= the property of being an amount by which something is less than expected or required

Resignation= a formal document giving notice of your intention to resign; the act of giving up

To foster= to promote the growth of

Party= an organizatino to gain political power

Blighted= affected by blight; anything that mars or events growth or prosperity

To plot (plotting)= plan secretly, usually something illegal

Abysmal= so deep as to be unmeasurable

Meltdown= sever overheating of the core of a nuclear reactor; resulting in the core melting and

radiation escaping

Swamp= low land that is seasonally flooded

Earthquake= shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting form underground

movement along a fault plane of from volcanic activity

Gauge= a measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity such as the thickness of

wire or the amount of rain

Coalition= an organization of people ( or countries) involved in a pact or treaty

Compelling= tending to persuade by forcefulness of argument

Reckoned= expect, believe, or suppose; judge to be probable

To emerge=become known or apparent; come out into view, as from concealment

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In my oppinion, Japan's lack of solid leadership isn't limited to any one candidate nor are the

contributing issues that lead up to the current disaster. If the Japanese leaders can't learn this and stop with

the empty finger pointing and endless in-fighting I think nothing will change and Fukushima will be just

one more chapter in the never ending story of Japan's dysfunctional politics.

If Romania would gothrough a problem like that in Japan, it would no longer exist as a country

because we are not prepared nor economically, nor from another point of wiew to cope.

Questions:

What knocked out at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant?

What the government declared after the incident?

What perception people have about the prime minister?

Who is plotting to oust Mr Kan?

Who had created a forum of 64 anti-Kan parliamentarians ?

Who is also seeking Mr Kans early resignation?

What says Katsuya Okada?

What did Makoto Iokibe on April 26th?

What was Mr Kan's decision?

What might help the crisis in Japan?

Ceausu Maria-Madalina

Grupa 1502- Finante