China must resume stable rare earth exports
The World Trade Organization has ruled against China in a trade dispute, saying that Beijing broke international rules when it curbed exports of raw materials such as rare metals.
The United States and the European Union took China to the WTO two years ago, claiming that China's export restrictions on raw materials gave an unfair advantage to its own producers and violated free trade rules that demand equal treatment of domestic and foreign manufacturers.
The WTO dismissed China's claim that its export duties and quota system for raw materials were to protect its environment and scarce resources, and asked China to remove its export restrictions. We think the WTO's ruling is quite reasonable.
China must comply with the WTO's ruling and reexamine its export restrictions.
China also has been restricting exports of rare earths--the generic name for rare metals and other elements such as neodymium whose magnetism is strengthened when mixed with iron and other elements. Rare earth minerals are crucial for producing many high-tech products, including hybrid cars and mobile phones.
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Beijing holds lion's share
Ninety percent of the world's rare earths are produced in China. Japan relies on imports from China for 90 percent of its rare earth needs. China has been reducing export volumes of these minerals year after year, causing their prices to shoot up across the board.
China temporarily halted rare earth exports to Japan last autumn after a Chinese fishing boat collided with two Japan Coast Guard patrol boats near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Japanese industries must not be left vulnerable to resource shortages and steep price hikes that arise when China hoards its raw materials.
The government must continuously call on China to provide a stable supply of rare earths. Japan did not join the rare metal dispute with China at the WTO. Tokyo should step up cooperation with the United States and the European Union in any future trade disputes with China. Such efforts could include joint filing of cases against China at the WTO.
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Hollowing out feared
There are fears Japanese firms will transfer manufacturing centers to China to better secure rare earths.
Showa Denko K.K., which holds a large domestic share of the market for high-performance magnetic alloys used in hybrid cars, has decided to boost its production in China. Showa Denko apparently judged that continuing to rely on rare earths imported from China could crimp its manufacturing plans.
If more firms opt to procure raw materials in China, there are concerns there could be an "advanced-technology drain" from Japan to China and the Japanese industrial sector will hollow out.
While the government needs to press Beijing to rectify its export restrictions, the industrial community also must do more to reduce its reliance on Chinese rare earths.
Efforts must be accelerated to expand the scope of rare earth imports from Vietnam and other countries. The government is subsidizing the development of rare earth substitutes that could be used in hybrid car motors. It is also important to promote recycling of mobile phones containing rare earths.
A University of Tokyo research team recently discovered huge deposits of rare earths in the seabed of the Pacific Ocean. The technology for mining--and the cost of extracting--these minerals will need to be addressed, but we hope a joint international effort to develop these deposits will be a part of efforts to decrease dependence on China for rare earth imports.
Blanket testing necessary to ensure safe beef
The government must try to prevent consumer anxieties about food from increasing further.
Radioactive cesium exceeding the government's legal limit was detected in the meat of 11 cows shipped from a farm in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture. A meat processing facility in Tokyo detected the radioactive contamination through a sample survey, though it was not detected before shipping.
Before this revelation, the farm had shipped six other cows, which were processed and distributed in Tokyo and 10 prefectures around the country. Some of the meat was believed to have been consumed.
An expert pointed out that the level of radioactive cesium detected in the cows would not affect human health unless the meat was eaten daily over a long period of time. We therefore do not have to be overly concerned.
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Inspections inadequate
However, it remains a problem that meat containing a radioactive substance above the legal limit reached consumers. The inspection system prior to shipping must be reviewed.
The farm that shipped the cows is in an emergency evacuation preparation zone between 20 and 30 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The farm was banned from shipping cows immediately after the nuclear crisis, but was allowed to resume shipments in late April after it became unnecessary for residents to evacuate immediately from the zone.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry told farmers not to give animals fodder stored outdoors, but the farm did not follow this directive and fed cows with straw kept outside. A high level of radioactive cesium was later detected in the farm's straw.
The Fukushima prefectural government checked the level of radioactivity on the hide of all cows in the prefecture and confirmed that their external exposure to radioactive substances was within the government limit. However, the prefecture merely questioned farms about feed storage conditions to learn of the cows' internal exposure to radioactive materials. Internal exposure means absorption of radioactive substances into the body.
However, the farm, which shipped the cows tainted with radioactive cesium, allegedly did not tell the truth when questioned by the prefecture.
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Govt must support testing
The March 11 disaster brought distribution of fodder to a halt for some time in areas around the nuclear plant. Since it could not procure sufficient fodder after the earthquake, the farm apparently had no option but to feed its cows with straw stored outside. The agriculture ministry also may have failed to give thorough instructions to cattle farms in the area.
So far, beef found to have been tainted with radioactive cesium is limited to the meat of cows shipped from this farm. However, it is imperative for the government to thoroughly survey the cattle breeding conditions of other farms in the area.
The Fukushima prefectural government plans to inspect all cows to be shipped from the emergency evacuation preparation zone and the planned evacuation zone. This is necessary to prevent harmful rumors spreading about beef in general.
Inspections of cows shipped for processing outside the prefecture require the cooperation of local governments. The central government must financially and physically support such inspections.
Elderly citizens mustn't hesitate to use air conditioners
With the end of the rainy season declared in all regions of the Japanese archipelago, summer has well and truly arrived. As in usual years, due care must be taken to avoid heatstroke at this time of year.
Many parts of Japan have sizzled in unusually hot weather since the middle of the rainy season.
Average temperatures in late June in both east and west Japan were the hottest since the Meteorological Agency began collecting data in 1961. The number of people taken to hospitals in June for heatstroke came to 6,877 throughout the country, triple the figure recorded in June 2010.
This month, many students were overcome by the heat while playing in the prefectural preliminaries for the National High School Baseball Championship or doing extracurricular sports activities. Staying hydrated and resting properly are indispensable for preventing heatstroke.
Under a government decree, big users of electricity supplied by Tohoku Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Electric Power Co. are obliged to cut their consumption by 15 percent compared with that of last year. Kansai Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. also have called for customers to voluntarily reduce power consumption.
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Going too far is no good
But going too far in saving electricity and ending up suffering heatstroke would be to confuse priorities. It is necessary to stay cool by switching on an air conditioner or an electric fan rather than enduring the heat.
The human body's temperature adjustment function weakens with age. Last year, a record-high 1,718 people died from heatstroke, of whom 80 percent were people aged 65 or older. Even indoors, it is necessary to take various precautions such as setting an air conditioner's preset temperature to 28 C or lower to reduce the sensory temperature.
It is also important to stay informed about the summer heat. Starting Wednesday, the Meteorological Agency will release "high-temperature warnings." The agency will forecast dates when the temperature will hit 35 C or higher and announce this the previous day or on the day, and remind people to drink plenty of fluids.
In Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, which recorded the nation's highest temperature of 39.8 C for June, rest areas that also provide drinking water have been set up at 17 places, including community halls. We hope other local governments will devise measures to help residents beat the heat.
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Help disaster victims
Of concern are areas stricken by the Great East Japan Earthquake and massive tsunami. About 18,000 people are still living in difficult conditions at evacuation centers in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.
In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, an air conditioner-equipped prefabricated building has been built next to an evacuation center where more than 70 people are staying. The building is used for resting. More of these facilities that offer respite from the summer heat should be built.
About 30 workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have suffered heatstroke. TEPCO, the plant operator, must take better care of its workers' health, not just the amount of radiation they are being exposed to.
Headache, nausea and dizziness are among the initial symptoms of heatstroke. In more severe cases, heatstroke can impair consciousness and cause breathing difficulty--and become life-threatening.
When you feel hot, it is essential to take in water and salt frequently, even if you are not thirsty.
Power saving is important. But it is more important to stay in good shape to tide over the severe heat.
Govt's unified nuclear stance fails to reassure
The government's new unified view on the resumption of operations of nuclear plants may be intended to dispel confusion over the issue, but we doubt it will be effective.
The government on Monday announced, as its unified opinion, new standards for assessing the safety of nuclear power plants in two stages.
Nuclear reactors currently suspended for regular inspections will be given first-stage examinations by power companies. They are to check whether important facilities can withstand such severe conditions as a major earthquake or tsunami well enough to allow their restart.
The findings of the first-stage tests will be "confirmed" by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and then the Nuclear Safety Commission will "confirm the validity" of the findings.
The second-stage assessments will be conducted on all nuclear plants, including those now in operation, to decide whether they should be allowed to continue operating or have their operation suspended.
It is meaningful to conduct a safety assessment, making reference to the stress tests currently employed by European countries.
Yet the government's unified view contains many ambiguities and problems.
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Too many questions remain
One thing is that the government has made the assessments a new condition for restarting the operation of nuclear reactors, without specifically showing the contents of those assessments.
It is said that in the tests, the conditions of nuclear plants under extraordinary circumstances will be computer-simulated based on estimates of the stresses a disaster might cause.
Meanwhile, the stress tests employed by European countries are conducted while the tested plants are in operation. The findings of the tests are not linked to decisions about whether the reactors should be restarted.
The government needs to explain properly why the new tests are to be conducted as additional conditions for the restart.
Nuclear reactors currently in operation will undergo regularly scheduled inspections, which involve the suspension of their operations, one after another in the months ahead. As things stand now, power shortages will become ever more serious.
In a bid to make up for the power shortage, Prime Minister Naoto Kan recently instructed the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry to make a survey of surplus power generated in-house at private companies and to inspect thermal plants that remain idle. Such steps can only be described as a stopgap measure that was taken too late.
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Responsibility still murky
Another problem is that it is not clearly defined exactly who is responsible for judging the safety of nuclear reactors and making decisions on restarting them.
Legally speaking, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is responsible. But the government, in its unified opinion, calls for the involvement of the Nuclear Safety Commission in decisions on the restart.
Haruki Madarame, chairman of the commission, said the safety assessments (to be conducted by the commission) have no link with the judgment on whether suspended reactors should be restarted or not, showing the commission's unwillingness to get involved in decisions on restarting each reactor.
If the government's unified opinion lacks concreteness while role-sharing within the government remains unclear, we are likely to see still more confusion in the days ahead.
The unified view was originally compiled to persuade local governments hosting nuclear plants to accept their continued or resumed operations.
Yet from these local governments, voices of discontent are heard, complaining over the opaqueness of the contents of the tests and the lack of explanations.
We must say that the government's unified opinion, although meant to reassure the public and build trust in the government, is instead achieving the opposite effect by spreading concern and distrust.
Intl assistance vital for South Sudan
A newly independent country in North Africa has got off to an uncertain start. The country needs support from the international community until it can move ahead on its own.
South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, became the 54th independent nation on the African continent when it officially separated from Sudan on Saturday.
Over the past half-century, the Sudanese people suffered from civil war and famine that repeatedly swept what was then Africa's largest country by land area, as the Arab Islamists of the north monopolized power and oppressed the black Christians of the south.
Two million people are said to have died in the second civil war starting in 1983, and 4 million to have been driven from their homes.
Considering the history of hardship they have faced, independence must be a long-awaited goal for South Sudanese citizens.
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Boundary concern remains
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005 to end the second civil war, opening the way for independence. The agreement called for choosing between coexistence and separation after six years of joint rule by the parties to the civil war. In a referendum held in January, 99 percent of south Sudanese citizens voted for separation and independence.
A matter of concern is that areas remain where the boundary line has yet to be drawn between the south and north. Sudan is an oil-producing country, and major oil fields straddle the southern and northern parts of the country. It has yet to be decided which side these fields belong to.
Landlocked South Sudan has no option but to rely on Sudan for transport, refining and shipment of crude oil produced at its oil fields. In the past six years, the north and south agreed to equally split the income from oil fields in the south. They have remained apart in negotiations on the split ratio to be used after independence.
In defiance of the peace agreement, the north Sudanese administration led by President Omar Bashir has been stationing military troops in oil fields near the boundary. The north, as promised, should withdraw its military forces in line with progress in the mobilization of U.N. peacekeeping forces so that the boundaries can be drawn peacefully.
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Need for cooperation
Sudan and South Sudan need to make their own efforts to establish new cooperative relationships and become independent from each other. The international community should spare no effort in offering assistance to help them achieve that goal.
China, above all, has a responsibility to work toward stabilizing relations between Sudan and South Sudan. This is because China, out of the desire to secure oil resources, has helped to sustain the Bashir administration, which has pursued inhuman policies.
To help maintain peace and assist development in the newly independent country, the U.N. Security Council has decided to send an additional 8,000 peacekeeping troops. Japan has been asked whether it can dispatch Ground Self-Defense Force personnel.
In addition to insufficient infrastructure services such as water supply and roads, South Sudan has a low literacy rate and lacks human resources.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency and other Japanese organizations have undertaken construction of river ports and provided agricultural assistance in what is now South Sudan.
In addition to continuing such cooperation projects, Japan must earnestly look into the possibility of taking part in the new U.N. peacekeeping operation plan that will sustain nation-building efforts such as road construction.
Autumn univ. admissions a challenge to status quo
Will enrollment ceremonies at colleges and universities in this country someday become a feature of early autumn, rather than the cherry blossom season?
The University of Tokyo, also known as Todai, has started considering a shift from spring to autumn as the season for admitting new students. The move seems to reflect the top-notch university's desire to attract more foreign students while also encouraging the Japanese students on its roll book to study overseas.
To achieve these goals, Todai is considering falling into step with institutions of higher learning in the United States and Europe, most of which enroll students in the autumn.
According to Todai, foreign students account for 7 percent of its student body, a far cry from the considerably higher percentage of overseas students at Harvard University in the United States and Cambridge University in Britain. The figure stands somewhere between 20 percent and 30 percent at those academic institutions.
Undoubtedly, the difficulties experienced by foreign students in acquiring Japanese-language skills can hinder them as they seek to study in this nation.
However, Todai is seriously concerned that failure to create an environment conducive to an increase in the number of its overseas students would leave it behind in competition with colleges and universities around the world.
Growth in the number of excellent overseas students at Todai as a result of autumnal admission is expected to raise the university's academic research levels and the scholastic ability of its Japanese students.
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Nurture international minds
It is important for the nation to produce graduates who can work and act internationally on the strength of broader perspectives and good foreign language skills acquired through their studies at college or university. Success in this respect would certainly provide a driving force for this nation's economic growth. Granting students autumnal admission could do much to help cultivate such talented people.
Todai has said it will reach a preliminary position on the matter as early as the end of the year. We hope the university will fully debate the envisaged system by studying both its advantages and disadvantages from various points of view.
The autumnal admission system has been proposed by the government's Education Rebuilding Council and other institutions. An ordinance issued by the education ministry in 2008 permits each college and university to decide when to admit students and when to graduate them at the discretion of its president. There has since been an increase in the number of universities that enroll students both in spring and autumn, an arrangement under which overseas students are admitted in autumn.
However, no university has done away with springtime enrollment entirely. If Todai switches to autumnal enrollment, some other colleges and universities may follow suit.
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Business, govt must help
In considering the autumnal enrollment system, Todai hopes to conduct entrance exams under its current timetable, thus giving successful applicants a six-month period in which they may gain practical experience--including overseas studies and volunteer work--until they are actually admitted in autumn.
However, there are many tasks to be tackled in adopting the system. For instance, few organizations are ready and willing to accept such students as volunteers.
Worthy of note may be Britain's "gap year," an optional period between graduating from high school and going to university. A number of private organizations in that country aid young people engaged in volunteer activities during their gap year. It is important to create and improve such an environment in this nation, too.
The adoption of the autumnal enrollment system means students would graduate in the autumn four years after their admission. This is bound to affect decisions to be made by national and local government offices, as well as private corporations, regarding when to employ new graduates. These institutions have long taken it for granted that college and university students leave school in March.
Adopting the autumnal enrollment system will require considering a system in which government offices and corporations hire people throughout the year.
We suggest not only colleges and universities but corporations and government offices sit at the table for discussions on how to create the environment necessary for introducing the autumnal admission system.
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