Japan Press Weekly

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2011 June 22 - 28 [GREAT EAST JAPAN DISASTER]

Gov’t panel chair and Takenaka stress ‘self-support’ of quake victims

The government’s Reconstruction Design Council Chair Iokibe Makoto and former Postal Privatization Minister Takenaka Heizo agreed that disaster rehabilitation efforts in the stricken areas should be made with the idea of “self-support” as a basic principle. The two expressed their views at a forum on recovery from the Great East Japan Disaster held in Tokyo on June 27.

Takenaka, a professor at Keio University, promoted neoliberal “structural reform” policies under the cabinet of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichiro.

At the event, Takenaka denied the role of “public support,” stating, “Japanese society is primarily based on the principle of ‘self-support’. Whatever governments we have or whatever times come, no society can exist without people’s efforts of self-support. These days, we haven’t sufficiently touched on this principle in our schools.” The former minister insulted the disaster victims, saying, “The public are clever. If offered some help, most of them only demand money.”

Agreeing with Takenaka, Iokibe said, “We received good advice.”

The panel’s proposal, which was published two days before the forum, ends with the following conclusion: The reconstruction efforts are hard for the public and this hardship makes them easily dependent on “public support” and “mutual support.” A “Light of hope” will only come when we continue to pursue a path toward rehabilitation based on a spirit of “self-support,” believing that we can just rely on ourselves for our recovery.