 Hello and welcome to NewsClick. The word jishin in Japanese connotes two different meanings, one a frequent occurrence in Japan ranging from the mild to the moderate to the occasionally devastating as was experienced on the 11th of March this year, the earthquake and the other what is repeated to be a characteristic of the Japanese self-confidence. The Japanese have made an art out of converting adversity to austerity and into opportunity. Do they have the jishin to convert this jishin into opportunity? We will ask that question to Professor Britshtanka. Sir, this earthquake registered a mark of 9.0 on the register scale and the impact has been quite devastating. Would you just appraise our viewers as to what measures has the government taken in the form of relief and also recovery? Well, first of all, thank you and I think you made an important point by playing on the word jishin, the idea that the linking self-confidence to dealing with natural disasters. Certainly, the Japanese have historically shown remarkable resilience, but I think in this present case, this earthquake, the tsunami and on top of that the triple disaster of the nuclear reactor, the third disaster, I think has put an extra burden if you will on the people's psychological makeup if you will on the social structure, which I think will have a very long-term impact and at present, it's a very, I would say, a somewhat confused situation. The political leadership seems to be getting a lot of flak for its handling, the manner in which relief has been given to the victims of the earthquake and the tsunami and even the botching up of what's happening in Fukushima. Well, yes and no in some ways. I think the political leadership has got flak particularly, I think the prime minister personally has not shown leadership that was expected of him in such an occasion, but on the other hand, relief has been much better than it was, for instance, in the earlier Kobe earthquake. Goods have been transported, roads have been cleared much faster, there is actually no dearth of food supplies in the shelters that have been created. If anything, there's problems for people whose homes weren't devastated, who were living in these areas because getting them foodstuffs can be a little more difficult, but I think the real failure was the inability to provide quick information. There's been contradictory information coming out in dribs and drabs, different voices, the industry saying one thing, politicians saying one thing, then retracting and I think that's one of the major problems. So the DPJ government really got its first chance at the party, actually got its first chance at an extended running power, bucking the trend that has been keeping the LDP in power in Japan for quite some time. Already that Bonhomi when it came to government lasted very short while, there was instability immediately, Hato Yama was removed. So has the handling of the earthquake and the flak that the government has received made it even more difficult for the DPJ in some sense? Yes, I would think that this combined with I think the earlier infighting that was going on after all the problem with Ozawa predate the earthquake and so the Ozawa-Karn relationship was problematic to begin with. The handling has created a different set of problems. To the nuclear disaster itself has created other problems I think which will bring different pressures to bear which perhaps will strengthen the LDP. After all, industry still supports and large numbers of people still support the nuclear industry. Fukushima is a disaster area but workers from all over Japan are flocking there because they're getting jobs and many of the areas where nuclear plants are located are strong supporters of nuclear plants being located there because they get huge subsidies for long periods. So the labor unions which work with these workers are often supporters. Industry says well wait a couple of years things will quieten down it'll be business as normal so there is that pressure but I think it's given there isn't certainly a growing discontent and worry about the impact of the radiation and whether it's sensible to carry on relying on nuclear energy. I mean they use one third of their energy comes from nuclear resources. So that's been questioned and Karn and the party have of course said that they will put a moratorium and they're now going to build more reactors. So that is creating a bit of discontent among the workers. Let's talk about the economy specifically. Japan as at any industrialized nation or even developing countries also suffered during the global financial crisis but it did show some recovery following that but the earthquake has again put a spanner into the works. Yes the economy has been in the doldrums for a long time within Japan there's employment issues and huge numbers of temporary workers and so on so forth. So that's been that's certainly been aggravated. I think in first of all immediately after the disaster a lot of workers from China for instance in other countries left students left. Now many have returned but for instance some 50,000 students haven't returned so it you know they were fee paying students in Japanese universities. Chinese students are largely or mainly single children so families are worried and so forth. So that that sort of impact of you know fewer people etc working there but on the other hand certain sectors will benefit after all construction is about hundred billion dollar damage and it says estimated to be over hundred billion dollars so construction would benefit. Some areas will benefit but there is a problem because and this will have a ripple effect on other economies after all if they can't supply high-end components which they manufacture it will affect China or Taiwan you know semiconductors or flat panel display screens. So but having said that the proverbial conversion of adversity into opportunities being played out in the manner construction would now get a boost and also the finance that would be pumped into the economy in that sense. Yes certainly I mean there's I think I read a recent report in one of the papers that the Yakuza are going to benefit a lot because they control construction and politicians have close links with construction companies as well so certainly there's going to be certain sectors which will benefit but overall I think is a problem particularly in energy generation because Tokyo has turned down its lights in the evening you know formerly skyscrapers were all lit up all night now you'll have few lights on escalators have been stopped so many stations and you end up walking quite a lot because they just that have turned off escalators and lots of stations. Adele were a little bit more into the nuclear issue now the word nuclear connotes a far more deeper meaning for Japanese because of the Hiroshima Nagasaki legacy than anywhere else you mentioned in passing that there is a contradiction in the sense that workers in Japan want the nuclear establishment to continue while the incidents such as what transpired in Fukushima is forcing the government to take a serious re-think on the nuclear issue. How do you think this will play out in the near future? Well I've always seen this idea that Japan suffers from a nuclear allergy as somewhat contradictory because after all they have developed you know over the years a very strong nuclear industry sector and it's been an integral part of the Japanese infrastructure for quite some time now. It has support and yet on the other hand of course there's a strong peace movement anti-nuclear movement which seems to function on its own without affecting policies as it were. A good example would be the Japanese Communist Party. They are supporters of nuclear energy and have been quite rightly I suppose seeing it as a way for providing energy and growth and so forth. Now they have come out with a statement against it. So I think Fukushima has changed attitudes for a large number of people. Of course immediately there are job generations so some groups of workers these are temporary workers mind you. They'll get a better wage rate than they would have otherwise and they'll get you know long-term employment as it were because it's a disaster. It will take a long time bringing it under control so but people living in that area farmers particularly for instance Fukushima in that area there's a lot of dairy farming vegetable farming they've been very badly affected. People living on the coast who fish for a living have you know their towns have been devastated they may never get back to they can you know carry on their livelihoods so that has I think had a deep impact and I think in that sense it has strengthened a wider range you know made the anti-nuclear feeling stronger among if you will the middle class and the ordinary Japanese. You know not the politically conscious Japanese may have been against nuclear weapons and support of peace movement. Secondly I think I think even more important thing is that civil society has become very weak in Japan and I think this disaster is in some ways perhaps regenerating a strength among people that we should do something. So voluntary effort has increased I think in Kobe there was some display of that and I think hopefully this will help to strengthen civil society and its actions in you know in setting the agenda for the political agenda. That's interesting because after the DPJ came to power the expectation was that there will be greater flowering of democracy in the sense that move from a single party system into a more plural kind of a political system and now coupled with that as you say the incipient you know regeneration of energy among the civil society. So this also augurs well. Yes I think well you know the political parties and that how the number will play out is one issue but to a large extent the Japanese public has accepted policies and for a variety of reasons is too complex to go into now but I think there is a you know a sense of the need for greater participation and need for social action and even dissent in some sense. Yes exactly so you know questioning putting forward different agendas demonstrating and also going out and helping. There are large numbers of Japanese who are spending their own money to work for the displaced people in that region you know as doctors or just providing whatever help they can.