Daily Lessons from Life 04 February 2013 - China's thick smog arrives in Japan

"China's thick smog arrives in Japan - AFP 4 February 2013

TOKYO: The suffocating smog that blanketed swathes of China is now hitting parts of Japan, sparking warnings Monday of health risks for the young and the sick.

The environment ministry's website has been overloaded as worried users log on to try to find out what is coming their way.

"Access to our air-pollution monitoring system has been almost impossible since last week, and the telephone here has been constantly ringing because worried people keep asking us about the impact on health," said an environment ministry official.

Pictures of Beijing and other Chinese cities shrouded in thick, choking smog played out across television screens in Japan last week.

News programmes have broadcast maps showing a swirl of pollution gathering strength across China and then spreading out over the ocean towards Japan.

Pinks, reds and oranges that denote the highest concentrations form a finger of smog that inches upwards to the southern main island of Kyushu.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing are already strained, over the sovereignty of a chain of islands in the East China Sea. And on the streets of Tokyo, reaction was tart.

"China is our neighbour, and all sorts of problems happen between us all the time," said Takaharu Abiko, 50.

"It is very worrying. This is dangerous pollution, like poison, and we can't protect ourselves. It's scary."

Officials were coy about lumping all the blame on their huge neighbour, but Yasushi Nakajima of the environment ministry said "we can't deny there is an impact from pollution in China".

Yellow sand from the deserts of Mongolia and China is a known source for these particles, as are exhausts from cars and smoke from factories.

"At this time of year they are definitely not yellow sands, so they're toxic particles," Shimizu said, warning that "people with respiratory diseases should be careful".

Takemura agreed with Shimizu that people with respiratory diseases, as well as small children, should take extra care to avoid the problems."

China and Japan. Japan and China. Much had happened between the 2 nations. So, not so nice things. So quite nice things. Over the thousand of years. Like typical human being, moods swings. Emotion runs high, and sometimes out of control resulting in deaths of hundred of thousands of people.

Lessons for me are:

1. regardless of the history, the conflicts and whatever, both nations are still JUST part of Mother Earth. What goes round comes around. Clean air travels. So does toxic air!!;

2. much like the infamous Sumatra fire that caused haze to drift across much of Singapore and Malaysia from Indonesia, it is an environmental challenge that no one really care too much as the perceived benefits are too little and the costs out of proportion to the benefits once can derived - in present day dollar and present day urgency! A lot of noises were generated by the green activists (genuinely), the politicians (half heartedly) and the businessmen (deceptively!);

3. does the Chinese authority knows what to do to arrest the deteriorating environmental disaster that it is becoming in Beijing, in particular, and for the nation eventually? YES. In fact, this deterioration is all the MORE ALARMING as Beijing supposedly had succeeded in 'clearing its air' for a prolonged period during the 'coming out of China event' - the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Whatever happened to ALL the efforts that were put into to improve the environment? Maybe IMPROVED it did THEN, the age-old criticism of many outsiders of China is: poor maintenance, perhaps had contributed to bring the situation to such a sad sad state of affairs.

Will Japan fight with China over the smog? Not likely. Will it fight with China over the few scattered islands, very likely as physical things are easier to identify with. While air pollution? If it blows away after a few days or weeks, it is ok. But the islands are there forever!! LOL!!