Biodiesel and Biogas – What does it all mean for Japan?

Judging by some of the comments from readers over the past months, I get the feeling a lot of people are far more up to speed than me when it comes to things that are good for the planet. However, I had a bad day at work the other day and spent some time bouncing my way through the Internet to take my mind off the office. It so happened I bumped into some interesting things in the way of “green”, specifically, the controversy over “biofuels” and what they could mean for Japan.

My journey started out with an article declaring that Japan will trial bio-ethanol with a view to meet a target of having 20% of all “gasoline” to be made up of this more “natural” product. I browsed on to a BBC article (Jan 07) that told me that corn prices are at a 10 year high. Not exactly exciting stuff on the surface though great for mid-Westerners with ridiculously red necks, I thought, and soon clicked on. It all eventually cycled back to the article on proposed bio-ethanol targets in Japan, with detours through rice, and tortilla (corn) prices.

Japan has been injected right into the biofuel debate, and has recently started trialling the bio-based “green” diesel and petrol in 55 “gasoline stands” around Tokyo. What does biogas mean for Japan? Will Japan be importing corn from the US rather than crude from the Middle East? It turns out the fact that corn prices are up has a lot to do with going green (as I assume many of you know ahead of me). You’ve heard of “ethanol”, right? (No, not the stuff they sell in green bottles at Heartland) Well, Japanese distributors of gasoline products have just announced that a mixture of bio-ethanol (ethanol made from corn and other crops) and gasoline were just made available at 55 gas stations in Tokyo on a trial basis as an alternative to regular gasoline. The alternative fuel will go on sale nationwide by fiscal 2010. At least that is the plan and the government is even looking at incentivizing the Japanese farmer to help produce the stuff, or at least to supply the raw materials – here we go again, another tail wagging the dog story.

It all initially sounds great when sold in terms of a reduction of stinky diesel and petrol exhaust in through the streets of Tokyo. I ride a (big) scooter so I know how smelly life is a meter above the road, and am used to clawing the black diesel powder mass out of my nose, but first up, is this “biofuel” thing really such a great idea in terms of greenness? The fuel still gets burnt, and it will still produce greenhouse gases as exhaust. This is a debate that has been going on in the US and other countries where ethanol has taken a step into the limelight, so I learned.

As said, I am a rookie on the subject, so bear with me – I haven’t done a thesis on this, just a bit of de-stress procrastinatory browsing. I guess at the end of the day, I am slowly becoming a greenie, as the evidence just seems too blatantly damning to stay with the status quo. Even if at this stage my “green” is more of a mental state than actually counting my carbon footprint on a daily basis, I admit that I need to take far greater steps to really improve on this. And I shall.

Anyway, there are plenty of interesting things for us to ponder when thinking about this increase in bio-ethanol destined for our roads in Japan.

Here’s one. According to this US article the impact of biofuels is not actually as green as we would like to think. Among the arguments for this, there is the theory that revolves around the miles to the gallon to be had from a pure gasoline drive and a cruise based on a mix of gas and ethanol. The author claims that his Honda Accord gets less miles to the gallon with the mix of ethanol/gasoline, which means more consumption overall of the gasoline (and ethanol) and meaning a worse output in environmental terms. Basically we are not seeing the wood for the trees in terms of the overall impact, especially when you bring in the energy required to grow the corn, harvest and turn the stuff into fuel.

An interesting twist the author also puts forward is that agribusiness is driving the push for ethanol and it is simply not the answer to a sustainable environment. In fact looking at the few sites ranked highly on Google that were pushing “biogas”, it did seem that they were Universities and organizations a bit too closely linked to the corn belt of the mid-West and those sun burned necks.

What is more, the author raises a very interesting point that by putting more land and its output to the production of “fuel”, are we not adding to the potential famine effects that poor nations suffer, as the world will be producing less food and more “fuel”? That does sound a bit weird. The impact to the land from biofuel production is a topic which bio-advocates will skip over when given the chance. Not only is corn is one of the planet’s most energy-intensive crops. Industrial corn production requires huge quantities of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers (derived primarily from natural gas) and petroleum-based pesticides like atrazine, a known endocrine disrupter. Soybeans need less nitrogen, but farmers douse bean fields with other nutrients and with chemicals like Roundup to keep them pest-free – all these chemicals go into our soil.

To push the point further, there is even much debate about whether biofuels actually do produce positive “net energy balance” after taking into account the amount of fuel that goes into making them. Although the calculations seem fairly straightforward, squabbles over numbers have led to a wide range of estimates for the net energy balance of even the most common biofuels — corn ethanol and soy biodiesel. Corn ethanol, for example, has a net energy loss of 29 percent, or a gain of 13 percent or even 67 percent, depending on whom you ask. The trouble begins with decisions over what counts as an energy input. Should some of the food a farmer eats be included? What about the energy used to manufacture the farmer’s tractor?

This ties in to the price of corn. The fact that corn prices are at 10 year highs really sucks for Mexicans, as tortillas (their staple food) have gone up 400% in price; and it probably is more than annoying for any Westerners on a tight budget who like their breakfast cereals. So where am I going with this? Well, is planting more food to be ultimately used to drive rich people like us to the shops, work or up to the ski fields really the right answer for our planet? The articles above brought that question into focus for me.

Japan seems to have bitten (or sucked) into the “bio-ethanol” story but even so, it seems a bit irrelevant to me here in Tokyo until 2010. I figure there are two critical factors in the overall equation that make this whole thing very theoretical at this stage: distribution and prices. That is, even if 55 gas stations in Tokyo try this out, it is going to be really hard to find a place to buy bio-ethanol for my scooter and even if I did find it, it would be double the price of nasty old gasoline. Hmmm. I probably won’t, but will the Japanese consumer buy into this?

Soybeans – Tofu, or Diesel?

By the way, as if you didn’t know, corn is not the only source for bio-ethanol. There are loads of other crops out there. Also there are even sources of inedible raw materials from which biofuels can be derived: soybeans in Japan or rice straw in China, palm oil in Malaysia and the most innovative – halophytes (plants adapted to living in a saline environment) from salty marshlands everywhere – the production of which requires no fresh water! But, is bio-ethanol really the way forward? Can’t they just make the fuel cells in battery-powered cars gruntier?

Will Japan be able to meet their target for fiscal 2010 where biogasoline is projected to constitute 20 percent of all gas sold? Is this Kyoto Protocol derived target even the right thing to be focused on given the arguments for biofuel inefficiencies?

If they do really want to meet those targets, it sounds like there will be major hurdles for the Japanese government to overcome. And why would the government want to promote incentives for domestic bio-ethanol production to farmers, when Japan is probably one of few countries around the planet with less land to spare than the Vatican? Won’t that ultimately mean higher rice prices or higher taxes to pay for more farm subsidies? More Thai rice imports and increasing my perennial anger with the zeimusho (tax office)? You tell me. I’m still learning.

It seems a number of the people tuning in to Stippy are married and have kids. I, also a parent living in Tokyo, just checked out an old site that I used to look at for News on Japan. Aptly it is called newsonjapan.com. Looking at the society section I wanted to check if a certain story that I have a personal connection to, was in the English news yet. It isn’t but what I saw was quite scary.

On the Society page for the news on Japan, there were three articles about little kids suffering and dying thanks to their parent’s lack of ability to cope and act maturely when making basic parental decisions. What is happening to parents in Japan these days? Is there a distinct change in the way that Japanese parents treat (through action and inaction) their kids, leading to this scary spate of twisted horrible crimes that we witness daily?

This news reminded me of a story a month or so ago of an 18 year old (assumed single) mother whose 2 year old kid died in a house fire. The mother left the kid sitting in front of the telly with some snack food and ducked out to a Nagano ski field for the day, leaving at 6am and coming home at 10pm, to find the house burned down. This is so unbelievably sick but she at least stated to the Police “I feel really terrible about my actions”.

One of the stories making the news today was about a set of parents who popped out to their favourite Pachinko parlour for a bit of a break, leaving their 3 year old kid at home alone, front door locked and balcony door open. While they had told the kid not to climb on top of the air-con unit, the 3 year old didn’t listen (as 3 year old tend not to) and proceeded to climb up over the railing to see what was on the other side. Sadly, tragically for the infant there was a 10 foot drop.

Another story was of a father, 25yo (profession: driver), who lost control with his 2 month old kid during a crying fit. Those of us with kids – especially first timers – know just how stressful screaming kids can be at midnight, but this incident was at 6pm and the guy’s method to stop the baby crying was to put the child under a hot shower, causing severe burns and the poor baby to die from shock.

I am sure we can dig up a lot more sickening stories both here in Japan and back in our home countries but this stuff really disturbs me personally. I happen to have a couple of kids now and seeing this stuff in the news with such regularity disturbs me. It just goes against the stereotype of Japan being a safe country. What is going on here? Why are so many kids dying?

As pop-psychologist (and I did do honours in Psyc many years ago), I’ll throw my two cents in. One part of this I assume has to do with the “lost generation”. When I was studying at University here, we looked closely at this generation as they really seem to have had everything delivered to them materially speaking, but had no love or attention from parents who were hell bent on fulfilling the “salaryman” and “shufu” dream. They just didn’t communicate to their kids on how to be good parents, because they didn’t know how themselves – their own parents being tough, hard asses who built the place after the war. Possibly they “know” what is right and appropriate but they don’t actually practice it; leaving the kids confused as to how they should handle such a situation when they become adults and it is their turn. This is not a rich kid, poor kid issue either, as plenty of dual income families earning 20 mill a year have these issues as well. Take a look at the “suspect”, Tatsuya Ichihashi (22) in the case of the young English girl, Lindsay Ann Hawker’s death a few weeks ago: his parents were a doctor and a dentist.

As an example of ill-communication between parent and child, I sat in a kaiten sushi shop a year or two ago with my boy on my knee and we happily ate some sushi and communicated in our Father to 2 year old son kind of way. A guy next to us was in his late 40′s and was with his son aged in his mid-teens. They did not say a single word to each other for the entire time we were there, except for “is it okay if I have another one?”, “hmm”. Maybe that was not how they act normally, but I suspect it was, as I have seen plenty of other examples like this where the parent seems to be so out of touch with their kid (or is this just Japanese style “wordless” communication!?)

Another reason for this problem of messed up parents may well be the fragmentation of the “nuclear” family in big cities like Tokyo. Many of young kids come to Tokyo with dreams of success, leaving their rural furusato (home town) and taking up a lonely existence in the big city. It is a hard and trying place to be for some people and for many who come here, there are many frustrations that really yearn for family support and comfort in order to break through to the other side – at least that’s how I felt at times.

Being a parent in Japan is not an easy thing. There are all sorts of societal pressures that “mum/mom” faces in the neighbourhood. Conforming with the school system, choosing the “right” kindergarten, being nice to all those other bitchy mothers at the bus stop (bitchiness it seems depends on the “level” of the school to a degree), not inviting your child’s friends around for a party because the parents of the kids who do not get invited will talk about you and shun you. It is a weird system to live in and it must be even more difficult for single mothers like the stupid snow boarder girl above. However let’s note that there are also a lot of great examples of the parents these days as well. There are some genuinely great Mum’s and some great Dad’s out there doing their bit. I love to see these people and to meet them at school events as they come across as such “enthusiastic” parents.

So why is it we see so many sickening stories like the above examples? Does anyone have any deeper insights on this? I guess there is a Darwinian aspect to this and if you have ever read the Darwin Awards, you will know what I mean.

Grass. Simple green grass under my bare feet is something I really enjoy in the summer. In the park with the kids I have the occasional old person come up and say how healthy it is for the kids to be playing in bare feet, yet mine seem to be the only kids around who have discarded their shoes. The younger parents seem to be more wary about the ill effects of dirt and grass stains on the soul. But where, you may ask, is the grass within the Yamanote line to be found? Grass patches spacious enough to walk on?

Well, the obvious places that everyone knows and loves are Shinjuku Gyoen, Yoyogi Park and Meiji-Jingu. Huge open spaces to just chill out and enjoy the spring or summer. Other than these parks, the best place I personally used to go to is Hibiya Park directly in front of that famous post card view of the Palace (bridge and willows in foreground). It is quite nice to chill out there under the bonsai style fir trees and read the paper or a book. Just nearby is the spectacular Higashi Gyoen, the East Garden of the Imperial Palace, which is actually part of the palace grounds. While being open to the public 6 days a week, the Emperor’s gardens remain one of the best keep secrets in Tokyo, due to their reclusive and unspectacular entrance, which is guarded by police at all times. Just try wandering in, you will be pleasantly surprised. (All of the pictures on this page are taken in and around Hibiya Park and Higashi Gyoen)

Grass is actually becoming a part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Governments environmental planning. If you take a look on their web site you can see a graph showing that the average temperature in Tokyo has risen from 13.5 degrees Celsius in 1900 to 16.6 degrees in 1999. Global warming is having its effect? Or is this just a part of nature’s cycle? Well, it seems we are at a tipping point where most are starting to agree that humanity’s influence has been strong and we are to blame for a lot of this. At lunch a week or two ago, the only guy at the table who didn’t believe global warming is for real was the guy who sells cars for a living.

Hibiya Park – no need to obey the “keep off the grass” signs

The Tokyo Government is taking steps to “grassify” the city so the asphalt or sand that makes up 85% of the city’s school fields will start to make way for grass. Great news for the kiddies and good news for the locals as it is proven that grass reduces the surrounding temperature considerably. A no-brainer really is it. Sit on grass or asphalt in August and you’ll know which is cooler. Other actions to be taken include more rooftop gardens on Government buildings, which will hopefully translate into more rooftop beer gardens with actual vegetation. Last summer it was tough work to find a half decent beer garden downtown that didn’t have a 1-2 hour waiting list on a Friday night.

By the way, as hanami season is just coming to an end, and it is the start of the perfect season to be about and about in the greenery, here is a list of parks in Tokyo that could be worth a look.

There are plenty of nice gardens to walk around and enjoy some incredibly Japanese views; a favourite of mine being Rikugien up near Tabata in Bunkyo-ku. As you can’t actually sit down on the grass in Japanese gardens, you can enjoy the macha houses with a green tea and cake. The first time in Rikugien with my girlfriend (now wife), the hostess of the day was actually a middle aged man dressed in Kimono drag. Only in Japan: Tranquil bonsai setting where an Okama serves tea.

Here are a few ‘how to get there’s of some of the parks (with bit of green grass for you to relax on) that we have mentioned.

Higashi Gyoen – The East Gardens of the Imperial Palance

Shinjyuku Gyoen:
Nearest Station: Shinjuku Gyoen Mae Station on the Marunouchi Subway Line or Sendagaya Station on the JR Sobu (local) Line.

Yoyogi Park:
Take the JR Yamanote Line to Harajuku Station. Leave the station via the main exit, walk towards the pedestrian footbridge and then veer round to the right. Keep walking and when you reach the next pedestrian footbridge you’ll see the entrance.

Hibiya Park and Higashi Gyoen:
Leave JR Tokyo Station via the Marunouchi Exit. Alternatively from the Sukiyabashi Exit of Ginza Station, walk in a westerly direction towards Hibiya. Or, the park is a 2-minute walk from Kasumigaseki station (Marunouchi Subway Line, Chiyoda Subway Line) or an 8-minute walk from Yurakucho (JR) station. Entrance is free and open year round.

Rikugien Garden:
Take the JR Yamanote Line to JR Komagome Station. Leave the station via the south exit. Walk down Hongo Dori Avenue in the direction of “Bunkyo Ku” (as indicated by the road signs). You’ll then see a signpost indicating the garden. (About a 7 minute walk).

Anyway, more important with summer round the corner, where are all those beer gardens? Well, that will be another Stippy report. Perhaps one for the whole Stippy crew to work on. Any recommendations for the best place to start?

We have explored on stippy how interesting it can be to call an ambulance in Japan, but have you ever had one of those crazy “only in Japan” experiences at the hospital?

Just the week before last I was hit with a mysterious sort of virus that had gone through our office. I battled through a few tough days at work and only on Saturday when the headache was so bad that my eyeballs hurt to move them, did I head to the doctor. My wife recommended a doctor very near our house as they have a naika (内科, the closest thing to a GP, which don’t really exist in Japan, because patients have to refer themselves to a specialist) unit that seemed appropriate. So off I went thinking the hurting eyes may have been related to my wicked hay fever and constant use of nose sprays.

After a fairly long wait with all the sick oldies and runny nosed kids, I was taken through to see the Doc. I had filled out the paperwork explaining what was wrong with me and had the hay fever medication with me. The Doctor didn’t seem to take much interest in my explanation or the hay fever stuff and just asked me if my stomach hurt, if my throat hurt, if my head hurt and got me to poke my tongue out and say “ahh”. With my answers of “no”, “no”, “yes” and “ahhh”, he confirmed, “well it is not a cold”, and proceeded to write out a prescription for pain killers, adding that if it got worse I should go see a specialist at the big hospital down the road. The whole visit took around 30 minutes of which a whopping 2-3 minutes was in the actual Doctor’s office getting checked.

I threw his prescription in the rubbish and stuck with my trusty Bufferin, letting my wife “have it” with a morning of complaints about what a complete waste the stupidly expensive health insurance that we pay is. A whopping chunk of change goes out every month to cover the kids and her. I pretty much never see a Doctor unless the proverbial hits the fan health wise and my little morning trip highlighted just how wasteful this was.

In fact the only other Doctor experiences I have had in my neighbourhood have been so bad they border on ridiculous. I was told to have an X-Ray for what was a spider bite a few years ago. Also, last year I got an ear infection while in Thailand that necessitated me to stay in Bangkok for 5 days as flying could have ruptured my ear drum. The infection came from the bad water going up my nose apparently and I was in a weakened state after eating not only one but two mostly raw pork steaks at the buffet. My bad, as it was dark and it was a wedding, so I stupidly mistook the piggy for moo cow. Anyway, if I thought the experience in the Thai hospitals was trippy, things got worse back in Japan.

The upshot was that nothing the Thai doctors gave me worked. They actually made me sicker as one of the quacks gave me one medication that reacted with the other. Once home, I headed down to the trusty Akasaka clinic (run by a “real” gaijin doctor) and explained the situation. Like the doctors in Bangkok, Doctor Jerry said the ear was perfectly clean but swelling in the middle ear was causing the pain. Things were bad and he prescribed some antibiotics and pain killers (very much needed). I came back every few days and he had to give me a few different treatments as the infection was not yet abating. After 3 weeks of being extremely grumpy to the crew at the office and in a lot of pain, I succumbed to the pressure of my mother in law and went down to the local Ear-Nose-Throat specialist or Jibika (耳鼻科). Much the same as my ‘flu experience the other day, I filled out the forms, explaining what I had, how long I had it and that I was on some serious medication, taking it with me. I also told them that I had been to three or four other doctors who all said that it my ear was “infected”.

They ignored all that and lay me down on a bed to inspect the ear. A few rudimentary pokes in the ear and the doctor said he couldn’t see anything so he would have to do some cleaning. I thought this didn’t sound right but within a flash he was jamming some suction device into the already painful ear and trying to suck out whatever he thought was blocking his view. Of course this suction device, like the ones you have at the dentist to suck out excess saliva, latched on to the swollen bits and the nerves in my ear just screamed! My natural reaction was to swing my arm and get the guy off me, yelling in Japanese that it was not a dirty ear (!!!!) and that three other doctors said it was swollen (中耳炎ではれている！). He calmed me down, explained that everything was going to be okay, and proceeded to put that torture device back in my ear. I again pushed him off and kicked out in agony. Incredibly, next he called over 3-4 nurses to hold my legs and arms. I was lying there in intense agony and actually started laughing as the whole situation seemed so absurd. There were a whole load of patients just sitting there in silence as if nothing funny was happening at all. Most were elderly folks who all ignored the gaijin. To them it was probably a case of silly gaijin man not following the rules. The ones that say you should ignore intense pain and do whatever the good doctor says. Whilst flailing about, I was also trying desperately to control myself so I did not end up accidentally hurting the lunatic holding the suction device.

I did get him to stop and I left in a comical state of mind both cursing and laughing at the same time. I bumped into my mother in law as she was visiting our house and I let her “have it” with what I thought of her “Jibika”. At a lunch meeting with the bosses that day, I felt a liquid dribbling down my neck from my ear and realized it was that clear sort of blood that you get in cuts and the like. I pulled the cotton wool out my ear and poked my finger in to find that the wad thing (like a tampon) was completely soaked in blood and I pulled it out in a kind of state of semi-shock. Disgustingly I admit, I put it on the empty dessert plate, kind of wondering what was going on. Kind of funny, though gross, as my boss freaked out thinking it was actually ear or brain tissue. I headed straight back to Doctor Jerry and explained the situation. The suction treatment had of course torn the membrane on the swelling and all the blood, pus and the like was leaking out. Lovely. Charming smell too.

Anyway, the painful suction treatment sped up the process of getting the swelling down but potentially would leave a scar that could mildly effect my hearing in future. It didn’t in the end but the experience was mind blowing. Unbelievable. Unlike the Jibika, Doctor Jerry was extremely professional and I would highly recommend him. My bad for taking the advice of the mother in law. Damn it. Never again. Her “Jibika” dished out some bad, bad medicine.

Does anyone have a good story to tell about visiting a Japanese doctor?