日本が大好きというフィリピン人学生のChichiさんとzoomでおしゃべり。
我が国の大きな問題をわかってもらおうと思い、原発問題をとりあげました。（子供相手にそこまでやるかフツー？）
Toshi
Hi Chichi, how are you?
Chichi
I’m great, Toshi-san.
Toshi
By the way, do you use electricity every day?
Chichi
Yes, I do.
Toshi
For what purpose?
Chichi
To watch TV, to play video games, to keep our food fresh, and things like that.
Toshi
Yes, electricity makes our lives easier.
Do you know how it is made?
Chichi
I learned it at school. My country has a lot of mountains. So hydropower plants are built all around. They produce electricity by taking advantage of water running down the steep slopes.
Toshi
Wow, you are knowledgeable about that.
Chichi
What about Japan?
Toshi
We do have hydropower plants but we also have so-called “thermal plants” where they burn coals and the heated steam rotates generator.
Chichi
Thermal plants. I’ve never heard of such a name.
Toshi
You haven’t?
Nowadays Japan is criticized for still using thermal plants.
Chichi
Why ?
Toshi
Because burning coals create carbon dioxide, greenhouse gas, which is the source of global warming.
Chichi
Why don’t you build more hydropower plants instead?
Toshi
Easier said than done. Anyway Japan has been considering what to do to secure stable electricity. One of the alternatives is …. Nuclear power.
Chichi
Oh no. I learned at school that Japan suffered from nuclear tragedies for three times, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukushima.
Toshi
I’m not sure if it’s all right to get them mixed altogether because the first two are the bombs dropped by US Army.
Chichi
But damage is damage.
Toshi
OK you guy win.
The story continues.
The Japanese government has pushed forward with the nuclear program despite strong opposition from the public. Now we have 59 nuclear power plants around the country.
Chichi
Are they all in operation?
Toshi
No, only a few of them are.
Chichi
Having so many plants, you can’t get them all to work fully.
Isn’t it strange?
Toshi
Yes, but as long as you have people opposing you, you can’t go ahead.
Chichi
Then why didn’t you talk with the opposite side before all these power plants were built?
Toshi
I know why you feel that way, Chichi.
Let me put it this way. Most of the Japanese people believed that nuclear plants were perfectly safe before the Fukushima disaster.
話はまだまだ続き、寿都町の放射性廃棄物処理場をめぐるひと騒動まで行ったのですが、それはまた次の機会にいたします。