China invades Japan!

With P.M. 2.5 that is.

Tonight NHK news broadcast only the latest and most alarming story about air-borne particulate matter drifting over from China and polluting pure, pristine and increasingly prissy Japan. Concerns have focused almost exclusively on particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers in size, said to be particularly dangerous to health and particularly prevalent in the pollution coming over the sea. Cities near the coast monitor particulate levels and warn people to stay indoors and close windows when the pollution level is above a certain level, while children are said to be especially at risk.

There are several elements to this story. One is the undercurrent of anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan, where ill-feeling, always present to some degree, is currently heightened with the confrontation at the Senkaku Islands, which are claimed both by Japan and China.

But of most interest to me is the lack of ability on the part of Japanese authorities to connect the dots. Particulate matter is drifting over from China because of the massive coal-burning that is constantly taking place there, driving the country's industrialization and powering the factories, many of which are making things that used to be made in Japan. China uses a colossal amount of power, and this amount is increasing every year. Nuclear power is an obvious candidate to replace this coal-burning, and indeed China does have an expanding nuclear industry, it's just that the country's needs are growing so fast it will be a long long time before coal usage is reduced.

Meanwhile Japan's own levels of pollution are increasing because all but two of the country's nuclear plants are in shutdown. Would it be too embarrassing for Japanese authorities to acknowledge the pollution-reducing abilities of nuclear power?

Oh yes.