Interest Group in the Disaster - Affected Tohoku: Fishermen's Cooperative Association and the Special Zones for Disaster Recovery Fisheries
2012 Volume 63 Issue 2 Pages 2_88-2_109
Details
2012 Volume 63 Issue 2 Pages 2_88-2_109
The Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011, caused serious damage in eastern Japan, and the coast of Tohoku was devastated by the massive tsunamis.
In May, 2011, Yoshihiro Murai, Governor of Miyagi Prefecture, proposed the introduction of the Special Zones for Disaster Recovery Fisheries (Suisangyo Fukko Tokku) in The Reconstruction Design Council in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake. His design for the purpose of accelerating restoration of the fisheryhad the review fishery right, so JF Miyagi (Fisheries Cooperative) required withdrawal of it.
For LDP, JF is still one of the important organizations to gather votes. Nevertheless, Murai and most of LDP councilors rejected their withdrawal demand. Why could they resist the JF's pressure? The reason they were able to do so is because they understand that JF Miyagi doesn't have a counterproposal to attract victims of tsunamis. In addition, under the influence of the organization merger before the earthquake disaster, JF Miyagi is not a monolith.
