Last December there was a mild eruption of indignation when it was reported that some of the money earmarked for reconstruction of areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 would go to protect research whaling from interventionists like Sea Shepherd. Greenpeace and a few other organizations claimed the use of these funds for such a purpose was improper, but the fisheries ministry insisted it was perfectly in line with the policy set forth when the reconstruction budgets were approved, since whaling was integral to the economies of some communities in the disaster-hit area. The controversy quickly faded. Though anyone familiar with the workings of the bureaucracy might have seen a red flag go up, no mainstream news service at the time made an effort to learn whether or not there was something worth investigating further.

Last spring, on the first anniversary of the disaster, editorials asked why reconstruction wasn't progressing any faster than it was, and why so much of the money promised to the affected area hadn't reached it yet. The reconstruction budget for 2011-2015 is ¥19 trillion, and last November the Diet also approved a tax increase on individual incomes and corporate profits that will be in effect for 25 years to cover at least ¥10.5 trillion, the rest coming from government spending cuts.

At the beginning of a documentary aired on NHK Sept. 9, the announcer stated that these tax increases were passed with the blessing of the public, who want to help the people affected by the disaster. That's why the tax bill passed so easily. It's also why NHK felt it necessary to find out where the money has gone so far, since the government itself has not disclosed that information. Perhaps because of its considerable resources and manpower, NHK is the only Japanese media concern that made the effort to read the 50,000 pages of documents related to the reconstruction budget. What they read shocked them, so they decided to employ an outside expert, Professor Yoshimitsu Shiozaki of Kobe University, who audited the reconstruction budget for the Great Hanshin Earthquake, to check their research. Of the ¥9.2 trillion budgeted so far, Shiozaki indicated that at least ¥2.45 trillion has gone to projects that have nothing to do with reconstruction. However, as with the research whaling funds, there are official justifications for these suspect projects.