Stop Pachinko! Conserve Energy for Japan's Recovery!

A Breaking News

A new suspicion has emerged over the currently enforced planned rolling blackouts in the region covered by Tokyo Electric Power Company. Mr. Kiyoharu Matsumoto, ex-private secretary of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has distributed flyers saying that my request made to Musashino branch of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to exclude Musashimo area from the planned rolling blackouts has been realized. Musashimo area is part of constituency for Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Access http://bit.ly/feXLpW

While you listen to Gina T-Tokyo by Night (before current energy-saving efforts) and watch a video of how Tokyo is now, video-recorded on March 15 after a massive quake that hit northeastern part of Japan, read my blog.

Gina T-Tokyo by Night (Tokyo before a massive quake and Tsunami hit northeastern Japan)

Tokyo responding to energy-saving request by the Government of Japan (Tokyo after a massive quake and Tsunami hit northeastern Japan)

Governor of Tokyo Ishihara strongly urging Minister in charge of electricity conservation promotion Renho to issue a Energy Saving Decree that regulates the energy consumption

Ms. Renho said: Since Tokyo alone consumes 30% of the total electricity required for the entire region Tokyo Electric Power Company supplies electricity, cooperation in energy-saving is further requested.

Mr. Ishihara said: I will do my best to save energy in Tokyo. The Government of Japan must issue an energy saving decree that regulates use of neon signs, operation of convenience stores, automatic vending machines, etc. after 10 PM. You must show your strong intention to enforce energy-saving to the general public. To fully enforce energy-saving, the Government of Japan must issue an energy saving decree at the time of national crisis. Exercise your authority as the Government of Japan now.

Minister in charge of electricity conservation promotion Ms. Renho requesting Central League of Professional Baseball to save energy while neglecting to request Pachinko industry to save energy.

(It is truly a great regret that a video footage has been suddenly deleted for the unknown reason)

Ms. Renho said:  I understand that Central League of Professional Baseball would like to start its season as scheduled, to cheer up people or to revitalize Japan with bright news. However, I hope that they will conserve as much energy as possible.

-the end of the above video-

A growing number of the people here in Japan has questioned the planned rolling blackouts being enforced by the Government of Japan due to the following reason.

Data on how much energy convenience stores in Japan consume per day and on how much energy Pachinko parlors in Japan consume per day:

1. Convenience Stores

How much energy is required to operate a convenience store depends upon its size, hours of operation, etc. Therefore, we just take a case of a store "A" for a sake of discussion. See 1. below

A store "A" whose floor area is 120 square meters and requires 511 kWh/day. 511 kWh/day is multiplied by 43,393 (a number of convenience stores in Japan as of January, 2011) and then we get 22,173,823 kWh/day.

2. Pachinko Parlors

Pachinko Parlors, on the other hand, require 8,112,047,826 kWh per year while 22,247,885.643 kWh is consumed daily. See 2. below

Major differences between convenience stores and Pachinko Parlors:

•  Pachinko parlors operate 10 hours a day while convenience stores open 24 hours.
• Almost every person finds convenience stores useful and necessary in carrying out normal daily life while only limited number of people frequent Pachinko Parlors.

Looking at the annual consumption of electricity by Pachinko parlors in the region covered by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO),  you will get another surprise. It is 1,515,507,729 kWh /year. You get 4,152,075.9686 kWh/day when divided by 365 (days). See 2. below

The region covered by TEPCO, has experienced a number of rolling blackouts soon after a massive quake and Tsunami hit northeastern Japan.

March 23
Estimated Total Demand         38,000,000 kW (18:00 - 19:00)
Maximum Supply Capacity     37,500,000 kW
Shortage                                      500,000 kW

March 24
TEPCO has already announced this morning that No. 1 group (the region covered by TEPCO is divided into 5 groups) will experience rolling blackout for a maximum of three hours from 18:20 - 22:00.

Therefore, it seems so unreasonable that Minister in charge of electricity conservation promotion Ms. Renho has never said a word about requesting Pachinko Parlors to conserve energy to avoid any rolling blackouts while requesting Japan's Professional Baseball Leagues (Central League and Pacific League) to conserve energy. Many sports events have been either cancelled or postponed.


As shown in the graph below, electricity consumption in Japan has rapidly increased in the last decades while daily electricity demand curve remains unchanged. The daily usage of electricity is the lowest at 4:00 am to 5:00 am. in the morning and gets to be the highest at 15:00 pm and it goes down quickly after 20:00 pm at night.

Daily usage of electricity

Once electricity is generated, it can not be stored at all. It has to be consumed or wasted. The shortage of electricity occurs from 6:00 am in the morning to 10:00 pm at night. Pachinko Parlors generally operate from 10:00 am in the morning to 11:00 pm at night, thereby necessitating further efforts to save energy at Pachinko Parlors by shortening operations hours. Or else, the Government of Japan should ban Pachinko Parlors in Japan as in South Korea in 2008. See No.4

A big question is why Japan and her people have to sacrifice themselves for the Koreans operating Pachinko Parlors, sucking up an enormous amount of money for the benefit of the Korean peninsula while Japanese have to endure rolling blackouts.

Notes:
1. http://bit.ly/gpfJc8   コンビニの電力消費とその改善策について (Improved measures for saving energy at convenience stores)
    http://bit.ly/fMvjHx   JFA コンビニエンスストア統計調査月報 (Monthly Statistics on Convenience
Stores issuned on January 2011)
2. http://bit.ly/eLytOM   「２００９年度 ホールにおける電気使用量等調査」結果（概要）(Survey Report on Electricity Consumption at Pachinko Parlors in 2009)
3. http://www.tepco.co.jp/index-j.html
○3月23日の需給予測
　　　　需要想定　３，８００万ｋＷ（18時～19時）
　　　　供給力　　３，７５０万ｋＷ

　○3月24日の需給予測
　　　　需要想定　３，７００万ｋＷ（18時～19時）
　　　　供給力　　３，８５０万ｋＷ

4. Almost all Pachinko parlors are owned and operated by North and South Koreans in Japan, generating JPY 25 Trillion to JPY 30 Trillion, some of which have been used to develop and produce nuclear bombs and their delivery system in North Korea.
5. South Korea banned Pachinko in 2008 for the reason that a growing number of the people had shown Pachinko addiction (Pachinko dependency syndrome) that caused a number of social problems.