The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has set up an "expert panel" to examine the conflicts between the two sides from a neutral standpoint, but the Shizuoka Prefecture is objecting to the panel itself, claiming that the discussions are moving in a direction that favors JR Tokai.
Kawakatsu, the governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, has often expressed his support for the construction of the Linear Central Shinkansen. But the reason why he has decided to halt the construction may be due to his "prefectural people first" stance. It is natural for elected prefectural governors to put the interests of their constituents first and to adopt policies that might appear to be
populist.
Nobuyuki Sato:
https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/81646? Accessed 2021-04-15
However, there are serious reasons substantiating the governer's negative attitude: The construction of the Minami-Alps Tunnel in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Nagano prefectures for the Linear-Central Shinkansen will reduce the water supply of the Oi River. This will have a major impact on businesses and farmers in the middle and lower reaches of the river who use surface water and groundwater, as well as many people in the basin who use it for drinking water. These are not trivialities, but weighty aspects that should make it necessary to think about ways to minimize these negative consequences. The governor's rejection of quick approval appears justified from this perspective.
It is not surprising that People in the Oigawa River basin have become concerned after receiving just fragmentary information from JR Tokai about the spring water in the Minami-Alps Tunnel. The analysis results released by JR Tokai are very technical and therefore difficult to understand for citizens. In addition, JR Tokai only releases their own interpretation of results. JR Tokai does not provide relevant raw data that could be evaluated by independent scientists without prejudice or bias.
Nobuyuki Sato, Lecturer at Asia University says:
The Central Linear Railway is a Technocrat's Dream Come True
Source:
https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/81646?page=6 Accessed 2021-04-15
Technocracy can be defined as a position that places emphasis on technological progress and industrialization, in which technocrats (technical bureaucrats) try to control society with scientific knowledge and expertise. However, there are many people who are opposed to these ideas of dominance of a technological progress over social progress. Already in the 1965s, citizen movements arose in various parts of Japan, claiming that industrialization brought pollution and was not necessarily in the interest of society as a whole.
Originally, the scientific evaluation methods that technocrats rely on are used to give rationality to the implementation of higher-order policy objectives. From the point of view of Nobuyuki Sato, it has become an end in itself:
Even if the Linear-Motorcycle Central Shinkansen can be justified from the perspective of investment efficiency and cost-benefit analysis, it is meaningless to those who do not believe that a highly industrialized society is desirable, i.e., those who support Governor Kawakatsu and want to protect the nature of the Southern Alps and the water of the Oi River.
Source:
https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/81646?page=6 Accessed 2021-04-15
A detailed and also sociologically interpreted portrayal of the conflict between JR Tokai and Shizuoka Prefecture (from Nobuyuki Sato's point of view) can be found here:
夢の「リニア中央新幹線」が思うように実現していないのはナゼ？
https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/81646? Accessed 2021-04-15
Book by Nobuyuki Sato reagrding this topic: (available form April 19, 2021), in Japanese:
鉄道と政治-政友会、自民党の利益誘導から地方の自立へ
- 佐藤 信之: 鉄道と政治-政友会、自民党の利益誘導から地方の自立へ (中公新書) 2021/4/19
Source:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%89%84%E9%8 ... s_li_ss_tl
Accessed 2021-04-15
ISBN10: 4121026403
.
