Tokyo makes push to win back radiation-wary German tourists

National Jan. 29, 2013 - 02:37AM JST ( 10 )

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10 Comments

1

kurisupisuJan. 29, 2013 - 07:53AM JST

Why would a German go from not being able to eat certain food tainted with radiation half way across the world to not do the same thing in Japan?

I think most Germans would just go to Thailand and not worry themselves.
1

vollandJan. 29, 2013 - 09:15AM JST

I have always be amzed by tjhe reation of Germans when they are being told that the natural radiation there is higher than in Tokyo, even now after Fukushima.

On the other hand: "“So it doesn’t matter whether I travel to Germany or Japan,” he concluded."

As far as I remember, there are neither fault lines nor earthquakes in Germany? And certainly none underneath any nuclear power stations, Herr Michel.
-4

basroilJan. 29, 2013 - 02:44PM JST

vollandJan. 29, 2013 - 09:15AM JST

I have always be amzed by tjhe reation of Germans when they are being told that the natural radiation there is higher than in Tokyo, even now after Fukushima.

Their pre-chernobyl radiation levels were far higher than half of fukushima prefecture is today! Germans are being fed lies by their own news media (puppeteer-ed by their government) in order to have them not focus on their bad decision to shut down nuclear plants in favor of coal. If they were actually told how safe Japan is, they would rightfully question their own choices and find themselves in a place where the ones with the most to lose are government connected lobbies.

Michel, who also highlighted data showing levels found in food were now negligible.

And at every time since before reactor theory was implemented the radiation levels were lower than the EU (and therefore German) safety limits.
-2

smithinjapanJan. 29, 2013 - 07:35PM JST

I hope they're not trying their usual methods of 'proving' things are safe, but I can just see them doing so:

"Look, Germans, we'll prove the food is safe by having you eat it! We'll prove the areas around the nuclear radiation spread are safe by letting you stay here for a while at exhorbitant costs!"
-2

nigelboyJan. 30, 2013 - 03:12AM JST

I have always be amzed by tjhe reation of Germans when they are being told that the natural radiation there is higher than in Tokyo, even now after Fukushima

It's almost as funny as those Tokyo living flyjins who flew to Hong Kong despite the fact Hong Kong has higher radiation. Of course, let us not forget those commercial airline pilots who refused to land in Tokyo because of radiation fears.

Europeans, for the most part, have been consuming radiation contaminated foodstuffs(levels higher than that of Japan due to their high threshold amount) for a decade after the Chernobyl.
-1

ambrosiaJan. 30, 2013 - 03:57AM JST

Those "flygin" left because they were worried about what they weren't being told, not so strange in hindsight, and because they were worried about what was going to happen. I love how foreigners feel some bizarre need to prove that they are more dedicated to Japan than the Japanese, especially when they can do so at the expense of other foreigners. So, what, you decided to stay, to stick it out, to wait and see, to gambare? Good for you! But are you really that obtuse that you can't imagine how frightened other people were? I remember headlines in The Japan Times about Japanese families, mostly the wives and kids, leaving for the Kansai region. Should they be disparaged too or were they sensible and noble for not taking chances?

I also love how the Germans "are being fed lies" by their government and what, the Japanese government has been the paragon of honesty?
-2

nigelboyJan. 30, 2013 - 04:27AM JST

Yes ambrosia. There are justifiable fear and outright irrational fear. And no. I do not think that foreigners who stayed need some kind of entitlement for they only did what was rational. Hence, it's only natural to ridicule those who ran on irrational fear which included the Japanese families that left for Kansai. But let's face it. The overwhelming majority of rational people that stayed in Tokyo tried to go on their daily lives by delivering all important logistics and services so Tokyo maintained as a functioning civilization. Just imagine if those majority acted like flyjin. Tokyo, in of itself, would not exist.
-1
vollandJan. 30, 2013 - 08:11AM JST

@NIgelboy You are repeating nonsense that you have been told. The flygins, at least some of them, left, because in a situation like this you can not expect ANY government in the world to tell the truth. Even Kan admitted that if the sh.. were to hit the fan, he could not have said so, because there is simply no way to evacuate Toyko. And the danger was very real. The pond wirth the spent fuel on the fourth floor of #4 reactor is a very clear danger, and it still is today. The point is simply that the occurrance of two such major earthquakes in the same area is a very remote possiblity only. That is why that danger is for the moment acceptable.

But I suppose your actual problem is that you neither understand the situation in Fukushima and the resulting danger, nor are you interested in it. All you have is a belief. Well, that is your right, no question about that......
- ModeratorJan. 30, 2013 - 08:16AM JST
  
  Back on topic please. The subject is German tourists, not "flyjin."
-1

ambrosiaJan. 30, 2013 - 01:18PM JST

If you think the Japanese who left were also irrational why use a different word to distinguish them from the non-Japanese who left? You and all the rest who use the stupid word in question have finally answered the famous koan - what is the sound of one hand clapping? It's the sound of a self-congratulatroy pat on the back given by those who fancy themselves more dedicated to Japan than the Japanese. Enjoy the feeling because you're really the only one who cares.