Edano apologizes to Fukushima governor for Hachiro's comments
TOKYO —
Newly appointed Industry and Trade Minister Yukio Edano on Tuesday visited Fukushima to apologize to Gov Yuhei Sato for comments made by his predecessor Yoshio Hachiro who referred to the area around the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant as “shi no machi” or a “town of death.”
Hachiro, 63, was forced to resign last Saturday after only eight days in the job because of his comments.
NHK reported that Edano stood and bowed deeply before Sato at his office. Edano said his ministry will do its best to speed up compensation payments to residents forced to leave their homes due to the nuclear crisis.
Sato replied that he has met successive ministers and made the same requests each time for help and that he wanted swift action, not words from the government, NHK reported.
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Foxie
Edano had no need to apologize for something he didn't do. I respect him even more now.
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JapanGal
This apology stuff gets old fast.
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warnerbro
Hachiro's comments were too bl@@dy honest. No need to apologise. What is it if not a town of death? What they are trying to do is rewrite the script. Any recognition of the severity of the situation is forbidden. They pretend that it will soon be safe to send children back there, despite the fact that all the neptunium that fell there, that the government refuses to measure, turns into plutonium.
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SquidBert
I would have loved it if Gov. Sato would just have answered: No need to apologize, "shi no machi da yo"
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Asagao
Now the Fukushima governor needs to appoligise to the people of Fukushima for telling them it is safe to go back to their homes and carry on as normal.
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Jack Stern
I guess what he meant to say was something like, 'It looks like a ghost town' but he chose the wrong words. Anyway, tthe opposition is going nuts again by pointing fingers like little boys and girls in kindergarten and not getting their real jobs done. How pathetic this kind ot thing keeps going on with politicians mudslinging like kids. But then again, watching Japanese TV shows gives one a sence of the Japanese mind. Where are the serious government people who want to get the job done right without all the bickering?
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smithinjapan
Settling back into the apologists position, I see.
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Hikozaemon
Noda will go there next week, in order to apologize for this apology...
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marcelito
Sato is right...enough of the never ending apologies...get moving on some concrete action steps Jgovt..
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Paul Arenson
Edano-the one who said that 'at this point in time, there is no danger to human health'.
The mass media is not reporting what has been spreading in anti nuclear circles, that he made the exposure for children a binding 1MS or less. This is after the gov first set it at a binding 20, which was met with condemnation by radiology/health experts, and then made it a NON BINDING 1MS, meaning they were under no obligation to insure such a low exposure level. This needs to be documented and verified, but it has also been reported that he took a more critical stance with regard to the resumption of nuclear plant operation.
If these are indeed factual comments, then we have more evidence that LDP/Kisha Club/METI officials set him up. Yes, the criminals reponsible for covering up numerous faults many times in the past. METI, just a promotion agency for big business. The LDP, which brought us all the defective plants. The Kisha Club--not journalists by any stretch of the imagination-they are paid to report what the gov says is true.
So far the more serious of the comments, the supposed joking about spreading radiation, has not been verified and reported in about a dozen variations. The remark about it being a death town is accurate and needs no apologies.
Unlike the former official who berated Miyagi gov for being late and bullied the media if they reported it, this stinks of a setup.
Be aware that the press clubs exist to further the aims of the government agencies and do not report objectively. Be aware that this may be a manufactured incident, and if JT the Japan Times or other news outlets just report these accusations as fact, without any critical reporting or investigative work, we might as be living in a country with no rights.
Meanwhile on the streets, the police are stepping up violence against protesters in an effort to intimidate. Again, under-reported.
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Paul Arenson
I have been reading Japanese web sites from Fukushima and supporters and they are reporting what the mainstream media is not, namely that:
1) As we know, 20 millisievers/year was the limit set by MOE (school kids).
2) Lots of criticism from parents, activist and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War to the effect that this was way to high for various reasons, including the different types of radiation (internal/external, etc.) , the radiation received at school and outside school.
3) Then they reluctantly changed to 1 millisievert/year for school kids, but quickly added they would not make a commitment, thus it was non binding on them, meaning useless and just window dressing.
4) Most recently and under-reported, Hachiro claimed that he and the new PM and Hosono agreed to 1 millisievert/year limit for children at school and outside school (including internal radiation). Nothing has yet happened to change the figures, since he was ousted. Even if he did this, there is still some question whether this is enough, but it indicates the direction he was going. and no way would the powers allow this.
To observers i have spoken to this points to the pro METI bureaucrats/media (especially Sankei and Yomiuri) and TEPCO. we will know more in time. but it is distressing that all media reports just refer to his supposed insult. Would that JT and other English media spread their nets a bit further in pursuit of the whole story I will post more as i find out more.
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CrazyJoe
Hey Gov Yuhei Sato, stop pretending to be a victim because you're not!
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