Court orders TEPCO to pay Y27 mil in damages over suicide linked to Fukushima

not very much for a life but its good to see TEPCO take the blame.

Hope this is going to open the flood gates.

Looks like they finally found a way to deal with the Fukushima aftereffects.

To date, there are around 1,000 suicides connected to the displacement in Fukushima. The amount paid to this family seems rather small. I guess it's based on five years salary because of his age. As much as it is good to see these people receiving compensation for their hardship, TEPCO will only cry poor and increase tariffs to compensate for it and, in the long run, it is the consumer (us) that will be paying their compensation. And, not one of the TEPCO executives has faced any criminal charges what-so-ever, despite openly admitting the meltdown was cause by human error and a failure to upgrade safety procedures and technology.

They're probably preparing a 1000 page document to read and sign by the person to receive the money, which has all sorts of clauses like it'll be paid over the decommissioning period, and other ways to worm out of it. I hope they get sued by heaps more people, but knowing scummy companies like TEPCO I have ZERO doubt that anyone who has been eligible to receive any kind of compensation -- and a pittance, no doubt -- has had to sign documents that make it illegal for them to sue in the future, so it would have to be for other reasons, and even then clearly TEPCO is fighting it.

Please put tepco management is jail while you are at it.

To date, there are around 1,000 suicides connected to the displacement in Fukushima.

Where are you pulling data or information from? You have made a few erroneous statements regarding a number of different stories. There have been over 1,000 deaths related to the displacement and it is wrong to write suicides, there are a ton of other reasons.

TEPCO should be held responsible for these deaths, but they were and are not all due to suicides but other health related issues.

And, not one of the TEPCO executives has faced any criminal charges what-so-ever, despite openly admitting the meltdown was cause by human error and a failure to upgrade safety procedures and technology.

And criminal charges are never going to happen. The entire nuclear industry was shut down on account of the actions of the management of one company. Don't you remember all the news stories about the "nuclear village" and the "safety myth" and the "cozy relationships between industry and regulators" and all the other things that allegedly caused the accident? Nobody was interested in going after the actual guilty parties then, and for obvious financial and legal reasons they never will be.

In handing down the ruling on Tuesday, the judge declared that the court saw a direct relationship between the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the evacuations and the extreme stress forced upon the evacuees, and that these factors drove Ikazaki to commit suicide.

Finally a voice of reason and compassion towards the victims of Fukushima, who have nedured over four years of misery. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, they throw money at an Olympic stadium to be a symbol to the world about how well Japan has "recovered" from 3/11. Talk about screwed-up priorities.

And, not one of the TEPCO executives has faced any criminal charges what-so-ever, despite openly admitting the meltdown was cause by human error and a failure to upgrade safety procedures and technology

Admitting human error is not the same as worthy of a negligence charge, the standard of which is failing to take "reasonable" precautions. What's reasonable is determined by a mix of regulatory and non-regulatory norms. As long as TEPCO hadn't broken any paper regs and they were not less careful and prompt to upgrade safety procedures and technology than the average in Japanese nuclear industry, they won't be guilty and they shouldn't be.

In fact, I'm very much of a mind that it is hypocritical for things to have gotten this far already. A country that turns human error into negligence charges is not going to make it very far as everyone thinks only of covering his butt.

Besides, you don't think anybody is going to "openly admit" to huamn error ... etc if they were going to be prosecuted, would they?

A country that turns human error into negligence charges is not going to make it very far as everyone thinks only of covering his butt.

There is a point however where human error does become negligence, particularly when there is more than one person responsible. It's a pattern with TEPCO which means that errors were as it seems to me, common knowledge, and overlooked.

the judge declared that the court saw a direct relationship between the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the evacuations and the extreme stress forced upon the evacuees

If TEPCO is guilty of that, aren't they also guilty of the disruption of business law as well? How many citizens businesses were and still are being disrupted? The government uses this law against many who hardly disrupt a single business, why don't they take action on this one?

You do know yes that the "victims of Fukushima" have received nearly ¥5 trillion in support and compensation payments and are in a better financial position than other Fukushima people outside of the evacuation zone or the other victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

zichi -- what a heartless post. First off, you know full well, your number of JPY 5 trillion is highly suspect, and includes nearly JPY 2 trillion paid to the JA, the agricultural coop. The amount actually paid directly to the survivors, when divided by their numbers, is a pittance. Second, as you no doubt know:

The government also announced that they would terminate compensation payments for all evacuees except those from the “difficult to return zone” by 2018. There is no consideration being given to the prospect of these people having a functioning home to return to or not.

So, basically, the government is washing their hands of these folks, regardless of whether or not they will have a home to return to.

Japan is a heartless country, even to its own victims. Except, of course, as I pointed out, unless you can help them look good with the Olympics. It thrills me that my post got thumbs-down -- means I scraped that carefully maintained veneer.

Japan is a heartless country, even to its own victims.

That is a gross error or misunderstanding on your part.

No, it is a statement of fact, as you yourself, in all your numbers simply reinforce. You believe simply spending money, a huge amount of which has been wasted, is "showing heart". You think JPY 100,000 a month in "support payments" and still living in bascially a shack is sufficient. Well, I don't. I think it is simply the country trying to assauge its guilt, because it benefitted from decades of cheap energy, all the while fully knowing the risks, and these folks are the victims.