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Fukushima residents look for Olympic PR boost

38 Comments
By Jim Allen

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38 Comments
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Good for Japan. The Reconstruction Olympics will show the world that, well and truly, "Japan is back". I hope that the disaster-hit areas receive a huge economic boost. And that the terrible rumors are finished when the massive influx of foreign visitors comes to Tohoku and witness the recovery.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Happy to see this. However, Abe touted Fukushima as the major recipient of the benefits from the 2020 Olympics to the world and in his campaign drive and his support for the end of an ERROR Tokyo Governor Isihara. Despite this article, that promise of financial benifit seems to be getting lost in the hype to promote Tokyo. See BBC pay for news, never alludes to Fukushima or the graft, bribery and labor issues, Reality not getting invited to the party.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

you will not get a boost unless you own a hotel, eatery or train line.... keep dreaming

6 ( +6 / -0 )

The only benifit for Fukushima residents is they might get a short term job in Tokyo during the 2 week event and a T-shirt. Otherwise Fukushima is rightly or wrongly a no go zone linked to a nuclear disaster, that's never going to change no matter how many athletes prance around Tokyo.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Good luck to them. Japan's demographics mean that the number of people under 65 falls by a million a year. This is a huge challenge for domestic tourism. They have to attract a higher percentage of fewer people.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

So...have the effects of radiation mysteriously disappeared now?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

No matter how Japan Government slice it, the elephant in the room is Fukushima Daiichi NPP. It should have been entombed by the Government of Japan if they wanted good press or a positive public attitude toward Fukushima. The Government of Japan holds all the cards and they are ultimately to blame for Public Sentiment.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

As a tourist don't think visiting a Nuclear Disaster area is high on my list maybe if I had terminal cancer and an Olympic Tourch.....still not high on my list of places to see.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Teams forced to play at Fukushima are bringing their own food and water, and plan to stay away from Fukushima and bus in for the game day.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@Samit Basu the players need to bring their own oxygen too, But that is not practical. No, the Government wants a pat on the back for the job they did for Fukushima.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"It's a chance to show that Fukushima has become vibrant again," he said at a game in Sukagawa between the Fukushima Red Hopes and the Tochigi Golden Braves. "I wonder how foreign people will view us. I want the place to be packed with foreign visitors, so that people will see we are doing well, and that they tell others. I'm excited to have the games here."

My image of Fukushima is of people who still need help. Farmers struggling to sell produce labelled Fukushima and people still stuck living in little prefabs. If Fukushima is vibrant like this man says, with his happy smiley baseball game as evidence, should I care about those people any more? It doesn't sound like he does.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The entire Olympic Games should have been held in Tohoku. Sendai has plenty of facilities and it wouldn't have been any more expensive than Tokyo.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Will do absolutely nothing for Fukushima. Athletes are still afraid to compete in Tokyo let alone taking a day trip to Fukushima.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

it's Fukashima that's it's name

Except that it's not.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Is Fukushima all of a sudden safe from radiation exposure?

Dr Helen Caldicott, paediatrican, nuclear medicine expert and former Harvard professor of paediatrics, says it is insane that Tokyo is hosting the Olympics. Skip to 3:05 for her interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0hgfBkIBDM

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

if you believe your own comment then provide us with the evidence that the whole of the Fukushima prefecture is contaminated with radiation. I at least provided a link to a citizens map showing the radiation levels. There are others too.

The nuclear disaster site is limited to the nuclear plant. There are high levels of radiations in the towns next to the plant. There are also places within the 30 km exclusion still with hot spots of high radiation.

But the whole of the prefecture is not contaminated.

@Zichi - I don't think anyone believes the entire Fukushima prefecture is heavily contaminated with radiation. But is there any harm in being careful? Why would a visitor go anywhere near Fukushima?

The Japanese government and TEPCO are always denying and downplaying the extent of the problem, and they are now pushing to serve Fukushima farm produce to visiting athletes. Would you willingly eat produce/meat from Fukushima? Perhaps (I wouldn't). Would you devise your entire meal at home with Fukushima produce for a year? Probably not (you couldn't pay me to).

The Fukushima Prefectural Government has set its sights on promoting local farm products certified under Global Good Agricultural Practices (Global GAP), with an eye toward having them served to Olympic athletes in 2020.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/15/national/fukushima-high-hopes-certified-farm-produce-ahead-2020-games/#.XUEgtugzZPY

Even here is Australia I've stopped going to ramen restaurants after glancing at the kitchen and noticing Japanese labelled bags of rice and tins of corn.

Japan is banking on convincing the rest of the world that Fukushima's nuclear disaster is now all under control and is completely safe from the dangers of radiation outside the small exclusion zone, but they're not fooling anyone.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I'm sure Chenoval is a specific place and is just a small part of land, Fukashima is a prefecture and as such will forever be linked to radiation, that's just how it is. Can't just brush a nuclear disaster (ongoing) under the carpet.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Nothing from Helen Caldicott on the 2017 massive radiation leak from Russia 100 times greater than Fukushima and spread right across Europe. Nothing, astounding!

@zichi - I must say that was news to me. I had to read up on it. Wonder why it wasn't covered extensively in the news?

Sources I've read are conflicting, but a crucial piece of information is the half life of the radioactive material, about a year for the material found in Russia (Ru-106), vs 30 years for Fukushima (Cs-137). So saying that the 2017 Russian radiation leak is 100 times worse than Fukushima is misleading.

The half-life of Ru-106 is 374 days, meaning that in just over a year, half of the material will have decayed away. So the leak will still be detectable for five or six years, but it is unlikely to require any major environmental cleanup operation.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/21/russian-radiation-leak-everything-you-need-to-know

The initial nuclear accident from the Fukushima reactors released several radioactive isotopes, such as iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137. Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years and remains in the environment for decades.

Source: https://www.livescience.com/43631-fukushima-radiation-ocean-arrives-west-coast.html

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Zichi your point is valid as is mine Fukashima is forever linked to disaster of a nuclear kind. Rightly or wrongly if anyone says Fukashima the first thought isn't butterflies.

No one cares how big it is as a prefecture it's Fucashima thus poisoned for all time.

thankyou TEPCO.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@Zichi - so it is perfecly safe to visit Fukushima, as long as it is outside the exclusion zone? And the nuclear disaster is very much under control? And farm/sea produce from Fukushima is safe? Gee where have I heard that before I wonder...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10395434/Japanese-PM-eats-seafood-caught-off-Fukushima.html

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201906110001.html

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Zichi your point is valid as is mine Fukashima is forever linked to disaster of a nuclear kind. Rightly or wrongly if anyone says Fukashima the first thought isn't butterflies.

@Cricky - When I think of Fukushima/Fukashima the first thing I think of is the nuclear disaster. Second thing that comes to mind is the lovable 'Fukuppy' mascot.

No one cares how big it is as a prefecture it's Fucashima thus poisoned for all time.

The Fukushima apologists in this thread won't like it but Fukushima is the 21st century Chernobyl, in the minds of 99.9% of people.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Zichi I'm not trying to denigrate a whole region but forever Fukashima will be linked to nuclear disaster. Chenoval what ever way you spell it. It's also a disaster.

And I will never buy anything that has a Fucashima brand ever or Chenoval ( spelling aside) For that prefecture it's over.

Would you like this juicy strawberry from Fukashima mmmmmm......no thanks

funny thing is I say no thanks then smoke. So probably not the best advocate.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Fukushima is a very large prefecture and not all of it received radiation from the nuclear disaster. 

I'll definitely not have what he's smoking. Blind unwavering love aside, shouldn't common sense prevail in cases such as these? How can you honestly believe this?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

All the current Nuclear radiation exposure map links of Japan that I could find.

https://safecast.org/tilemap/

https://jciv.iidj.net/map/

Pacific Ocean Map

http://ourradioactiveocean.org/results

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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