Tokyo Gov Naoki Inose has publicly contradicted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's reassurances to the International Olympic Committee that contaminated water leaks from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are "under control."
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Inose refuted Abe's claim, telling reporters that the water leaks at the plant were "not necessarily under control," Fuji TV reported Saturday.
Hours before the IOC declared Tokyo the host city for the 2020 Games, Abe flew to Buenos Aries from the G20 summit in St Petersburg, Russia, to give an emphatic speech in English declaring that radiation from the leakage would not impact waters outside the immediate vicinity of the plant.
Inose said, "The government must acknowledge this as a national problem so that we can head toward a real solution."
Meanwhile, Fukushima operator TEPCO said that an internal investigation revealed five loose bolts on an iron plate may have been the cause of the water leak.
© Japan Today
33 Comments
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gaijinfo
I'd say there's about a 50% chance of the Olympics going off as planned without some kind of economic (yen collapse) or Fukushima catastrophe.
Get Real
Must conceal this from the Supreme Advisor.
SenseNotSoCommon
So that's the mystery plate that struck Tokyo Tower!
Jimizo
Give Abe time and he'll probably add something like 'not necessarily' to his original statement now that the Olympics are here. I hope for all our sakes that we don't hear something like this come November.
CrazyJoe
This whole thing is beginning to get out of control.
Thunderbird2
So have those five loose bolts been tightened and is the leak now stopped?
spudman
Yes and no, the tanks are designed to be stop gap, with gaps.
Thunderbird2
So the bolts weren't the problem?
gogogo
NEW PM PLEASE! Abe is a lying sack of poop!
All he cares about is giving big business tax breaks and throwing money at them for the Olympics.
Nothing has changed, Tepco are still in charge, no one is in jail, fined or otherwise removed from their position and everyone seems to be getting paid
seraphine
I feel sorry for the Japanese people. I don't know who to believe. Abe says one thing and the governor another. This seems to go for most of Japan's spokespeople who contradict each other on a regular basis.Hope the radiation situation is not as bad as we think it is...
Disillusioned
So, on one hand we have the lying keniving Abe and on the other we have an outspoken headline whore. Japan truly is a land of contrasts.
BertieWooster
gogogo,
I must agree. Abe has been PM for far too long.
In any case, Japan's PMs usually change every couple of months.
As for the next one, I'd like one with just a touch of cohones, who doesn't listen to his American "advisors," and who actually represents the Japanese people rather than only the vested interests.
Too much to hope for?
Probably, but we can but dream!
Jeremy Rigby
What leak? The ground water leak from the reactor pool....the steaming puddle of water.....and or I like the way they said 'may'....
Skeeter27
Wait a minute!!! 5 loose bolts will allow 300tons of water to leak everyday??? And it's taken this long to see all that water leaking???? Sorry I can't trust this from them!
FightingViking
Let's just hope the "echoes" of this latest "discovery" go all the way over to the IOC so that they can prepare for a new vote.
Sauron
I don't usually agree with Inose, but hopefully views like his will get the ball rolling:
BertieWooster
Abe is gone, gone, gone.
Bye bye to the American puppet!
FightingViking
@Thunderbird2
Because Japan CAN afford it... ? While the people in Fukushima are still living in temporary quarters and Japan is also offering to "help" other countries financially...? Turmoil does end one day but in any case, where Spain is concerned, they already have all the installations they need for the games (no need to destroy famous old haunts in Tokyo, or make the poor old man leave his home for the second time - just because of the games) not to mention that hosting them would boost their moral and help them financially...
Jimizo
@Bertie 'Bye bye to the American puppet' I suppose you could say that about the herd of temps who've led the country over the past few decades. I admire your optimism if you can see anything different from the LDP after Abe is shown the door for a second time.
Ali Khan
This is the issue of the humanity, the lives of the millions of people are at stake, there should be no politics, no diplomacy, truth should come out
toshiko
Inose had press talks a few times to assure no nuclear leak issues in Tokyo beiore IOC awarded to Tokyo. Now, he is confessing? Or his boss man Ishihara coached him again?
mataka
The Japanese government / Tepco approach to Fukushima: Roll that die already!
If it's 1 to 3, "The situation is under control" If it's 4 to 6, "The situation is not under control"
smithinjapan
So Inose says a day before the IOC vote that the media is over-playing the problems with Fukushima, and now that the vote has been decided and Tokyo has the games he's suddenly saying things are not under control? Hmmm...
BertieWooster
Jimizo,
Yes, I do say that. I think you hit the nail on the head.
Of course, I don't.
Ozawa, the one person who, in recent Japanese politics, might have set things right was tromped and destroyed before he got off the ground.
I don't have much hope for the LDP or any other party or individual in Japanese politics, but Abe has to go. What with the TPP, his Americo-centric leanings and his economic and militaristic "policies," he will drag the country down to a point where it cannot possibly recover.
Almost anyone would be better.
globalwatcher
Not under control, under control, not under control. So who is telling a truth?
Well, US nuke scientists have been saying Fukushima is not under control since the 3/11. You guys are living in a pile of radio active contaminated environment that is very hazardous to your health. No more denial, please. That's the truth.
hereforever
Does anyone wanna bet Abe has a stomachache before the end of the year?
pochan
Well the people saying it is not under control have less reason to lie
warewarenihonjin
Everybody in a world contradicts A e's claim that Fukushima is under control. Of course it is not under control, and it willnot be until amakudaris and pretending mouth people let scientists have an authority here. So much bollocks! So much danger!
ambrosia
Ishihara wanted the Olympics more than I want Taylor Swift to stop singing. Why in the world would he have coached him to say something that could potentially sabotage Tokyo's chances of keeping them?
toshiko
ambrosia: Abe coached Inose to telk Tokyo is nuclear safe. Both of them were representative of JOC. Also, they are in same political party. Abe had been a popular fxtion writer before he became a politician. He and Morita, who changed Tokyo Denki Tsushin to Sony name years ago co-authored. "No to ieru Nippon. He guided Inose to begin writing books beside just a politician. Then Inose wrrote many books. Sales hasn't been too much but he follows Ishihara's guidence. It was way before JOC promoted Tokyo Olympics. thought everybody knows tokyo succeeded in getting Olympic. Whatever he talks now is after Olympic decision.
presto345
While the nuclear problems can not be under estimated, Inose is just another flip flop politician trying to stay in the lime light.
toshiko
I goofed on my previous comment, Not, Abe but Ishihara. Before Olympic desision, Inose c;aimed Japan is nulear safe. Ishihara coached. Now. Ishihara guide Inose to oppose anything Abe say. Ishihara has eyes on next PM election. Inose is flipping and flapping.
kurisupisu
The contamination from the plant is way out of control-how is it that PM Abe doesn't know this????