Yokohama mayor apologizes to boy bullied for being a Fukushima evacuee

I sometimes wonder why this type of story often seems to bring out easily identified over long detailed pro-nuke shill commentators. Comments that have no real connection with the fundamental issue at hand. This was a story about a kid being bullied and extorted. Not about the supposed safety of nuclear power.

"Unless bullying is recognized (by authorities), we feel as if no one will fight together with us. I don't want anyone to suffer the way I did,"

Well said, young fella. Too often, bullying is swept under the carpet or rationalised as all part of the school/growing up experience. Too often, victims are told to "man up" and in some cases, even blamed for the actions of their tormentors.

The accident was triggered by a natural disaster of a scale which nobody had experienced in the thousand years 

Please stop the over exaggeration! Yes it was a major disaster, but nothing even close to the millions who perished in floods in China, or the hundreds of thousands who died in earthquakes there within the past 200 years or so, and accumulated totals of causalities either, individual events that dwarf the tsunami and earthquake by far.

Not to mention that the problems were man made because the people that perished in the tsunami failed to heed warnings from the people who left signs that that area was devastated before in history as well, and will more than likely happen again somewhere in the future.

 The accident never really turned into the nuclear disaster which it has been blown up into. 

I can not believe that any sane or intelligent person would ever make a statement like this? Oh and if you truly think this, why isnt it all cleaned up by now? They dont even know where the melted rods are, and cant even get close enough to find out either.

Apparently, bullied Fukushima refugee children and TEPCO are both entirely innocent and deserve our sympathy. You learn something new every day. Who knew this story could be twisted into a platform for defending nuclear power.

Tell me about it. After all the disaster that this nation still continues to grapple with and there are people who still want to defend tepco and nuke energy.

Profoundly twisted logic equating a bullied kid with TEPCO.

This kid had no choice.

Agree 100%

TEPCO were clearly to blame for the disaster which was "a profoundly man made disaster" according to the subsequent enquiry.

Of course.

bullying happened since 2011 till now. why took so long for the major to face this issue?

hope the boy be strong and get the ugliness side of human out of his mind.

He was called "germ" in reference to nuclear contamination and forked over 1.5 million yen to classmates.

1.5 million yen is a hell of a lot of cash. I am curious if the kids he gave them money to have paid restitution and if they have paid him compensation for all the problems they caused as well.

Not to mention that Yokohama and the prefecture owe this kid compensation for lack of oversight on their part as well!

Profoundly twisted logic equating a bullied kid with TEPCO.

This kid had no choice.

TEPCO were clearly to blame for the disaster which was "a profoundly man made disaster" according to the subsequent enquiry.

"platform for defending nuclear power"

Why does it need a platform? Look at today's CO2 headline and despair. Nuclear power deserves to be defended if it produces less CO2 than coal, oil and natural gas. It deserves to be defended if it produces far fewer toxins than the alternatives. Cadmium from solar panels, lead and mercury from coal, carbon monoxide and PCBs from oil and gas... those are lethal to humans FOREVER. Not just 100 years or a thousand years, but FOREVER, and they are being put into the atmosphere directly and daily, killing millions each year. The toxins are not contained or stored, but simply spewed and nobody seems to care, especially anti-nuclear people.

But a bully won't look at things rationally. I have never met a bully who respected math. A bully will repeat a tired mantra and create a rationale for extortion or demand apologies from a weakened victim.

I am not, by the way, extending my metaphor to the entire nuclear industry. I am simply saying that demonizing all things Fukushima has always been wrong, and it does not matter if it is a little kid or a large company. We all do the best we can and act in good faith. Tepco too. Those people are not ghouls. That needs to be recognized. Does someone need to have a "platform,," or can a person simply state an honest perspective and an observation?

You see, the VICTIM of bullying is not the issue here. The issue is, "Why do people who are doing their best deserve social derision far far out of proportion to some alleged risk they pose?" I contend that the kid is being "blamed" for the same thing Tepco is being "blamed" for. They were both at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"" bullied Fukushima refugee children and TEPCO are both entirely innocent "

Well, if you don't want it twisted, don't twist it. Really, what is the difference between this kid and Tepco? It is 2:45 pm on Friday afternoon, and everything is fine, and 5 minutes later you are fighting to pick up the pieces, doing the best you can. And you do it. And you survive and everyone is safe, and then you have to endure 6 years of bullying by people who were not even there and who had no stake in what took place in Fukushima. A bunch of people in Tokyo feel high and mighty and push the survivors around for years.

I was here. I have watched the media and the politics, and bullying is bullying, and to me the only difference is what is alleged, what is extorted, and what their political agenda is. It has gone on for six years, and I have seen it all. The question is, are you going to keep bullying, or have you had enough? Do people finally have the decency to see that Tepco has been working tirelessly to meet its responsibilities? Do they understand that Tepco employees had families in Fukushima too? I think they know. Bullies just don't care.

Apparently, bullied Fukushima refugee children and TEPCO are both entirely innocent and deserve our sympathy. You learn something new every day. Who knew this story could be twisted into a platform for defending nuclear power.

"He was called "germ" in reference to nuclear contamination and forked over 1.5 million yen to classmates."

Awful. Hysteria did this. Presumably, people played up a non-existent threat and used it to extort money from someone who felt guilty for something beyond his control. He did not ask to be in an earthquake or tsunami, or to be involved in a nuclear accident that killed nobody. The threat he posed to his schoolmates was entirely nonexistent. Nobody was harmed by radiation, and yet they bullied and bullied this kid until he "forked over" huge amounts of money to get them to stop. He just wanted to get back to normal. He just wanted to be a student and be part of society.

"told to go back to Fukushima or stay away under the false premise that they would contaminate others with radiation."

I wonder when people are going to look around and say, "Hey, maybe we have been bullying Tepco and its employees too. We exaggerate the risk from radiation, extort money from them, make them apologize incessantly for simple things, and accept a false premise that they would contaminate others with radiation." Maybe we just are not there yet. Someday, we will be. People who have not and will not be harmed are bullying Tepco just for doing their jobs.

I also want to make the obvious point that Yokohama benefited for 30 years from Fukushima Daiichi, which supplied cheap power to Tokyo. For someone from Tokyo to bully someone from Fukushima is truly adding insult to injury. They and their families shared none of this boy's sacrifice, but derived full benefits from it for 30 years. Truly reprehensible.