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Fukushima eyes 2020 Tokyo Olympics for recovery message

24 Comments
By Shingo ITO

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© 2019 AFP

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24 Comments
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Screw you Tepco, all your executive team should be in jail.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

How many tix have already been sold for the Fukushima venues? Softball and baseball? I have a feeling only the Japanese fans will be attending, I don't see Europeans or other foreigners attending the games. I'm sorry for being so negative, but I would call it being realistic. The money spent for the Olympics should have been used for the actual recovery of the Tohoku area. How many people are still living in temporary housing and how many are displaced and committing suicide and facing mental health issues? We don't hear news about PTSD in the first responders and the search crews who day after day recovered bodies many beyond recognition. Unfortunately Fukushima will forever be named in the same sentence as Chernobyl and though as he may, Abe will never be able to change this. The LDP and TEPCO are responsible for this and the Olympics is not going to change it. Sorry, hit that minus button for being so negative, don't care because everything is not hunky dory.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

The way Abe government and Tepco handled this is utterly disgraceful.

Normal Japanese people made efforts going to Tohoku helping to clean etc...

Government bought into the Olympics while many in Tohoku still live in temporary housing...

8 ( +9 / -1 )

The torch relay is a golden opportunity to send a message about our reconstruction to the world

I think the message is more symbolic than anything else. The number of people who will hear it will be pretty minimal.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Oh so it's all fixed now, is it?

3 ( +10 / -7 )

I just took a trip to Fukushima. It is extremely sad how the area has been affected. Fukushima is a big place and much of it has less radiation than parts of Tokyo. How do I know?

https://safecast.org/tilemap/?y=37.553&x=140.289&z=9&l=2&m=3

You can change the map to show just the point readings, or an interpolation based upon readings made by vehicles traveling along the roads. I visited cities and mountains, all west of the hardest affected areas. I visited Okama crater at Zao. Most of the contamination is probably stopped from going inland from these mountain winds which persistently blow from the NW and can be seen by how the plants are permanently tilted towards Fukushima, yet the areas anywhere near Fukushima are permanently burned into people's minds as scary places even though they have less radiation than parts of Tokyo. Check out Ayase and Gotanno in Adachi-ku on the map above and the area just south of Misato.

I encourage people to educate themselves before blindly posting fear mongering blather. It really affects people up there. Look at the radiation levels in Aizuwakamatsu and up in Shiroishi, two of the places we went to visit castles. They are desperate for visitors. The authentic castle reconstruction at Shiroishi is stunning and the museum in Aizuwakamatsu is better than at Osaka-jo(a similar, but better concrete reconstruction). There are plenty of other areas with hardly any radiation in Fukushima that should be promoted not blasphemed by folks who have no idea what they are talking about. I am just as scared as everyone else about radiation, but arm yourselves first before saying something that just serves to hurt those who are innocent.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Recovery message yes, and that all it is because nothing has been recovered.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Try as they may, Fukushima will be known for the 2011 nuclear disaster for a very, very long time. Even the Japanese steer clear, so how can the government hope to promote the place to tourists and visitors? If the J-gov really want the world to believe that Fukushima is safe, they should move their families and Diet there.

The J-Village's pitch was her team's home ground, said the 44-year-old, who stayed with TEPCO as an employee after retiring from football.

The money is just too good, huh?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

What a nice propaganda piece this is. Now I assume we are all expected to believe that thousands of tons of deadly irradiated soil and water aren't stacked up in flimsy containers which weren't designed to last eight years and are leaking their contents all the time?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Anyone whose seen the Google street view pics knows Fukushima is anything but recovered but let's just sweep the dust under the rug, lock the closet and guests over.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

what does "Tokyo Olympic" have to do with Fukushima?

2 ( +6 / -4 )

It is unfortunate that the nuclear plant had the same name as the entire prefecture. For example, imagine if the Three Mile Island reactor was instead named the Pennsylvania No.1 Generating Station? Or Chernobyl was called the Northern Kiev Power Plant?

By way of comparison, the distance between the baseball stadium in Fukushima is quite similar to the distances separating Newark, New Jersey from the Three Mile Island plant and Kiev from Chernobyl.

There is also a mountain range that separates central Fukushima from the power plants on the coast.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/21316/japanese-government-misleading-un-on-impact-of-fukushima-fallout-on-children-decontamination-workers/

"“In areas where some of these decontamination workers are operating, the radiation levels would be considered an emergency if they were inside a nuclear facility,” said Shaun Burnie, Senior Nuclear Specialist of Greenpeace Germany. “These workers have received almost no training in radiation protection, are poorly paid, exposed to high radiation, and risk losing their jobs if they speak out. UN human rights Special Rapporteurs are absolutely right to warn the Japanese government over these risks and violations.”[2]"

Fukushima aims to feed world class athelet who are attending 2020 Olympic with their produce:

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

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Whenever the wind blows or a farmer burns plant waste millions of radioactive particles will be dispersed and carried aloft.

The only way to remain safe is not to enter areas where there is radioactivity.

It only seems to be the Japanese that have a desire to repopulate areas where nuclear disasters have occurred-strange.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Teams forced to play in Fukushima(Women's Softball, a couple of men's baseball) are bringing in all their food and water with them, will refuse everything provided by Japan.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

https://www.thenation.com/article/is-fukushima-safe-for-the-olympic-games/

Is Fukushima Safe for the Olympics?

A recent visit suggests that the repercussions of the 2011 nuclear disaster aren't over. 

JULY 25, 2019

But after a visit to Fukushima, their claims seem questionable at best. In fact, the entire setup is a profoundly cynical act of “post-truth” politics. Fukushima is not yet safe, and no amount of sunny rhetoric from Olympic bigwigs as well as Japanese politicians, can make it so.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

What proof is there of radiation causing harm in living organisms?

Well, an early study on insect mutation s showed genetic abnormalities due to radiation damage.

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00570

Since radioactive elements bioaccumulate then we could propose that there has been and will be similar effects in human populations.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

What proof is there of radiation causing harm in living organisms

Are we living in the twilight zone? How can anyone ask this with a straight face?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

https://safecast.org/tilemap/?y=37.553&x=140.289&z=9&l=2&m=3

My point of sharing that radiation map is to point out that not just Fukushima has been affected, but Miyagi and Yamagata as well, yet the radiation levels are really low. I recommend checking out this map and visiting where you feel comfortable. People noticed that our car was from Tokyo several times during our trip. As we drove back from Shiroishi to Yonezawa along route 113, a woman running a gas station gave us a pamphlet of upcoming festivals as she proceeded to fill up our car's tank at the 'self-serve' gas station. Obviously she was encouraging us to spread the word about Miyagi. Stunningly beautiful route through the mountains.

As for the J-Village sports complex indeed shows acceptable amounts of radiation, especially being so close to the nuclear facility. Surprising.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

How to believe, so many article and many documentary film say "no".

Japanese government, serious considering to give up your host of Tokyo Olympics.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Unbelievably disgraceful and disrespectful to try to cover up the danger Fukushima still poses. And Japan wants to theme the upcoming Olympics as "Recovery Olympics"? Like WTF Japan?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Very interesting to see how Japanese people have a very different idea about safety and recovery, compared to people in other countries.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Tokyo Olympics, Fukushima style!

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

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