Thank you for your comment ^^ We're really proud to be Arashians right?
Those decontamination workers yes... although I have some mixed feelings because I know this have been pushed by the governement because of the upcoming Olympics, I really hope it's not too rushed, for the safety of everyone :/

Yeah, we are proud!
You are right. I do hope so. Everyone's safety is priority.

I'm sorry to vent but I have been stewing for these past 6 years.

I live in Australia and haven't been back to visit Japan since the Fukushima blew. It nevertheless completely changed me. I never had a rosy view of the world and apart from the dangers of uranium mining, I was rather ignorant to the workings of the nuclear power industry as we don't have nuclear power plants. What I have learned by closely following the fallout these past 6 years is that mankind's greed and cruelty knows no limits and that Fukushima will never be brought under control, certainly not in our lifetime.

Safety has never been a priority. The only way nuclear power can be profitable if it is heavily subsidised by governments who allow safety requirements to be cut wherever possible while turning a blind eye. There is a report from the 1970s illustated by Mizuki Shigeru about the terrible conditions and laughable safety standards inside this very same nuclear plant. It would be funny if it wasn't so horrifying. Fukushima Genpatsu no Yami is the title and it's available on Amazon Japan. As for the workers, as in the 1970s, many have no other means of earning a living, are sub-sub-contacted labour hired by or owing something to yakuza-run businesses, and even homeless people. The government has no record of more than 2000 people shipped in in the initial stages of the disaster to clear contamination. This means there will be no help for them when they inevitably become sick from exposure.

The safe radiation level for return that the government is promoting is that which is acceptable for adult male nuclear powerplant workers and is twenty times the recommended maximum limit for non-workers. The limit for children and the elderly who are more easily affected by constant exposure to low radiation levels should be 0. And the way they are measuring radiation is by clearing the immediate area around monitoring stations to skew readings in their favour. They are also only taking atmospheric readings from a meter above ground and not taking into account soil contamination and hotspots. As you know, children can get very dirty when they play.

The primary motivation to lift the evacuation orders is to save money. Once they deem an area safe to return to, even by their dangerous standards, they are no longer required to aid evacuees as they are reclassified as voluntary and are no longer the governments responsibility. The mother in the temporary housing who said she didn't want to return will be financially abandoned by the government despite having lost everything because of their abhorrent pro-nuclear policy. Despite the lifting of he order, most people have the sense to not want to return to a town so close to the plant. These people will find it incredibly hard to build a life from scratch with no support. So will the people who have decided to return when Fukushima inevitably blows again from a super typhoon or tsunami and they once again find themselves refugees.

You can see the priorities of a government that is financially blackmailing mothers to drag their children back into contamination and the resolve of a nation that turns a blind eye so a few people can run fast for two weeks in 2020. Imagine how many lives that obscene sports budget could help and how many children it could save from a lifetime of illness and cancer. Courting the olympics in a time of utter catastrophy is like lighting a cigar with a hundred dollar bill in front of a homeless person.

It's heartening that the son of a man who works for such a corrupt government wants to help shed light on the suffering of its victims. Even though Zero is a very light news program and he's probably under pressure from the network, his agency, and no doubt the government to keep it as apolitical as possible, I think he does a good job not to propagandise. I also appreciated the incredibly powerful shots of the endless masses of bags of soil. He's highlighted this in past years and I hope it makes anyone who is still somehow pro-nuclear realise how dirty nuclear power really is and how literally impossible decontamination is.

Thank you so much for making this available in English.

I think I've gotten all my frustrations out for another year!

Sorry again for the long and gloomy post. Here is a link to the report on Fukushima Daiichi from the 1970s. The illustrations are fantastic.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/福島原発の闇-原発下請け労働者の現実-堀江-邦夫/dp/402330980X

Edited 2017-03-11 02:09 pm (UTC)

Don't apologize, I think your opinion is really valuable, and I do agree with it as it's unfortunately the reality. As this report was kinda hopeful, I didn't want to write about this in it, also part of me was waiting for Sho to point out the rushing aspect of this (as you said, maybe his hands are tied and he has to use other ways to express his opinion). News Zero is not an investigation program.
But this is absolutely the reality.
While doing my researches for this sub, I found out about this Belgian documentary called Abandoned Land, which is a full report on the few habitants of Tomioka in 2016. Even the minister for environment said it was a lost cause... And here we are in 2017 with everyone sent back.
Money rules this world yes.

Anyway, thank you very much for your comment, it's for people like you that I sub News Zero.

Thank you very much for your comment, I knew this government was corrupted but this is sickening..