The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 9 | Issue 16 | Number 2 | Article ID 3516 | Apr 18, 2011

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Fukushima Residents Seek Answers Amid Mixed Signals FromMedia, TEPCO and Government. Report from the RadiationExclusion Zone　　福島県民、マスコミ・東京電力・政府からの交錯する信号の中で答を模索−−自主避難要請区域よりの報告

Makiko Segawa

Fukushima Residents Seek AnswersAmid Mixed Signals From Media,TEPCO and Government. Reportfrom the Radiation Exclusion Zone(Updated May 16)

Makiko SEGAWA in Fukushima

Mistrust of the media has surged among thepeople of Fukushima Prefecture. In part this isdue to reports filed by mainstream journalistswho are unwilling to visit the area near thecrippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant. But above al l i t is the result ofcontradictory reportsreleased by the media,TEPCO and the government.

On the one hand, many local officials andresidents in Fukushima insist that the situationis safe and that the media, in fanningunwarranted fears, are damaging the economyof the region.By contrast, many freelancejournalists in Tokyo report that the centralgovernment is downplaying the fact thatradiation leakage has been massive and thatthe threat to public health has been woefullyunderestimated. While the government longhewed to its original definition of a 20kilometer exclusion zone, following the April 12announcement that the Fukushima radiationseverity level has been raised from a level 5event (as with Three Mile Island) to a level 7event (as with Chernobyl), the government alsoextended the radiation exclusion zone from 20kilometers to at least five communities in the

30-50 kilometer range.

In recent weeks, many Fukushima residentswho fled in the first week of the nuclear crisishave begun returning home and attempting toresume normal activities. For example, somelocal people in Iwaki city, 40-50 km from theFukushima Daiichi reactor, are convinced thatit is now safe to return despite the highradiation levels recorded. Here is one example.

School Entrance Ceremony Amid RadiationFear in an Exclusion Zone Near theFukushima Daiichi Reactor

In Japan, April’s cherry blossoms signal asymbolic beginning, a new stage in life. OnApril 6th, along with school children across thenation, Iwaki City, within the 40 km radiationexclusion zone, held many school entranceceremonies for elementary, middle and highschools.

Iwaki's Yumoto Daini Middle School’sceremony was a bit different: not only werethere 33 new students, but refugees living onthe school grounds and some members of theSelf Defense Force also attended. Overall 107people participated in the ceremony.Headmaster Sawai Shiro may have exceededhis authority in taking the humanitarian step ofgranting permission for the refugees to remainon campus as the school year begins, at therisk of being punished later for breaking rules.

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School Entrance Ceremony at Yumoto Daini MiddleSchool, Iwaki City, Fukushima

Local sources report that in the first week or soafter the nuclear crisis began, Iwaki Cityexperienced difficulties in receiving supplieslike food and fuel because many agents refusedto deliver.Since early April, refugees who hadevacuated outside the prefecture startedreturning. Restaurants in downtown Iwaki arereopening and many convenience stores boastreasonably well-stocked shelves, while gas,water and electricity have been restored. IwakiCity has repeatedly confirmed that “radiation isat a stable level which is not harmful to humanhealth.” Iwaki officials explain that thisjudgment is based on figures provided by theFukushima prefectural government regularlyupdated since March 11.

Principal Sawai began his welcome speech bysaying, "I am glad to be able to confirm that all33 new students are participating in thisceremony amidst a disaster that had forcedmany people to leave Yumoto.""In our district,”he continued,“some people survived bydrinking water from their bath for weeks asthere was no running water. I want you to carefor each other especially for anyone who is introuble." He concluded, "You young students,are the future of Japan. Now, we should bebound as one beyond differences in ideas,position or self interest."

Though all the new students attended, not allteachers were there. As a result of thecatastrophe, personnel for the school wasfrozen and new teachers were not dispatchedto the school, Sawai explained. As a result ofthe lack of teachers, there will be only oneclass run by a teacher for each grade.

School Doctor Informs Children “Theradiation problem is already finished.”

Following the principal’s speech, the school’sdoctor in his white coat stated matter-of-factlythat, based on science, people should know thatthe worst of the earthquake damage hadpassed and that radiation leakages from theFukushima Daiichi plant were decreasing andwould soon fade away.

“The radiation problem is already finished,” hetold the children and their parents. “You can goto school and go outside without any problem.You should not fear malicious gossip.”

While the doctor’s assurance that all majorrisks have ended would certainly raiseeyebrows among most people outside theprefecture, many locals share this belief. Wenote the difference in perspective betweenradiation experts and people assessing theissues at a distance and those on the groundfacing the destruction of their livelihood. Whilerumors of the dangers of radiation continue toswirl, many locals are even more afraid thatrumors will destroy their businesses and anyhope of securing their livelihood and rebuildingtheir communities.

Ikarashi Yoshitaka, 33, is one who isparticularly keen on restoring his business andthe local economy, a goal that leads him todownplay warnings of radiation risk.“It is justan emotional thesis that ours is ‘a city indanger!’” he insisted. Together with dozens ofvolunteers from across Japan, Ikarashi hasvisited many areas throughout the radiationexclusion zone. He confidently asserts that his$600 made in U.S "Geiger counter" has

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detected no abnormal amount of radiation.

Ikarashi is troubled by the fact that the milkbusiness he manages suffered a 90% drop insales as a result of radiation fears. Somefarmers have been forced to throw away theirmilk, and at least one local farmer is rumoredto have committed suicide over the ruin of hisbusiness.

Following the government announcement oflevel 7, Ikarashi observed that “residents willnot listen; they don’t trust the government. Thegreatest concern for locals is to restore theirtowns and I’m doing my best to restore IwakiCity.”

Honma Hiroshi, 56, on patrol with the SDF inIwaki comments: “I’m surprised that localpeople are so calm. Even within the 30 kmradiation exclusion zone, they don’t even wearspecial anti-radiation clothes (Taibex). Evenafter the level 7 announcement, there has beenno panic in the city."

Desperation over the destruction of the localeconomy appears to have provoked anunscientific optimism concerning radiation insome local communities struggling to get backon their feet.

Shortage of Information and Aid forFukushima Citizens in the RadiationExclusion Zone

Ikarashi points out that the reason for theabsence of trustworthy information and thepresence of baseless gossip is “lack ofinformation”; the national media tend to avoidentering the radiation exclusion zone, fearingcontamination and merely regurgitate theclaims of the local government and officialsobtained by telephone.

A more intense form of the same crisis struckMinami-Soma City, closer to the nuclear plantwithin the 20 km zone but on its northern side.For more than a week, the city was like an

island bereft of food, water, and gasoline.Finally, in desperation, on March 24, MayorSakurai Katsunobu sent an SOS to the worldthrough YouTube begging for support to hisdying community.

Mayor Sakurai Katsunobu

Mayor Sakurai explained that his gambit ofa i r i n g a Y o u t u b e(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ZHQ--cK40) call for help succeeded in drawing theattention of the central government, and Tokyohas taken seriously subsequent requests.However, Sakurai, said that as of April 6, only20,000 residents remained of a population of70,000. “We have to think of the means to savethe remaining weak people (aged people andsomeone who do not have money to evacuate)",Sakurai said sadly.

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Minami Soma City

On April 7, the mayor made a second Youtube(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBcnhghD1wQ), observing that "Many businesses hadstarted operating. But, there is no reliableinformation on the nuclear reactor!"

In the nuclear radiation exclusion zone close tothe plant, large numbers of people are out ofwork. The Fukushima Labor Bureau, on March29, said that as a result of the East JapanEarthquake and Tsunami disaster, about58,000 people in approximately 4,800 workplaces within the 30 km exclusion zone aroundthe Fukushima Nuclear Reactor have lost jobs.

Local people voice concern that the jobless rateis being inflated as a result of perniciousrumors. At the same time that the schoolceremony was being held, a long queue ofpeople was lined up in front of the PublicEmployment Agency in Taira, Iwaki from 8 a.m.in hope of finding work.

Public Employment Agency, Taira

"Before, people formed queues severalkilometers long at gas stations; now peoplestand in a long line at the employment agency,"Mori Akira, 63, pastor of the Global MissionChapel, sighed.

Shimoyamada Matsuto, 50, director of publicrelations for Iwaki city Disaster ManagementHeadquarters, explained, "Since harmfulrumors are so powerful, not only are farmingand fishing industries affected, even someindustries have been damaged as a result ofclaims that even machines are contaminated!"

Fukushima provides one third of the electricpower for the Tokyo Metropolitan Area,including both nuclear and thermal powerplants. “If Fukushima goes down, the entirecapital region will panic!" Shimoyamadawarned.

Study Session with Hatoyama Yukio andFreelance Journalists: Questioning theMedia, the Government and TEPCO

In Tokyo, on April 6, a group of freelancejournalists centered on Uesugi Takashi, 43,h e l d a m e d i a s e s s i o n(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0CRuajD6C8) with dozens of DPJ lawmakers, includingformer Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio, toquestion the performance of the media in the

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wake of the Fukushima disaster.

Hatoyama Yukio (right) Uesugi Takashi (left) atmedia conference

Kawauchi Hiroshi, a DPJ member of the Houseof Representative, stated that “Informationabout radiation diffusion should be correctlyrevealed to the nation. However, so far onlyonce was this done."He explained thefrustration of local officials. "The informationfrom TEPCO (Tokyo Electronic PowerCompany) should be precisely conveyed. Italked to the mayor of Iidate village (in the30km zone), whotold me, 'There is noinformation and I do not know what to do.'"

The Media Corruption that Protects TEPCO

Uesugi Takashi explained the core of theproblem behind misinformation and rumors.

"Freelance journalists and foreign media arepursuing the facts, even going into theradiat ion exc lus ion zone. However ,surprisingly, the Japan government continuesto prevent freelance journalists and overseasmedia from gaining access to official pressconferences at the prime minister's house andgovernment."

Uesugi stated that since March 11th, thegovernment has excluded all internet media

and all foreign media from official pressconferences on the "Emergency Situation".While foreign media have scrambled to gatherinformationabout the Fukushima Reactor, theyhave been denied access to the directinformation provided by the government andone consequence of this is that "rumor-rifenews has been broadcast overseas."

In fact, access has been limited in two ways.First, while Chief Cabinet Secretary EdanoYukio holds twice daily press conferences forrepresentatives of the big Japanese media,registered representatives of freelance andinternet media are limited to a single pressconference per week. Second, in contrast toJapanese media who are briefed regularly byEdano and periodically by Prime Miniser Kan,foreign media are briefed exclusively byadministrative staff.

Uesugi also notes that at TEPCO pressconferences, which are now being held atcompany headquarters, foreign correspondentsand Japanese freelancers regularly ask probingquestions while mainstream journalists simplyrecord and report company statementsreiterating that the situation is basically undercontrol and there is nothing to worry about.One reason for this, Uesugi suggests, is thatTEPCO, a giant media sponsor, has an annual20 billion yen advertising budget. "The mediakeeps defending the information from TEPCO!”“The Japanese media today is no different fromthe wartime propaganda media that keptrepeating to the very end that ‘Japan is winningthe war against America,’” Uesugi exclaimed.

There is one particularly telling example of themedia shielding TEPCO by suppressinginformation. This concerns “plutonium”.According to Uesugi, after the reactor blew upon March 14, there was concern about theleakage of plutonium. However, astonishingly,until two weeks later when Uesugi asked, not asingle media representative had raised thequestion of plutonium at TEPCO's press

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conferences.

On March 26, in response to Uesugi’s query,TEPCO stated, “We do not measure the level ofplutonium and do not even have a detector toscale it.” Ironically, the next day, Chief CabinetSecretary Edano announced that “plutoniumwas detected”.

When TEPCO finally released data onradioactive plutonium on March 28, it statedthat plutonium -238, -239, and -240 were foundin the ground, but insisted that it posed nohuman risk. Since TEPCO provided noclarification of the meaning of the plutoniumradiation findings, the mainstream pressmerely reported the presence of the radiationw i t h o u t a s s e s s m e n t ( l i n k(http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/11032806-j.html)). Nippon Television on March 29 headlinedi t s i n t e r v i e w(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn_7_tLM8eA) with Tokyo University Prof. NakagawaKeiichi, a radiation specialist, “Plutonium fromthe power plant—No effect on neighbors.”

On March 15, Uesugi criticized TEPCO for itsclosed attitude toward information on a TBSradio program. For this, he was immediatelydismissed from his regular program. Thescandal involving TEPCO’s silencing of themedia took an interesting turn two weeks later.At the time of the disaster on March 11, TEPCOChairman Katsumata Tsunehisa was hostingdozens of mainstream media executives on a“study session” in China.When asked about thisfact by freelance journalist Tanaka Ryusaku ata TEPCO press conference on March 30,Katsumata defended the practice.

“It is a fact that we traveled together to China,”he said, “[TEPCO] did not pay all the expensesof the trip, but we paid more than they did.Certainly they are executives of the massmedia, but they are all members of the studysession.”

When Tanaka requested the names of the

media executives hosted by TEPCO in China,Katsumata retorted, “I cannot reveal theirnames since this is private information.” But itis precisely such collusive relations betweenmainstream media, the government andTEPCO, that results in the censorship ofinformation concerning nuclear problems.

Now the Japanese government has moved tocrack down on independent reportage andcriticism of the government’s policies in thewake of the disaster by deciding what citizensmay or may not talk about in public. A newproject team has been created by the Ministryof Internal Affairs and Communication, theNational Police Agency, and METI to combat“rumors” deemed harmful to Japanese securityin the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

The government charges that the damagecaused by earthquakes and by the nuclearaccident are being magnified by irresponsiblerumors, and the government must take actionfor the sake of the public good. The projectteam has begun to send “letters of request(http://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_news/s-news/01kiban08_01000023.html)” to such organizationsas telephone companies, internet providers,cable television stations, and others,demanding that they “take adequate measuresbased on the guidelines in response to illegalinformation. ”The measures include erasing anyinformation from internet sites that theauthorities deem harmful to public order andmorality.

Children of Minami-Soma: An Interviewwith Mayor Sakurai Katsunobu

Makiko Segawa

In an exclusive interview with the writer in the first week of May,

Minami-Soma Mayor Sakurai Katsunobu discussed the potential

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health risks, especially for children.

Mayor Sakurai—recently named by Time magazine as one of the

top 100 influential people of 2011—tends to downplay

health concerns, saying that the current level of radiation in the

city is "not that dangerous."

"Certainly, the figure in our city is a bit higher than in Tokyo, but

monitoring tests tell us that it is lower than in Fukushima City or

Koriyama City, for example."

Both of the cities he named are much further from the troubled

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant than his own community.

The

mayor points out that radiation contamination does not

correspond neatly with how distance from the plant, but varies

widely based on wind direction and the nature of the terrain.

But are the children of Minami-Soma out of danger?

"Of course it is important to move the kids to a safe place," he

responds, "but if the current radiation readings continue as they

are now, it is not really dangerous."

"If the measurements stabilize,” the Mayor continued, “we can

think about reopening schools even in the 20-30 km exclusion

zone."

Some local schools in the more distant parts of the city have

already reopened—since April 22, seven public elementary and

middle schools have resumed their functions.

Indeed, on April 27 the city-run Kashima Elementary School held

an outdoor emergency exercise for about 700 children involving

the scenario of an incoming tsunami.

When pressed about whether or not he was concerned about the

future cancer rate among today’s local children, Mayor

Sakurai offered the following comment: "Regardless of the

radiation problem, cancer rates are already surging in society and

we need to address this issue realistically."

He insisted that people shouldn't compare the problems in his

city with what occurred in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where many

people died in a short period after receiving a blast of

concentrated radiation.

"No one even knows for sure how many people died as a result of

the Chernobyl disaster—it's as if people are afraid of a ghost that

never appears."

Under close questioning, Mayor Sakurai acknowledged that the

city has planned for further evacuations should a fresh central

government order come down, but quickly added, "I don't want to

incite fear among the people."

Sakurai estimated that about 40,000 of the city's normal

70,000 population are currently residing in the city, but about 2/3

of the children have been evacuated.

Outside the city office among the people at large, the same sort

of optimism seems to be prevalent.

Yoshihisa Tahara of the Haramachi district of Minami Soma,

seemed almost offended to be asked about radiation. This

president of a sewage company remarked, "There is no worry

about radiation here; it's just an exaggeration."

Near the roadblocks at the 20 kilometer exclusion zone,

children were playing outdoors without any hint of concern.

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When asked what they were doing there, they smiled and

jumped around before saying, "We came to meet the

soldiers of the Self-Defense Forces!"

Their 30-year-old mother explained that she wasn't worried:

"Look at those police over there in light clothing—I don't think

there is any cause to be scared."

She did complain, however, that an SDF officer refused to answer

her question when she asked how much radiation they were

detecting in the area. The officer said that he was under orders

not to give out such information to the local residents.

"I cannot trust the government," she remarked, "but no matterhow high the radiation may be and whatever compensation Imight receive, I don't want to leave here as this is my family'sland."

Makiko Segawa is a staff writer at theShingetsu News Agency. She prepared thisreport from Fukushima and Tokyo. She can bereached at shingetsunewsagency@gmail.com(https://apjjf.org/mailto:shingetsunewsagency@gmail.com).

R e c o m m e n d e d c i t a t i o n : M a k i k oSegawa, Fukushima Residents Seek AnswersAmid Mixed Signals From Media, TEPCO andGovernment. Report from the RadiationExclusion Zone, The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9,Issue 16 No 2, April 18, 2011.