Japan’s government has voiced anger over two cartoons published by a French newspaper depicting sumo wrestlers with extra limbs in front of a crippled Fukushima nuclear plant and a radioactive pool, linking them to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"This cartoon hurts the feelings of those who suffered through
the great east Japan earthquake," Japan’s Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press briefing on Thursday.
He referred to the March 2011 earthquake that triggered a tsunami
which damaged three of the Fukushima plant’s reactors. The
incident led to a nuclear disaster with the plant accumulating
radioactive water ever since. The disaster forced the evacuation
of about 160,000 residents within 20 km of the plant, and
thousands more just outside the official contamination zone made
their own decision to flee
An official complaint will be lodged with the weekly paper Le
Canard Enchaine through the Japanese Embassy in France, the
government spokesman added.
One of the cartoons carried in the satirical newspaper on
Wednesday showed two sumo wrestlers with extra legs and arms
competing in front of the crippled nuclear plant with a sign
reading "Marvelous! Thanks to Fukushima, sumo is now an
Olympic sport."
Another cartoon showed people in protective costumes conducting
radiation tests by the side of a pool saying "There is already
a pool in Fukushima for the Olympics."
"It is inappropriate and gives a wrong impression of the
Fukushima contaminated water issue. It is extremely
regrettable," the Japanese government spokesman said.
Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Olympics on Saturday,
beating Madrid and Istanbul, despite the issues concerning the
level of contamination at the crippled nuclear plant some 230
kilometers north of the capital.
The Japanese Prime minister has reassured the International
Olympic Committee that the situation was "under control"
and that he would be personally responsible for a plan to cope
with the consequences.
According to recent revelations, the tritium level in groundwater
near the wrecked plant has soared more than 15 times in just
three days, the Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power Company
(TEPCO) admitted on Thursday. In August the operator reported that 300
tons of highly radioactive groundwater was leaking into the
Pacific Ocean daily. In a study published in the August edition
of journal Deep-Sea Research 1 scientists predicted that the
contaminated plume of water will likely reach US coastal waters
in early 2014. Meanwhile, South Korean regulators have already
banned the import of 50 fishery products from eight Japanese
prefectures.
The publishing of the cartoons comes amid rising concerns about
the situation at the crippled plant. A similar development last
year involved TV channel France 2's "We're not lying"
program. The country's public broadcaster depicted a composite
picture of Eiji Kawashima, the goalkeeper of the Japanese
national soccer team, with four arms. The show explained that it
was the "Fukushima effect" that had allowed Kawashima to make a
winning save in a game between the two nations. French Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius and the national broadcaster have
reportedly apologized for the joke.