Japanese official suspended for telling tsunami victims to ‘drop dead’
A senior Japanese bureaucrat has been suspended for making derogatory remarks about victims of the 2011 tsunami. In his blog, Hisanori Goto called inhabitants of the disaster-hit towns "old coots and hags”.
The 51-year-old civil servant from the Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry was tracked down by readers outraged over an
anonymous post he made in September 2011, just six months after
the disaster that killed over 18,000 people.
Goto wrote that the economically-depressed small towns along the
stricken eastern coastline were “already in ruins” and
that rebuilding them at a huge expense would only benefit “old
coots and hags with vested interests in the fishing
industry”.
He also posted a photo of an elderly tsunami victim, with the
caption “Drop dead”.
The bureaucrat added that "politicians who won't come out with
the fair argument that reconstruction is unnecessary might as
well die.”
Japan’s recovery from the natural disaster, as well as the
accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant, is predicted to
eventually cost in excess of $200 billion.
Before reporting him to his superiors, readers matched the photo
attached to the blog with another Goto had posted online.
"It was an unforgivable act for a national public servant. We
think it was extremely regrettable," said Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
Nonetheless, Goto’s suspension will last only two months,
according to reports in the Japanese media.