Answers fail to surface from cloud of secrecy

Fukushima has been an unavoidable topic since I was transferred to Japan in 2018. Every year around March 11, a variety of things will just push you back to the devastating event.

Well, they serve as a bitter reminder of the need for continued vigilance and action to address the continuing impact of the disaster, and to prevent similar tragedies from happening. I have to admit, however, that it just always leaves me, as a reporter, with a sense of helplessness due to the magnitude and complexity of this event.

Over the years, as much as I have been moved by the remarkable strength demonstrated by Fukushima people in restoring their lives while facing such adversity, I have also been shocked by the lack of transparency and accountability of the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company in dealing with the aftermath of the disaster.

To name a few, the absence of safety measures prevented taking adequate precautions to avoid the accident, the delayed response led to further damage and risks, the lack of transparency made people miscalculate their potential health exposure because of radiation, and the lack of accountability has now resulted in Japan, which has once experienced the brutal experiences of nuclear weapons in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, wishing to pollute the Pacific with nuclear waste.

The most confusing part of all this, I have to say, is the special structure that the Japanese government has devised to deal with Fukushima: letting the party that created the mess be the only one to handle it.

Evading responsibility

The government, which had been championing nuclear power, made TEPCO own up to its responsibility. By keeping the power company afloat to safeguard shareholders and bank lenders, it used public funds to establish the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund to grant loans to the company to deal with the disaster. This arrangement conveniently enabled the government to evade responsibility for the nuclear cleanup.

It is because of these arrangements and other strict restrictions and limited access to the site that journalists like me have been forced to rely on second-hand information and official statements when covering Fukushima, which often lack detail and are subject to censorship.

The difficulty in obtaining accurate and timely information has already made it challenging to provide accurate and objective reporting, not to mention that the cover-up and the wall of secrecy and resistance have further complicated the job of keeping the public informed and raising awareness about the long-term effects of dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.

Despite these obstacles, it is always good to see that many journalists have persevered in their efforts to report on Fukushima. They continue to investigate and gather information, often at great personal risk, to shed light on the situation and hold those responsible accountable. Those efforts have constantly encouraged me and made me proud of being part of them.

The Fukushima disaster is a sobering reminder of the power of nature and the limitations of human technology. While reporting on it is a difficult and often thankless task, it is undoubtedly an indispensable work in times of crisis, reminding people that though little is understood about how to deal with the melted-down reactors, or how long it will take to end the radiation threat, we must hold the decision-makers accountable, and the collective effort of all individuals are needed in building a better world.