New Japan Law ‘Cleanses’ Bad Nuclear News

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (METI) opened a call for bids on Friday, July 15, regarding the “Nuclear Power Safety Regulation Publicity Project”, which would involve contractors monitoring blogs and tweets posted about nuclear power and radiation. 

On Saturday, July 23, The Japan Times reported that 1,500 cows, fed hay containing radioactive cesium in excess of the government limit, had been shipped from Fukushima and other prefectures to all of Japan except Okinawa. This has caused concern among consumers about the safety of the food supply, particularly beef, chicken and pork. 

YouTube videos containing footage or comments unfavorable to Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) or the Japanese government have been removed within several hours of their posting since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011. This includes excerpts of TV shows with controversial comments, footage showing smoke emitted from the nuclear reactors, and an ex-TEPCO employee speaking on his Fukushima experiences. In addition, Twitter accounts with too much content regarding nuclear power and radiation issues have been disrupted. 

On June 17, 2011, the Japanese Parliament passed “The Computer Network Monitoring Law”, which enables the police to monitor anyone’s internet activity without restriction. While this appears to have positive implications for tackling cyber-attacks, some commentators have suggested that the law is unconstitutional. 

Where the cattle feed is coming from is of greater importance than the distance from Fukushima. For example, Yoshizawa’s ranch is 14km downwind from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The government has ordered him to kill his 300 cows, yet he refuses, wanting them to be studied for the effects of radiation.

Straw found 45 miles from Fukushima has been found to be highly contaminated with radioactive cesium, indicating that radiation has spread far beyond the 50-mile evacuation zone set by the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This contamination is thought to be a result of the infamous “Black Rain” that followed the nuclear disaster in 2011. An ex-secretariat of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission, Gundersen, has suggested that the Japanese government should focus on minimizing radiation exposure to its citizens, rather than minimizing the information they receive. 

The “Nuclear Power Safety Regulation Publicity Project” document stipulates that contractors must monitor blogs and Twitter accounts around the clock, and report any incorrect or inappropriate information that could lead to false rumors. However, it does not state that any such accounts should be frozen or banned. This raises the question of how far the Japanese government will go in its efforts to clamp down and suppress sources of information it finds inconvenient.

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