Last weekend, organizers of a festival in Aichi canceled a plan to use fireworks made in Fukushima Prefecture, even though the event was staged in support of regions devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. In what must have come as a humiliation to people who actually come from Fukushima, local residents successfully protested the use of the fireworks, fearing they could be contaminated with radioactive materials. Given that radiation levels in Fukushima are too low to affect human health, and that there is no known way for radioactive materials to enter into...fireworks, the incident might be portrayed as an example of how not to support earthquake affected regions. This is the kind of irrational fear that will perpetuate and worsen the discrimination that residents of Fukushima already face.
Some people in Japan don't need radiation detectors. They need irony detectors.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment