June 27, 2024
The government has shifted the blame to the Tokyo metropolitan government over the government opinion complaining about a United Nations report that pointed out the inadequacy of the Japanese government’s response to PFAS contamination. The government said that “the Tokyo metropolitan government prepared” that opinion.
At a hearing on June 25 held by JCP Dietmembers, JCP Tokyo metropolitan assemblymembers, and concerned city, town, and village assemblymembers together with concerned residents, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained to them that the government’s position, which calls for removing parts of the report of the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Business and Human Rights, was “prepared by the Tokyo metropolitan government”.
The participants in the hearing, including Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Yamazoe Taku (Upper House), JCP Miyamoto Toru (Lower House), JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblypersons Ozaki Ayako and Aoyagi Yukiko, criticized the Foreign Ministry for adopting the Tokyo-prepared opinion as it is as the government’s view.
In the Tama region in western Tokyo where the U.S. Yokota Air Base is located, experts and locals voluntarily conducted a large-scale blood test, and high levels of PFAS were detected in blood samples.
The government opinion in question expresses displeasure over the UN report, saying, “To present the western Tokyo case (in the report the UN working group released late May) as if it were a representative and serious case is to unnecessarily stir up anxiety among Tokyo residents.”
The government opinion demands that “at least the part in relation to residents in the western suburbs of Tokyo be deleted” from the UN report.
Past related articles:
> JCP Miyamoto at Yokota AB: US forces should accept Japan’s request for PFAS on-site investigation [November 10, 2023]
> Defense Ministry admits to leaks of PFAS out of US Yokota Air Base [June 30, 2023]
> JCP Dietmembers examine PFAS contamination in Tokyo tap water [February 3, 2023]
At a hearing on June 25 held by JCP Dietmembers, JCP Tokyo metropolitan assemblymembers, and concerned city, town, and village assemblymembers together with concerned residents, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained to them that the government’s position, which calls for removing parts of the report of the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Business and Human Rights, was “prepared by the Tokyo metropolitan government”.
The participants in the hearing, including Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Yamazoe Taku (Upper House), JCP Miyamoto Toru (Lower House), JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblypersons Ozaki Ayako and Aoyagi Yukiko, criticized the Foreign Ministry for adopting the Tokyo-prepared opinion as it is as the government’s view.
In the Tama region in western Tokyo where the U.S. Yokota Air Base is located, experts and locals voluntarily conducted a large-scale blood test, and high levels of PFAS were detected in blood samples.
The government opinion in question expresses displeasure over the UN report, saying, “To present the western Tokyo case (in the report the UN working group released late May) as if it were a representative and serious case is to unnecessarily stir up anxiety among Tokyo residents.”
The government opinion demands that “at least the part in relation to residents in the western suburbs of Tokyo be deleted” from the UN report.
Past related articles:
> JCP Miyamoto at Yokota AB: US forces should accept Japan’s request for PFAS on-site investigation [November 10, 2023]
> Defense Ministry admits to leaks of PFAS out of US Yokota Air Base [June 30, 2023]
> JCP Dietmembers examine PFAS contamination in Tokyo tap water [February 3, 2023]
