Japan Press Weekly

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2017 April 5 - 11 [JCP]

Shii demands resignation of Reconstruction Minister for abusive remarks

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on April 6 demanded the resignation of Reconstruction Minister Imamura Masahiro, condemning the minister’s recent remarks insulting voluntary evacuees from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Two days before, a freelance journalist asked Imamura about the fact that many voluntary evacuees still cannot return to Fukushima. The minister replied that it is “their own responsibility”.

At a press conference in the Diet building, Shii said that those evacuees were forced to leave their hometowns due to the nuclear meltdowns. He stressed that the minister’s statement is tantamount to abdicating the government’s responsibility to provide relief to all disaster victims and that Imamura is not qualified to serve as minister in charge of Fukushima’s reconstruction.

On the same day, a suprapartisan league of Dietmembers supporting disaster sufferers published a statement in protest against Imamura’s abusive remarks.

The statement points out that the Act on the promotion of support measures for disaster victims guarantees people’s rights to evacuate affected areas and decide where to live, and that the act requires state authorities to provide necessary aid for evacuees. Noting that Imamura’s comment goes against the basis of this law, it urges the minister to issue an apology and resign from his post.

Representatives of the Dietmembers’ league, including Japanese Communist Party lawmakers Kami Tomoko and Iwabuchi Tomo, visited the Reconstruction Agency and handed the statement to a senior vice minister.