Japan Press Weekly

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2013 September 4 - 10 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

PM should fulfill ‘promise’ to IOC: JCP Ichida

Following Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic bid success, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on September 9 said that Prime Minister Abe should be held responsible for his “promise” made to the International Olympic Committee during the final Olympic bid presentation.

Japan’s prime minister in his speech at the IOC General Assembly in Buenos Aires said that the situation of radioactive water leaks at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant is “under control” and that there is “no fears for health problems now and in the future at all”. The prime minister also claimed that he “responsibly drew up and already launched” a program to find a fundamental solution to the water leakage problem in order to sweep away concerns about health issues.

Regarding the remark that the Fukushima situation is under control, Ichida said, “I can’t help but feel anger at what he said. The situation is actually uncontrollable and the water-leakage origins have yet to be determined.”

Ichida went on to say, “What Abe said can be construed as a ‘promise’ to the international community since he made it in the international arena. If he thinks the water leakage will cause ‘no problems’, the prime minister should provide the basis for this claim before the international community as well as the Japanese people and the Diet.”

Citing the fact that people inside and outside Japan raised their voices of concern and doubts over Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Olympics, Ichida said, “Even though the IOC selected Tokyo as the host city, it doesn’t mean that Tokyo won unconditional support from people throughout the world. It is necessary to respect the IOC’s decision and to make efforts to realize the main aim of the Olympic movement, the promotion of global peace and friendship through sports.”

JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Members Group Secretary General Oyama Tomoko on September 8 in a statement pointed out that the Tokyo government should not neglect its role to work for the recovery of the disaster-hit region and improving citizens’ lives and welfare services while hosting the Olympic Games.