Tokyo to Further "Support" Fukushima in 2013 Winter National Athletic Meet

How? By holding the speed skate events in the outdoor skate rink in Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (11/30/2011):

東京都は、２０１３年に予定されている第６８回冬季国体について、福島県郡山市をスピードスケート種目の会場とすることを決めた。

The Tokyo Metropolitan government has decided to use Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture as the venue for the speed skate events in the 68th Annual Winter National Athletic Meet scheduled in 2013.

　ほかのアイスホッケー競技などは東京で実施する。東京電力福島第一原発の事故で大きな被害を受けている福島の支援が目的で、１９４７年に始まった冬季国体史上、開催都道府県以外の場所が競技会場になるのは初めて。

Other events like ice hockey games will be hosted in Tokyo. The purpose is to support Fukushima Prefecture that has suffered a tremendous damage by the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. It is the first time since the start of the Winter National Athletic Meet in 1947 that a location outside the host prefecture will be used as a event venue.

　都は今年９月、日本体育協会と文部科学省からスケートとアイスホッケー競技の開催を要請された。冬季国体で東京は、０５年にアイスホッケー競技の会場になったことはあるが、スピードスケートを開くために必要な１周４００メートルのリンクは持っていない。このため、福島県と協議を重ね、４００メートルの屋外リンクがある「郡山スケート場」（郡山市）を使用することで合意した。運営費は都など主催者側が負担する。

In September, the Tokyo Metropolitan government was asked by the Japan Athletics Association and the Ministry of Education and Science to host skate and ice hockey games. Tokyo hosted ice hockey games in the 2005 meet, but it does not have a skate rink that can hold speed skate events as the rink needs to be 400 meters long. The Tokyo Metropolitan government was in negotiation with the Fukushima prefectural government, and they have agreed to use Koriyama Skate Rink in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture that has outdoor 400-meter rink. The cost to operate the rink will be paid by the event sponsors including the Tokyo Metropolitan government.

It could be a "give and take", another wonderful Japanese tradition, like "dango". The Tokyo Metropolitan government will pay Koriyama City/Fukushima Prefecture for the trouble of hosting the speed skate events, and maybe someday soon Tokyo and Fukushima will sign an agreement to ship "low-contamination" disaster debris from Fukushima to Tokyo and burn it, just like between Tokyo and Iwate/Miyagi. Then the Fukushima prefectural government can pay the Tokyo Metropolitan government a "special fee" to facilitate the operation, just like Miyagi and Iwate are paying.

They must be hoping that people/sheeple will totally and completely forget about the nuke accident and radiation contamination by the time 2013 winter rolls around.

Koriyama is the city that is feeding school kids with locally grown and harvested rice from this year, and where 500,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found from rice hay.

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