Moment of Truth for the No.3 Official at the Ministry of the Environment: "No One Trusts the Radiation Measurement by the National Government"

41-year-old Satoshi Takayama is the No.3 official at the Ministry of the Environment below the Minister (Goshi Hosono) and the Vice Minister (Katsuhiko Yokomitsu, former TV/movie actor). In a rare moment of truth, in a press conference in Shizuoka, Takayama blurted out, "No one trusts the measurement by the national government".

The occasion in Shizuoka was to persuade the local municipalities in Shizuoka (there are 35 of them) to accept the disaster/radioactive debris from towns in Iwate Prefectures.

Let's see, will he be able to keep his job?

From Mainichi Shinbun (12/10/2011):

放射性物質：環境政務官「国が測っても信用されない」

Radioactive materials: "No one trusts the measurement by the national government", says the Ministry of the Environment ranking official

　高山智司環境政務官は１０日、静岡市内で記者会見し、東日本大震災で発生したがれきの放射線量の測定について「国が測ったのでは信用してもらえない。国も測っているが、その上で自治体にも測ってもらいたい」と発言した。

Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment Satoshi Takayama held a press conference on December 10 in Shizuoka City [in Shizuoka Prefecture] and said about the radiation measurement of the debris from the March 11 earthquake/tsunami, "No one trusts the measurement by the national government. We are measuring, but we would like the local municipalities to measure it also."

　これに対し、同席した大村慎一静岡県副知事は会見後、毎日新聞の取材に「国が『信用してもらえない』と言うのは、安全性の基準の根幹を揺るがす発言だ」と不快感をあらわにした。

Vice Governor of Shizuoka Shinichi Omura, who was with Takayama in the press conference, was visibly annoyed when Mainichi Shinbun asked him about the Secretary's remark after the press conference. "To say 'No one trusts the government's measurement' is to shake the very foundation of the safety standard."

　被災地のがれきを巡っては、国は安全性を確保されたものについて受け入れるよう、全国の自治体に要請。県は安全確保を徹底するため、受け入れの際には独自に放射線量の測定を行う方針を決めている。

The national government has been pressing the municipalities throughout Japan to accept the disaster debris if proven safe. [Shizuoka] Prefecture has already decided to conduct its own radiation survey when it accepts the debris to make sure it is safe.

　この日は記者会見に先立ち、県が自治体向け説明会を開き、こうした方針を説明。高山政務官は記者会見で国の姿勢について質問を受けた。

On December 10 before the press conference, the Shizuoka prefectural government held a meeting with officials from the municipalities and explained the prefectural government's policy. Parliamentary Secretary Takayama was asked about the national government stance during the press conference.

Shaking the very foundation of the national safety standard, says the vice governor. Oh was there a foundation?

Quickly checking the vice governor's resume on the Shizuoka prefecture website, he is a career bureaucrat of the national government sent to local municipalities to assist the local government. He has been to Hokkaido, Gifu, Kitakyushu City, Shizuoka, and in between the assignment he comes back to the ministries in the national government for a few years and advances his career. The other vice governor of Shizuoka is a local bureaucrat who has worked in the prefectural government all his career.

This is the prefecture whose governor, Oxford grad Heita Kawakatsu, went crazy over the radioactive teas, accusing everyone of spreading "baseless rumors" about his teas.

On November 10, after Governor Kawakatsu expressed his strong desire to be one with the disaster-affected areas and to accept the debris, mayors of Shizuoka's 35 municipalities issued the declaration that said they would do their best to make the governor's desire come true.

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