That's the gist of a rumor circulating on Twitter in Japan for several days now. Just like the "fishing ban in California because of radioactive bluefin tuna" rumor, this one still going strong today with a fresh batch of retweets by people with large followings. Today I fished this tweet by someone with over 6,000 followers, saying "IOC rejected the badges made of Fukushima debris".
This Olympic fantasy can be summarized as follows:
The Japanese team was escorted out of the stadium during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics on July 29 (Fact).
Japan was the only country who was removed. (Not verified) Why?
It's because the Japanese athletes were wearing badges made of wooden debris from Fukushima, and even though they were allowed in at the Heathrow Airport IOC objected, and wanted to remove the athletes from the field for the fear of radiation contamination.
The Japanese media didn't say anything when that happened, but the UK's BBC explained the situation.
A group of Japanese supporters weren't allowed in at one of the Olympic venues, even though there were a plenty of empty seats (Fact). Why?
It's because Japanese are discriminated against, because of the Fukushima I Nuclear Accident and people outside Japan are fearful of radiation contamination.
It all seems to have started with a blog supposedly written by a Japanese woman who lives in the UK and supposedly went to the stadium to watch the ceremony. She said,
After they walked about a half of the track, Japanese athletes were blocked by the officials who guided them to the side exit. Why? I called my Japanese friends but no one seemed to notice anything.
The photographs that she took to prove the incident were posted on another blog:
Then came this tweet on August 1, which rapidly spread. This person came up with the reason why the Japanese athletes were led out of the stadium. The tweet claims:
野田が出発前に選手たちにお守りとして福島の瓦礫製のバッジを。ヒースロー空港を通過したが、ＩＯＣが問題視。開会式の入場で英ＢＢＣらはこの事実を生放送。ＮＨＫは急遽その場で無言で放送。３００人の日本選手は一周した後に誘導されて会場外へ。ＪＯＣはこの事実を認めず「選手らが間違って外へ」
It's because of the badges that Noda gave them. Badges were made of debris wood from Fukushima. They were allowed in at the Heathrow airport, but IOC took issues with that. BBC mentioned this incident live during the opening ceremony, but NHK didn't say a word. 300 Japanese athletes were escorted out of the stadium after going round the track once. JOC {Japan Olympic Committee) wouldn't admit, and says "Athletes made a mistake".
Then, the whole affair was repeated ad nauseum in many blogs including blogs written by influential people on Twitter in Japan (i.e. many followers). One of them said,
You have to have intelligence, instinct to discern truth from coverup, and in this case the truth came out right away on the internet...
As this incredible (in a literal sense), distressing "news" spread on Twitter, there was a site that translated the tweets and posts of this brouhaha into English.
And very predictably, like it has happened over and over again in the past 17 months - most notable incidents include black steam gushing all over the Fukushima I Nuke Plant compound (it didn't), americium discovery in Hachioji (someone removed the symbol that indicated detection limit), uranium and neutron beam discovery in Kashiwa, Chiba (that neutron sensor was sensitive to the gamma ray), 30% of Fukushima children having thyroid "cancer" (not "cancer" but cysts and nodules), Reactor 4 falling apart (when the operation floors were being systematically taken down) and radioactive iodine and cesium discovery in fresh snow (measurement by an amateur mistaking the peaks of natural radioactive materials) - the "news" was translated back into Japanese and spread as "authoritative, English-language" news (i.e. since it is in English it must be true).
Just like Russia Today's news, as one of my Twitter followers said to me, "But, but it was in Russia Today in English, it cannot be false, can it?"
Or worse: if you don't believe these reports, there's something wrong with your brain.
I looked for the supposed BBC coverage that "explained" the IOC's problem with the debris badges or why the Japanese athletes were led out of the stadium, but couldn't find any.
These badges were indeed made and given to the athletes by the Ministry of the Environment, to help spread the message of (of all things) wide area disposal of disaster debris to promote recovery in the disaster affected areas in Tohoku. But the wood debris came NOT FROM FUKUSHIMA but MIYAGI (Minamisanriku). Elementary school children in Miyagi wrote messages on the ribbons, and the Japanese Olympic athletes wore them proudly.
"Come back with Gold medal!" "You'll be great!" "Ganbatte!"
Yes it was a silly idea, but what's the point of making up stories? So that more people become aware of the contamination problem? Does the end justify the means?
Only a handful of bloggers and twitterers even bothered to note that the wood debris was not from Fukushima but from Miyagi. The rest either ignored it, or decided that the Ministry of the Environment lied. So what do they do? They attack Goshi Hosono's Facebook.
Even less people paid attention that it was not 200 athletes but only 40 who wanted to participate in the opening ceremony to begin with. It is not unusual at all for the modern-day Olympic athletes to skip the ceremony in preparation for the competition. The US women's gymnastics team skipped the ceremony to rest up at their hotel rooms, I heard. Those who did pay attention came to the conclusion that most Japanese athletes were not allowed to attend the ceremony.
It is not reported widely in Japan that the best seats (front rows) at the Olympic venues are empty because the corporate sponsors and government officials who were allocated the pricy seats don't bother showing up. The organizers are very slow in coming up with the remedy, other than having British soldiers sit through the gymnastics event. So, in the information vacuum, the Japanese assumed the Japanese spectators were denied the seats because they were from Japan, the land of the contaminated! as you can read in this blog.
And they tweet and tweet. Are we Japanese people discriminated against? Are we hated because of the radiation contamination? Maybe the entire country of Japan will be rejected by the Olympic!
Since I cannot prove or disprove (as I can't find BBC coverage), I will leave this saga as it is. If you have any information or fantasy to share, please post it in the comment section.
On the separate news on the topic of discrimination, a young, naturalized Japanese woman won the team Bronze medal in archery - first ever for Japan to win any medal in archery. Ms. Ren Hayakawa grew up in South Korea, and came to Japan in 2007 to live with her mother who had remarried a Japanese and had moved to Japan. She became a naturalized Japanese citizen. But right after she and her teammates won the Bronze medal, online message boards in South Korea were filled with hate messages calling her "traitor". Online message boards in Japan in turn were filled with hate messages telling her to go back to South Korea, and she was shocked. Or so Asahi Shinbun reported. In an individual match, Ms. Hayakawa just lost to a Korean player with extremely one-sided score. I think she lost heart.
And the net citizens of Japan cry discrimination on a fantasy (it's not proven either way) that people around the world avoid the Japanese like plague because of radiation contamination.
Things are getting too hilarious, even for me.
(Ms. Hayakawa, shoot them all down!)
30-Day free trial by following the link.
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53 comments:
oh my god the audacity of the Japanese to claim racism! ... the Japanese are very mixed up in the head and beleive any shit fed to them.... it makes my blood boil when they claim discrimination, having lived in Japan for so long i have encountered nothing but disdain and racism by the institutions here, the police, the immigration, the media, the education system are all very rascist... man in the street seems ok but try renting an apartment or getting a bank loan to expand your business, cant be done ... then try getting a train and notice people physically uncomfortable that a gaijin sits next to them and notice how you will always have an empty seat next to you...
I think that the badges should not have entered Europe and I am strongly annoyed because the European authorities are not yet installing radioactive detectors in every relevant border entry. We may well be importing radioactive materials and that is not a risk we should take.
In this sense, I understand that the action of the Olympic authorities was debatable, yet sensible. It would have been more sensible to simply ban the badges and sent them to Noda's office in a lead-protected pack. It is already criminal that the Japanese authorities are killing their own people with their irrational fanatic spread-radioactive policies. We can't do much about it inside Japan but we can in our own territories.
I personally think that absolutely all imports from Japan should be banned until the Japanese authorities recover their sanity and can offer reasonable measures and guarantees to their own people (first and foremost) and to all Humankind.
Two things I forgot to discuss:
(1) You claim it was "racial discrimination" but that doesn't hold in such a multiracial environment. Why would Japanese be singled out "racially"? If there was any discrimination it was of the same kind that you do with those carrying an epidemic: a painful but necessary one.
(2) You argue that the badges were "not from Fukushima but Miyagi" but does that really matter: Miyagi is the second most affected prefecture and not much less contaminated than Fukushima itself surely. I must remind that all 12 North Honsu prefectures (Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Miyagi, Yamanashi, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa Iwate and Shizuoka) are under special imports' surveillance in the European Union (incl. Britain). For good reason.
I can only imagine that the Olympic authorities wanted to force the dangerous badges out of the Olympic enclosure and I also imagine that they had surreptitiously measured radiation on some of them and considered it to be dangerous. The Japanese team however would reject to obey such a command and so they were reluctantly allowed to parade but then sent out the stadium with their dangerous badges out of prophylactic caution while no anomaly was noticed by the audience at home (only those present would notice).
The details of the decision are surely debatable but the first decision to debate is that of Japan trying to export radioactive debris and pretending "normality" when the situation is catastrophically dangerous for Japanese and the rest of us.
Bringing those badges is like throwing the trash down the window on the passers-by: a risky and offensive act.
This post is 100% BS at its finest, I will call it paranoia as well.
I agree with Anon 3:32 AM.
Is hard to find an open minded japanese person even in Tokyo...
Wonder if the "rumors" are part of a governments media effort to make citizens dependent on the Japanese government and more isolated from the outside world . Similar fear and hate "rumors" were seen before and during WWII to stir up support for the failing Japanese offensive. History does repeat...
Japanese were not led out because of their race.
They were led out because they did something that is far too irresponsible.
HOw would have Japan reacted if North Korea asked its children to play with Nuclear wastes (debris) and make objects with it that North Korean would haev to wear?
Don't be fascist yourself and be brain washed by your gouvernement actions. These kind of actions are not accepted and they should not.
Your governement becaome 100% sick to ask children to play with nuclear wastes. Can't you see that?
The medals they were wearing that were made of wood or whatever were not an issue and to suggest they were is total bullshit, they probably werent even radioactive , utter crap basically ...here is more info on why they were led out , it was an organisational blunder..
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/08/01/hey-japan-welcome-to-the-games-heres-the-exit/
..
Nothing wrong with the Korean naturalized archer. Go back to the 1930 Olympics:swimmer and runner were Korean "naturalized" folks representing Japan.
Totally agree with the first comment.
Having lived over 19 years in Japan and a foreign lecturer at Tokyo University, the racial discrimination I met as a foreigner was incredible:denial of housing, spat on, told foreigners had "body odor", and finally refused a pension since foreigners suddenly "didn't qualify." The word for WHITE (aka Caucasian) foreigner is gaijin:outside person, but even that term discriminatory because it means a WHITE outside person:other races have their own special derogatory term that I prefer not to mention.
Japan has always played a "victim" role.
19 years.. are you still living in Japan or did you leave? I found Tokyo to be a very racist city when i lived there... many "Japanese only" signs at restaurants and bars... lots of side glances that exuded hate towards the foreigner but pretended to be nice etc etc i could go on all day... i mean look at the mayor Ishihara still being voted in and liked by the populace even though he is the most fascist shit in Japan.
Could I afford to live in Japan without a legitimate pension?
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/08/01/hey-japan-welcome-to-the-games-heres-the-exit/
Read this post in Japanese/日本語訳はこちら≫
For the admin of this site
This article is not "hilarious"; but, it is ironic the way that it is written. The Japanese are outraged by believing that they were discriminated against at the opening Olympic ceremony. Then they showed discrimination and hatred against one of Japan's team members, who won a bronze medal in archery, because her nationality is Korean. Discrimination and racial hatred is ugly.
It is frightening to learn that the lie will be difficult to counteract with finding the truth. English is my language. I am an American, from the state of Michigan; and have to search for information from outside sources. I believed these "rumors" because the article was printed on many sites. So, I believed that children created the badges from debris in Fukushima and that they were put at risk which was upsetting. The story gave me such a negative view of the Japanese people and their leadership.
My final response to this article is that now those of us outside of Japan, who are trying to inform our families and friends are dependent on the truth of the information we gather. These rumors become the reality and cause damage when viewed outside of the nation of Japan.
Well to be fair, Japan has failed to tell the truth about radiation. Maybe the athletes should just accept the fact that their country failed them and they pretty much deserve discrimination. Not like all the other NPPs in the world aren't just ticking time bombs, though.
I like the fact that the japs are racist shits--I like the empty seat next to me on the train and not interacting with these monkey-faced pindicks. I stay away from them and it's fine--I don't want anything from these creeps except their money.
Thank you, Ultraman, to have opened my eyes on "Fukushima Diary" blog.
I have translated sometimes some "informations" from this blog.
BUT, it is difficult for foreign readers to make differences between false or true news. The admin of this blog is japanese like you and we are appealed (good word ?) to believe him.
Need of attract attention on him ?
I will translate (like everyday) this post to advise my readers to wisdom.
Hi Helios,
In regard to fukushima-diary and lori, Ultraman does give credit to him and acknowledges his website. It has taken time for Ultraman to discern the truth from the rumors. Readers believed that the Japanese athletes wore the badges made from radioactive debris by the children of Fukushima. Please do not take the opportunity to defame Fuku-diary and lori over one story that was viewed as the truth. Now ex-skf.blogspot.de has done the work to discredit that story.
The diary is produced on a small budget by a man who has shown courage and honor in his writing and was probably duped as well as his readers. There is no reason to view the diary any differently than enenews.com which carried the rumor story, too. Separating innuendo/rumors from fact is difficult and guaranteed to happen again. Has it occurred to any of the readers that many of these logical but untrue articles may be the result of government or industry purpose to lead people astray by making the Japanese the victim of discrimination?
@Maju, about IOC banning "dangerous" badge wearers, that's what the Japanese claim IOC did, not what actually IOC did.
@Michele, this blog, unlike FD, is operating on NO BUDGET. How's that? Courage and honor? You make me laugh. Do you know what he writes on the Twitter profile? "I'm the author of the blog that spread demagogy." I guess he thought it's in-your-face humor. It's the accidental truth.
The falsified articles and/or lies about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant and the continued radiation that contaminates the air, soil and water; through leakage, incineration, and placing it in landfills....I will add this information. This quote is from the taxpayer funded United States Homeland Security as reported in (fukushimafaq.info):
"Anything we can do from a policy standpoint that can reduce excessive public concern about an event has huge ECONOMIC benefits."
Dr. Arnie Gundersen has also reported that the US government planned to downplay the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant continuing crisis so that there would be no negative perception of the nuclear industry in this nation. I offer this as proof that the Olympic rumor could have been created to serve a different purpose for the Japanese government and the industry.
OK, Michèle, thanks for your answer. I know how it's difficult to separate rumors from fact, but I must advise my readers for this affair and I was sad to Iori Mochizuki, too.
I'll explain it before my translation.
Well, I should not need to defend myself from Anonymous (which ever one you are). Have you not seen/read the DONATION material at the top of the page. As for lori, without giving any proof of his character as a charlatan; you are simply spreading a rumor. Which is ironic since this article dealt with reality and fantasy, truth and rumor.
@Michele, my links, any of them, do not mean endorsement, to be clear. This Olympic rumor is by the people of Japan, no government interference, as far as I can tell. I didn't write about this topic as it was simply too far fetched. It finally got on my nerves.
And yes, it is very different if the wood came from Miyagi, as opposed to Fukushima. Fukushima is where it is 100 microsieverts/hour near the plant. Miyagi is one-thousands of that.
The wood should never have entered Europe? Well, I wish the timber from trees affected by Chernobyl should have never entered Japan and other countries outside Europe, but it did.
And please refrain from using the word "jap". You can criticize the Japanese as much as you want, I just hate that word personally. Please humor me and either spell out the word or abbreviate.
Michele, conversely, you are simply spreading the rumor that he is a good person without giving any proof of his character. I don't care what character he has. I care what articles he writes, and he is judged by them.
FD's admin twitter account description, for those of you who read Japanese:
英語の悪質デマブログを書いてるデマッターのアンガマのボットはこちらになります。 #放射脳 #TOKIO CIAエージェントの噂あり。(証拠キボンぬ) Axeを使うと本当にモテるのか実験中。 #Axeユーザー #群馬
好きでジョン・レノンに激似なわけではない。 · http://fukushima-diary.com/
@LaPrimavera (aka 'Ultraman', it seems :D ):
Miyagi is less researched than Fukushima but it must be much contaminated. A less known Fukushima-issue blog, Fukushima Voice, published a few weeks ago a map of of soil contamination in Fukushima prefecture, which informs of 2/3 of it (essentially all Hamadori and Nakadori districts) being contaminated at Chernobyl exclusion zone levels (blue areas). The worst contamination plume (yellow-red), as we know, heads towards Miyagi and, extrapolating from the Fukushima pref. map, it is likely that 1/3 to 1/2 of the prefecture is similarly contaminated as Fukushima. If I'm wrong, prove it, please, with a reliable map of soil contamination as the one I am basing my claims on.
We also know that many other regions of NE Honsu (not all the North, as I wrongly said before), inlcuidng Greater Tokyo, are known to be more or less contaminated and EU has reasonably imposed strong restrictions on food imports from those areas (rather irresponsibly other imports are not restricted nor controlled at all, when we know that car components from Japan have been detected as highly radioactive in the past and rejected by the Nertherlands or Egypt).
If the Japanese authorities would have acted responsibly all this time (and I was the first one shocked to find out they did not: we all had Japan in much higher standards than this criminal negligence of management), we would be much more relaxed but that is not the case at all. And I blame Kan, Noda, Edano and the overall nuclear mafia (in Japan as in the USA and elsewhere) for that.
As for Fukushima Diary, it is a quite reliable reference. The main problem I have with it is that the author's English is somewhat mediocre (unlike this blog's) and hence sometimes it's difficult to understand. Of course, in blogs as in everything, not every article has to be 100% correct and critical discernment is always advised.
Maju, you can't just put the burden of proof on others. It's on you. Geez.
As to that blog you mentioned, I know who writes it. I wouldn't put any trust in that either. If you believe FD is a quite reliable reference, it was the one who carried the falsified data on americium and spread all over the world. Some reliability.
@Maju, you don't need to extrapolate from the map of Fukushima. Each prefecture has its own contamination map. There are wider area maps showing multiple prefectures. http://savechild.sub.jp/archives/30.html
The map at the link is as of September 2011, and now MEXT has finished doing the mapping for all prefectures.
Just to be fair, Michèle did not use the word "jap" (horrible, I agree), but it is the anonymous of 8:46 who wrote it.
Ah, thanks for the maps link, La Primavera. The levels of soil contamination do seem to sharply fall to "normal" in Miyagi soon after you cross the border. Quite unexpected, I must admit - but good to know, specially for those living there.
Instead much of Tochigi and Gunma look quite polluted.
@Maju, people don't pay much attention to Tochigi and Gunma contamination, which, as you say, may be much worse than Miyagi. MEXT also has a very pretty 3D model, which looks like having come out of WSPEEDI. Maybe I'll post that, too.
Thank you Helios, I would never use derogatory words to describe a people. I am terribly frustrated and angry about the continual misinformation, misdirection, and outrageous lies that have come from both Japan and my own American nation. Abraham Lincoln famously said, "You can fool some of the some of the time and all of the people some of the time; but, you can not fool all of the people all of the time". It is inevitable that the truth of this nuclear disaster will emerge with the guilt being clearly placed on the leaders and the nuclear industry.
The WSJ post was interesting. Where can we confirm that, in fact, only 15% of the Japanese delegation chose to march in the ceremony, and of that 15%, two thirds actually did want to leave early to rest for their competitions?
"I think that the badges should not have entered Europe and I am strongly annoyed because the European authorities are not yet installing radioactive detectors in every relevant border entry. We may well be importing radioactive materials and that is not a risk we should take."
Right, the same Europe which is a major centre in the official trade in nuclear materials and which has re-exported tonnes of reprocessed plutonium laden nuclear waste to Japan over the years needs to be on the alert for the dreadful threat of contamination caused by ... wooden pendants carried by Japanese athletes.
Physician, heal thyself.
wren, I saw it on the Japan Olympic Committee's site homepage a few days ago, when they had a flash screen of the opening ceremony march. They don't have it any more. In it, the text said about 40 or so athletes participated in the ceremony. Japan's delegation is total 518 (293 athletes, 225 officials). Newspapers all reported the number, too, at 40-something.
Weird, so why were they led off early? Was it just a botch up or part of a deeper Satanic Agenda???
I respect the athletes but I hate the entire Olympics Agenda.
London Olympics & Cult Of Saturn
http://thetruthisnow.com/headlines/david-icke-london-olympics-cult-of-saturn-video/
ILLUMINATI OCCULT SYMBOLISM
IN THE 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY
http://worldtruth.tv/illuminati-occult-symbolism-in-the-2012-london-olympics-opening-ceremony/
If the facts that only 40 athletes decided to participate in the ceremony is common knowledge, and that about 30 of them did indeed want to leave early to rest and prepare for their events are not disputed, this scandal is not quite as scandalous as I first understood it.
My Japanese wife is extremely upset that the whole Japanese delegation was kicked out of the stadium.
The fact that 15 athletes couldn't get back in is not good, but is an explainable scandal in a different league than reported by some.
I myself have accidentaly left events before and not been allowed re-entry. The security at the Olympics makes something like this extremely understandable. The guards could very well have had strict instructions NOT to let people in who claimed that they had accidentally left, for example.
Events like the Lebanese not wanting to practice near the Israelis and being accomodated by the IOC are much more scandalous, IMO.
Thanks anonymous.
I had forgotten about the deeper Satanic agenda.
wren, tell your wife what she's hearing is most probably not true. I've noticed in the past 3, 4 months in particular that there are Japanese writers who deliberately lie to gain eyeballs. There are people on twitter with a large following whose tweets consist 100% of plagiarized content, which they tweet as their won.
But alas no one cares about annoying things like facts any more in Japan. That's the place where people like Gundersen and Busby can sell their books (only in Japanese).
Thanks for your advice anonymous, but it is not as easy as all of that. She can spend hours a day on the computer but I can't spend hours a day tracking down unverifiable information to vouch for its accuracy.
And besides, it's all part of the Deeper Satanic Agenda, right? ;-(
"Right, the same Europe which is a major centre in the official trade in nuclear materials"...
Yes. I happen to live here, I happen to be against all kind of nuclear energy AND I also want hyper-strict control of all things radioactive, including US ships sailing in and out of our ports without notifying even if they have nuclear weapons on board and including suspicious imports from areas that should have been evacuated long ago like parts of Japan or the former USSR.
We can't live in a radioactive world. At least not with any kind of happiness or enthusiasm: surviving is not living.
We need to clean up Earth now and the corners that have been laid to waste already: evacuate and isolate, not allow them to become focuses of the radioactive epidemic. This is much more serious than ebola!
Fukushima Diary is a joke and you have to be borderline retarded to not realize that the author is either retarded himself or just psychotic.
"Events like the Lebanese not wanting to practice near the Israelis and being accomodated by the IOC are much more scandalous, IMO."
The popular sentiment in Arab countries towards Israel today are quite reminiscent of that of the hostility held by African people towards the former apartheid regime in South Africa -- showing yet again just how rude and ungrateful colonised peoples often are towards colonisers who have done them such a great favour by forcibly planting themselves in their midst.
Anonymous at 12:44:
What is the purpose of the Olympics?
The purpose of the Olympics? While the ancient Olympics were apparently held in honour of Zeus, the modern Olympics are surely a corporate PR event held every four years in honour of Mamon. Brought to you by the rogues gallery that includes:
(1) BP the oil giant that has inflicted massive oil spoils on the world’s oceans;
(2) Rio Tinto Zinc, owner of the Jabiluka uranium mine in Australia, and all-round environmental brigand.
(3) Dow Chemical, responsible for the Bhopal disaster in India and the production of Agent Orange which the US military poured on South East Asia with disastrous consequences for the people and environment of that region.
And let us not forget the long lasting contribution of fascism and Nazism to the olympic "ideal":
The Nazis added many little flourishes to the Olympics that are still evident today, not least the torch relay, which was the idea of the Secretary General of the Organizing Committee, Carl Diem. It was Diem who was later to rally thousands of Hitler Youth at the Olympic stadium in March 1945 as the Russians assaulted Berlin. Diem called on the assembled teenagers not to capitulate, and to show some "Olympic spirit". (In case Olympic spirit was not enough, execution stakes were set up around the stadium, ready to be used if there were any displays of cowardice.)
Since the war, the whiff of fascism has always clouded around the Olympics, not least in the form of Juan Antonio Samarach, who was a member of the Spanish Falange.
(see http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/guy-walters/2011/06/bit-fascist-olympic-emin-race and http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/02/the-toxic-cloud-that-hangs-over-the-olympics/)
I cannot see the issue at stake here. Has somebody measured radiation from the medals? No? Well, then nobody could have the right to exclude athlets on the basis of non-existant proof of radiactivity. Yes? Well, then they had the right to intervene as radiactive items should not be allowed. I wonder why they don't ever measure radioactivity on people, there could be high levels on people treated for cancer...Is there any proof of measurement? If not, this is all non-sense rumors. If these rumors worries Japanese people or outside people, then they should ask explanation for that behavior at the Olympics. If we are to start a worldwide hysteria on such small issues, we will never come out with the truth. ...As for FD, why are you so hard on that blog? It is doing its best to give news that are not accessible. Of course, they are not peer-reviewed, as nobody is doing the job of excavating the truth, so no wonder if sometimes they are not 100% reliable. I prefer to have them anyway, I can judge by myself about their exaggeration or not. I think we need them to assess what is nearer to the truth...maybe something in the middle...is still a step forward comparing to the NOTHING that is given to us by mainstream media. Tell me, what is reliable then? BBc and Cnn only?
I am also very sad for the negative comments on racial basis. Japanese are racists? What about people in your country? All very kind and welcoming foreigners? Come on, are we still to generalise on these petty issues? I met wonderful people in Japan, as there are in other countries. Body-smell? Well, I cannot deny it is much stronger in the Western countries I visited, or even in China, than in Japan, from my small experience. I am westerner, I think my body smell is stronger than the one of a Japanese...can be a matter of food habits, Dna, fat...don't know, but from my experience I cannot deny that. Please, please please, stop pointing fingers!
Anon above, trust me, it's not a petty issue.
The owner of this blog has lost his mind. From day one he has openly said that the Japanese government lied to and murdered their own people yet he does not understand why no one trusts them.He has turned against Iori who should have been his ally. Iori has published every time contaminated food has entered the global food supply. Iori chose to voice what the sick and the dying had to say. Ex-skf focused on his money and Japanese "pride" Ex-Skf has become nationalist himself.
I will lay out the future since people like to keep repeating sins of the past.
Japan and everyone that does business with it will ultimately be boycotted. China shares Japan's water table. Chinese jobs will be relocated back to the US and the UK. All Asian products will be banned.
Then there will be incarceration and travel restrictions because Americans and Europeans are also racist, greedy, and malignant.
The Japanese willingly took badly engineered American produced reactors and poisoned their own people. The world found out. They will retaliate.
The American and Japanese governments should have told the truth immediately. They didn't. Now people worldwide are going to die.
Yet Ex-Skf chose to betray Iori and yell racism.
Sad.
Lili, I don't understand your logic, if there's a logic. It is the Japanese people who believe in this crap who are yelling racism, not the site admin. WTF about "betray"? "Ally"? Since when was this site an ally of a site that propagate falsehood and vicious rumors?
@anon the 1st
Well then, you've been denied your pension, what a big deal, I almost cried. Honest. The 'free seat next to you' myth also made me laugh. It also makes me wonder when exactly did you leave Japan.
Now, if you believe that your beloved homeland (whichever it is, I am willing to bet) does not have xenophobic tendencies, it might be time to stop living in a cave and take a look at what's happening around, especially these days.
It's true that, as a host country, Japan (but more specifically Tokyo) can be a little bit harsh at times, but I am convinced that it's getting better. And that you are way off.
Not denied. Not placed in the Japanese pension scheme which ALL workers in Japan are required by law to be in. That includes foreigners and anyone working 1 hour a week or 100 hours per week. Please spend a quarter of your life in Japan and then comment.
In my home town immigrants applying for a stay permit are forced to queue outside the immigration office in the midst of Winter; obviously Japan immigration office is better.
On the other hand, if you are denied your pension you should be given back your contributions, plus interest. On this topic there is nothing to laugh about.
Aside from this, I fail to see what the whole badge issue has to do with racism.
Even assuming the badges were not contaminated and assuming the athlets had been escorted out because of the badges I would not call it racism. Discrimination probably, but not racism.
Moreover, there is one thing that helps a lot getting by in Japan: do like the Romans do and keep a low profile; making the badges out of debris goes the other direction. Had washi been used there would have been no issue to start with.
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