Prime Minister Noda to Visit #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Next Month

A publicity stunt to appeal his commitment to the resolution of the nuclear accident.

(Oh wait. Isn't he the one who declared the "cold shutdown state" at Fuku-I and the nuclear accident over, to the ridicule from all over the world? Even the newly installed chief of Nuclear Regulatory Agency said the term is not used right.)

From Jiji Tsushin (9/29/2012):

来月７日、福島原発を視察＝野田首相、作業員らと面会へ
Prime Minister Noda to visit Fukushima I Nuke Plant on October 7, meet workers

　野田佳彦首相は２９日、東京電力福島第１原発を来月７日に視察する方向で調整に入った。首相は同１日に内閣改造を行う方針。同原発を改造後の最初の視察先とすることで、原発事故問題に引き続き最優先で当たる姿勢をアピールする狙いがある。首相の同原発訪問は、昨年９月８日以来となる。

It was revealed on September 29 that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will schedule a visit to Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant on October 7. He will reshuffle his cabinet on October 1, and by going to the plant as the first visit after the reshuffle he hopes to emphasize his commitment to have the Fukushima nuclear accident as his first priority. It will be his first visit to the plant since September 8 last year.

　首相は原発事故発生後も現場に残り、収束作業に当たった作業員らと面会し、労をねぎらいたい考え。危険な状態の中で、被害拡大の防止に取り組んだ作業員らは、国内外から「フクシマ５０」と呼ばれ、その活動がたたえられている。

The prime minister wants to meet and thank the workers who remained at the plant after the nuclear accident started and tried to contain the damage. The workers, who did their best to prevent the damage from spreading in a dangerous situation, have been praised as "Fukushima 50".

So... It takes the prime minister of the country one and a half year to thank the workers who stayed at the plant to try to contain the accident.

If I remember right, from last year, "Fukushima 50" workers were not praised in Japan first. I don't think many Japanese were even aware of them. Foreign media, mostly in the US and UK, reported the desperate work going on at Fukushima I Nuke Plant in March last year, calling the workers who remained at the plant "Fukushima 50" and praised them as heroes. The news was imported to Japan, and the Japanese media started to report about the workers and their work at the plant (here's Asahi, on April 10, 2011, my translation).

Yakuza or not, these workers worked in the middle of the worst nuclear disaster in Japan.

So far, the only recognition these workers got is foreign - Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Concord in September 2011.

In case you missed, here's what ex-Plant Manager Masao Yoshida said about those early days, when he saw divine figures sprung out of the ground and became the workers (here and here).

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