CA Governor Jerry Brown to Meet Osaka Governor Matsui, Who Wants to "Explain" Hashimoto's Remarks on Comfort Women to Correct "Misunderstanding"

I'm surprised that Governor Brown is willing to see Mr. Matsui, particularly when City of San Francisco denied, in no uncertain terms, Osaka City Mayor Toru Hashimoto an official visit to the city precisely because of Hashimoto's comments on "comfort women" that blew up spectacularly on his face outside Japan (and he doesn't even realize it).

Governor Matsui, Boy-wonder's sidekick in Japan Restoration Party, has just departed for the US, and one of the main objectives of the trip (if not the only objective) is to persuade Americans that they are mistaken about Boy-wonder's comments about "comfort women" and Japanese sex industry.

To kick-start his tour of the US, Matsui will be meeting with Governor Jerry Brown of California in the morning on June 11. He says he wants to use the opportunity to explain Mayor Hashimoto's position.

What Governor Brown could do is to openly laugh at Matsui, and end the conversation.

From Kyodo News (6/10/2013):

松井大阪府知事、米国へ出発　慰安婦発言説明に意欲

Osaka Governor Matsui departs for the US, eager to explain [Hashimoto's] comments on comfort women

日本維新の会幹事長の松井一郎大阪府知事は１０日午後、米国での大都市経営視察のため、サンフランシスコに向け関西空港を出発した。現地では共同代表の橋下徹大阪市長の従軍慰安婦や風俗業活用に関する発言への批判が根強く、松井氏は「誤解を解きたい」と説明に意欲を示している。

Secretary General of Japan Restoration Party and Governor of Osaka Prefecture Ichiro Matsui departed from Kansai Airport for San Francisco in the afternoon on June 10, to study the management of big cities in the United States. Criticism persists in the US over the remarks by Osaka City Mayor and co-President of Japan Restoration Party on comfort women and suggestion to the US military to utilize Japan's sex industry. Mr. Matsui says he is eager to "clear the misunderstanding" of American people.

　説明の機会として、１１日午前（日本時間１２日未明）のカリフォルニア州のブラウン知事との会談を念頭に置く。橋下氏の大学時代からの友人で、米国で弁護士経験のある中原徹府教育長も同行。微妙な言い回しに配慮する必要が生じれば会話に加わり対応する。

The first such opportunity will be the meeting in the morning of June 11 with California Governor Brown. Toru Nakahara, Osaka Prefecture's Superintendent of Education and Mr. Hashimoto's friend since their college days, will accompany Matsui. Since Mr. Nakahara worked in the US as an attorney, he will join in the conversation if a subtle expression [in English] is required.

Osaka residents are footing the bill, of course.

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Political Remarks of the Day from Goshi Hosono, Ichiro Matsui (Governor of Osaka)

The former we've known long enough to not to expect brilliant comments from. The latter teams up with the boy-wonder mayor of Osaka City (who is being set up as the next prime minister - the horror, the horror) and is eager to accept disaster debris to Osaka and burn and bury in the Osaka Bay.

First, Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment and Minister in charge of the nuclear accident, from Yomiuri Shinbun (5/12/2012):

福島は核燃料最終処分場の適地でない…細野氏

Fukushima is not suited to become the final disposal site for nuclear fuel, Mr. Hosono says

細野環境相は１２日、福島県郡山市で、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所が立地する同県大熊町からの避難住民を対象に開かれた政府主催説明会に出席した。

On May 12, Minister of the Environment Hosono attended the meeting in Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture with the residents who evacuated from Okuma-machi, where Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located.

　同町を含む双葉郡８町村について、参加住民から「日本の核燃料の最終処分場になる可能性があるのではないか」との懸念が出されたが、細野氏は「福島では大きな津波があり、最終処分場の適地ではない」と明確に否定した。

The residents expressed worries to Mr. Hosono that the final disposal site for nuclear fuel in Japan may be built somewhere in the Futaba-gun's 8 municipalities including Okuma-machi. Mr. Hosono definitely denied the possibility, saying "Fukushima was hit by a big tsunami, and therefore it is not suited to become the final disposal site."

Ummm. All of Japan's nuclear reactors are located right on the ocean, and just about the entire Japanese archipelago is full of active faults running through it. There are plate junctions capable of producing large earthquakes and tsunami.

Next, Governor of Osaka Ichiro Matsui tweets, trying to convince people in Osaka that the disaster debris from Tohoku is totally free of plutonium:

瓦礫処理について、誤解されている方が多いようですが、岩手県に福島原発事故による、プルトニウムの飛散はありません。プルトニウムは比重が重く遠距離飛散は確認されていません。

Many people seem to misunderstand about the debris disposal. But plutonium from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant accident didn't reach Iwate. Plutonium's specific gravity is large, and it is not confirmed to have flown a long distance.

Uh... Researchers have found Fukushima-origin plutonium in Lithuania. (Maybe Lithuania is located just south of Fuku I Plant?)

I don't think the Ministry of Education and Science ever tested the soil samples for plutonium outside Fukushima and southern Miyagi. But that shouldn't deter these politicians (or the radiation/nuclear experts for that matter) from declaring one thing or another. If they keep repeating it, sooner or later it will become "true", particularly in the post-Fukushima Japan.

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