#Radioactive Japan: Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa of Futaba-machi Resigns

After he decided to fight the resolution of no confidence against him and dissolved the Futaba-machi Assembly, he was holding meetings with his townfolks.

One such meeting was to be held in Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture where some of the Futaba residents have been living in the temporary housing. But Mayor Idogawa, 65, fell suddenly ill with dizziness　and severe headache, and he was hospitalized on January 20 to have medical tests done.

On January 23, he asked to resign.

If you haven't read Mayor Idogawa's recounting of how he saw the white substance falling from sky like the snow after an explosion (that was Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant) as he tried to evacuate elderly citizens, go to my post from February 11, 2012.

From Jiji Tsushin (1/23/2013):

東京電力福島第１原発事故で役場機能を埼玉県加須市に移している福島県双葉町は２３日、井戸川克隆町長が辞職を申し出たと発表した。辞職は２月１２日付となり、同日から５０日以内に町長選が行われる。町議会は昨年１２月、井戸川町長の不信任決議を全会一致で可決。町長は同月２６日に町議会を解散しており、町は首長と議会が同時に不在となる異例の事態に陥る。

Futaba-machi, whose official functions have been moved to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, announced on January 23 that Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa offered to resign. The mayor's resignation will be official as of February 12, and the mayoral election will be held within 50 days after that date. The town assembly unanimously passed the no-confidence resolution against Mayor Idogawa in December last year, and the mayor in turn dissolved the assembly on December 26. The town faces an extraordinary situation where there is no head of the town nor the town assembly.

町によると、井戸川町長は２３日に町の幹部職員を集めた会議で辞職の意向を表明し、議会事務局長に辞職届を提出したという。新町長が就任するまでは井上一芳副町長が町長の職務代理者を務める。

According to Futaba-machi, Mayor Idogawa gathered senior officials of the town to a meeting on January 23 where he expressed his intention to resign, and submitted the notice to the secretariat of the town assembly. Until the new mayor is installed, Vice Mayor Kazuyoshi Inoue will assume the duties of the mayor.

福島第１原発のある双葉町は事故で全住民が町外に避難している。昨年３月には政府が除染で生じる汚染土を保管する中間貯蔵施設の建設受け入れを双葉、大熊、楢葉３町に要請。同施設の建設をめぐる井戸川町長の言動に不信感を持った町議会が不信任決議を出した。

All residents of Futaba-machi, where Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located, have evacuated the town after the nuclear accident. In March last year, the national government requested that Futaba, Okuma, and Naraha to accept intermediate storage facilities to be built in their towns, which would be used to store contaminated soil removed in the process of decontamination. The town assembly became suspicious of the mayor's intentions over the construction of such facilities [two in Futaba-machi] and submitted the resolution of no confidence [against the mayor].

Town assemblymen/women wanted to go ahead with the government plan, which would mean more money for the town. Mayor Idogawa said no, as he wanted the town's people to fully understand the implication of such facilities and decide for themselves.

Jiji article doesn't say why Mayor Idogawa is resigning. Mayor Idogawa has penned his farewell letter which is posted on the Futaba-machi website, but he does not say why he is resigning.

Mayor Idogawa has had hardly any support from anyone in his quest to secure a safe, radiation-free permanent place for the town residents, official or private, except for a few volunteers who occasionally cooked meals for the evacuees who still live in an abandoned high school building in Kazo City, Saitama.

It's been nearly two years after the start of the nuclear accident.

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#Radioactive Japan: Futaba-machi Mayor Idogawa Fights No Confidence Vote, Dissolves Town Assembly and Calls for an Election

I reported about the mayor and his town assemblymen who unanimously passed the no-confidence resolution against Mayor Idogawa on December 20.

Mayor Idogawa has decided to fight for his townfolks, some of whom are still living in an abandoned high school building in Saitama Prefecture, 21 months after the start of the accident. They have to pay for their own boxed meals, and over the New Year's holidays the bento vendor will be closed for business.

From Nippon Television News (12/26/2012):

福島第一原発事故を受けて役場の機能を埼玉・加須市に移している福島・双葉町は２６日、井戸川克隆町長が議会を解散した。

Futaba-machi, whose municipal government has been temporarily moved to Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture following the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, has dissolved the town assembly at the order of Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa.

　原発事故を受けて役場機能を加須市に移している双葉町は、２０日の定例議会で、井戸川町長への不信任案が提出され、全会一致で可決された。可決から１０日以内に議会を解散しないと自動的に失職することになるが、２６日、井戸川町長は会見を開き、議会を解散したことを明らかにした。

The no-confidence resolution against Mayor idogawa was submitted during the regular assembly meeting on December 20. The resolution was unanimously passed. The mayor will lose his position in 10 days after the vote, unless he dissolves the assembly. On December 26, Mayor Idogawa held a press conference, and announced that he has dissolved the assemly.

　井戸川町長「議会を解散いたしました。私なりに考えを巡らしてまいりました。このような決断に至り、断腸の思いです。原発事故さえなければ平和な町であったのに、非常に残念」

Mayor Idogawa said, "I have dissolved the assembly. I have been weighing things as best I can, and this is a gut-wrenching decision. It would have been a peaceful town if it hadn't been the nuclear accident. I am very disappointed."

　解散から４０日以内に、町議選が行われることになる。

The town election is to be held within 40 days.

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#Radioactive Japan Under LDP: Futaba-machi Assembly Finally Passes No-Confidence Resolution Against Mayor Idogawa

This is the assembly's third attempt, and this time all 8 assemblymen voted yes to demand Mayor Idogawa to step down.

Why? Because the mayor refuses to "move forward".

What's "moving forward" for the town which had to relocate to Saitama temporarily because of severe contamination from the nuclear accident?

Talking with the national government "constructively" to build intermediate storage facilities for nuclear waste in Futaba-machi, for a start. The first step will be to agree to the field survey by the national government.

The town may have no choice, but what these assemblymen are after seems to be more about money, a huge wad of money from the national government in exchange for simply agreeing to start talking.

Just change "intermediate storage facilities" with "nuclear reactors". It's the same old story. Simply agreeing to the survey will probably produce a ton of money for the town. Of all people, Mayor Idogawa should know very well.

Mr. Idogawa has been tirelessly campaigning for the people of his town, a changed man after the nuclear accident. Inconvenient for the town assembly, obviously.

For his account on March 11, 2011 as he experienced, see my post from February.

From Kyodo News (12/20/2012):

双葉町議会が町長不信任を可決　中間貯蔵施設の協議欠席で

Futaba-machi town assembly passes the no-confidence resolution against the mayor because he skipped the negotiation for intermediate storage facilities

東京電力福島第１原発事故で、汚染土壌などを保管する中間貯蔵施設の調査候補地になっている福島県双葉町の１２月議会が２０日、役場機能を移している埼玉県加須市であり、井戸川克隆町長に対する不信任決議案を議員８人の全会一致で可決した。

The December Assembly of Futaba-machi, Fukushima Prefecture was held on December 20 in Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture where the town's government has been temporarily moved. Futaba-machi in Fukushima is one of the locations where the national government wants to conduct the feasibility study for building intermediate storage facilities to store contaminated soil from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The no-confidence resolution against Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa was unanimously passed by all eight assemblymen.

　地方自治法に基づき、町長は１０日以内に議会を解散しない限り失職する。

Unless the mayor dissolves the assembly within 10 days, according to the Local Autonomy Law, he will lose his job.

　井戸川町長は、進退について記者団の質問に「落ち着いて考えて整理したい。週明けには判断する」と述べた。

Mayor Idogawa said to the reporters, "I would like to sort things out quietly. I will decide over the weekend."

　決議は、佐藤雄平福島県知事と双葉郡７町村長が１１月に現地調査の受け入れを決めた協議を、町長が欠席したことなどを批判した。

The resolution criticized the mayor for having skipped the negotiation in November whereby Governor of Fukushima Yuhei Sato and other seven mayors of municipalities in Futaba County agreed to the survey [for waste storage facilities].

Mayor Idogawa, in his December 20 letter to the town residents, explains why he refused to sit down with the fellow mayors and the governor of Fukushima:

中間貯蔵施設については、議論をしないまま、調査だから認めろと言いますが、この費用の出どころを確かめることが重要です。この施設は30年で県外に出すと国は言っていますが、約束は我々とはまだ出来ていません。この施設の周りには人が住めません。六ヶ所村では2km以内には民家がないようで、双葉町では町の中心部が殆ど入ってしまいます。では、どうするのかの議論が先です。ボーリング調査を行うのは着工です。予算の構成を見ますと、整備事業の下に調査費が付いています。これは行政判断としては着工になります。着工の事実を作らせないために、私は非難覚悟で止めていることをご理解ください。

　十分すぎるほど議論して町民の皆さんの理解の下に進めるべきです。日本初の事業です。双葉町最大の損害で、確かな約束を求める事をしないまま進めてはやがて子供たちに迷惑をかけます。新政権とじっくり話し合いをして、子供たちに理解を貰いながら進めます。このように、私たちには大きな損害があることをご理解ください。

As to the intermediate storage facility, we are told to accept without any discussion because it's only the field survey for now. But how will this survey be paid for? This facility is supposed to be there for only 30 years, but there is no formal agreement on that between the national government and us. No one can live near this facility. No one lives inside the 2 kilometer radius of Rokkasho-mura [where the Reprocessing Plant is located]. The 2 kilometer radius would include almost all central Futaba. What should we do then? That discussion should come before anything else. To conduct the boring survey means the start of construction. If we look at the budget [for the intermediate storage facility] there is a line item called "survey cost" under "development". As far as the administrative decision goes, this is the start of construction. Please understand that I've been trying my best to stall [the survey] so as not to give the government the fait accompli of construction started.

It should proceed after ample discussion and understanding of all the town residents. This is the first ever such project in Japan. It is the greatest loss for the town, and if we just let it proceed without any firm promise, our children will suffer. I would like to talk patiently with the new administration, and proceed so that our children would understand. Please know that we have suffered a great loss.

Earlier in his letter, he pleads with the residents to think about their "loss", that it's not just about the loss of tangible assets like real estate but intangible assets like health and future prospect.

His words clearly fell on deaf ears of eight assemblymen who see very tangible assets (money) in front of them.

Mayor Idogawa sees the details, and knows the process. So, they'd rather shut him up, and join others in pointing the bright sky on the horizon - "Look, that's the future..."

I wonder if he dissolves the assembly and calls the election. I doubt it.

It's a new Japan - Japan that cannot focus its attention long enough to think things through and simply latches on to soundbites. I guess that has been the global trend, but Japan manages to do it in the middle of the most severe nuclear accident in the country that has contaminated wide areas in Tohoku and Kanto.

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The Film "Nuclear Nation" Featuring Mayor Idogawa of Futaba-machi Screened at Berlin Film Festival

Mainichi Daily, quoting Kyodo News (2/13/2012):

BERLIN (Kyodo) -- A documentary film featuring residents forced to evacuate their town, home to the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, was screened Sunday at the Berlin International Film Festival.

"I hope nobody in the world will have such an experience like ours again," Katsutaka Idogawa, mayor of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, said in a video message shown after the screening of the tentatively titled "Nuclear Nation" by director Atsushi Funahashi.

"We had attracted the nuclear power plant to promote our town. But I changed my mind because of the accident. While a final disposal site for nuclear waste is not set, it is quite dangerous that many nuclear power plants are built in the world," the mayor said.

The documentary depicts residents taking shelter at a former school building in Saitama Prefecture and scenes of Futaba town, which was evacuated due to a nuclear crisis following the March 2011 quake and tsunami.

The film director said after the screening, "I hope many people in the world will look at the current situation of people from Futaba. I will continue keeping a record until they find a permanent dwelling place."

Musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who composed piano music used in the documentary, also attended the screening.

Sakamoto said he plans to produce an album under the theme of Fukushima this summer and stage a performance with fellow musicians.

For more on Mayor Idogawa of Futaba-machi, see my previous post.

The film maker, Atsushi Funahashi, says he started shooting in late March when people were still focused on the aftermath of March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Despite the 4 explosive events in Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, I do remember that back then many people in Japan were still talking about fulfilling their duty to go out and spend money to help people in the disaster-affected area and prevent the collapse of the economy. Good old, ignorant days when the nuclear accident was a minor nuisance.

On second thoughts, it is still a minor nuisance for the majority.

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Futaba-machi Mayor on March 12, 2011 Explosion of Reactor 1: "Insulation Materials Falling Like Large Snowflakes. I Knew We Were Finished"

Mayor Idogawa says he knew it was the end.

Journalist Hiromichi Ugaya compiled a togetter of the press conference by the mayor of Futaba-machi on February 11, 2012.

Futaba-machi is where part of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located (Reactors 5, 6). The town's function has been moved to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture, and the mayor, Katsutaka Idogawa, is now demanding that his town of about 7,400 residents be relocated instead of "decontaminated".

Ugaya says Mayor Idogawa held three separate press conferences, one for TV, one for newspapers, and one for independent journalists. I haven't looked carefully yet, but I don't see any coverage at the websites of major newspapers.

Mayor Idogawa said:

• There was no instruction from the government as to where to evacuate, or how to evacuate.

• The town was not told of the vent, and the vent was carried out while there were lots of people still in town.

• What looked to be the insulation materials from the plant fell like snowflakes on them, and he knew they were finished.

The following is my translation of most of the remarks by Mayor Idogawa, as tweeted by Ugaya, who was at the conference:

Current situation of Futaba-machi in exile, as narrated by the journalist Ugaya:

同町は福島第1原発が町内にある「立地自治体」。町全体が立入禁止（警戒区域）になって全町民６４００人が避難。練馬区くらいの大きさの町。役場は埼玉県加須市に移転。きょう移転先役場で町長に会った。

Futaba-machi is one of the "municipalities with nuclear power plants", where Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located. The entire town was designated as "no entry zone" and all 6400 [sic] residents have evacuated. It is the size of Nerima-ku [in Tokyo]. The town hall has relocated to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture. I [Ugaya] met the mayor at the temporary town hall of Futaba-machi.

移転先は埼玉県加須市、生徒が減って廃校になった騎西高校をそのまま使っている。なお５００人弱の双葉町民がそのまま避難生活を続けている。そのありさまにも驚いた。アパートなど借り上げ住宅に移っていない人もまだそんなにたくさんいるのだ。

The temporary town hall is located in Kazo City, Saitama. They use the high school building that has been closed. About 500 Futaba-machi residents still live there. I am surprised. Still that many people living in the shelter, instead of living in apartments or other temporary housing arrangements.

Mayor Idogawa's recollection on the day of Reactor 1 hydrogen explosion (3/12/2011):

町民は、過去の歴史だけでなく、将来をも奪われてしまった。これはどんな価値よりも大切なものを奪われたということです。それは東京電力の補償など絶対に追いつかない

Residents of Futaba-machi have been deprived not only of their past but also of their future. They have been deprived of the most precious thing that no amount of compensation from TEPCO could buy.

「どの方向似」「何で避難する」避難指示が国や県からなかったので、役場の前の旗を見て風向きを見て逃げる方向を判断せざるをえなかった。

"Which direction?" "How do we evacuate?" There was no evacuation instruction from the national or prefectural government. So we looked at the flag in front of the town hall, figured out the wind direction, and decided which way to evacuate.

それまでの毎年の避難訓練は「電源が失われたが、３時間くらいで復旧、冷却装置が作動」というシナリオだったので、まったく役に立たなかった。

The scenario of the annual evacuation drills was "Power is lost, and recovers in about 3 hours, and the reactor cooling system comes back online". The drills were useless in the real-life accident.

町民はやむなくバラバラにマイカーで逃げるしかなかった。福島県川俣町が避難を受け入れることを決めたので、防災無線で「とにかく川俣町へ」と必死で呼びかけた。

Residents had to flee in their own cars. Kawamata-machi [northwest of Futaba-machi, just beyond Iitate-mura] had just decided to accept evacuees, so we used the emergency communication system and called out desperately to the residents to somehow go to Kawamata-machi.

政府が決めた「ベント」も何の予告もなかった。町民が真下にまだいるのに、ベントが行われた。自分たちを日本国民と思っているのか。まるで明治維新の前からそのままではないか。

We weren't told of the "vent" [of Reactor 1] that the government decided to do. The vent was carried out while the residents were still in town. I wonder if they [the government] think of us as Japanese citizens. This is like pre-Meiji Restoration [when there was no notion of citizens of a nation].

１２日、町民が脱出するなか、双葉厚生病院の前で入院者や近くの老人ホームのお年寄りをバスに乗せる誘導をしていたら、最初の水素爆発が起きた。「ズン」という鈍い音がした。

On March 12, as the residents were fleeing, I was in front of Futaba Kosei Hospital guiding the hospital patients and elderly people from the nearby senior citizens' home to a bus [for evacuation] when the first hydrogen explosion took place. There was a dull "thud".

「ああ、とうとう起きてしまった」と町長は思った。数分して、断熱材（グラスファイバー）のような破片がぼたん雪のように降ってきた。「大きなものはこれぐらいあった」と町長は親指と人差し指でマルをつくった。

"Oh no, it finally happened," the mayor thought. After a few minutes, small debris that looked like glass fiber insulation materials came falling down from the sky like large snowflakes. "Big ones were this big", the mayor puts his thumb and index finger together to form a circle.

双葉厚生病院は福島第1原発から２キロしか離れていない。雪のように断熱材（？）の破片が降るのを、３００人くらいの町職員や医師、看護師らが呆然と見つめた。町長は「これでもう終わった」と思った。

Futaba Kosei Hospital is only 2 kilometers away from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. About 300 people, including municipal workers, doctors and nurses, watched the flakes of insulation materials fall like snow, stunned. The mayor thought, "We're finished."

福島第1原発から断熱材（？）が雪のように降り注ぐ光景を、町長は「それはそれは不思議な光景だった」と振り返る。「そういう映画にでも出てきそうな光景だった」。なすすべもなく、服についた「チリ」を手で払い落とすしかなかった。

The mayor looks back and says, "That was a very, very strange sight. It was like a movie". Not knowing what to do, he just dusted off his clothes with his hand.

The sight of some filament falling from the sky, shining, was also seen by people in Iitate-mura, and Namie-machi.

About "We're finished" remark and the mayor's health:

そうした「福島第1原発からのチリ」を浴びた町長に「それは危険なものだという認識はあったのですか」と問うと「今でも『もう終わった』と思っている」と応えた。「それはどういう意味ですか」と問い返すと「鼻血がとまらない」と言った。

I [Ugaya] asked the mayor who was doused with "dust from Fukushima I Nuke Plant", "Did you think it was dangerous?" He answered, "Even today, I think "We're finished"." "What do you mean?" I asked. He said "Nosebleed hasn't stopped."

「ずっと鼻血がとまらない。鼻をかむと今でも血が出る。たらたら垂れることもある。もう乾燥しているんだかなんだかわからない」

"Nosebleed hasn't stopped. If I blow my nose it bleeds. Sometimes the blood drips. I don't know what's going on, whether the nose is too dry."

「胸から下、すね毛まで毛が抜けてつるつるになった」「銭湯で隣に座ったじいさんが『おい、女みたいにすべすべになっているぞ』というので気づいた」「陰毛だけは大丈夫だった」「体毛がないと肌着がくっついて気持ちが悪い」

"Ive lost almost all body hair from chest down, all the way down to the legs. I noticed it when an old man sitting next to me in "sento" (public bath) said to me, "Hey your skin's smooth like a woman." Pubic hair remains. It's uncomfortable without body hair, because my underwear clings to the skin."

About TEPCO employees who came to Futaba-machi town hall:

３月１１日直後から東電の職員は２人が町役場に来ていた。ふだんから担当している広報課の職員だ。しかしメルトダウンや水素爆発の情報は何も教えてくれなかった。今から思うと顔面蒼白で、知っていたのかもしれない。

Since the accident started on March 11, there were 2 TEPCO employees at the town hall. They were the regular PR department personnel. But they didn't tell us anything about meltdown or hydrogen explosion. In retrospect, the color was drained from their faces. They may have known something [about meltdown and hydrogen explosion].

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