#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO's PR Shouts At Italian Journalist, "If You Cannot Follow My Orders, Go Back!"

On June 13, 2013, TEPCO invited foreign correspondents to Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant to show them the progress that's been made at the plant.

Mr. Pio d'Emilia is the Far East correspondent for SkyTG24, an Italian news TV, who went on the tour, only to be solded down by an agitated TEPCO employee for asking to see the "cage" (steel frame structure over the Reactor 4 building that TEPCO has just recently completed).

As Mr. d'Emilia says, the whole purpose of the tour was to show the "cage" over the Reactor 4 building...

He sarcastically writes, "This was worse than North Korea!"

From Daily NO BORDER entry (6/17/2013; part) by Pio d"Emilia, (original in Japanese, my English translation):

東電の広報室の人たちというのは、じつに奇妙奇天烈だ。自分たちから報道陣を呼んでおきながら、仕事を妨害し、終始怒鳴り続ける。ざるのごとく汚染水が漏れ続けているにもかかわらず、福島第一原発は「きちんと管理」され、現在は「安全な」状況にあり、収束作業は「予定通り」進んでいると我々に思い込ませようと必死のあまり、報道陣から一瞬たりとも目を離さない。「皆さんの安全を第一に考えて」というもっともらしい言い訳のもと、立ち止まることも許さず、レンズの前に手を置いて撮影を制止する。これではまるで北朝鮮の警備兵より酷いです。

TEPCO's PR people are a really weird bunch. They are the ones who invited journalists to the plant. But they obstruct our work, and shout at us non-stop. Contaminated water has been leaking like sieves, but they do their utmost best to convince us that Fukushima I Nuke Plant is "properly managed", and it is in "safe" condition, and work is proceeding "according to schedule". So they keep an eye on us all the time. Under the pretext of "we consider your safety first", they don't allow us even to stop for a moment, they put their hands on our camera lenses to stop us from taking pictures. This is worse than a North Korean armed guard.

彼らはいったい何を恐れているのか。安全を脅かされること？　だが、安全なんてどこにあるのか。そもそも、適格な能力もないくせに、無責任にも原子力発電所を建設し、運営し続けることによって、公共の安全を著しく侵害したのは、東電ではなかったのか。

What are they afraid of? Having safety threatened? But where is that safety? Wasn't it TEPCO to start with, who built nuclear power plants irresponsibly, without qualified competence, who continued to operate the plants and by doing so severely harmed public safety?

(Full article at the link)

In the video Mr. d'Emilia links, a TEPCO PR person is shouting with agitated gesture with his arms, his anger totally out of proportion. I have no idea why he should be angry to begin with. (Dialog in Japanese, my translation):

d'Emilia: "I would like to see the new "cage"."

TEPCO PR: "100 meters ahead!"

d'Emilia: "I would like to see that."

TEPCO PR: "We're going to walk there! Keep calm! You hear me? If you cannot follow my orders, go back! Understand?"

d'Emilia: "Wow wait a minute. I'm just asking questions..."

TEPCO's PR person was having a bad full-face mask day, I suppose.

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