Une autre version des faits:
http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/07/26...bottled-urine/
Fukushima Residents Angrily Shout at Mid-Level Bureaucrat & Demand He Accept Bottled Urine
This video, which allegedly shows how the Japanese government is “killing its own people” with radiation, is going viral:
It was filmed at a July 19th meeting in Fukushima city, where government bureaucrats were supposed to explain the possible effects of radiation on health and answer questions from concerned citizens. Akira Satou, director of a Local Nuclear Emergency Response Team, seems to be the main government spokesman at the meeting.
English-speaking bloggers and twitter users have posted links to this video, expressing concern about “arrogance” and “disgraceful” behavior of Mr. Satou and the Japanese government. It is unfortunate that so many of them seem to have ignored the questionable nature of the video.
Its ridiculously biased title (“Japanese government killing its own people in Fukushima”) should have been enough to tip off most people. It’s also fairly obvious that the video has been heavily edited. It’s about 3 minutes of a meeting that was presumably much longer. Satou may have tried to answer some questions, but whoever edited the video didn’t seem to care much about including the government’s answers. We are only shown scenes that make it look like the government look cold and arrogant.
The video also contains a couple translation errors that compliment its fearful and sensational tone. For example, one of the subtitles reads:
“Well, you are free to evacuate at your own risk if you want to. If people live in a safe place, the government asks them to stay there.”
When the bureaucrat is actually saying something along the lines of, “”You can leave whenever you want to, the government is not requiring anyone to stay.”
Similarly, the uploader translates a general question about “Where is it safe?” as the more dramatic “Where on Earth is safe?”
The most dramatic part of the video is at the end, when one woman chases Satou and demands that he accept a bottle of urine:
She claims it is a child’s urine and it needs to be tested for radiation. The bottle is big, containing far more urine than would be necessary for any scientific test, and far more than any single child could plausibly excrete in a single trip to the bathroom.
Understandably, the bureaucrat refuses to accept the bottle of urine. Urine tests, which are already being carried out by authorities, are not under his jurisdiction. Nevertheless, angry citizens continue to scream about how he is “running away” from their reasonable questions and demands. How dare he not accept random bottles of piss? Who the hell does he think he is?!!
While it is easy to sympathize with the citizens, many who have been living under extreme stress for the last few months, it is nonetheless important to stand back and take a rational look at the situation. Simply put, most of the demands they make in this video are unrealistic and unreasonable.
Mr. Satou is a mid-level bureaucrat. He clearly didn’t have the authority to authorize new mass evacuations or discuss the merits of the Soviet Union. And he wasn’t there to collect urine. He was only qualified to answer questions that pertained to his limited field of expertise.
The people in the video apparently believe the evacuation zone should include Fukushima city, which has a population of nearly 300,000 people. One man wonders why the Soviet Union was able to evacuate a similar number of people, suggesting that the Japanese response has been weaker than the Soviet response. We are shown footage of Satou waiting for the audience members to stop screaming, but the video cuts away before we know if he tried to answer the question (leaving viewers with the impression that the government is “stonewalling” or “arrogantly ignoring” legitimate questions).
In asking why “a free nation” like Japan couldn’t replicate the policy of the Soviet Union, the audience member answered his own question. The forced evacuation of such a large city would be no problem for a Soviet-style totalitarian regime: they could just order it and it would be done, with all criticism of the decision being censored and suppressed. However, democratic countries cannot easily force thousands of citizens to abandon their homes. If the Japanese government were to force a costly evacuation of Fukushima city, it would need strong evidence to convince citizens that the decision was justified. Because the available data shows that radiation in the area isn’t high enough to present a significant threat to human health, the evacuation of Fukushima city is not going to happen.
The government certainly has a responsibility to warn and protect citizens from deadly pollution or radiation. Evacuations did take place, initially in areas that were in the immediate vicinity of the nuclear plant, and later in areas where significantly high levels of radiation were measured. Tests in other areas – such as Fukushima city – have found lower and less serious levels of radiation. The people in the video demanding that the government guarantee their “right to avoid radiation exposure and live a healthy life” have concluded that they are in danger and require a government-funded evacuation. Their conclusion seems to be based on misunderstanding and fear, rather than actual evidence of significant danger.
The situation in Fukushima is no laughing matter, and citizens should be putting pressure on the government to improve its handling of the crisis and clean-up. However, it would probably be best if citizens focused on making reasonable demands instead of unrealistic cries for evacuation and hysterical piss bottle theatrics.
Relevant Links: As has been widely reported in the Japanese media, authorities are already conducting health checks in Fukushima, and they intend to monitor the health of every single resident of the prefecture and provide free lifetime thyroid tests for children. So far, tests by the government and NGOs have found miniscule amounts of radiation in some residents’ urine, but nothing at a dangerous level.