Tokyo University Researcher Slams Japanese Government Handling of Fukushima Crisis

Speaking on July 27th to the Committee on Welfare and Labor in the Lower House of the Japanese Diet, University of Tokyo Radioisotope Center Director Dr. Tatsuhiko Kodama delivered passionate testimony regarding the failure of the government to protect citizens living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant—particularly children—from ongoing nuclear radiation exposure.

At times speaking calmly and at other moments invoking what might be described as principled rage, Kodama joined other worldwide anti-nuclear critics such as Dr. Helen Caldicott and Arne Gunderson (whose recent joint radio discussion may be heard here) in describing the dangers of internal radiation exposure, while also denouncing the inaction of Japanese bureaucrats in their handling of post-Fukushima policy.

This August 9, 2011 article published by The New York Times provides the most damning English-language coverage yet regarding the prioritization of bureaucratic procedures over peoples' lives in immediate post-Fukushima Japan.

Putting the Fukushima tragedy in historical perspective, Madelyn Hoffman, the Executive Director of New Jersey Peace Action, calls for an end to the nuclear era and the suffering that it engenders in her excellent piece "Fukushima. Hiroshima. Nagasaki. When Will It Stop?"