One lawmaker intimately involved in various difficult decisions following the Great East Japan Earthquake has been Environment Minister Goshi Hosono.
One lawmaker intimately involved in various difficult decisions following the Great East Japan Earthquake has been Environment Minister Goshi Hosono.
Hosono, 40, served as special adviser to then Prime Minister Naoto Kan when the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit, leading to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Hosono was later named state minister in charge of overseeing the Fukushima nuclear accident, a role he has continued to hold concurrently with the environment minister portfolio under Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Hosono described the difficulties in making decisions about such issues as dealing with the radiation from the Fukushima accident.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
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There will be no progress if nobody does anything on the grounds that it is difficult, or because it falls in the gap between the jurisdiction and authority of different Cabinet ministries, or because the roles of the central and local governments have not been defined.
If there is no one willing to do it, I have said, "Let us have the Environment Ministry do it." In that way, I have encouraged ministry officials to deal with the various issues that have arisen. We cannot run away just because it is difficult.
For example, someone has to decide the extent to which low levels of radiation exposure can be allowed or decide on how many millisieverts of radiation annually would be the standard for lifting the evacuation order.
There is not sufficient time for reaching an agreement, but this is something that cannot be put off.
In the end, the role of politicians is to make decisions and to hold responsibility for such decisions.
I am very aware of that.
There is an internal conflict on that issue.
However, there should be no misunderstanding that the initial objective is to complete the decontamination process.
It is an agonizing issue.
People's land was contaminated through no responsibility of their own. There is criticism about having those people decontaminate the soil.
I was also hesitant at first.
At the same time, there are people in Fukushima who have come out and said they would do it. We have to support such people as much as possible.
Tokyo and the Kanto region enjoyed a stable lifestyle by having Fukushima generate the electricity.
Now, the accident has occurred in Fukushima.
Would it be appropriate to have Fukushima also be the eventual host of the storage facility for the contaminated materials?
While it may not be possible to achieve immediately, I feel there is a need to share in some form the pain being felt by the residents of Fukushima.
It is possible that politicians in the Nagatacho district or bureaucrats in Kasumigaseki, or the public in general, have not yet reached the point of considering this issue to be one that directly affects them.
However, unless everyone considers the issue in such a manner, I do not believe we will be able to overcome the present situation.
There are many people who want to return to even those areas that have high concentrations of radiation. I have met with a number of those people.
They have told me, "Even if I am unable to return, I hope my children or grandchildren will be able to return."
Politicians have to respond to such feelings.
How can we draw a line between those areas where residents can return to and those where that is not possible? How can we bring to reality the feelings of each individual?
Those are very difficult issues to deal with, but I hope to make a decision while continuing to engage in dialogue with the people of Fukushima.