Politicians at the national and local level have taken offense with depictions of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in a long-running manga series that until now had focused on food and gourmet cooking.
Politicians at the national and local level have taken offense with depictions of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in a long-running manga series that until now had focused on food and gourmet cooking.
Installments of "Oishinbo" published in the April 28 and May 12 editions of the weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine also touched a nerve among those in Fukushima who felt the representations jarred with reality.
The manga series has been in print since 1983. A total of 120 million copies of the 110 bound volumes of Oishinbo have been sold.
In one scene, the main character in Oishinbo suddenly develops a nosebleed after visiting the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
In another, characters based on real-life individuals caution people not to live in Fukushima. There is no specific mention of fears about radiation, but the linkage is obvious.
The outraged Fukushima prefectural government posted its view of the manga on its website on May 12.
"The feelings of the Fukushima people were totally ignored and deeply hurt," it said. "The depiction could severely damage the agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism industries."
The prefectural government submitted a formal protest against Shogakukan Inc., the publisher of the manga weekly, for the nosebleed depiction, noting that "there have been no confirmed cases of direct damage to health caused by radioactive materials emitted from the nuclear accident."
The issue was also taken up at the national level.
At his May 12 news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the central government's top spokesman, said, "It has been made clear through the appraisal of experts that there is no causal relationship between radiation exposure among residents and nosebleeds."
The Fukushima prefectural chapter of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, along with Fukushima prefectural assembly members of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, issued statements of protest as well.
The manga content also rankled Fukushima University because an associate professor who appears under his real name in the May 12 installment says it is impossible to decontaminate the entire prefecture and make it livable for residents again.
Katsumi Nakai, president of Fukushima University, issued a statement that said, "We would like to remind faculty members to act and speak after thoroughly understanding their position."
A sense of unfairness has spread well beyond Fukushima to Osaka in western Japan because the May 12 installment includes a segment in which residents of Osaka complain about health problems after a nearby incinerator processes rubble transported from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto told reporters, "Because of freedom of expression and since it is a manga, fundamentally the artist can freely do what he wants, but I think he went overboard with the depiction that has no basis in fact."
In spite of the sharp reaction, Katsutaka Idogawa, the former mayor of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, refused to back down from what he was attributed with saying in the manga.
In the May 12 installment, Idogawa is depicted as saying, "Many people suffer from nosebleeds and fatigue because they have been exposed to radiation." In another scene, he says, "People should not live in Fukushima today."
At a May 9 news conference, Idogawa said: "I only spoke the truth. It is wrong for the prefectural government to raise such a fuss."
The editors of the weekly manga magazine posted a comment on its website on May 12 that said, "We hope this contributes to deepening debate on how the administrative branch and mass media should be working."
In the May 19 installment, they said the magazine will include special pages that will incorporate the views of several experts as well as the publication's response to the various protests received. Magazine officials stressed they had no plans to change the contents of the manga.
Tetsu Kariya, the creator of Oishinbo, revealed on his own blog that he would continue with works related to Fukushima and said: "I believe any plans for interviews should come after that has been completed. I take full responsibility for everything that appears in the manga."
Meanwhile, Fukushima residents had different takes on the controversy over the manga depictions.
Hideki Sato, 47, who lives in Fukushima city and works at an after-school child care facility, said the depictions ignored the local efforts to alleviate concerns about radiation exposure through internal radiation exposure testing and food testing.
However, Ruiko Muto, who heads a group of plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit seeking criminal responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear accident, said: "After the accident, I heard that some people suffered from nosebleeds. It is a fact that radioactive materials exist so no definitive statement can be made about no causal relationship. I feel uncomfortable with the concerted effort to protest the depiction of the nosebleed segment."
The controversy was triggered in part by a tweet by a 32-year-old cram school teacher who uses the handle name "Junichi." The tweet has been retweeted more than 10,000 times.
Junichi said, "I hope that this serves as an opportunity to have more people know about the reality in Fukushima through an examination of the contentious points, rather than cover up various arguments."
(This article was written by Naoyuki Takahashi and Takuro Negishi.)