FUKUSHIMA--Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori expressed his frustration at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's failure to mention the nuclear accident in Fukushima during a speech on March 11 on the sixth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
"This is an accident that does not exist in the past tense, but in the present progressive form," Uchibori said at a regularly scheduled news conference on March 13. "It is not possible to avoid using the important and significant terms of the nuclear plant accident or nuclear power disaster."
He added that the prime minister's failure to use such terms in a memorial event speech to remember the victims of the March 11, 2011, disasters left Fukushima residents with a sense of discomfort.
"Fukushima Prefecture has experienced enormous damage from a terrible nuclear accident that is unprecedented in the world," Uchibori said in the news conference.
While Abe did not mention the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which was triggered by the earthquake and tsunami, he did not forget the prefecture completely in his speech at the National Theater in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
"I feel that the rebuilding process in Fukushima has entered a new stage with the lifting of evacuation orders for various parts of the prefecture," Abe said.
The government-sponsored event has been held annually on March 11 since 2012. Abe has spoken at the commemorations from 2013 until 2016 and mentioned the fact that many Fukushima residents could not return to their hometowns due to the nuclear accident.
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