Japan’s Prime Minister Eats Radioactive Fish From Fukushima Waters

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida along with three of his cabinet members ate seafood sourced from waters off the coast of Fukushima, a stunt he pulled roughly a month before in the hopes of dispelling concerns over the safety of the food.

“It is important to show safety based on scientific evidence and resolutely disseminate (the information) in and outside of Japan,” said Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura in a statement to the press.

 The move comes after Japan released treated radioactive wastewater from its power plants which are said to still contain tritium, but no other radioactive materials.

Kishida and the tree ministers held a lunch meeting where they ate flounder, octopus and sea bass sashimi along with rice harvested from Fukushima, in order to “inform people both at home and abroad” about the food’s safety.

Nishimura oversaw and consulted with experts on the plan to release the wastewater into the nearby sea. He stressed that the lunch displayed a “strong commitment to take the leadership in tackling reputational damage while standing by the feeling of the fisheries community in Fukushima.”

Officials plan to visit markets around the region over the coming week to help promote the safety of consuming the fish caught near Fukushima and restore confidence. Kishida on Thursday ate octopus caught by a Fukushima fishmonger who was selling in Tokyo as reporters watched.  –Fox News

Basically this:

ver 18,000 people died and 160,000 people fled their homes after the Fukushima nuclear power plant famously malfunctioned in 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami caused emergency backup power generators to fail, causing three nuclear meltdowns.

Since the disaster, the plant has stored 1.34 million tons of water in 1,000 tanks, which was then treated and released in order to free up space for additional facilities.

Surrounding the release, activists and fishermen have raised concerns over the impact of the waste, and have expressed concerns that releasing it will make it more difficult to sell their fish in other markets.