Japan Angry by Cartoon Linking Fukushima to Olympics

“Thanks to Fukushima, sumo is now an Olympic sport.”

The cartoon shows two sumo wrestlers, each with an extra leg or arm, and missing toes or fingers, facing off with the Fukushima plant in the background as an announcer says, “Thanks to Fukushima, sumo is now an Olympic sport.” It was carried by the French satirical Le Canard Enchaine.

The caption reads: “Thanks to Fukushima, sumo is now an Olympic sport”, a reference to Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

“This cartoon hurts the feelings of those who suffered through the Great East Japan Earthquake,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, referring to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant, triggering the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

[Surely, “those who suffered through the Great East Japan Earthquake” must be much more hurt by the imbecile government’s woefully inadequate response to the ongoing disaster, than a cartoon depicting their plights. More than 2 years on, some 300,000 people remain displaced. Editor]

“It is inappropriate and gives a wrong impression of the Fukushima contaminated water issue. It is extremely regrettable.”

Suga said Japan would lodge the complaint through the French embassy in Tokyo and that the Foreign Ministry had been directed to “thoroughly explain the situation” to avoid similar incidents.