Koizumi still trying to raise money for US sailors

September 7, 2016

Ex-PM Koizumi backs sick U.S. sailors who blame radiation

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201609070067.html

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is raising money for the hundreds of American sailors who say they got sick from radiation after taking part in relief operations for the 2011 tsunami that set off the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Koizumi, prime minister from 2001 to 2006, told reporters Wednesday he recently visited San Diego to meet with former military service members, who have begun a class-action lawsuit against Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that operates the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Some 70,000 sailors and Marines took part in "Operation Tomodachi," flying in aid from an aircraft carrier and other warships off the coast of northeastern Japan.

Some got seriously sick with cancer and leukemia and blame radiation. TEPCO denies any link between the illness and radiation.