information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
24 Mai 2014
May 23, 2014
The government on Friday released a written request from Masao Yoshida, the late chief of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, that a Diet investigation panel not publicly disclose any of the 28 hours of interviews on how he handled the March 2011 meltdowns.
The Diet panel received all of the records of the interviews that a separate governmental panel conducted with him from July 22 to Nov. 6 in 2011. Yoshida submitted the request to ensure that the records “will not be leaked” to a third party.
In the note, dated May 29, 2012, Yoshida said that he was worried his accounts might include factual errors because he was speaking from memory, several months after the nuclear crisis began, and that some of his comments about the other people involved might lead to “misunderstandings” if they were taken out of context.
“I request that (the Diet investigation panel) strictly manage (the records) so that they will not be leaked to a third party,” Yoshida said in the note, a copy of which was posted on the Cabinet Secretariat’s website.
Based on the request, the government has refused to release the records of the interviews. The Asahi Shimbun said it obtained a copy and has started publishing excerpts.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing that the government released the entire text of the request to make Yoshida’s intention clear.
May 22, 2014
Staff Writer
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday again refused to release a confidential record of interviews with the deceased chief of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, although he said the government might consider doing so at the family’s request.
Suga’s comment came in response to an earlier remark by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party).
Hashimoto bashed the government for not releasing the record of the government’s interviews with Masao Yoshida, who was head of the plant during the triple core meltdown in March 2011.
The record was produced by a government panel that was investigating the crisis, and handed over to another investigative team set up by the Diet.
Before the hand over took place, Yoshida submitted a written request for the Diet panel not to publicize any of its cont
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