Satirical cartoons unwelcomed?

March 19, 2015

French satirical weekly publishes Fukushima cartoon

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150319p2g00m0dm050000c.html

PARIS (Kyodo) -- French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo took up the issue of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in a cartoon in its March 18 issue.

The cartoon -- on the theme of "spring" -- shows two people in protective gear against the backdrop of a smoke-spewing nuclear plant talking about the year's first swallow while looking at footprints of a huge bird, suggesting it has mutated into a monstrous size due to radiation.

In 2013, another French weekly, Le Canard enchaine, carried cartoons satirizing the Fukushima crisis, drawing a protest from the Japanese government.

The weekly also carried two cartoons about nuclear power plants in France in the same issue.

In January this year, 11 people were killed in the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo when they were attacked by Islamic extremists following the publication of cartoons caricaturizing the Prophet Muhammad.

Source : Jiji Press

http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2015031801006

Charlie Hebdo Satirizes Fukushima Radiation Crisis

   Paris, March 18 (Jiji Press)--French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo published in its latest edition Wednesday a cartoon poking fun at the nuclear disaster in Japan.
   The cartoon features a pair of footprints of a bird that seems to have grown mammoth due to the effects of radiation, with two men in radiation protection suits saying the footprints are of "the first swallow" of the year against the background of columns of black smoke arising from what appears to be Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
   In France, an illustration making fun of the nuclear accident appeared in another weekly in 2013.
   The Charlie Hebdo cartoon could provoke a backlash from Japan, observers said.
   The French weekly's offices in Paris were attacked by terrorists earlier this year, due to its publication of cartoons of Islam prophet Muhammad.