No Prosecution against Leaders

The prosecutors has reportedly decided that they would not prosecute former Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, some of his cabinet members, leaders of governmental offices, and administrators of Tokyo Electric Power Company, who had been responsible for the managing the accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant March, 2013. It actually is not easy to let them take responsibility in unprecedented disaster. However, people in Japan have not forgotten that they failed in establishing united system for disaster management and yielded a huge amount of refugees from nuclear radiation.

Prosecutors office accepted last August the charges from the sufferers of Fukushima nuclear accident against TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, former President of Nuclear Safety and Security Agency, Nobuaki Terasaka, Chairman of Nuclear Safety Committee, Haruki Madarame, and other twenty-three leaders related to nuclear policy. The accusation was against negligence resulting in death or injury by sabotage in taking measures for quake and tsunami causing the accident, by causing death of patients in the hospital around the plant, and by exposing residents to radioactive materials emitted from the plant.

The sufferers also charged six cabinet members including Kan, then Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, and former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Banri Kaieda. The accusation to them was against failure of vent to avoid hydrogen explosion and caused injury of staffs in the plant.

There is overwhelming consent in the society of Japan that no leaders could not have avoid the tragedy caused by such a great disaster. The decision of the prosecutors must be the reflection of that sentiment. However, here is a fact. Over three hundred thousand people are away from their sweet homes and living in small tentative houses, and still looking for jobs. When the plant lost entire electricity, those leaders were talking about how they could perform political leadership, how they can hide critical information about radioactive dissemination from the eye of public, and how they can maintain those expensive nuclear reactors.

Harakiri is a Japanese way for a man to compensate his failure at a price of his life. If the prosecutors are not indicting those leaders, there will be no way for the compensation except decease. Actually, Masao Yoshida, Director of First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, escaped from prosecution, because he is already dead. Even though law would not judge their crime, the leaders will suffer from constant reproaches from evacuees from Fukushima in their whole lifetime.