The Yomiuri Shimbun
Calls are growing louder in both the ruling and opposition camps for Prime Minister Naoto Kan to step down over his alleged remark that evacuees from around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant "will not be able to return for 10 to 20 years."
Kenichi Matsumoto, an advisor to the Kan administration, said Wednesday the prime minister made the remark during talks the two had that day. Kan has strongly denied Matsumoto's claim.
Kan again denied making the remark during a Thursday meeting with Michio Furukawa, the mayor of Kawamatamachi, a town to be included in an expanded evacuation zone due to radiation from the nuclear complex in Fukushima Prefecture.
Kan was quoted as saying Thursday that the central government will do its utmost to achieve the "earliest possible solution" to the question of evacuations prompted by the nuclear plant.
At a press conference after the talks, however, Furukawa appeared unconvinced by the prime minister's denial.
"The statement [attributed to Kan] that people from the evacuation zone will be unable to return home for up to 20 years is outrageous," he said. "I wonder how much the prime minister is aware of the hardships we are going through in the radiation-affected sites."
With the repercussions of the controversial remark expected to spread, close aides to the prime minister have been actively defending Kan.
Koichiro Gemba, Policy Research Committee chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and one of the prime minister's close associates, said in a committee meeting Thursday that Matsumoto should bear the blame for misquoting the prime minister.
Indicating that Matsumoto alone should be held responsible for the remark, Gemba stressed, "We politicians must, as a matter of course, bear people's sorrow and pain in mind."
Matsumoto is a writer and historian specializing in Asian diplomacy. He took the post of Cabinet adviser in October.
A longtime friend of Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, Matsumoto is known as part of Kan's brain trust, and recently made a series of proposals to the prime minister regarding restoration work in the disaster-stricken areas.
Just after his talks with Kan on Wednesday, Matsumoto quoted the prime minister as having said evacuees near the plant would be unable to return to their hometowns for 10 to 20 years. Matsumoto also cited Kan as saying he was considering developing an environmentally friendly town in an inland area for about 50,000 to 100,000 people, "in case residents need to leave their homes" near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex.
Later the same day, however, Matsumoto said he had misquoted the prime minister. What was reported as a statement by Kan was actually something said by Matsumoto, he said.
Kan himself told reporters: "I did not say that."
The perception has nevertheless remained, in and outside the government, that the remark might actually have been made by Kan, touching off criticism against the prime minister even within the DPJ.
One of the DPJ lawmakers critical of Kan is Shinji Tarutoko, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Fundamental National Policies.
In a Thursday meeting of DPJ Diet members he heads, Tarutoko said, "I strongly believe such circumstances are not beneficial to the interests of the nation." He was apparently referring to the alleged remark.
A senior DPJ lawmaker close to party heavyweight and Kan rival Ichiro Ozawa said: "The prime minister just doesn't understand how disaster victims feel, and I want him to quit after the first supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 [for disaster relief programs] becomes law."
DPJ bigwig Azuma Koshiishi said at a meeting Thursday of government and DPJ executives regarding Wednesday's talks between Kan and Matsumoto: "You [Kan] had better not meet so many people."
Koshiishi heads the DPJ's caucus in the House of Councillors.
The opposition camp has been more aggressive, with Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki calling on Thursday for Kan to resign as prime minister as soon as possible.
LDP legislator Bunmei Ibuki, a former finance minister, said at a meeting of his group the same day: "The existence itself of the Kan Cabinet is a massive disaster [for this country]." Ibuki also said some DPJ legislators have asked the LDP "to help topple the Kan administration."
(Apr. 16, 2011)
Calls are growing louder in both the ruling and opposition camps for Prime Minister Naoto Kan to step down over his alleged remark that evacuees from around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant "will not be able to return for 10 to 20 years."
Kenichi Matsumoto, an advisor to the Kan administration, said Wednesday the prime minister made the remark during talks the two had that day. Kan has strongly denied Matsumoto's claim.
Kan again denied making the remark during a Thursday meeting with Michio Furukawa, the mayor of Kawamatamachi, a town to be included in an expanded evacuation zone due to radiation from the nuclear complex in Fukushima Prefecture.
Kan was quoted as saying Thursday that the central government will do its utmost to achieve the "earliest possible solution" to the question of evacuations prompted by the nuclear plant.
At a press conference after the talks, however, Furukawa appeared unconvinced by the prime minister's denial.
"The statement [attributed to Kan] that people from the evacuation zone will be unable to return home for up to 20 years is outrageous," he said. "I wonder how much the prime minister is aware of the hardships we are going through in the radiation-affected sites."
With the repercussions of the controversial remark expected to spread, close aides to the prime minister have been actively defending Kan.
Koichiro Gemba, Policy Research Committee chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and one of the prime minister's close associates, said in a committee meeting Thursday that Matsumoto should bear the blame for misquoting the prime minister.
Indicating that Matsumoto alone should be held responsible for the remark, Gemba stressed, "We politicians must, as a matter of course, bear people's sorrow and pain in mind."
Matsumoto is a writer and historian specializing in Asian diplomacy. He took the post of Cabinet adviser in October.
A longtime friend of Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, Matsumoto is known as part of Kan's brain trust, and recently made a series of proposals to the prime minister regarding restoration work in the disaster-stricken areas.
Just after his talks with Kan on Wednesday, Matsumoto quoted the prime minister as having said evacuees near the plant would be unable to return to their hometowns for 10 to 20 years. Matsumoto also cited Kan as saying he was considering developing an environmentally friendly town in an inland area for about 50,000 to 100,000 people, "in case residents need to leave their homes" near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex.
Later the same day, however, Matsumoto said he had misquoted the prime minister. What was reported as a statement by Kan was actually something said by Matsumoto, he said.
Kan himself told reporters: "I did not say that."
The perception has nevertheless remained, in and outside the government, that the remark might actually have been made by Kan, touching off criticism against the prime minister even within the DPJ.
One of the DPJ lawmakers critical of Kan is Shinji Tarutoko, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Fundamental National Policies.
In a Thursday meeting of DPJ Diet members he heads, Tarutoko said, "I strongly believe such circumstances are not beneficial to the interests of the nation." He was apparently referring to the alleged remark.
A senior DPJ lawmaker close to party heavyweight and Kan rival Ichiro Ozawa said: "The prime minister just doesn't understand how disaster victims feel, and I want him to quit after the first supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 [for disaster relief programs] becomes law."
DPJ bigwig Azuma Koshiishi said at a meeting Thursday of government and DPJ executives regarding Wednesday's talks between Kan and Matsumoto: "You [Kan] had better not meet so many people."
Koshiishi heads the DPJ's caucus in the House of Councillors.
The opposition camp has been more aggressive, with Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki calling on Thursday for Kan to resign as prime minister as soon as possible.
LDP legislator Bunmei Ibuki, a former finance minister, said at a meeting of his group the same day: "The existence itself of the Kan Cabinet is a massive disaster [for this country]." Ibuki also said some DPJ legislators have asked the LDP "to help topple the Kan administration."
(Apr. 16, 2011)
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