Japan’s Yoshitaka Sakurada resigns as Olympics minister

11 April 2019

Japan’s Olympics Minister Yoshitaka Sakurada has resigned over comments that offended people affected by a huge tsunami and earthquake in 2011.

At a fund-raising event, he suggested that backing the governing LDP member of parliament for the region was more important than its economic revival.

It is not the first time Mr Sakurada has been forced to apologise.

He said in February that he was disappointed by a Japanese swimmer’s leukaemia diagnosis.

He said he was worried that medal favourite Rikako Ikee’s illness might dampen enthusiasm for next year’s Olympics.

Mr Sakurada also admitted last year to never having used a computer, despite being Japan’s cyber security minister.

After accepting Mr Sakurada’s resignation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologised for appointing him.

“I deeply apologise for his remark to the people in the disaster-hit areas,” said Mr Abe.

The 2011 tsunami left more than 20,000 dead and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Shunichi Suzuki, who had been Olympics minister before Mr Sakurada was appointed last October, will return to the post.

In February Mr Sakurada had to make another apology, after arriving three minutes late to a parliamentary meeting.

Opposition MPs said his poor timekeeping showed disrespect for his office and boycotted a meeting of the budget committee for five hours in protest.

He also came under fire in 2016 for describing so-called comfort women forced to provide sexual services to Japanese war-time troops as “professional prostitutes”.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47889356?fbclid=IwAR2_GUfNeb5C_lP5uwYBEdnbCdt4-Mmvs896LzgSu6Izo5w-fnTEd_luS8M

1.This Month

of the week

Ohioans Against Nuke Bailout https://www.facebook.com/OhioansAgainstNukeBailout/

PETITION https://www.ohioansagainstnukebailouts.com/petition

Contaminated waste from damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima swept away by Typhoon Hagibis

The Trump Nuclear Push ECU 637 KEVIN KAMPS

After The Apocalypse The Polygon Tests

How the Greenland ice melt will expose buried US nuclear waste within decades｜Climate Change

Free Julian Assange, before it’s too late. Sign to STOP the USA ExtraditionPETITION

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION – theme for October 19

Press freedom: Criminalizing journalistic activity NYT,

The Context

Prosecutors recently expanded a criminal case against Julian Assange to include accusations that he violated the Espionage Act by soliciting, obtaining, and publishing classified documents leaked in 2010 by Chelsea Manning, which could establish a precedent that such common journalistic activities (a separate question from whether Assange counts as a “journalist”) can be treated as a crime in America.

The Question

Are these charges constitutional? Would your administration continue the Espionage Act part of the case against Assange?……..

Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts,

Whatever one’s opinions of Julian Assange, these charges under the Espionage Act set a precedent that could be used to target journalists. We should not be using this case as a pretext to wage war on the First Amendment and go after the free press who hold the powerful accountable everyday. more https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/press-freedoms-executive-power.html

nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope