Disaster victims angry at power struggles in Tokyo
Jun. 3, 2011
Survivors of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami expressed their anger Thursday at politicians they said were wasting their time in a power struggle over a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet.
''If politicians have time to get in each other's way, they should come to Fukushima and help settle the accidents'' at the radiation-leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a 25-year-old corporate employee in Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, said.
The man also said he does not expect anything from such politicians but that Kan should stay in power until the nuclear crisis is resolved.
Eiichi Sato, 69, criticized the opposition camp for submitting the anti-Kan motion to parliament. ''Now is not the right time to fight'' Kan's government, said Sato, who is living in Sendai after his home in Kesennuma was destroyed in the quake-tsunami disaster.
Osamu Kanno, 57, in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, particularly questioned the behavior of Ichiro Ozawa, a veteran of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan who led the latest move to dethrone Kan, his archrival.
The city used to be part of Ozawa's constituency. Kanno said, ''I don't know to what extent Mr. Ozawa understands the feelings of disaster victims.''
In the Iwate prefectural government, an official who handles work to rebuild disaster-hit areas, said ''Why now?'' in referring to Wednesday's submission of the no-confidence motion. ''Politicians are putting priority on a power struggle and leaving disaster victims behind.''
Jun Sato, mayor of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture, told a news conference that he watched the political news with the sense of disgust. ''Parliamentarians should quickly enact supplementary budgets for reconstruction,'' he said.
Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato declined to comment on the lower house's rejection of the no-confidence motion but said, ''I'll take the result as the intention both of the government and parliament to work in a nonpartisan manner'' on post-disaster reconstruction.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 2, 2011)
''If politicians have time to get in each other's way, they should come to Fukushima and help settle the accidents'' at the radiation-leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a 25-year-old corporate employee in Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, said.
The man also said he does not expect anything from such politicians but that Kan should stay in power until the nuclear crisis is resolved.
Eiichi Sato, 69, criticized the opposition camp for submitting the anti-Kan motion to parliament. ''Now is not the right time to fight'' Kan's government, said Sato, who is living in Sendai after his home in Kesennuma was destroyed in the quake-tsunami disaster.
Osamu Kanno, 57, in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, particularly questioned the behavior of Ichiro Ozawa, a veteran of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan who led the latest move to dethrone Kan, his archrival.
The city used to be part of Ozawa's constituency. Kanno said, ''I don't know to what extent Mr. Ozawa understands the feelings of disaster victims.''
In the Iwate prefectural government, an official who handles work to rebuild disaster-hit areas, said ''Why now?'' in referring to Wednesday's submission of the no-confidence motion. ''Politicians are putting priority on a power struggle and leaving disaster victims behind.''
Jun Sato, mayor of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture, told a news conference that he watched the political news with the sense of disgust. ''Parliamentarians should quickly enact supplementary budgets for reconstruction,'' he said.
Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato declined to comment on the lower house's rejection of the no-confidence motion but said, ''I'll take the result as the intention both of the government and parliament to work in a nonpartisan manner'' on post-disaster reconstruction.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 2, 2011)
