Removal of pro-nuclear signs in Fukushima town irks slogan maker

Source: Japan Today

Just a few months before the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex disaster, a town hosting the crippled plant began removing two signboards that have turned into an ironic reminder of how Japan had once blindly worshipped nuclear power.

A slogan that was on display in the center of the town of Futaba since 1988 read “Nuclear power: the energy for a bright future.” But the town is now empty, with all residents having evacuated due to the radiation contamination caused by the triple reactor meltdowns.

The town decided to take down the signs, saying they have become “decrepit” and that parts could fall. But Yuji Onuma, the 39-year-old creator of the iconic slogan and an evacuee himself, warned the move could be perceived as an attempt to “cover up” the shameful past.

“The signs should have been kept at the original places to continue reminding people, especially the younger generation, about what the town has gone through…If things are removed just because it does not suit reality, we could repeat the same mistakes,” Onuma said in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, where he has lived since May 2014.

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