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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 07:06 AM Jun 2014

The Manga “Oishinbo” Controversy: Radiation and Nose Bleeding in the Wake of 3.11

http://www.japanfocus.org/-Eiichiro-Ochiai/4138



(The conversation goes like this (top to bottom, right to left): “I think the reason that so many people in Fukushima are suffering from nose bleeding and serious fatigue…” “It is due to exposure to radiation.” “Concerned mothers in Osaka investigated 1000 persons living near the incinerating facility dealing with the debris brought from the affected areas.” “They found problems with the eyes and respiratory system, though I would not say that all are due to radiation.”)

The Manga “Oishinbo” Controversy: Radiation and Nose Bleeding in the Wake of 3.11

~snip~

An episode titled “The Truth about Fukushima (series 604)”, with episode 22/23 published on May 12, 2014. It depicted a conversation about “Nose Bleeding” among the comic's protagonist Yamaoka Shiro, a scientist and the former mayor of Futaba-machi a town adjacent to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, which had severe accidents on the occasion of the Great East Japan Disaster when a powerful earthquake (magnitude 9) combined with the huge Tsunami on March 11 of 2011 (the 3.11 incident). A portion of a key scene of the comic is shown below. The controversy, centered on the issue of the main character suffering nose bleed after a visit to the plant, and another character modeled on the former Futaba Mayor, warning people against living in the prefecture. After the Fukushima prefectural government issued a protest against the manga for inflaming fears about the safety of the prefecture’s fish, the publisher announced that the popular series would take a break following a final issue on “The Truth about Fukushima” on May 19.

This episode in the comic, centered on nose bleeding in the wake of 3.11, provoked an unusual controversy immediately upon publication, and all printed copies of the comic were rumored to have sold out quickly. Essentially there are two views. One is “denial of the fact” that many people have experienced nose bleeding after the Fukushima incident, with the assertion that nose bleeding cannot be caused by the radiation emitted from Fukushima Dai-ichi. The other view is that it is reasonable that the nose bleeding observed among the people of Fukushima prefecture and surrounding areas including Tokyo could be caused by radiation, as suggested in the comic.

~snip~

The Political Aspect

The denial has two aspects: one is political, the other scientific. The political powers, including the current mayor of Futaba-machi, the minister of the environment and even the prime minister, strongly criticized the episode, saying that the contents do not hold up to scrutiny. They deny categorically the facts depicted in the comic. The intention seems to be to suppress any suggestion of a causal relationship between nose bleeding and the radiation emitted as a result of the disaster and any criticism of the government and the nuclear industry. People, including locals, have been keenly aware of government intentions in strongly reacting to this trivial incident. After all, it was simply a description of certain incidents observed by the author and associates and presented in a comic. Why did the government go to such lengths to suppress mention of nose bleeding? The incident suggests the desperation of the government and the industry to suppress the facts concerning the danger of radiation.

The local governments of Fukushima prefecture and local communities expressed concern, coining the term “damage caused by rumors”. This suggests that to express something that cannot be verified may adversely affect those for which the concern is expressed. In this case, the idea was to suggest that people (Japanese citizens) may receive a false impression that radiation is still significant in Fukushima, and might become afraid of approaching the area, buying products made in the area, etc., despite the fact that the radiation level has already been reduced significantly, as the local governments and the Japanese government insist. However, it is to be recognized that the damages caused by radiation are indeed more serious than rumors such as these. But what is the true situation concerning radiation? Unfortunately, precise, accurate and detailed data are non-existent or have been hidden from public scrutiny. Besides, a more significant issue is the question of how low a level of radiation should cause us to worry. Is there a threshold? This is a scientific issue, so we now turn to the scientific aspects of the controversy, which are the main focus of this article.
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The Manga “Oishinbo” Controversy: Radiation and Nose Bleeding in the Wake of 3.11 (Original Post) unhappycamper Jun 2014 OP
The "controversy" is imaginary FBaggins Jun 2014 #1

FBaggins

(26,697 posts)
1. The "controversy" is imaginary
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 08:31 AM
Jun 2014

In this case, the government is entirely correct. You can't get nosebleeds years after a tiny exposure to radiation. Even in cases of significant radiation poisoning (thousands of times the dose), where bleeding absolutely is a symptom, the bleeding occurs within hours of exposure and stops fairly quickly (a day or so... or at death).

On the other hand... millions of people in Japan get nosebleeds every year (allergies, dry air, infection, high blood pressure, etc). It would be irresponsible to leave those people with the impression that they might have been exposed to high amounts of radiation.

The incident suggests the desperation of the government and the industry to suppress the facts concerning the danger of radiation.

And that statement suggests desperation on the part of the author to suppress a reality that he doesn't like and invent his own facts.

"The danger of radiation" does not include nosebleeds years later.

These irrational fear-mongers play the same game with diarrhea. It's a known symptom of radiation poisoning, so they've got some poor fools in Japan believing that their mild food poisoning (or virus, etc) is actually caused by Fukushima... without admitting that this simply isn't possible, because it's only a symptom of radiation poisoning when it occurs within hours of receiving a killing dose.

If you've got significant diarrhea and you're not either in the hospital or dead within a couple weeks... it wasn't from radiation.

This suggests that to express something that cannot be verified may adversely affect those for which the concern is expressed.

Nope... it's to "suggest" that flat-out lies intended to scare people are never in their best interest.

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