Japan
is to formally complain about a cartoon that appeared in a French
weekly newspaper showing sumo wrestlers with extra limbs in front of the
Fukushima nuclear plant and linking this to the Olympics, the top
government spokesman said on Thursday.
Tokyo won the right to host the
2020 summer Olympic Games after overcoming concerns about leaking
radioactive water at the stricken Fukushima plant north of Tokyo, with
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assuring the International Olympic
Committee that the situation was "under control".
The
cartoon, carried in the satirical Le Canard Enchaine, shows two sumo
wrestlers, each with an extra leg or arm, facing off with the Fukushima
plant in the background as an announcer says, "Thanks to Fukushima, sumo
is now an Olympic sport."
Another cartoon shows people in protective gear by the side of a pool, the Tokyo Shimbun daily reported.
"This
cartoon hurts the feelings of those who suffered through the Great East
Japan Earthquake," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga,
referring to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that wrecked the
Fukushima nuclear plant, triggering the world's worst nuclear disaster
since Chernobyl.
"It is inappropriate and gives a wrong impression of the Fukushima contaminated water issue. It is extremely regrettable."
Suga
said Japan would lodge the complaint through the French embassy in
Tokyo and that the Foreign Ministry had been directed to "thoroughly
explain the situation" to avoid similar incidents.
Japan
was angered last year after a French broadcaster used a composite
picture that showed Japanese national soccer team goalie Eiji Kawashima
with four arms and the caption "Fukushima Effect" about a save he made
in a game between the two nations. The broadcaster subsequently
apologized.
Japan was chosen as host for the 2020 Olympics on Sept 7, beating out Madrid and Istanbul despite the issues posed by the Fukushima plant, some 230 km (140 miles) from Tokyo.
The
crisis shows no signs of ending. The operator of the plant said on
Wednesday that levels of tritium - considered one of the least harmful
radioactive elements - spiked more than 15 times in groundwater near a
leaked tank over three days this week.
REUTERS