MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“A former adviser to the Japanese cabinet has revealed the government has known for months that thousands of evacuees from around the Fukushima nuclear plant will not be able to return to their homes.

Nearly seven months after the meltdowns at Fukushima, about 80,000 people are still living in shelters or temporary housing.

Former special adviser to Japan’s prime minister and cabinet Kenichi Matsumoto has told the ABC that the government has known for months that many who live close to the Fukushima plant will not be able to return to their homes for 10 to 20 years because of contamination.

The history professor and author has given the ABC an insider’s account of what happened in the hours and days after March 11, as three of the Fukushima reactors bubbled towards meltdown after a tsunami knocked out backup power to the plant.

Professor Matsumoto witnessed both the government’s and the plant operator’s responses to the worst nuclear accident in a quarter of a century.

He says the government is simply too scared to tell Fukushima residents that they cannot return.

‘The cabinet knew right after the disaster that some people would not be able to live in their communities for 10 to 20 years, especially those a few kilometres from the plant,’ he said.

‘The government should have conveyed the truth to the evacuees. But it felt scared; it feared telling the truth to the people.’

Professor Matsumoto also confirms the prime minister at the time – Naoto Kan – also contemplated evacuating tens of millions of people from in and around Tokyo.” Read more.