Japan’s Prime Minister has eaten fish from the ocean off the Fukushima coast to dispel safety concerns amid an escalating row over the release of radioactive water — sparking comparisons with The Simpsons.
Fumio Kishida and three of his ministers sat in front of cameras in the PM’s Tokyo office on Wednesday for a meal of what he called “safe and delicious” fish — sashimi of flounder, octopus and sea bass — from Fukushima.
“This is very good,” Mr. Kishida told the assembled cameras.
Social media users immediately noted the similarity to the iconic episode season two of the TV show where Mr. Burns is served a three-eyed fish mutated by radioactive waste.
“Maybe the craziest ‘Simpsons predicts real life’ moment yet,” wrote one user on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“First as tragedy then as farce,” another said.
It comes days after wastewater was released from the area’s crippled nuclear plant into the Pacific, sparking an escalating row with China which last week banned all seafood imports from its neighbor.
The release of the water, which began on Thursday and is expected to take decades to complete, has prompted fury from Beijing despite the United Nations watchdog declaring the operation safe.
On Tuesday, Tokyo demanded that China ensure the safety of Japanese citizens as it reported a brick being thrown at its embassy in Beijing.
As tensions rise, Japan has urged its tens of thousands of citizens in China to keep a low profile and has increased security around schools and diplomatic missions.
Japan’s foreign minister on Tuesday confirmed media reports that the brick was thrown at its mission and echoed calls from Mr Kishida for China to calm the situation.
“We would like to urge the Chinese government again to take appropriate measures immediately, such as calling on its citizens to act calmly to prevent the situation from escalating, and to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of Japanese residents and our diplomatic missions in China,” Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo.
He added that China should “provide accurate information” about the Fukushima water release “rather than unnecessarily raising people’s concerns by providing information without any scientific basis”.
In Beijing, a spokesperson at the Japanese embassy told AFP that staff were “extremely worried”.
“Some individuals have come to our [embassy] entrance,” the spokesperson said. “They took these kinds of actions, then were led away by armed police.”
In response, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Tuesday that Beijing “protects the safety” of foreigners in China, dismissing the “so-called concerns of the Japanese side”.
“Ignoring the strong doubts and opposition of the international community, the Japanese government unilaterally and forcibly started the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident, which aroused strong indignation among people of all countries,” he added.
“This is the root cause of the current situation.”
‘Don’t speak loudly’
Analysts say that China’s sharp criticism of the Fukushima release is partly motivated by its geopolitical and economic rivalry with Japan.
On Sunday, Japan’s foreign ministry urged its citizens in China to be “cautious in your speech and behavior… do not speak Japanese unnecessarily or too loudly”.
Eggs and stones have also reportedly been thrown at Japanese schools in China. Japanese residents in China vented their fears on X.
“I’m a bit scared … We have to worry about our own children being harmed by something we can’t control. I don’t know what to think,” tweeted Miki, a Japanese woman living in Shanghai according to her profile.
A range of businesses in Japan, from bakeries to an aquarium, have also reportedly been subjected to thousands of crank calls that have included abusive and racist language.
Social media users in China have posted recordings and videos of the calls, some of which have attracted tens of thousands of likes.
China erupts over Japan’s ‘selfish’ act
Japan began releasing more than 500 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of diluted wastewater from Fukushima into the Pacific on Thursday, 12 years after a tsunami knocked out three reactors in one of the world’s worst atomic accidents.
