英字新聞

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 16
（社説）丸川環境相　撤回しても残る「軽さ」
EDITORIAL: Marukawa’s gaffe about Fukushima heightens doubts about Cabinet's aptitude

Environment Minister Tamayo Marukawa caused a stir by claiming the government had no scientific grounds for its radiation decontamination target around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
　福島第一原発事故への対応で、担当閣僚である丸川環境相の発言が波紋を広げている。

Her comment came in a Feb. 7 speech on the government’s long-term goal of reducing radiation levels near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to an annual dose of 1 millisievert or less.
　国が追加被曝（ひばく）線量の長期目標として示した年間１ミリシーベルトについて、７日の講演で

“There are people who worry about radiation no matter how much the levels have been lowered, people who might well be described, appropriately or not, as an ‘anti-radiation camp,’” Marukawa said. “While such people were making noise, the environment minister at that time decided (on the target) without any scientific grounds.”
「『反放射能派』と言うと変ですが、どれだけ下げても心配だという人は世の中にいる。そういう人たちが騒いだ中で、何の科学的根拠もなく時の環境大臣が決めた」などと発言した。

Her remarks were reported the following day by The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun, a local newspaper.
翌日の信濃毎日新聞が報じた。

Decontaminating areas polluted with radioactive materials and curbing additional exposure to radiation is one of the top policy priorities for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet.
　放射性物質の除染や、追加被曝の抑制などは、安倍内閣の最重要課題の一つである。

Nearly five years since the nuclear disaster unfolded, decontamination efforts alone appear unlikely to achieve the long-term target in some areas. Residents from these areas have no hope of returning to home soon.
　原発事故からまもなく５年。除染だけでは長期目標の達成が難しい地域がまだ残り、住民の帰還が進まない現状がある。

The Democratic Party of Japan-led government set the long-term decontamination goal based on recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The panel recommended annual doses in the range of “1 to 20 millisievert” as a yardstick for recovery from the accident.
　長期目標は、国際放射線防護委員会が原発事故から復旧する際の参考値とする「年１〜２０ミリシーベルト」の最も厳しい水準だ。

The government’s decision to adopt the stricter end of the recommended range for the decontamination target reflected strong demand for absolute safety and security among communities in the affected areas.
１ミリシーベルトに決まった背景には、安全や安心を求める地元福島の要望もあった。

Responding to residents’ desire to return home as soon as possible while pursuing the tough long-term goal has proved a formidable challenge.
　一日も早い帰還を願う住民の思いと、長期目標をどう整合させるか。

The goal, determined after considering a complicated mix of factors, has forced the government to continue making strenuous efforts while learning from mistakes.
さまざまな複雑な要素を考慮して決められ、いまなお試行錯誤が続く難題である。

If Marukawa didn’t know this background, she should be accused of failing to do her homework. Or did she know all these facts and was simply trying to demean the previous DPJ-led government?
　丸川氏がそうした経緯を知らなかったとすれば、不勉強と言われても仕方がない。それとも、経緯を知ったうえで、決定当時の民主党政権をおとしめるための発言だったのか。

Even more troubling is how she flip-flopped in replying to questions about her remark.
　さらに深刻なのは発言が報じられて以降の二転三転ぶりだ。

The environment minister initially responded to questions posed at the Diet and from reporters by repeatedly saying she had “no recollection of using such wording” in the speech.
　国会質問や取材に「こういう言い回しをした記憶は持っていない」などと答え続け、

On the morning of Feb. 12, however, she changed her account and admitted having made the comments. She retracted the remarks in the evening that day.
一転して「言ったと思う」と認めたのは１２日朝、発言を撤回したのはその日夕方になってからだ。

Did she really forget making the remarks? Or did she bet that people would eventually forget the matter if she kept saying she had no memory of saying such things?
　本当に発言内容を忘れたのか。記憶がないと言っていれば、いずれ国民が忘れてくれると思ったのか。

In any case, Marukawa’s remarks raise serious questions about her aptitude for her job.
いずれにせよ、閣僚としての適格性が疑われる発言というほかない。

However, Marukawa is not the only Cabinet member who has made a verbal blunder indicating a disturbing carelessness in speech.
　丸川氏だけではない。安倍内閣の言動の「軽さ」を印象づける場面は他にもある。

In a Feb. 9 news conference, Aiko Shimajiri, the state minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, could not read the kanji characters for the Habomai group of islets, and asked her secretary how the characters should be read. The Habomai islets are part of the Northern Territories, a chain of islands claimed by Japan but occupied by Russia.
　島尻沖縄北方相は記者会見で、北方領土の一部である歯舞（はぼまい）群島の「歯舞」を読めず、秘書官に問う場面があった。

Abe himself recently made an embarrassing verbal error.
In an Internet program of his Liberal Democratic Party, Abe misnamed the 2014 Stockholm agreement in which North Korea promised a fresh investigation into the fates of Japanese citizens it had abducted decades earlier. Abe mistakenly called it the Oslo Agreement, a 1993 peace accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
　安倍首相も、自民党のインターネット番組で、２０１４年に北朝鮮が拉致被害者らの再調査を約束した「ストックホルム合意」を、中東和平の「オスロ合意」と間違えた。

Nobody is free from slips of the tongue or misunderstandings.
　確かに、言い間違いや思い違いは誰にでもある。

But the above-mentioned errors are serious because dealing with the nuclear disaster, tackling the territorial dispute with Russia and resolving the North Korea abduction issue are important challenges placed high on the Abe Cabinet’s policy agenda.
ただ、原発事故対応や北方領土、拉致問題はいずれも安倍内閣が重要課題に掲げるテーマだ。

These gaffes could call into question not only the ministers’ qualifications for their jobs but also the Cabinet’s stances toward the issues.
閣僚の資質とともに、内閣としての姿勢が問われかねない。