Tokyo's 2020 Olympics Bid and Hysterical Media

Above, a view from Tokyo Tower looking towards Shinjuku.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

220 kilometers is equal to 136.70 miles. This is the distance between the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant and Tokyo. Yet, all the media's focus at today's press conference on the 2020 Olympic Summer Games was on the continuing problems with the leakage of radioactive water at the nuclear power plant.

According to Kyodo News:

Tokyo scrambled to get a handle on the Fukushima nuclear crisis, with a show of reinforcements from its delegation to control a public relations nightmare at the International Olympic Committee's general session on Thursday. 

Tokyo, which is vying for the 2020 Summer Olympics against Madrid and Istanbul, took a hit the previous day when bid chief Tsunekazu Takeda was besieged by questions from reporters on the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, battered by recent reports of suspected leaks of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and a faulty tank releasing highly radioactive water.

The problems with the power plant will not affect Tokyo in any way. 2020 is seven years away and any lingering problems should be resolved by then.

It was the same kind of "reporting" following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 that caused the sharp drop in tourism to Japan, which was totally unnecessary. I wrote about it at the time here at Anime News Network.

To read the full article, go here.