Photo/Illutration Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in July (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Seventy-five percent of voters believe the government has made insufficient efforts to prevent reputational damage to Japanese seafood expected from the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, a survey showed.

Only 14 percent of respondents in the nationwide telephone survey conducted by The Asahi Shimbun on Aug. 19-20 said the government’s efforts are sufficient.

Even among those who support the Kishida Cabinet, 71 percent said the efforts so far are insufficient, compared with 18 percent who said they are sufficient.

In the Tohoku region, where the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located, nearly 90 percent of respondents said the efforts are insufficient, while less than 10 percent said they are sufficient, according to the survey.

Government officials have said they will provide careful explanations and adequate information about the water discharge plan to local people and the international community to ensure safety and prevent reputational damage.

When asked whether an overseas move to strengthen import restrictions of Japanese seafood is acceptable, 55 percent of respondents answered in the negative and 37 percent responded in the affirmative.

China has implemented stricter radioactivity inspections of Japanese seafood even before the water discharge, which is expected to begin as early as the end of this month.

Asked whether they support the government’s water discharge plan, 53 percent of respondents said yes while 41 percent said no.

In the previous survey in July, 51 percent were for the plan, while 40 percent were against it.

Some survey questions were related to the My Number personal identification system, which has been plagued with problems.

Fifty-three percent said they do not approve of the way Taro Kono, who heads the Digital Agency as minister for digital transformation, is handling the issue, compared with 37 percent who said they approve his efforts.

Despite all the problems and concerns, the government has maintained its policy of abolishing health insurance cards, in principle, in autumn next year and integrating them into My Number Cards.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said they are opposed to the policy, while 38 percent said they support it.

Voters were also asked whether they want to use generative artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT.

Forty-eight percent said they do not want to use generative AI, while 41 percent said they do want to use it.

However, the younger generations appear eager to embrace the technology, with 70 percent of those 18 to 29 years old saying they want to use generative AI.

The survey was conducted through calls to randomly generated telephone numbers. There were 394 valid responses from voters contacted by fixed telephones, or 46 percent of the total, and 648 responses from those contacted by cellphones, or 40 percent.

(This article was written by Hiroyoshi Osaki and Satoru Fujikata.)

Related News