Photo/Illutration Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike speaks to reporters at the headquarters of the metropolitan government on May 8. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Harassment phone calls to Japan from China are showing no signs of abating after the release of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

The Tokyo metropolitan government said it had received approximately 34,300 phone calls between Aug. 24 and 31.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told a regularly scheduled news conference Sept. 1 that the crank phone call campaign had continued without letup.

On Aug. 25, the day after plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. began pumping tons of filtered water from the complex, the metropolitan government received around 19,200 calls.

In nearly all cases, the phone calls displayed the Chinese country code “86” and usually involved one-sided arguments in Chinese. On occasion, the caller remained silent.

“The ocean release program was carried out in accordance with international standards and practices, and with all possible safety precautions,” Koike said. “Accurate information is essential in such circumstances.”

Harassment phone calls have also hit businesses all over the country.

The Foreign Ministry said it had received approximately 500 calls by Sept. 30, and TEPCO gave a figure of more than 6,000 abusive calls as of Aug. 27.

TEPCO has been using a special process to filter the contaminated water to remove isotopes, leaving only tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is hard to separate.

It embarked on the contentious program as part of the decommissioning process and because the crippled nuclear facility is fast running out of space to store contaminated water that continues to accumulate. 

The nuclear facility went into a triple meltdown in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

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