After widespread criticism, the Japanese government revised the cartoon image of "radioactive tritium" (picture)

BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) According to Kyodo News Agency of Japan, the Agency for Revival of Japan revised the poster aimed at promoting the "safety" of nuclear power plant treated water, deleting the cartoon image representing the radioactive tritium contained in the treated water, replacing it with the element symbol "T", and released the new poster on the 22nd.

The Japanese Revival Agency revised the poster, deleting the cartoon image in the above figure that represents the radioactive tritium contained in the treatment water, and replacing it with the element symbol "T" in the following figure. (Image source: official website of Japan Renaissance Agency)

On the 13th, the Japanese government officially decided at the cabinet meeting that it would drain the treated water of Tokyo Electric Power Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years' time, which caused many objections. In order to promote the "safety" of the treated water, the Renaissance Hall released posters and videos containing tritium cartoon images on its official website that day. "Radiotritium" was modeled as a cute character like a "mascot".

The head of the Japan Renaissance Agency said at the time that the reason why "radioactive tritium" was made into a "mascot" was that it was very "approachable" and hoped to create an intermediate feeling that was neither "good" nor "evil".

However, after the release of the poster, criticism came one after another, such as "a deviation from the harsh reality faced by Fukushima". On the 14th, the poster and video were removed from the Renaissance Hall.

On the 20th, Prime Minister Hirazawa Shengrong apologized and said, "I sincerely apologize for releasing the information in an unpleasant way."

The production of posters and videos was entrusted to the advertising giant Diantong Company, which spent millions of yen. It is reported that the modification of posters was not entrusted to external enterprises, but operated by the staff of the Renaissance Department, so no new costs were incurred. The method of modifying the video without incurring costs is being discussed, and the release time of the video revision is not determined.

The Renaissance Department had planned to distribute these posters in Fukushima Prefecture. The person in charge said that "due to the problems caused, we will be cautious about the instructions used in (Fukushima)" and stressed that we will discuss how to deal with them in the future.