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On May 8, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada visited the village of Namie, which is situated in the township of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, and lies within the restricted area within the 20 km radius of Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Okada inspected areas close to the fishing port in Namie, where searches for bodies of those missing in the disaster are currently being undertaken. Prior to this, Okada participated in the morning meeting of a police search team from Fukushima prefecture, and expressed his appreciation for their efforts, saying, “I would like to express my sincere appreciation for your efforts working under extremely difficult conditions, both on behalf of the government and the ruling party and also as an individual Japanese.” He went on to voice his encouragement for the efforts of the search team, saying, “I would like you to work to realise the urgent desire of survivors to be reunited with the bodies of their parents and children.”
Okada then moved to Minamisoma City, visiting a piggery run by Maeda Pork within the restricted area, and an Ouchi Shinko Chemical Industrial factory just inside the border of the restricted area. He was accompanied by the Mayor of Minamisoma, Katsunobu Sakurai.
At the piggery, Okada heard that due to its location within the restricted area, the 3000 pigs kept there had been left unattended, and so their numbers had been drastically reduced. Piggery managers urged Okada to for them to be provided with assistance so that they could continue operations and preserve the brand image of Maeda Pork.
At the Ouchi Shinko factory, Okada heard that 75 out of 130 employees had been forced to file for redundancy payments, because their houses had been swept away by the tsunami, or because they were living within the restricted area and had been forced to move. Also, with regard to determining the exact boundaries for the restricted area, with neighbouring factories preparing to resume operations, there were calls for a rational decision to be made based on data that had been accumulated in the two months since the disaster.
Okada then went on to visit a morgue in Minamisoma City, where he laid flowers and paid his respects to those who had lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami.
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