When the nuclear power plant in Fukushima exploded, chaos erupted, especially in Japan. Everything turned into a crisis as many lives were put in danger from the event itself. After some time passed, everybody thought everything was OK. The Japanese government even told its citizens that the situation was under control, and all would be fine. Slowly, but surely, people started finding that the government was actually lying to everyone- seeing as nuclear waste has now spread. In the summer, you may have seen news reports showing citizens of Japan going to the beach on hot summer days, even though they were advised not to. Some beaches were “proven to not have any nuclear waste” and were opened to the public. Of course, about a month or so later the news was reported that there was actually a nuclear leak.

This information was discovered once Japan’s Prime Minister visited the crippled Fukushima power plant. The reasoning for his “random visit” was several complaints about nuclear leakage happening around the region, and the plant’s advisor admitting that the situation was not “under control.” Well it was not under control- highly radioactive water seemed to be leaking into the ocean. A Fukushima fisherman was outraged by the news. “I think TEPCO has been telling lies from the start, since the nuclear plant exploded. TEPCO tells us there are no problems, but then there are problems. We cannot trust them or the Government,” he said. With about 300 tons of contaminated ground water leaking into the ocean from the Fukushima plant, fishing in the surrounding waters was banned once again. As of September 19, only two boats were allowed to go fishing in the morning. Any of the fish they caught would not be sold for profit, but instead sent to a lab to be studied for nuclear contamination.

Japan was not the only place affected by the deadly leak. Korea is not accepting any fish shipments from Japan, because they will not risk their people dying from this sudden life-threatening issue. Not only will the economy in Japan suffer, because there are fewer buyers of their fish, the Japanese citizens are victims of this disaster. Fishermen are a large part of the populations over there, so they will have to drop their livelihood and find something else to make a living. The leak went highly “unnoticed” for a whole month, so there’s no telling how much damage was actually done.

Japan, however, does have a plan to stop the radiation leakage from leaking into the rest of the waters. Once more information is known, and more money is allotted, they will work on a huge project that the Japanese hope will work. The Japanese government plans on building a huge, $470M dollar ice wall to contain the radiation leaks. As aforementioned, one must only “hope” this will work.

Many Japanese citizens are not only worried about their economic futures.  They are also terrified for their children. Mothers from the areas around Fukushima are worried about their children’s future health status. Who knows how much the leakage and damage was already done? We must hope the government is truthful in its stopping of the leak. If the leak continues, who knows how far it could go?