Japan voices anger French Fukushima cartoons

Angered over a French newspaper linking the nuclear crisis in Fukushima to the 2020 Summer Olympics here, the Japanese government plans to lodge a protest with France.
Satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine ran an article yesterday with two cartoons, one of which showed a sumo bout near a crippled nuclear power plant between a wrestler with three arms and another with three legs, with a reporter saying, "Marvellous! Thanks to Fukushima, sumo has been included among Olympic events."
"The report was inappropriate. It is extremely regrettable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference. He said the protest will be lodged with the weekly paper Le Canard Enchaine through the Japanese Embassy in France, Kyodo news agency reported.

Those cartoons could "hurt the feelings of those affected by the disasters and convey misunderstanding about the toxic water problem" to the public, Suga said, adding that Japan's Foreign Ministry will work to prevent further such "inappropriate" reporting.
On Saturday, Tokyo won a bid to host the 2020 Olympics.
In the city's final presentation to the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed his government had contained the effects on the environment from massive buildup of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.

Another cartoon in the paper described a swimming pool with two people clad in protective gear and holding radiation testers nearby, with a title, "There is already a pool in Fukushima for the Olympics."

The cartoons by the French paper followed a similar development last year involving a French TV programme.
In October, the French government apologised for the programme on the country's public broadcaster having shown a composite picture of Eiji Kawashima, goalkeeper of Japan's national soccer team, with four arms, citing the "effect" of the Fukushima disaster.
The variety programme was aired after Japan beat France in a friendly match with the keeper making a number of saves.