Tokyo To Subsidize FREE TRIPS To Fukushima Starting April 1

Tokyo Metropolitan Government to Subsidize Tours to Fukushima Only Next Year

Did you even know that the Tokyo Metropolitan government had such a program?

Not satisfied enough by accepting and burning disaster debris of varying radiation levels from Iwate and Miyagi Prefecture (in case of the Miyagi debris, it is to be burned all over Tokyo) and collecting fat fees for "facilitating" the effort, the Tokyo Metropolitan government will now focus on the tourism industry in Fukushima Prefecture. It will subsidize tourists who will visit Fukushima, starting the next fiscal year which will start on April Fool's Day.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (1/11/2011):

東京都は来年度、福島県に日帰り旅行する観光客について、１人１５００円を、宿泊客には２泊まで１泊３０００円を助成することを決めた。

The Tokyo Metropolitan government has decided to subsidize tourists who will visit Fukushima Prefecture starting the next fiscal year [that will start on April 1]. Tourists who visit on a day trip will be given 1,500 yen [about US$20], and tourists who stay overnight will be given 3,000 yen [about US$40] per night up to two nights.

　東京電力福島第一原子力発電所の事故で、観光客離れに苦しむ福島県を応援する施策の一環。旅行会社を通じてツアーを申し込んだ都内在住、在勤、在学者が対象で、旅行代金から割り引く。

It is part of the measures [by the Tokyo Metropolitan government] to support Fukushima Prefecture who suffers decrease in the number of tourists to the prefecture because of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The subsidy will be given to people who live, work or go to school, in Tokyo who book tours through travel agencies.

　都は今年度、岩手、宮城を含む被災３県へ旅行する観光客を対象に、１泊３０００円を助成しているが、福島県の観光は回復が鈍く、来年度は同県に限り助成する。

This fiscal year, the Tokyo Metropolitan government has been subsidizing the tourists who go to the three disaster-affected prefectures including Iwate and Miyagi with 3,000 yen per night. However, the tourism recovery in Fukushima Prefecture has been slow, and the Tokyo government will subsidize the tourists to Fukushima only in the next fiscal year.

Travel agencies, if they are like other businesses in Japan, will inflate the package price. The government bureaucrats will be the last people to take any responsibility in the future for any ill effect on health for promoting the destination whose air radiation levels easily exceed 1 microsievert/hour in many locations.

Caveat emptor.

Or as Professor Hayakawa of Gunma University often comments, "If you don't educate yourself now and fast, you'll die."