A lawsuit opened Wednesday against Tokyo Electric Power Co., with a Filipino woman from Fukushima Prefecture seeking about ¥126 million in damages over the death of her Japanese husband, who committed suicide when his business faltered after the Fukushima nuclear crisis started.
Vanessa Kanno is alleging that her depressed husband, Shigekiyo, hanged himself after his formerly thriving dairy business was decimated by the calamity. Amid growing fears over radioactive fallout shortly after the meltdown catastrophe started, the government issued a monthlong order suspending shipments of his milk due to alleged contamination. This, Kanno has argued, left the family with no source of income.
"I don't hold any personal grudge against Tepco. I just want the company to help us. We're desperate," the widow told a news conference after the first lawsuit session before the Tokyo District Court.