When I saw the election results on TV last week, I was disappointed and sad because a Liberal Democratic Party candidate from Fukushima Prefecture had been elected to the Upper House.

The LDP will promote atomic energy plants and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The people of Fukushima Prefecture directly and indirectly were the victims of the explosions at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. More than two years later, up to 150,000 people are still unable to return to their homes after being evacuated to other areas. I'm afraid they won't be able to return for 30 years.

And Fukushima is basically an agricultural prefecture. If the government joins the TPP, farmers will definitely get into trouble. Most of them will have to quit family traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. The LDP is thinking of a different kind of farming — extensive large-scale farming that today's old farmers never expected.

We cannot expect a better situation from a government that backs atomic reactors and the TPP any more than we can from one that tolerates the U.S. military base status quo in Okinawa.

I don't understand why the people of Fukushima or of "islands of happiness or prosperity" in Japan voted for the LDP. I remember when the Pacific War began!

masayuki aihara

fukushima

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.