- Home
- Member
- pikaso
- pikaso's entries
- “The Japanese government covered up the precise information necessary to save residents’ lives”
“The Japanese government covered up the precise information necessary to save residents’ lives”
The Asahi Newspaper reported as a front page story on June 18th that although the U.S government detected radiation level near the Fukushima plant and provided it with the Japanese government, the Japanese government didn’t publicized it and made residents exposed to dangerous radiation.
In the article, an emeritus professor Tokushi Sibata, who was referred as being well acquainted with monitoring of radiation, insisted that the residents would have been able to flee to a safe area if the government had publicized the information.
You can read a part of the article on the internet.
http://www.asahi.com/politics/update/0618/TKY201206170453.html
Based on this article, one of the most influential TV casters Monta Mino harshly criticized the Japanese government, claiming that officials who were charge of the issue should be imposed on a criminal punishment.
I’ve frequently been annoyed to see the media’s reports since the Fukushima crisis happened and written my opinions here. It is not exaggeration that I was the most furious in my life when I read the article.
I am not raging to the government’s lack of responsibility. I am raging to thises extremely misdirected reports. I am going to write about the reasons why I think so tomorrow.
Latest entries
Latest comments
| May 08th Silkwinged |
| Mar 17th andrewjgrimm |
| Mar 16th Maru |
| Mar 16th マーク |
| Mar 15th hey |
Entries by Month
| 2013 |
|---|
| March (15) |
| February (28) |
| January (31) |
| 2012 |
| December (31) |
| November (30) |
| October (33) |
| September (30) |
| August (31) |
| July (31) |
| June (30) |
| May (31) |
| April (30) |
| March (69) |

“The Japanese government covered up the precise information necessary to save residents’ lives”
Your version is fine, but here is an alternative: “The Japanese government withheld exactly the information necessary to save residents’ lives” though this version is not any better.
You can use "withheld" here because a) it is possible to withhold information and b) they released it eventually.
S. government detected radiation level near the Fukushima plant and provided it to the Japanese government, but the Japanese government didn’t publicized it and thus made exposed residents to dangerous radiation levels.
USA or U.S. (with two dots)
"detected radiation" or "detected *dangerous* radiation *levels*". You can use any adjective instead of "dangerous", e.g. "harmful", "worrying", "safe", etc.
"levels" needs to be plural and it needs a description. Another alternative: "detected radiation levels *above the acceptable threshold*"
"thus" means "as a result". You can also use "so" here.
"levels" at the end is not strictly needed, but sounds better because of the repetition of "radiation".
In the article, Tokushi Sibata, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, who was referred to as being well acquainted with the monitoring of radiation, insisted that the residents would have been able to flee to a safe area if the government had publicized the information.
While "an emeritus professor, Tokushi Sibata" is technically correct (with the comma) it sounds unrespectful because it reminds the reader that he is one of many professors. "Professor emeritus Tokushi Sibata" would be better, because that is giving him his title (like Mr). However, I think the best way to introduce him would be (the long, but appropriately informative) "Tokushi Shibata, professor emeritus of radiation management at the University of Tokyo".
"to refer to as" means "to describe as". Note that "to refer to <person/thing>" means "to consult", "to refer <person/thing> to" means "to pass on", "to refer to" (intransitive) means "to make a reference to" and "to refer as" is not used, but probably means "to transfer in the guise of".
You can read a part of the article on the internet:
The colon : indicates that what was referred to is coming next (in this case a link to the article)
According to this article, one of the most influential TV casters Monta Mino harshly criticized the Japanese government, claiming that a criminal punishment should be imposed on officials who were in charge of the issue.
"According to" because you are reporting what the article said, without adding anything yourself.
"Based on" means "building up from (information in)" suggesting further work or thought: "Based on (information in) this article, I can (use my reasoning to) deduce that Monta Mino criticized the government." which means that the article did not say that Monta Mino criticized the government, but it provided some information that you used with information from elsewhere to come to this conclusion.
"to impose on" means "to forcibly give to".
I’ve frequently been annoyed to see the media’s reports since the Fukushima crisis happened and have written my opinions here.
The tense needs to match: I *have* been ... and *have* written ...
It is not an exaggeration that I was the most furious in my life when I read the article.
A more natural phrasing might be "It is not an exaggeration to say that I have never been more furious than when I read that article."
I am not raging at the government’s lack of responsibility.
Alternatives:
"I am not angry about the government's lack of responsibility."
"It is not the government's lack of responsibility that makes me really angry."
"It is not the government's lack of responsibility that makes my blood boil."
I am raging about the extremely misdirected reports in the media.
Although, if you do think that the government's lack of responsibility is a bad thing, you should clarify:
"While I think the government's lack of responsibility deserves criticism, it is the behaviour of the media that really makes me angry."
Note: the "really" has moved ("makes me really angry" -> "really makes me angry") because here there is a contrast with the discontent with the government in the first part of the sentence.