Text: “Don’t criticize government or TEPCO, guides in Fukushima told.” Shoko Rikimaru and Shinichi Sekine / The Asahi Shimbun.

“Tour guides are bristling at instructions not to criticize the central government or Tokyo Electric Power Co. when speaking to visitors at a recently opened memorial museum to the 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The instructions have left some Fukushima residents who signed up to be guides feeling perplexed and sparked anger in others.

The museum in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, opened on Sept. 20 with the objective of passing on to visitors the lessons learned from the nuclear disaster triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.” http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13752941

The core of May 2021 TOK essay Prescribed Title #4 is the potential for statistics to both conceal and reveal knowledge. The museum and the earthquake / tsunami have different links to statistics:

  • The role statistics play in the planning for natural disasters such as the earthquake / tsunami
  • The role politics plays in the allocation of money for things like museums and disaster prevention
  • How statistics are used by media outlets to understand demographics, click rates etc and how this affects content