Japanese sake region awarded US$12 million following nuclear disaster

In the first ruling of its kind, Japan’s Supreme Court has agreed that the victims of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear tragedy should receive the sum in damages.

Last week, the drinks business reported that sake producer Ninki-Ichi, based in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture, had released a ‘space sake’, made using yeast that had been sent up into space, where it orbited for one month.

The idea behind the project was to study how space radiation affects living organisms.

It was a matter close to the hearts of Fukushima residents, many of whom are sake producers, as their city was ground zero for a nuclear disaster which occurred in 2011, when a magnitude-nine earthquake struck, triggering a tsunami.

Sales from the new ‘space sake’ will go towards helping with the ongoing recovery of the Fukushima region, which was devastated when the tsunami caused a cooling system failure at the local power plant, leading to a nuclear meltdown.

Five days ago – 11 years after the catastrophic event – Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that victims of the disaster should be paid US$12 million in compensation.

In the first decision of its kind, the court ruled that Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) should pay 1.4 billion yen in damages to around 3,700 residents, amounting to approximately US$3,290 per person.

The damages cover a fraction of the class-action lawsuits currently filed against the company. Victims claim that the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant did not tale adequate precaution against a tsunami of that size.

The court rejected an earlier appeal by Tepco and ruled that it had been negligent in taking appropriate preventative measures.

Japan’s government itself is also under the magnifying glass and the court is yet to rule on its potential culpability in the tragedy.

You can buy Ninki-Ichi’s space sake and help contribute to the recovery of the Fukoshima region here.