Is a Japanese MP lost or dead after drinking Fukushima Water? No, that's not true: He just retired as politician.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here). It was published by the account @dyde9da8717b on Tiktok on April 2 2023, with the title "캡쳐" "Capture." It opened:
A Japanese public worker drank Fukushima water. There is no update of Sonoda, the Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office, and there is a claim that he is lost.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue May 23 03:28:55 2023 UTC)
Sonoda Yasuhiro, the Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Cabinet Office, is not just a public worker: He was a parliament member of the cabinet. He did drink the Fukushima water in 2011, to prove the safety of treated Fukushima radioactive water, in a press conference.
However, there is no evidence that Sonoda did fall ill. The former politician did two general election campaigns, in 2012 and 2014. Moreover, in a 2013 interview, after he failed to be re-elected in 2012, he said that there was no change in his physical condition after drinking the water.
The claim is spread on various platforms, such as Tiktok, Twitter, and other websites. In those posts, an article on the internet platform 'Insight' is repeatedly cited. It is the only article that says Sonoda would be missed, but it did not provide a credible source for the claim. It opened:
As of Apr 16 2021 (local time), an online media 'ixigua' raise suspicion of missing of Sonoda, worrying his physical health.
Ixigua is a Chinese video platform. There was just a video posted on the date, by the user '虹视频'. The main point of the video is that 'Sonoda disappeared after Dec 2014.'
This is partially true. There is no update from Sonoda after his 2014 general election campaign. On his Twitter account, his campaign video is the latest post. He retired as a professional politician in 2015, after failing to be re-elected a second time. He disappeared from public attention, but there is no evidence that he is severely ill, or even dead.
