Should Japan's Radiation Victims Accept TEPCO's 'Condolence Money'?

Most people wouldn't be able to put a dollar value on their health and well-being. But that's exactly what the operator of Japan's crippled nuclear power plant is starting to do.

After apologizing for fouling Japan's shores with radiation-contaminated water, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced Tuesday that it has started paying "condolence money" to local towns near the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant that have suffered radiation exposure or been forced to evacuate.

Hundreds of thousands have lost their livelihoods since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but TEPCO's first batch of payments are going to those trapped in the radioactive danger zone, while Japan teeters on the brink of nuclear fallout.

Such payments reveal something unique about Japanese culture, both corporate and personal. TEPCO is volunteering what it calls "condolence money" without being legally obligated to do so. And Japanese residents of Fukushima, no matter how outraged they are about the nuclear crisis, have been hesitant to speak out against the company.

But their relatives aren't.

"It seems like they [TEPCO] are trying to trim their losses, to be quite honest," Torrie Arnold, an American whose in-laws live in Fukushima, told AOL News by Skype call from his Tokyo home.

TEPCO's payments total 20 million yen -- the equivalent of just $238,000 -- for each town.

Divvied up among each town's residents, that sum dwindles fast -- and doesn't come close to covering many of Fukushima's economic losses from Japan's nuclear crisis, let alone possible health effects that townspeople fear they'll suffer for years to come.

"We don't know what the full extent of the damage will be from the radiation. We do know that the cesium that's being released has an extraordinarily long half-life, and we know there's going to be some damage, but we don't know how extensive," said Arnold, 35, who is originally from Memphis, Tenn., and married a Japanese woman.

"It seems to me that they're offering these payments because they fear that in the future, if they wait longer, there's going to be a demand for a higher payment," he added.

TEPCO is also considering payments of one million yen each, or $11,700, for individual families who've suffered losses because of the plant failure, Japanese media reported today.

The company's executive vice president, Takashi Fujimotohe, acknowledged that the "condolence money" is only a small fraction of what TEPCO will ultimately be required to pay once the full extent of damage is known.

"We are still in discussions as to what extent we will pay on our own and to what extent we will have assistance from the government," Fujimotohe told reporters Tuesday.

Tsunami Relief: Network for Good

Another TEPCO official told Reuters that out of the 10 towns offered condolence payments, one of them refused the money. The official didn't explain why.

"I don't know if a payment is offensive, but for a lot of these people, a payment is insufficient. My father-in-law, they're apple farmers in Fukushima, and we're pretty sure they're going to have to evacuate their farm. This is a farm that's been passed down for four generations," Arnold said.

"So I don't know if it's necessarily offensive to offer a payment, but as an outsider with some knowledge of that region of Japan, whatever payment they offer, it's going to be viewed as insufficient," he said.

A trade group representing Japanese fishing workers also issued a statement today calling TEPCO's actions "unforgivable," saying the company's efforts toward compensation have been woefully inadequate.

"All those who are living and sustaining their lives on the sea are feeling strong rage against (the utility and the government's) irresponsible behavior," the National Fishery Corporative Joint Association said in a statement excerpted by CNN.

Arnold's in-laws survived the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and even though they live in Fukushima prefecture, they're far enough away from the stricken nuclear plant that they weren't required to evacuate. But they run a farm there, and they're worried that they'll never again be able to sell produce with the Fukushima label on it.

"Even if they find out the air is fine and the tap water is fine, the apples they produce are more than likely going to have some kind of radiation," Arnold said. "And even if they don't, I think the public is going to be wary of buying any products from them for a long time. It's really hard to place a value on it all."

Arnold's in-laws wouldn't allow for their names to be used in this article. Even though they're upset about their situation, they feared any backlash from their community if they were to speak out. In Japanese culture, even in dire situations such as that in Fukushima, expressing strong emotions publicly is uncommon, and many Japanese feel uncomfortable doing so.

Another American living in Tokyo, Jim Weisser, said it's "not at all surprising" that Fukushima residents might be hesitant to speak on the record, even though they might be outraged about the nuclear crisis around them.

"It's not that TEPCO is a big evil empire that's going to come and lay waste to their farms. It's just that they don't want to be perceived as representing the community, if that's not the whole community's view," Weisser, a 41-year-old Texas who works in telecommunications in Tokyo, told AOL News in a phone interview.

Weisser, who has lived in Japan for 18 years, said he thinks TEPCO's payments to nuclear crisis victims reveal something particular about Japan's corporate culture as well -- a willingness to admit mistakes rather than worry about legal liability, as is often the case in the United States.

"In Japan, typically when a company screws up they apologize. That's the Day One, very quick action. You've seen that with TEPCO several times already. They've apologized repeatedly," Weisser said. "Whereas for a U.S. company, legally that's a complete and total admission of liability, so typically a U.S. company won't do that.

"In any kind of industrial accident in the U.S., you find that it's very much focused on, 'No, we didn't do anything' -- that's your initial negotiating stance," he said. "Whereas in Japan, having said you're sorry actually shows that you're being sincere and you recognize that there's an issue."

Eventually, all those apologies -- and subsequent payments -- could end up costing TEPCO some $133 billion, according to a report by a Bank of America analyst. That figure is four times the current total value of the whole company. There has also been speculation that the Japanese government might eventually have to nationalize TEPCO to ensure that compensation payments go through.

TEPCO's stance in offering immediate financial assistance to Fukushima farmers is certainly a start. But for Arnold, he worries about the long-term effect on his in-laws' livelihood. It's something that goes deeper than money, he said.

"It's the value of their property, the sentimental value and ties they have to the region," he said. "I really doubt they're ever going to be able to sell their apples again."