The Simpsons predicted that the Japanese PM would eat a radioactive fish

They say art imitates life – but what about when life imitates The Simpsons?

The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, has eaten a fish from Fukushima, the site of a nuclear meltdown in 2011, in scenes that have drawn comparisons with the iconic TV show.

Kishida ate the fish sashimi to show it was safe, calling it “very delicious”, after a row over the discharge into the sea of radioactive wastewater from the 2011 nuclear disaster at the site.

In The Simpsons, meanwhile, Mr Burns finds himself in a similar situation. After Bart catches a three-eyed fish from near the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the plant is under threat of closure.

Mr Burns decides to run for governor to stop the plant being shut down but ends up being served the three-eyed radioactive fish on camera at the Simpsons’ house.

Kishida did a little better than Mr Burns, who couldn’t bring himself to eat the fish, and subsequently lost the race for governor.

That wasn’t enough to stop the immediate parallels being drawn on X/Twitter.

Writer James Felton wrote: “Are we just living in the Simpsons now or what?”

Others posted pictures from the episode in question.

Treated radioactive wastewater has accumulated at Fukushima since the March 2011 meltdown at the nuclear plant caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami. It totals 1.34 million tons and is stored in about 1,000 tanks.

Japan’s decision to release the water into the ocean, which began Thursday and is expected to continue for decades, has been vehemently opposed by fishing groups and by neighbouring countries.

China immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood in response. In South Korea, thousands of people rallied over the weekend to condemn the discharge.

But Kishida and three ministers had sashimi of flounder, octopus and sea bass, caught off the Fukushima coast after the water release to prove it was safe.

The United Nations atomic energy regulator says the discharge of filtered water into the Pacific Ocean is safe and will have “negligible” impact on people and the environment.

Let’s hope so, eh?

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