Peaches from Fukushima

There's simply no other way to put this.  No amount of money spent on advertising, neither on television nor in print, like these posters hanging in trains running through the Tokyo underground will ever convince me. 

And, I'm sorry about that.  But, and really, peaches grown in Fukushima?  An advertising campaign is supposed to make me go buy them?

They are grown with care.  The farmers in Fukushima "put our hearts and souls" into these peaches.  They're juicy and sweet.  So the posters tell me.  I'm sure they are grown with care.  I have no difficulty believing the farmers did everything in their power to pick the best, ripest, pinkest peaches to sell.  They might even be extra juicy.

But, and really, but they're grown in Fukushima.  People.  I can't.  I just can't. 

Can you really prove to me they're safe?  The radiation levels may have been measured and measured again.  I'm not actually coming out and saying I don't believe the results.  I'm just saying, again mind you, they're grown in Fukushima.

That the farmers in Fukushima need income I get.  That the farmers in Fukushima need hope I understand.  It's the getting from "wanting to help" part to "buying food raised in potentially radioactive soil" part that I have difficulty with.  This is why this ad blitz confuses me.  Do they really hope to change our minds?  My mind?

Here's the thing.  It is peach season.  And, white peaches here in Japan are something else.  There's no eating them without a towel in hand.  Juices drip down my chin.  They're practically messy they're so wet and full of pulp.  Peach season is summer.  Watermelon, barley tea, muggy weather, fireworks, mosquitoes, and peaches--this is summer in Japan.  That Fukushima is trying to be a part of traditional Japan, summer food, family fun, I want to help with this.  But, sorry.  Dear Farmers, I just can't do it.  I'll let you know if I change my mind.  'Til then.