At this point it's time to consider that Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, is some kind of oracle because the show has once again predicted the future.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has eaten a fish from the city of Fukushima, where a major nuclear meltdown occurred in 2011 after a horrifying earthquake and tsunami.
So, basically, he ate a radioactive fish—just like Mr. Burns did in a famous episode of The Simpsons after Bart Simpson catches a three-eyed fish near the town's nuclear power plant.
Much like Mr. Burns, PM Kishida's culinary choice was meant to prove that the waters near Fukushima are safe following an uproar in the country over radioactive wastewater from the plant being discharged into the ocean nearby.
The wastewater has been stored since the disaster in 2011, in which the nearly 50-foot tsunami resulting from the 7.0-magnitude earthquake cut off the power supply and inundated parts of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, crippling its cooling capabilities. The plant experienced a near total meltdown days later.
Authorities warned in 2019 that space was running out for storing the wastewater. The treated wastewater began to be released last week, and the practice is expected to last for decades.
The move has outraged nearby countries, particularly China, which has imposed a ban on seafood imports from Japan because of it. Hence the stunt with Kishida eating Fukushima fish sashimi, which he called "very delicious" in an attempt to show that all is well in Fukushima.
The similarities to The Simpsons episode are undeniable. In it, Mr. Burns runs for Governor after the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is threatened with closure over Bart's three-eyed fish. So he stages a campaign appearance in which he sits down to dine on the mutated fish.
He didn't quite have Kishida's moxie, though—in the end he can't bring himself to eat the horrifying fish and loses the gubernatorial race.
Still, the downright eerie similarities between PM Kishida's stunt and The Simpsons had plenty of people talking on social media.
Energy regulators at the United Nations agree with PM Kishida, insisting that the impact of releasing the water on humans and the environment will be negligible.
Let's hope they're right...