When I turned on the news today, I was expecting to see some heavy coverage of the frightening revelation that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) had been covering up the damage their Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant suffered when it was hit by an earthquake on Monday. Perhaps they were going to take a very critical look into why TEPCO initially told us all that there had been no danger of a radiation leak from the facility when in fact there had had been a radiation leak? Or maybe why TEPCO’s reactor had been built to only withstand an earthquake half the size of the one that hit on Monday? Or better yet, why TEPCO allowed the radiation leaks to continue until yesterday?

The 5:00 news certainly mentioned the nuclear plant in some of its quick headlines, but the channel I was watching (TBS) decided to focus its in-depth coverage for today on day 3 of the “OMG there are bandages on the Agriculture Minister’s Face” story:

Here’s a report from ABC:

There is intrigue in Japanese politics after a Government minister appeared in public with unexplained facial injuries.

Japan’s Agriculture Minister, Norihiko Akagi, set tongues wagging when he appeared at a media conference unshaven and sporting bandages on his left cheek and forehead.

Despite persistent questioning, the minister refused to explain his injuries, saying they were “not a big deal”.

The minister was last seen in public late last week when he returned from a trip to Europe. He had no apparent signs of injuries then.

Mr Akagi has been in the spotlight after allegations he misused his expenses.

As this video from today’s new shows, Akagi came to work this morning with some better look bandages than he had on the other day:

Is it really just sensitive skin flaring up, as Akagi claims, or were the bandages the result of an ass-kicking somebody gave him? Should we even care?