The website “Atsumare Genshiryoku Mura” (Let’s gather, nuclear village) was closed on April 12. (From the website)

An association of electric power companies and nuclear plant manufacturers shut down a pro-nuclear website after widespread complaints that it was in poor taste and made light of the Fukushima disaster.

The website, titled “Atsumare Genshiryoku Mura” (Let’s gather, nuclear village) and run by Japan Atomic Industrial Forum Inc. (JAIF), was online only from April 8 to April 12.

The website featured an old Japanese town filled with colorful cartoon characters, including sumo wrestlers, merchants and ninja.

Internet users were shocked and appalled that the nuclear industry would identify itself as “Genshiryoku Mura,” a derogatory term used for the often closed nuclear community since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami triggered the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

“This is their so-what attitude,” one poster said on social media.

One link on the site was marked “kurofune” (black ship). It was a reference to U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry’s black ships that arrived in Japan during the Edo Period (1603-1867).

A click on the link led users to pro-nuclear messages, including one posted by an American that read, “Thank you for resuming operations of nuclear reactors.”

This message was also a source of numerous complaints.

“This is terrible. There are still a huge number of people who have evacuated (their homes),” a poster said.

A JAIF official told The Asahi Shimbun that the purpose of the website was “to encourage young people involved in nuclear power amid the hostile climate.”

But after the decision was made to shut down the site, the official said, “Some expressions were inappropriate.”