Fuk-u-shima

Japanese child being checked for radiation 

            Whether it was eating dirt, planting flowers with my mom in the garden or helping my big brothers with target practice, being repeatedly pegged by paintballs, some of my greatest childhood memories were made outdoors at the house I grew up in. Imagine waking up one morning and having everything you’ve ever known taken away from you. This was the unfortunate reality for the 160,000 citizens that were displaced by the horrible Fukushima Diachii disaster that struck the Tohuku area of Japan on March 11, 2011. Families were displaced from their homes, forced to leave everything behind. Parents no longer allowed their children to play (or in my case eat) the contaminated dirt. On the three-year anniversary of this tragedy here are nuclear lessons learned for Japan as well as the rest of the world. 

                    

Wearing white protective masks and suits,
Yuzo Mihara and his wife Yuko pose for photographs
on a deserted street in the town of Namie

Killing 16,000 citizens, injuring 6,000 and leaving billions of dollars of destruction in its path, the series of unfortunate events left hundreds of thousands of people in complete dismay. The disaster began with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the worst earthquake in Japans history, triggering a tsunami with waves as high as 133 feet. The tsunami generated serious damage to the Fukushima Diachii Nuclear Plant, melting down three out of the six General Electric boiling water reactors. Citizens braced themselves for a complete nuclear disaster. This disaster has effected and continues to effect the environment and its inhabitants in many ways including increased radioactive cesium on land as well as in the ocean.

Takeda Miyoko poses for journalist Kim
Kyung-Hoon in her old dance Kimono 

            Located within 310 square miles of the disaster, the total economic loss of cities, towns, agricultural lands, business, homes and properties add up to $250 to $500 billion. In September 2012 a total count of 159,128 people were evicted from their homes in the exclusion zone, loosing not only their homes , but almost all of their possessions. Journalist Kim Kyung-Hoon accompanied evacuee, Takeda Miyoko, back to her now uninhabitable home in Okuma.  In this touching image, Miyoko shows the journalist her most fancy kimono and explains, with tears in her eyes, that she used to wear it for her dance performances. The beautiful kimono can no longer be worn because of radiation, the former traditional dancer will never get to wear it again.

Okuma is one of the many villages evacuated from radiation pollution. Mr. Jason Bartashius, a graduate of St. Michael’s College and, after the disaster, an activist in Japan stated in an interview, “Some 80,000 people from that area are now living in temporary housing units or have relocated to other parts of Japan.” Many people were evacuated back in 2011 but now are being told that they can return to their homes. The government plans on relocating the people of Fatuba to the city of Iwaki, which is inside the Fukushima prefecture. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) claim that these areas, like Iwaki,  are now safe again. Those 2 million people who have returned home to the district have all sorts of medical issues, which the government insists are unrelated to Fukushima. Idogawa, the former Mayer of Futaba, claims that this is a “violation of human rights” and that the area is not safe no matter what the government says.

An example of one of Reads pieces 

The abandoned homes now have a new dweller, radioactive cesium. Cesium contaminates soil, plants and animals. It has been detected in many Japanese food sources including spinach, tealeaves, milk and beef. Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years and takes 10 half-lives for any radiation to disappear. Needless to say, this radioactive disaster will be around for the next couple of centuries. There are many attempts going on to decontaminate the land affected by this catastrophe, but none have been exceedingly successful. Attempts to clean up areas are failing because once slight progress is made, rain and melting snow from the contaminated mountains trails the radioactivity directly back to the area. Geoff Read, is a British artist who organized workshops for Fukushima children. Read helped the children paint self-portraits as a way to express their feelings about the heartbreak. Read has the children paint depictions of their feelings and when they are finished, he then adds his artistic put on the drawings. “Their lives had changed in one day” Read explains in his video, “for example, they weren’t aloud to play football outside anymore, thier parents were concerned that they were just grieving the loss of play in their lives.” The art was a way for the children to feel like they were “just simply being children.” 

Image showing the dispersed radiation from Fukushima 

“A lot of sushi is consumed these days in neighboring East Asia and if it comes from Japanese waters they are going to be concerned” Johnston explains. Cesium is not only polluting the land but the water surrounding the Fukushima Diachii plant and beyond. The contamination has affected freshwater fish up to 200 miles from Fukushima. The disaster produced the largest release of radioactive material into the ocean in history. 733,000 curies of radioactive cesium were pumped into the Pacific Ocean. Fifteen months after the tragedy 56% of all fish caught were contaminated with cesium.  As well as 40% of bottom dwelling fish, including halibut and cod, were found with cesium levels higher than the Japanese regulatory limits. Fishing had been banned off the coast of Fukushima, one of the many factors taking a toll on the Japanese economy. The radiation threatens to pollute the food chain, affecting people all the way in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Fukushima wasn't a 'Japanese' nuclear accident," said Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who worked in the industry for 17 years before joining the UCS staff. "It was a nuclear accident that happened to occur in Japan.” There are 23 nuclear reactors in the US designed exactly like those at Fukushima making them highly vulnerable to catastrophic natural disaster, system failures and terrorist attacks. Jeff Ayres, St. Michael’s College professor, the chair of the department of political science and the program director of environmental studies, stated that, “what has happened in Fukushima is an international issue”. The US nuclear reactors and emergency plans are no more equipped than the Japanese to handle such devastation.  An article published by USA today on March 9 predicted that very low levels of radiation would reach the ocean waters along the west coast by April. These levels of radiation are extremely low and will not harm humans or the environment. The University of Hawaii created a digital image showing the dispersing of nuclear waste from Fukushima over time.  

Eric Johnston, the deputy editor in Osaka for the Japanese Times, one of the biggest English news papers in Japan, stated:

If a high-tech, highly educated and highly organized society like Japan has an accident like Fukushima, what are the odds of an even worse accident occurring in other countries that lack Japan's technological and organizational strengths? And what happens if there is an accident, especially if the country involved does not have a transparent system of government?

Tokyo 2020 announcement

Johnston explains that, “Not enough is being done.”  He goes on to say, “what is clearly needed is a massive, unprecedented effort on the part of the Japanese government to tap as much available international expertise on all aspects of the Fukushima clean-up, regardless of whether or not the experts are fundamentally in favor of nuclear power.” The 2020 summer Olympics are being hosted in Tokyo, Japan just 150 miles from the Fukushima disaster. Ayers explains, “Japanese politicians in Tokyo are trying to assure everyone that they have Fukushima under control, don't worry, and `please do come to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics” when in reality the situation is not under control. The Olympics, however, will be great for Japans economy since the great loss from Fukushima. Although it will take centuries to clean up the unfortunate catastrophe at Fukushima, the Olympics may be exactly what Japan needs to pick back up.

Bibliography

Bartashius, Jason. E-mail interview. 9 Mar. 2014.

Childs, Dan. "How Fukushima May Show Up in Your Sushi." ABC News. ABC News Network, 28 May 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

Conca, James. "Radioactive Fukushima Waters Arrive At West Coast Of America." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

"Fukushima 2014: Don't Forget (English Subtitles)." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

"Fukushima Radiation Killing Our Children, Govt Hides Truth - Former Mayor." - RT News. N.p., 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

Johnston, Eric. E-mail interview. 11 Mar. 2014.

"'Kids Die, Govt Lie!' Ex-mayor Exposes Real Scale of Radiation in Fukushima (FULL INTERVIEW)." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

Kille, Leighton W. "The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Fukushima and Japan’s Economy." Journalists Resource RSS. N.p., 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

Kyung-Hoon, Kim. "Tragedy in Fukushima: When Can We Go Back to Home Again?" Photographers Blog RSS. N.p., 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

Read, Geoff. "Fukushima’s Children." Kyoto Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

ROBICHON, FRANCK. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.