The Reality of Fukushima will not be Broadcast

    

 “A Government that refuses to look at the suffering of its own Citizens”

 

The world is changing at a blinding pace. As this happens, we assume that the endless stream of information constantly coming at us through newspapers, TV, the internet and other sources represents the “truth”. Haven’t we all found ourselves accepting this information without question and letting it form the basis of our own convictions? On October 2nd at 7:00pm, I watched a program on TV Asahi called “Don’t be deceived! The news that Japan doesn’t know.” It made me realize something; I had already heard people in the affected-areas of Fukushima repeatedly telling me the same thing  about media coverage.

    “Information about Fukushima is not being presented correctly. The radiation levels are actually different from what is being reported. It’s been written that decontamination was completed, but in reality there are still many areas with high levels of radiation. Our house was already decontaminated once. We were told “Everything’s done.” However, the contaminated soil which had been removed had simply been buried in a corner of our lot. There are other homes where the contaminated materials were placed in green-colored drums and just left on site. And the mountain villages haven’t been decontaminated at all. Whenever it rains, depending on the direction of the wind, there are times when homes and buildings start registering high levels of radiation all over again. Yet, the national government has already declared that we nuclear disaster victims should return to our homes by March of next year. In addition, they’re saying that the temporary housing used by people from the disaster-affected areas will be destroyed.  During the last 5 years and 7 months, the abandoned houses have become the nesting grounds for various animals and thick grass has grown up everywhere. Insufficient infrastructure has been set up in these areas. You certainly can’t say that it feels safe to move back. These areas do not have sufficient hospitals or stores and are still surrounded by destroyed houses. (Since those outside of the 20 km radius zone do not receive reparation money, they cannot afford to make repairs.)  For whatever reason, the national government is currently pretending not to notice the suffering of the people of the Fukushima affected areas. The mass media isn’t making an effort to report on it either.”   

    Russia’s response to the Chernobyl reactor was for the national government to put all its effort into showing that it was working to protect its citizens. Why didn’t the Japanese national government learn from this? It seems strange and makes me fear the coldness of their hearts. Governments exist “for the protection of the lives and the happiness of their people”, “we must love each citizen as if they were our own children, and put all of our efforts into promoting their happiness”… aren’t these a government’s true responsibilities?   “To think of our citizens every day, to make their sadness our own, to feel the pain of struggling citizens as our own pain, to not cast out those who are unhappy to suffer alone!” I would think that thoughts like these, which show a heart that worries about its citizen’s concerns, should be the motto of every government.    

    In July 1978, Kaoru Hasuike, who was abducted and taken to North Korea in the past, said during a lecture: “I lost everything except for my life itself.”  “If there are no results this time around, my body will give up from despair.” she said bitterly.  (This occurred at a lecture that took place April 24th, 2015, in Koyama City, Tochigi Prefecture).  Shigeru (83 years old) and Sakie (80), the parents of Megumi Yokota, are quite elderly now. I can’t imagine how painful it must be for those who are abducted as well as their worried parents and families.  It’s now been 39 long years since Megumi’s abduction on November 15, 1977. The people of Japan were hoping for Prime Minister Abe to resolve this problem. However, reality was quite different. I don’t feel like he’s addressing the situation seriously by simply pinning a blue ribbon pin to his jacket lapel. What is the point of the blue ribbon? Also, on May 27th of this year, President Obama offered flowers and stopped for a moment of silence at the Memorial for the victims of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. Standing in front of it, he gave a speech that conveyed sorrow and urged for a “Nuclear Free World”.  The majority of us Japanese were moved by this, and everyone was “united in their wish for a nuclear free world.” Or so I thought.  I thought that this desire for a nuclear free world would spread from Hiroshima, to Japan to the whole rest of the world. It only seemed natural that the Prime Minister would become central to this movement and take action, I thought.  However, reality turned out differently. Once again, preparations to make the nuclear reactors operational again were resumed, and it seems that aid efforts for the nuclear disaster victims were pretty much forgotten. Even news about the disaster-affected regions in Kumamoto became infrequent. The economic situation for Japanese citizens is very bleak, with earnings staying very low and all sorts of taxes being added one after another. Because of the low wages, young people are unable to own their own houses, and Japan has become a country where many people don’t even have enough to eat every day. The number of people living in poverty has increased, and citizens have stopped looking forward to the future with hopefulness.  

    Shouldn’t that be the issue of utmost priority to any government - to prevent its citizens’ way of life from coming under any sort of threat?  Right now, the economy of Japan is only able to keep functioning because of the tax dollars its citizens have worked so dearly to pay.  Things such as radical reforms and words that show empathy for the suffering of others; at first politicians running for office said these sorts of things in abundance about the nuclear disaster. But how many people have actually followed through on these words with actions for the citizens?  The salaries of the National Diet members comes from the nation’s general accounting and finance revenue. This can be broken down into: tax yields, non-tax revenue (money from selling national land, etc.), money that was brought in as a result of increases to the national debt, etc. This information was made available on the internet. And the citizens said “Our hard-earned money is included in there, isn’t it? They live in mansions and don’t have any idea how the common people live. Poverty, the struggles of day-to-day life, the sorrows of the common people, and their pain. They have not experienced any of this.  They have never had to spend the night in temporary housing units, so there is no way that they understand the situation that people in the disaster-affected areas have found themselves to be experiencing.”

     What I’m trying to say is that these individuals who have been living in a totally different world from us common people need to come see and experience what life is like for us. Please, come face the reality of our struggles and experience them first hand for yourselves.   

    I have also been surprised to see Prime Minister Abe going on trips abroad and making promises of aid money to many foreign countries. That must be one of his national policies. He cancelled 700 billion yen of debt that Myanmar owed Japan, and also promised to loan a grant of 91 billion yen. In addition, 216 billion yen was promised to the Middle East and North Africa. In a U.N. speech, he promised 300 billion yen to aid for women in Syria, and 5 billion yen of additional aid to Syrian refugees.  Aid was also promised to ASEAN, Laos, Mozambique as well as for planned high-speed rail in the United States, etc. When I heard of these commitments made by the Prime Minister, I was surprised. Especially since I feel that Japan’s future is still uncertain at this time.  Why are we racking up this debt? I think it’s important to give aid to struggling countries. However, without providing necessary aid to its own citizens, Japan’s standard of living for its citizens continues to decline. Right now, with the economic situation in Japan getting worse, shouldn’t the government’s priority be to pour its energy into creating an environment where its citizens can live their lives with economic stability?

    Right now incomes in Japan are so low that citizens are unable to afford to comfortably have children. The economic situation is insufficient to be able to raise them. The cost of medical care for the elderly and requests for nursing care are going up. Increasingly, things such as wheelchairs and medical equipment are having to be bought by the patients themselves. Shouldn’t we be investing first in aiding the welfare of our own citizens?    

【An example from Kawauchi village, in the Disaster-affected Area 】

    There is an 87-year-old woman living in a temporary housing unit. She can’t walk very well and also has trouble seeing.  Every week, she sees an internal medicine specialist, a plastic surgeon, ear, nose and throat doctor and the ophthalmologist. She rides in a taxi to these appointments in Koriyama together with a friend. “For the elderly, hospitals are just about the most important thing there is.”, she told me. “Those from Kawauchi village will have to return home by next spring too. But there’s no hospital in Kawauchi village. If I leave here, it will be difficult to go to the hospitals in Koriyama. All my friends are worried about the same thing.” “Those of us outside of the 20kilometer zone don’t receive anything. Our homes are still broken and boarded up. I live alone, so I don’t know if my house might collapse. I’m scared and don’t want to live there. My only source of income is my monthly pension of 60,000 yen. My insurance premium for nursing care is taken out of that, plus the utility costs of keeping up my home in Kawauchi as well as temporary housing in Koriyama. I also have to pay my yearly property taxes at the Kawauchi public office. Right now I’m able to pay for my medical costs, but the fare to and from the hospitals is difficult.” If I leave my temporary housing, my medical bill exemption will go away, so how am I, a lonely old woman, supposed to get by?    

I wondered to myself, “How much are food expenses now?” I remember that in the past she had said that even just 1,000 or 2,000 yen made her very happy. Right now, there are many people like this living in the Fukushima disaster-affected areas.    

【Announcements】

1.) I, Momoko Fukuoka, give individual, personal aid to help those who are struggling to get by in their daily lives. Those also wishing to make donations to individuals, please contact me. I will introduce you to someone in need.  

2.)  Another individual with the exact same name as myself, Momoko Fukuoka (she lives in Takehara city in Hiroshima prefecture) has been doing some PR on my behalf on Facebook.  I do not use Facebook, and this person is not me.  

[For questions]   Momoko Fukuoka

Mobile:  f.mom.1941@ezweb.ne.jp      

Cell phone: 080-5547-8675

Fax:  047-346-8675

(I would like to request that calls be made between 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM local time in Japan. There may be times when I am unable to reply. If this happens, please try contacting me again later. Thank you.)

English Translation: Karen Rogers

The National Government’s Uncaring Policies

              Climate change on our planet is advancing at such a speed that it will soon be too late to turn back.  Record-setting high temperatures, typhoons, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other such weather anomalies have become increasingly commonplace. The Alaskan glaciers have started melting and methane gas is leaking from the ocean floor. These are signs that it may already be too late to stop climate change and the weird weather it has brought with it.  Warnings about the human-caused destruction of Earth have been coming to us one after another for years now. 

              In the name of convenience, economy, and progress, the terrifyingly negative aspects and destructive potential of nuclear power plants are often kept hidden and unmentioned. It seems that people these days have forgotten to leave room in their hearts to care about protecting other people’s lives and happiness. I sometimes feel like the world has lost its heart and become like an unfeeling machine; a world full of hatred of the “other”, where survival of the fittest is law. The world has lost its heart and its vitality. Is there any way for us to recover our lost humanity?  

              But there are still many, many people – in Japan and all over the world– who have love and kindness in their hearts. They respect life and are trying to make the world a better place. So, why don’t we all join hands and become fellow members of the “alliance of those who value the Heart”? Even though you can’t see them with your eyes, there are others like you out there. They are doing the same sorts of things that you do. Our members try to “Do one good thing each day”. You can try too. For example, you could do something as simple as deciding not to complain. Or you could try thanking the delivery person for his or her hard work. I suspect that if people decide to dedicate themselves to valuing their own hearts and the hearts of others, this will be the true starting point for restoring the Earth. Once you start considering everyone around you as a good friend, the happiness of others naturally becomes your own happiness. Don’t you agree?

 

“Fukushima Today” 

              Today I would like to report again on the present situation in Fukushima. I don’t want readers to think of this as just a problem being faced by “others”, but rather to see that “tomorrow this might also happen to me” and to realize that this is the response our country has given to its citizens. And I hope that those who are able to give personal donations to help will do so. As a spokesperson for the victims, I would like to say that I am very grateful for your cooperation and help.   

(Temporary housing will only last until March of 2017. Those living in the affected areas must return home to their towns and cities by that that time)

*The national government issued the following type of order to all cities, towns and villages in Fukushima:

              “To all cities located near the Fukushima Daichi Reactor, including the towns of Futaba, Okuma and Tomioka, as well as areas within the TEPCO 20 km radius zone, - all affected citizens are allowed to return to their homes (excluding those areas with high radiation where cleanup has not been completed or where the national government has indicated otherwise). Because of this, temporary housing will no longer be available after March 2017, and affected citizens must leave temporary housing units and will be required to search for a home on their own.  The reason for this is that the temporary housing units are on land that has been rented by the Prefectural government and has to be returned to its owners.  The affected citizens must return home to their houses in the disaster affected areas or search for a new home on their own, and they will be required to deal with this individually.”

              “In the case of recovery housing that is built outside of the disaster affected areas, for example, those located in Fukushima City, Iwaki and so on, the people who can move into these homes are limited to those from Okuma, Futaba, Tomioka and Namie. Those from other towns and villages will have to inquire about this with the mayors of their home towns and villages.” (The reality is that even in those places where Recovery Housing has been built, the number of houses is very limited, and there are many places where they have still not been constructed)   

              *I would like to obtain exact information about the recovery housing situation in each city, town and village and set up connections to send aid.  However, my health is not very good lately, and I have been unable to make the necessary phone calls, so the information I have currently is very limited.  Please forgive me for the inconvenience. 

              *As much as is possible, the national government is pushing for the return of citizens to Okuma, Futaba, Tomioka and Namie. 

              Here is what people from the disaster-affected areas have to say in their own words:

              “The evacuation order has been lifted from Okuma Town’s Ogawagen District and part of the town office has been moved. 1,000 living quarters for those working out at the Nuclear Power Plant have been built, and we are working on preparing lunches for the workers.  They say that 3,000 people will be able to return home.  Right now, 10,000 people are working at the power plant. When we gave the workers a questionnaire, 8,000 of them responded that they’d like to keep working. Many people from outside of the prefecture are working at the plant. The people of Okuma are hesitant to return home.”   

              “I was told that, as an experiment, they’re also going to allow people from Tomioka that want to return home to go back to their homes.”  

              “The national government has not made any concrete statements about purchasing areas with interim storage facilities (for storing contaminated waste), and has said that it may be possible to return home after 30 years. They have made individual negotiations. Even though it would be better if they just told us we will never be able to return home, they keep giving us hope that it will one day be possible, and thus the people from the disaster-affected areas have been unable to make future plans.”  

              “There are 6 reactor units at the Fukushima Power Plant. Units 1, 2 and 3 suffered explosions, and unit 4 is being inspected. Units 5 and 6 have been left as they were.  Units 1 through 4 are located in Okuma, while units 5 and 6 are in Futaba.  Reactor Units 6 and 7 were also planned to be located in Futaba; sites were prepared for them. However, they were never constructed.  (There were electrical subsidies set aside for these projects)  In Namie, there was a Tohoku Electric Power Company site, but not one owned by TEPCO.  (Because of this, their reparation money was comparatively smaller than that received by other towns and villages).  Naraha had a TEPCO site (and because of this they received a small amount of reparation money).  Minamisoma’s Kodaka District receives reparation money, however those living outside of Kodaka don’t receive any. There are many people along the coast there who were carried away or affected by the tsunami. However, as the tsunami was unrelated to the nuclear accident, they don’t receive reparation payments either. I heard talk that there was a one-time aide payment of 3,000,000 yen made for those who lost the head of the household and 2,800,000 yen for the loss of other family members. Those who do not own land, or only rent their homes did not receive any reparation money.”

              -At the time of the nuclear accident, radiation leaked out to the west. Because the national government did not inform local towns, cities and villages (their leaders) of this fact, many of those affected by the disaster took shelter to the west.  As a result, the towns and villages of Namie, Iitate,  Tsushima and Katsurao areas where evacuation orders where given. Miyakoji, Kawauchi and Hirono also have areas with high levels of radiation.  Iitate, Tsushima, Katsurao, Miyakoji and Kawauchi are all located along Highway 399 and are high up in the mountains. It’s always been inconvenient to reach these places, and they have few shops or hospitals.  They areas highly dependent on agriculture and economically not that well off. It seems that many of the people there were working in construction as a second job. The people of these villages tend to have a straightforward character, are able to endure much, are not the most eloquent speakers, and are very kind to everyone.  They withstand the severity of Mother Nature, adapting to and living in harmony with it.  Because Miyakoji is at the very top of a mountain, I heard that the main ways to make a living were growing tobacco and raising livestock. They do farm work in the narrow valleys between the many mountains.  Gathering mountain vegetables was also a way they made their living. Katsurao is also located in the middle of the mountains, so tobacco and livestock were their main sources of income – I hear that they did not have rice paddies.  Hirono has 7 thermal power plants, and I hear that many plant workers live there. They are safely eating vegetables and rice there.

              -The national government has already lifted the evacuation orders for most of the disaster affected areas (the 20 km zone around the reactor is currently being prepared). That’s Minamisoma (it will also be lifted in the Kodaka district soon), Hirono, Kawauchi, Miyakoji, Katsurao, and Naraha. Places that are heading towards having the evacuation lifted include Iitate, Tomioka and Namie (excluding Tsushima). In the Ogawagen District of Okuma, a meal-preparation center has been set up for the Nuclear Plant workers.  I’ve been told that in the future they’d like to have the original residents of Okuma move back there as well. 

              - Four percent of the town of Futaba has been declared as areas where preparations for residents to return home are being made. The Prefectural government has been buying that land (it seems they were forced to purchase it) and has been building public parks as part of the recovery effort,  as well as putting up 8-meter-tall breakwaters in the locations where the tsunami hit.  The rest of Futaba is still considered a “problem area” for returning home.

              -The national government intends to have the JR Joban Line passing through the region by 2019. They plan to lift the evacuation order on the surrounding area and have the citizens of Futaba living back in their homes by that time.  That is what I was told by a person from the disaster-affected area. The Joban line has been reopened in Naraha, but citizens that live near the train line have not moved back home (this is because there were many rented houses that were not eligible for compensation money). As a result, the surrounding area is pitch-black at night and there are no buses available from the station. Because of this, the locals find it inconvenient and don’t use it.

              -When I listen to the stories of the people from the disaster-affected areas, I can’t help but feel that the national government’s policies are purposely ignoring the true situation in those areas. It seems all too much like they’re taking away their “right to live”… Dear readers, what do you think should be done about this?  

              -The move from temporary housing to recovery housing has started. During this move, it seems that people have been told to leave behind the air conditioning units, light bulbs, and kitchen stoves that were used in the temporary housing. One person from the disaster-affected area told me: “Even though we’ve heard that once we leave the temporary housing they will just be demolishing them and throwing out everything inside, why won’t they tell us it’s okay to take the items left inside? As soon as we were entrusted with the key to the recovery unit, we were told that we had to move within 20 days.  However, until we receive the keys, we don’t even know what kind of dwelling we will be moving into. They say that even the curtain sizes are different depending on the unit. Light bulbs, air conditioners, stoves, we have to buy everything on our own.  Have is someone who only receives a pension of 50,000 yen a month supposed to get by?”  

              Dear readers, don’t you think the national government is being extremely uncaring?  I ask you to please look at and think about this situation and send your continuing donations and support.

[For questions]     Momoko Fukuoka

Mobile:  f.mom.1941@ezweb.ne.jp      080-5547-8675

Fax:  047-346-8675

(I would like to request that calls be made between 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM local time in Japan. Depending on my health, there may be times when I am unable to reply. If this happens, please try contacting me again later. Thank you.)

 

Translation: Karen Carina Rogers

Editing: Rachel Clark  

 

 

Out of Compassion for affected people

[Gratitude to those who passed away]

   It is August. It is time for us to pray for the spirits of family members and friends who passed away. I would like to express my deepest sympathy to all who lost their lives.

 I have noticed that recently there have been so many people who have suffered in tragic accidents and murder cases. The world has become a horrific place, and it makes me wonder how the world has become like this. There must have been some cause and someday I would like to talk about what brought us into this situation.

As we know, we were brought into this world by our parents, and we didn’t raise ourselves. We were protected in our mother’s womb, and taken care of by our parents, grandparents, doctors and nurses. Our mothers put up with unbearable pain at our birth, and nurtured us, sacrificing so many things. Our parents gave us our names with a lot of hope. Let us remind ourselves to be thankful for everything that they have done for us.

I was born on November 7, 1941, which was a month before the World War Two began. I was premature by three months. My mother was not healthy enough to go through with the pregnancy; the doctor even suggested an abortion. But she was determined to give birth to me, even at the cost of her own life. There was no incubator, so she set up a small tub with warm water. Whenever my skin turned purple, she used the tub to warm up my body. It was a constant struggle. She named me “Momoko” with a wish for me to live to 100 (the Japanese character for “Momo” means 100).  I thank my mother every time I write my name. I wasn’t a completely healthy child, and still suffer from complications to this day. It was normal for me as a child to live with some sickness. Medical technology wasn’t as advanced as today so at that time I never found out what the name of the illness was. But as I look back I am thankful that I had an ordinary childhood. I wasn’t preoccupied with finding out about my illness. I have managed to enjoy my life with no regrets, and got to have a job, and got married.

However, I feel like I have weakened in recent years. I experienced difficulty breathing around the end of last year. I finally found out that my disease was a collagen disease for the first time in my life. It is called Sjogren’s syndrome, which results in damaged glands, rib pain and chronic pain throughout my body.  At last I understood what the sickness during childhood was. I also realized that you could never understand someone else’s suffering and sadness until you experience them. Once you have known what it is like to have severe disease, handicapped arms or legs, and the loneliness that follows, then you will truly appreciate what happiness is. In the same way, we can learn the suffering of sadness of people in Fukushima who lost their homes, families, and jobs to the great earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear incident. I am thankful for all the experiences throughout my life. It’s very difficult to live with severe disease, but now I know what other people like me are going through. I consider those people as my friends and have been paying lots of attention to helping support them.

It is“Obon”season, a time to honor the spirits of our ancestors and thank our parents, grandparents and friends for their protection over us. “Obon” could be a reminder to thank all the spirits of those who have passed away. I would also ask you to give your thoughts to the healing hearts of people in Fukushima.

< A person from Katsurao>

“On the day of the disaster, my grandson who was senior at high school went out with his friend to Namie town. (A town that was swept away by the tsunami.) On that day my grandson drove to pick up three of his friend’s relatives. Then he went back to save his friend’s grandparents and was caught by the tsunami. For two months after the disaster both of self-defense-force and police couldn’t go searching him because of the high radiation level. Eventually their bodies were found and we identified them. Later on, someone told me that my grandson’s car was locked inside. His friend and his grandfather’s bodies were intact, but they looked like mummies stuck to a wall. (I’m sorry for the wording. I wasn’t sure if I should write this, but these are their words). My grandson and his friend's grandmother haven’t been found yet.”

<A person from Okuma>

“Right after the Tsunami we couldn’t go looking for the missing people. Two months later the self-defense-force and the police started the search. We learned of the names of the people who died as they found the bodies. There are still 100 people missing from Okuma. Many more are missing from Futaba, Tomioka, Namie and along the Pacific coast in Fukushima. We set the 11th of each month as an anniversary. The police and the firefighters dig up and search the ocean floor, ordinary people can go in.  But they haven’t found anything.”

Somebody told me how he didn’t want to recall the day of the disaster. When he was running from the tsunami he spotted someone who was clinging to a tree trunk, crying for help. But he couldn't do anything. He has nightmares about them every night and the sense of guilt is crushing him. He also says that it is unbearable to be left behind with these memories. He feels that many people think he can live on happily with hefty compensation, but he was never was entitled to receive such money.

<A person from Minamisoma, Odaka >

“The evacuation orders were lifted in Odaka on July 12. So I packed up my belongings in my temporary accommodation, had my house inspected by the town officials and returned home. Twelve or thirteen other households are expected to be able to return. I have a lot of work ahead of me. The land is slanted and therefore so is my house. Many people have decided to demolish their houses, but we cannot get any funding for repairs. I have some of the money TEPCO gave me left, so I’ll see what I can do with it. No one has returned to Odaka town yet. There is nothing open but one hospital, and they are open just twice a week.

Forget the radiation, I have to battle wild animals first.  I started to grow vegetables but a group of wild monkeys devoured my crops three days ago. I saw wild boars too. We try not to rely too much on people’s handouts and want provide for ourselves. However, thank you so much for all the help so far!”

I recognize the importance of the independence of people in Fukushima, although at the same time, I’m compelled to stand by everyone as a friend.

[Book Recommendation]

I have received copies of some books written by Yuzo Akatsuka through my friends.

“Re-examining Accident at Fukushima Daiichi –from viewpoint of affected people”  1,300 yen plus tax, order from Sendai Shuppan at 022-264-0151

“Learning from great tsunami disaster”  1,900 yen plus tax, Kashima Shuppan

Momoko Fukuoka

Email: f.mom.1941@ezweb.ne.jp　　

Cell: 080-5547-8675   

Fax: 047-346-8675 　
Please call me 11:00 am through 5:30 pm (Japan time).

Thank you.

Translation: Tony Sahara

Editing: Miles Desforges  

HIROSHIMA-FUKUSHIMA-KUMAMOTO

[President Obama’s speech in Hiroshima]

On the evening of May 27, 2016, President Obama was at the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima. He had his staff bring in two Origami cranes, in white and light pink with plum and cherry blossom patterns. President Obama said that he folded them with a little help and presented them to two school children. (http://sharetube.jp/article/2733/）

This event was broadcast on the 9pm news on May 28, 2016. Many were moved to tears by President Obama’s act of giving the paper planes and what this signified in relation to world peace.

President Obama laid a wreath, paused for a moment with his eyes closed, then made his 17-minute speech at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

Seventy-one years ago death fell from the sky and the world was changed. Their souls speak to us. They ask us to look inward, to take stock of who we are and what we might become. And at each juncture innocents have suffered, a countless toll, their names forgotten by time. And yet the war grew out of the same base instinct for domination or conquest that had caused conflicts among the simplest tribes; an old pattern amplified by new capabilities and without new constraints. In the span of a few years, some 60 million people died – men, women, children no different than us, shot, beaten, marched, bombed, jailed, starved, gassed to death. We are most starkly reminded of humanity's core contradiction; how the very spark that marks us as a species – our thoughts, our imagination, our language, our tool-making, our ability to set ourselves apart from nature and bend it to our will – those very things also give us the capacity for unmatched destruction. The scientific revolution that led to the splitting of the atom requires a moral revolution as well. That is why we come to this place. We have a shared responsibility to look directly into the eye history and ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again.

Define our nations not by our capacity to destroy, but by what we build.

And perhaps above all, we must reimagine our connection to one another, as members of one human race. We can learn. We can choose. All men are created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The irreducible worth of every person, the insistence that every life is precious. The radical and necessary notion that we are part of a single human family – that is the story that we all must tell.

That is why we come to Hiroshima. So that we might think of the people we love – the first smile from our children in the morning; the gentle touch from our spouse over the kitchen table; the comforting embrace of a parent – we can think of those things and know that those same precious moments took place here seventy-one years ago. Ordinary people understand this, I think. They do not want more war. They would rather that the wonders of science be focused on improving life, and not eliminating it.

When the choices made by nations, when the choices made by leaders reflect this simple wisdom, then the lesson of Hiroshima will be done.

A future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare, but as the start of our own moral awakening. (Asahi Shimbun May 28, 2016)

After I listened to his speech, I felt like a great mentor of life came from above. I felt like it is our responsibility to manifest President Obama’s message. Our time is limited. With President Obama’s words as our common motivation, we have to work hand in hand to make our country peaceful. We must learn a lesson from the sacrifice of the Hibakushas (Atomic bomb victims) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, instead of wasting it.

A picture of President Obama warmly hugging a Hiroshima survivor, Shigeaki Mori, touched so many Japanese people. There is a saying “Children grow up to see the back of their parents”. I think that compassion, kindness, and sincerity are important human qualities in this modern world. I would like to be someone who can give warmth and peaceful energy to the other people.

[Voices of Fukushima evacuees]

– In Katsurao village –

• The evacuation advisory was lifted for most of Katsurao village on June 12, 2016.

• “The newspaper said that it is the mayor of Katsurao’s decision, but that is not true. It is the national government’s unilateral decision.  There was no detailed briefing session on this. After they decided the June 12 date there was only a notifying meeting. I tried to ask some questions however, they cut me off because they said that they didn’t have enough time for Q&As.”

• “For the past three years we villagers were never able to obtain the correct information. We rely on the newspapers and the radio. We sometimes find information on the internet, but it gets deleted quickly.”

• “This place is still highly radioactive. I sometimes see measurements that are three times as high as the national report. They are deceiving us.”

• “There are some hotspots with radiation levels of 3.5 microsievert per hour. After I am exposed to this I get so tired. The fatigue persists even if I take a rest on Saturday and Sunday. I had cold-like symptoms such as sneezing, a runny nose, diarrhoea, and a 98.6°F fever. One time, I had nose bleed and all my body hair fell out. When I went to a public bathhouse with my co-workers they were shocked to see the body hair floating in the bathtub. Literary all of my body hair fell out. The same thing was happening to my co-workers. Some of them had white spots in their skin, too.

• “We don’t want to go back to a highly radioactive place, but the Japanese government will not listen to us.”

• In Miyakoji village –

• “On April 22, 2016, there was the second trial in case of Tokyo Electric Power Company failing to pay compensation to the evacuees. The court judge asked for the actual measured data of radiation, instead of verbal expression of “highly radioactive”. So I teamed up with my lawyers in order to measure radiation level at 200 houses, rice fields, and mountains in Iwaisawa area. The local governing body did not help us. Neither did my friends, since they have to work. I was the only one who could do it. So, I took time off and measured the radiation levels with 3 or 4 lawyers for 16 days. Only on Sundays could my friends help me.

The next trial date is set to be on July 1, 2016, followed by another one two months later. There are more people suing TEPCO in different towns. There have been 10 trials in two years, but things don’t seem to move forward. They say it might take 10 years. I never imagined how hard it would be to file a lawsuit. It costs money and I have to take days off because of it. I am tempted to end this process due to the hardship, but I must continue for the sake of the villagers and our community.”

[Regarding the great earthquake in Kumamoto]

Please don’t allow a repeat of the same suffering as the people in Fukushima felt after the great eastern Japan earthquake.

• I sincerely ask the government to increase the number of workers who visit homes and evacuation houses to create disaster victim certificates.

If private companies are capable of this kind of survey, then why can the government not do the same? I think that it is their obligation, especially when natural disasters happen.

The disaster victims are very tired and in bad health, putting up with an unthinkable level of anxiety, sadness, fear, and sacrifice. Some are very old or handicapped; some may not have money for transportation. Please don’t make these people travel long distances or keep them waiting in hard chairs or standing under the scorching sun. I would like to ask the government officials to think and act as if they were the affected people. Please make things less stressful for the victims. Provide them with the disaster victim vouchers, support materials, evacuation housing, and polling centres when there is election.

• I would like the financial aid and the compensation funds to be based on the evacuees’ needs. Whether their houses are completely damaged or half damaged, I hope they receive support to rebuild their houses where necessary.

[Fukushima evacuees]

• In Fukushima, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is in charge of compensation for the evacuees, not the national government. TEPCO simply certified the nuclear disaster victims within a 13 mile radius of the crippled nuclear power plant, but not based on the actual radiation levels. They also excluded the tsunami and earthquake as a cause of the evacuation.  So, there are many people outside the 13 mile zone who lost their houses to the tsunami, or whose houses are too radioactive to live in. However they are not entitled to receive compensation money. I would like to ask the Japanese government to take the initiative and support these people financially, instead of leaving everything to TEPCO.

• I heard that the evacuation houses are made to last for two years. However, this is the 6th year since some of the evacuees moved in. Those houses were not well built in the first place. Cold air enters through the cracks, and there are humidity and mould issues. After they received the keys to the houses, they only had 10 to 20 days to move in. They even had to pay $6000 for basic amenities such as curtains, lights, air-conditioners, and gas stoves.

• The nuclear disaster evacuees in Fukushima have been instructed to return to their own homes by the end of March in 2017. Those who lost their houses to the tsunami will move in the evacuation houses. The current temporary housing for the evacuees are being dismantled gradually. The voices of the evacuees are not being heard by the government. People are naturally fearful of the radiation, however they are being forced to move back to highly radioactive areas. They will stop receiving compensation money in March of 2018. After that, they will have to pay their medical costs and taxes on their own.

[My recommendation]

• Singer songwriter, Shihei Umehara

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE4iJJW6BkU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjLvgCGlYBA

http://www.pulana.net

• Author, Kosuke Hino

https://www.amazon.co.jp/原発棄民-フクシマ5年後の真実-日野-行介/dp/4620323616/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1466968854&sr=8-3&keywords=日野+行介

• Author, Yoshimi Kusaba

https://www.amazon.co.jp/世界でいちばん貧しい大統領からきみへ-くさば-よしみ/dp/4811322487/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466969015&sr=8-1&keywords=くさばよしみ

<Contact>

Momoko Fukuoka

Email: f.mom.1941@ezweb.ne.jp　　

Cell: 080-5547-8675   

Fax: 047-346-8675 　
Please call me 11:00 am through 5:30 pm (Japan time).

Thank you.

This English version was translated by “able” volunteer translation team:

Translation: Tony Sahara

Editing: Miles Desforges

Testimony of the lead plaintiffs suing for compensation

     What I saw while watching TV on April 4^th was so devastating that I froze in place; it was a boat full of packed refugees who had barely escaped with their lives just arriving in Greece from Turkey, only to be turned away and sent back. I could not help but feel sadness and I cried, “Oh God, what a world we are in!” I clasped my hands and raised them up, asking God, “My Lord, you must be observing with sorrow what is going on now. Your thoughtfulness, does it really touch the hearts of others?”

     Try to put yourself in those refugees’ shoes. How do you feel?  Their hometowns were destroyed by war and they have nowhere to go. This world has many issues to resolve and solving them will be no easy task. This planet requires not one unilateral approach by a single nation, but rather multilateral global solutions that hold human life in high esteem and pay attention to, and learn from, various nations’ differing systems. I strongly believe that this is what we should do as modern citizens of the world. Of course it is important to secure your own nation’s rights and to increase its economic gain. That being said, I must question anyone who dares to do this at the expense of the lives of other people, regardless of whether they are people inside or outside of their own country. In the case of Japan, I really want people to realize that our government is not working seriously to protect the lives of our citizens.

 

[Miyakoji Class Action Suit: The lead plaintiff’s oral argument]

     I would like to share with you [a translated version of] the original text that the lead plaintiff read to the court. His group is called the “Society to Protect Disaster-Affected People” and is suing the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) for unpaid compensation to the affected people in Fukushima. It took place at the Civil Affairs Division of the Koriyama Branch of the Fukushima District Court.

     The first session was held on the 22nd of February and the next one will be on April 22nd.

     Here is the layout of how people were sitting at the court: five TEPCO representatives on the right and 30 plaintiffs from Miyakoji on the left. There were five judges. First the chief judge said, “Court is now in session. Please refrain from using cameras or from video recording.” Then the attorneys presented their cases, after which the lead plaintiff read his prepared document. That was it. There was no time allowed for the other affected people to express their opinions. The chief judge simply announced, “The next session will be on April 22nd..Court is now adjourned for the day.”  The whole thing was done in a mere 30 minutes. The lead plaintiff was left hoping to receive some reply on April 22nd….

 

     The following is the document read to the court by Mr. Nobuyuki Imaizumi, the lead plaintiff representing “The Society to Protect Disaster-Affected People.” (I received approval from Mr. Imaizumi for using his full name on my blog.)

＊snip＊

 

 

Statement of Opinion by Mr. Nobuyuki Imaizumi, lead plaintiff of the Miyakoji Class Action Suit, first oral argument

 

1. Life before the accident

 

      I have lived in Miyakoji since I was born. At the time of the accident, I was living with my mother, wife, eldest son and his wife, and two grand-children, as a household of seven all together.

     Located in the Hamadori region of Fukushima, Miyakoji used to be a village until about 10 years ago when it merged into a single township together with Tokiwa, Ohgoshi, Takine, and Funabiki. Close to the beach and surrounded by big mountains and rivers, the abundance of nature used to provide us with mountain vegetables and mushrooms, and we could fish in the rivers for cherry salmon and mountain trout.

     With our pristine water and air, Miyakoji’s fresh fruits and vegetables used to be regarded as high-quality produce, and buyers came from places as distant as Tokyo to purchase items from our village’s two produce stands..

     Although we were not professional farmers, we used to grow  scallions, cabbages, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes, and rice at home; we were almost completely self-sufficient, only needing to purchase meat and seafood and growing all the rest.  We would commonly exchange our home-grown produce and rice among our neighbors and families.

     Miyakoji people are very cheerful. We enjoyed many local events: cherry blossom parties in April and May, a lantern festival in August, cultural and athletic festivals in October, and the fall harvest festival in November. Each area had its own children’s society, and these would plan sleep-over trips and such.

    My hometown Miyakoji used to be a cheerful town, full of the happy laughing voices, both young and old.

 

2. Our Life After the Accident

 

     Everyone insisted that the nuclear power plant was absolutely safe. So we had believed that and lived near the plant for several decades, until one day there was an explosion there and we received an evacuation order.

     During the night of March 12, 2011, we the residents of Miyakoji evacuated the village together, assaulted by both the severe cold and a pervasive feeling of fear.  Suddenly finding ourselves caught up in this catastrophic and irreversible situation, we were struck by a strong feeling of despair. After the evacuation, we lived in an emergency evacuation shelter for about 4 months. My aged mother, however, was not able to cope with the severe life at the temporary shelter and had to join an intensive-care old people's home called “Tokiwa-so.” after 2 months.

     For me, more than the horrible life at the shelter, the growing sense of despair and insecurity was unbearable. I think everyone at the shelter at the time felt the same. A man in his 60’s, who was deeply respected by the people of Miyakoji, ended his own life less than a month after the evacuation.

     In July, 2011, my wife and I relocated to a temporary housing unit which, on top of being very small, has almost no privacy; one can easily hear next-door neighbors’ voices, and this has made interactions with our neighbors somewhat awkward. Soon after this relocation, my wife started to avoid seeing people and began visiting doctors for her anxiety.

   At the end of August, 2011, while we were living in this state of never-ending anxiety, the evacuation order for towns within a 30 kilometer radius was lifted. Without knowing the level of invisible radiation that remained, many returned to Miyakoji after this announcement. This ultimately tore apart the local community; we became split into those from within the 20 kilometer radius and  30 kilometer radius, those who returned and those who remained, those afraid of radiation and those not, those young and those old. In this way, the close sense of unity residents of Miyakoji once felt was totally destroyed.

    In September 2012,  compensation for  residents within the 30 kilometer radius was ended. This decisively split the community in  two between those who lost all government support and those within the 20 kilometer radius zone whose compensation was still in effect.  We were one of the households within the 30 kilometers radius, and we became troubled by financial difficulties. Shortly after that, on October 29th, my wife committed suicide. In order to make  ends meet, I had had to leave her home alone and go out to work. As a result I was unable to be there when she needed my help. I still feel a strong sense of guilt, but nothing can change what happened.  Currently my family consists of my 99-years-old mother, my son, his wife, and two grand-children, but we are all split up and living in different places.

     Since first evacuating our home, we have been unable to go back to our self-sufficient lifestyle. The radiation level in the mountains and rivers remains high, which prevents us from harvesting mountain vegetables or mushrooms. No one fishes the cherry salmon or mountain trout anymore.

     All of our local events and festivals have been canceled. In August, 2014, the lantern festival finally resumed, but nothing else.

 

3. What we want to appeal to the court

 

On March 11 2011, we experienced an earthquake of unprecedented scale and a disaster which affected a wide area. However, if the disaster had been only the earthquake, if no nuclear accident had happened, Miyakoji would have recovered much sooner and I believe our lives would be back to normal by now.

   In the reality, however, the ocean, the rivers, and the mountains, which once supported our daily life, are still contaminated with radiation. The national government has been insisting that they would put everything back to normal. However, the difficulties we have had to face have only gotten worse. Those who returned to Miyakoji are mostly the elderly. Young families with children are too afraid to come back; Surrounded by mountains, Miyakoji tends to accumulate high radiation even after the radiation level is temporarily reduced by decontamination work. I do not think households with children will ever return to Miyakoji. In several decades our town will be full of only the elderly, and will eventually disappear completely.

     Ever since compensation for the emotional pain of those who are within the 30 kilometer radius was lifted, the relationships between residents in the 20 kilometer radius zone and those within the 30 kilometer radius zone have been completely destroyed. This stems from the fact that, despite the radiation level remaining about the same in both areas, one area keep receiving compensation but the other one does not, even though both areas are in the same village. Unequal treatment for residents of the same community does not make any sense at all.

     I want you to understand what he have one through as the very first residents in the prefecture whose evacuation order was lifted  under the national government’s recovery project. Please listen to our distressed voices and help us receive compensation for the emotional suffering and pain that we have endured.

 

Thank you

 

[Tomorrow It Could Be Me]

 

     Ladies and gentlemen, were it not for the radiation from the nuclear accident, the people in Fukushima could have already returned back to living normal lives these past five years. They would be able to support themselves, and living together again as families and as communities, thriving and developing goals together. However, the nuclear accident has destroyed everything: towns, people, industries, and everything else. Also, nothing will be able to erase their worries about the future as a result of their exposure to radiation.  It is time for us to think about the fact that their situation could be ours in the near future. We must think carefully about the issues of reopening reactors and about nuclear power in general. The first and the most important issue that Japan has to resolve is to help the affected people rebuild their lives. It angers and embarrasses me that the Japanese government has had TEPCO and local administrations undertake this task. I feel that the national government itself should be accountable for this undertaking. Our government is planning to have all residents return to their home towns by the end of March 2017, except for a very limited area. Within a year, they plan to tear down all temporary housing units. Please lend your voice and help us! Please help us advocate for the affected people in Fukushima!

 

[News]

 

On January 20th I received a call from CNN’s Tokyo bureau saying, “CNN TV’s news programs have been broadcasted in the U.S. and in 200 nations globally. We’ve read your blog both in Japanese and the English translated version. We thought that you seemed like the one whom we should contact with the following request. Would you please introduce us to someone in Fukushima? We would like to report on the reality of the affected areas in Fukushima.” Thus the following reports were made:

 

[TV report on Fukushima] http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/03/08/japan-fukushima-energy-future-ripley-pkg.cnn
Web report and its video

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/03/08/japan-fukushima-survivors-ripley-pkg.cnn

Web Report and photos (on people who live in Futabacho and their comments)

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/09/asia/fukushima-survivors-portraits/index.html 

 

[For questions]
If you have any questions about the evacuees or would like to offer help, I would be more than glad to introduce them to you. Please contact me. Thank you.

Momoko Fukuoka
Mobile:  f.mom.1941@ezweb.ne.jp      080-5547-8675
Fax:  047-346-8675

(Please contact me only between 11:00a.m. ~ 5:30 p.m., Japan time. Sometimes I cannot reply right away but please do not get discouraged.  Please try again later.)

    

This English version was translated by “able” volunteer translation team:

Translation: Rachel Clark

Editing: Karen Carina Rogers