Sharing horror stories

 November 5, 2012

Fukushima, Nagasaki high-school students share tales of nuclear disaster, bombing

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20121105p2a00m0na013000c.html

MINAMISOMA, Fukushima -- High school students here who have been affected by the ongoing nuclear disaster and students at a high school in Nagasaki, where the atomic bomb was dropped 67 years ago, participated in an online conference to exchange views on how to pass down their respective histories.

The event took place as part of the Nagasaki International Peace Film Forum 2012, held by the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, and involved students from Fukushima Municipal Haramachi High School in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Minamisoma, and Kwassui High School in the Nagasaki prefectural capital of Nagasaki.

Haramachi High School students read a poem entitled "Kamikakushi sareta machi" (The town that was spirited away), that was written 18 years ago by local poet Jotaro Wakamatsu about the Chernobyl accident. Natsuko Numano, a third-year student who evacuated from the town of Namie, located 10 kilometers from the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Plant, shared how there were no prospects on how much longer she would remain an evacuee. Another third-year student, Fuyuka Takayama, said, "I wonder how much radiation we've been exposed to. What will happen to our future babies? I'm worried about everything, but there's nothing we can do but move forward."

Kwassui High School students read from "Nijuhibaku: Genshigumo no shita ni seimei o fusete" (Twice Bombed, Twice Survived: My Life under the Atomic Cloud), the memoirs of the late Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They also read the school's peace declaration, and reported on their activities toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.

"Let us work together to pass down what we know to future generations," said second-year Kwassui student Kana Miyamoto, in closing the conference.

Masato Hirose, who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and has been in touch with high school students in Fukushima, said, "I've been participating in activities to prevent further devastation from radiation, but now more people are living in fear of it. And for that, I feel remorseful."

The poet Wakamatsu, who witnessed the event at Haramachi High School, said, "The crisis in Fukushima is ongoing. There is much we can learn from Nagasaki. We need the support of young people."