Unheard voices from high school girls in Fukushima

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2VVIknv8bDw

Three high school girls in Soma-city, 40km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant, had been getting together every day after school since a year after the disaster to talk about the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear explosion, and to share their experiences of the disaster.  Through this process, they came to understand each others’ pain, suffering and confusion.  They had been feeling so much pressure and frustration about pretending that everything was ok under the government’s false safety campaign, and they wrote this video script based on their own feelings, thoughts and experiences.  They’ve been worrying about their future, especially after one of their friend committed suicide:  They might develop cancer later.  How long can they live?  Is it really ok to have a baby?  They are like any other teenagers, complex and sensitive, yet courageous enough to be able to express themselves to a larger audience.  If you could have listened to them, you would have understood what it is like for them to live in the high radiation zone in Fukushima.

Although the video has been erased, I decided to post the video and information anyway because I would like everyone to know how often this kind of thing has been happening in Japan. 

The Fukushima local government including the Education committee seems intent only on restoring the local economy, refusing to accept the radiation dangers and ignoring the voices of citizens and children who want to express their real feelings of fear,, frustration and stress over the series of misleading safety campaigns by the government, media, scientists and education boards, who are all in thrall to the power of the nuclear industry.  I received the following e-mail from the owner of the website which had up loaded this video: http://kaleido11.blog111.fc2.com/blog-entry-1382.html

“The video might have been erased by the local education committee in Fukushima by putting pressure on the girls once they found out I had uploaded it to my website.  This kind of thing has been happening very often in Fukushima where the authorities have been doing their best to suppress any anti-nuclear movement.  There is even a feeling among ordinary citizens of not even wanting to hear the word ‘radiation’.  I am worried that the girls and their parents might be feeling ostracized for their bravery in standing out from the crowd….”

I feel sorry to hear that such an environment has been created in Fukushima.  It must be very hard for everybody to live in such a heavily radioactively contaminated area, whether they are aware of the dangers or not.  I hope this total injustice only serves to make some brave citizens more aware and even more determined to keep on standing up against injustice.  I would also like to pray sincerely for the voice of every single person who bravely expresses their feelings and asserts their right to live as a human being.