Must Read: Asahi Shinbun "Trap of Prometheus" Series Part 1 - Men in Protective Clothing (7, 8) "No One Helped My Parents"

(Installment 1, Installments 2 and 3, Installments 4 and 5, Installment 6, Installments 7 and 8, Installments 9 and 10, Installments 11 and 12)

Asahi Shinbun's series "Trap of Prometheus" - Men in Protective Clothing documents what happened in Namie-machi in Fukushima Prefecture right after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

If you read Japanese, you can read all installments (1-12) in one location, at this blog.

Even if the series is written by a reporter at a major Japanese newspaper, not many Japanese are aware of it, which, after the initial launch, was buried in the 3rd page of the printed version.

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防護服の男（７） 早く東京へ来なさい

Men in Protective Clothing (7) Come to Tokyo ASAP

東京に住む娘の携帯電話の指示で転々と避難を続けた者もいた。菅野みずえの家に避難した門馬洋（もんま・ひろし）（６７）と昌子（しょうこ）（６８）の夫婦だ。

There are people who moved from one place to another on instructions from their daughter in Tokyo via cellphone. Hiroshi (age 67) and Shoko (age 68) Monma, for example, who evacuated to Mizue Sugano's house [in Namie-machi].

　自宅は浪江町の権現堂地区で、原発まで１０キロない。３月１２日朝、町の防災無線が「津島に逃げてください」と避難を呼びかけた。車で知り合いのみずえの家に避難した。

The couple's house was in Gongendo District of Namie-machi, less than 10 kilometers from the nuclear plant. In the morning of March 12, the town's emergency radio communication system alerted the residents to evacuate to Tsushima District. The couple went to Mizue's house in Tsushima; Mizue was their acquaintance.

　菅野家には昼前に着いた。昌子はみずえの炊き出しを手伝い、お握りを握った。夕食後、２５人の避難民たちが自己紹介しあった。知り合いが何人もいた。

They arrived at the Suganos before noon. Shoko helped Mizue prepare food for the evacuees. After supper, 25 evacuees introduced themselves to each other. There were many that the couple knew.

　みずえから白い防護服の男たちの話を聞かされたときは、夫婦はずるずる居残った。

When Mizue told them about the men in white protective clothing, they stayed on.

　しかし、翌１３日朝、再びみずえから逃げるようにいわれ、昼前に菅野家を出発した。

But the next morning on March 13, Mizue told them again to flee, and they departed before noon.

　とにかく北へ逃げようと、南相馬市を目指した。コンビニも商店も閉まっていた。レストランを見つけた。納豆定食が残っていたので、それを食べた。３軒のホテルに断られ、ようやく見つけたホテルに泊まった。

They headed north toward Minami Soma City. Convenience stores and shops were all closed. They found a restaurant that was still open, and ate the only available set meal. 3 hotels turned them down, the 4th agreed to put them up for the night.

　１４日夜、福島空港から飛行機に乗り、１５日に東京の長女と合流した。

They hopped on the plane at the Fukushima Airport on March 14 night, and met with their eldest daughter in Tokyo on March 15.

　長女の真理子（３６）は地震のあと、両親の携帯を呼び続けた。１１日の地震直後に、一度通じただけで連絡が途絶える。あとはメールだけだった。

Their eldest daughter Mariko (age 36) kept calling the parents' cellphone after the quake. She got connected only once, right after the March 11 quake; after that, only by emails.

　しかし、メールの返信も途絶えた１２日の午前８時４３分。

But the last reply to her email was at 8:43AM on March 12.

　「お父さんとお母さんの無事を神様にお祈りしています」

"I'm praying for your safety."

　テレビやインターネットで、原発事故の新しい情報を必死で探し、両親に送り続けた。

She did her best to look for the latest information on the nuke plant accident from TV and the Internet, and kept sending it to her parents.

　１号機が水素爆発した１２日の午後９時。真理子はテレビで専門家が「大丈夫」と言っているのを聞いた。「爆発は外壁だけで、放射能をまき散らすものではなかったと判明」。そんなメールを送った。大変な誤りだった。

At 9PM on March 12 after Reactor 1 had a hydrogen explosion, Mariko heard the experts on TV saying, "Not a problem". "The explosion just blew out the outer walls, and not the kind that would release radioactive material", she wrote to her parents. That turned out to be totally false.

　両親が南相馬市に再避難した１３日には「女川原発まで放射能が飛んでいる。そこも危ない。東京に来なさい」。

When her parents evacuated to Minami Soma City on March 13, she wrote to them, "Radioactive fallout even to Onagawa Nuke Plant. It's dangerous there. Come to Tokyo."

　そして１４日の正午。「３号機が１１時半に爆発した。早く東京へ」

And at noon on March 14, "Reactor 3 exploded at 11:30. Come to Tokyo ASAP."

　父は「そこまで行かなくてもいいじゃないか」と返してきた。真理子は「とにかく早く来なさい！」と叱った。

Her father replied, "I don't think we need to go that far". Mariko scolded her father. "Just do as I say!"

　責任のある人たちは、だれも両親を助けてくれようとしなかった。真理子にはその不信感だけが残る。（前田基行）

People in the position of authority did nothing to help her parents. That feeling of distrust is what Mariko is left with. (Reporting by Motoyuki Maeda)

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防護服の男（８） 「ふるさと」歌えない

Men in Protective Clothing (8) Can't Sing a Song About Home

　菅野みずえの家に避難した門馬洋（６７）は元高校教師だ。福島第一原発がつくられた４０年前から反原発運動にかかわっていた。

Hiroshi Monma (age 67), who first evacuated to Mizue Sugano's house, used to be a high school teacher. He had also been involved in anti-nuclear movement for 40 years since Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant was built.

　当時住んでいた楢葉町（ならはまち）の町営住宅に、住民３人が集まって始めた運動だ。県知事や町長らに危険性を訴え続けた。東京電力とは数年前から毎月１回交渉し、３月２２日も交渉が予定されていた。

It started with 3 residents when they got together in Monma's then-house in Naraha-machi. They continued to appeal the danger of the nuclear plant to the governor of the prefecture and the town's mayor. They had also been meeting with TEPCO once a month for several years, and the monthly meeting was scheduled on March 22.

　原告４０４人で隣の福島第二原発について裁判を起こしたが負けた。そのとき仙台高裁の裁判長が述べた言葉を今もはっきり覚えている。

The group of 404 people sued over Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant and lost. Monma still clearly remembers what the chief justice of the Sendai High Court said.

　「反対ばかりしていないで落ち着いて考える必要がある。原発をやめるわけにはいかないだろうから」

"Instead of just blindly protesting against the nuclear power plant, we need to calm down and think. For we probably cannot afford to stop the nuclear power plant."

　それから２１年。原発は安全だという幻想はあっけなく崩壊した。

It's been 21 years since the verdict. The illusion that nuclear power plants are safe has been shattered all too easily.

　「東京電力の想定がいかに甘いか。そのために多くの人に、どれだけの被害を与えたか。いったいどう責任を取るつもりなのか」

"It shows how optimistic TEPCO's assumption was. Because of that, so many people have suffered so much damage. How is the company going to take responsibility?"

　しかし、浪江町が今回の事故で「殺人行為だ」と国や東京電力を非難していることについても、同様に違和感がある。

However, he also feels ill at ease with the accusation of Namie-machi against the national government and TEPCO, saying what they did [or didn't do] was "homicide".

　浪江町にも、東北電力の原発建設計画が４０年前からあった。浪江町議会が誘致を求めていたものだった。

There is a plan for Tohoku Electric to build a nuclear power plant in Namie-machi; the plan was first floated 40 years ago. The Namie-machi Town Assembly has been actively inviting the plant.

　昨年、町内会の会合で町議が洋を見ながらいった。「原発で浪江町の未来は明るくなる。門馬先生は反対でしょうが……」

Last year, one assemblyman told Hiroshi in a neighborhood meeting. "The nuclear power plant will brighten up the future for Namie-machi. I know you are against it, but..."

　７月に一時帰宅したとき線量を測った。家の近くで毎時４マイクロシーベルトあった。

When he returned to his home temporarily in July, he measured the radiation. Near the house, it was 4 microsieverts/hour.

　畑には大きな柿の木がある。長女の真理子（３６）が生まれたときに植えたものだ。３００個以上の実をつけた年もあった。

There is a big persimmon tree in the field. He planted the tree when his eldest daughter Mariko (age 36) was born. There were years when the tree had more than 300 persimmon fruits.

　「もう実がなっても食べられませんね。汚染されてしまったから」

"We can't eat the fruits anymore. They have been contaminated."

　３０年ほど前、町内の体育館を借り、東京の劇団を呼んで放射能漏れ事故をテーマにした劇をやったことがあった。原発事故で町民が逃げ惑うというストーリーだった。それが現実になった。

About 30 years ago, [his anti-nuke group?] rented a school gym and invited a theatrical company from Tokyo to put on the play about an accident where radioactive materials leaked from a nuclear power plant. It was a story of town's residents running around trying to escape a nuclear accident. It now became the reality.

　夫婦は東京都北区の団地に身を落ち着けている。

The husband and wife now lives in a housing development complex in Kita-ku in Tokyo.

　家賃は１３万５千円と高いが、長女の家の近くに住むため、そこに決めた。東京電力からもらった仮払金１００万円を家賃の支払いにあてる。

The monthly rent is rather high at 135,000 yen [US$1,774], but they decided on that location to be close to their eldest daughter. 1 million yen temporary advance from TEPCO is being used to pay the rent.

　洋は福島にいたころから合唱が好きだった。７月、北区で合唱団の催しがあるのを知り、妻の昌子（６８）と参加してみた。

Hiroshi always liked singing in a chorus when he lived in Fukushima. In July, he knew about a chorus in Kita-ku, and tried it out with his wife Shoko (age 68).

　兎（うさぎ）追いしかの山、の「故郷（ふるさと）」を歌った。洋も昌子も途中で歌えなくなった。（前田基行）

They sang "Furusato (Home)". "The mountain that I used to chase a rabbit.." Hiroshi and Shoko could not finish the song. (Reporting by Motoyuki Maeda)

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The song is in formal, written-style Japanese, and it roughly runs like this in English (which just doesn't do justice to the original Japanese):

The mountain that I used to chase a rabbit
The river that I used to fish
I still dream of my old home
I cannot forget my old home

How are my parents who still live there?
How are my old friends?
When it rains, when the wind blows
I always think about my old home

Someday when I achieve my dream
I shall return to my old home
Where the mountains are green
Where the water is clear

Well, they have destroyed my "home", too. I don't have a clean, radiation-free place to come home to any more. And they are running around like chickens with heads cut off, promising "decontamination" to people and promising domestic tax hikes to foreign politicians, selling nuke plants, and telling people it's OK to eat contaminated food and forcing school children to attend schools in high radiation areas.

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