Namie-Machi Resident's Suicide Considered as Protest Against #Fukushima Nuke Plant/Accident By Town's Residents, According to Asahi's "Trap of Prometheus"

Since Asahi has moved the worthy series to the paid subscribers-only section and has been aggressively going after any blog sites that dare re-post the installments of the series, all I can do is to do the meta-analysis - referring to the post of someone who has read the article and commented on it.

Here's one from a non-fiction writer Ryuichi Akiba, commenting on the April 23 installment of "Trap of Prometheus". The headline of this particular installment, according to Akiba, is "Everything was completely robbed".

From Mr. Akiba's blog on April 23, 2012:

浪江町の住民が原発への抗議のため腹を刺して自殺をした

A resident of Namie-machi committed suicide by stabbing his stomach with a kitchen knife to protest against nuclear power plant

けさ（４月２３日）の朝日新聞連載「プロメテウスの罠」は、「根こそぎ奪われた」という見出しである。
The title of this morning (April 23)'s "Trap of Prometheus" series by Asahi Shinbun is "Everything was completely robbed".

この記事は「福島県浪江町では原発事故後、松本英之のほかにもう１人が自殺している。赤宇木（あこうぎ）の男性だ。　男性は昨年１１月、避難先から自宅に戻り、包丁で腹を刺して死んだ。５８歳だった。遺書はなかった」で始まる。

The article begins with this passage: "In Namie-machi in Fukushima Prefecture, there is another person who committed suicide after the nuclear accident, in addition to Hideyuki Matsumoto. He was from Akougi District. Last November, he returned home from the temporary shelter, and stabbed his stomach to death with a kitchen knife. He was 58 years old. There was no suicide note."

これでこの地区からふたり目の自殺者である。

So that makes the two who committed suicide from this district.

親族は、「原発事故さえなければ自殺なんかしなかった」と言う。そしてこの地区の住民は男性の自殺についてこう口にした。

His relatives say, "If there were no nuclear accident, he wouldn't have done it." The residents of the district speak about the man's suicide,

「あれの自殺は、これは最大の抵抗だ。切腹して死んだ思いを、私たちは大切にしなければいけない」 （長老）

"His suicide is the loudest protest. We have to keep his memory alive, how he must have felt when he committed "seppuku"." (Elder in the district)

「彼の死は原発への抗議だ」（区長）

"His death is the protest against the nuclear power plant." (District chief)

「人間には、耐えられる限界というものがある。それを考えて、行政も対応していかないといけない」（馬場町長）

"There is a limit to which a human can endure. The government has to keep that in mind." (Mayor Baba)

この地区の線量は馬場町長いわく「推定年間２００ミリシーベルト」。原発は人をそして住空間を殺した。

According to Mayor Baba, the radiation level of the district is "estimated to be 200 millisieverts per year". The nuclear plant killed people, and killed their living space.

さて、ぼくたちは割腹自殺した男性の思いを大切にするにはどうすればいいのだろうか。それは原発を即刻やめることだろう。福島に原発がなければ、彼は自殺する必要はなかったのだから。

Now, what could we do to to keep alive the memory of the man who committed "seppuku"? I believe it is to quit nuclear power generation right away. If there was no nuclear plant in Fukushima, he didn't need to commit suicide.

The suicide of the man described in Asahi's "Trap of Prometheus" installment is describing is this one. What's not reported in the original news of the suicide back in December last year is the reaction of the town's residents, that they consider his death as "seppuku", as protest against the nuclear plant and the accident.

The first reported suicide that was clearly the result of the nuclear accident was not even in the high-radiation areas in Fukushima. It was a cabbage farmer in Sukagawa City in Fukushima Prefecture, on March 24, 2011 (one day after the government issued a restriction on consumption of vegetables from Fukushima).

In June there was a report of the suicide of a dairy farmer in Soma City, outside the evacuation zones, after he had to give up on dairy farming because of the nuclear accident.

For many people including nuclear scientists and engineers, there has been no death because of the Fukushima nuke accident unless one dies of an acute radiation sickness. To them, death by suicide doesn't count.

Tweet