On the 11th anniversary of the start of the massive, ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, Mothers for Peace held an online webinar “Fukushima: 11 Years After the Triple Meltdown” featuring Japanese journalist Hiroko Aihara.
Ms. Aihara’s presentation was preceded by a quick recap of the timeline of the disaster by Molly Johnson. Her presentation can be seen here:
You can download, share and play the presentation with the narration.
Ms. Aihara, born and raised in Fukushima, has been covering nuclear issues since before the accident. She began by telling us that she is just one day older than Fukushima Daiichi and grew up in the shadow of the many nuclear reactors in her native prefecture.
The presentation was a rare historical overview of Fukushima’s relationship to the nuclear industry: the uranium was mined by school children during World War II in Japan’s efforts to create a nuclear weapon; construction issues during the beginning of Japan’s nuclear generation program; problems of wastewater release during the period of “safe” operation; and the current catastrophic situation.
Please view and share the following video of the event. Captioning has been added to some parts for clarity.
Ms. Aihara had several suggestions on what we can do:
- write to Japanese and international government agencies, TEPCO, and the media;
- share information with others;
- pressure your own government agencies to pass resolutions opposing the release of radioactively contaminated water.
Read an open letter to Japan condemning its plan to dump radioactive wastewater into the ocean.
This group, “311 Thyroid Cancer Child Support Network”, supports victims of pediatric thyroid cancer. They are supporting 6 young plaintiffs suing TEPCO for their thyroid cancer. Hear their voices. You can send donations through this site.
If you are interested in pursuing further action, here are a few Japanese government and industry contacts:
Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI)
Japanese Prime Minister & Cabinet, through their website or FaceBook page
Fukushima Prefectural Government: 2-16 Sugitsuma-cho, Fukushima City, Fukushima 960-8670, Japan Tel: +81-24-521-111 Email: kouho@pref.fukushima.lg.jp
Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (ruling party): 1-11-23 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8910 Japan Tel: +81-3-3581-6211 www.facebook.com/jimin.official
New Komeito Party (co-ruling party) through their website or FaceBook page