Nothing to See Here

Nuclear life has a long legacy in contemporary Japan. It spans from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the one tested off the Bikini Island that contaminated fishermen and their boats. Accidents at nuclear facilities are common, although often kept out of the public eye. Coping with the impact of Japan’s 3.11 disaster has placed an enormous burden on environmental and sanitary systems, leading to a situation in which all 51 nuclear power stations were shut down. The country is divided.

I arrived in Fukushima City a day after the devastating Tōhoku earthquake and Tsunami on March 11th. Soon after there were hydrogen explosions in two reactors, one so powerful it blew the roof off. Thick clouds emerged and moved in different direction. Since then there is a dense haze of stigma in Fukushima - people have been poisoned, their land, their food, their minds. I have been trying to understand the physical, psychological, and environmental wounds inflicted upon those in the radiation zone and beyond.