• Speakers' introduction
• Useful information links
• Jotaro Wakamatsu's poem

Wakamatsu Jōtarō, “Minamikaze fuku hi”
[Days A Southern Wind Blows] 1992
English translation by Tomoki Fukui

the southern breeze feels good
the surfers’ heads peek and hide
Fukushima prefecture Haramachi city Kitaizumi beach
25 kilometers north of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
Inside
the area from which 135,000 residents emergency evacuated in the immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster

For example
June 1978
8 kilometers north of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
Fukushima prefecture Futaba District Namie town Minami-tanashio
a fleck of pink appeared
on the petals of the murasaki tsuyukusa (spiderwort) blooming at Masukura Takashi’s house
but
it was decided that its relationship to the operation of the nuclear plant could not be recognized

For example
January 1980 report
800 meters from the southern [cooling] water discharge pipe at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s Reactor 1
Beach sand hokkigai (surf clam) okamebunbuku (sea potato) Cobalt-60 was detected

For example
In June 1980
8 kilometers north of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
Fukushima prefecture Futaba District Namie town Ikusebashi
Cobalt-60 was detected from the air of an elementary school

For example
September 1988
25 kilometers north of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
Fukushima prefecture Haramachi city Sakaemachi
All the hair on my head and body fell away at once
A rice bowl’s worth of hair from one wash
Of course
Its relationship to the nuclear power plant’s operation won’t be recognized
It won’t be and yet

The breeze from the south feels good
the cove where surfers ride between the waves
two ferries slowly approach from the left and right and then grow further away
I can sense a time in which I will be overtaken

The world’s sounds end
everything is right with the world
or
are we looking at what should come


Part II

November 2, 1978
Eight years before the Chernobyl accident
Reactor 3 at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
five fuel rods fell out during the pressure vessel’s water pressure test
For seven hours and thirty minutes Japan’s first criticality incident continued
29 years later in March 2007 TEPCO finally
admits to the coverup

Or
October 21, 1984
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Reactor 2
Emergency stoppage due to a criticality during the reactor’s pressure test
23 years later in March 2007 TEPCO finally
admits to the coverup

Other accidents with falling fuel rods
February 1, 1979 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Reactor 5
September 10, 1980 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Reactor 2
June 15, 1993 Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant Reactor 3
February 22, 1998 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Reactor 4
etc etc after being covered up until March 2007

A distant 200+ kilometers south-southwest from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
Tokyo Chiyoda ward Otemachi
They reveal all this for the first time inside the Keidanren Building at the Federation of Electric Power Companies

November 2007
25 kilometers north of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
Fukushima prefecture Haramachi city Kitaizumi beach
not a shadow of the surfers and ferries
the sounds of the world cease
the breeze from the south envelops my skin
what is it that we are watching