I pray from the bottom of my heart for all those who have died of COVID-19, for disaster victims, and for those who have died while suffering or alone. May they rest in peace.

On this day, seventy five years ago – August 6th at 8:15am – the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

There was a moment of silence on TV, accompanied by the knelling of the bell in Hiroshima. I used to live in Hiroshima, so I’ve visited the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Museum a few times. Even now, I can’t erase the images I saw there: the city of Hiroshima turned into a sea of fire, people with burnt skin hanging down from their arms, legs, and faces, as they stare vacantly ahead. The sight of those war victims was just too terrible.

August 9th (at 11:02am) was the day when the United States military dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. In April of that same year, American military forces invaded Okinawa. One in four Okinawan citizens lost their lives during the resulting chaos. It’s said that 20,000 people died. “Okinawa Memorial Day” is held on June 23rd, which is said to be the day when top Japanese general Ushijima committed suicide.

Even now, in the present day, there are still people forced to flee from war. Invasions and killings are done in the name of government policies, differences in opinion, or just for being a different race. Why do we discriminate against, hurt, drive away, and kill our fellow men? They are human just like us.
    Who do you think your life – and the life of your neighbor – belongs to? Life belongs to God. We are born from God and return back to Him. Death will end the toils of this life, and on that day, we will return to God in Heaven. Those who valued their life and the lives of others will be rewarded. Those who destroyed the lives of others will have to atone for what they did. I hear it is a painful atonement. We should value and respect the lives of others. This “moment” we are living today will only happen once. We only have one life. Time is gone forever once it passes. We should value these things while we have them.

Today, I would like to update you again on “The Current Situation in Fukushima”.

I was surprised to hear that disaster-affected people in areas of Fukushima where the radiation contamination is still too high to return home have been receiving property tax bills for their homes, mansions, and fields. We’re talking about homes in towns where the radiation is so high that people can’t go back even if they want to. Their homes are now unlivable and worn out after nine years and five months of exposure to the elements. Animals like mice, wild boars, civets, and monkeys have made nests in these houses. They have fallen into such a state of disrepair that no one can even set foot into some of them. According to the disaster-affected person I spoke with, “If you don’t pay, a demand letter arrives. They just start piling up, so I’ve been paying. However, despite being completely destroyed by the wind and rain and in a completely uninhabitable state, the fixed property tax applies as long as at least part of the house is remaining. Many disaster-affected people’s houses have become shabby husks from exposure to the elements, but they still remain standing. I ended up having my house knocked down. It’s now an empty lot. However, nobody wants to buy land in the Fukushima disaster areas. As long as I own that land, I have to pay taxes on it even if I can’t live there. Even five years later, I am still receiving those original property tax bills.”

What the government is doing is bizarre. It seems wrong, doesn’t it? First, the government unjustly granted the land to TEPCO, which resulted in disaster for the locals. Now they dare to demand property taxes from disaster victims who can’t even return home to their destroyed properties? We should raise our voices in protest and let it be known that this isn’t right. The disaster victims are powerless to protest in this situation. All they can do is comply. We must become their voice. I ask for your cooperation.

The following story takes place in the small agricultural community of Ozawa, located 17 km from the TEPCO power plant. The town decided to switch over to large-scale agricultural commercial production. They took out a five-billion government loan to begin the process. Two years later, right before work finished, the tsunami came in and washed everything away, burying the fields in sand, and destroying everything.
    At the time of the disaster, “All that was left behind was the debt. The government refused to cancel our debt.” Many of those affected became depressed. I have been worried about the people of this community for many years. This year, I was finally able to speak to someone. “Were your debts cancelled?” I asked. Her response: “Even now they refuse to cancel the five billion yen debt. We left the care of our fields up to the local union organization. We removed the top layer of soil from the fields. It’s not possible to grow rice anymore, since the soil was mixed with salt. They’ve only been growing beans. One third of the town has been converted into solar farms. The profits from that will go to the city.
    The place we lived before was completely swept away by the tsunami. All they’ve done is built a levee there. No houses. Nobody’s gone back. Everything was destroyed by the tsunami. Nobody lives there. There are four households from the community who have moved to the Haramachi neighborhood of Minami Souma. They support each other there.”

Shouldn’t the government cancel the five billion yen debt incurred before the tsunami, rather than forcing disaster-victims to pay up? These people lost everything when the tsunami came through and destroyed all their buildings and buried the fields in sand.

Five billion yen in debt is a heavy burden for these disaster-affected people. Many have become depressed. Shouldn’t the government remove this impossible burden from its citizens so that they can stop worrying? Isn’t that the sort of thing a government should do for its people?

Dear readers, after learning about the many injustices being done to the disaster-affected people of Fukushima by the government, can you help me stand up for them? Help spread the word that this isn’t right. Tell your friends online. Let’s spread the word together. Thank you for your help.

Momoko Fukuoka
English translation: Rachel Clark
Editing: Karen Rogers