ANT-Hiroshima

 Tomo Corporation, a trading company recently set up to support the activities of ANT-Hiroshima, received some great news the other day...

Earlier this year Tomo Corporation released a film, "Hadashi No Gen Ga Mita Hiroshima" ("The Hiroshima That Gen Saw") documenting the eye-witness account of manga artist, Keiji Nakazawa, who was a schoolboy in Hiroshima when the city was destroyed by the atom bomb at the end of World War Two. Keiji Nakazawa later created the "Barefoot Gen" manga series, which told the story of his experiences through the the eyes of a schoolboy called "Gen".

The film is distributed by Sigla who informed us that Hadashi No Gen Ga Mita Hiroshima had been won the 17th "Peace Cooperation Journalist Prize", which is awarded by the Peace and Cooperative Journalist Fund of Japan, a Tokyo-based peace-education and media pressure group.

We feel very honoured and happy to receive this award and recognition.

ANT-Hiroshima

In November Dr. Prabin, a senior neurosurgeon at Norvic International Hospital in Katmandu, launched an initiative that aims to ensure that every Nepalese patient who needs neurosurgical treatment in Nepal will be able to receive it irrespective of his or her financial means.

Dr. Prabin

Dr. Prabin feels that this initiative is urgently needed today because the number of diagnosed neurosurgical problems in Nepal has been increasing in recent years. This is part because of greater public awareness and also because there are now more qualified neurosurgeons in Nepal than ever before, with a corresponding increase in neurosurgical diagnoses.

However, the cost of surgery is a big obstacle to further treatment for most Nepalese, so Dr. Prabin and a group of fellow neurosurgeons decided to set up a fund to help those who desparately need neurosurgery but do not have the means to pay for the treatment.

Norvic International Hospital has one of the best equipped neursurgical treatment facilities in Nepal. However, as it is a privately run hospital, the overall treatment charge is higher than government-funded hospitals, which often lack the essential services, equipment and expertise that is necessary for neurosurgery to be successfully carried out.

ANT-Hiroshima joined Dr. Prabin in the initiative by setting up an English langauge blog to help raise funds and provide information about this initiative:

 http://www.nepalneurosurgicalfund.org/

The blog is very new and Dr. Prabin hopes to add a lot more content in the months ahead.

ANT-Hiroshima is overseeing the fund raising side of the initiative. The Paypal buttons on the donation page are linked to ANT-Hiroshima's account. ANT-Hiroshima will pass on the funds to Dr. Prabin as they come in.

We hope that with the help of donors  we can support the really needy cases who would otherwise be unable to get any treatment for their neurological conditions.

ANT-Hiroshima

On September 11th, ANT Hiroshima hosted a symposium presented by Dr. Nanao Kamada, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Foundation, who spoke about his findings in regard to a visit to Fukushima to investigate the levels of radiation that remain in the environment following the nuclear disaster that unfolded in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in the north east of Japan on March 11th of this year.

Order of Presentation

1. Basic information on radiation
2. Physical examinations personally conducted in Fukushima
3. Determining exact radiation dose (Measurements)
4. Efforts to decrease external and internal radiation levels (Decontamination)
5. You have the right to decide for yourself, so take action.

Radioactivity and Radiation
The ability of a substance to emit radiation is known as radioactivity. 

Radioactivity

• Charcoal (Radioactive material) (Unit: Becquerel, Bq)

Radiation

• Heat ray (Radiation) (Unit: Gray, Gy)
• Unit to measure emission of radiation (the emitter): Becquerel
• Unit to measure dose of radiation (the receiver): Sievert
• Unit to measure dose per particular organ or total body dose (Sievert)

Types of Radiation (Devices to detect them vary.)

• α ray (Alpha)
• β ray (Beta)
• γ ray (Gamma)

Alpha particles are stopped by a sheet of paper. Beta particlesare stopped by an aluminium plate. Gamma rays are stopped by 4 meters of lead.

Chronology of Evacuation and Regulatory Changes

• March 11th: Earthquake. Emergency shutdown of first, second and third reactors at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
• March 12th: Government designates areas within 20 km of the Daiichi Plant the No-Entry Zone. 
• March 15th: Government designates areas between 20 and 30 km the Indoor Emergency Evacuation-Ready Zone. 
• March 19th: Five times the allowed limit of radioactive iodine detected in raw milk from Kawamata Town. 
• March 21st: Radioactive iodine detected in water from Iitate Village waterworks.
• April 20th: Shipment of sand lance is suspended.
• April 22nd: Planned Evacuation Zones designated in certain areas outside 20 km. 
• June 2nd: Shipment of tea leaves is suspended. 
• June 16th: Specific evacuation sites outside No-Entry Zone are set up. 
• July 19th: Shipment of Fukushima beef is suspended.

Objectives of Dr. Kamada's Research and Examinations in Fukushima

After the Hiroshima atomic bombing in August 1945, the dangers of internal exposure to radiation was neither understood nor treated. Children are three times more susceptible to radiation than adults. So Dr. Kamada felt it was his responsibility to propose examinations for residents, with these objectives in mind.

1. Finding evidence to enable better decision-making for children’s safety.
2.  Following the Fukushima nuclear plant accident, internal exposure must be carefully studied.

External Radiation Exposure Level by May 5
Annual Regulation Value: 20 mSv
Maximum Radiation Exposure Level / Minimum Radiation Exposure Level
Range: 4.9～13.5 mSv


Internal Radiation Exposure Level
Iitate Village
Urine Sample
Axis Concentration (Bq/ L)
Cesium 137
Cesium 134


Findings of Examinations in Fukushima

1. On May 5th, radioactive cesium was detected in all tested residents, but in minute amounts.
2. Radioactive iodine was detected in some residents. The largest detected dose was 3.2 mSv. Contaminated food intake is thought to be the major source. 
3. Although their external exposure levels were below the annual recommended limit of 20 mSv, to avoid continued exposure, I advised the residents I examined to evacuate in a timely manner.
4. To limit internal exposure, I advised them to avoid locally cultivated vegetables and plants growing wild in the local mountains such as mushrooms.

Differences between the Hiroshima Atomic Bombing and the Fukushima Nuclear Plant Accident (Residents)

In both cases, local communities and infrastructure (houses and employment) collapsed amid rising anxiety about health disorders.

Hiroshima	Fukushima
Single exposure to a large dose of radiation	Prolonged exposure to small doses
Direct exposure to radiation	Indirect exposure to radiation
Great variance in dose	Doses are consistently small
Exposure upon entering the contaminated area	Exposure upon evacuating the contaminated area
Internal exposure denied (not recognized)	Threat of internal exposure recognized
Quantity of radioactive materials dispersed is 9kg	Incomparably greater dispersion of radioactive materials
Blast, fire and horrible scenes	Anxiety caused by exposure without the means to detect it or protect from it

Keep Measuring
External Exposure Level
Areas around homes, school routes and areas around schools
Side ditches, roadside trees and school lawns


Air Dose Map

Recall where you were to estimate your exposure levels.
For more details, download this Fukushima air dose map.

To Estimate External Dose

A: Radiation levels where you were (microsievert/ hour)

a　Hours working outside
b　Hours inside wooden housing　
c　Hours inside concrete housing
d　Hours inside vehicles

Single Day Dose: a×A＋{（b×A）×0.4}＋{(c×A)×0.1}＋ {(d×A)×0.8}}

Example: You were in an area with radiation levels around 2.1 microsievert/ hour.
If you stayed outside for 8 hours, in a wooden house for 12 hours, and in a car for 4 hours, then:

8×2.1+｛(12×2.1)×0.4｝+{(4×2.1)×0.8}=33.6 μSv

To calculate total dose=Add up your daily dose levels.


Regulations on Internal Dose

Japan has stricter regulations than other developed countries.

For a comparative table see:

•   http://japanecho.net/311-data/1020/

Radioactive Iodine Dose Calculation (example)

If one eats each day for 1 week 200 grams of vegetables contaminated with 100 becquerels of iodine
per kilogram.
A=Ca×Ka×Q×T
A：Effective Dose (μSv)
Ca：Radioactive Material Concentration 100Bq/kg
Ka：Effective Dose Conversion Coefficient (μSv/ Bq) = 0.022
(Based on Oral Ingestion Data Table No.1)
Q：Amount of Intake 0.2kg/ day
T：Duration of Intake ; About one week =7 days
A=100×0.022×0.2×7= 3.08 μSv


Radioactive Cesium Dose Calculation (example)

A person weighing 60 kilograms who eats 100 becquerels of food containing Cesium 137
Dose = 0.00002×0.48×100×90　＝0.0014 millisieverts


Fixed Whole-Body Geiga Counter

In addition, there are 45 portable whole-body geiga counters in all of Japan.

The effective period for accurate dose determination using whole-body geiga counters is over.

122 residents of Iitate, Kawamata and Minamisoma underwent examinations at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Chiba starting on June 28.
On August 17, the results were reported. No abnormal values were detected.

Is it safe to drink the water, play outside, eat the food?

• Water: All municipalities, including Iitate Village and Fukushima City, have examined water samples from simple waterworks; the results show no levels over government-set limits since April 1.  
• Playing Outside: There is no problem playing on school grounds that have been decontaminated, but radiation levels on nearby lawns and other places must be measured. 
• Food: We must be very careful about some varieties of foods.

To Protect Ourselves against External Exposure

1. Removing sources: Remove top soil and wash off surfaces.
2. Shortening exposure time: Don’t stay outside for long periods.
3. Keeping distance from radiation sources: Collect contaminated soil in remote places.
4. Shielding from radiation: Cover up contaminated soil.

Efforts to Reduce External Dose

On August 25, the Japanese government decided to decrease the annual dose limit from 20 millisieverts to 1 millisievert.


Efforts to Reduce External Exposure to Radiation
Residents can wait any longer for effective measures so here is what can be done in the meantime:

• Keep measuring

Instructions for decontamination work:

• Wear masks
• Wear gloves
• Wear rubber boots
• Take nothing into the mouth
• Keep a water supply
• Bring dosimeters

Efforts to Reduce Internal Exposure 

1. Gather information about contaminated food. Check the origin of foods, especially fish, mountain vegetables, mushrooms and rice.
2. When cooking, exercise ingenuity and avoid large fish bones.
3. Eat a wide variety of foods.

Elements that can Remove Active Oxygen Generated by Radiation

1. Vitamins: Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin E
2. Minerals: Zinc, Chrome
3. Polyphenols (Plant Pigment): Anthocyanin from red wine, Catechin from tea

Reduce the Risk of Disease

Diseases don’t develop suddenly. Each disease grows from a bad sprout. Get rid of bad sprouts at an early stage and strengthen your resistance by enhancing immunity.

1. Disciplined lifestyle
2. Balanced meals
3. Alleviate stress – Think positively

Foods that Help Fight Cancer

Foods higher in the table have stronger cancer preventive power. These include:

garlic, cabbage, licorice, soybeans, ginger, carrot, celery, parsnip, onion, tea, turmeric, brown rice, whole wheat, tofu, orange, lemon, brussel sprouts, tomato, eggplant, green pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, grapefruit

Take control—determine your own direction.

• Past event = Present challenge =  Perspective for the future
• Think positively
• Work together
• Set an example because children are watching

Act to Counter Invisible Radiation

1. Keep measuring – Cooperate with municipalities, and/or do it yourself.*
2. Pay attention to food – Urge your municipalities to provide information.
3. Take regular health checks – We need a system that allows affected people to be examined wherever they evacuate.

ANT-Hiroshima

*Monitoring (Measuring) by citizens can apply great pressure to the Japanese government and companies.

The "UNESCO Foundation - Education for Children in Need" received a donation of 9,000 euros, or about a million yen, to be used to help children in Fukushima, Japan, who have been affected by the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and the atomic catastrophe.

The UNESCO Foundation asked HOPE'87 to oversee the distribution of the funds, and they in turn contacted ANT-Hiroshima.

After consulting various organizations we decided to invite a group of autistic children and their families who live in Fukushima to come to Hiroshima for a holiday. The group is called "Smile".

When Tomoko Watanabe visited Fukushima recently she found that it was not safe for children to play outside because of the danger of exposure to radiation.  

The families in the Smile group wanted their children to be able to get away from Fukushima, even if only for a short time, so that they would have a precious opportunity to play freely outside in the summer.


The group travelled from Fukushima Prefecture to Hiroshima by chartered bus on Tuesday 16th August and spent their first night in Hiroshima at Hotel Aioi.

Wednesday

The next day the group visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the peace museum.



Then they caught water taxis along the river to Motomachi.



When they disembarked, Tomoko treated everybody to okonomiyaki. ("Okonomiyaki" is a popular dish in Hiroshima. It is like a pancake with vegetables and noodles.)


After lunch, the Smile group visited Motomachi Elementary School and met an A-bomb survivor, Emiko Okada, who told them about her experience.

The children were then treated to ice-cream before setting off by chartered bus to Kabe City. When they got there they had another treat - frappe. A Japanese flautist played the flute for them while they ate.

The group spent the night relaxing at Tawara Spa...




Thursday

Thursday was dedicated to site seeing and fun in the countryside of Tawara.

The group visited a traditional Japanese house, and then went to the river to  catch sweetfish.

The sweetfish were first trapped by a mesh net and then the children were able to catch them with their bare hands.

Later, they helped to prepare a barbeque and cooked the fish for lunch.

The children were also treated to a hillside picnic, then a snack of watermelons!

They could enjoy various activities such as catching beetles, playing badminton, bathing in the river, or simply chilling out and snoozing before returning to the spa for dinner and free activities in the evening.

Friday

The group left Tawara by bus and travelled to Miyajimaguchi, where they caught a ferry across to Miyajima Island. They visited Itsukushima Shrine and then they could choose whether to ascend mount Misen by cable car or visit the recently reopened Miyajima Aquarium.




The two groups were reunited for lunch at Watanabe Japanese Inn Restaurant before catching the ferry back to the mainland and then a chartered bus to
"Marina Hop" for dinner at restaurant GUGU.

That evening the Smile group said goodbye to their friends in Hiroshima and caught an overnight charter bus back to Fukushima.



The bus was full of tired, but happy, smiling faces!

ANT-Hiroshima

An A-bombed tree near Hiroshima castle.

After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6th August 1945 it was thought that nothing would grow in the city for 75 years. However, the following spring new seedlings were seen springing up amongst the debris of the city. They provided a powerful message to the survivors and gave them hope that they could rebuild their city.

Today, 66 years after the A-bomb, Hiroshima is a green and vibrant city. Many of the trees that were planted in the city after the war were gifts from overseas donors and donors from other parts of Japan.

Hibakujumoku

However, 170 of the trees that we can enjoy in the city today had actually been in Hiroshima before the bomb was dropped and survived the bombing and the devastation that followed. After the war, many of those trees were replanted or preserved in 55 locations within a 2km radius of the hypocenter. Today, they are officially registered as A-bombed trees. Each A-bombed tree is called a hibakujumoku  and is identified by a name plate.

Green Legacy Hiroshima

Green Legacy Hiroshima is an initiative launched by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and ANT-Hiroshima, to spread worldwide the seeds - and the peace message - of trees that survived the atomic bombing.

Recently, Nassrine Azimi, senior adviser at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in Hiroshima (UNITAR), together with Tomoko Watanabe of ANT-Hiroshima, and a group of friends, launched an initiative called Green Legacy Hiroshima through the auspices of UNITAR to help spread the seeds of Hiroshima's A-bomb-surviving trees around the world.

The founding idea of Green Legacy Hiroshima is to distribute seeds and saplings from Hiroshima’s A-bombed trees to interested groups and schools around the world. We hope that seeds will be planted in urban, botanical gardens, schools, public and private institutions and places of political or symbolic importance for the message of peace.

Please check the UNITAR Green Legacy Hiroshima webpage if you would like to participate in a project to plant seeds of peace. You can also find more information about the survivor trees: http://www.unitar.org/hiroshima/greenlegacy


ANT-Hiroshima

In a new documentary film, Hadashi no Gen ga Mita Hiroshima (Hiroshima as Seen by Barefoot Gen) produced by Tomo-Corp in cooperation with Siglo, Nakazawa Keiji (born, 1939) recalls his childhood experience of the nuclear bombing of  Hiroshima city, and explains how that he found an outlet for expressing his experiences through the medium of Japanese comics, most notably through the Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen) manga series.

Nakazawa Keiji visits places in Hiroshima that he was familiar with as a child and takes us to the spot where he was standing when the bomb exploded. He describes what he witnessed, in moving and often harrowing detail.

Fascinating details of life in 1940s Hiroshima are also glimpsed, such as how he and other boys would play in the building that is now the A-Bomb Dome.

Nakazawa Keiji explains how he got a job as a manga artist and how he started to draw manga dealing with his own wartime experiences.

As he describes some of his experiences, equivalent frames from his manga stories are shown, making a vivid link between Nakazawa Keiji's personal experience and its final expression in graphic images for mass-market comic monthlies such as Shonen Jump.

This film was directed by Tomoko Watanabe of ANT-Hiroshima, who also conducted the interviews with Nakazawa Keiji.

The documentary film will be shown in Tokyo and Hiroshima, in Japanese only, details below:

Hiroshima

Location: Hachoza, 8th Floor, Fukuya Department Store, Hachobori Honten, Ebisucho 6-26, Nakaku, Hiroshima.
Tel: 082-546-1158
From: Saturday 30th July 2011
To: Friday 5th August 2011
Showing at: 3:55pm

Adults: ¥1,500
Concessions: ¥1,000


Tokyo

Location: Auditorium Shibuya, Kinohaus 2F, Maruyamacho 1-5, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-6809-0538
From: Saturday 6th August 2011
To: Friday 26th August 2011 
Showing at: 10:30am

Bookings: ¥1200
Door: ¥1500

Copies of the DVD my be purchased online - Click Here!