In March of 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reactors experienced a meltdown as a result of a massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami which hit the power plant. This nuclear meltdown caused dangerous levels of radiation to be released into the environment, which had a devastating effect on the townspeople nearby. In the aftermath of this event, many different forms of literature were published in order to explain what happened and how it affected the humans, animals, and environment surrounding the site of the meltdown. The nonfiction article “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics” and the fictional novella Sacred Cesium Ground are two examples of such writing. In comparing the two pieces about the deleterious effects of the nuclear meltdown, “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics” fills in the gaps of the emotionally driven Sacred Cesium Ground by using easily comprehensible scientific information while also excelling at appealing to the readers’ emotions.  

While “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics” is divided into several informative subtopics, there is one passage in particular which excels at presenting the basic information about the nuclear reactor meltdown in a way that Sacred Cesium Ground does not quite measure up. In the passage “What was the Fukushima Nuclear Accident?”, Koide Hiroaki, who had studied nuclear engineering and taught at Kyoto University Reactor Research Institute, explains exactly what occurred during the reactor meltdown. Not only does Koide’s educational background lend credibility to his summary of the event, but he also presents this information in a manner that allows readers who know little about the topic to glean an understanding of what happened. A succinct explanation is offered, in which Koide states that “the Tokyo Electric

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was assaulted by a severe earthquake and tsunami,

leading to a total power outage” and “the reactors…suffered meltdowns and released enormous quantities of radioactive materials into the surrounding environment” (5). This short explanation allows somebody with little knowledge about nuclear power plants to understand that severe geological events caused a power outage at the building and led to a catastrophic meltdown. It is presented as a simple cause and effect, with little scientific jargon to complicate the reader’s understanding. 

Koide also provides details within the passage about what has been done in an attempt to prevent further damage from the nuclear meltdown. Koide states that, “If the cores were to melt any further, there would be more releases into the environment. It is in order to prevent this that… water continues to be aimed by guesswork in the direction where the cores might be located” (5). This illuminates that the government is acting from a place of assumption rather than a place of knowledge, and demonstrates the futility of dumping water onto locations where the cores may not even be. It also provides the reader with the knowledge that, despite the fact that the nuclear meltdown occurred in 2011, the effects of the event are still not contained, and will likely permeate well into the future.

In addition to offering a comprehensible explanation of the event, Koide also supplies a comparison which provides the reader with a point of reference from which they can further understand the event. Koide explains that “this accident released 1.5×1016 becquerels (Bq) of cesium 137 into the atmosphere—the equivalent of 168 Hiroshima bombs” (5). While readers may not have the scientific background required to understand what cesium or becquerels are, it is likely that they will be aware of the devastation that can be caused by an atomic bomb. Therefore, as long as the reader knows how damaging an atomic bomb is, they can get an idea of how catastrophic this nuclear meltdown was to the environment and to those living within range of the meltdown site. 

This sort of scientific context which is important in understanding the event is one area where Sacred Cesium Ground is lacking. Firstly, unlike “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics”, Sacred Cesium Ground is fictional, and is told not from the perspective of an expert on the topic (like Koide), but through the narration of an office worker from Tokyo who goes to Fukushima to volunteer at a farm affected by the nuclear meltdown. This lends more of an anecdotal, narrative lens to the event than an informative one. The most detailed explanation of the nuclear meltdown and its effects in Sacred Cesium Ground occurs when Sendō, the farm owner who refuses to comply with the government’s orders to kill the irradiated cattle, gives a speech to his employees about the situation. Sendō says, “I heard with my own ears the explosion from the number-3 reactor. I saw with my own eyes the white plume of steam that arose after the Self-Defense Forces helicopters dropped seawater on the reactor. Did we not all think…that maybe it was time to reexamine the system of nuclear power…?” (Kimura 69). While Sendō addresses the reactor explosion and the water being dropped on the reactor, the explanation is lacking in information as to why the explosion happened, as well as why the water was dropped on the reactors and why that solution does not work. Sacred Cesium Ground seems to be operating under the assumption that its readers will have prior basic knowledge about the nuclear meltdown, while “Fukushima Nuclear Disaster” is comprehensible even for readers who have never heard of the event before.   

In addition to filling in the scientific gaps of Sacred Cesium Ground, “Fukushima Nuclear Disaster” also excels at presenting the emotional effects of the nuclear meltdown because it is able to portray a more expansive perspective than that of Sendō’s. In the passage “Declaration of a Nuclear Emergency: The human consequences”, a wide range of different citizens’ perspectives are presented. In addition to addressing the forced abandonment of livestock and pets within the evacuation zones, Koide explains, “Family members with shared lives…were scattered apart. Their livelihood destroyed, people have been taking their own lives out of despair” (8). This allows us to see the perspectives of people who were forced out of the evacuation zones (unlike Sendō, who opted to illegally stay with the cattle at the farm). Koide speaks of the radiation workers, who, “once they enter a control zone, are not permitted to drink water or eat food”, and also of the people who had to stay in the contaminated areas, drinking the toxic water and risking exposure (8).The article also presents the dichotomy created by this nuclear event: “Staying in contaminated areas hurts the body, but evacuation crushes the soul” (Koide 8). We can clearly see the pain experienced by all different types of people affected by the meltdown, whether they stayed in the contaminated areas or evacuated. 

In Sacred Cesium Ground, however, Sendō’s speech mostly portrays general, rather than specific, repercussions of the event. “We no longer have a town to return to; we move from one temporary abode to another…Our livelihoods have been stolen from us; we’ve been twisted and distorted, we’ve been discriminated against…” (Kimura 69). While the passage in “Fukushima Nuclear Disaster” portrays specific experiences of different types of people (ranging from families to radiation workers to animals and infants), and captures a depth of emotion as severe as the despair that led some townspeople to take their lives, Sendō’s speech in Sacred Cesium Ground mostly offers the generalized perspective of people forced from their homes as a whole. Although Sacred Cesium Ground is highly emotional, it is limited in its perspective, where “Fukushima Nuclear Disaster” takes more of an omniscient perspective that allows it to capture the altered lives of many of the people in Fukushima. 

While Sacred Cesium Ground and “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics” both portray the 2011 nuclear meltdown in Japan and its effects on the environment and on those living near the site, “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics” is more effective in its execution. The scientific background of the author, paired with the use of comprehensible facts about the nuclear meltdown, lend to a deeper understanding than Sacred Cesium Ground is able to convey. While Sacred Cesium Ground mostly operates from an emotional standpoint, “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics” is able to achieve a depth and variety of emotion that is more effective. Therefore, although both pieces of writing convey similar messages, “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics” is stronger for its ability to reach even the most uninformed readers both scientifically and emotionally.

References

Kimura, Yūsuke. Sacred Cesium Ground and Isa’s Deluge: Two Novellas of Japan’s 3/11 Disaster. Translated by Douglas Slaymaker, Columbia University Press, 2019.

Koide, Hiroaki. “The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics.” Translated by Norma Field. The Asia-Pacific Journal, vol. 17, no. 5, 1 Mar. 2019.