Thoughts on my NCTA experience on the 62nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima

On Saturday, I did something I'd never done before, and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. Along with my role model and shero Norma Field, I participated in a reunion workshop for K-12 teachers who completed at least 30 hours of training through the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia. There were high school, middle school, and even elementary school teachers there, as well as Marsha Smith of Augustana College in Illinois. I've been around K-12 educators all my life, and I've worked with teenage youth for well over a decade, but I'd never before engaged K-12 educators on matters of curriculum. It was a really great opportunity, and I hope to do a lot more of this in the future.

Norma and I showed the teachers Kamanaka Hitomi's film Radiation: a Slow Death, a New Generation of Hibakusha. The word "hibakusha" is generally used to refer to survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but Kamanaka uses it to refer to all victims of radiation (as do many hibakusha activists). After the first Gulf War, Kamanaka went to Iraq, where she documented the staggering rise in cases of children with leukemia. The film begins with the story of Rasha, a 14 yr. old girl (pictured here) with whom Kamanaka developed a tender relationship. Rasha is unable to get the medication she needs to treat her leukemia because of the sanctions, and she dies. Kamanaka goes on to study the effects of depleted uranium, which leads her back to Japan, where she meets survivors of the atomic bombings for the first time. She accompanies one survivor, a doctor, to the US, where they meet with "downwinders" from the Hanford Nuclear facilities in Washington state.

This is a photo of Tom Bailie, one of the downwinders who has been trying to hold the US government accountable for the devastating effects of the Hanford nuclear facilities on the community. It's really an amazing and powerful film that makes very clear the human costs of nuclear weapons and energy.

Also among those who appear in the film are Dr. Juward Al Ali, an Iraqi doctor who says he feels he might die from a heart attack someday from all the sadness and grief that comes with treating so many children like Rasha. Norma brought a longer version of the film that includes an interview with a survivor of the Nagasaki bombing, Ikeda Sanae. I was really moved by his words. He was clear and declarative both in his renunciation of Japan's unnecessary aggression in Asia and the unnecessary bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US.

I am so glad Norma and I had this chance. The teachers who attended the workshop are so dedicated and so committed. Many of them had been to China or Japan. One of them, Canada Snyder, who teaches at the Central Academy in Des Moines, presented some fabulous lesson plans, including one on The Pillow Book that I will use in my university classes. Several participants spoke about the late Helen Finken, who led NCTA study tours and was instrumental in developing NCTA programs.

The teachers were riveted as they watched the film, and afterwards, we had a great discussion about the content of the film and how one might use it in the classroom. I was really humbled by how much these educators, who are responsible for teaching such a wide range of material, take time they probably don't have to spare to learn more and try always to improve the quality of their students' education.

Among the materials we shared with participants were a bibliography, a powerpoint and lesson plan for teaching Barefoot Gen and the bombings, and a number of articles such as the one at the end of this post. I have been deeply affected by this poem by Norma, which you can also see here. So, I decided to share it as well. I think high school and middle school students (even 6th graders, really) will be able to get a lot out of that poem. That first stanza will really hook kids, I think. At some point, I should probably start a blog or site where university and K-12 educators can share information and resources.

“Genpatsu-shinsai: the language of disaster that is stalking Japan” by Leo Lewis
The Times (UK), July 21, 2007

Japan's turbulent history of war and natural catastrophe has already given the world a terrifying vocabulary of death: tsunami, kamikaze, Hiroshima. But the country now stands on the brink of unleashing its most chilling phrase yet: genpatsu-shinsai - the combination of an earthquake and nuclear meltdown capable of destroying millions of lives and bringing a nation to its knees.

The phrase, derived from the Japanese words for "nuclear power" and "quake disaster", is the creation of Katsuhiko Ishibashi, Japan's leading seismologist and one of the Government's top advisers on nuclear-quake safety. He said that the world may never know how close it came to its first genpatsu-shinsai this week. Luck, as much an anything else, helped to avert it. A 6.8 magnitude quake, which shook Niigata on Monday and left thousands of homes uninhabitable, was three times more powerful than the designers of the nearest nuclear power plant - Kashiwazaki-Kariwa - had prepared for, or even imagined.



The unfolding crisis at Kashiwazaki has renewed calls for the immediate closure of the five atomic reactors at Hamaoka - an old plant in Shizuoka built directly above a geologically active fault about 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Tokyo. Despite claims by its operators, Chubu Electric, that the plant meets government standards, seismologists said yesterday that it was "almost impossible" to ensure the safety of a nuclear plant in that location. The Hamaoka plant, said Mitsuhei Murata, a former diplomat and professor at Tokai Gakuen University, presents Japan with its biggest risk of genpatsu-shinsai. A quake there, he said, could smash the reactor and send a radioactive cloud over Tokyo within eight hours: "We would be looking at 24 million victims and the end for Japan."

The seismology community agrees that the Tokai region, which includes Tokyo and Hamaoka, is due for a massive quake. The Tokyo metropolitan government has drawn up disaster plans that assume an 87 per cent probability of a magnitude 8.0 quake within 30 years. But power companies have been allowed to prepare for much smaller quakes when building nuclear plants. If the epicentre of Monday's quake had been 10 km further to the southwest, the seismology research team at Kobe University calculates that the reactor could have split and unleashed a "terrible, terrible disaster". As it is, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has admitted to a worrying series of problems since the quake, including the stunning revelation that the Kashiwazaki plant was constructed on top of an active fault - despite Tepco's firm denials in court that this was the case. Vital reactor data on the minutes immediately after the quake have already been lost by Tepco. Numerous leaks of radiation have been detected.

The Times learnt yesterday that one of the exhaust ducts continued to pump radioactive particles into the air for nearly three days after the reactors were shut down. Professor Ishibashi has fought the Government unsuccessfully for urgent reviews of quake-proofing standards throughout Japan's nuclear industry. A member of the Government's own panel on nuclear safety, he criticised the Government and the Japanese public yesterday for their failure to recognise how close the country was to genpat-su-shinsai.

Since 1969 seismology advisers to the Government have given warning of the danger of building atomic plants, but were officially ignored. "It's not that people carefully consider my arguments and then decide against higher standards of safety. They just don't give the possibility of disaster a moment's thought," Professor Ishibashi told The Times. "Before World War II there were many Japanese who were against the idea of a war with America but they ended up just marching blindly towards it. I think Japan today is much like it was before the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima."

Citizens' groups, a handful of corporate leaders and former government officials are fighting for a review of Japan's nuclear reliance. Mounting evidence of radiation leaks, unprepar-edness and deception over the dangers of the plant's location mean that the problems at Kashiwazaki will reopen a court showdown over the plant at Hamaoka. The Government has underplayed the risk of disaster. For this, Professor Ishibashi and others blame the "nuclear village" - corporate interests, politicians with links to the industry and academics who owe their salaries to power companies. All 55 of Japan's nuclear reactors pose a genpatsu-shinsai risk, Professor Ishibashi said.