Please click here to view this documentary from the homepage of Moving Image Archive, National Library of Scotland.
++++++
++++++
‘A lotus flower grows out of the mud and blossoms above the muddy surface of the water’
At the time of Fukushima nuclear accident of March 2011, Fukushima University had neither a research group on nuclear issues nor any facilities. Some Fukushima University scientists, however, volunteered to make a radiation map of Fukushima Prefecture, although most of them weren’t specialists on nuclear or radiation issues. It is said that the map played a role in changing the government evacuation plan. They have continued to work, in the aftermath of the nuclear accident, in their own research fields. Fukushima University now has Institute of Environmental Radioactivity, where there are researchers from Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
What would you do if you found yourself in the ‘mud’?
Interviewed guests in order of appearance: Kenji Nanba, Yoshitaka Takagai, Kencho Kawatsu, Yoshishige Kusano, Hisao Ohta, Jennell Parson, Hisatomo Suzuki, Kimiaki Saito, Alexei Kenoplev, Mark Zheleznyak, Hirofumi Tsukada, Miyuki Sasaki, Olena Pareniuk, Makoto Matsueda, Daichi Ito, Akira Sato, Fumiko Goto, Yuta Kera, Azusa Goto, Aya Yokoyama, Yasuhisa Yamada, Shogo Niiyama, and Mayuko Noda.
This is Japan Desk Scotland’s fourth documentary on Fukushima. It summarises their previous documentaries, but it also has interviews on Chernobyl with scientists from Russia, Ukraine and Japan.
Our story behind the making of this documentary is published in Volume 3 of the Innovative Research in Japanese Studies, the online journal of Israeli Association of Japanese Studies.
++++++
Camera: Fumi Nakabachi
Proofreading: Eleanor Small
Music: Marius Pirhonen
Directed and edited by: Yushin Toda
Produced by Fumi Nakabachi and Yushin Toda, Japan Desk Scotland
74 minutes
mostly in Japanese with English subtitles, and partly in English
©2016 Japan Desk Scotland
+++++
This is the 16th documentary we have made as part of our documentary films production.
It has been shown:
(1) on Friday 11 March 2016 at Wellington Church, Glasgow, Scotland, as part of a special Japan Matters event to mark the fifth anniversary of the East Japan Earthquake;
(2) on Sunday 17 April 2016 at the Michi Biraki Festival organised by the Department of Japanese Language and Literature, University of Bucharest, Romania;
(3) on Thursday 16 June 2016 at the Interfaith Room, University of Glasgow Chaplaincy, Glasgow, Scotland, as part of ‘Intangible legacies‘ event jointly organised by University of Glasgow Chaplaincy and Japan Desk Scotland. It was part of the West End Festival;
(4) on Wednesday 8 July 2016 at Fukushima University, Fukushima, Japan;
(5) on Tuesday 12 July 2016 at the Tuesday Seminar, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan;
(6) on Thursday 14 July 2016 at Oshima National College of Maritime Technology, Oshima, Yamaguchi, Japan;
(7) on Monday 12 September 2016 at Department of Japanese Language and Literature, University of Bucharest, Romania, as part of ‘Obento’ (lunch box) workshop;
(8) on Wednesday 8 March 2017 at University of Strathclyde Chaplaincy Centre, Glasgow, Scotland, as part of Japan@Strathclyde workshop 2016/17 on Fukushima;
(9) on Monday 3 April 2017 at Department of Japanese Language and Literature, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania, for Master’s students;
(10) on Monday 12 June 2017 at the Third Biennial IAJS (Israeli Association of Japanese Studies) Conference on “The Heisei Era in Retrospective’ at University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel;
(11) on Friday 23 June 2017 at the Interfaith Room, University of Glasgow Chaplaincy, Glasgow, Scotland, as part of ‘Inclusive Glasgow – Documentaries’ event. It was part of the West End Festival;
(12) on Monday 31 July 2017 at the Interfaith Room, University of Glasgow Chaplaincy, Glasgow, Scotland;
(13) on Wednesday 13 September 2017 at Fordbank Primary School, Renfrewshire, Scotland, as part of a workshop on Japan (the first 6 minutes only);
(14) on Wednesday 18 April 2018 at Moving Image Archive, National Library of Scotland, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland;
(15) on Tuesday 23 October 2018 at University of Glasgow Chapel, Glasgow, Scotland, as part of ‘Hope – six documentaries’;
(16) on Friday 25 October 2019 at University of Glasgow Chapel, Glasgow, Scotland, as part of ‘Japanese Craft Documentaries’;
(17) on Tuesday 10 December 2019 at the International Study Meeting held in the Interfaith Room, University of Glasgow Chaplaincy, Glasgow, Scotland; and
(18) on Wednesday 28 February 2024 at The Lotus Club: Japanese Documentary Series at Moving Image Archive, National Library of Scotland at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotalnd