Letter from a Fukushima mother

[Kokonoe]

To people in the United States and around the world,

I am so sorry for the uranium and plutonium that Japan has released into the environment.
the fallout from Fukushima has already circled the world many times, reaching Hawaii, Alaska,
and even New York.

We live 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the plant and our homes have been contaminated beyond
levels seen at Chernobyl. The cesium-137 they are finding int the soil will be here for 30 years.
But the government will not help us. They tell us to stay put. They tell our kids to put on masks
and hats and keep going to school.

This summer, our children won't be able to go swimming. They won't be able to play outside.
They can't eat Fukushima's delicious peaches. They can't even eat the rice that the Fukushima
farmers are making. they can't go visit Fukushima's beautiful rivers, mountains and lakes.
This makes me sad. This fills me with so much regret.

Instead, our children will spend the summer in their classrooms, with no air conditioning,
sweating as they try to concentrate on their lessons. We don't even know how much radiation
they've already been exposed to.

I was eight years old when the Fukushima Daiichi plant opened. If I had understood what they
were building, I would have fought against it. I didn't realize that it contained dangers that
would threaten my children, my children's children and their children.

I am grateful for all the aid all the world has sent us. Now, what we ask is for you to
speak out against the Japanese government. Pressure them into taking action. Tell them to make
protecting children their top priority.


Thank you so much,

Tomoko Hatsuzawa

Fukushima City

May 25, 2011



Translated by Hiroko Tabuchi

_______________
I wonder if their is a price for all the lives and years destroyed.

[Kurovski]

1. .

.

[aquart]

2. The price is the nation of Japan.

A friend who returned to "radioactive" Tokyo posted this response to a friend on Facebook who asked if all was well:

"Very very BAD and high time the sock owners and head of TEPCO paid their due price and showed their faces to public...meanwhile people are really patient and stoic,....we are experimenting ourselves to evolve-with random luckー into becoming radioactive-resistant!-whatever that may be/mean：）！"

[sasha031]

3. wish I had a copy of that graceful heartfelt letter

my heart breaks for the beautiful people of Japan.

[madokie]

4. I'm tore up by this whole thing because I knew all along that nuclear energy wasn't safe

never will be safe either. Its so sad that we've allowed the nuclear supporters get us into this mess.

[sasha031]

7. lives and the planet destroyed

I cringe at the thought that the POTUS supports nuclear in even with this...

[madokie]

14. I have confidence that he will see the error of that before its too late

to stop more nukes being built. I just know in my heart of hearts that he is loosing sleep over this crisis in Japan right now, Steven Chu also. I see in the near future a complete reversal of their stand on un-safe nuclear energy using fission to boil water to turn our electrical generators

[mdmc]

5. ..

[Overseas]

6. K&R.

How sad that we have called solar "too expensive" for decades now, when this alternative was rolled out on such a large scale.

I am so sad that some leaders in our country seem to feel that they are being more pragmatic and adult by accepting nuclear power with its huge liabilities.

Ditto deep water oil drilling after BP.

Fukushima and the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster should have been intense national wake-up calls to go green for longer term national security, public health and environmental safety.

[AndyTiedye]

8. Kicked and Recommended

:cry:

[laylah]

9. Thank you for sharing this.

What an unspeakable tragedy. :cry:

[Hannah Bell]

10. link?

[Cerridwen]

11. .

HirokoTabuchi Hiroko Tabuchi
A Fukushima mom worried for her kids health gave me this letter on a recent trip. I promised to translate it-here it is http://bit.ly/kMdZXB
16 hours ago

http://twitter.com/#!/HIROKOTABUCHI

[Hannah Bell]

12. thanks.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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