The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 12 | Issue 31 | Number 1 | Article ID 4157 | Jul 28, 2014

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The Radiation That Makes People Invisible: A GlobalHibakusha Perspective 放射線はひとを目に見えなくしてしまうグローバル・ヒバクシャの観点から

Robert Jacobs

Radiation makes people invisible. We know thatexposure to radiation can be deleterious toone's health; can cause sickness and evendeath when received in high doses. But it doesmore. People who have been exposed toradiation, or even those who suspect that theyhave been exposed to radiation, including thosewho never experience radiation-relatedillnesses, may find that their lives are foreverchanged – that they have assumed a kind ofsecond class citizenship. They may find thattheir relationships to their families, to theircommunities, to their hometowns, to theirtraditional diets and even traditionalknowledge systems have been broken. Theyoften spend the remainder of their liveswishing that they could go back, that thingswould become normal. They slowly realize thatthey have become expendable and that theirgovernment and even their society is no longerinvested in their wellbeing.

As a historian of the social and cultural aspectsof nuclear technologies, I have spent yearsworking in radiation-affected communitiesaround the world. Many of these people haveexperienced exposure to radiation from nuclearweapons testing, from nuclear weaponsproduction, from nuclear power plantaccidents, from nuclear power production orstorage, or, like the people in the communitywhere I live, Hiroshima, from being subjectedto direct nuclear attack. For the last five years Ihave been working with Dr. Mick Broderick ofMurdoch University in Perth, Australia on theGlobal Hibakusha Project. We have been

working with victims in radiation-affectedcommunities all around the world. Ourresearch has revealed a powerful continuity tothe experience of radiation exposure across abroad range of cultures, geographies, andpopulations. About half way between beginningthis study and today the triple disaster at theFukushima Daiichi nuclear power plantoccurred in Japan. One of the most distressingthings (among so many) since this crisis beganis to hear people, often people in positions ofpolitical power and influence, say that thefuture for those affected by the nuclear disasteris uncertain. I wish that it were so, but actually,deep historical precedents suggest that thefuture for the people who lived near theFukushima Daiichi meltdowns is predictable.

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A child from Rongelap showing health effects fromradiation exposure after Bravo

Radiation burns on the scalp of a Daigo FukuryuMaru crewmember

Here I will outline some continuities in theexperiences of radiation-affected people. Mostof the following also holds true for people whomerely suspect that they have been exposed toradiation, even if they never suffer any healtheffects. Many have already become a part ofthe experiences of those affected by theFukushima disaster. There are, of course, manydifferences and specif icit ies to eachcommunity, but there is also profoundcontinuity.

Sickness and mortality– Sickness and evendeath are the results of exposure to high levelsof radiation that people have come to expect. Itis important to recognize that there are manydifferent ways that people can become ill afterexposure to radiation. Those exposed to highlevels of gamma radiation can suffer from acuteradiation sickness and death can come in amatter of days, weeks or months. Tens of

thousands of people died of acute radiationsickness in Hiroshima and Nagasaki aftersurviving the nuclear attacks. KuboyamaAikichi, the radioman of the Japanese tunafishing boat the Daigo Fukuryuu Maru, died sixand a half months after his exposure to highlevels of gamma radiation from the Bravonuclear weapon test conducted over 100 kmfrom where the boat was anchored in theMarshall Islands (all other crew memberssuffered radiation sickness). A nuclear weapongives off a very large burst of gamma radiationthat lasts a very short time, but if the body isexposed to high levels, it can cause illness anddeath relatively quickly. High levels ofradioactive fallout from a nuclear detonationcan also create significant gamma exposures atdistances far from the explosion, as was thecase for the crew of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru.

For those who were not close to the detonationof a nuclear weapon, or within a short distanceof a disaster like the Chernobyl or Fukushimadisasters, illness is often the result ofinternalized alpha-emitting particles. Withnuclear detonations this comes down with thefal lout. In the case of Chernobyl andFukushima,the two greatest civilian nuclearpower plant accidents to date, these camedown over large areas as the plumes of theexplosions settled back to Earth (in Fukushimathe plumes came down over 100 km from theplant, while in the case of Chernobyl theplumes came down primarily across the borderto the north in Belarus, but also contaminatedareas as far away as the UK and Sweden).Alpha emitting particles cannot penetrate theskin as gamma radiation can, but they areinternalized through inhalation or swallowingor through cuts in the skin (a basic primer onthe differences between alpha, beta andgamma radiation can be found here).

These particles don't give off a large amount ofradiation, but if they lodge in the body theycontinue to expose a small number of cells toradiation 24 hours a day, often for the rest of a

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person's life. This can result in cancers andimmune disorders that develop later,sometimes after a few years, sometimes afterone or more decades. Since the plumes of thethree explosions at Fukushima deposited largeamounts of alpha emitters across a large area,this poses a significant danger to those living inthe contaminated areas, especially to childrenwho are affected more significantly by radiationexposures than adults since their bodies aregrowing rapidly.

It is disingenuous for nuclear industryapologists to say things like "no one died atFukushima" since they are well aware that formost of the people who will eventually get sickthis process will take time. We are currently inthe latency period for these illnesses, a pointwell understood, but suppressed by nuclearindustry and government spokespersons.Recent studies have also shown that morepeople have died from stress, lack ofappropriate health care and suicide inFukushima Prefecture since the 311 disasterthan died in the prefecture from the tsunami.1

Map showing both the ground gamma andcesium-137 depositions from the plumes of theFukushima Daiichi explosions

A mural made of peace cranes in Bikini Atoll CityHall (photo by author)

Losses of homes, community andidentity–Areas that experience radioactivecontamination often have to be abandoned bythose who live there. The levels of radiationmay be so high that continued habitation couldbe dangerous to health. In these cases peoplelose their homes, often permanently.

For communities that have to be abandoned,the bonds that have been built up and thatsustain the wellbeing of the communitydisintegrate. Friends are separated, extendedfamilies are often separated, and schools areclosed. People who have lived in the same placeall of their lives have to make a fresh start,sometimes in old age, sometimes as children.The communal structures that sustained themare destroyed: shopkeepers who know them,

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neighbors who can be relied on, the simplefamiliarity of communities. What is lost when aperson is no longer able to eat an apple from atree planted by a parent or grandparent? TonyHood, a former uranium miner from Gallup,New Mexico, spoke of the sense of loss whencontemplating the necessity for his Navajocommunity to abandon their homes because ofuranium contamination, "Our umbilical cordsare buried here, our children's umbilical cordsare buried here. It's like a homing device."2

With the loss of community, many people losetheir livelihood. This is especially true in placeswhere many have been farmers, fishers orherders for generations. When someone whohas only known farming is taken from the landthey have tended, when fishers can no longerfish in areas where they understand the naturalrhythms and habits of the fish, it can beimpossible to start over. Often such people areforced to enter service positions or becomedependent on state subsidies, further erodingtheir sense of self and wellbeing. Usually, thoseremoved f rom the ir land because o fcontamination are placed into temporaryhousing. In Fukushima this has been the casefor 100,000 who remain in temporary housingwhile hundreds of thousands of others who arenot housed by the government have fled thearea.3 In almost all cases the public housingprovided to officially recognized victims provesnot to be temporary, but becomes permanent.

"Temporary housing" for those evacuated from BikiniAtoll (left) and Fukushima (center)

Agricultural test plot on contaminated land near thePolygon (test site) in Kazakhstan (photo by author)

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Frequently, multigenerational families thathave been living together for decades, find itimpossible to remain together. This can removecare for the elderly, childcare for youngfamilies and further erodes the continuity offamily identity, knowledge and support.Removal from land also is accompanied by theloss of a traditional diet. Those without accessto the land and seas that have provided food fortheir families often begin a journey ofdislocation and ill health. In some communitiessuch as the small villages around the formerSoviet nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, manypeople simply continue to live in dangerouslycontaminated homes. The state responsible fortheir exposures (the Soviet Union) no longerexists and neither the Russian nor Kazakhgovernments feel the responsibility to evacuatethem or to provide health care for those withdisabilities. Many live very traditional livesderiving most of their food from their owngardens and from livestock raised on theircontaminated land. Many long- l ivedradionuclides simply cycle through thisecosystem and residents can be contaminatedand recontaminated over generations.4

In Fukushima Prefecture the Japanesegovernment proclaimed a 20km mandatoryevacuation zone, while also designating a"suggested" evacuation zone from 20km to30km. These zones do not directly reflect thedangers from radiation levels. In some of themandatory evacuation areas the gamma levelsare below those in parts of the suggestedevacuation areas. Some areas where theplumes came down 50-80km away have evenhigher levels. The limits to mandatoryevacuation areas reflect efforts to limit thedirect liability of the government. Even todaychildren live in areas where the radiation levelsare too high for them to be allowed to play orspend significant time outdoors.5

Fukushima school children play in an indoorsandbox (photo: Toru Hanai)

Loss of traditional knowledge– In someremote places survival is dependent oncenturies old understandings of the land. InMaralinga, Australia the areas where theBritish conducted nuclear tests between 1956and 1963 are very difficult places to live.Traditional communities in these areas oftenhave songs that hold and transmit essentialknowledge about how to survive in such aharsh environment, such as where to findwater, when to hunt specific animals, when tomove to various locations. But can knowledgegathered over millennia be effectively appliedto radiation disasters?

When the British relocated entire communitiesto areas hundreds of kilometers from theirhomes, the local knowledge chain was broken.It became impossible for the refugees tosustain a traditional life in areas where theyhad no knowledge of the rhythms of the landand animals. This removal from their lands ledt o e v e r i n c r e a s i n g d e p e n d e n c e o ngovernmental assistance and severed what hadbeen millennia of self-reliance. While self-reliance had been dramatically impacted by thebrutal rule of the Australian government and itspolicies towards aboriginal peoples, the peopleliving near the test site were still living on theland in the 1950s. Relocation led to the furthererosion of community, familial and personalwellbeing.

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Discrimination– People who may have beenexposed to radiation often experiencediscrimination in their new homes and maybecome social pariahs. We first saw thisdynamic with the hibakusha in Hiroshima andNagasaki who found it very difficult to findmarriage partners, since prospective spousesfeared they would have malformed children,and found it difficult to find jobs sinceemployers assumed that they would bechronically sick. Hibakusha children, moreover,often become the targets of bullying. It becamevery common to attempt to hide the fact thatone's family had been among those exposed toradiation.6

Many people are familiar with the story ofSadako who died at the age of twelve afterbeing exposed to radiation from the nuclearattack on Hiroshima ten years earlier. SasakiSadako folded paper cranes in accordance witha Japanese tradition that someone who folds1,000 paper cranes is granted a wish. Sadako'sstory has become well known and childrenaround the world fold paper cranes when theylearn her story, many of which are sent toHiroshima. While Sadako has become a symbolof the innocence of so many hibakusha, herfather tried to hide this fact so that his familywould not suffer discrimination and was upsetthat his daughter had become so famouslyafflicted.

Children whose families evacuated fromFukushima prefecture after the triplemeltdowns at Tepco's nuclear power plantfrequently became victims of bullying at theirnew schools. Cars with Fukushima licenseplates were scratched when parked in otherprefectures. Often this is the result of thenatural fear of contamination that is associatedwith people exposed to a poison. In theMarshall Islands those who were evacuatedfrom Rongelap and other atolls that becameunlivable after being blanketed with radioactivefallout from the US Bravo test in 1954 have hadto live as refugees on other atolls for several

generations now, with no prospect of returnhome. The Marshall Islands have a very smallamount of livable land and so being moved toatolls that traditionally belonged to others leftthem with no access to good soil and goodlocations for fishing and storing boats. Theyhave had to live by the good graces of theirnew hosts , and endure being seen asinterlopers.

Becoming medical subjects– Many peoplewho have been exposed to radiation thenbecome the subjects of medical studies, oftenwith no information about the medical tests towhich they are subjected, and frequentlywithout provision of treatment by thoseconducting the tests. Hibakusha of the nuclearattacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki becamemedical subjects of the Atomic Bomb CasualtyCommission during the American occupation ofJapan after World War Two. This study hascontinued to this day under the now jointlyadministered US-Japan Radiation EffectsResearch Foundation. In the early days of thestudy Japanese hibakusha had no choice aboutbeing subjected to the medical exams. AnAmerican military jeep would appear in front oftheir homes and they had to go in for anexamination, whether it was a good time or not.Not only did they receive no information aboutthe results of their tests but the US governmentprovided no treatment.7 This has happened inmany radiation-affected communities.

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US doctor examines a young Rongelapese affected byBravo radiation

A child from Fukushima is checked for radiationduring the evacuation (photo by Christoph Bangert)

Young hibakusha in Hiroshima suffering fromradiation sickness photographed at the ABCC

In 1966 a US nuclear bomber blew up in midairand the debris fell on the small village ofPalomares, Spain. Four H-bombs fell from theplane, one into the sea, and three onto thesmall village. None exploded but two brokeopen and contaminated part of the town withplutonium and other radionuclides. To this day

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some of the residents of Palomares are taken toMadrid each year for a medical examination asthe effects of exposure on their health istracked. They have never been given any of theresults of the tests nor informed if any illnessesthey develop were related to their exposures.They are subjects, not participants in thegathering and assessing of the effects ofradiation on their bodies. There is no doubtthat such studies contribute data to scientificunderstanding of the health consequences ofradiation exposures (the data itself iscontentious for reasons cited below)8, howeverfor those from whom the information isgathered, being studied but not informedreduces one's sense of integrity and agency inone's health maintenance. Many Pacificislanders exposed to radiation by the nucleartests of the US, the UK and France had suchexperiences where they were examined andthen sent off with no access to the results andno medical follow-up. Many report feeling as ifthe data had been harvested from them and attheir expense.

Anxiety– Often those exposed to radiation aretold that they have nothing to worry about.Their anxieties are belittled. Radiation is a veryabstract and difficult thing to understand. It isimperceptible – tasteless, odorless, invisible –adding to uncertainty that people feel aboutwhether they were exposed, how much theywere exposed to, and whether they and theirloved ones will suffer any health effects. Thedismissal of their anxieties by medical andgovernmental authorities only compounds theiranxiety. When other members of theircommunity develop health problems, such asthyroid cancer and other illnesses years later itcan cast a pall over their own sense ofwellbeing for the rest of their lives.

Every time that they run a fever, every timethat they experience stomach pains,nosebleeds, and other common ailments, thisanxiety rears up and they think – this is it, it'sfinally got me. These fears extend to their

parents, their children and other loved ones.Every fever that a child runs triggers fears thatone's child will die. Sadako was healthy fornine years following her exposure to radiationwhen she was two years old in Hiroshima, thenone day her neck suddenly began to swell andshe was soon diagnosed with leukemia. This isthe nightmare world that the parents ofchildren exposed to radiation, or who evensimply suspect radiation exposure, experienceon a daily basis. Every ailment can rip themapart.

Radiophobia and blaming the victim– Sinceit is often the case that who is and isn't exposedto dangerous levels of radiation, especially tointernalized alpha emitting particles, isunknown, large numbers of people near aradiological incident of some kind worry abouttheir health and the health of loved ones.Among this group, some have been exposedand some have not. The uncertainty is part ofthe trauma. Often, as is currently the case forthe people of FukushimaNorthern Japan, all ofthese people are dismissed as having unduefear of radiation, and are often told that theirhealth problems are simply the result of theirown anxieties. In some cases that may be true,but it is beside the point.

For those who have experienced a nuclearcatastrophe, who may have been removed fromtheir homes and communities and lost thosebonds and support systems, who are uncertainas to whether each flu or stomach ache is theharbinger of the end, and who cannot becertain that contamination from hard to findalpha emitting particles is still possible whentheir children play in the park, anxiety is thenatural response. Regardless of whether itcauses acute health problems, forces outside oftheir control have upended their lives. Theynow must live a life of uncertainty and oftenexperience discrimination. Of course they aregoing to suffer from the anxiety that thissituation produces. To blame them for this is toblame the victims and is a further form of

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traumatization.9

The memorial "Stronger than Death" in Semey,Kazakhstan (photo by author)

Conclusion–Radiation makes people invisible.It makes them second class citizens who nolonger have the expectation of being treatedwith dignity by their government, by thoseoverseeing nuclear facilities near them, by themilitary and nuclear industry engaged inpractices that expose people to radiation, andoften by their new neighbors when theybecome refugees. People exposed to radiationoften lose their homes, at times permanently,either through forced removal or throughcontamination that makes living in themdangerous. They lose their livelihoods, theirdiets, their communities, and their traditions.They can lose the knowledge base thatconnects them to their land and insures theirwellbeing.

Radiation can cause health problems anddeath, and even when it doesn't it can causeanxiety and uncertainty that can becomecrippling. Often those exposed to radiation areblamed for all of the problems that follow theirexposures. After a nuclear disaster we countthe victims in terms of those who died but theyare only a small fraction of the people who aretruly victimized by the event. Countless moresuffer the destruction of their communities,their families, and their wellbeing. The fullscale of devastation that a nuclear disasterwreaks is unknowable.

The lives of those exposed to radiation, or thosein areas affected by radiation but uncertainabout their exposure, will never be the same.As Natalia Manzurova, one of the "liquidators"at Chernobyl said in an interview published twomonths after the Fukushima triple meltdowns:"Their lives will be divided into two parts:before and after Fukushima. They'll worryabout their health and their children's health.The government will probably say there wasnot that much radiation and that it didn't harmthem. And the government will probably notcompensate them for all that they've lost. Whatthey lost can't be calculated."10

(This article is expanded from an articleoriginally published on the SimplyInfowebsite. Original can be seen here)

Robert Jacobs is an associate professor at theHiroshima Peace Institute of Hiroshima CityUniversity in Japan and an Asia-Pacific JournalAssociate. He is the author of The Dragon'sTail: Americans Face the Atomic Age (2010),the editor of Filling the Hole in the NuclearFuture: Art and Popular Culture Respond to theBomb (2010), and co-editor of Images ofRupture in Civilization Between East and West:The Iconography of Auschwitz and Hiroshimain Eastern European Arts and Media (2012).His book, The Dragon's Tail, is available in aJapanese language edition by Gaifu. He is theprincipal investigator of the Global Hibakusha

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Project.

Related articles

•Sawada Shoji, Scientists and Research on theEffects of Radiation Exposure: From Hiroshimato Fukushima

• Robert Jacobs and Mick Broderick, UnitedNations Report Reveals the Ongoing Legacy ofNuclear Colonialism in the Marshall Islands

•Robert Jacobs, Radiation as Cultural Talisman:Nuclear Weapons Testing and AmericanPopular Culture in the Early Cold War

• Kyoko Selden, Memories of Hiroshima andNagasaki: Messages from Hibakusha: AnIntroduction

• Tsukishita Miki and Yuki TANAKA, A Letter tothe Citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki From aHibakusha residing in Okinawa

• David Palmer, Korean Hibakusha, Japan'sSupreme Court and the InternationalCommunity: Can the U.S. and Japan ConfrontForced Labor and Atomic Bombing?

• Jeff Kingston, Compensating Colonial Lepers,Slave Laborers and Hibakusha: TroublingLegacies and Evolv ing Standards ofPostcolonial Justice in Japan

Recommended citation: Robert Jacobs, "TheRadiation That Makes People Invisible: AGlobal Hibakusha Perspective", The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 31, No. 1, August4, 2014.

Notes

1 "Fukushima stress deaths top 311 toll," JapanTimes (February 20, 2014) (accessed July 31,2014).

2 Dan Frosh, "Amid toxic waste, a Navajovillage could lose its land," New York Times

(February 19, 2014) (accessed July 31, 2014).3 "Fukushima 3 Years On," SimplyInfo (March11, 2014) (accessed July 31, 2014).

4 Gusev, et al., "The Semipalatinsk nuclear testsite: A first analysis of solid cancer incidence(selected sites) due to test site radiation,"Radiation and Environmental Biophysics (1998)37: 209-214.

5 Toru Hani and Elaine Lies, "The children ofJapan's Fukushima battle an invisible enemy,"Reuters (March 10, 2014) (accessed July 31,2014).

6 Robert Jacobs, "Social fallout: Marginalizationafter the Fukushima nuclear meltdown," TheAsia-Pacific Journal, Issue 28, Number 4 (July11, 2011) (accessed July 31, 2014).

7 Many doctors at the ABCC did provide "underthe table" medical treatment, but it was thepolicy of the organization not to providemedical treatment.

8 There are many reasons why activists andscholars challenge the integrity of the data inmany of these studies . For example,considering the Life Study at the RERF inHiroshima and Nagasaki, many fault the factthat the study was begun after the deaths ofmost who passed away from the effects of acuteradiation, so they are not included in thestatistics, the study does not include the healtheffects of alpha emitting particles in its data,and it is dependent on a process of dosereconstruction that can be seen as aspirationalrather than factual.

9 Robert Jacobs, "Fukushima Victimization 2.0,"Dianuke (March 11, 2012) (accessed July 31,2014).

10 Dana Kennedy, "Chernobyl cleanup survivor'smessage for Japan: "Run away as quickly aspossible," Desdemona Despair (March 23,2011) (accessed July 31, 2014, originallypublished by AOL News).