June 2, 2017 – Japan and the Environment 2017

Daigo Fukuryumaru

Lucky Dragon Incident:

I have encountered The Lucky dragon’s story twice before reading the assigned readings and attending the museum today: once in Professor Selling’s Fantastic and Demonic literature course in context with Godzilla, and a second time in Professor Christmas’s Modernity and Identity: Japanese History course in context of American Occupation after WWII. I came in knowing the basic narrative to the grim event, but the museum was a source of enrichment and the detail gaps were filled.

The Lucky Dragon was only the first of many incidents in which nations (mainly the United States and Russia) tested out their nuclear weapons. Testing was conducted allover the world, mainly in desserts. People all over the world: Japanese, Native Americans and other societies suffered from the fallout of these testings.
Science is often equated with objectivity and facts, which inspires belief from the people; but this is a prime example in which the data maybe manipulated to fit one’s agenda.
With confronting political agendas, Japanese doctors and American doctors were drawing distinct conclusions from each other. The media covered the story, but the difference in findings caused distrust on part of the Japanese citizens toward doctors and government officials.
The uprisings that emerged due to this incidents were the beginning of the anti-nuclear movement that would then be revived in 2011 after Fukushima.

Side NOTE: I was sort of surprised at the grounds on which the museum was housed, but I really liked these stone steps which we found outside the museum.

6/2 Daigofukuryūmaru Museum: Calling for Peace?

After the end of WWII and during the cold war, the US, Japan, and other countries were having a large number of A-bomb and H-bomb testings and seeking for a peaceful use of nuclear power. Daigofukuryumaru (第五福竜丸) was near an H-bomb testing near Bikini Island, and its staff member Kuboyama was the first Japanese victim of an H-bomb. The reading we did for this Lucky Dragon No.5 had a lot of discussion about different stakeholders, including politicians, doctors studying radiation diseases, fishermen/citizens, and the media. A complicated incident with many political implications, the Lucky Dragon was oversimplified as a symbol of calling for no use of nuclear and world peace at the Daigofukuryūmaru Museum.

The museum takes the perspective of citizens and selected many exhibits that called for compassion, the heartbreaking picture of Kuboyama’s funeral, for example. The picture captured Kuboyama’s children and family crying, especially the younger daughter. Children are a big part of the appeal: Kuboyama’s older daughter’s letter, encouraging letters sent to Kuboyama from all over the country, and moreover, the origami decorations sent by school children along with their wishes for peace/no nuclear bombing attached to the origami. The message is clear: think about our children. Because of the concern for family health and children of radiation contamination, women and housewives became leaders of the grassroots anti-nuclear movements after the incident of Lucky Dragon, while the government was trying to close the deal as soon as possible to get nuclear technology support from the US. The reading we did was very helpful for understanding the complexity of the incident and looking at the museum critically.

神 Is Not God, 鎮守の杜 Is (Not) Nature?

Another intellectually engaging day has passed! It was very long (spent over 12 hours away from our Airbnb), but the experience was unforgettable and without a doubt worth it.

Japanese people are fluid with religion (is there a Japanese sense of religion?). Selinger 先生の友だちは Notoさんです。She was so nice and informative! She presented on Shinto and introduced us to important aspects of Meiji Shrine. We learned that it is normalized for Japanese people (in general) to follow multiple religions. Noto-san gave an example that it’s not unusual for someone here to go to a Shinto Shrine as a newborn, have a wedding at a Christian church, celebrate Christmas, visit family graves at “Obon” Buddhism festival, and hold their funeral at a Buddhist temple. I found it interesting that in one of the statistic tables she showed us Shinto was listed as a religious organization. The reading we had to do for today made several attempts to define Shinto, but I don’t think it’s too important to try to define what exactly Shinto is because it doesn’t seem productive to waffle around (lol because I am a person who waffles around too much). Perhaps this is because I am neither a scholar in religion nor have any interest in being one… I want to just let it exist and take it in respectfully (is this too passive though?). She talked about kami (神) and emphasized its importance as god-like but not the Western idea of a god. People can be 神 (e.g. Selinger 先生, Christmas 先生, and Aridome 先生). There was a quote that explained 神 as “possessing the quality of excellence and virtue.” In discussion later we talked about the important points of who is defining 神 and what their motivation is. Not really sure about the answer to the first question, but perhaps their motivation is to separate it from foreign ideas and make something uniquely Japanese. Anyway, I wanted to also point out that Noto-san taught us the importance of purifying yourself before visiting 神. Again, the notion of purity in Japan returns! We got to experience an amazing Shinto ceremony (lol we got our prayer read! unfortunately I only heard the アジアけんきゅう line because of my under-developed 日本語 skills). There was an offering in the form of song and dance, which was great to watch. I was self-conscious as to what times we had to bow and what times we could watch, so I hope following along what the person beside me was doing went okay. At the end, we each got a little gift and a sip of さけ. I was not expecting that… ahhh お酒が好きじゃないですよ (not just さけ specifically)… although, I will say it was warm and not a horribly unpleasant experience… anyway, I asked what the point of it was and Noto-san said it basically purifies the body. The さけ we drank was an offering to the 神 and then given to us to drink.

Can a human-constructed forest left “untouched” be classified as natural? According to the Kanji, no. The forest surrounding Meiji Shrine is referred to as 鎮守の杜 (chinju no mori), which is different from the kanji used for similar sacred forests (鎮守の森, also chinju no mori). This is because 鎮守の杜 is “man-made,” as the area it resides in was once a wasteland then through the planting of trees by humans, made to be a forest. The path in which humans take in the forest is highly regulated and protected so that it can be, for the most part, untouched by humans. Yay for the reoccurrence of the Japanese importance of purity! Tanaka-san, a highly knowledge and approachable man who helps maintain 鎮守の杜, answered our questions while showing us around (shoutout to Julian since he asked great questions). We entered quite a few prohibited-to-the-public areas, which made us feel super special and grateful to Tanaka-san (and Noto-san for arranging this!). Wow, the trees were just so impressive and surreal. I honestly thought the greenery should be photographed as an Apple desktop wallpaper. きれいな杜。I can’t wait to see Anna-san pictures!

I’m trying to improve my Japanese, so I will try to jot down new things I’ve learnt. Here are some words I have learned so far: しけ (humid), ながでずがり (the flowing style that the buildings in Meiji had), しつも (question), いこ (casual form of “let’s go”), and 食べほうだい (all you can eat). I’ve definitely become more interested in and motivated to learn the Japanese language since arriving in Japan. I can see myself taking classes/studying after Bowdoin, and I know this won’t be my last time here.

This isn’t totally related to the theme of this post, but we went to a Hawaiian-themed Korean barbecue place for dinner. I have to say that it was a weird experience because I did not feel like I was in Japan; at times I actually forgot that I should be practicing my Japanese. During this trip, I have been very aware that I’m in Japan, so attempting Japanese seemed like what I should be doing, but at this restaurant speaking English seemed more like what I should be doing. (I wish I could comment about cultural appropriation, but I don’t feel like I can express my thoughts intelligently or effectively. And despite the two semesters of anthropology courses I’ve taken, I just don’t think I have enough background to really define cultural appropriation or speak on behalf of Hawaiian culture. I will just say that the restaurant being Hawaiian-themed was not the most comfortable experience).

Sensei Appreciation Day

The jet lag is finally starting to wear off, and what started as a series of 2am wakeups has shifted to 5am. After writing yesterday’s blog post detailing our packed and fascinating day with Noto-san, I decided to slip on my running shoes and reflect while exploring the area around Waseda’s main campus. The sidewalks were already bustling as I set out on my run. Weaving between schoolchildren and commuters, I relished the extent to which my Japanese language skills have improved after only being here for four days and felt a deep sense of gratitude for the integral role my peers and professors have played in this growth. Language practice was often confined to the classroom and office hours while I was at Bowdoin; however, it finds life here in every train ride, meal conversation, walk, and intellectual discussion. Accordingly, it is deepening my linguistic and sociocultural knowledge and providing me with the skills I will need in my coming Fulbright year. I am especially grateful for the knowledge, generous patience, and open disposition Aridome-sensei, Selinger-sensei, Christmas-sensei, and Anna-san have displayed in response to my unending questions—ranging from the grammatical to the personal. As I reflect on all that their mentorship has given me, I feel the kind of debt accumulating that can never be repaid.

One particularly notable example of this came today, as we visited the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Museum in Yume no Shima. This museum provides information about and houses the Japanese tuna trawler that was radiated by US hydrogen bomb testing in the Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954. As we students worked our way through the museum, we did our best to glean information from the wall labels that were written solely in Japanese. While this normally would have presented a daunting and difficult endeavor, Aridome-sensei, Anna-san, and Selinger-sensei worked with us to fill in our gaps of knowledge with regards to kanji and vocabulary, providing explanations almost exclusively in Japanese. Furthermore, when I sought out one of the curatorial assistants to ask a question, Selinger-sensei advocated for me and explained our group interests, which resulted in an invitation into the museum’s archives in order to view primary source documents related to our questions. I know from my own research last summer in Hiroshima that these kinds of opportunities are few and far between, and the difficulty of mustering the courage and confidence to seek them out as a foreign language learner limits them even further. Moving forward, I feel a renewed sense of energy about the possibilities that can arise from Japanese language study and will continue to do my best to take advantage of every opportunity to improve.

Radiation of the Not-so Lucky Dragon No. 5

We had a bit of a shorter day today, but an interesting one nonetheless. We visited the Daigofukuryumori Exhibition Hall (a museum), showcasing the 第五福竜丸 (daigofukuryumori; Lucky Dragon No. 5) tuna trawler that was heavily irradiated during hydrogen bomb testing off of Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. The museum contained objects actually from the ship, including the ship itself and its engine, along with other related documentation such as letters written by family members of the crew. Additionally, the museum also provided information on nuclear weapons testing. Most of the descriptions and panels were in Japanese, though there were some cards in English. It wasn’t so much the grammar that gave me trouble (for instance, many of the panels used the passive form, either to convey suffering at the hands of nuclear testing or as a sort of “reporting” form…or perhaps both), but rather there was a lot of kanji I wasn’t too familiar with.

I thought it was really interesting going through the museum, small though it was, and seeing photos and actual objects from the time. The Lucky Dragon No. 5 wasn’t the only ship irradiated, nor was March 1, 1954 the only time atomic weapons were tested in that area; this is arguably the most well-documented or press-heavy incident. I was also intrigued by how ocean currents also impacted or spread radiation; there was a map I think showing sites of known radiation contamination and they followed the trajectories of currents almost perfectly.

We ended the day back at Waseda University with a discussion on both today’s and yesterday’s readings and visits. It was a good chance to reflect on what we’ve been learning and seeing the past several days, especially since we for once had an opportunity to do so as a group. Michael also brought up the idea of reflecting on the trip as a whole, midway, and what it means to us, which I also thought would be helpful and interesting.