Artistic Reflections

     From April 23-May 6, Japan's Nuclear Film festival showed nuclear themed films to commemorate the 25 year anniversary of the disaster at Chernobyl. Ironically enough, the festival took place just a few months after their own country was thrust into a nuclear disaster on par with the one that took place in Ukraine.

     Many of the films, including that of Japanese documentary film maker Seiichi Motohashi, focused on the dangers of nuclear power and trying to establish a precedent for changes to the energy policies of all countries to avoid future disasters.

     
     Motohashi, who has traveled to Budische, Belarus, one of the hardest hit towns during the Chernobyl disaster, over 30 times since 1991. During his travels, he produced two films, Naja no Mura (Nadya's Village, 1997) and 2002's "Arekusei to Izumi (Alexei and the Spring). Both have garnered acclaim at film festivals both home and abroad and were shown during the festival along with 15 other films targeted at nuclear power. Along with the films, an art exhibition of Chernobyl themed paintings by Heroshi Kaihara were on display throughout the event. Motohashi spoke to the Japan Times about his projects that he completed in Belarus:  

"I wanted to make 'Nadya's Village' to give energy to the audience," says Motohashi at his office in Higashi-Nakano. "I wanted to show how people who had experienced this terrible disaster had come back. At the time, I didn't really think it had something to do with me personally. Now I know that that sort of accident can happen anywhere, especially in this country. ... There's no way to make a nuclear plant totally safe. It's a kind of human arrogance to think otherwise — nature is always more powerful. Human beings ought to be more humble in their dealings with it."

     The festival's sentiment mirrors that of the public of Japan following the fallout from the tsunami that struck and disabled the reactors at Fukashima Daiichi. Reliance on nuclear power is not the safe way to go for the future of Japan is a common theme in both the films and the outcries from displaced citizens. However, the government addressed the public and the world this week and stated that Japan will continue to rely on nuclear power. This release came the same week that the government also pressured one of its energy companies to shut down their nuclear facility just south of Tokyo because of fears that an impending earthquake on the fault line the facility rests on could produce a larger disaster than that on March 11.

     Japan is caught in quite the dilemma. They're a country with minimal natural resources and are supremely reliant on nuclear power. With 14 new plants proposed to be built, the events at Fukushima have severely crippled this nation that gets nearly a quarter of its energy supply from nuclear power. What's even more troubling is the surfacing of diplomatic cables from the United States  that question not only the preparedness for a future natural disaster, but basic security to prevent terrorist attacks.

     The environmental and economic affects of the disaster are being felt not only in Japan, but globally, demonstrating how close knit a planet we are despite our differences. It's time that we, as a planet, reassess our energy sources and a safer way of facilitating them. Namely, not letting the builders of nuclear power plants also be the governing body.