Manga shows Fukushima worker's experience

Friday, 1 November 2013

A former worker at the Fukushima Daiichi site has created a manga comic of his experiences in a new series.

Kazuto Tatsuta is one of several thousand people that have worked since March 2011 to stabilise, clean up and decommission the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Based on this first-hand experience, he was motivated to create a manga to show the realities of the site and the lives of the workers.

(Image: Kazuto Tatsuta)

Entitled Ichiefu - the shorthand for the Fukushima Daiichi site - the first frame explains, "This manga does not intend to reveal the truth behind what happened at Fukushima... this is the truth about Fukushima seen through the author's eyes." The disclaimer prepares readers for an unusual and sober depiction of the accident site and of normal people who continue to work without extreme apprehension about radiation.

Workers are shown going through strict safety and security routines, working among the water storage tanks and relaxing in the basic facilities. They travel through the evacuation zone and tsunami-damaged areas, encountering the farm animals that now roam freely.

Win a copy
 
WNN has one copy of Weekly Morning containing the first instalment of Ichiefu to give away. For a chance to win simply share a story from the WNN Facebook page before 18 November. Details

Tatsuta entered his work in publisher Kodansha's Manga Open competition where it beat 322 other entries and received unanimous approval from judges as the winner. The first issue of Ichiefu appeared in Kodansha's Weekly Morning magazine at the start of October and was positioned among the limited number of full-colour pages. Yesterday Kodansha announced an intention to continue publication on Tatsuta's schedule.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News