BRATTLEBORO — This month marks 10 years since an earthquake and tsunami touched off three nuclear meltdowns and multiple hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, an ongoing nuclear disaster some scientists say will continue for the next 100 years.
The Japanese government's focus on an eventual summer Olympics in Tokyo, despite the need for rebuilding and ongoing radiation concerns, is a contentious topic in and outside of Japan.
On Sunday, March 21, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., Windham World Affairs Council (WWAC) will host a Zoom conversation with Chiho Kaneko and Norma Field, both of whom have close ties to Fukushima.
The two will share their perspectives on what they characterize as “distortions” inherent in the accident's ongoing environmental, social, and economic impacts in an attempt to clarify the Fukushima reality and lessons it contains.
WWAC board member Lissa Weinmann, a citizen appointee to the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, will moderate the free event.
Registration is required on Zoom using a link at the home page of the WWAC website.
Chiho Kaneko is a visual artist, classical music vocalist, language interpreter, board member of Fairewinds Energy Education, and Japanese citizen living in Hartland, Vt., for 20 years.
She maintains close ties to family and friends in Iwate prefecture, 150 miles from Fukushima Daiichi, which continues to suffer from the effects of the nuclear disaster. She interpreted for former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on his trip to the United States following the Fukushima disaster and has served as an interpreter for atomic bomb survivors in various international venues.
Norma Field, Ph.D, grew up in Tokyo, Japan, with an American father and Japanese mother. Listening to her parents' conflicting views on Pacific nuclear weapons testing introduced her to the atomic age.
Until the pandemic, Field traveled on average twice a year to Fukushima. She has organized symposia, translated, and written on Fukushima. She was co-editor and translator of Fukushima Radiation: Will You Still Say No Crime Has Been Committed? (2015) and This Will Still Be True Tomorrow: “Fukushima Ain't Got the Time for Olympic Games” (2020).
March also marks the 60th anniversary of WWAC, which was formally established in Brattleboro on March 22, 1961 and is the smallest and only all-volunteer member of the World Affairs Councils of America.
WWAC is also unique in that its lectures are free and public, thanks to annual dues from loyal supporters.