X years after exposure to radiation Ⅱ

これは、遠い時代・遠い場所の話ではなく、
私たちの[Ｘ年後]の物語である

STORY ストーリー

「父は　なぜ死んだのか？」
半世紀前の太平洋核実験　漁師たちが伝える無言のメッセージとは――？

“Why did my father die?”
What is the silent message of the Pacific nuclear test fishermen half a century ago?

終戦直後の1946 年。太平洋上で、米国による核実験が始まった。しかし多くの漁船が、その後100回を超える実験期間中も、近海でいつも通り操業を続けていた―。闇に葬られたビキニ水爆実験の真相に迫る前作『放射線を浴びたＸ年後』から3年。高知県室戸市ほか各地での継続取材は、新たな展開を迎えていた。安全や核をめぐって国のあり方があらためて問われる今、かつて日本の繁栄を支えた海の男たちのメッセージに、地方ＴＶ局のディレクターが迫った渾身のシリーズ第二弾！

In 1946, just after the end of the war,. a nuclear test by the United States began in the Pacific. But many fishing boats continued to operate as usual in nearby waters during more than 100 subsequent tests. It’s been 3 years since the last film, “X Years After Radiation, ” got to the bottom of the Bikini H-bomb test. Continuing coverage in Muroto City, Kochi Prefecture, and elsewhere has taken a new turn. At a time when the state of the nation is being questioned anew over safety and nuclear issues, the director of a local TV station approaches the message of the men of the sea who once supported Japan’s prosperity in this challenging second series!

Misa Kawaguchi, 59, runs an advertising agency in Tokyo. When she saw the movie “X Years After Being Exposed to Radiation” in her hometown of Muroto, Kochi Prefecture, she began to question the untimely death of her father, a former fisherman. At the time, her father was said to have died early from drinking too much alcohol. Is that really the case? Kazusaku Wake (Real name: Masahito DAIGURO. Famous works such as “The Empress”), a manga artist from Muroto City, Kochi Prefecture, also questions his father’s death after his encounter with the movie. Their strong feelings for their beloved father begin to move them.

In the meantime, the team, together with experts in radiation protection, will visit Okinawa, Kyoto and Yamagata, where high radioactive materials were measured in rainwater in the 1950s, and conduct their own soil survey. The floorboards of private houses were removed, and the soil appeared for the first time in half a century. Are the effects of nuclear tests conducted in the distant Pacific still affecting the Japanese archipelago?
Testimonies of former fishermen, a broken seaman’s pocketbook, and a request for disclosure to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. Half a century after the massive radiation exposure incident that rocked the Japanese archipelago, the scars of radiation exposure that will never go away are gradually revealed.

The way to this game 今作までの道のり

The previous film, “X Years After Radiation,” was compiled by local TV station Nankai Broadcasting (Ehime) as the culmination of 8 years of reporting, and was released in theaters in September 2012 as a 60 year anniversary project. Its original form was a TV series that was often broadcast nationwide by “NNN Documents,” which is produced by Nippon Television and 29 affiliated stations, and won many awards, including the Grand Prix of the Regional Jidai Film Festival, the Outstanding Award of the Private Broadcasting Federation, and the Waseda Journalism Grand Prize. Since its theatrical release in Matsuyama, Tokyo, it has been screened more than 200 times nationwide.

In 2014, which was said to mark the 60 year anniversary of the Bikini disaster, a great deal of media covered the incident, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare began to act. A book of the same name published in 2014, 2 years after its release, also attracted attention. With film screenings still continuing nationwide, 3 years after its release, director Ito continued his interview, saying, “This is not a goal. I want to unravel the case.” These feelings were not limited to TV broadcasts and the first film, but culminated in the release of the second film.

List of awards for previous work “X years after radiation exposure”
前作『放射線を浴びたＸ年後』受賞歴一覧

STAFF スタッフ

Apated. One hundred. 受賞歴一覧

2015年 第89回キネマ旬報ベストテン＜文化映画部門＞
2015: The 89 Kinema Junpo Top Ten < Bunka Eiga Category >

Words of the creator　制作者のことば

※監督メッセージ全文はパンフレットに収録されています。

取材を始めた12年前からずっと感じてきたが、室戸の海は見るたびに表情が違う。色も音も波の大きさも。ああ、瀬戸内海に面した地元愛媛とは違うなあ、と感じる。何しろ大らかで豪快だ。「おんちゃんたち」は、その海と隣り合わせに生きてきた。話は語れど、苦しいことや辛いことを饒舌に語ることはない。命に関わることも、人を助けたことも、体の異変も――。川口美砂さんのお父さんも、そんなマグロ漁師の一人だった。

川口さんとは、2013年に室戸で元漁労長の山田勝利さんが上映した『放射線を浴びたＸ年後』を見て僕たちに連絡をくれたのがきっかけだった。都内のカフェで初めて会った川口さんは、お父さんは36歳で亡くなったと語った。愛媛に戻り調べたところ、お父さんが乗っていた船は、放射能で汚染した魚を廃棄していた。その後、高知県室戸市に年末年始で里帰りしていた川口さんと2015年正月、再会。早速、生存者の聞き取りが始まった。その後、10月までに、川口さんは70人近い生存者や遺族から聞き取った。その一部始終に立ち会い、カメラに収録することができた。

*The full director’s message is included in the brochure.

I’ve been feeling it since I started reporting 12 years ago, but every time I look at the sea in Muroto, my expression is different. The color, the sound, the size of the waves. I feel that it is different from the local Ehime facing the Seto Inland Sea. It is big and dynamic. “Onchans” have lived next to the sea. They talk, but they do not gossip about painful or painful things. They talk about things that are life threatening, things that have helped others, things that have changed in their bodies. Misa Kawaguchi’s father was one of those tuna fishermen.

Kawaguchi and I got in touch after seeing “X Years After Radiation” screened in Muroto in 2013 by former chief fisherman Katsutoshi Yamada. When we first met at a cafe in Tokyo, Kawaguchi said that his father had died at the age of 36. When he returned to Ehime, he found that the ship he was on had disposed of radioactive fish. Later, in New Year’s 2015, he met Kawaguchi, who had returned to his hometown in Muroto City, Kochi Prefecture, for the New Year holiday. Immediately, interviews began with survivors. By October, Kawaguchi had heard from nearly 70 survivors and bereaved families. She was able to witness the whole story and record it on camera.

広島、長崎の原爆投下からわずか10ヶ月後、マグロの漁場で始められた核実験。繰り返される核実験で漁場は激しく汚染。第五福竜丸の被ばく発覚後、放射能検査が行われ、延べ９９２隻もの被ばく船が見つかったにもかかわらず、政府は「すでに測定の必要がない」とし、その年の12月、わずか１０か月で検査を打ち切った。『直ちに健康に影響がでない』ため、人々は少しずつ事件を忘れていった。10年後には東京オリンピックが開催され、日本は、さらに上を向いて歩み始めた。いつしか、事件は完全に忘れられ、「第五福竜丸」と「髪の毛がぬける」という言葉だけが脳裏に刻まれた。

そして第五福竜丸の事件から57年後の2011年3月。福島で原発事故が起こり、放射能検査が始まった。そして12月、安全宣言がされた。事故からもうすぐ5年。放射能の影響があいまいなままだ。「いつまでも、悲しいことを考え続けるのはやめよう。前向きに生きようじゃないか」という声が聞こえてくる。奇しくも事故から9年後となる2020年、東京オリンピック・パラリンピックが開催される。ビキニ事件では、半世紀後、事件の記憶はほぼ消えていた。いま、新たなＸ年後に向けてカウントダウンが始まっている。半世紀後、日本人は、何を覚えているのだろうか。そしてその時、人体に何が起こっているのだろうか。

Only 10 months after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear tests began at tuna fishing grounds. Repeated nuclear tests heavily polluted fishing grounds. After the fifth Fukuryu Maru was exposed to radiation, radiation tests were conducted and a total of 992 ships were found, but the government stopped the tests in December of that year after only 10 months, saying there was no need for measurements. People gradually forgot about the incident because there was no immediate impact on their health. 10 years later, the Tokyo Olympics were held, and Japan began to look up. Before long, the incident was completely forgotten, and only the words “The Fifth Fukuryu Maru” and “My hair falls out” were engraved in my mind.

In March 2011, 57 years after the incident of the Fifth Fukuryu Maru,. a nuclear power plant accident occurred in Fukushima, and radiation tests began. Then, in December, a safety declaration was made. It’s almost five years since the accident. The effects of radiation remain ambiguous. A voice says, “Let’s not keep thinking about sad things forever. Let’s live a positive life.” Coincidentally, the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be held in 2020, 9 years after the accident. In the case of the bikini incident, half a century later, the memory of the incident had almost disappeared. Now, the countdown is on for another X years. What will the Japanese remember half a century from now? And what will happen to the human body then?

36歳で亡くなった川口さんの父親や、45歳で亡くなった和気（大黒）さんの父親が受けた被ばくを医学的に裏付けることは難しい。しかし人体に重大な危害を加える危険な物質が蔓延する中で操業を続けたことは、船員手帳と厚生省の文書をつき合わせば事実であることは分かる。

この事件に限らず、被ばく事件においては、被害者が『被ばくしていること』証明しなければならない。なんという矛盾だろう。本来ならば、加害側に立つ者が、激しく放射能汚染した漁場で働き、早く亡くなった乗組員の死が、100パーセント放射能によるものではないことを医学的に証明し、被害者や遺族に伝えるべきだろう。想像を絶する量の放射線を生み出し、アメリカ本土や日本列島が放射能汚染していることを、少なくとも1952年には把握しながら実験を続けた責任は重い。

2004年に前作『放射線を浴びたＸ年後』のための取材を開始してから12年。これまで多くの方々に支えられて、ここまで来ることができた。これまで自分が倒れるまで一生追い続けていくものだ、と覚悟を決め、取材を続けてきた。『放射線を浴びたＸ年後２』が完成した今、ますますその思いは強くなっている。僕の旅はまだ終わっていない。これからも被災者と共にありたい。

何があっても諦めないぞ！

It is difficult to provide medical support for the exposure that Kawaguchi’s father, who died at the age of 36, and Wake (Daikoku), who died at the age of 45, received. However, the fact that the company continued to operate in the midst of an epidemic of dangerous substances that could cause serious harm to the human body can be seen from the Seafarers’ Handbook and documents from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Not only in this case, but in an exposure case, the victim must prove that he or she has been exposed to radiation. What a contradiction! Normally, those who are on the side of the crime should prove medically that the death of a crew member who died early after working in a heavily radioactive fishing ground was not caused by 100% radiation and inform the victims and their families. It is a heavy responsibility to continue the experiment while knowing that the U.S. mainland and the Japanese archipelago were radioactive by producing unimaginable amounts of radiation, at least in 1952.

It has been 12 years since I started reporting for my previous film, “X Years After Radiation” in 2004. I have been able to reach this point with the support of many people. Until now, I was determined to follow him for the rest of my life until he fell. Now that “X Years After Radiation 2” has been completed, that feeling is getting stronger. My journey is far from over. I want to continue to be with the victims.

No matter what happens, I won’t give up!