Taking away the surface as the way of decontamination - fishes living in the soil -

(oil painting on wood panel. 117×91cm × 3 pieces. 2016)
　

“Our agriculture work was inherited by many generations.

But this accident snatched everything from us.

So this problem cannot be solved by odd money, you know?.

Generation to generation our ancestors kept making good soil, you know?

After so long term effort soil became to able to make crop, you know?”

“ Yes, overcoming so bad weather condition like this.”

“ But now government tries to take away - “

“ - Take away only this good soil. “

“ They tries to take good soil. They don’t know making good soil is our farmer’s work “

“ Exactly. It is said that to make one cm good soil needs one hundred years among us. You know? “

(from my recorded data of conversation with a male and a female, both of them were former farmers in the Kawamata district in Fukushima.

April 2016)

 

After the Chernobyl accident,

various attempts were made to remove radioactive materials scattered throughout the area.

Twenty years have passed since this accident occurred in 1986,

certain local experts have already verified the effectiveness and efficiency of many attempts.

 

<The way of taking away surface soil of fields as the cleanup of contaminated farmland was not suitable

because it had a negative effect on soil fertility and ecosystem>.

 

This was the conclusion they reached from Bioscience and Environmental Studies

( basing on the lecture by Valery Kashparov (UIAR, Ukraine), it was held in Japan January 30th 2012 ).

But in his lecture there was what was not referred at that time but exists in Japanese society.

It was a paddy that grows rice.

Japanese experts started to demonstrate in rice fields thinking they had found a new field in this area,

which was leaked from Chernobyl studies due to differences in eating habits.

In distorted form.

 

As a feature of the paddy field,

fertile soil exists on the surface layer and supernatant.

In the past,

the Japanese government operated to make rice fields into square shape.

At that time,

they moved the surface soil temporarily to another place and brought back it to each paddy field again.

It means that Japanese government’s experts recognized it’s value well.

This supernatant soil is said to be the life of a paddy field created by time and cares by ancestors.

But the removal of surface soil was proposed as a decontamination method after the Fukushima nuclear accident,

and although it was a small number,

this way was carried out.

 

(Kawamata district in Fukushima April 2016)

 

Well,

exactly this way can reduce amount of radiation,

but as a paddy field,

it may die.

This is not a recovery.

Japan’s agricultural experts are also aware of this fact,

but they have talked much more about how to clean up radiation after the accident,

and have shut their mouth about this.

Also it has never been told in the mainstream media that such a concept of soil actually exists.

The above mentioned man was waiting for the topsoil removal of the rice field he owned in 2016.

 

 

( text : Akira Tsuboi )