Hiroshima Day

This is a day that always makes me pause. My love for Japan and the Japanese people was developed during my three years of living in Japan as an impressionable teenager. Under the formal politeness, I found curiosity, flashes of brilliance and warmth that have carried through my life. Although I am definitely not OCD, the calm clean lines of a traditional Japanese garden transports me to a beautiful peaceful garden at an Inn on top of Kamakura Yama. I still laugh at silly Japanese TV shows, sumo wrestlers and crazy color combinations. Where would we be without Manga? The flavors of Japan are wonderful. We watched Jiro’s Dreams yesterday and I could taste the Tako (0ctopus) on the screen.  Are these the same people that are guilty of the rape of Nanking? Are these the same people that we dropped a nuclear bomb on? Is there really anything that justifies that kind of destruction?
Now we have the issue of Fukushima. The world seems to be taking a back seat to this crisis because it hasn’t affected us yet. Do we really know how it will affect us in the long run? Why isn’t there more of an outcry in this country? Is the food that I am growing in my organic garden really safe? How much radiation are we being exposed to? Will they tell us or are they too afraid of panic and economic loss that we will continue eating radioactive food in ignorant bliss? Do me a favor and ask the USDA if they are testing animals for cesium? After Chernobyl, sheep in England were taken off the market because of high cesium levels. How about Hillsboro, are our dairy cows eating radioactive grass? Do I want to know?  I am not sure.
Makes you feel kind of helpless doesn’t it. So take a deep breath, send a thought or prayer out for the people who have been harmed by our splitting the atom, pray that no one ever feels desperate enough to drop another bomb and consider asking your local utitlity to stop buying nuclear power because we don’t need any more Fukushimas.