The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 13 | Issue 7 | Number 5 | Feb 16, 2015

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Fukushima, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Maralinga ( フクシマ、ヒロシマ、ナガサキ、そしてマラリンガ)

Vera Mackie

Abstract

In this essay I provide an account of a series ofcommemorative events held in EasternAustralia since the compound disaster of March2011 occurred in Fukushima in NortheasternJapan. Individuals expressed transnationalsolidarity through the embodied experience ofattending and participating in local events.Reflecting on these events reminds us of theentangled and mutually imbricated histories ofJapan and Australia, and the ways in whichvarious individuals and groups are positionedin the global networks of nuclear power andnuclear weaponry.

Keywords

Japan, Australia, Commemoration, SocialMovements, Disasters, Atomic Energy, NuclearPower

March 2011

The compound disaster of 11 March 2011unfolded under a global gaze.1 People aroundthe world saw the devastation wrought by theearthquake and tsunami thanks to footagetaken on mobile phones and disseminatedthrough Facebook, Twitter and other socialmedia, and re-broadcast via both conventionalmedia and the internet. All over the world,people could watch the progress of events onthe national broadcaster NHK or on live-streamsites like Nico Nico Dōga. CNN immediatelydispatched several journalists to Japan whoprovided continuous coverage. The AustralianBroadcas t ing Corpora t ion ' s Tokyocorrespondent also covered the issue

comprehensively. 2

T h a n k s t o n e w s o c i a l m e d i a , t h edemonstrations, concerts, commemorationsand anniversaries of the multiple disasters ofMarch 2011 were also accessible to a globalaudience. In disparate places around the world,people gathered in commemoration andmourning – in the immediate aftermath and onsignificant anniversaries since then. In thisessay I will consider the transnationaldimensions of the disaster and its aftermath,t h r o u g h a n a c c o u n t o f a s e r i e s o fcommemorative events held in Australia.3 Whilem u c h d i s c u s s i o n o f t r a n s n a t i o n a lconnectedness focuses on the "virtual" – theapparently disembodied connections madethrough social media, I argue that we shouldnot neglect the embodied dimensions of eventsand rituals. New social media have notsuperseded gatherings in public places. Rather,virtual communications and public actionscomplement each other. Solidarity is forgedwhen people come together in public places toexpress shared emotions. A micro-level analysisof specific events can give insights into theprocesses whereby feelings of transnationalconnectedness and solidarity are mobilised, as Idiscuss below. This will necessarily involve the"thick description"4 of details of these events.

I was a long way away from Japan on 11 March2011, the onset of the compound disasterwhich involved earthquakes and aftershocks, atsunami and a nuclear crisis. Nevertheless, Iimmediately became aware of the disasterthrough television, radio and social media. Thetelevision news repeatedly showed footage ofthe huge black wave of water and debris that

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devastated northeastern Japan. The fact thatAustralia and Japan are in similar time zonesadded further immediacy.5 I was able to makecontact with friends in Japan through e-mail,Facebook and messages relayed by mutualfriends. Meanwhile, my friends in Tokyodescribed via e-mail their experiences of beingstranded or having to walk home because thetrains had stopped. They often interrupted theflow of their e-mails with phrases like "a!yureteru" (it's shaking) or "mata yureteru"(here we go again) when another aftershockhit. These phrases appeared regularly inFacebook posts in the ensuing months.

Although the earthquake largely hit thenortheast of Japan and surrounding seas, theeffects of the tsunami were experienced inHawai'i, the Philippines, Pacific island nations,and the Pacific coast of the Americas, resultingin damage to ports and coastal settlements.Even on the Australian coast there was ameasurable increase in the size of waves,though not enough to cause any damage.6

Years later, we are still seeing reports of debriswashing up on the other side of the Pacific.7

Traces of plutonium were detected on the otherside of the ocean, too.8 The effects of thenuclear meltdowns, explosions and the leakageof contaminated water could not be containedwithin the notional boundaries of the Japanesenation-state or its coastal waters. In addition tothe damage wrought by the earthquake andtsunami, the winds and sea currents tookradioactive contamination well beyond Japan'snational borders.

The crisis was transnational in the sense ofbeing experienced (albeit at second-hand formany) through global media and social media.People around the globe – as I did – saw thedevastation wrought by the tsunami on acombination of social media and conventionalmedia. In the US, a survey revealed that closeto 60 per cent of the public there werefollowing the issue during March 2011.9 Thiswas also the occasion for a global outpouring of

empathy, sympathy and solidarity. As Slater,Nishimura and Kindstrand note, with respect tothe new social media that faci l i tatedcommunication about the disaster, "what wereonce considered the personal, private, evenintimate domains of micro-sociality becameengaged in an alternative politics that reachedothers around the world".10

This emotional response was followed up bycharity campaigns, through conventionalcharity organisations such as the Red Cross,overseas offices of such organisations as theJapan Foundation, overseas non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs) and links from thewebsites of news organisations like CNN. Inthe U.S., the Red Cross advertised during theSuper Bowl (one of the major sporting events ofthe year with the highest television viewership)to solicit donations for the Tōhoku reliefeffort.11 In February 2012, the Japan Red Crossreported that it had transferred U.S.$4.5 billionto affected communities, of which U.S.$4billion came from international donors(excluding sister Red Cross societies).12

In addition to the international humanitarianfocus , there was a l so a burgeon inginternational movement against nuclear power– building on over half a century of activism.13

As the movement against nuclear powerdeveloped, those of us who could not attend thevarious demonstrations in Japan watched fromafar through links provided by social media.Demonstrations and commemorations insolidarity with our friends in Japan were alsoheld in various parts of the world, includingNew York, Paris and various Australian cities.14

Activists in Japan increasingly addressed aninternational audience, such as the "Mothers ofFukushima", who disseminated an English-language video on YouTube to express theirconcerns about the safety of their children.15

The reference points for understanding werealso international, with comparisons beingmade with the Chernobyl nuclear disaster inthe former Soviet Union, the Three Mile Island

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incident in the U.S., the Bhopal chemicalpollution incident in India and HurricaneKatrina in the U.S. Japan's experience of theatomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasakiwas also referenced.16 This list includes placenames which are instantly recognisedthroughout the world as heralding the nuclearage.17 During the summer of 2012, the anti-nuclear movement took on the name"hydrangea revolution" (ajisai kakumei) for atime, making links with the concurrent ArabSpring, the Occupy Movement and the "jasminerevolution" in Tunisia.18

The "3/11" compound disaster also galvanisedexpatriate Japanese communities and theirsupporters. As soon as the terrible news of thedisaster came through, vigils were held incapital cities and regional centres acrossAustralia. In Melbourne, for example, a vigilwas held in the city centre on the evening of 17March 2011, on the steps of the former GeneralPost Office Building. The steps were decoratedwith a flock of giant origami cranes and rows ofc a n d l e s . E v e r y M a r c h s i n c e t h e n ,commemorative events have been held on eachanniversary. Given the close connectionsbetween the issue of nuclear irradiation atFukushima and at Hiroshima and Nagasaki,Fukushima is remembered once again everyAugust on Hiroshima Day and Nagasaki Day.There is now an annual rhythm of events inMarch and August. At each event theconnections between these historical eventshave been explored in more detail and withmore subtlety. By an iterative effect, Hiroshimaand Nagasaki are constantly being re-remembered, but now through the prism ofFukushima. The organisations that hold theseevents have built up a repertoire of symbolsand practices which carry over from event toevent and from year to year, as we shall seebelow.

Figure 1: Flock of origami cranes at vigil forFukushima, March 2011, Melbourne. Photograph by Kaz Preston. 1 9

March 2012

On 11 March 2012, one year after the disaster,I stood on the steps of the State Library ofV ic tor ia in Me lbourne , f ee l ing thereverberations of taiko drumming. Around mewas a crowd of people who had gathered tocommemorate the first anniversary of thelosses from the combined earthquake, tsunamiand nuclear meltdown.

The lawn in front of the State Library in centralM e l b o u r n e i s c o m m o n l y u s e d f o rdemonstrations or as the assembly point formarches. The stepped space provides thefeeling of an agora or arena. On this day autility truck was parked at street level and thebed of the truck provided a stage for speakersand performers. It was cluttered withmicrophones and amplifiers and a bank of taikodrums. Opposite the State Library is a shoppingcomplex known as Melbourne Central,originally built by Japanese business interestsduring the "bubble years". It formerly hosted abranch of the Japanese department storeDaimaru, but Daimaru closed down after thebursting of the bubble economy. The streetbetween the State Library and the shoppingcomplex is a pedestrian mall – the only trafficbeing trams, bicycles and pedestrians. The

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location of the demonstration in the middle ofthe business and shopping district meant thatthere was an easy flow between the differentactivities of the city. Some people may wellhave interrupted their shopping or libraryresearch to join the commemoration anddemonstration. Others just observed from thesurrounding streets or through the windows ofthe trams which rattled by every few minutes.

Children milled about, offering masks to theassembled crowd. The masks were yellow andblack, a hybrid image combining theinternational sign denoting nuclear radiationand a face that mimicked Edvard Munch's(1863–1944) painting of 1893, "The Scream".20

Variations on this black-and-yellow sign forradiation also featured in demonstrations inother parts of the world. These graphic symbolswere originally designed to warn of the dangerof radioactivity in a way that transcendedparticular languages. In their adaptations, thenew versions of the symbol have helped toforge a visual vocabulary of transnationalactivism. One demonstrator was dressed as agiant sunflower, the symbol of solar power – analternative to nuclear energy and fossil fuels.Some children were dressed in red "oni" (devil)costumes symbolising the evil of nuclear power.A few carried origami cranes.

Figure 2: Photograph of Demonstrator atCommemorative Event in Melbourne, March2012. Photograph by Tim Wright.21

I was not able to comprehensively survey thecrowd, but my impression is that it was madeup of a combination of long-term immigrantsand residents of Japanese heritage, academics,students, working holiday-makers and tourists,Australians with ties to Japan, Australians witha commitment to the anti-nuclear issue, andjourna l i s t s . Severa l speakers anddemonstrators noted Australia's connectionswith the disaster, for uranium from Australianmines has fuelled nuclear power plants inJapan.22 Some of the demonstrators carriedplacards saying that "Australian UraniumFuelled Fukushima", reminding the Australianaudience of our own connection with theseevents, through the mutual imbrication of the

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Australian and Japanese economies. Later,some participants marched to protest outsidethe headquarters of the mining companies BHPBilliton and Rio Tinto.23

Marching, carrying placards and wearingmasks and costumes were embodiedexpressions of solidarity. Participants were alsoenjoined to chant phrases together at variouspoints. They learned the Japanese phrase"genpatsu hantai" (oppose nuclear power) andthe taiko drummers beat time on each syllableto provide a rhythm for the chant. The use ofthe Japanese phrase was an explicit address toJapanese-speaking viewers of the UStream.There was also a call and response in English:"Uranium min ing? End i t now!" and"Fukushima! Never again!". Through co-ordinated actions like chanting and marchingtogether, the individuals came to feel part of acollectivity, at least for the duration of thedemonstration.24

A major sponsor of the demonstration was alocal NGO, Japanese for Peace, which co-operated with other local organisations devotedto pacifism, environmental issues, the anti-nuclear cause and the issue of Aboriginal self-determination.25 Most speakers acknowledgedthe original Aboriginal custodians of the landthey stood on – the Wurundjeri people of theKulin nation – as is the practice at such publicevents in Australia. Other speakers came fromthe Greens Party and the Australian chapter ofthe International Campaign Against NuclearWeapons (ICAN). A remote indigenouscommunity sent a message that was broadcastboth in their indigenous language and English.A message from an anti-nuclear organisation inFukushima was read out in English translationtoo. The program was punctuated by interludesof taiko drumming. While the truck was beingpacked up in preparation for the march, thealbum "Human Error", from Japaneseperformers Frying Dutchman blasted out fromthe speakers on the truck. While maybe only asmall number of the participants could follow

the anti-nuclear lyrics in Japanese, they wouldhave responded to the raw punk energy of thispoetic rant set to music.26

In front of me on the library steps, a journalistlooked into a video-camera and presented areport for a television station back in Japan.Cameras, video-cameras and mobile phonecameras were ubiquitous on this occasion.People took photos and videos for their ownrecords, to post on UStream, Youtube,Facebook pages, blogs, or the websites of theirorganisations. The commemoration anddemonstration was streamed live, so thatanyone with an interest could tune in fromaround the world. The UStream video hadoccasional voiceovers in Japanese, commentingat times and translating parts of the mainlyEnglish-language speeches for a Japanese-speaking audience. In other words, new socialmedia enabled a series of rhythmical feedbackloops. While people in Melbourne and othercities followed the progress of the anti-nuclearmovement in Japan through social media, theyalso broadcast their own activities to theirfriends and comrades in Japan.

March 2013

One year later, around the second anniversaryin March 2013, survivors of the disaster touredAustralia to tell of their experiences. The tourwas called "Face to Face with Fukushima", andwas sponsored by an organisation called"Choose Nuclear Free" (formed through acollaboration between Friends of the Earth,Australia, the Medical Association for thePrevention of War, and ICAN). In each state,other local organisations co-operated in stagingevents. As well as touring several state capitalcities, the group visited the Aboriginal TentEmbassy in Canberra and the Ranger UraniumMine in the Northern Territory, where they metwith members of local indigenous communities.

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Figure 3: Poster for "Face to Face withFukushima Australian Tour, March 9-152013".27

I attended the Sydney event to hear thetestimonies of individuals who had beendirectly affected by the Fukushima disaster.Hasegawa Ken'ichi, a farmer from Iitate village,testified to his experiences. Kawasaki Akira, arepresentative of Peace Boat, spoke; and wealso heard from a representative of anindigenous community from the Illawarraregion, south of Sydney. Matsuoka Tomohiroacted as interpreter and represented Japanesefor Peace from Melbourne. In addition to the"Face to Face with Fukushima" speakers, therewere performances and a photographicexhibition. The poster for this event had a richred background. In the centre was abrushstroke forming a black circle, and thebottom right foreground was decorated with

drawings of white origami cranes. Inpreparation for the event, organisers andsupporters had also folded chains of origamicranes in remembrance. Origami has becomean important element of commemoration atFukushima-related events. It is well-known thatcranes are linked with the story of SasakiSadako, a girl from Hiroshima who died ofleukemia in the 1950s. As an infant, she hadbeen only a kilometre away from ground zerowhen the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Inher final stay in hospital she tried to fold onethousand paper cranes, as there is a legendthat wishes will be granted to someone whodoes this . She died, however, beforecompleting the one thousand, and theremainder were completed by her family.28

Origami cranes have now become aninternational symbol of peace, memorialisationand the anti-nuclear cause.29 When peoplecome together to fold origami cranes, stringthem together, and then present them as atribute, this is an embodied practice whichexpresses solidarity.

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Figure 4: Poster for "Remembering Fukushima:Two Years On".

August 2013

Japanese for Peace, one of the organisationssponsoring the Melbourne events, was formedin 2005 (the sixtieth anniversary year of theend of the Second World War) by somemembers of the expatriate Japanese communityin Melbourne. They were concerned to gobeyond the negative memories of the SecondWorld War, when Japan and Australia had beenantagonists. Japanese for Peace were keen tobuild new connections between citizens inAustralia and Japan.30 Over the last decade theyhave conducted a series of community events,focusing on such issues as enforced militaryprostitution/military sexual slavery in theSecond World War, the "pacifist clause" (Article9) of the Constitution of Japan, and nuclear

issues. In August every year they hold a peaceconcert in commemoration of the atomicbombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since2011, these commemorative events havebrought together the issues of Hiroshima,Nagasak i and Fukush ima as we l l asconnections with the nuclear industry, nuclearmining and nuclear testing in Australia.

In August 2013, the commemorative concertwas held at Deakin Edge, a venue for concerts,symposia and various public events. It is part ofan arts complex right in the city centre ofMelbourne. The arts venues encircle a publicspace –Federation Square –where peopleregularly gather for community festivals,demonstrations, or to watch sporting events onthe big screen. Unusual for such a venue, thewall behind the stage at Deakin Edge is glass.While the concert proceeded, other activitiestook place on the other side of the glass. I couldsee people rowing, jogging, cycl ing,skateboarding, strolling along, eating icecreams, picnicking, taking wedding photos. Thelife of the city on a mild weekend afternoonprovided a backdrop for the concert.

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Figure 5: Poster for "Hiroshima and NagasakiPeace Concert 2013".31

Figure 6: Performers in the "Hiroshima andNagasaki Peace Concert 2013" in the DeakinEdge at Federation Square. The Yarra Riverand the riverbank can be seen through theglass behind the stage. Photograph by VeraMackie.

Over the last decade these concerts and eventshave built up a repertoire of elements whichare repeated and adapted from year to year.

The iconography of the posters and fliers drawson recognisable symbols: the dove, the peacesymbol, the candle of remembrance, theorigami crane and images of nature. In the logoof the organisation, an origami crane is shownbeing released from two hands, appearing to flyinto a blue sky like a dove being released tosymbolise peace.

On entering Deakin Edge for the 2013 concert,the venue was full of psychedelic colours. Onthe back of each seat was a cardboard placardin hot pink, canary yellow or lime green. Eachplacard bore a peace symbol in red, with awhite shape that looked like a broken missile.33

The placards were made by local children andchildren visiting from Japan. The logo is that ofthe International Campaign to Abolish NuclearWeapons (ICAN), one of the sponsors of theevent. As the concert proceeded, it becameclear that these placards were more than justdecorations.

When ICAN representative Tim Wright spoke,he invited each participant to take the placardfrom their seat and hold it up in front of them.As with the placards carried by demonstratorsat earlier events, this action meant thatsolidarity was expressed through eachindividual acting together with the 200-or-soother audience members. A group of peoplewho had, until then, been sitting as an audiencepassively listening to speakers and performerswere now the centre of action. Photographerstook photos of the sea of lime green, canaryyellow and hot pink and posted them on theICAN website.34 Actions like this have much incommon with performance art, where thedistinction between performer and audience isblurred. Each person in the room became anintegral part of the event, rather than just aspectator.35

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Figure 7: Japanese for Peace Logo.32

Figure 8: Anti-nuclear logos on placards atDeakin Edge, Melbourne. Photograph by VeraMackie.

This action, however, was just one step in achain of embodied actions. The placardsthemselves had been made by local and visitingJapanese schoolchildren, an activity that forgedsolidarity between children of differentcountries. As in the second anniversary event inMarch 2011 in Sydney, origami cranes alsoformed a part of the ritual. A representative

from a local school presented a chain oforigami cranes to a member of the visitingHiroshima Junior Marimba Ensemble. Like theplacards, behind this simple ritual was the timespent by local children folding the cranes andstringing them together. In these ways, thebonds of solidarity reached into localcommunities well beyond the few hundredpeople who attended the concert.

Another feature of these events is the inclusionof performers who practise Japaneseperformance arts. In previous years, this hasincluded koto players, shakuhachi players andtaiko drummers. There are numerous troupesof taiko drummers in Australia. They oftenperform at community events involving theJapanese community, events celebratingmulticulturalism and diversity, or at openingsof major Japan-related academic conferences.This could be seen as an example o f'glocalisation', where cultural practices fromJapan are adapted and embedded in localcommunities. Taiko drumming is now a regularfeature of Japanese for Peace demonstrationsand concerts. This is quite a localisedadaptation: In Japan, taiko are associated withlocal festivals and celebrations rather thanpolitical demonstrations.36 The Wadaiko Rindōdrumming group played a major role in the2013 concert.

Rather than sending messages throughspeeches, the concert itself was structured sothat solidarity could be expressed throughmusic and performance. There were very shortspeeches from Tim Costello (the CEO ofinternational development agency WorldVision), Tim Wright (Australian Director ofICAN), Japanese for Peace co-founder KazuyoPreston, and MCs Matt Crosby and SaraMinamikawa. The sequencing of the actscreated meaning through the juxtaposition of,for example, the local chamber music ensembleOrchestra 21, the Australian PercussionAcademy, Wadaiko Rindō and the HiroshimaJunior Marimba Ensemble. These different

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kinds of music and percussion from differentcountries provided a tangible expression ofdiversity. Then, when the different groupsjammed together they performed co-operationand solidarity.

Figure 9: Wadaiko Rindō and the HiroshimaJunior Marimba Ensemble performing togetherat the "Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Concert2013" in the Deakin Edge at FederationSquare. Photograph by Vera Mackie.

Among the highlights of the concert were thesets performed by the Hiroshima JuniorMarimba Ensemble. The group was establishedin Hiroshima by Asada Mieko in 1991. Themembers of the ensemble all seem to be ofprimary school age, and play the marimba (akind of percussion instrument similar to axylophone), maracas, drums and whistles withextraordinary energy. As the troupe comesfrom Hiroshima, they are easily associated withanti-nuclear and pacifist issues. This is thereason that local children presented them withthe chains of origami cranes. Their music is inmany ways a festive performance of the formsof hybridity often associated with globalisation.A group of Japanese children perform a LatinAmerican style of music, transposing melodiesfrom Japan, China and Europe into this style. Inone set, however, they brandish Japanese andAustralian flags. This is, of course, a gesture forthe benefit of the Australian audience, but theuse of national symbols was at odds with thetone of the rest of the event. Nevertheless, theaudience was captivated by a youthful energy

which is hard to capture in words. Theensemble did not just play their percussioninstruments, they leapt around the stage,performed Chinese dragon dances, and ranfrom one end of the auditorium to the otherwhile the audience marked time by clappingtheir hands.37

The program also included Australianindigenous performer Bart Willoughby, knownfor fronting the pioneering indigenous rockband "No Fixed Address".38 There were nospeeches about indigenous issues. Rather,Wi l loughby's presence s ignal led anacknowledgment of the relevance of indigenousconcerns, and a recognition of the importanceof music in indigenous politics. AboriginalAustralians suffered from irradiation in the1950s when the British conducted atomic testsin Maralinga in central Australia; and theuranium mines in Australia are on indigenousland, albeit managed by transnational miningcorporations.39 The inclusion in the concert ofthe Hiroshima Junior Marimba Ensemble, localAustralian music ensembles, the Melbourne-based Wadaiko Rindō and Bart Willoughydemonstrated a recognition of the mutualconnectedness of the survivors of Hiroshima,Nagasaki, Fukushima and Maralinga. Both theAustralian and Japanese economies benefitfrom the dispossession of indigenous land andthe buying and selling of resources mined onthose lands. The shared presence of thesedifferent groups might also invite reflections onthese relationships of inequality betweenindividuals and groups at different points onthe nuclear cycle.

Conclusion

In the years since the Fukushima compounddisaster, a series of commemorative eventshave been held around the world. In this essayI have focused on events in Eastern Australia,mainly in the city of Melbourne. These eventshave built on a pre-existing repertoire ofpractices and symbols, while also creating new

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practices and new ways of performing andrepresenting feelings of empathy, solidarity andconnectedness. These events often defycategorisation, blending elements ofcommemoration, demonstration, politicalactivism and, at times, festival.

Individual feelings of sadness, concern andanger are brought together as collectiveexpressions of solidarity through a range ofembodied practices: preparing placards,folding origami cranes, stringing themtogether, carrying placards in demonstrations,presenting strings of origami cranes to visitors,marching through the streets, chanting in calland response sequences, clapping in time to amusical rhythm, or coming together for a groupphotograph of a mass of colourful anti-nuclearplacards.

The iconography of these events also draws onpre-existing symbols, at times investing themwith new meanings. The peace symbol, whichbegan as a logo designed for a specific anti-nuclear event in 1950s Britain, has become atransnational symbol for pacifism. The symbolfor radioactivity is still recognisable as such,but its very recognisability makes it easilyparodied for use in association with anti-nuclear messages. The origami crane hasmoved from a folk practice in Japan to a morespecific association with the aftermath ofHiroshima; and the practice of folding origamicranes has been adopted around the world as agesture of sympathy and solidarity for thesuffering of Hiroshima. It has now beenadapted, at least in Australia, to expresssympathy and solidarity for the suffering ofFukushima. In some visual texts, the origamicrane takes on some characteristics of thewhite dove of peace.

Events commemorating the compound disasterof Fukushima also reference the nuclearbombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In placeof the catchphrase "No more Hiroshima, nomore Nagasaki" we now pronounce "No more

Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki, no moreFukushima".40 Each one of these place namesnow references the others. Each iteration ofthese commemorative events reinforces theconnectedness of these events and places.When we remember Hiroshima, we nowremember it through the prism of Fukushima,leading to a new understanding of the nuclearcycle in which we are entangled.

The events described here have been enactedin key sites around the city of Melbourne (andother major cities). The concerns of a rathersmall group of interlocking activist networksand community organisations have thus beenimprinted on the streets of the city. For manypar t ic ipants and specta tors , thesecommemorative events are overlaid withmemories of other demonstrations, vigils andevents that have taken place on the same sites.Indeed, these become embodied memories,reactivated each time we march through thestreets or chant the call and response.

In the particular context of Australia, theinclusion of indigenous Australian participantsin these commemorative events reminds us ofour place in the global nuclear cycle. Theeconomies of Japan and Australia are boundtogether through the import and export ofuranium and other mineral resources. Ourhistories are bound together through a past ofconflict and a present of diasporic movements.The transnational history of nuclear testing,nuclear power generation and nuclearweaponry ties together the Manhattan projectin Nevada, the bombing of Hiroshima andNagasaki, nuclear testing in the Pacific andoutback Australia, uranium mining in outbackAustralia, and the recent tragedy in Fukushima.Through the repetition of commemorativerituals, memories of tragic events areconstantly being reframed.

No more Hiroshima.

No more Nagasaki.

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No more Fukushima.

No more Maralinga.

Recommended Citation: Vera Mackie,"Fukushima, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Maralinga (フクシマ、ヒロシマ、ナガサキ、そしてマラリンガ)", The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue6, No. 5, February 16, 2015.

Biography

Vera Mackie is Senior Professor of AsianStudies in the Faculty of Law, Humanities andthe Arts at the University of Wollongong, whereshe is Research Leader of the Forum on HumanRights Research. She is the co-editor (withMark McLelland) of The Routledge Handbookof Sexuality Studies in East Asia (2015) and co-editor (with Andrea Germer and Ulrike Wöhr)of Gender, Nation and State in Modern Japan(Routledge 2014).

Notes

1 This essay draws on research completed aspart of an Australian Research Council-fundedproject 'From Human Rights to HumanSecurity: Changing Paradigms for Dealing withInequality in the Asia-Pacific Region'(FT0992328). I would like to express my thanksto Kazuyo Preston and Tim Wright forpermission to reproduce their photographs andposters. I am also grateful to Laura Hein(editor, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus),my co-editor Alexander Brown, and thejournal's reviewers for constructive commentson earlier drafts.

2 Mark Willacy, Fukushima: Japan's Tsunamiand the Inside Story of the Nuclear Meltdown,Sydney, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013.

3 See also: Vera Mackie, "Reflections: TheRhythms of Internationalisation in Post-Disaster Japan", in Jeremy Breaden, StaceyStee le and Caro lyn Stevens (eds . ) ,Internationalising Japan: Discourse and

Practice, London, Routledge, 2014, pp.195–206.

4 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation ofCultures, New York, Basic Books, pp. 3–30.

5 I was reminded of the experience of watchingthe events of 11 September 2001 ("9/11")unfold on my television screen in Melbourneover a decade ago. Once the abbreviation"3/11" started to be used, this provided furtherresonance with "9/11". In the decade since"9/11" the advances in new social media havemade huge differences in the speed with whichinformation can be disseminated. Smartphones, for example, make it easy forindividuals to disseminate photographs orvideos of catastrophic events beforeconventional media appear on the scene.

6 Aus tra l ian Government Bureau o fMeteorology, "Tsunami Event Summary, Friday1 1 M a r c h 2 0 1 1 "(http://www.bom.gov.au/tsunami/history/20110311.shtml). Retrieved on 2 April 2014.

7 "Japan Tsunami Victim's Soccer Ball Found inA l a s k a "(http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/Japan-tsun a m i - v i c t i m - s - s o c c e r - b a l l - f o u n d - i n -Alaska-3504535.php), San Francisco Chronicle,23 April 2012. Retrieved on 25 July 2012;"Workers Cut Up Tsunami Dock on OregonB e a c h "(http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120803a4.html), Japan Times, 3 August 2012. Retrievedon 4 August 2012.

8 Atsushi Fujioka, "Understanding the OngoingNuclear Disaster in Fukushima: A 'Two-HeadedDragon' Descends into the Earth's Biosphere"(https://apjjf.org/-Fujioka-Atsushi/3599), TheAsia-Pacific Journal, vol. 9, iss. 37, no. 3, 2011.Translated by Michael K. Bourdaghs. Retrievedon 25 July 2012.

9 Leslie M. Tkach-Kawasaki, "March 2011 On-Line: Comparing Japanese News Websites and

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International News Websites", in Jeff Kingston(ed.), Natural Disaster and Nuclear Crisis inJapan: Response and Recovery after Japan's3/11, London, Routledge, 2012, pp. 109–23.

10 David H. Slater, Keiko Nishimura and LoveKindstrand, "Social Media, Information andPolitical Activism in Japan's 3.11 Crisis"(https://apjjf.org/-Nishimura-Keiko/3762), TheAsia-Pacific Journal, vol. 24, no. 1, 2012.Retrieved on 24 July 2012.

11 Slater, Nishimura and Kindstrand, "SocialMedia, Information and Political Activism inJapan's 3.11 Crisis".

12 Jennifer Robertson, "From Uniqlo to NGOs:The Problematic 'Culture of Giving' in Inter-D i s a s t e r J a p a n "(https://apjjf.org/-Jennifer-Robertson/3747), TheAsia-Pacific Journal, vol. 10, no. 18, 2012.Retrieved on 27 July 2012.

13 March 2014 marked the sixtieth anniversaryof the Daigo Fukuryū Maru (Lucky Dragon No5) Incident, almost coinciding with the thirdanniversary of the Fukushima Disaster. Theirradiation of the crew of the Lucky Dragon wasa major impetus for the international nucleardisarmament campaign in the 1950s.

14 John F. Morris, "Charity Concert, Paris, forQ u a k e / T s u n a m i V i c t i m s "(http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=hjapan&month=1103&week=c&msg=yUaj7LVPfTMEegFKrPb8rQ&user=&pw=), H-Japan Discussion List , 19 March 2011.Retrieved on 8 August 2012. Japan: Fissures int h e P l a n e t a r y A p p a r a t u s(http://www.jfissures.org/events). 2012.Retrieved on 17 August 2012.

15 "Heartfelt appeal by Fukushima mothers"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByHsPS8Maa0), 17 May 2011. Retrieved on 24 July 2012;Junko Horiuchi, "Moms rally around anti-nukec a u s e "(http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20110709f

2.html), Japan Times, 9 July 2011. Retrieved on17 August 2012; David H. Slater, "FukushimaWomen against Nuclear Power: Finding a Voicef r o m T o h o k u "(https://apjjf.org/events/view/117), The Asia-Pacific Journal. Retrieved on 17 August 2012.

16 See the essays by Brown, Kilpatrick andStevens in this issue.

17 To be more precise, the nuclear age startedwith the Manhattan Project and nuclear testingin the Nevada desert, but it is the names of"Hiroshima" and "Nagasaki" that have instantrecognition. Oda Makoto, in his novelHiroshima, translated as The Bomb, was one ofthe first to explore the global dimensions of thenuclear age, including nuclear testing in thePacific and outback Australia. Oda Makoto,Hiroshima, Tokyo, Kōdansha, 1981; OdaMakoto, The Bomb, translated by D. HughWhittaker, Tokyo, Kodansha International,1990. As I discuss below, the name 'Maralinga',where indigenous Australians and militarypersonnel suffered the effects of British atomictesting in outback Australia in the 1950s,should also be added to this list.

18 Manuel Yang, "Hydrangea Revolution"(http://www.jfissures.org/2012/06/23/hydrangea-revolution/), Japan: Fissures in the PlanetaryApparatus, 2012. Retrieved on 13 August 2012;Slater, Nishimura and Kindstrand, "SocialMedia, Information and Political Activism inJapan's 3.11 Crisis".

1 9 K a z P r e s t o n ' s G a l l e r y(https://picasaweb.google.com/115262206728751502468/MelbourneVigilForThePeopleOfJapan17March2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJXb05nfl6_gDQ&noredirect=1). Retrieved on 3 April 2014.

20 See Alexander Brown's discussion (in thisissue) of Chim↑Pom, who transformed a whiteflag successively into a Japanese national flagwith a red circle, and then into a red version ofthe radioactivity symbol. See a similarm o r p h i n g

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(http://justicewithpeace.org/node/4970) of theradioactivity symbol into a human face on anotice for a vigil in Boston. Retrieved on 3 April2014.

2 1 "Photos of 11 March Day of Action inM e l b o u r n e "(https://plus.google.com/photos/110720933946300644888/albums/5719209874599926881/5719209874329825250?banner=pwa&authkey=CM72rcXTm9yvPg&pid=5719209874329825250&oid=110720933946300644888). Retrieved on2 April 2014. See also the UStream video(http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21023506).Retrieved on 3 April 2014.

22 While beyond the scope of this essay, theestablishment of the nuclear power industry inpost-war Japan was also an international affair,involving advice from such US corporations asGeneral Electric. More recently the Japanesenuclear power industry has been involved inthe international promotion of the nuclearindustry in third world countries. Yuki Tanakaand Peter Kuznick, "Japan, the Atomic Bomb,and the 'Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Power'"(http://www.japanfocus.org/-yuki-tanaka/3521),The Asia-Pacific Journal vol. 9, iss. 18, no. 1,2011. Retrieved on 13 August 2012; Craig D.Nelson "The Energy of a Bright Tomorrow: TheR i s e o f N u c l e a r P o w e r i n J a p a n "(http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/origins/article.cfm?articleid=57). Origins vol. 4, no. 9, 2011.Retrieved on 17 August 2012; Philip Brasor,"Nuclear Policy was Once Sold by Japan'sm e d i a "(http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fd20110522pb.html), Japan Times, 22 May 2011. Retrievedon 17 August 2012.

23 Australia holds an estimated 31 per cent ofthe world's uranium resources. World NuclearAssoc iat ion , "Austra l ia ' s Uranium"(http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/Australia/). Retrieved on 2April 2014. As at the end of 2008, Japan boughtaround 23 per cent of Australia's uranium

exports. Clayton Utz, Uranium Mining Policy inAustralia, Sydney, Clayton Utz, March 2013, p.5 . Re t r i eved on 2 Apr i l 2014 , f r omhttp://www.claytonutz.com.au/docs/Uranium_Mining_Policy.pdf. TEPCO buys 30 per cent of itsuranium from Australia. Although a majorsupplier of uranium to the international nuclearpower industry, Australia does not generatenuclear power, except for one scientific reactorin Sydney's Lucas Heights. The decision toexport uranium in the 1970s was controversialand brought anti-nuclear demonstrators out onto the streets of capital cities (part of my ownmemories from student days) and to the remoteindigenous communities where the mines wereestablished. See Brian Martin, "The AustralianAnti-nuclear Movement", Alternatives:Perspectives on Society and Environment, vol.10, no. 4, 1982, pp. 26–35; Helen Hintjens,"Environmental Direct Action in Australia: TheCase of the Jabiluka Mine", CommunityDevelopment Journal, vol. 4, no. 4, 2000, pp.377–390; Alexander Brown, "GlobalisingR e s i s t a n c e t o R a d i a t i o n "(http://mutinyzine.blog.com/2012/08/18/globalising-resistance-to-radiation/), Mutiny, 18 August2012. Retrieved on 13 April 2014. MatsuokaTomohiro, "Uran Saikutsuchi kara Fukushima eno Ōsutoraria Senjūmin no Manazashi" [TheGaze of Australian Indigenous People from theUranium Mining Area to Fukushima], inYamanouchi Yuriko (ed.) Ōsutoraria Senjūminto Nihon: Senjūmingaku, Kōryū, Hyōshō[Australian Indigenous People and Japan:Indigenous Studies, Connections andRepresentation], Tokyo, Ochanomizu Shobō,2014, pp. 165–185.

2 4 O n t h e e m b o d i e d d i m e n s i o n s o fdemonstrations see also: Vera Mackie,"Embodied Memories, Emotional Geographies:Nakamoto Takako's Diary of the AnpoStruggle", Japanese Studies, vol. 31, no. 3,2011, pp. 319–331.

25 Japanese for Peace. "11 March Day of Actionto End Uranium Mining: Fukushima One Year

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On" (http://www.11march.com/melbourne/).Retr ieved on 13 August 2012 . Th i sorganisation will be discussed further below.

26 For the lyrics of Human Error in Japaneseand English, see the website Human ErrorP a r a d e(http://fryingdutchman.jp/lyric.php#fragment-2). Retrieved on 3 April 2014.

2 7 T h e p o s t e r(http://www.choosenuclearfree.net/) wasretrieved on 2 April 2014.

28 Eleanor Coerr, Sadako and the ThousandPaper Cranes, New York, Putnam, 1977.

29 For an example of the origami crane as anexpression of solidarity, see the photograph ofKawasaki Natsu (1889–1966) presenting anorigami crane to a Latvian child on a tour of theSoviet Union after attending the Women'sInternational Democratic Federation's WorldCongress of Mothers in Lausanne in 1955."Nihon no Haha Soren o Iku" [JapaneseMothers go to the Soviet Union], Ōru Soren [AllSoviet Union], Vol. 2, No 1, 1956, p. 68. On theJapanese women's participation in the WorldCongress of Mothers (where the nuclear issuewas a major theme in the year after the LuckyDragon Incident), see Vera Mackie, "FromHiroshima to Lausanne: The World Congress ofMothers and the Hahaoya Taikai in the 1950s",Women's History Review, in press.

3 0 J a p a n e s e f o r P e a c e . ' A b o u t J f P '(http://jfp.org.au/en/about/). Retrieved on 13August 2012. Despite the name, not all of thoseassociated with the group are of Japanesenationality or ethnicity. I have been involvedwith the group in the past as a speaker at theirseminars. For the purposes of this essay,however, I draw only on publicly availableinformation.

3 1 T h e p o s t e r(http://jfp.org.au/en/2013/07/17/hiroshima-nagasaki-peace-concert-2013/) was retrieved on 2

April 2014.

32 The logo (http://jfp.org.au) was retrieved on 2April 2014.

33 The peace symbol (a circle bisected by avertical line, with two more diagonal lines), wasdesigned by Gerald Holtom for the BritishCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1958.The vertical line is the semaphore signal for theletter "D", while the line with two "arms"pointing down is the semaphore signal for "N".Together, they spell the initials of "NuclearDisarmament". The symbol is now widely usedin peace movements and anti-nuclearmovements. Ken Kolsbun with Mike Sweeney,Peace: The Biography of a Symbol, WashingtonDC, National Geographic, 2008.

3 4 S e e t h e p h o t o g r a p h(http://www.icanw.org/action/ban-nuclear-weapons-now/). Retrieved on 2 April 2014.

35 See my discussion of Yoko Ono's performancepieces from the 1960s, where there was asimilar blurring of the roles of spectator andperformer. It is interesting that Ono herselfmoved from quite abstract happenings andperformance pieces to happenings with a moreovertly political intent, such as the "Bed-In forPeace" with John Lennon and the constantreworking of "Cut Piece". Vera Mackie,"Instructing, Constructing, Deconstructing: TheEmbodied and Disembodied Performances ofYoko Ono", in Roy Starrs (ed.), RethinkingJapanese Modernisms, Leiden, Global Oriental,2012, pp. 490–501. Ono is one of the celebritieswho sends a message of solidarity on the ICANwebsite. Retrieved on 5 April. See here(http://www.icanw.org/au/).

36 On glocalisation, see: Anne Allison, MillennialMonsters: Japanese Toys and the GlobalImagination, Berkeley, University of CaliforniaPress, 2006, p. 281, n. 4. On taiko drumming asa global phenomenon, see Shawn MorganBender, Taiko Boom: Japanese Drumming inPlace and Motion, Berkeley, University of

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California Press, 2012.

37 See: "Hiroshima Junior Marimba EnsembleJ F P 2 0 1 3 "(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbtDPGcUCl0). Retrieved on 5 April 2014.

3 8 O n t h e s e p e r f o r m e r s s e e :https://www.facebook.com/bartwilloughbyband.willoughby; www.orchestra21.org.au;w w w . p e r c u s s i o n a c a d e m y . c o m . a u ;w w w . w a d a i k o r i n d o . c o m ;www6.ocn.ne.jp/~marimba. Retrieved on 4April 2014. On "No Fixed Address" and theplace of music in indigenous Australian politics,see Chris Gibson, "'We Sing Our Home, We

Dance Our Land ' : Ind igenous Se l f -determination and Contemporary Geopolitics inAustralian Popular Music", Environment andPlanning D: Society and Space, vol. 16, no. 2,pp. 163–184.

39 See: ICAN, Black Mist: The Impact of NuclearW e a p o n s i n A u s t r a l i a(http://www.icanw.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BlackMist-FINAL-Web.pdf), Carlton,ICAN, 2014. Retrieved on 5 April 2014.

40 See, for example, this blogger's reflection(http://ancienttofuture.com/2011/08/07/no-more-hiroshima-no-more-fukushima/) on the firstHiroshima anniversary after Fukushima (thatis, August 2011). Retrieved on 5 April 2013.