Fukushima evacuees share their feelings through comic books

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SAKAI – Nobuko Shiga is still working through the trauma of the Fukushima nuclear crisis that devastated her hometown and turned her life upside down.

But she decided to channel her pent-up anger into creating something positive that might aid the healing process.

She created two picture books in hopes of sharing her feelings and experiences, and hopes to convey stories from her early life along with what happened after that fateful day.

When the 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck on March 11, 2011, Shiga, now 81, was living with her retired husband in Nami in eastern Fukushima Prefecture.

The accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant No. 1 of the Tokyo Electric Power Corporation, which is located only 9 kilometers southeast of their home, radically changed the course of her life.

She left home with her pet dog Shiba Inu, named Ran, a day after the disaster. She traveled by car and spent nights in a gymnasium in a mountainous area and at Fukushima Airport before arriving in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, where her daughter lives.

Shiga is left stumbling over the way she was treated while trying to open a bank account there for her new life. Employees at two Shiga banks told she couldn’t get one, after learning that she was fleeing Fukushima Prefecture.

The bank’s operators later apologized, but they still don’t have a clear explanation of why. Looking at the accident, Shiga believes the nuclear crisis was most likely the reason for the banks’ refusal, and said she still feels heartache over it.

Radioactive precipitation made it impossible for the population to freely enter the namii. Shiga was planning to enjoy her golden years with her husband in their home. But the yard is left to grow in the wild and her friends are forced to live apart from each other.

But Shiga soon learns that Bungeisha has been looking for scripts for the comic books. She quickly finished writing her first title, “Nagai Orusuban” (Sitting in the Long House).

Nobuko Shiga presents her two picture books on October 15 in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. Follow Favorite

The book contains paintings by Shiro Ishiguro. It was sold for sale on an online book marketplace and elsewhere in 2019 for 1,210 yen ($10.50), including taxes. A digital version is also available.

At work, a dog named Ran, just like Shiga, is suddenly separated from his owner, a young boy. Ran spends days with a pig, chicken, and cows, and they all band together to work together.

While the real-life Ran died peacefully at the end of his normal life five years ago, many of the animals that were left in the area affected by the nuclear accident died of starvation.

Shiga said that she could not forget a pig that suddenly came out of the bush and approached her, as if from the pleasure of meeting a human, when she temporarily returned to Nami.

Her hope of consoling abandoned animal spirits led her to work on the title.

Shiga completed a course at Fukushima University and once worked as a Japanese language teacher at a high school in Fukushima Prefecture. But this was her first time creating a picture book.

Despite this, the publication received an enthusiastic response from readers. Munyuki Sato, a famous singer based in Sendai, said he “read it in tears.”

In September of this year, Bungisha released her second work, “Kaminari Ojisan” (The Lightning Old Man), drawn by Kenji Tezuka, for 1,100 yen, including taxes.

It begins with the sound of a wooden clapper made by comic card theater organizer Kamishibai. Shiga said that she ran to this kind of stage with pocket money in her hands during her childhood, every time she heard the unique applause.

Reflecting the creator’s special days as a child in the eastern part of Fukushima Prefecture, the work depicts a summer exchange between children and an old man who performs Kamishibai plays in a somewhat ambiguous atmosphere.

“Local acquaintances said the picture book brought back good memories from days gone by,” Shiga said shyly.

Shiga was born in 1940 and lived in Saitama, Fukuoka, Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures because of her father, who worked for the former Japan National Railways, and moved several times for his job.

She said that few children in faraway Sakai know much about the nuclear accident.

“The disaster should not be forgotten,” Shiga said. “I want readers to understand that something like this can happen as long as there are nuclear plants on Earth.”

While talking to friends of the same age from Fukushima Prefecture, Shiga can’t help but ask herself, “Why was our life?”

They spent their childhood days in the aftermath of World War II and worked hard, only to find themselves deprived of their normal lives by a nuclear disaster.

Shiga hasn’t made a decision about publishing her next book, but said she doesn’t plan to wait for her life to end just by doing nothing.

“I don’t want to live in a daze,” she said. “I will leave something as a legacy.”

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