最近、インターナショナルな発信が続いています。Herald Tribune 英字朝日新聞の文化欄で紹介されました。
記事の中味はこちらです。
Weekend/ CULTURE & MORE:
Film offers big-picture look at nuclear power issue
BY SHOKO AZUMA, STAFF WRITER
2008/7/4
Hitomi Kamanaka (LOUIS TEMPLADO/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
"Although it is a matter of importance to everyone who uses electricity in Japan, it has been treated as if it only concerns people living in a remote village in Aomori Prefecture," says Hitomi Kamanaka, referring to the controversial Rokkasho nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.
It was late at night during the holiday season in May. Dozens of people came to see the fourth edition of the 50-year-old filmmaker's serialized documentary, "Rokkashomura Tsushin" (Newsletter from Rokkasho village) and take part in a discussion after the showing at a small movie theater in Tokyo's Shibuya area.
Rokkasho, a small village with a population of 11,462, is ground zero for Japan's nuclear fuel recycling efforts. Along with the reprocessing plant are high/low-level radioactive waste sites and a uranium-enrichment plant.
The reprocessing plant, which extracts plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel, is now in the final phase of its trial operation. Plant operator Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) plans to complete final testing this month, the last step before the plant goes online.
In Kamanaka's latest "newsletter," a woman from Towada, a neighboring city, asks rhetorically, "Should I continue to grow organic rice even when the reprocessing plant goes into full swing?"
Another scene shows a government official saying, "Radioactive materials emitted from the plant will be diffused in the atmosphere and the sea. Its amount will be negligible and safe. There will be no danger to humans."
Kamanaka, an associate professor at Tokyo University of Technology's School of Media Science, has worked on the Rokkasho issue since April 2004. She visited the village dozens of times and released "Rokkashomura Tsushin" No. 1 through No. 3 between 2004 and 2005. The films served as prelude to a 119-minute documentary "Rokkashomura Rhapsody" in 2006. The documentaries examine the lives of locals, including both supporters and protesters of the nuclear recycling project.
Tsushin No. 4 was filmed from August 2007 to February this year. It explores how concerns about the Rokkasho facility have spread outside the village since the release of "Rokkashomura Rhapsody."
A group of surfers nationwide has joined fishermen in areas neighboring Aomori to circulate a petition against the facility. Musical events were organized in Tokyo and other areas. Activists held a peace walk from Shimane Prefecture to Rokkasho and planted trees when they arrived.
Kamanaka said: "When I was shooting 'Rokkashomura Rhapsody,' there wasn't a grass-roots movement out there. However, over the last two years, people have started to take action to try to stop the plant from opening. This change allowed me to film another update."
Kamanaka didn't intend to make an anti-nuclear documentary. "My films can be compared to imperfect drawings. The audience applies the colors," she said. "I always try to make films that give it to the audience straight."
"Things are not so simple in the real world," she said, referring to the jobs nuclear facilities provide. It is unlikely these workers will protest against their employers. And, in fact, nuclear power plants generate a third of Japan's electricity. "I wanted to make a documentary that lets viewers form a complete picture of the issue," she said.
Born in Himi, Toyama Prefecture, Kamanaka was a tomboy. "Classes were often boring," she said. "I couldn't sit still, so I sneaked outside to play." However, that doesn't mean she didn't like to study. "I was a bookworm. I read all of the books at the local library. I read my favorite writer, Jules Verne's novels, at least five times each," she said.
While her mother tried to train her so she would be a good wife in the future, Kamanaka's yearning for adventure grew. "Living in a small village, I could not feel the outside world. I decided I wanted to see the big world as an explorer or a journalist." To help her reach her goal, she started studying English seriously as a junior high school student.
At Waseda University, she joined the expedition club. For her last trip before graduation, she planned to travel through Indonesia by motorcycle. But she had to give up the journey when her mother suddenly became ill.
Instead, she helped her boyfriend make a movie. "Through the experience, I realized that even I could make a film," she said. She quickly changed her career goal to filmmaker.
Graduating from Waseda in 1984, she entered the movie industry as a freelance assistant director. From 1990 to 1993, she trained in filmmaking in Canada on a government-subsidized program. Next, she moved to New York to work as "media activist" for alternative media Paper Tiger Television.
After returning to Japan in 1995, Kamanaka made documentary programs on health care for Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK). Through her work, she became acquainted with a woman active in bringing medicine to Iraq. This connection took her to the war-torn nation in 1998. "I saw many Iraqis suffering from radioactive contamination (through proximity to) depleted uranium shells following the Gulf War," she said.
As a result, Kamanaka made a documentary on the disputed issue, but her TV program generated very little reaction from viewers. "I was so disappointed," she said. "I started thinking about how to reach audiences more effectively."
In 2003, she released the documentary film, "Hibakusha: at the End of the World," on nuclear contamination and radiation victims in Japan, Iraq and the United States.
"Rokkashomura Rhapsody" serves as a sequel to "Hibakusha."
"I started filming the Rokkasho issue because I didn't want to say there was nothing we could do about it," Kamanaka said.
Furthermore, she, like other Japanese, had never had the opportunity to give her opinion on whether Japan should use nuclear energy.
She said: "People say things like: the reprocessing plant costs about 2.2 trillion yen, you can't waste it; it is sort of a national project; and it's too late to protest. But I think if you simply say it can't be helped, it means you are giving up your future. I would like to ask those people if they are OK with that."
"Rokkashomura Rhapsody" has been screened in about 370 municipalities across the nation. Around 100,000 people have watched the film so far, according to Kamanaka. In addition to these screenings, free previews were given in six cities in Aomori Prefecture, including Rokkasho.
"Only six people came to see the film in Rokkasho. But one of them told me it was a film that everybody in the village should watch," she said.
Many young people who have watched her documentaries, especially young women, are starting to take action, according to Kamanaka. For example, three female office workers in Tokyo recently started selling postcards, with the message "Do we really need reprocessing plants?" They are asking people to send these cards to six others and ask them to do the same.
However, Kamanaka says she does not intend her work to be seen as anti-nuclear propaganda.
Actually, the filmmaker is sympathetic to the views of some supporters of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. "Advocates and opponents are not enemies. At times, they can understand or sympathize with each other, which could lead to a solution of some kind," she said. "I hope my documentaries can offer the audience food for thought."
* * *
For more information about the movie, visit .(IHT/Asahi: July 4,2008)
記事の中味はこちらです。
Weekend/ CULTURE & MORE:
Film offers big-picture look at nuclear power issue
BY SHOKO AZUMA, STAFF WRITER
2008/7/4
Hitomi Kamanaka (LOUIS TEMPLADO/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
"Although it is a matter of importance to everyone who uses electricity in Japan, it has been treated as if it only concerns people living in a remote village in Aomori Prefecture," says Hitomi Kamanaka, referring to the controversial Rokkasho nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.
It was late at night during the holiday season in May. Dozens of people came to see the fourth edition of the 50-year-old filmmaker's serialized documentary, "Rokkashomura Tsushin" (Newsletter from Rokkasho village) and take part in a discussion after the showing at a small movie theater in Tokyo's Shibuya area.
Rokkasho, a small village with a population of 11,462, is ground zero for Japan's nuclear fuel recycling efforts. Along with the reprocessing plant are high/low-level radioactive waste sites and a uranium-enrichment plant.
The reprocessing plant, which extracts plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel, is now in the final phase of its trial operation. Plant operator Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) plans to complete final testing this month, the last step before the plant goes online.
In Kamanaka's latest "newsletter," a woman from Towada, a neighboring city, asks rhetorically, "Should I continue to grow organic rice even when the reprocessing plant goes into full swing?"
Another scene shows a government official saying, "Radioactive materials emitted from the plant will be diffused in the atmosphere and the sea. Its amount will be negligible and safe. There will be no danger to humans."
Kamanaka, an associate professor at Tokyo University of Technology's School of Media Science, has worked on the Rokkasho issue since April 2004. She visited the village dozens of times and released "Rokkashomura Tsushin" No. 1 through No. 3 between 2004 and 2005. The films served as prelude to a 119-minute documentary "Rokkashomura Rhapsody" in 2006. The documentaries examine the lives of locals, including both supporters and protesters of the nuclear recycling project.
Tsushin No. 4 was filmed from August 2007 to February this year. It explores how concerns about the Rokkasho facility have spread outside the village since the release of "Rokkashomura Rhapsody."
A group of surfers nationwide has joined fishermen in areas neighboring Aomori to circulate a petition against the facility. Musical events were organized in Tokyo and other areas. Activists held a peace walk from Shimane Prefecture to Rokkasho and planted trees when they arrived.
Kamanaka said: "When I was shooting 'Rokkashomura Rhapsody,' there wasn't a grass-roots movement out there. However, over the last two years, people have started to take action to try to stop the plant from opening. This change allowed me to film another update."
Kamanaka didn't intend to make an anti-nuclear documentary. "My films can be compared to imperfect drawings. The audience applies the colors," she said. "I always try to make films that give it to the audience straight."
"Things are not so simple in the real world," she said, referring to the jobs nuclear facilities provide. It is unlikely these workers will protest against their employers. And, in fact, nuclear power plants generate a third of Japan's electricity. "I wanted to make a documentary that lets viewers form a complete picture of the issue," she said.
Born in Himi, Toyama Prefecture, Kamanaka was a tomboy. "Classes were often boring," she said. "I couldn't sit still, so I sneaked outside to play." However, that doesn't mean she didn't like to study. "I was a bookworm. I read all of the books at the local library. I read my favorite writer, Jules Verne's novels, at least five times each," she said.
While her mother tried to train her so she would be a good wife in the future, Kamanaka's yearning for adventure grew. "Living in a small village, I could not feel the outside world. I decided I wanted to see the big world as an explorer or a journalist." To help her reach her goal, she started studying English seriously as a junior high school student.
At Waseda University, she joined the expedition club. For her last trip before graduation, she planned to travel through Indonesia by motorcycle. But she had to give up the journey when her mother suddenly became ill.
Instead, she helped her boyfriend make a movie. "Through the experience, I realized that even I could make a film," she said. She quickly changed her career goal to filmmaker.
Graduating from Waseda in 1984, she entered the movie industry as a freelance assistant director. From 1990 to 1993, she trained in filmmaking in Canada on a government-subsidized program. Next, she moved to New York to work as "media activist" for alternative media Paper Tiger Television.
After returning to Japan in 1995, Kamanaka made documentary programs on health care for Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK). Through her work, she became acquainted with a woman active in bringing medicine to Iraq. This connection took her to the war-torn nation in 1998. "I saw many Iraqis suffering from radioactive contamination (through proximity to) depleted uranium shells following the Gulf War," she said.
As a result, Kamanaka made a documentary on the disputed issue, but her TV program generated very little reaction from viewers. "I was so disappointed," she said. "I started thinking about how to reach audiences more effectively."
In 2003, she released the documentary film, "Hibakusha: at the End of the World," on nuclear contamination and radiation victims in Japan, Iraq and the United States.
"Rokkashomura Rhapsody" serves as a sequel to "Hibakusha."
"I started filming the Rokkasho issue because I didn't want to say there was nothing we could do about it," Kamanaka said.
Furthermore, she, like other Japanese, had never had the opportunity to give her opinion on whether Japan should use nuclear energy.
She said: "People say things like: the reprocessing plant costs about 2.2 trillion yen, you can't waste it; it is sort of a national project; and it's too late to protest. But I think if you simply say it can't be helped, it means you are giving up your future. I would like to ask those people if they are OK with that."
"Rokkashomura Rhapsody" has been screened in about 370 municipalities across the nation. Around 100,000 people have watched the film so far, according to Kamanaka. In addition to these screenings, free previews were given in six cities in Aomori Prefecture, including Rokkasho.
"Only six people came to see the film in Rokkasho. But one of them told me it was a film that everybody in the village should watch," she said.
Many young people who have watched her documentaries, especially young women, are starting to take action, according to Kamanaka. For example, three female office workers in Tokyo recently started selling postcards, with the message "Do we really need reprocessing plants?" They are asking people to send these cards to six others and ask them to do the same.
However, Kamanaka says she does not intend her work to be seen as anti-nuclear propaganda.
Actually, the filmmaker is sympathetic to the views of some supporters of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. "Advocates and opponents are not enemies. At times, they can understand or sympathize with each other, which could lead to a solution of some kind," she said. "I hope my documentaries can offer the audience food for thought."
* * *
For more information about the movie, visit .(IHT/Asahi: July 4,2008)