Interim Report on Fukushima Accident released

A government panel on Fukushima disaster investigation released an interim report yesterday in Japan. A growing conviction in Japan that I observed in my three visits since last April is that this nuclear disaster was rather man-made disaster rather than subsequent failure caused by the earthquake and tsunami. Disaster warnings in previous years had been ignored, regulatory systems had not been strictly observed, and finally evacuation was poorly managed when the disaster did happen. In short, it is a man-made disaster affecting all aspects of society in Japan, sociopolitical and economic life, and spiritually.


I browsed a couple of prominent Japanese newspapers and provide a few highlights below:

Mainichi Japan has the gist of the interim report including the following notes on December 26, 2011.

The government:
-- failed to communicate well within the prime minister's office.
-- had problems gathering information through channels stipulated in the nuclear disaster response manual.
-- did not use in issuing evacuation orders data from a computer system to predict the dispersal of released radioactive materials.
-- failed to fully use a facility planned to serve as the local headquarters as it was unprepared for a rise in radiation levels.

TEPCO:
-- misunderstood the functioning status of the No. 1 reactor's cooling system called the isolation condenser.
-- had not trained reactor operators sufficiently to handle the isolation condenser.
-- mishandled the No. 3 reactor's emergency cooling system.
-- might have been able to lessen the damage of fuel inside the Nos. 1 and 3 reactors if it acted more appropriately.

The investigation committee:
-- calls for the need to be prepared for low-probability events if the possible consequences could cause extremely huge damage.
-- calls for the need to consider the possibility that a nuclear accident can occur in combination with natural disasters.
-- believes that people involved in considering the country's nuclear disaster measures lacked a broader perspective on the issue.
-- has so far not confirmed that reactor vessels were damaged by the March 11 earthquake, before being hit by ensuing tsunami waves.

In Asahi Shimbun several articles are available including the viewpoints of the panelists as below:

"There are many important weak points in the safety of Japan's nuclear plants so it is implausible that everything would be all right as long as tsunami measures were implemented," said Yoshioka, whose specialty is the history of science. "I feel this is the common understanding of panel members."

The following preliminary conclusions were given at the end of the panel's interim report : 

* Preliminary conclusions
(1) TEPCO did not implement measures based on an assumption of a severe accident caused by tsunami as was the case with this accident. The same thing can be said about the regulatory agencies.
(2) For events in which an extremely large scale of damage is forecast, even if the evaluation is made that the probability of such events is low, there is a need to recognize the risk and implement necessary measures.
(3) Measures to deal with multiple disasters considered unlikely will be an important point in the future review of the safety of nuclear power plants.
(4) There is no denying the weakness in a perspective that took into consideration a much larger picture. The excuse that responses could not be made because of the special nature of the situation, in which a tsunami went beyond expectations, will be unacceptable.
From the above points, there will be a need for a conversion of the framework for the fundamental thinking related to anti-disaster measures for gigantic systems that could lead to serious damage.

Due to the poor communication (in fact hiding of the information) and poor control of evacuation of  local residents out of the 20KM zone, the level of radiation exposure became
higher than necessary (See the map below and read the full article).

In my first trip to Fukushima in early April, my Japanese team and I, through our many listening meetings at local churches, discovered the most critical piece of information for local residents in Fukushima was radiation readings - as accurately as possible we could provide. Se we did (read the entry I wrote that time, Radiation: Fear, Fact and Faith). But more importantly we were convinced through prayers and listening that appropriate action in such a multifaceted disaster like this one must be based not simply on factual information, which wasn't readily available any way, but on wisdom and in community of people who were committed to stay with local people in the long run (read the entry I wrote in my second trip to Fukushima, Radiation: From Fear to Action). And that is the local church.  

Where will hope for rebuilding the future come from for Fukushima and for the whole society in Japan?

Man-made disaster affecting all of Japanese (and our!) society needs wholistic solutions that will bring total transformation of society coming from the changed core of our being and from transformed ways of our action and existence in the world. It will not come from simply providing more efforts to improve science and technology to control energy systems. It will not come from another election that will bring a new set of political leaders to the same systems. It will not come from pouring more money to lend to TEPCO so they could continue their business as usual. 

Memoirs of Tsunami - why I started this blog

It was seven years ago yesterday. I was then living in Bangkok, Thailand, working for an international relief organization. We didn’t even know what to call such magnitude of natural disaster at first. CNN breaking news that afternoon first described it as a tidal wave followed by a seaquake, one of the worst quake recorded in history.  Later that night, it was announced as a massive “tsunami” which hit the Indian Ocean affecting fifteen nations and killing nearly 250,000 lives on a quiet Sunday morning, the day after Christmas.  (See these video clips to learn more about what happened through the eyes of children: Children of Tsunami)

For millions other people, it was a devastating disaster - the world’s deadliest natural disaster in our time – which resulted in losses of loved ones, and livelihoods and communities. It left a significant mark in the course of history.  To that tsunami, I lost a dear friend and colleague in Phuket, Thailand on that day.

Carol, whose body was identified several months after the tsunami through DNA tests, is now laid in a community graveyard near Geneva, Switzerland, just a few miles away from her home village and the primary school where she had spent her childhood. I feel that a full circle is complete now as I went to Switzerland last October to visit Carol’s grave, her elderly mother and her brother, Jean Marc, who survived miraculously in that tsunami. I was finally able to name a chapter of deep pain and grief, which has never been easy to explain to anyone and but bore an amazing gift of silence in a little corner of my heart.  

 

I had an extraordinary blessing this year, through this sad and painful loss of Carol, to be asked to go to Fukushima and offer a little bit of assistance after the earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster in March. One of the reasons why I started this blog is that I wanted to share stories of tsunami and nuclear disaster victims through the lens of my own experience of that painful loss and grief, and God’s gracious companionship to me throughout these years.

Tsunami is one of the worst forms of natural disaster in my opinion after many years of having worked in humanitarian aid. Within a matter of minutes and hours, the whole world you belong disappears and it never returns. It marks a moment in your life that is filled with incomprehensible and inexplicable pain and, to a degree, awe to the power of nature and its Creator.

Having visited Carol’s grave just few weeks before going back to Fukushima, my eyes and ears were attentive and eager to capture anything God was speaking to my team in Fukushima as we drove around the areas between 20-30 KM zone that was just recently open since the government lifted the stay-indoor order (see my previous blog post on November 20, 2011).

Passage of time, but no sign of progress? 

After visiting the 20KM border area, we went to see a nursing home that was destroyed by the tsunami. All residents, a few dozens of elderly men and women, were killed and the calendar on the wall had water marks and now just collecting dust since March 11. It was a moment of time travel.

The level of tsunami devastation in Fukushima was a lesser degree compared to the other two prefectures, Miyagi and Iwate, that were affected by the same disaster. But because of the nuclear disaster and the risk and fear of radiation, very little recovery action was done so far. Now Fukushima is left far behind the two other prefectures in terms of recovery and rehabilitation. Unlike victims of the nuclear disasters, those who have been displaced from their homes within the 20 KM areas from the Fukushima Dai-chi plant, tsunami victims do not get any compensations from the government other than temporary housing. 

 

Little has changed since March only there was some progress of cleanup, but no signs of recovery or promises of hope yet. Small fishing boats stuck in paddy fields miles away from the coast. 

Photo taken in mid November, 2011

Photo taken in mid April by Rev. Ishiguro in Minami-Soma city

Friends and family members of victims were wandering around looking for any personal belongings which might help them to keep the memories of lost family members and to endure this suffering of loss and pain of inability to identify their loved ones’ whereabouts.

Our eyes have seen much worse graphic images of destructive power of tsunami earlier this year and they do not capture images like these with sadness or grief.  These boring (!) and ordinary autumn scenery of brown barren fields would have not seemed so sad, have these people not had to wait for the last eight months. And they will probably have to spend many more months to come in waiting in uncertainty.  Waiting is a hard work and almost impossible if there is no hope, even if that means saying goodbyes and burying the loved ones after a painful season.

Landscapes of Fukushima - Radiation, Tsunami, Gospel

I had a short five day long visit to Fukushima last week. Even after having visited Ukraine just recently and learned about the Chernobyl disaster from people directly affected by it for the past 20 some years, Fukushima does not seem any less complex or devastating.

Perseverance. That is probably one most necessary thing right now.

My focus of this visit was two-fold (besides some organizational matters):

• Listen to the voice of the voiceless - this time, I intentionally focused on capturing the voices of ordinary people who were affected by the disaster. I will post these stories soon after I get Japanese translated. 
• See with my own eyes and feel the landscape of some of the areas that were most affected by the disaster. I am posting a few photos below as a summary of my reflections. 

Before I left Vancouver the history of Fukushima stayed on my mind for a long time (see the blog entry on the meaning of the name). So I prayed that I might be able to get a glimpse of the faith of those martyrs, on whose blood today's churches in Fukushima firmly stand. I started reading about the history of Christianity in Japan and discovered that the sixteenth century is called "Christian century" because of the dramatic growth of Christianity after Xavier and other Jesuits arrived in the land. I found the map below in A Vision Betrayed: The Jesuits in Japan and China 1542-1742 (by Andrew C. Ross). The shaded areas indicate strongest growth of Christianity, and I marked the areas which were hit by the Tohoku disasters on March 11, 2011. 

The shaded area is actually is a mountain range near Aizu area where there had been thriving Christian communities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries until the tragic martyrdom took place. While we were driving on the road stretched along the mountains from Koriyama to Fukushima city, I couldn't help but thinking of those martyrs, and their journeys from the southern tip of Japan, Kagoshima where the gospel had been brought in the mid-sixteenth century.

How beautiful on the mountains

   are the feet of those who bring good news ! 

(Is 52:7)

On September 30, the Japanese government lifted the "stay-home" order within the 20-30KM areas from Fukushima Dai-ichi. This means several things at the local level - residents no longer need to be prepared for 'evaucation at any moment'; schools and other public services would start functioning again once cleanup was complete; businesses started coming back to town. People were told that they could carry on with normal activities of life again. But can life really go back to normal?

We went to "the 20KM boarder" in Minami-Soma, north of the plant. As I was walking close to the boarder, I took a picture of the landscape outside the 20 KM zone. The fields were left abandoned because no farming was done as everything had to stop after March 11.  What will this land look like after the winter?

There were policemen keeping security control strictly as vehicles with special passes only are allowed to enter the 20KM zone. Even evacuees are not allowed to go in.

Every road to the crippled nuclear plant is under strict security control and this boarder continues to the fields invisibly - these fields are not divided at all in any other sense. I stood where the 20 KM Stop sign was on the road and took pictures of the landscapes on both sides of the stop sign. The photo below shows the landscape inside the 20 KM zone. For the next 20 or more years, this part of the land will continue to be out of human touch. 

All the news that fills media about Fukushima has to do with the nuclear power plant or radiation. We have nearly forgotten that the devastating tsunami hit not only the nuclear plant, but many villages along the coast.

Usuiso is a coastal village in Iwaki and it is completely destroyed by the tsunami. Before the disaster there were about 800 people (240 households) lived in this small fishing village. 125 people were killed and most homes were destroyed. The below picture of Usuiso was on a newspaper on April 27, 2011, a month and a half after the disaster. 

I had seen tsunami before, just as powerful as this one, but killed 10 times more people than this one (over 250,000 people were found dead in the tusnami in South Asia seven years ago). But what shocked me this time was the level of inaction here in Japan, the most advanced economy of the world and with an aging population. In Thailand, it didn't take six months until people started moving on to rebuild their lives. The choice was rather simple; whether back to the old place and back to old jobs they knew best which was fishing and farming, or to unknown but new places (most of them went to hill sides) looking for new livelihoods to go as far and away as they could from pain and suffering they had to bear by living near the coast. Because people did not have much expectation on the government and those Thai fishermen and farmers had to rise up again on their feet as fast as they could.

Here in Japan, the government is waiting to collect people's opinions, and victims are waiting to hear the government's plan. No one is moving a step towards recovery even after eight months. Everyone is waiting to hear what the other would do first.

Mr. Suzuki was a fisherman before the disaster, but now he lost not only his fishing boat but also his family and his house. Shimi, one of the volunteers from Global Mission Center (GMC), has been instrumental in helping Mr. Suzuki regain his hope to get back on his feet and carry on with his life. Mr. Suzuki, who was not able to come back to see his home village for a long time after the disaster, joined us in the trip to Usuiso last Friday. As he was standing on the empty ground where his house once used to be, he said to us:

"Because these Global people (local residents in Iwaki calls the members of GMC Global-san) are praying for me and for the village, I thought I should come along with you guys today and see with my own eyes."

Seeing with my own eyes.  What Mr. Suzuki saw was not simply the landscape where the power of nature devastated many people's lives and livelihoods of those who survived. It was more than what was left after the destruction. It was about what can be done and what must be done when a committed church comes alongside to rebuild the life together. 


Mr. Suzuki seemed to have gained strength just enough to face today. That's all that matters. Facing the aftermath of the tragedy once again is hard but perhaps the right step forward on this long road to not simply rebuilding what was lost before, but Gospel-led transformation of Usuiso village.


Hope of living. There is a mysterious power in it that rejuvenates a person from within. But we can never generate such hope with our human strength, it comes from the high above.

From Chernobyl to Fukushima

A full circle. That's how I feel.

The Chernobyl Museum was built largely with donations from Japanese people who shared similar suffering in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 40 years prior to the Chernobyl disaster. Today, people of Chernobyl share their resilience with people of Fukushima.

I also have a few things to share from my short trip to Ukraine to people of Fukushima as I prepare for my third trip to the Land of Good News (福島). 

• First of all, truth matters. People suffered great deal in Chernobyl. Physical harm, loss of homes, loss of work and community, that's what people remember from their suffering. People also remember with anger and bitterness about being lied to, and being hidden from the truth of what happened. 
• Second, because of the way information was handled and communication was controlled, people generally showed a low level of trust on their governments, both the old and the new. This is where local churches filled the gap and rose as the source of trust, hope and community.  
• Third, the work of local churches always vary according to each unique context. The mystery of God works both in the church local and the church global. In 1986 when the Chernobyl explosion happened, the church in Ukraine existed largely underground - under the persecution. But in 1988, the millennium celebration of the Church in Ukraine brought much needed attention from the outside world - the Church Global. And Soon after that the USSR collapsed and the Church Local began to fill the gap in remarkable ways to care for the poor and the needy in Ukrainian society. 

What role do we specifically play as the Church local, wherever you are, and the Church global, to wherever brothers and sisters are hurting because of disasters, oppression, poverty, injustice, anything else in our deeply broken world? 

I will probably bring more questions than answers to Fukushima on this upcoming visit from Monday. My listening ears must go closer and closer to the ground where ordinary, small, quiet churches began to take big steps of faith and action.

Anatoliy Glukhovski is the Principal of the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, where my visit to Ukraine was initially planned for. He shares his testimony of churches working together globally after the Chernobyl disaster, and this time, with churches in Fukushima.

We Remember... Or fifth Disaster?

November 11, 2011 - Vancouver, Canada (11-11-11)

It's Remembrance Day in Canada today. We remember the two wars in the last century and many lives given to save lives.

Today is also 8th month day since the March 11 triple disasters happened in Fukushima. 8 months.

"Fifth Disaster in Fukushima" (Fukushima Minyu News - July 25, 2011)

This is the worst natural disaster Japan has experienced in several centuries. The nuclear crisis in Fukushima in addition to the earthquake and the tsunami marks the worst national crisis in Japan since the WW II. This local newspaper captured the sentiment of local people in Fukushima as the forth and fifth disasters: 

First, there was an earthquake;

Second, a massive tsunami followed;

Third, a major nuclear crisis began; 

Forth, rumors of radiation fear swept the wounded hearts again;

Fifth, the world has moved on. The victims are left behind, forgotten. 

In this very moment in Fukushima (November 12th, Saturday), the Japanese Government opened the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi for one day to media journalists from all over Japan and some foreign media as well. We will be able to see and hear more about the disaster again soon in the news, but the real question is this: How long will this suffering continue?

We remember... Truth matters.

That's one big lesson from Chernobyl after 25 years. I found this interesting piece on Chernobyl on You Tube - Chernobyl Memoirs.

Memoirs of Chernobyl (7) - Tuzhar, Chernobyl region

When we arrived in Tuzhar, Pastor Aleksander Bogdan welcomed us with a big smile, especially when he was surprised by the visit of an old classmate of his from their theological training days in Kiev.

The Church of Christ for Everybody was planted in the village of Tuzhar some time before Pastor Aleksander moved up there 7 years ago. Small but active church presence reminded me of the churches I visited in Fukushima earlier this year.

When Pastor Aleksander was first called to shepherd this church in Tuzhar, a village located on the boarder with Belarus and also close to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, he received a promise of God's healing on the land from the Old Testament. It is clearly demonstrated - not only written in the wall, but also in his life together with his congregation.

"If my people, who are called by my name, 

will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, 

then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place."

(2 Chronicle 7:14, 15)

Before we sat down to listen to the stories of two ladies in the village who lived through the whole time since the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, we were very warmly received with delicious local Ukrainian food, cooked with vegetables all grown locally. They loved their locally grown produce - a sign of God's promise of healing on their land.

(from left to right) Pastor Aleksander, Maria and her neighbor, myself and Myroslava

I had simple two questions.

• What do you remember about the disaster? What happened? 
• Why did you stay instead of moving out?   

But, I knew the answer was not that simple - Home.
"It's our home. We have nowhere else to go."

25 years after the disaster, Tuzhar is now gaining vitality as a community again with the increasing number of families with young children. As we were leaving the church, we saw a couple of boys riding on their bicycles. Pastor Aleksander greeted them as one of them came to wave at us. Another sign of God's healing on the land.

Memoirs of Chernobyl (6) - Travel Companions

Pastor Vacilli works as a taxi driver and he loves the fact that he has such a flexible job that he can meet his church members whenever they need him wherever they might be throughout the week, not just on Sunday service. He had worked in a shoe factory before the Soviet Union collapsed and remembers 'the old days' when persecution of the church was normal and believers would meet in forests, sing hymns quietly and share the word of God secretly. When you see the big smile on his face today, it seems pretty hard to believe such a past existed in the land where it now seems to be the source of vibrant church movements going on in all corners of Ukraine. Perhaps, I wonder if the suffering they went through in those early years provided a fertile ground on which today's younger generation can stand, like Myroslava, my translator on this trip to Tuzhar, who loves her theological studies in the seminary where I was visiting earlier in Kiev and wants to sing jazz in New York city for God's glory.

Pastor Vacilli

Myroslava

In Pastor Vacilli's taxi, three of us drove over 500 KM to get to Tuzhar from Ozadivka, then back to Kiev on one day. We shared many stories, and heard Mira sing Ukrainian folk songs for us and enjoyed the full moon together on the way back to Tuzhar.

Ozadivka (pointed with pen), approximately 200 KM away from Kiev (marked in red in the center of the map)

Tuzhar, 100 KM north of Kiev and near the 30 KM zone from Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Poverty and isolation.
That's what appears first on the surface of the land of former communist countries.

But its people, made in the image of God, fulfilling their God-given call on their lives bring out the beauty of God's good creation all together; whether a local church pastor driving a taxi or a seminary student dreaming of singing Jazz in a New York stage.

Memoirs of Chernobyl (5) - Maria, an evacuee from Chernobyl (Part Two)

(continued story from the last entry)

Loss of home and being told to move out with no preparation and no plans. Maria tearfully recalls her painful journey she had been on for the last 20 years.

Church is our new home.
Maria shares her hope in Christ for people in Japan.

"Take good care of your health, and have patience too. It is difficult," as she painstakingly remembers.

After our brief meeting, Maria gave us a bagful of walnuts she picked from her yard as we were leaving her house, one of many identical buildings laid in rows of this relocation village in the middle of full autumn foliage.

Memoirs of Chernobyl (4) - Maria, an evacuee from Chernobyl (Part One)

After the short visit to the hospital building that was turned into a children's camp facility, we headed to the neighbourhood to meet with a family who moved from Chernobyl.

Maria lives alone now and started coming to church a few years after she moved to Ozadivka at the end of an year long struggle with her health and healing from that illness. She shared with us her memory of what happened in the community when the Chernobyl explosion happened.

Memoirs of Chernobyl (3) - Ozadivka, Berdychiv District, Ukraine

Bishop Petro Zaliznii met us in Kiev and drove to Berdychiv on Tuesday evening of October 12. He is well known in Berdychiv district and he's particularly known as "a man of charity" because his commitment to love God and love neighbour. Having been a pentecostal pastor for a long time, including significant years of leading underground churches before the Iron curtain fell, Pastor Petro understands very well what it means to lead congregations through suffering and dark times in history. After Ukraine became independent, he continued his church work with much zeal and freedom that came through the political changes in the nation. He started a charitable organization in his district of Berdychiv to help children relocated from Chernobyl area. Ozadivka is a village in Berdychiv district, about 200 KM southeast of Kiev. This is where the government (the former Soviet Union gov't in this case) moved a whole village from Chernobyl area (near the 30 KM zone of exclusion) nearly 20 years ago.

From Berdychiv district town to Ozadivka village was about an hour drive through vast fields.

 
After the communism collapsed the Ukrainian government divided and distributed all of its land to everyone; some too poor to farm alone or to rent heavy equipments and sold their land to somewhat richer folks. Mostly unable to think individualistically - the fact that life depends upon their own ability to plan, utilize and control resources. People seemed to be quite nostalgic about the old days; neighbours working in collective farms; someone else (the government) worrying about their future. People I met and talked to seemed to remember the disaster with much pain and also with bitterness toward the government that the government did not, still does not do much.

As we were approaching to the village, there was a small garden dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl disaster. 

The old Soviet government promised people with housing, schools, and a hospital in the new village, but after the collapse of communism, the new Ukrainian government was too weak to keep up with all the promises. There we went to the old unfinished hospital building that the Ukraine government could not finish. The local government sought after Pastor Petro as they thought he could put it to a good use for local community so they sold the building at a lower price to the church. Since then the church has been operating camps for children and also has a vision to move forward.

Memoirs of Chernobyl (2) - Chernobyl Museum (Part Two)

On December 15, 2000, more than 14 years after the explosion, the nuclear plant was finally shut down. 

The plant stays closed for over 10 years now, and the zone of exclusion (30 KM zone) is now being reopen for tourists soon, but  not in October when I was there.  The lives of many people have changed for ever. Many lives were lost and many still suffer. As a photo journalist put it, it was an act of self destruction by the humanity. 

This poem below was written by Launa, an unknown poet. It is poignant.

Uprooted: Yet from these strange ashes hope will rise

By Launa

If a man’s thoughts dye his soul

What kind of stain do his deeds leave?

A hazardous spill on himself and upon the laps of others

Who share the same air

Breathing in and out

In and out

Now there’s bitterness that abounds

In the bread basket to the north

Uprooted family trees with forgotten people

In yellowed photos dangling down

Wooden cradles set ablaze

In the forest

Where blue light sprang from place to place

Luminescent

Deadly beautiful

Reminiscent of sparklers

Cracking at a May Day parade

The rain has become hot tears pouring down

Falling down

Dropping to the earth

The fragmented rivulets on a musical score

Splash on these paper lives, fragile and all to brief

The muffled sobbing is a melody

But only to the ears of Him unseen

It’s an aria of the heart that sings a Capella

The high pitched notes of pain

Yes he who suffers much speaks a wordless language

It transcends dialects, country lines

And political ideologies

Uprooted, yet not alone

I have seen lives irrevocably changed

In one moment in time

From one thoughtless choice, a careless decision

Leaving ancient villages empty

Doors are swinging on squeaky hinges

For all eternity plus seven years more

And the plastic dolls of stolen youth

Sit on dust covered window panes

Vacantly gazing at the loss…

Uprooted, yet not alone

Heartbreak and tragedy

Are no respecter of persons, traditions, religion

Or plans 

It is blinded by skin color

And the coins in one’s purse

I have been told that fear is like rust

That eats away hope, little by little

Corroding all confidence

This invisible acid obliterates desire

Until we are mere shells with nothing left inside…

Uprooted, yet not alone

I believe that love is a salve

To be spread on the wound to heal and soothe

Able to mend the innermost places

That are hidden from man

Faith causes that page to turn

Just because today’s sunshine is blocked out by the clouds

Doesn’t mean the sun is gone

If God seems silent

It doesn’t mean he has left us

Or doesn’t hear our cries

Perhaps we are the ones who are not listening

To the voice that is gentle and low

Tender and always near

We must be quiet and still

He is here

And anxious to woo us to Him life a lover

He will be revealed once more ….

Uprooted, yet not alone

There is a day that dawns upon all of our broken lives

That we are able to see clearly

If we look with unjaded eyes

We can see that we are all people with ruined dreams

With unrealized plans

Yes, somehow they can fit perfectly

Into His bigger picture

And will be breathtakingly beautiful

In time…

Uprooted, yet never alone

From these strange ashes

Hope will rise!

Memoirs of Chernobyl (1) - Chernobyl Museum (Part One)

I had a chance to visit Ukraine for three days last month for another project I am working on at the moment. After my official visit at the Ukrainian Evangelical Seminary, I spent the second half of my time covering about 500 KM of road travel (map) on a whirlwind tour between three places related to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. My purpose was to see what lessons I might be able to pass to Fukushima and it was indeed a very fruitful trip and worth being on the dirt road for 10 hours or so.

The three places I visited are:
First, the Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. 
Second, Ozadivka village in Berdychiv District, about 200 KM southwest of Kiev. This is one of the areas where the former Soviet government relocated residents within the 30 KM zone from the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
Third, Tuzhar village in Chernobyl region, 100 KM northeast of Kiev and close to the 30 KM zone from the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

I am only writing this nearly a month after my visit as my preparation for my third visit to Fukushima in a week. Fukshima disappeared from the international media for a while and now it started to surface again. Why? I will gradually write about this as the dates come closer for me to be in that Land of Good News again!

This week, I will focus on remembering Chernobyl and I will start with the Chernobyl Museum.  An interesting fact to note is this - it was built last year and largely by donation from Japan. Why? The last nuclear crisis of this scale the world had experienced before Chernobyl was Hiroshima and Nagasaki. People of Japan offered significant assistance. It was built last year, a year before 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Who could have imagined that people would come to this place again, but now to seek a voice of wisdom and experience from the shared experience of deep suffering and pain?

Remembering. Truth matters.

Just like Holocaust and other tragic events in history, the most important thing is to remember what happened.  I took a few photos and recorded a few video clip in the museum.

This is what happened on the early morning of April 26, 1986. (A film made with a replica of the plant)

The government did not disclose the accident immediately and started evacuating people a few days later without giving them full information. May Day Parade took place 4 days after the explosion and even in high risks of radiation poisoning. Foreign media started to cover the issue.

From Yasukuni to Nuclear Power: Where will the source of hope come for Japan?

August 15, 2011 – Vancouver, Canada

After another memorable trip to Japan (and to Korea this time), I am back to Vancouver. Taking a distance from both nations helps me to think more clearly on a couple of issues, especially on such a memorable day like today: 66th anniversary of the end of the World War II. Germany has been a country that I have been watching with much interest since 1989 when the Berlin Wall finally came down. Korea was divided between north and south on the very same day when Germany was divided between east and west at the end of WW II. I still wonder sometimes why they divided Korea, not Japan (but instead bombed Japan), when they divided Germany.... As a Korean I have seen the historical moment of the Wall falling and subsequent changes in Germany with a degree of envy. This year, it was Germany again that caught my attention after the tsunami and nuclear disaster happened in Fukushima because of people's changed attitude towards the nuclear energy issue in and outside Germany.

Fukushima is now further left behind with no clear direction for recovery after the nuclear disaster while the other two Prefectures, Miyagi and Iwate, which were hit by the earthquake and tsunami much worse, are now recovering faster. Because of the nuclear crisis, the challenge of recovery is much greater in Fukushima and most Japanese understand that this Fukushima crisis is not only for Fukushima, but for the whole nation. (I think it affects the whole world.)

Rebuilding the Nation after a Crisis.

That is one thing Japan is known to be an expert at for they have demonstrated their economic growth after the WW II. The spirit of nation-building in Japan is something to understand carefully as I am discovering this multi-layered complex political and spiritual matter in Japan. Many intellectuals and media from all corners of Japan are now asking one same question: How shall Japan recover the humanity and rebuild the post-disaster Japan? Should the nation go back to traditional values to overcome the cultural failure of greedy capitalism and materialism?

Koza Community Church in Yamato began by some young intellectuals in 1946 with hopes to rebuild the nation with a Christian vision. In their view, the Bible had a secret power for nation-building as they saw how the USA defeated their nation of ‘the rising sun’ at the end of WW II. (see my blog piece on April 17). That ideology of “(re)building a powerful nation by economic and military power through science and technology” has been a strong drive for modern Japanese, so adding a foreign god of ‘the American secret power to that national drive might have seemed like a magical solution. As the nation grew more prosperous with no apparent growth of Christian population, having faith in Christianity became more obsolete and less meaningful for the life “here and now.” Japan is the only country in Asia that does not fit in the argument of “Christianity = Modernization = Prosperity,” so-called Prosperity Gospel. I will write about this ‘prosperity and gospel’ issue another day.

I felt the need to go back to a turning point in Japanese modern history to understand that desire for recovery and zeal for ‘back to the tradition.’ So I went to Yasukuni Shrine, the controversial face of Japanese modern spirituality for the past 150 years. I accidentally learned about Yasukuni in my first trip to Fukushima and had never even heard before (that should tell you how ignorant I was, the post-war generation in Korea). Yasukuni Shrine became a national shrine after the WW II. Before the WW II, there was a more important shrine dedicated to the emperor; a shrine that had been designated to worship a living king, not deceased military personnel. The political significance of Yasukuni Shrine needs careful reinterpretation through the lens of spirituality as I heard from Rev. Sumiyoshi in Nakoso.


Yasukuni Shrine is located in the central part of Tokyo and it faces a well known university in Japan: Tokyo University of Science and Technology. Is it a coincidence?

Understanding the Japanese modern culture from the existence of a national shrine to the pursuit of nuclear power and economic advancement does not fit in a linear framework of mind. Largely because the oriental culture is fundamentally a pluralist one: To put it simply, we are comfortable with realities of life and feel no conflict with compartmentalized life: Confucius values fit perfectly with the socio-political agenda. Buddhism on one end(there is no god who saves you and life is full of suffering. You can never overcome all the pain in life, so you need to get out of the wheel of fortune) and Shintoism on the other end (there are 8 million gods who fight and create troubles in human life if they are not appeased properly. All you can do is to fear them and avoid anything to make them angry) of the spiritual realm allow multiple choices of religious practices. In this kind of traditional context, secularism was a source of hope as it sanitizes all spiritual junks and creates a space for humanity to strive for ‘our’ own autonomy and control. In this cultural soil, the gospel was planted in Yamato through the work of Koza community church. This local church has been offering education to children in community for the future of the nation as they beleive the local church should not be “a waiting room for heaven” (listen to the interview by Rev. Matsumoto below).

Fukushima opened up a challenge for this church as well as an opportunity to serve with practical means (financially and sending people over to help). That is how to be a church that gives meaning for living to persons and to communities both for present and for future wherever it is located. This local church in Yamato, again, seeks to understand the connection between serving a local community and building nation and how the times of disasters like this could turn to be a God-given opportunity for mutual growth both by those who receive help and offer help. Rev. Matsumoto, the fourth Pastor of the sixty-five year old church understands this call to nation-(re)building well as he pointed to one important destiny of a local church: It must continue to be a learning community while serving others and seeking the Shalom for those around them including those who persecute them. I met with Rev. Matsumoto in Yamato before going to Fukushima to learn about the church's efforts in partnering with churches in Fukushima.



Church as Servant for the Community
(After the disaster,) we thought what we could do as church. First thing we needed to do was to pray together specially [for the situation]. Second thing was to establish a task force team under the leadership of an elder. This team’s main task would include searching how best the church could utilize donation from the church members. Yanagisawa-san, a staff member of FVI (Friends with the Voiceless International) introduced a few churches which were affected by the disaster in Fukushima. Then a couple weeks later Shibata-san, a staff member of our church, and I decided to visit a church and its disaster-stricken neighborhood in Iwaki City, so we could understand the real situation [to take an appropriate action].

Church as a Learning Community
We learned a few of things through this opportunity. We thought that we as church were first called to serve this Yamato city area. Tohoku region is quite far from us. Koza church is quite a big church among Japanese churches and we have focused on evangelizing in this area. However, we have learned this time that having more members at church is not its ultimate goal. I often use a statement, “A church is not a waiting room for heaven.” God has given a church a mission. Through the disaster this time, we have been challenged by God-led encounters that the mission from God for us is not just for Yamato city and its surrounding areas, but it can be expanded to far broader areas.

Every Sunday we share our worship facilities with two congregations: Portuguese-speaking and Spanish-speaking Japanese immigrants. They have dedicated for volunteer visits so diligently since the disaster happened. Initially I explained to our church members that our congregation needs to operate systematically, even our activities during weekdays [instead of starting ad-hoc volunteer work]. Later I have realized that it was my excuse that everybody had busy schedule [and adding one more activity to their busy schedule would not be a good idea]. The issue boiled down to this: What priority do we give in organizing our schedule for meeting others’ needs? From the immigrant congregations, we have learned the true meaning of serving others. Our church had already made in our annual plan that we would invite FVI to come and give us a seminar on building a habit of loving our neighbors. It was scheduled for this year [even before knowing the disasters]. Through this seminar, we were reminded of the simple truth that loving others is like sowing mustard seeds that will not go in vain.

Daily Choice as a Path to Transformation
This is one story I heard about a person who was chosen to be a model for Leonardo Da Vinci. This man was first chosen to be a model as Jesus because of his good appearance. Then two years later this same person was chosen by Da Vinci again as he was looking for a model as Judas Iscariot, an embodiment of evil in human appearance. [In two years, this model had changed form the best human appearance to the worst human appearance.]
This teaches us that we are changed by the choice we make each day. This story is also related to Jesus’ transfiguration celebrated on Aug. 6 in the Church calendar, and this date coincides with the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. History reveals all events which happened according to our choices [in each moment]. Therefore, we need to seek God’s will for our daily choice on how to use time or money; all are given by God. I strongly sense that this choice [making] is deeply connected with how we might rebuild our society that is so struck by this disaster and with peace-building in the world.

The source of Hope for (re)Buildnig a Nation.
The hope of nation building is not about bricks and mortar. It comes from a common story people choose to remember together. Japanese understand this very well because Yasukuni Shrine is one such story and has power to hold people together. Today, I think of Germany again for a different reason. Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (aka the Holocaust Memorial), which began as a dream of a German Journalist in 1989, the year when the Berlin Wall came down, was inaugurated sixty years after the end of the World War II. Remembering a story as offenders is a whole new story. There are many similarities between Japan and Germany, but one difference is this: Japan has Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, and Germany has the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. This also makes me think of my own nation, Korea, the divided one.