[Column] Waker

Now I’m writing this on the paper napkin of a near cafe.
Last week, I was running from 3 stray dogs and dived into this shop.
Today, I had a meeting and dived into this shop.

A guy has been helping me out for translating. He has been studying Japanese real intense since he was a teenager, graduated from Japanese class. His Japanese level is actually higher than me. He is really a help for me.

His dream is to go to Japan and start a business to be a bridge between Japan and his motherland.
He is planning to go to Japan in a few months.

I have been thinking if I should tell him what I think about it or not.
He is not a reader of Fukushima Diary.
I didn’t want to ruin his long time dream, but at the same time, I didn’t want to resent myself for negligence.

After all, I told him that I would not dare to go back to Tokyo for various reasons. (cf, [Column] 3 reasons why I don’t go back to Tokyo [Link])
I explained him with some articles of Fukushima Diary too.
Of course it’s him to decide to take the risk or not. It’s his life.
However, knowing the risk and not knowing the risk makes a huge difference.

To be fair of him, he didn’t get freaked out.
I cannot describe how he looked at that time.
He said, thank you for telling that.

I’m a dream crusher.

Whether he goes or not, it would hurt. Whether I explained or not, it would hurt again.
Whichever, I’m not going to make an excuse.

I was there from the beginning. I speak ok Engrish. This is just my responsibility, but I never expected to play this role when I studied Engrish.

Life is really “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find ..”

I finished my espresso.

The bread is for the dog.

_____

Français :

[Édito] Éveilleur

 

Là, j’écris ceci sur la serviette en papier d’un café voisin.
La semaine dernière, je courrais devant 3 chiens errants et j’ai plongé dans ce magasin.
Aujourd’hui, j’avais un rendez-vous et je suis allé dans ce magasin.

Un mec m’a aidé pour traduire. Il apprend le japonais de façon vraiment intense depuis qu’il est adolescent, diplômé en japonais. Son niveau en japonais est réellement supérieur au mien. Il est vraiment une aide pour moi.

Son rêve est d’aller au Japon pour y ouvrir un commerce pour faire un pont entre le Japon et son pays d’origine.
Il a prévu d’aller au Japon dans quelques mois.

Je me suis demandé si je devais lui dire ce que j’en pense ou pas.
Il n’est pas lecteur du Fukushima Diary.
Je ne voulais pas ruiner son vieux rêve mais, en même temps, je ne voulais pas m’en vouloir pour négligence.

Au final, je lui ai dit que je n’oserai pas retourner à Tokyo pour plusieurs raisons. (cf. [Édito] 3 raisons pour lesquelles je ne retourne pas à Tokyo [Lien])
Je lui ai aussi expliqué avec quelques articles du Fukushima Diary.
Bien sûr, c’est à lui de décider de prendre le risque ou pas. C’est sa vie.
Toutefois, connaître le risque ou ne pas connaître le risque, ça fait une énorme différence.

Pour être honnête avec lui, il n’a pas été effrayé.
Je ne peux pas décrire comment il était à ce moment-là.
Il a dit “merci de m’avoir dit tout ça”.

Je suis un briseur de rêves.

Qu’il y aille ou non, ce sera douloureux. Que je le lui ait expliqué ou non, ce sera douloureux aussi.
Dans tous les cas, je ne vais pas m’en excuser.

J’étais là dès le début. Je bien parler anglais. C’est seulement de ma responsabilité mais je ne m’attendais pas à jouer ce rôle lorsque j’apprenais l’angrais. (Ndt: intraduisible jeu de mot entre “anglais”, “en colère” et la prononciation de l’anglais dans les pays de l’Est européen)

La vie, c’est vraiment “Tu peux toujours avoir ce que tu veux mais si tu essayes parfois ça aurait pu arriver …”

J’ai fini mon expresso.

Le pain est pour le chien.

  1. … you get what you need

    I’m a dream crusher…. lol, No your not
    Telling someone the truth may cause them to change their plans
    but it just may save them from harm

    However, knowing the risk and not knowing the risk makes a huge difference.

    Ever wonder why you meet certian people, why you go to certian places
    its not by chance.

    Tell him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
    Give him your website link, Information is your goal. They decide
    what to do with it. Nightmares are also dreams

  2. Be careful of foreign invaders who want to siphon Japan like they siphoned USA. Many people want to go to Japan to steal jobs from Japanese and exclude Japanese in their own country. It has already happened in USA on a huge scale. Beware!

  3. tell him, if he wants to go to Japan, to first try the japanese ex patriate communities in Peru,
    and to consider Okinowa or the southern most cities, on shikoku or kyushu.

    explain to him the north eastern plains of Honshu are very bad, but, the far southwest or maybe Hokkaido
    aren’t too bad

  4. It is not you that is the ‘dream crusher’. It is nuclear power. All you did was inform him of what nuclear power did to his dream.

  5. In this case and others, you may be a “life saver” rather than a “dream crusher”.

    Also, you are sharing with students of Japanese a piece of Japan because of who you are. So don’t feel bad about yourself.

  6. First, going to Japan is not the same as going to Tokyo. He could avoid the north and east and Fukui. Kyushu or Okinawa. It may be better that he doesnt go to Tokyo, if that was ever his intent.
    Second, if you are in Eastern Europe or Russia, the places you go are probably more radioactive than most of Japan. Have you tested the places you have been? The food is more contaminated there. The standard is 1000 Bq, not the 100Bq of Japan. Maybe it’s not even tested much of the time, even less than in Japan. The water is likely to be more contaminated, so is the air.
    Finally, there are more operating power plants there, with designs which are even inferior to the Fukushima “Mark 1” containment. The plants in Japan are closed, except for at Ooi.
    It doesn’t make sense to me that you leave Japan to go to an even more contaminated place, unless it’s to do research. But I wouldn’t judge you. Maybe it’s a gut feeling. Einstein and Marlene Dietrich got out of Germany in time.
    I don’t think you can judge him either. It makes as much sense for him to go to Japan as for you to be within 500 km of Chernobyl.
    I wonder: did he look like you had crushed his dream, or did he think you were a paranoiac?

  7. Well i think it is fine to inform someone about the potential risks of going somewhere or doing something.

    I personally had an opportunity to go to Tokyo for 1 week , for a fun reason, this january, but after reading fukushima diary (I read it every day since 4 months), and after consulting my doctor I decided not to go.
    I didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.
    This was my personal decision, I have friends who went.

    I think that the information given from fukushima diary is very important, because it is abourt topic not covered by any major media.
    I personally thank Mr.Mochizuki for all the job he does and i wish he will keep doing this job in the future.

  8. I liked this story, and I could imagine how this person might be motivated.

    Having a university degree in Japanese studies myself, and after working for a Japanese trading company for a good four years, I was lucky to have experienced Japan before 2011, and when the Fukushima disaster happened, I was employed in a European branch office. Seeing how the situation got worse after March 2011, I decided I will not visit Japan in the future, and quit the employment and other links to Japan. It was hardest to give up drinking Japanese green tea, and to have to tell friends in Japan that I don’t want them to send any food (which they’re eating themselves), since it’s just no good any more.

    But refocusing in life can be done, and after deciding to taking the loss of one’s invested time, it’s good to move on, and to try to save who can be saved.

    It’s good if you tell this person about the risks of exposure. If he really wants to visit to enjoy the results of his studies, you could advise him to make the trip as short as possible. To stay away from Eastern Japan at all and instead enjoy Kyoto or more Western region. To fly to Kansai International airport, where it’s possible to arrive with an airplane via Germany every day. Above all, to watch out for internal exposure via food and water, and lastly, to throw away clothes and shoes after returning.

    I hope it helps.
    Kind regards!

  9. I experience the same situation regularly. I feel it is a crime of conscience to withold information that can help fellow human beings avoid harm. But it is a serious crime for TEPCO, the nuclear industry, politicians and government departments to withold/conceal information that is vital to human welfare. A lot of cancers can be cured with early intervention, but if left, will probably become terminal. Same with internal exposure to radionuclides. Thanks to you, many people have lifesaving information.
    First my wife and family thought I was paranoid. But, I showed them the same information, and they are now cautious. Information empowers.

Comments are closed.

About this site

This website updates the latest news about the Fukushima nuclear plant and also archives the past news from 2011. Because it's always updated and added live, articles, categories and the tags are not necessarily fitted in the latest format.
I am the writer of this website. About page remains in 2014. This is because my memory about 311 was clearer than now, 2023, and I think it can have a historical value. Now I'm living in Romania with 3 cats as an independent data scientist.
Actually, nothing has progressed in the plant since 2011. We still don't even know what is going on inside. They must keep cooling the crippled reactors by water, but additionally groundwater keeps flowing into the reactor buildings from the broken parts. This is why highly contaminated water is always produced more than it can circulate. Tepco is planning to officially discharge this water to the Pacific but Tritium is still remaining in it. They dilute this with seawater so that it is legally safe, but scientifically the same amount of radioactive tritium is contained. They say it is safe to discharge, but none of them have drunk it.

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