Photojournalist Ryuichi Hirokawa's 17th annual calendar depicting the smiling children who live near the doomed Chernobyl nuclear plant is particularly poignant and meaningful this year, carrying powerful messages.
Photojournalist Ryuichi Hirokawa's 17th annual calendar depicting the smiling children who live near the doomed Chernobyl nuclear plant is particularly poignant and meaningful this year, carrying powerful messages.
This year is different because Japan suffered a nuclear disaster of its own at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in which radioactive substances were spread across a wide area, forcing many people to flee their towns.
"We suffered a terrible experience, but I want people to see the smiles of these children who have gotten a new lease on life," says Hirokawa, who selected the photos from among his collection spanning many years.
The radioactive contamination brought about by the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., has reminded the world of the Chernobyl nuclear accident that occurred 25 years ago.
Since 1995, an organization has been donating the proceeds from a calendar it publishes every year to provide continued assistance to the local children, who today still suffer from the radioactive contamination that resulted from the accident.
The Chernobyl Children's Fund, a civic group based in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, has taken a slightly different approach to publishing the 2012 calendar this year in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
The calendar got its start 10 years after the Chernobyl accident occurred in April 1986 in Ukraine, near the border with Belarus, when both countries were part of the Soviet Union. It mainly contains photos taken near the site of the disaster by Hirokawa, 68, who established the children's fund.
The organization prints 3,000 to 4,000 copies each time. Proceeds from sales of the calendars are a valuable asset to the children who have fallen ill in the area contaminated by the radiation.
The smiling children who appear in the 2012 edition's photos make a strong impression. Until now, many of the visuals portrayed the harshness of life in the area, with images such as abandoned buildings and children afflicted with thyroid cancer.
The photos are not accompanied by captions to provoke memories of the tragedy. Instead, the cover photo is of a smiling girl with a long scar rising up as it stretches across her neck. She got it after receiving surgery to treat thyroid cancer.
The final page features messages to Japan.
"I'm sad that what happened in our country has happened again." "I hope no Japanese children get sick like me." They come from Ukrainian and Belorussian children who have received surgery for cancer and other ailments through support from the fund.
The fund's executive director, Mari Sasaki, said many expressed their concern to her in June when she visited a summertime health resort.
"I have to say that Japan has not learned anything from the Chernobyl accident," says Hirokawa. "As we confront the problems of what to do next after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, we need to learn from the Chernobyl accident and what the (Ukrainian and Belorussian) people experienced thereafter."
The fund's sister organization, the Fukushima Children's Fund, was established in June. A portion of the proceeds from the 2012 calendar will be used to purchase food radiation detectors for children in Fukushima. The calendar, which is A3 in size when spread open, costs 1,000 yen ($12.85) plus shipping.