When famed actress Sayuri Yoshinaga visited Katsurao in Fukushima Prefecture late last year, she came away shaken.
When famed actress Sayuri Yoshinaga visited Katsurao in Fukushima Prefecture late last year, she came away shaken.
“I went there because I was afraid that I would not be able to grasp the whole scope of the sorrow of the stricken people without going there myself,” Yoshinaga said of the village, part of which is designated a zone where residents cannot return for several years due to the high radiation levels.
“It was more shocking than I had imagined. After all these four years, things remain the same as in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.”
In March, Yoshinaga will release a CD in which she reads an anthology of poems composed by victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Sales of the CD, titled “Daini Gakusho--Fukushima heno Omoi” (The second chapter--Thoughts on Fukushima), will begin on March 11, the fourth anniversary of the onset of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
“I am hoping that (the CD) will prompt people to think about the displaced people in Fukushima Prefecture and remain aware of their plight,” Yoshinaga, 69, said during an interview earlier this month.
The popular actress decided to record the CD because she believes Japanese should “not forget, not let the memories fade away and not treat it as if nothing had ever happened,” just like the catastrophes suffered in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa during World War II.
Born in 1945, the year Japan surrendered after experiencing two atomic bombings, Yoshinaga has made it her life's mission to produce CDs of poem readings in a campaign against war and nuclear weapons.
She began reciting poems at a gathering for the cause in 1986. Her latest CD follows “Daini Gakusho” (The second chapter), a 1997 CD on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and “Daini Gakusho--Nagasaki kara” (The second chapter--From Nagasaki), which was released in 1999.
She also produced “Daini Gakusho--Okinawa kara” (The second chapter--From Okinawa), a 2006 CD on the theme of the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, the only battle fought on Japanese soil involving civilians.
Speaking of the same title that connects these works, she said, “We are in the second chapter, not the first chapter, since five decades have passed since the end of the war.
"I want to pass down the memory (of the war) to future generations not in a loud voice, but in a gentle tone,” she said.
After the nation was struck by the nuclear accident, triggered by the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Yoshinaga took up reading poems composed by people affected by the disaster.
Among these are works by Ryoichi Wago, a poet and teacher from the prefectural capital of Fukushima who continued posting his poems on Twitter after experiencing the earthquake, and by Shigeko Sato, a poet who fled her home in Tomioka, a town close to the beleaguered plant.
Yoshinaga expressed doubts about the wisdom of relying on nuclear power in a country such as Japan.
“After the Fukushima disaster, I strongly believe that Japan should not return to nuclear power generation in this small, quake-prone country,” she said. “We must make more and more efforts to ensure that we can live in a safe environment.”
Her new CD comprises 23 poems. Yoshinaga selected them from a shortlist of about 300, including those composed by Wago’s students.
Dozan Fujiwara, 42, a shakuhachi bamboo flute performer, provided the background music at her request.
The CD jacket picture was done by Kazuo Oga, an art director who had been involved in many works of anime production house Studio Ghibli. The CD will be released by JVC Kenwood Victor Entertainment Corp.
Yoshinaga is scheduled to read the poems from the CD at Tsuda Hall in Tokyo’s Sendagaya district on March 10. For more information on the gathering, call the Japan Traditional Cultures Foundation at 03-3222-4155.