～日本語は下にあります～

Hello, Everyone!

This is Karthik Rampalli from GSC Yokohama hub!
It has already been one month since our 2021 GSC Fukushima-Bu Study Program.

In this article, I would like to share the experience of one of the study program members and also GSC yokohama hub member. 

I will share my experiences of the 2nd day of this study tour! I hope you enjoy reading this article!

Here is a snapshot of how some of our members felt while they visited 3 remarkable landmarks on the 2nd day of the Fukuhsima tour. The landmarks are:
A. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear reactor,
B. The Interim Soil Storage / Processing / Treatment facility,
C. The Ukedo Elementary School
(Hereby denoted as A,B,C respectively)

テーマ：今日のツアーで三つの場所を見学したところについての感想
A. 福島第一原子力発電所
B. 中間貯蔵施設
C. 請戸小学校

Karthik Rampalli

GSC Yokohama hub

A. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear reactor/福島第一原子力発電所
This incident had a huge impact on everyone’s lives, both in and out of Japan. For example, a lot of expats left Japan due to the fear of being affected by radiation. 
この事件は、日本の内外を問わず、人々の生活に大きな影響を与えました。例えば、多くの外国人が放射能の影響を恐れて日本を離れました。

 Some of them also advised me to be careful / drop the idea of going to Japan for studying. But seeing the reactor with my own eyes, and by feeling the air, I could understand the severity of the earthquake and the devastating consequences of it. 
その中には、私に「気をつけたほうがいいよ」「日本に留学するのはやめたほうがいいよ」とアドバイスしてくれる人もいました。しかし、自分の目で原子炉を見て、空気を感じることで、地震の深刻さとその壊滅的な結果を理解することができました。

 It was a thrilling experience, for reasons I cannot fully explain here. You should go and check it out by yourself.
ここでは十分に説明できない理由で、スリリングな体験でした。ぜひ自分の目で確かめてみてください。

B. The Interim Soil Storage / Processing / Treatment facility/ 中間貯蔵施設
 Regarding the storage / treatment facilities, the government did a great job in explaining the process to everyone and is putting in the best effort to maintain transparency throughout the process.
貯蔵・処理施設については、政府は皆にプロセスを説明することに尽力し、プロセス全体の透明性を維持するために最善の努力をしています。

C. The Ukedo Elementary School/請戸小学校
This was a moving experience. I was almost in tears, as I went through the once renowned elementary school, now a museum. The school is a testament of sheer grit, will power, trust, disaster readiness and courage. The fact that there were 0 victims and 0 casualties is itself mind blowing. Just imagine, one miscalculation, one teeny tiny bit of mistrust, one fragment of fear would have resulted in unfathomable consequences. The story of Ukedo elementary school serves as a lesson of disaster readiness and mitigation for the rest of the world. 
これは感動的な体験でした。かつて有名だった小学校が博物館になっているのを見て、涙が出そうになりました。この学校は、真の根性、意志の強さ、信頼、災害への備え、そして勇気の証しです。犠牲者が0人であったこと、死傷者が0人であったことは、それだけで心を揺さぶるものがあります。想像してみてください。たった一つの誤算、ほんの少しの不信感、ほんの少しの恐怖心が、計り知れない結果をもたらしていたことでしょう。請戸小学校の話は、世界中の人々にとって、災害への備えと被害軽減のための教訓となっています。

Nanami Murata

Wakayama Medical University, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine

A.The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear reactor/福島第一原子力発電所
A lot of things need to be resolved. I would like to know what is the final goal they have in mind for this place.
想像以上に決まっていないことが多い（最終的な目標やデブリを取り出してその後どうするのか等）

B. The Interim Soil Storage / Processing / Treatment facility/ 中間貯蔵施設
What is the purpose of this facility? The person who showed us around said that after burying the contaminated soil, they plan to cover it with grass, which will make it look good, but where will they take the soil, so what is the goal of this interim storage facility? What is the goal of an interim storage facility? Is it to prioritize short-term scenic beauty? If you have that kind of money, why not provide allowances to the people who originally lived there? I thought about the issue of how far the wishes/intentions of the local people would be reflected!
なんのためにあるのか、案内してくれた人が汚染の土壌を埋めた後、芝生で覆う予定と言っていたが、それは見た目をよくするがその土をどこカニ持って行くから、中間貯蔵施設として何を目指すのか。短期的な景観の良さを優先するか？そんなお金あるのであれば、もともとそこに住んでいた人に手当を支給したら良いか？地元の人の希望／意思がどこまで反映されているだろうという課題について考えた。

C. The Ukedo Elementary School/請戸小学校
I really felt that each person's actions played a huge role in saving everyone's life! Had the school teachers not made the evacuation a top priority, if they hadn't persuaded the parents who were bored out of their minds with worrying about their children to evacuate first, then everyone wouldn't have survived, so I now know that my actions would have had a big impact!
一人一人の行動が繋がってみんなの命を救ったというのがすごく伝わってきた！もし学校の先生が避難を最優先しなかった場合、子供心配して無飽きに来た親を説得してまずは避難しようと呼びかけなかった場合、みんなは助からなかったから、自分の行動が大きく影響するなと思った！

Tomoya Watanabe

University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Social and International Studies, Department of International Studies

A. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear reactor/福島第一原子力発電所
Even though I am a resident of Fukushima Prefecture, I have never had the chance to look at the entire story objectively, but today I had that chance.
福島県民なのに、客観的な話は知る機会がなく、今日はそのチャンスがあった。

B. The Interim Soil Storage / Processing / Treatment facility/ 中間貯蔵施設
I heard about it in the news, but this was a chance to see for myself what is being done on the front lines, on what scale, and by what company. It made me think about the future of the facility and Fukushima as a region!
ニュースでは単語は聞くが、最前線で何が行われているか、どの規模でやっているか、どの会社が運営しているかが自分の目でみるチャンスだった。これから施設と福島を地域としての将来を考えたい！

C.The Ukedo Elementary School/請戸小学校
The fact that an elementary school has been opened as a facility for folklore is of great value to Fukushima. People of all ages have fond memories of elementary schools, and people from other areas have also been to elementary schools, so they can feel the emotions and the reality.
小学校という場所が伝承の施設として開かれたことが福島にとってすごく価値がある。小学校は大体住民の人の年齢を問わず思い出があって、他の地域の人も小学校に行ったことがあるので感情が伝わるので、リアリティが伝わってきた。

Chihiro Ban

MoneyForward, GSC Fukuoka Hub

A. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear reactor/福島第一原子力発電所
TEPCO was apologizing at the beginning, but to whom were they apologizing, the museum of Dire? The person explaining it was someone who had arrived 3 years ago, so neither did he experience it himself nor thought about what he was lecturing. I didn't get a sense of what TEPCO was honestly thinking.
最初に謝っていたが、誰に対して謝っているか、ダイれの博物館なのか。説明している人が、3年前に着任した人だったから自分で経験していないか、レクチャーしていると思った。東電が正直に考えていることが伝わってこなかった。

B. The Interim Soil Storage / Processing / Treatment facility/ 中間貯蔵施設
I thought they were managing it properly. It was good that they were explaining those facilities in a way that the residents could understand!
ちゃんと管理していると思った。そういう施設を住民がわかるように説明しているのはよかった！

C. The Ukedo Elementary School/請戸小学校
It's amazing that all the little kids were able to follow the teacher and evacuate! I got a glimpse of the relationship and the trust between the teacher and the students, which was more than usual!
小さな子供たちが先生に従って行動して、全員避難できたのはすごい！
普段より先生と生徒の信頼関係ができていたことが垣間見れた！

Earth(Saksucha Submakudom)

Tokyo Institute of Technology, Energy Science & Engineering

A. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear reactor/福島第一原子力発電所
The whole accident is a sad occurrence but it could have been avoided, you can’t fight the Tsunami but better planning and execution could’ve helped
津波に対抗することはできませんが、より良い計画と実行があれば、助けになったかもしれません。

B. The Interim Soil Storage / Processing / Treatment facility/ 中間貯蔵施設
By giving all the scientific facts, they explained how they were processing the contaminated soil. Seeing all the effort has moved me, and moved me as I saw with my own eyes that the government is trying to rehabilitate the Fukushima prefecture.
すべての科学的事実を伝えることで、汚染された土壌をどのように処理しているかを説明してくれました。このような努力を目の当たりにして、私は感動しました。政府が福島県を復興させようとしていることをこの目で見て、感動したのです

C. The Ukedo Elementary School/請戸小学校
Pretty sad to see the davestation, but I felt relieved that there were no casualties / victims in the incident. 

Arisha

Nagoya University 

A. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear reactor/福島第一原子力発電所
Seeing something that we only read about or heard about or saw in the news, was eye opening. It was more real than I thought it was. I understood what actually happened rather than what I read in the articles. It is an interesting thing to think about what Japan will do with all the nuclear waste.
ニュースで読んだり聞いたり見たりしただけのものを目の当たりにして、目が覚めました。自分が思っていた以上にリアルだった。記事で読んだことよりも、実際に起こったことが理解できた。日本が核廃棄物をどうするかを考えるのは面白いことだと思います。

B. The Interim Soil Storage / Processing / Treatment facility/ 中間貯蔵施設
Understood the process. Impressed that instead of abandoning, they are putting in some effort to rebuild the city. 
プロセスを理解できた。放棄するのではなく、街の再建に力を入れていることに感心した。

C. The Ukedo Elementary School/請戸小学校
The concept of the museum is good. The people get to see the devastation, taking the situation litely is not acceptable. Playing the victim card, the victim narrative is always not good. The elementary school’s narrative is a heroic one because there were no victims.
博物館のコンセプトは良いと思う。人々は惨状を目の当たりにしますが、このような状況を静観することは許されません。犠牲者カード、犠牲者の物語は常に良くない。小学校の物語は、犠牲者がいなかったので、英雄的な物語です。