The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has been replaced in the headlines by other news, but its effects are still playing out in Japan, where contamination of fruit, vegetables and water is a constant concern and 80,000 people are still living a rootless existence in shelters or temporary housing, uncertain when or if they will be able to return to their homes.
For those who want to learn more than the media are reporting, Japanese documentary maker Hitomi Kamanaka, an adjunct professor of media at Tokyo Polytechnic University, will speak and show clips of her films at the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro at 7 p.m. November 2, and at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Northampton at 7 p.m. November 3 following a potluck supper at 6. On display will be an informational exhibit on the aftermath of the disaster entitled “The News That Is Not In the News.”
A film by Kamanaka, Ashes to Honey, about the 30-year struggle of people on the Japanese island of Iwaijima to keep nuclear reactors from being built across the bay, will be shown at the New England Youth Theater, 100 Flat Street, Brattleboro, November 6 at 7 p.m. and at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Northampton November 10 at 7 p.m. Kamanaka comes to the United States at the invitation of citizens’ groups from Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. For more information, call 413-624-8858 or 802-436-1326.
