Subject: ビキニ被災者の訴訟についての記事＆２月２８日ウェビナー（英語）
From: Kazuyo Yamane <[email-masked]>
To: Kazuyo Yamane <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2023 09:35:37 +0900

みなさま

ビキニ核実験被災者の訴訟についての記事（山根和代執筆）が、国際NGOの「核の真実プロジェクト」のお便り（このメールの下の方に赤字で）に紹介されました。海外で訴訟についてほとんど知られていないので、記事を書くように依頼されました。

また２月２８日に、 核の真実プロジェクト、MISA4 the
Pacific、太平洋教会協議会、ICANオーストラリア共催の特別ウェビナーが開催されますが、そのお知らせです。（英語です。）

山根和代

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From: Nuclear Truth Project <[email-masked]>
Date: 2023年2月24日(金) 5:10
Subject: update from the Nuclear Truth Project - February 2023
To: <[email-masked]>

2023 is well underway and we have much news to share!
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*Hello again members and supporters of the Nuclear Truth Project* 2023 is
well underway and we have much news to share!
The Nuclear Truth Project team have been working hard, bringing together a
sweep of projects and events in coming days, weeks and months. Pease feel
free to forward this newsletter to your friends and networks.
  *Remembering Castle Bravo*
Next week we mark the 69th anniversary of the devastating events around
Castle Bravo, the largest nuclear weapon test ever conducted by the United
States. The test took place on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands,
creating harmful and long lasting impacts for human and environmental
health. We will hear about these in a special webinar, co-sponsored by
the Nuclear
Truth Project
<https://nucleartruthproject.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=effa842d722457057a9cd4af9&id=817ff7c619&e=0d7e9b64d2>,
MISA 4 the Pacific
<https://nucleartruthproject.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=effa842d722457057a9cd4af9&id=bed40694c5&e=0d7e9b64d2>,
the Pacific Conference of Churches
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and ICAN Australia
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.

We hope you will join us to hear from Danity Laukon and Rosenet Timius from
the Marshall Islands, and Dr Arjun Makhijani, as we remember Castle
Bravo. Register
here for the webinar
<https://nucleartruthproject.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=effa842d722457057a9cd4af9&id=ec7e3003e8&e=0d7e9b64d2>
- more details below!

In addition, we are honoured to share a short article from Kazuyo Yamane,
Visiting Researcher at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. This article
details another story of the impacts of the Castle Bravo nuclear test, this
time on the Japanese fishermen who were contaminated in the fallout of the
test in 1954. The fishermen have filed law suits which are on-going. We
thank Kazuyo for sharing this article with our members.

If you wish to learn more on the impacts of nuclear testing in the Marshall
Islands ahead of the webinar, we invite you to view the powerful film, *My
Fish is Your Fish*
<https://nucleartruthproject.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=effa842d722457057a9cd4af9&id=6c977d3e89&e=0d7e9b64d2>,
created by MISA 4 the Pacific. We also recommend watching *Anointed*
<https://nucleartruthproject.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=effa842d722457057a9cd4af9&id=9c8820adc6&e=0d7e9b64d2>
by Marshall
Islander poet, performance artist, educator, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner.
  *More news on our current Projects*
In addition to the upcoming webinar, we have been working with a growing
team of facilitators who will be conducting *community consultations *around
the Nuclear Truth Project Protocols
<https://nucleartruthproject.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=effa842d722457057a9cd4af9&id=7d04ecfefc&e=0d7e9b64d2>
in coming months. Community consultations will be taking place in the
Marshall Islands, Australia and the United States. More on these soon!

We are also working on an *archive scoping project,* a new approach for us
to gain a better understanding of the types of existing nuclear archives,
explore some of the issues affected communities face in accessing these,
and the ethical considerations for collecting archives. More on this soon
also!

All of these activities are made possible through an *Equity Rises *
<https://nucleartruthproject.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=effa842d722457057a9cd4af9&id=8357daad8f&e=0d7e9b64d2>
grant from the Ploughshares Fund. We are grateful to our funders.

<https://nucleartruthproject.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=effa842d722457057a9cd4af9&id=56c7fe2b57&e=0d7e9b64d2>
Our special speakers for the Remembering Castle Bravo webinar are

*Rosenet Timius*

*Rosenet is from the Marshall Islands, specifically Bikini Atoll and Kili
and Ejit Islands. She is currently an undergraduate at the University of
Hawai’i majoring in Political Science and a minor in Pre-law. Before
Rosenet moved to Hawai’i, she was involved with Jo-Jikum, a non-profit
organisation focused on empowering Marshallese youth to rise up to the
issues of climate change and nuclear legacy that are affecting their tiny
islands, vast ocean, and humble people. Rosenet hopes to raise awareness
about the Marshallese nuclear legacy, specifically its connection to
health, education and climate change in the Marshall Islands.*

*Danity Laukon*
*Danity Laukon is from the Marshall Islands. She is currently based in
Majuro atoll working as a Curriculum Specialist at the Ministry of
Education Public School System. Danity is a former lead member of the
Marshall Island Student Association and co-founder of MISA4thePacific in
2017. She led the first MISA4thePacific solidarity march in 2019 in Suva,
co-directed the film My Fish Is Your Fish and has spoken in multiple spaces
to remind the region and the world of the ongoing health and environmental
impact in the Marshall Islands resulting from the United State’s 67 nuclear
weapon tested in the Marshall Islands. Danity continues to voice her
people’s deep concern of the nuclear legacy that intersects with climate
change, health and youth. *

*Dr Arjun Makhijani*
*Dr Arjun Makhijani is the President of the Institute for Energy and
Environmental Research. Arjun has a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (Engineering)
and has worked for over 40 years on nuclear issues, including impacts of
testing.  Principal editor of Nuclear Wastelands published by MIT Press.
Arjun is a co-founder of the Nuclear Truth Project.*

REGISTER NOW
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*SPECIAL BACKGROUND ARTICLE* *US Nuclear Test's Victims in Japan and their
Lawsuit*
*by Kazuyo Yamane Visiting Researcher of Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto*
There are many victims of US nuclear tests in 1954 in Japan. Many people in
Marshall Islands and other places were affected by radiation and both their
descendants have been suffering from effects of radiation even today.  The
fifth *Lucky Dragon* boat, *Daigo Fukuryu Maru*, is well known in Japan
because 23 crew members were exposed to radiation, and six months later, on
September 23, radio operator Aikichi Kuboyama died. This triggered a peace
movement in Japan. It is said that there were about 1200 Japanese fishing
boats and over 10,000 fishermen who were exposed to radiation, which is not
known much even in Japan.

*Why were most of Japanese fishermen ignored by the US and Japanese
governments?*
While the atomic bomb victims can get medical care, the victims of the
nuclear tests have been ignored by the US and Japan’s government. Why? The
US nuclear policy toward Japan made the victims be ignored until today
except fishermen of the *5th Lucky Dragon* boat. The U.S. was wary that the
growing anti-nuclear movement would become "anti-American.” The U.S. paid a
lump sum of “compensation” (get-well gifts: “ex gratia payment”) for the
radioactive tuna landed in various areas and hoped for an early resolution
of the Bikini Incident.

*How were the historical facts made clear by high school students?*
On August 4, 1983, high school students from eight public schools in the
Hata area in western Kochi Prefecture gathered to form the Hata High School
Seminar, a voluntary circle that began its activities by conducting
research on the contemporary history of the region. The Bikini Incident
investigation has shed light on hidden historical facts by steadily
researching affected vessels and former fishermen throughout Japan. For a
long time, ex-fishermen were forced to remain silent because publicizing
the fact of the US hydrogen bomb tests would prevent them from selling
fish. However, during the interviews with high school students, the
fishermen began to talk about their experiences of seeing the US hydrogen
bomb tests in Bikini Atoll for the first time.
The high school students visited Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Yaizu in Shizuoka
where the *5th Lucky Dragon* boat belonged to, and Fukushima and researched
the effects of radiation on people. Teachers helped the students to study
what happened to people in the places where they visited. Researchers,
medical doctors, peace activists, members of peace museums and peace
centers worked together to make clear what really happened to the fishermen
who have been ignored by both US and Japanese governments.

*Why did the fishermen file lawsuits 62 years after the US nuclear tests?*
In a political settlement between the U.S. and Japan at the end of 1954,
the U.S. paid $2 million in "compensation," while Japan waived its right to
claim compensation. Most of the compensation was directed toward the loss
of the fishing industry, and guarantees were rarely extended to fishermen
except those on the *5th Lucky Dragon* boat. It was not real compensation
from the United States, which made most of Japanese fishermen suffer
physically and mentally.

*Japanese government’s concealment of documents*
The Fisheries Agency always responded that it had no relevant documents to
the fishermen, but in 2014, upon request, the Ministry of Health, Labor,
and Welfare finally disclosed the documents. Records of radiation tests for
a total of 556 vessels, as well as blood and urine tests for the crew
members, were disclosed.
In May 2016, 45 former fishermen and their families filed a lawsuit against
the government in the Kochi District Court, claiming that they had lost the
opportunity to seek compensation due to the concealment of information by
the government. The Kochi District Court dismissed the plaintiffs' suit in
July 2018. In December 2019, the Takamatsu High Court upheld that decision.

*Former Fishermen’s Lawsuit*
Following the provision of medical and survivors' benefits to the crew
members of the *5th Lucky Dragon* boat in 2000 and on, fishermen other than
those on the *5th Lucky Dragon* boat also applied for fishermen' insurance,
but their claims were denied.
The former fishermen filed a lawsuit in 2020 seeking to have the
disposition rescinded. At the same time, the fishermen filed a lawsuit
claiming that their right to claim compensation from the U.S. had been
taken away by a political settlement. The trial to revoke the disposition
is being held in the Tokyo District Court. The compensation trial is being
held at the Kochi District Court because the fishermen are getting very old
and some passed way during the trial.

*The Pacific Nuclear Disaster Support Center*
The Pacific Nuclear Disaster Support Center was founded in 2011. The
purpose is to elucidate the reality of radiation damage caused by US
nuclear tests, to support lawsuits for state compensation for Bikini
nuclear disaster, and to provide relief to nuclear-affected fishermen and
their bereaved families.
Peace education has been promoted. In April 2013, with the cooperation of
the Hiroshima University Research Institute for Radiation Medicine and
Science, they began tracking the health of Bikini survivors. In May 2016,
they began to cooperate in the lawsuit for the state compensation for the
former fishermen who were exposed to radiation by US nuclear tests.

*Conclusion*
The Japanese government's 60-year cover-up of the nuclear disaster has
resulted in the loss of many young fishermen to cancer and other illnesses.
Those who are still alive are also elderly and are battling cancer and
various other illnesses. This is why they began to file a lawsuit to get
national compensation. To support the cost of the trial, a crowdfunding
campaign was started in September 2022 and raised over 5 million yen. Such
lawsuits are not known well even in Japan. It is hoped that people overseas
will support the former fishermen who have been making efforts for
compensation at the lawsuits.

*Kazuyo Yamane is a member of the Nuclear Truth Project, living in Japan.
Kazuyo has a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, UK.
Kazuyo is a former Associate Professor in peace studies, and a former vice
director of the Kyoto Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University. She
is currently a Visiting Researcher of Ritsumeikan University, Expert
Advisor to the Kyoto Museum for World Peace, a Senior Advisor to the
International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP), a board member of No
More Hihakusha Center for the Preservaton of the Legacy of Memory of the A-
and H-Bomb Sufferers, and a member of Kyoto Association of 2nd and 3rd
Generations of Hibakusha. We thank Kazuyo for sharing this article with our
members.*
Solidarity: Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day, 1st March

315 nuclear tests were conducted across the Pacific over 50 years, by the
United States, Britain and France. These directly involved the Marshall
Islands, Australia, Kiribati (Kiritimati/Christmas Island and Malden
Island), Johnson Atoll, and Ma'ohi Nui (French occupied Polynesia). But the
impacts were felt across the region.

Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day is observed every year on March 1st. While
it marks the Castle Bravo test, this is also a day to commemorate victims
and survivors of nuclear testing, not only from the 67 tests in the
Marshall Islands, but also those across the wider Pacific.

On the 1st March, MISA 4 the Pacific and students from across the Pacific
will be holding the annual Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day march in Suva,
Fiji at 12pm at the USP, Laucala Campus. Show your support for the march -
follow MISA on facebook
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