東北關東大地震後一周 |
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東京電力到底搞什麼鬼！大家因為不信任以及憤怒的關係而開始怒罵起來，希望得以紓解自己的恐懼。我為了維持自己精神狀態的平衡，開始儘量不看電視……其他作家也一樣地，突然進入了奇妙的悠閒狀態而苦笑著……
今天早晨拉開房間的窗簾時，雖然寒冷依舊，但已經有了春光，瞬時間讓我雀躍了起來，但隨著之後庭院中傾斜得厲害的石燈籠映入眼簾，讓我知道這不是夢，可怕 的事實仍然沒有改變，不覺要掉下眼淚。不過只要光是躺在自己的床上想起受災者（順帶一提的是，這句話已經完全變成了我們的共通詞彙了）時，便令我心生感 謝。但只要一想起地震、海嘯之外，還有狀況不明的核電廠，還是令人無法安心，而居住於東京的我們的精神狀態也已經到了臨界點，一直處於惶惶不可終日的恐懼 當中。 去年於庭院所種植的高山植物，正盛開著黃、藍顏色的花朵。這些花兒讓人感受自然的力量，我不禁感覺，曾經遭受原子彈襲擊的廣島、長崎因而化成廢墟，當中初次萌發的青草給予人們的勇氣，或許正與此相似吧。 不過庭院兩側似乎已經逃往他處的人家，籠罩著令人畏懼的靜謐氛圍。前往街上採買，總覺得街上的氣氛肅殺，許多人帶著大包小包採買的東西，與往常的樣子完全 不同。超市與便利商店的打烊時間因電力不足的關係而提早了許多，店內的照明也變暗了，即使震災發生之後已經一周，肉類、乳製品、米、義大利麵、速食食品的 架上，至今仍然空空如也。目擊這一切讓我覺得難受而頭疼，眼淚不禁要奪眶而出。就我所見，其他還有水、豆腐製品、衛生紙、口罩、電池、小瓦斯爐等，無論哪 個架上都是空空如也。此外，因為對輻射線的不安，蔬菜和魚類也會賣不出去吧。我已經覺悟，今後我們的飲食習慣也不得不有大幅的改變。而家中附近的加油站也 因為汽油無法補給的關係而歇業。 依據日本的日曆，明天開始是一連三天的連假，從日本西部到沖繩似乎到處都是來自東京的避難者。在這三天當中，先觀察核電廠的情況，如果狀況不妙，便打算就 這麼滯留當地。而這表示，人們感受到已經損壞的核電廠之後的命運將會如何，沒有人能預測，這樣的恐怖，特別是有孩子的人也不得不避難吧。 長久以來，人們非常清楚自然界的恐怖，也因此對自然界獻上祝禱，應該習得如何在自然界中生存的智慧才是；但對自然界的畏懼，人類卻不知在何時已經遺忘了， 從今而後，我們恐怕有必要更切實地向一直以來與自然共存的人們，學習他們的智慧吧。另一方面，來自台灣友人以及國外友人們的祝福與鼓勵，不知讓我心中有多 麼感念，我要傳達的，同時還有我的感謝之意。即使透過報紙，知道來自各國對我們的鼓勵，便自然而然地不禁要掉下眼淚，連自己都被這樣的反應嚇了一跳。 人類這種生物似乎在安心時會掉眼淚，而在看到令人難受的消息時，眼淚也自然會奪眶而出。好像連我都因為壓力的關係而變得容易掉眼淚，更別說是受災地區的 人，應該是處於非常艱難的狀態吧。在這樣的嚴寒當中，水、電、瓦斯，還有燈油、食物、藥品完全匱乏，可以說是等同於一無所有，而且大部分的人們都喪失了親 人，再加上核電廠事故的烏雲襲擊而來，一想到此，便坐立難安。 大地震經過七天之後，回顧這一切，在當時無論是誰都沒有真實的感覺，彷彿如夢一般，似乎連眼淚都掉不出來。大概只能說是宛若處於一連串的噩夢當中，每天呆如木雞般的茫然度日。 而或許嚴酷的現實才將要降臨，向我們逼近。 處於戰爭即將爆發的恐怖當中 3月11日的午後，東京一開始搖晃並不那麼劇烈，也沒想到是那樣大規模的地震。因為聽說大地震時，一開始是仿如身體要被高高舉起般的搖動，也因此一開始並沒有太過驚嚇；然而搖晃始終不停，而且漸漸地越來越劇烈，我的臉色也逐漸發白，腦中掠過的：這就像是關東大地震吧！ 搖晃未停歇，家中到處傳來乒乒乓乓的聲響，啊！或許完蛋了！在恐慌逐漸升高當中，因而蹲踞於家中某處時，感覺到晃動好不容易才停止。書本與花瓶散落一地， 也有東西碎裂，但房子好像沒事，一看庭院，發現石燈籠完全地傾斜，剛好掛勾在植物上，讓我嚇了一跳。接下來打開電視，發現東北發布了海嘯警報。日本氣象局 在地震發生之後便馬上發布了海嘯警報，然而現實當中的海嘯在人們逃離之前早已來到。海嘯的規模之大也讓人束手無策。 家中剛好有友人來訪，但東京都內電車全部停駛，所以動彈不得，計程車也拒絕載客，道路更嚴重塞車，結果朋友只好在我家住下。然而，我們並不知道這次地震所帶來的災害有多嚴重，行動電話以及室內電話也完全不通。這一天巨大的餘震仍然持續著，我和周遭的人都處於「暈船狀態」。 第二天的話題主要集中在東京「返家困難」的人們到底走了幾個小時才回到家。到這天晚上才開始注意到海嘯襲擊了極大的範圍，事態的發展已經無法收拾，而核電廠最初的事故也在此刻發生，再加上總覺得非常可怕的事情即將發生，心中開始忐忑不安。 第二天星期日，漸漸了解受災的狀況極為嚴重，加上核電廠事故逐漸擴大，看著電視報導的同時，完全看不見未來的絕望感開始讓我感覺似乎要被壓垮。當天晚上由 於核電廠不堪使用，電力大量不足，所以開始報導，從明天起即將啟動「計畫停電」。啊？怎麼回事？只覺得不知到底發生何事，讓我的頭完全痛了起來。 第二天星期一，因為「計畫停電」的關係而再度造成首都圈交通大混亂，另一方面核電廠事故更形擴大，似乎已經發展到了極為可怕的程度，東京居民也處於地震以 來持續的混亂當中。餘震仍然不間斷，大家陷入恐慌狀態，我聽說，大型出版社的職員跟公司請示該怎麼辦時，據說最後由職員自行決定。 而剛好筑波大學的人們逃到了避難所，緊接著又被移到別的避難所，便在這樣惡劣的情況下度過難以入眠的一夜。在筑波的避難所裡，由於不知道到底發生何事，所 以非常難受。行動電話不通的同時，也沒電視，雖然有人帶著收音機，但雜音極多，聽不清到底說些什麼，據說一直處於戰爭似乎即將爆發的恐怖當中。不過筑波距 離東京很近，聽說在隔天便安排了前往東京的巴士，大家搭上車得以返家。我也因此再次深覺情報的重要。寵物貓兒狗兒，以及動物園的動物們，由於語言上無法理 解這便是地震，據說之後的精神狀態一直處於異常當中，剛有兩頭貓熊到達的上野動物園則進入閉鎖狀態。 當天晚上，核電廠事故已經逐漸發展到了令人無法置信的地步，讓我們陷入了不安。隔天星期二，雖然大家寧願相信總會有辦法的，但核電廠的狀態更加惡化，東京 電力到底搞什麼鬼！大家因為不信任以及憤怒的關係而開始怒罵起來，希望得以紓解自己的恐懼。我為了維持自己精神狀態的平衡，開始儘量不看電視，對外的種種 要件，從這天起不是一件一件取消，便是延期。其他作家也一樣地，突然進入了奇妙的悠閒狀態而苦笑著。 我一上街採買，便看見街上有男性扛著三袋每袋約有十公斤重的米，以及在大塑膠袋中放入許多飲料、速食食品的人們。超市與便利商店的架上已經被搶購一空，讓我大吃一驚。我推測大多數人大概為了隨時能從核電廠的事故逃出而做準備吧。 海嘯的受災程度，據恐怖的推測，最終犧牲者或許將高達三萬人，這讓我感到似乎將被壓垮，彷彿就要窒息一般。隔天星期三，核電廠絲毫沒有好消息傳來，而餘震 仍持續不斷，「計畫停電」的混亂以及食物不足的狀態依舊持續，讓大家越來越不安。不過令人感謝的是，電子郵件還能使用，來自印度、加拿大以及台灣的友人陸 續捎來訊息：我為身在日本的你們祈禱、如果真的不行我們隨時都歡迎你來。這些話語真令人感謝，讓我眼淚盈眶。 希望自己能與東京命運與共 工作方面的朋友也來了電子郵件，其中有人曾經歷神戶大地震，她神戶老家雖然要她回去，但她堅定地告訴我：要是東京有了不測，而只有自己得救，那樣的人生有何樂趣可言？所以要留在東京。 雖然已是春天，但氣溫卻不停地下降，再加上「計畫停電」，連使用電暖器都躊躇了起來，無論我們感到如何的不便，只要想起「想想災區的各位」這句共通語，身 在東京的我們便忍耐了下來。這天天皇在電視上傳達了慰勞之意，晚上則發布了輻射線對策，我也開始認真的思考：如果真到這步田地，我該到何處避難才好？而稍 稍開始煩惱。不過，我希望自己能與東京命運與共。 由於太過寒冷，災區有人因此而死亡，為什麼會發生這樣的事？為什麼會無法得救？這更嚴重地加深了我的絕望感。核電廠事故的對應實在太糟糕，讓我在此時深深 感覺到，日本這個國家的能耐不過就這麼樣的程度；核電廠的指揮系統散漫，讓我不禁開始懷疑他們只不過是在互相推卸責任而已。 在這當中，要是富士山方面發生強烈地震，緊接著富士山爆發的話，我晦暗的想像力啟動，不禁慘淡了起來。然而想想自己的生活，令人吃驚的是，新聞的配送從未 間斷，家家戶戶的垃圾也有人來收拾，而除了地震當天之外，郵差也努力每天送達郵件。要是這些也開始亂了步調，我想告訴自己，這時東京的生活或許便宣告結束 了。 周四，核電廠的狀況持續惡化，有人開始對核電廠的相關人員發怒，也有人祈禱著應該會有辦法，即使人在家中，一刻也無法安寧。在這樣的地震國度建設核電廠， 簡直是太荒唐，大家的怒氣似乎就要爆發；然而大家想到，目前得優先考慮的，還是別讓核電災害再擴大，生氣一事還是留待事後再說。 周五，已經是大地震發生一個禮拜之後了。在地震發生時，對犧牲者獻上默哀。核電廠事故被認為與三厘島核電事故同樣等級，這消息實在令人感到無力，眼淚不禁 奪眶而出。各國的人們陸續返國，讓我覺得非常唏噓。現在的東京，受災地區的災民陸續湧入避難；但也有人從東京逃往西邊，許多人正大幅地移動著。而我自己本 身對此只有隱約的感受，將工作當成避難所，告訴自己無論如何一定得看著這一切，直到結束為止。 因海嘯與核電廠事故而產生的所謂國內難民，目前高達四十萬人，到底該如何是好？光是這點，便令人感到束手無策。更別說在一瞬之間成了難民的人們，他們應該就這麼地被閉鎖於噩夢當中吧。 不要再使用像核電這般冒瀆自然的東西 日本不知何時才能從這次恐怖的災難當中重新站立起來？但從今天起，對受災民眾的援助正式啟動，我覺得正開始一步步地走向復興的階段。要是核電廠事故稍微改 善，進入令人安心的階段的話，我希望能廣為宣傳：今後在地球上不要再使用像核電這般冒瀆自然的東西。而為了能不使用核電，為了過著儘量不使用電力的生活， 無論如何都得努力。 我期待台灣無論如何也能開始廢止核能發電的運動。光是自然災害便已經夠可怕了，再加上依賴人們無力控制的核能過生活的話，我想便太過傲慢不遜了。這次遭受 毀滅性災害的三陸海岸是典型的溺灣（rias海岸），原本是極為美麗的地方，包括其他受災區域，希望能夠再度回復往昔的明媚，成為人們能安穩生活的地方 （東京迪士尼樂園已經不堪使用，而福島、茨城都是盛產美味魚類，以及擁有廣大牧場的地方）。就算只有勉勵的話語也沒有關係，希望台灣的各位能夠多多支援災 區的受災者們。 身在日本的我們，每天心裡所深深感受到的，是人類原本相互扶持的珍貴情操。就讓我們一起向居住在地球的每一位發出我們悲傷且憤怒的聲音吧！ No more Fukushima！（編按，Fukushima為「福島」。） |
would-be, hopeful, adrift, death trap
Japan’s Nuclear Disaster Severs Town’s Economic Lifeline, Setting Evacuees Adrift
Residents of Futaba, Japan, a town near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, moved into a shelter near Tokyo last month.
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: April 2, 2011
KAZO, Japan — Along with 1,300 other evacuees from a town two miles from Japan’s damaged nuclear plants, Kunikazu Takahashi and his elderly mother are crowded into an abandoned high school here, sleeping on donated tatami mats as they ask themselves whether it will ever be safe to return.
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Residents of Futaba are now scattered at various makeshift shelters miles from their homes, including an arena near Tokyo.
The New York Times
In 1961 Futaba voted to accept a nuclear plant and its jobs.
But Mr. Takahashi, 47, feels he has no choice: to earn enough to support his mother, he needs to go back to his job as a technician at the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant, just six miles from the Daiichi plant, which is spewing radioactive particles.
“They called several days ago, asking for me,” Mr. Takahashi said. “I have to go back.” He shrugged off a question about the dangers; in Fukushima’s stagnant economy, he said, he was lucky to have a job at all. “I try not to think about it,” he said.
That desperation speaks volumes about the hard choices residents of some of Japan’s most remote communities have made in a country where postwar economic growth has been concentrated in big cities.
Four years ago, Shiro Izawa and his fellow town council members championed a plan to build two new reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, a welcome addition of jobs and capital to the otherwise sleepy town of Futaba.
Now, he, too, is a refugee, driven from his home by the very plant he long held up as the linchpin of the local economy.
“The plant was supposed to be safe,” Mr. Izawa said at the shelter just outside Tokyo, 150 miles from Fukushima. “That was the promise. We had no industry in Futaba. To flourish, Futaba needed the plant.”
Now town officials are consumed with the evacuation of Futaba’s 6,900 residents, shepherding a group of about 1,300 people from one makeshift sleeping place to the next. It is a tragic tale of an entire community evacuated in the wake of the world’s largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
On Thursday, they arrived at the large abandoned high school offered to them in Kazo. Weary and laden with bags, they walked quietly to their assigned rooms: 45 people in the music room, 40 people in the computer lab, 70 in the library.
Some within the group had complained that they had hoped to remain closer to Fukushima, and some Futaba residents remain scattered at evacuation centers there.
But Katsutaka Idogawa, the town’s mayor, argued that Futaba’s residents should stay together. There was no place big enough to house the entire group in Fukushima, and a sports stadium that had offered them temporary lodging was reopening for a series of concerts, forcing them to leave.
“The important thing is that we stay together as one,” Mayor Idogawa said. “It helps us help you. It helps us make sure everybody is all right.”
Much of the growth outside Japan’s cities has come from giant public works projects, or in the case of Futaba, a nuclear complex it readily agreed to host in the 1960s.
Now there is soul-searching among Futaba’s refugees. Many at the shelter still speak of the plant’s importance to the town, and about how it helped buoy the fortunes of a once declining town.
But there is also frustration directed at the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant’s operator, over its handling of the crisis, as well as a sense of injustice; the power Tokyo Electric generated at Fukushima supplied the capital, not local homes and businesses.
Futaba was once a backwater reeling from coal mining’s postwar decline, and a source of migrant workers for Tokyo, so Futaba’s leaders responded enthusiastically to inquiries from Tokyo Electric in 1960 over a possible nuclear plant in the area.
The following year, the Futaba town council, together with a neighboring town, Okuma, voted unanimously to invite Tokyo Electric to build a nuclear plant on a 900-acre tract of farmland, according to Fukushima prefectural records.
As Fukushima Daiichi’s six reactors came online through the 1970s, Futaba’s fortunes also brightened. By the end of that decade, the plant employed thousands of workers, and the town’s population grew from less than 7,000 to a peak of almost 9,000. Futaba’s success prompted two neighboring towns to court Tokyo Electric for another nuclear plant in the area; in 1975, work began on the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant, where Mr. Takahashi has worked for 15 years.
More important to local politicians, Futaba received substantial subsidies from the national government, as well as property tax receipts from Tokyo Electric. By 2008, the subsidies alone added 13 billion yen ($157 million) to Futaba’s finances, according to town statements. But Futaba poured the money into extensive public works projects — an elderly care center, a sports park, a revamped sewage system — and eventually accumulated a debt of almost 10 billion yen, or $121 million.
A new town council elected in 2007, including Mr. Izawa and Mr. Idogawa, the current mayor, pledged to reduce that debt by slashing costs and public works spending. The town again turned to Tokyo Electric, approving a plan to build two new reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, which had been halted after a cover-up scandal at the plant. The approval immediately qualified Futaba for new subsidies; in the fiscal year that ended in March 2010, Futaba received about $45 million from the government, or 60 percent of its total revenue. “I feel a sense of relief,” Mayor Idogawa told local reporters at the time.
That relief has turned to anguish as evacuees wonder whether they can ever go home.
Yoshie Hayashi, a 43-year-old mother of two, still speaks wistfully of the family’s last breakfast in her home about six miles from the plant: grilled fish, miso soup and rice. The evacuation order came part way through the meal; she rolled the remaining rice into rice balls to take for the road. The family was unable to take much else.
“We thought we’d only be gone a little while,” Mrs. Hayashi said, stretching her legs in the high school grounds. Her daughter, Ekuko, 17, said, “I should have brought my spring clothes.”
Mrs. Hayashi said she was especially irritated by Mayor Idogawa’s decision to take the group so far from Fukushima. Ekuko was just about to start her senior year of high school; Mrs. Hayashi is terrified that she may not finish school, a big disadvantage in a society that reveres education.
Moreover, Mrs. Hayashi said, she and her husband must find new jobs after leaving their old ones behind. Her husband, an engineer for a telephone company, hopes to find work in Tokyo, but Mrs. Hayashi, a poultry farm worker, has “no city skills,” he said. She plans to seek a temporary job as a janitor.
“We won’t stay here,” Mrs. Hayashi said, before walking back to their temporary abode in a teachers’ room. “We want to return to Futaba. Our hometown happens to have a nuclear plant. But it is still our home.”
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