1. TIMECODE CHARACTER DIALOGUE
2. 10:00:07:07 – 10:00:10:08 RIKKU Normally when an earthquake hits it just rocks you a bit
3. 10:00:11:12 – 10:00:17:12 RIKKU But this time I was being thrown around
4. 10:00:17:22 – 10:00:24:02 RIKKU I ducked under my desk and all of a sudden my desk jumped
5. 10:00:25:21- 10:00:31:00 RIKKU It gave me goose-bumps
6. 10:00:32:06 – 10:00:34:14 RIKKU It was really scary
7. 10:00:38:04 – 10:00:40:12 RIKKU Have you ever seen a wave?
8. 10:00:40:23 – 10:00:41:21 RIKKU Whoosh! Whoosh!
9. 10:00:42:11 – 10:00:51:10 RIKKU The earthquake shakes them up, and they get bigger and crash!
10. 10:00:51:17 – 10:00:53:10 RIKKU That’s what a tsunami is.
11. 10:01:00 COMM This is the story of the Japanese tsunami and the nuclear disaster which followed, told through the eyes of children.
12. 10:01:08:12 -10:01:14:00 RIKKU They crash down with so much power they knock you off your feet.
13. 10:01:14:11 – 10:01:20:06 RIKKU Then you’re pulled back and you die
14. 10:01:22 TITLE Children of the tsunami
15. 10:01:29:13 -10:01:31:13 SOMA There was a river.
16. 10:01:33:09 – 10:01:31:13 SOMA At the end of the river was the sea
17. 10:01:41:11 – 10:01:44:21 SOMA By the river was our school
18. 10:01:45:16 – 10:01:48:16 SOMA And behind our school was a hill.
19. 10:01:53 COMM The tsunami struck on a Friday afternoon just before the end of the school day
20. 10:02:00 COMM It destroyed dozens of schools along two hundred miles of Japan’s north east coast.
21. (CONT’D) COMM All the schools evacuated to high ground except for one:
22. 10:02:13 COMM Okawa Primary School – more than two miles inland, by the Kitakami River.
23. 10:02:23 – 10:02:31 STILL Playground still [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
24. 10:02:24 COMM 10-year-old twins Soma and Fuka were in the 4th year.
25. 10:02:32 CAPTION Soma
26. 10:02:31:06 – 10:02:38:04 SOMA The first and second years were in the round bit.
27. 10:02:40:20 – 10:02:45:01 SOMA Next to that was the playroom.
28. 10:02:47 CAPTION Fuka
29. 10:02:47:14 – 10:02:52:12 FUKA My favourite place was the inner courtyard
30. 10:02:50 – 10:03:00 STILL Playground still [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
31. 10:02:52:16 – 10:02:56:10 FUKA because we used to ride our unicycles there
32. 10:02:56:15 – 10:02:59:20 FUKA or look for four-leaf-clovers.
33. 10:03:03:22 – 10:03:09:01 SOMA There was a walkway from the arts room to the gym
34. 10:03:09:08 – 10:03:11:15 SOMA With stairs to the swimming pool.
35. 10:03:12 – 10:03:14 STILL Swimming Pool still [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
36. 10:03:24 – 10:03:27 STILL Swimming Pool still [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
37. 10:03:32 COMM The earthquake which produced the tsunami struck at 2:46 in the afternoon on the 11th of March.
38. 10:03:38:21 – 10:03:45:11 SOMA That day it was snowing, I think.
39. 10:03:47:17 – 10:03:49:13 SOMA It was cold.
40. 10:03:51:13 – 10:04:02:09 FUKA It was Manno’s birthday, so me and another friend surprised her and wished her happy birthday.
41. 10:03:56 – 10:04:05 STILL Classroom still of Mano [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
42. 10:04:04:19 – 10:04:07:02 FUKA Manno was my best friend. She was very sweet, always happy and smiling.
43. 10:04:11 – 10:04:16 STILL Classroom still of Mano [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
44. 10:04:21:01 – 10:04:26:08 SOMA Then we sang a song, and while we were singing the earthquake hit.
45. 10:04:28 COMM The earthquake measured 9 on the Richter scale and lasted more than two minutes.
46. 10:04:37:14 – 10:04:44:07 SOMA It was like a slow side-to-side shaking, like this.
47. 10:04:45:01 – 10:04:47:19 SOMA They weren’t small fast shakes.
48. 10:04:48:08 – 10:04:52:13 It went from side to side like this, which made it feel really gigantic.
49. 10:04:56:05 – 10:05:02:12 FUKA The teachers were running up and down the corridors, saying: “hold on to your desks”
50. 10:05:06 COMM Before hitting Okawa Primary the tsunami would destroy two other schools closer to the sea.
51. 10:05:14 COMM The first stood by the river mouth, looking out over the ocean.
52. 10:05:19:20 – 10:05:21:19 MINORI The sea had pulled back a lot
53. 10:05:23:01 – 10:05:26:17 MINORI I’d never seen it so low before.
54. 10:05:28:00 – 10:05:31:23 MINORI I thought, ‘A big tsunami is coming.’
55. 10:05:32:10 – 10:05:34:14 MINORI My legs were shaking quite a bit.
56. 10:05:35 COMM The teachers at this school led the children to safety on higher ground.
57. 10:05:41:09 – 10:05:47:04 REINA The tsunami didn’t come all at once, it quietly got bigger and bigger.
58. 10:05:50:00 – 10:05:56:13 MINORI My house was near the sea. Just the foundations were left, the rest was washed away.
59. 10:05:57 COMM Now the tsunami surged up the Kitakami river, engulfing a second primary school.
60. 10:06:04:10 – 10:06:16:06 AYAKA The tsunami started rising very fast.
61. 10:06:10:17 – 10:06:16:06 AYAKA SASAKI The trees in front of the first- and second-year classrooms were swallowed up.
62. 10:06:17 COMM Teachers and children at this school escaped to the roof.
63. 10:06:23:14 – 10:06:29:01 AYAKA I saw the water coming over the top of the stairs
64. 10:06:30:14 – 10:06:37:23 AYAKA and realized that if we’d stayed in the music room we’d all have died.
65. 10:06:39 – 10:06:44 ARCHIVE Yoshihama tsunami video [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
66. 10:06:44:06 – 10:06:50:14 AYAKA it was how you’d imagine a big monster
67. 10:06:54 – 10:07:09 ARCHIVE Yoshihama tsunami video [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
68. 10:07:03 COMM Now the tsunami headed for Okawa, the school furthest inland.
69. 10:07:15 COMM More than half an hour had passed since the earthquake. Around 100 children were still in the playground, waiting.
70. 10:07:27:07 – 10:07:37:18 FUKA I kept looking at the cars, wondering “Is mum going to come?” I was so worried.
71. 10:07:37:18 – 10:07:41:24 FUKA When she came I burst into tears. Mum couldn’t stop crying either.
72. 10:07:42 – 10:07:49 ARCHIVE Yoshihama tsunami video [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
73. 10:07:49:18 – 10:07:51:18 SOMA Everybody was lined up. The teachers were up front talking.
74. 10:08:00 COMM The teachers were debating whether to go up the hill behind the school – used as a nature trail – or head for the nearby bridge.
75. 10:08:00 – 10:08:08 STILL Still of hill behind school[PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
76. 10:07:52:19 – 10:08:23:15 SOMA The teachers were saying “You’ll be safe here.”
77. 10:08:24:22 – 10:08:29:17 SOMA Mum said “Our house is on higher ground, we’ll be safer there.”
78. 10:08:30 – 10:08:39 STILL Classroom still of Mano [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
79. 10:08:32:02 – 10:08:34:15 FUKA Manno was right next to me.
80. 10:08:35:02 – 10:08:42:14 FUKA I’d promised her her birthday present after basketball practice
81. 10:08:43:02 – 10:08:45:18 FUKA “I won’t be able to give it to you after all,” I said.
82. 10:08:46:17 – 10:08:49:10 FUKA “Don’t worry,” she said.
83. 10:08:53:04 – 10:08:58:06 FUKA I didn’t think that would be the last time I’d see her
84. 10:08:58:13 – 10:09:03:24 FUKA so I didn’t even say bye-bye.
85. s 10:09:05 – 10:09:35 ARCHIVE [NHK AERIALS of tsunami at Natori]
86. 10:09:26 COMM In the space of half an hour the tsunami laid waste to two hundred miles of Japan’s Pacific coastline, and claimed 19000 lives.
87. 10:09:38 COMM As the tsunami subsided, a hundred miles south of Okawa Primary School – in Fukushima – another calamity was unleashed.
88. 10:09:58 -10:10:14 ARCHIVE Fukushima No 1 Reactor [TEPCO]
89. (CONT’D) COMM The tsunami had knocked out the cooling systems at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
90. 10:09:58:15 – 10:10:04:13 NEWS VOICE We’ve just heard that the roof of Reactor No 1 is caving in.
91. 10:10:15 – 10:10:21 ARCHIVE Fukushima No 1 Plant Explosions [FCT]
92. 10:10:05 COMM Nuclear fuel in three of its reactors began to melt down.
93. (CONT’D) COMM As the power company struggled to regain control of the plant, one of the reactors exploded.
94. 10:10:20 – 10:10:26 ARCHIVE Fukushima No 1 Plant Explosions [FCT]
95. 10:10:23:17 – 10:10:28:04 MANAMI Gran and Mom said, ‘The nuclear plant has blown up’ and we went indoors.
96. 10:10:35:08 – 10:10:41:01 MANAMI When I first heard the news, I thought ‘What is that?’
97. 10:10:40 – 10:11:03 ARCHIVE Fukushima No 2 Plant Explosions [FCT]
98. 10:10:45:01 – 10:10:48:07 NEWS VOICE This morning, just after 1100, there was a hydrogen explosion at the 3rd reactor
99. 10:10:49 COMM Two days after the first, a second explosion released a cloud of radioactive dust high into the atmosphere.
100. 10:10:52:09 – 10:11:00:06 REINA The village leader told us, “There’s been a hydrogen explosion at the nuclear plant.” So we evacuated.
101. 10:11:04:04 – 10:11:11:06 REINA I was born and raised in my town. I wanted to spend my whole life there. I never dreamed this would happen.
102. 10:11:15:06 - -10:11:20:08 NEWS VOICE There has been an evacuation order for everyone within a 12-mile radius.
103. 10:11:22:16 – 10:11:27 NEWS VOICE Everyone within this area must evacuate without delay
104. 10:11:22 – 10:11:27 ARCHIVE Fukushima Evacuation Order [FCT]
105. 10:11:34 COMM 26 hours after the tsunami, the government issued an evacuation order to everyone living within 12 miles of the plant.
106. (CONT’D) COMM Over the next two days 80,000 people abandoned their homes.
107. 10:11:49:03 – 10:11:52:24 MUTSUMI Next day they checked our radiation levels.
108. 10:11:53:21 – 10:11:59:05 MUTSUMI My levels were a bit high so I had to take a shower in a tent
109. 10:12:00:07 – 10:12:04:04 MUTSUMI They threw away my clothes.
110. 10:12:05:15 – 10:12:12:09 MUTSUMI They scrubbed my hair and face and threw away my shoes.
111. 10:12:14:21 – 10:12:19:05 MUTSUMI They were special clothes so that made me sad.
112. 10:12:23 COMM The government imposed a 12-mile exclusion zone, sealing off the plant and the now empty towns from the outside world.
113. 10:12:31:21 – 10:12:35:19 RIKKU The exclusion zone is horrible, isn’t it?
114. 10:12:37:10 – 10:12:45:21 RIKKU If there is an exclusion zone, it means that there’s a dangerous place inside,
115. 10:12:46:08 – 10:12:48:16 RIKKU And that gives me the creeps
116. 10:12:50 COMM 10-year-old Rikku is from Tomioka, a town deep inside the exclusion zone. It could be decades before children can go back to Tomioka.
117. 10:13:06 CAPTION Rikku
118. 10:13:03:11 – 10:13:11:02 RIKKU For me, Tomioka was a place where everyone looked out for each other.
119. 10:13:11:22 – 10:13:13:12 RIKKU It was such a nice town.
120. 10:13:16:16 – 10:13:26:14 RIKKU My house was very ordinary but it was precious to me
121. 10:13:27:00 – 10:13:31:03 RIKKU So I feel horrible knowing it’s contaminated
122. 10:13:35:18 – 10:13:40:17 RIKKU There was this shop ‘Siscon’ Where you could buy delicious sweets
123. 10:13:41:06 – 10:13:46:03 RIKKU Which you’d dip in milk.They were tasty.
124. 10:13:51:08 – 10:13:57:24 RIKKU Once during the evacuation we made a campfire.
125. 10:13:58:07 – 10:14:07:14 RIKKU When the smoke rose up, Dad said that like smoke, radiation comes and goes with the wind.
126. 10:14:09 COMM Radioactive contamination didn’t stop at the boundary of the exclusion zone, which was an arbitrary line drawn by the authorities.
127. (CONT’D) COMM It spread throughout the wider Fukushima area, creating ghost towns up to 30 miles from the plant.
128. (CONT’D) COMM Many families with children fled to distant parts of Japan.
129. 10:14:30 COMM But some, reluctant to leave their home area, evacuated no further than Minamisoma, the city on the very edge of the exclusion zone.
130. 10:14:38 CAPTION Minamisoma
131. 10:14:44 COMM Children from the exclusion zone were absorbed into Minamisoma’s schools.
132. 10:14:49:16 - 10:14:56:00 BOY The other day, we thought of our friends who’ve moved far away, and sang this song for them.
133. 10:15:04 COMM The children of the exclusion zone exist in a kind of limbo, waiting for the authorities to decide when or if they can return to their homes.
134. 10:15:15 COMM The nuclear accident took away not just their homes, but their communities and most of their friends.
135. (CONT’D) COMM In the meantime, they’ve had to adapt to a strange new world in the shadow of the stricken reactor.
136. 10:15:38 CAPTION Saki
137. 10:15:44 COMM 10-year-old Saki’s bedroom window looks out over the exclusion zone.
138. 10:15:48:17 – 10:15:56:13 SAKI Over there I can see red lights flashing.
139. 10:15:59:00 – 10:16:03:19 SAKI There’s radiation in the zone. It’s dangerous.
140. 10:16:05:14 – 10:16:09:07 SAKI They’re guarding it so no one goes in.
141. 10:16:17:04 – 10:16:23:03 SAKI At night, the flashing lights stand out and I look at them and think “I want to go home”.
142. 10:16:30 COMM Saki’s home town lies beyond the barrier
143. 10:16:35:03 – 10:16:29:21 Caption KEEP OUT
144. 10:16:43:01 – 10:16:51:04 SAKI This house is close to the 12-mile zone, but we’re renting it because we can’t find anything else.
145. 10:16:54:22 – 10:16:57:03 SAKI I worry,
146. 10:16:57:14 – 10:17:03:07 SAKI but we have nowhere else to go, so we have to put up with it.
147. 10:17:23 COMM For the children of Fukushima, learning about the dangers of radiation has become part of growing up.
148. 10:17:31:17 – 10:17:38:14 RIKKU Children are short so they’re closer to the ground
149. 10:17:40:02 – 10:17:48:19 RIKKU Dad told me rainwater makes things called radiation ‘hot spots’ on the ground
150. 10:17:49:01 – 10:17:52:12 RIKKU and because children are close to the ground
151. 10:17:52:17 – 10:17:54:04 RIKKU How do I say this?
152. 10:17:54:13 – 10:18:00:07 RIKKU We’re close to whatever is stuck to the ground.
153. 10:18:00:16 – 10:18:07:02 RIKKU The closer you are the stronger that stuff is, so I think children get more radiation
154. 10:18:10:22 – 10:18:13:13 RIKKU When I was in the bath with dad
155. 10:18:14:03 – 10:18:26:06 RIKKU He said “If you’re exposed to radiationYou’ll get cancer, it’ll hurt a lot And you’ll die.”
156. 10:18:27 COMM As part of a long-term experiment, every child in Fukushima has been asked to carry a dosimeter, which records their exposure to radiation
157. 10:18:34:23 – 10:18:35:18 TOSHI Here you go
158. 10:18:39 CAPTION Manami
159. 10:18:44:23 – 10:18:53:01 MANAMI I think you only get these in Fukushima. It’s called a glass badge.
160. 10:18:54 CAPTION Mutsumi
161. 10:18:59:22 – 10:19:06:15 MUTSUMI If I put it round my neck the seam is a bit scratchy.
162. 10:19:10:15 – 10:19:14:14 MUTSUMI So when I’m wearing a vest, or a short top
163. 10:19:15:01 – 10:19:18:17 MUTSUMI I don’t put it round my neck I wrap it round here instead.
164. 10:19:24:03 – 10:19:26:09 MUTSUMI It’s like a protective charm.
165. 10:19:30:10 – 10:19:32:18 TOSHI It’s no big deal really.
166. 10:19:34 CAPTION Ayaka
167. 10:19:39:17 – 10:19:43:05 AYAKA I said, ‘Can we see how much radiation we’ve had?’
168. 10:19:43:19 – 10:19:47:11 AYAKA My teacher said ‘No you can’t’
169. 10:19:47:16 – 10:19:52:09 AYAKA The badges will go to a university in Tokyo,
170. 10:19:52:17 – 10:19:58:11 AYAKA And they will send us the results.
171. 10:19:59:01 – 10:20:04:00 We can’t see the reading for ourselves.’
172. 10:20:04:17 – 10:20:08:18 AYAKA I found it all really interesting.
173. 10:20:53:01 – 10:21:03:02 AYAKA When I’m outside I wear a mask so I don’t breathe in any radioactive dust.
174. 10:21:03:12 – 10:21:10:01 AYAKA The hat…Why do I wear a hat…? I’m not sure.
175. 10:21:10:24 – 10:21:15:02 AYAKA I think it’s because at the beginning I was told to wear it.
176. 10:21:15:20 – 10:21:16:19 TEACHER Ayaka?
177. 10:21:16:23 – 10:21:18:11 AYAKA Here!
178. 10:21:20:20 – 10:21:22:22 PUPIL Sir, are we having health checks today?
179. 10:21:23:09 – 10:21:59:22 TEACHER That’s right. I need your hygiene forms.
180. 10:21:29:10 – 10:21:31:10 AYAKA They’re in my bag.
181. 10:21:52:17 – 10:21:54:04 AYAKA No running!
182. 10:21:57:23 – 10:21:59:22 AYAKA I think I’m on the first bus.
183. 10:22:05 COMM Ayaka is an evacuee from the exclusion zone, but she has nowhere to go back to.
184. (CONT’D) COMM Her family home was destroyed by the tsunami. All that’s left are the foundations.
185. 10:22:21 COMM Ayaka’s grandfather was at home when the tsunami came.
186. 10:22:28:23 – 10:22:33:16 AYAKA Where did he go? I guess it’s a mystery
187. 10:22:34:00 – 10:22:41:18 AYAKA We don’t know. All we have left is the pain.
188. 10:22:48 COMM At weekends Ayaka is allowed to play outside, but only once her father has checked the radiation in the street.
189. 10:22:58:16 – 10:23:00:24 AYAKA 0.7… 0.8
190. 10:23:01:08 – 10:23:03:07 HITOSHI It’s about 0.8 microsieverts
191. 10:23:03:23 – 10:23:05:23 AYAKA 0.7
192. 10:22:48 CAPTION Hitoshi
193. 10:23:06:18 – 10:23:09:17 HITOSHI 0.7 to 0.8
194. 10:23:10:08 – 10:23:11:15 AYAKA 0.8 to 0.7
195. 10:23:15 COMM Radioactivity in Ayaka’s street, measured in microsieverts, is 15 to 20 times what it was before the accident.
196. 10:23:24:19 – 10:23:32:10 AYAKA We have a machine to measure radiation but it’s in English and I only used it at the start.
197. 10:23:36:14 – 10:23:39:07 AYAKA I don’t really understand it but…
198. 10:23:40:02 – 10:23:45:21 AYAKA 1 microsievert is high and 0.3 is a little bit high.
199. 10:23:54:12 – 10:23:59:23 HITOSHI This was made in Ukraine. I bought it on the internet.
200. 10:24:00:05 – 10:24:05:02 HITOSHI Basically you switch it on and hold it about a metre from the ground,
201. 10:24:05:11 – 10:24:09:00 HITOSHI then you hold it one or two centimeters from the ground
202. 10:24:10:14 – 10:24:13:18 HITOSHI and check the readings
203. 10:24:14:13 – 10:24:18:17 AYAKA I check the levels in my room sometimes
204. 10:24:21:11 – 10:24:26:00 HITOSHI The levels near water and grass are high
205. 10:24:26:10 – 10:24:31:01 HITOSHI So we try to play on tarmac
206. 10:24:32:22- 10:24:34:21 AYAKA If I went over there I think he’d get cross with me
207. 10:24:35:08 – 10:24:39:07 AYAKA there are lots of trees and the radiation is probably high
208. 10:24:41:19 – 10:24:47:09 AYAKA Dad told me to play in this car park, so I only ever play here
209. 10:24:49:08 – 10:24:52:12 HITOSHI I only let her play for a short time
210. 10:24:54:01 – 10:24:56:21 HITOSHI Thirty minutes at most.
211. 10:25:03:11 – 10:25:05:11 AYAKA 13th March. Sunday.
212. 10:25:06:21 – 10:25:10:01 AYAKA The earthquake and the tsunami have made me so scared
213. 10:25:10:24 – 10:25:15:18 AYAKA We’ve evacuated to Shirose’s house
214. 10:25:17:06 – 10:25:21:00 AYAKA We still don’t know where Grandpa is
215. 10:25:22:19 – 10:25:25:19 AYAKA The whole family is petrified
216. 10:25:27:14 – 10:25:29:13 AYAKA I’m scared of the radiation
217. 10:25:29:17 – 10:25:31:18 AYAKA This is all so terrifying
218. 10:25:34 – 10:25:37:14 AYAKA This is my diary
219. 10:25:40:02 – 10:25:45:21 AYAKA I really wanted to write, so I got Dad to buy it for me
220. 10:25:47:12 – 10:25:54:19 AYAKA I felt better writing down my worries than keeping them to myself
221. 10:25:56:23 – 10:26:01:12 AYAKA I wasn’t brave enough to speak to dad or grandma, even though they’re family.
222. 10:26:05:00 – 10:26:06:06 AYAKA I was scared.
223. 10:26:12 COMM While the children of Fukushima adapted to a new way of living, a hundred miles north, where the tsunami hit hardest, nearly four thousand of its victims were still missing.
224. 10:26:43 COMM At Okawa Primary School on the Kitakami River, ten teachers and 74 children died that Friday afternoon.
225. 10:27:01 CAPTION Soma
226. 10:27:01:06 – 10:27:03:21 SOMA There were 17 in my class. Four survived.
227. 10:27:10:02 – 10:27:14:04 SOMA They’re probably watching me from above.
228. 10:27:22:09 – 10:27:27:09 SOMA I think they’re studying with me at school
229. 10:27:29:13 – 10:27:31:12 SOMA They’re all by my side
230. 10:27:33 – 10:27:39 STILL Classroom still of Okawa fourth years [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
231. 10:27:35:08 – 10:27:27:18 SOMA They’re my friends and I don’t want them to leave me
232. 10:27:41:10 – 10:27:44:08 SOMA I don’t want everyone to disappear
233. 10:27:49 CAPTION Naomi
234. 10:27:52 COMM Two months after the tsunami, six children and one teacher were still missing.
235. 10:27:59:00 - 10:28:04:01 NAOMI Koharu’s classroom is up there
236. 10:28:07 COMM 12-year-old Koharu was in the 6th year.
237. 10:28:13:19 – 10:28:18:20 NAOMI Hundreds of soldiers came and cleaned everything up
238. 10:28:24:09 – 10:28:31:18 NAOMI But the children are never coming back
239. 10:28:34:19 – 10:28:39:15 NAOMI So the cleaner it gets the sadder I become
240. 10:28:44:24 – 10:28:48:08 NAOMI I was told that by placing food at spots that were meaningful to my daughter
241. 10:28:48:19 – 10:28:52:00 NAOMI It would encourage her to be found quickly
242. 10:28:53:06 – 10:28:58:07 NAOMI So I put things in her locker
243. 10:29:01:01 – 10:29:03:09 NAOMI Please be found quickly
244. 10:29:04:14 – 10:29:07:06 NAOMI Come home soon Koharu
245. 10:29:16 COMM When the authorities scaled down their efforts Naomi and a few other parents carried on searching.
246. 10:29:24:08 – 10:29:30:19 NAOMI Us parents of the six missing children
247. 10:29:31:04 – NAOMI Have been searching with our bare hands
248. 10:29:34:21 NAOMI But found no one
249. 10:29:35:17 – 10:29:40:15 NAOMI So all our hopes are now on this digger
250. 10:29:44:04 – 10:29:48:04 NAOMI This man gave up his job
251. 10:29:48:08 – 10:29:53:01 NAOMI so he could dig for his son’s body.
252. 10:29:57 COMM While a handful of parents looked for their children’s remains, others were searching for an explanation
253. 10:30:05 CAPTION Sayomi
254. 10:30:09:10 – 10:30:11:18 SAYOMI I still don’t know what happened...
255. 10:30:15:23 – 10:30:34:21 SAYOMISAYOMI I still don’t know why a little girl who said goodbye to me that morning... had to be found all black and covered in sludge... I still can’t believe it.
256. 10:30:24 – 10:30:32 STILL Swimming Pool still of Chisato [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
257. 10:30:36:08 – 10:30:40:00 PARENTS Aren’t you going to bring out the surviving teacher?
258. 10:30:39 – 10:33:43 ARCHIVE School video with parents/teachers [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
259. 10:30:41 COMM The school authorities had delayed 4 weeks before meeting with bereaved parents to explain what went wrong.
260. 10:30:51:08 – 10:30:55:03 OFFICIAL Mr Junji Endo will now offer his explanation.
261. 10:30:56 COMM There were eleven teachers at Okawa school when the tsunami hit. One survived: Junji Endo.
262. 10:31:01:22 – 10:31:05:24 JUNJI ENDO I am deeply sorry that I was unable to save the children.
263. 10:31:09:04 – 10:31:28:18 SAYOMI What we’d wanted most of all was to hear from Junji Endo, the sole surviving teacher
264. 10:31:20:14 – 10:31:28:18 JUNJI ENDO I saw a huge tsunami coming down the street
265. 10:31:30:08 – 10:31:34:22 JUNJI ENDO I yelled “To the hill, this way!”
266. 10:31:36:00 – 10:31:43:16 JUNJI ENDO and made for the hillside.
267. 10:31:44:20 – 10:31:54:14 SAYOMI But all he ended up saying was how he’d managed to survive himself.
268. 10:31:58:14 – 10:32:01:10 PARENTS The children were saved everywhere else. Why did so many children have to die here?
269. 10:32:05:16 – 10:32:08:19 SAYOMI All we had was anger.
270. 10:32:09:04 – 10:32:18:23 SAYOMI We demanded they explain how this could have happened.
271. 10:32:22:18 – 10:32:29:00 JUNJI ENDO We never imagined such a big tsunami would come so…
272. 10:32:30:12 – 10:32:37:09 SAYOMI But they couldn’t answer any of our questions.
273. 10:32:37:20 – 10:32:46:00 SAYOMI They just ummed and aahed, fell silent, spoke empty platitudes...
274. 10:32:46:18 – 10:32:53:04 SAYOMI So the meeting ended up just being somewhere for the parents to vent their anger.
275. 10:32:56:13 – 10:32:58:13 PARENTS They were killed! They were killed at the school.
276. 10:33:01:16 – 10:33:02:24 SHOE DAD Do you recognize this shoe?
277. 10:33:08:16 – 10:33:10:03 SHOE DAD All that’s left was this shoe.
278. 10:33:12:06 – 10:33:13:17 SHOE DAD Look how at how broken it is.
279. 10:33:16:19 – 10:33:19:00 SHOE DAD Is my daughter nothing but a shoe?
280. 10:33:20:12 – 10:33:23:02 SAYOMI That’s what I can’t understand.
281. 10:33:25:18 – 10:33:34:10 SAYOMI There was a safe place, a higher place, right in front of their eyes.
282. 10:33:40:04 – 10:33:45:17 SAYOMI For people in public positions, so long as it’s not their own child who’s dead
283. 10:33:45:21 – 10:33:50:05 SAYOMI so long as they’re not the ones living in radioactive areas,
284. 10:33:50:20 – 10:33:52:02 SAYOMI they don’t care.
285. 10:33:53:02 – 10:33:56:12 ARCHIVE There has been another unexpected turn of events at the continued recovery operations at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
286. 10:33:59:00 – 10:34:02:11 ARCHIVE There is a possibility that the fuel rods are either completely exposed, or have melted down.
287. 10:33:59 – 10:34:04 ARCHIVE Fukushima Plant Alert [FCT]
288. 10:34:10 COMM As the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant wore on, children from the exclusion zone were left wondering when, if ever, they’d be able to return home.
289. 10:34:21:24 – 10:34:24:16 KOSEI When I’m trying to sleep I can hear them
290. 10:34:26:11 – 10:34:33:24 KOSEI Between Mum and Dad, Dad is the angrier one.
291. 10:34:37:02 – 10:34:44:00 KOSEI When there’s something on TV about the nuclear plant he says, ‘It’s a lie!’ and won’t believe it.
292. 10:34:47:01 – 10:34:52:23 MASAYAKI If the government would just say “It’s impossible” then people would be able to give up hope.
293. 10:34:53:11 – 10:34:57:11 MISAKO But if they said it was impossible, there’d be an outcry.
294. 10:34:59:05 – 10:35:06:10 MASAYAKI They’re fumbling. They can’t say it’s impossible but at the same time they can’t say when we can go back home.
295. 10:35:13 CAPTION Kosei
296. 10:35:10 COMM 8-year-old Kosei was evacuated to his grandmother’s house in Minamisoma, the town next to the exclusion zone. The house is close to the Fukushima hills, where radiation is high.
297. 10:35:23:19 – 10:35:27:13 KOSEI The garden has lots of plants in it because Gran likes plants
298. 10:35:31:13 – 10:35:43:13 KOSEI The radiation has stuck to the leaves so we’re not allowed out there without a mask.
299. 10:35:46:05 – 10:35:51:15 KOSEI Dad brought home a machine that measures radiation from his office.
300. 10:35:52:19 – 10:35:59:21 KOSEI When he measured the house he found upstairs was the highest so we’re not allowed up there.
301. 10:36:02:00 – 10:36:04:08 KOSEI It’s mostly Gran who goes up there.
302. 10:36:08:08 – 10:36:19:19 KOSEI I want to play up there with my sister. I want to play sumo wrestling.
303. 10:36:23:04 – 10:36:28:08 KOSEI I’m not allowed to drink from the taps in the house.
304. 10:36:30 CAPTION Minori
305. 10:36:33:14 – 10:36:37:18 MINORI KOSHITA There’s radiation on the vegetables sold in shops, so when Mum and Gran go shopping they try not to buy Fukushima produce.
306. 10:36:53:16 – 10:36:56:10 KOSEI I go to the front door and put on my mask.
307. 10:36:57:14 – 10:37:03:13 KOSEI We don’t want to breathe in too much radiation so we rush to the car.
308. 10:37:06:17 – 10:37:24:14 MINORI KOSHITA Mum and Dad probably want to move further away, but there are no apartments left and not much emergency housing so we’d have nowhere to live.
309. 10:37:36:17 – 10:37:46:00 TAKUYA People who’ve lost their homes can rent emergency houses.
310. 10:37:47 CAPTION Takuya
311. 10:37:49 COMM To a ten-year-old from a small town in the exclusion zone, the emergency housing camps are an alien world.
312. 10:37:56:16 – 10:38:04:22 TAKUYA From outside you can see rows and rows of rectangles.
313. 10:38:05:19 – 10:38:11:15 TAKUYA Everything is white, so sometimes I go to the wrong house
314. 10:38:25 CAPTION Mutsumi
315. 10:38:19:07 – 10:38:31:02 MUTSUMI Emergency housing is made by builders who connect houses together
316. 10:38:31:12 – 10:38:35:00 MUTSUMI so we can all live side by side.
317. 10:38:36 COMM Seven-year-old Mutsumi shares a two-room housing unit with her sisters Megumi and Manami
318. 10:38:48 CAPTION Manami
319. 10:38:42:22 – 10:38:59:16 MANAMI Our old house was very big and had two floors, but the emergency housing is a bit cramped and there’s no second floor
320. 10:39:01:23 – 10:39:12:05 MANAMI If we make a noise, our neighbours can hear us, so mum says ‘Be quiet!’
321. 10:39:27 CAPTION Kumiko
322. 10:39:20:05 – 10:39:27:24 KUMIKO Lately she’s started to ask things like,‘Mum, will I be able to have babies?’,or ‘How many babies will I be able to have?’
323. 10:39:29:05 – 10:39:32:18 KUMIKO I think she understands that radiation has a dangerous effect on the body
324. 10:39:33:04 – 10:39:38:07 KUMIKO which might stop her from having babies,or marrying the person she likes,
325. 10:39:39:23 – 10:39:48:22 KUMIKO so I think she’s started to question things just a little bit
326. 10:39:50:22 – 10:39:59:10 KUMIKO The government say it’s safe, but I always think,’ How do we know? No one has experienced this before’.
327. 10:40:03:07 – 10:40:06:01 MUTSUMI So we can carry on living into the future…
328. 10:40:06:22 – 10:40:14:06 MUTSUMI We’re going to have babies and make more people…
329. 10:40:14:13 – 10:40:17:08 MUTSUMI and we have to be careful.
330. 10:40:23 COMM A hundred miles north of Fukushima, Naomi’s search for her daughter has ended six months after the tsunami.
331. 10:40:34:23 – 10:40:49:08 NAOMI Fishermen from Naburi port saw something floating in the water
332. 10:40:50:04 – 10:40:53:04 NAOMI being picked at by seagulls.
333. 10:40:55:20 – 10:41:05:19 NAOMI My daughter… was found without her head.
334. 10:41:13:02 – 10:41:20:06 NAOMI And without her limbs.
335. 10:41:23:24 – 10:41:30:03 NAOMI So that makes us think she must‘ve raveled a long way before she got here.
336. 10:41:56:11 – 10:42:00:05 NAOMI It’s not over just because Koharu has been found
337. 10:42:07:06 – 10:42:16:24 NAOMI The fact that there are still four children missing means I can’t stop yet
338. 10:42:26:24 – 42:35:00 CANDIDATE I am Takano Mitsuji, a fellow evacuee and candidate from the exclusion zone.
339. 10:42:35:17 – 10:42:41:17 CANDIDATE I will work to meet your needs in the political world.
340. 10:42:45 COMM Since the accident evacuees from the Fukushima exclusion zone have been granted two brief visits to their homes.
341. (CONT’D) COMM The Visits are strictly limited to four hours. Evacuees must enter and exit the exclusion zone through a special facility. Cars and belongings are screened for radiation when they return.
342. 10:43:16 CAPTION Rikku
343. 10:43:12:00 – 10:43:13:15 RIKKU Children can’t go in there.
344. 10:43:14:13 – 10:43:20:21 RIKKU because they haven’t made child-size versions of those outfits,
345. 10:43:21:01 – 10:43:27:01 RIKKU also, if children went inside the zone they would get hot and want to take off their outfits
346. 10:43:27:08 – 10:43:29:17 RIKKU which is why we aren’t allowed in.
347. 10:43:35:01 – 10:43:41:20 SAKI My mom went inside the 12-mile zone
348. 10:43:44:16 – 10:43:46:01 SAKI I’d like to go in there.
349. 10:43:48:06 – 10:43:53:04 SAKI I want to see what my old neighbourhood looks like now
350. 10:43:58:03 – 10:44:00:23 KIRIKO It’s lonely, isn’t it? A town with no people.
351. 10:44:28:04 – 10:44:36:18 KIRIKO That is Odaka Primary School. This is the children’s entrance.
352. 10:44:44 CAPTION Kiriko
353. 10:44:48:11 – 10:44:50:00 KIRIKO 0.51 microsieverts. It’s lower than I thought it would be.
354. 10:44:57:17 – 10:45:01:12 KIRIKO The children would enter in here and put on their indoor shoes
355. 10:45:03:24 – 10:45:08:06 KIRIKO They’re still just sitting there
356. 10:45:11:04 – 10:45:13:02 KIRIKO Here’s my house.
357. 10:45:16:07 – 10:45:20:03 KIRIKO The water came in under the back door.
358. 10:45:26:19 – 10:45:34:09 KIRIKO The tsunami reached 1.4 m in some parts of the house
359. 10:45:36:07 – 10:45:42:05 KIRIKO I’d like to take that print over there, but how will I...?
360. 10:45:43:06 – 10:45:45:06 KIRIKO This was my desk.
361. 10:45:47:15 – 10:45:49:01 KIRIKO It’s stuck.
362. 10:45:58:18 – 10:45:59:20 KIRIKO All done.
363. 10:46:05:01 – 10:46:09:16 KIRIKO We don’t know when we’ll be allowed to visit again.
364. 10:46:10:22 – 10:46:14:05 KIRIKO Everyone from the exclusion zone is in the same boat.
365. 10:46:14:15 – 10:46:18:03 KIRIKO Even houses weren’t hit by the tsunami have grown mouldy
366. 10:46:18:24 – 10:46:21:15 KIRIKO There’s been looting too.
367. 10:46:24:08 – 10:46:35:03 KIRIKO Whether or not the government or the nuclear plant will pay compensation is anyone’s guess.
368. 10:46:38:12 – 10:46:41:00 KIRIKO We don’t know what to do.
369. 10:46:41:09 – 10:46:43:09 KIRIKO It’s difficult for everyone.
370. 10:46:49:02 – 10:46:51:08 KIRIKO I just want to see Odaka become safe once again, so we can come home.
371. 10:47:10:11- 10:47:18:07 CANDIDATE Above all, I will resolve the issue of radiation
372. 10:47:20:18- 10:47:25:03 CANDIDATE This will involve removing a part of the topsoil,
373. 10:47:26:09- 10:47:32:14 CANDIDATE adding 50cm of new soil,
374. 10:47:34:05- 10:47:36:21 CANDIDATE and building emergency housing on top,
375. 10:47:37:12- 10:47:44:09 CANDIDATE So that radiation levels drop by 90 percent
376. 10:47:45:15 – 10:47:50:15 CANDIDATE and mothers and children will be able to come home to a safe environment
377. 10:47:52:01 – 10:47:55:17 CANDIDATE Thank you very much!
378. 10:48:07 CAPTION Toshiharu
379. 10:48:12:06 – 10:48:15:15 TOSHI It’s great fun watching the decontamination.
380. 10:48:17:00- 10:48:20:06 TOSHI I think, ‘I wish I could drive one of those!’
381. 10:48:22 COMM In Minamisoma, the city next to the exclusion zone, the school playgrounds are being decontaminated by removing two inches of topsoil and replacing it with clean sand. The radioactive topsoil is then buried in shallow pits under the playgrounds.
382. 10:48:41:12 -10:48:45:14 TOSHI I’m really into heavy machinery.
383. 10:48:46:18- 10:48:49:05 TOSHI My favourite is the loader.
384. 10:48:51:10- 10:48:54:17 TOSHI My second favourite is the small digger.
385. 10:48:55:07- 10:48:57:23 TOSHI No, the big digger.
386. 10:49:05 COMM No one knows when or if radiation will cause physical illness in the children of Fukushima. But the psychological impact of the disaster is being felt already.
387. 10:49:14:23- 10:49:19:09 TOSHI My brother Toshiyuki is four
388. 10:49:23:14 – 10:49:27:02 TOSHI Mum is a bit worried about Toshiyuki.
389. 10:49:27:16- 10:49:31:14 TOSHI Since the disaster he can’t speak properly anymore...
390. 10:49:36:00 – 10:49:40:05 TOSHI Before we evacuated he could speak properly.
391. 10:49:40:13 –10:49:45:08 TOSHI I wonder why he stopped speaking since we moved to this apartment.
392. 10:49:45:16- 10:49:47:16 TOSHI I don’t know why.
393. 10:49:54:18 – 10:50:01:07 TOSHI Mum’s not a great cook but she makes him hotcakes, which are yummy.
394. 10:50:08 COMM Nine months after the tsunami, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was finally shut down.
395. 10:50:20 COMM But the 80,000 people from the nuclear exclusion zone are still waiting for permission to go home
396. 10:50:28:15- 10:50:30:14 SAKI There was a river over there
397. 10:50:30:18- 10:50:32:24 SAKI We used to jump over it again and again.
398. 10:50:35:19 – 10:50:39:07 SAKI I don’t think we‘ll go back this year.
399. 10:50:40:01- 10:50:48:10 SAKI On TV they’re saying it will take more than twenty years, but we don’t believe that.
400. 10:50:48:14- 10:50:53:02 SAKI We’re praying that we’ll be able to go back soon.
401. 10:50:54:23- 10:51:00:00 SAKI I worry sometimes, but I’ve got used to it now
402. 10:51:00:06 – 10:51:03:04 SAKI So I just accept it.
403. 10:51:05:15- 10:51:08:23 SAKI I’ve started to think of this as my new home.
404. 10:51:09:17- 10:51:11:07 SAKI I like it here.
405. 10:51:27:11 – 10:51:44:07 AYAKA How can I say this? I guess other countries have stopped trusting Japan.
406. 10:51:44:11 - 10:51:48:09 AYAKA It’s like things have got worse, not better.
407. 10:51:50:15 – 10:52:03:02 AYAKA I feel locked up in my house, because I can’t play outside anymore.
408. 10:52:05:03- 10:52:14:03 AYAKA They can’t even clean up the tsunami wreckage in Fukushima.
409. 10:52:14:23- 10:52:19:19 AYAKA I always pass by it on the bus, and it hurts when I see it.
410. 10:52:29:10- 10:52:34:19 AYAKA I think the radiation will be here for more than 30 years.
411. 10:52:35:07- 10:52:39:19 AYAKA It’s spread so far that it’s not going to disappear quickly
412. 10:52:40:01- 10:52:47:04 AYAKA no matter how much decontamination happens, they can’t get rid of it immediately
413. 10:52:53:20 -10:52:59:01 AYAKA I think the radiation won’t go away soon.
414. 10:53:12:05 – 10:53:16:15 TOSHI I don’t talk to my friends about radiation.
415. 10:53:19:00 – 10:53:26:09 TOSHI ...we talk about playing a lot but we don’t talk about radiation.
416. 10:53:28:15- 10:53:32:10 TOSHI Because it might cause another earthquake.
417. 10:53:36:03-10:53:41:03 TOSHI When I grow up I want to be a bullet train driver.
418. 10:53:41:17- 10:53:43:17 TOSHI Toshiyuki wants to be a policeman.
419. 10:53:43:21- 10:53:46:20 TOSHI Actually he wants to be a train driver too.
420. 10:53:48:00 -10:53:51:01 TOSHI I hope my dream comes true.
421. 10:53:58:10- 10:54:05:23 MUTSUMI I want to be a patisserie and on the weekends work as a volunteer
422. 10:54:06:21- 10:54:16:16 MUTSUMI Seeing all the people who suffered from this disaster. I guess you could say
423. 10:54:17:11- 10:54:19:15 MUTSUMI Makes me feel very bad for them
424. 10:54:20:05- 10:54:26:06 MUTSUMI So I want to help them
425. 10:54:47:00- 10:54:51:19 SOMA If they’d gone up the hill they would probably have been fine.
426. 10:54:52:07- 10:54:57:08 SOMA If they’d evacuated a bit earlier, they’d have been saved.
427. 10:55:15 – 10:55:20 STILL Still of Mano [PRIVATE ARCHIVE]
428. 10:55:17:15 – 10:55:26:20 FUKAFUKA I know they weren’t able to escape, but because this earthquake happened… I wish nature didn’t have to do that.I still get angry about it.
429. 10:55:41:02 -10:55:43:05 SOMA I’m not angry.
430. 10:55:43:15 -10:55:50:01 SOMA Sometimes nature saves you and sometimes it causes bad things,
431. 10:55:50:05 -10:55:52:19 SOMA I think that’s something we have to accept.
432. 10:55:53:20 -10:56:03:02 SOMA The sea has lots of fish swimming in it, and we get to eat those fish.
433. 10:56:06:12-10:56:18:12 SOMA I want to have a job that saves people. I was saved in the disaster, so I want to save others.
434. 10:56:28:01 -10:56:33:00 AYAKA I want to be a radiation researcher
435. 10:56:37:02 -10:56:44:08 AYAKA Because we’ve experienced this. I want to prevent it happening again
436. 10:56:44:12 -10:56:58:00 AYAKA I want to make medicines and sprays to protect children who will be born from now on and keep them safe
437. 10:56:59:02 -10:57:03:20 AYAKA That’s why I want to be a radiation researcher
438. 10:57:09:11 -10:57:12:03 RIKKU There are many scientists around nowadays aren’t there?
439. 10:57:14:06-10:57:18:00 RIKKU So I think if we could use the wind or a storm
440. 10:57:18:11 -10:57:24:10 RIKKU to gather the radiation in the middle of the sea far from other countries
441. 10:57:26:22 -10:57:34:08 RIKKU If we could get scientists to build a gigantic fan
442. 10:57:34:21 -10:57:36:11 RIKKU I think that might do the trick.
443. 10:57:39:24 -10:57:46:06 RIKKU My dream for when I grow up is to make things that keep people safe
444. 10:57:47:06 -10:57:50:06 RIKKU I want to be someone who thinks about people’s safety.
445. END CREDITS