a poem by a 16-year-old from Minami-Soma

Below, a poem by a 16-year-old from Minami-Soma that made its way into German and then English:

Japanese original
Translation into German

Translation into English by Assata Küpker

Help me,
I am a student
From Minami-Soma in Fukushima.

Through the Tsunami I have lost friends,
my friends have lost their parents,
my best friend is stuck in Minami-Soma because without gasoline she can not flee

Only through telephone and e-mail
I can cheer her up

She is struggling with the fear
of the radioactivity

But she is resigned.

At sixteen
She is ready for death;
She feels death drawing closer.

Even if she were saved,
She would have to live with the constant fear of the radioactivity.

The politicians, the state,
the mass media, the experts,
the bosses of the NPPs,
they are all enemies.
They are all liars.

The news report less and less about the NPP,
always the same scenes of the tsunami,
heartless interviews by the media,
statements of compassion merely as lip service,
the politician, who describes the meltdown as a “natural catastrophe”.

Politicians, help us with your income and your savings.
Stop with the luxury and
help the victims to survive.

Not only give orders,
do not only watch from safe places,
instead please help us on site!

We are neglected,
probably Fukushima will be isolated.

We are neglected,
we are being killed by the state.

We, the victims of the catastrophe will never forgive the state that neglected us, we will hate it forever.

I want to tell the one who has read this piece of paper:

You don’t know when a, for you precious person suddenly disappears. Imagine that the one who is laughing next door right now suddenly disappears.
Please treat him with more caution,

Our school, in which we spend our youth,
has turned into a morgue,
in the gym, where we do sports and club activities, are now lying motionless corpses.

How can I bring the truth to as many people possible?
Even if only one person reads this piece of paper,
I would be happy.

This is what I thought and so I wrote this piece of paper.
I apologize and I want to say thank you.