A manga that describes the reality of daily life at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant through the eyes of a worker is enjoying popularity.
“Ichiefu” (1F), written by Kazuto Tatsuta, 49, first appeared in autumn 2013 as a serial comic in the weekly magazine “Morning,” published by Kodansha Ltd. Ichiefu stands for the Fukushima No. 1 plant among locals.
The comic was published in book form on April 23. The publisher shipped a total of 150,000 copies of the first volume, which is an unusually large number for a little-known manga artist.
Tatsuta said he changed jobs repeatedly after graduating from university. At the same time, he also worked as a comic strip artist.
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Ichiefu” describes the situation at the plant in great detail. The descriptions of equipment, such as the masks and protective gear the workers used, and the procedures they took to measure radiation levels make readers feel as if they are there and reading actual worker manuals.
The comic also depicts intimate practices only workers there would know. For example, the workers always say “Be safe” to each other before starting their shifts.
Each of the workers was also required to stop working when his dosimeter issued a fourth warning sound.
“As a manga artist, I was interested in the overall atmosphere and scenery at the plant. But in those days, I was too busy working to do anything with it,” Tatsuta recalled.
When the amount of radiation he was exposed to reached the maximum annual limit after six months, he temporarily returned home to Tokyo. It was then that he decided to write the manga because what he was reading and hearing in the media about the situation at the plant was different from what he experienced and saw himself.
Read more at Manga gives real-life look at Fukushima plant workers in action
Related article: 福島第一の日常、元作業員が漫画に 異例の初版１５万部 via 朝日新聞
