Each August, Japan commemorates the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
NHK WORLD TV, which hopes for a world free of nuclear weapons, brings you the following special programs.Downwinders
After World War II, the United States conducted nearly 1,000 nuclear tests in the Nevada desert. Radioactive particles blew in the wind and descended on towns many miles from the testing site. People in these towns are known as “Downwinders,” and to this day only some of them have received compensation. The others are still fighting for recognition, and for information on the damage done to their health. Now, a previously unknown report has been uncovered, lending greater credence to their case. We take a look at the unknown and unhealed scars of the victims of nuclear weapons testing in America.The Bikini Incident
60 Years of Unspoken Pain
On March 14, 1954, a tuna boat named Lucky Dragon No. 5 returned to Yaizu, Japan after being exposed to hydrogen bomb testing on Bikini Atoll. This was the Bikini Incident, which shook the world. The crew suffered serious radiation poisoning, and their tainted tuna decimated the local fishing industry.
This program features the crew of the Lucky Dragon and others involved in the fishing industry at the time, as well as citizens who started an anti-nuclear testing movement. They paint a picture of what the Bikini Incident did to Yaizu, and the suffering it inflicted.
Read more and view.
