Documentary on Daigo Fukuryu Maru Incident

History and Background

It was 1 March 1954, Monday morning on 6:45 when task force commander Clarkson affirmed his command to fire a hydrogen bomb, codenamed “Bravo” over the Nam Island on Bikini Atoll. The bomb was equivalent to 17 Megatons which was 1300 times much more than the cataclysmic power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. After the World War II, atomic bomb had been developed rapidly, especially in America and The Soviet Union. From 1946 to 1958, America had conducted various nuclear testing programs, in the US Proving Ground, including 67 nuclear tests at Bikini and Enewetak atolls.

Operation Castle

Operation Castle was one of the nuclear testing programs which were carried out in Bikini Atoll. America chose Bikini Atoll for nuclear testing program because they need bigger space than Eniwetok to run the test and also the consideration that it is located far away from populated area on Earth. Operation castle consisted of 6 detonations of atmospheric nuclear test, which is a detonation that takes place above the ground surface. The purpose of this operation was to test a series of high yield thermonuclear weapon design which can be delivered by aircraft.

The six experiments are: 1. Bravo

2. Romeo

3. Koon

4. Union

5. Yankee

6. Nectar

AEC Authorization for Operation Castle

Castle Bravo

Castle Bravo Nuclear Test

The most famous of the series of the test was Operation castle Bravo. It was the biggest nuclear explosion ever conducted by the US. It gained notoriety because it caused 2.5 times more yield than predicted. This came from a theoretical error when designing the bomb. As a result, the fallout reached some populated islands, and a nearby Japanese fishing vessel (Daigo Fukuryu Maru) was affected by the fallout.

Bravo Test Fallout Pattern

Map of Bikini Atoll

Effects on the people living in Rongelap, Ailinginae,and Utrik

No Bikinians were living in the bikini atolls at the time Bravo explode, because US authorities already evacuate them. Even so, because of the failures in forecasting and analysing weather patterns, and Bravo miscalculation, 236 people in living in Rongelap, Ailinginae,and Utrik were heavily contaminated to the radiation. The water became blackish yellow and the island was covered by a two inch layer of ashes. They soon indicate the symptoms of high radiation exposure, such as hair loss, decreased white blood cell counts, and skin burns. Later, they were all evacuated to Kwajalein for medical treatment.

Short History of Bikini Atoll People

             Bikini Atoll is one of the 29 atolls and five islands that compose the Marshall Islands. These atolls of the Marshalls are scattered over 357,000 square miles of a lonely part of the world located north of the equator in the Pacific Ocean. They help define a geographic area referred to as Micronesia. Once the Marshalls were discovered by the outside world, first by the Spanish in the 1600's and then later by the Germans, they were used primarily as a source for producing copra oil from coconuts. The Bikini islanders maintained no substantial contacts with these early visitors because of Bikini Atoll's remote location in the very dry, northern Marshalls. The fertile atolls in the southern Marshalls were attractive to the traders because they could produce a much larger quantity of copra. This isolation created for the Bikinians a tightly integrated society bound together by close extended family association and tradition, where the amount of land you owned was a measure of your wealth.

In the early 1900's the Japanese began to administer the Marshall Islands. This domination later resulted in a military build up throughout the islands in anticipation of World War II. Bikini and the rest of these peaceful, low lying coral atolls in the Marshalls suddenly became strategic. The Bikini islanders' life of harmony drew to an abrupt close when the Japanese decided to build and maintain a watchtower on their island to guard against an American invasion of the Marshalls. Throughout the conflict the Bikini station served as an outpost for the Japanese military headquarters in the Marshall Islands, Kwajalein Atoll.

 

After the war, in December of 1945, President Harry S. Truman issued a directive to Army and Navy officials that joint testing of nuclear weapons would be necessary "to determine the effect of atomic bombs on American warships." Bikini, because of its location away from regular air and sea routes, was chosen to be the new nuclear proving ground for the United States government.

In February of 1946 Commodore Ben H. Wyatt, the military governor of the Marshalls, traveled to Bikini. On a Sunday after church, he assembled the Bikinians to ask if they would be willing to leave their atoll temporarily so that the United States could begin testing atomic bombs for "the good of mankind and to end all world wars." King Juda, then the leader of the Bikinian people, stood up after much confused and sorrowful deliberation among his people, and announced, "We will go believing that everything is in the hands of God."

While the 167 Bikinians were getting ready for their exodus, preparations for the U.S. nuclear testing program advanced rapidly. Some 242 naval ships, 156 aircraft, 25,000 radiation recording devices and the Navy's 5,400 experimental rats, goats and pigs soon began to arrive for the tests. Over 42,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel were involved in the testing program at Bikini.

          The nuclear legacy of the Bikinians began in March of 1946 when they were first removed from their islands in preparation for Operation Crossroads. The history of the Bikinian people from that day has been a story of their struggle to understand scientific concepts as they relate to their islands, as well as the day-to-day problems of finding food, raising families and maintaining their culture amidst the progression of events set in motion by the Cold War that have been for the most part out of their control.

         In preparation for Operation Crossroads, the Bikinians were sent 125 miles eastward across the ocean on a U.S. Navy LST landing craft to Rongerik Atoll. The islands of Rongerik Atoll were uninhabited because, traditionally, the Marshallese people considered them to be unlivable due to their size (Rongerik is 1/6 the size of Bikini Atoll) and because they had an inadequate water and food supply. There was also a deep-rooted traditional belief that the atoll was inhabited by evil spirits. The Administration left the Bikinians food stores sufficient only for several weeks. The islanders soon discovered that the coconut trees and other local food crops produced very few fruits when compared to the yield of the trees on Bikini. As the food supply on Rongerik quickly ran out, the Bikinians began to suffer from starvation and fish poisoning due to the lack of edible fish in the lagoon. Within two months after their arrival they began to beg U.S. officials to move them back to Bikini.

 

The two atomic bomb blasts of Operation Crossroads were both about the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Eighteen tons of cinematography equipment and more than half of the world's supply of motion picture film were on hand to record the Able and Baker detonations, and also the movement of the Bikinians from their atoll.

 

From December of 1946 through January of 1947, the food shortages worsened on Rongerik; the small population of Bikinians was confronted with near starvation. During the same period of time, the area of Micronesia was designated as a United Nations Strategic Trust Territory (TT) to be administered by the United States. Indeed, it was the only strategic trust ever created by the United Nations. In this agreement, the U.S. committed itself to the United Nations directive to "promote the economic advancement and self-sufficiency of the inhabitants, and to this end shall...protect the inhabitants against the loss of their lands and resources

..." The people of Bikini have long seen the irony in the conduct of the TT agreement that allowed the bombing of their homeland and that forced them into starvation on Rongerik Atoll.

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Daigo Fukuryu Maru (The Lucky Dragon No.5)

People in the Marshall Island were not the only victims of the tremendous blast. One and a half hour after the explosion, a 140-ton tuna fishing boat from Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture which was sailing 100 miles east of Bikini were also heavily contaminated by the radiation. Despite being a secret, the test gained international attention because the fallout from the explosion poisoned the Daigo Fukuryu Maru crews. This created an international concern regarding atmospheric thermonuclear test and severed the diplomatic relationship with Japan.

Since the fishermen were operating outside of the danger zone given by the US authorities, they were unaware of the danger of the atomic explosion they saw. After seeing a bright flash light in the sky that lit up like a sunrise, eight minutes later they heard the sound of the explosion and continued by the rained of cloud of white radioactive ash for approximately 3 hours. This ashes which was later known as “ashes of the death” contaminated not only the 23 crew members, but also the fishes that they had caught.

Soon after being exposed to this fallout, the crew members start to suffer from itching skin, nausea, and vomiting. On their way back home, their skin began to darken, hair loosened and started to fallout, pain in the eyes, and bleeding from the gums. On Sunday, 14 March 1954, they arrived in their home port, Yaizu, Shizuoka. The next day, 2 of them were sent to Tokyo University Hospital for an examination. And on 16 March, they were officially announced to be exposed by the fallout. The remaining 21 crew members were then hospitalized in Tokyo for about a year. The ship was quarantined and later in 1967 it was abandoned at Yumenoshima, a graveyard for wooden ships in Tokyo Bay. Now, the ship is in the Tokyo Metropolitan Daigo Fukuryu Maru Exhibition Hall as a monument.

Fukuryu Maru brought back 12.000 pounds of sharks and tuna which was sent right away to the fish market in Japan. A young professor called Yashushi Nishiwaki discovered that the fishes were also heavily contaminated. Contaminated fish were then deeply buried, but some had been sold. This automatically feared the entire Japan. People stopped consuming fish and as the result, price of fish fall down and bankruptcy of fish-dealers. By the end of 1954, 856 Japanese fishing boats were confirmed exposed by the radiation.

On 23 September 1954, Aikichi Kuboyama, the chief of radio operator passed away after fell into a coma and suffering from low white blood cell counts. He was the first Japanese victim of a Hydrogen bomb although America has never declared that he died because of “Bravo”. His last words before he died were "I pray that I am the last victim of an atomic or hydrogen bomb." This incident also triggered Japanese film makers to create “Gojira”, monsters that are mutated because of the impact of radiation.

Daigo Fukuryu Maru Film Storyline

On January 22^nd, 1954, a Japanese fishing boat called the ‘Daigo Fukuryu Maru’ started its sailing to go fishing for two months. With twenty three crews aboard, they started the journey happily. They sang, played guitar, and do other fun things. It was when one of the crew realized that the boat was heading east rather than south, where they usually go to, because they were not informed by the chief. The chief said that they would catch bigger fish in the east. So they headed east and started to catch big fish. One day, the fish net got broken so they decided to go south from where they were, towards Bikini Atoll, near Marshall Island, so they can catch fish using smaller nets and spears. They did catch lots of fish there, without knowing what would come out the next day. On March 1^st, in the same year, they were going to catch some more fish when they saw a huge flash light and big mushroom cloud. Some of them thought it was the sun, but Kuboyama, the boat’s chief radioman realized that it was a bomb. It was then they realized that on that day, America was testing its hydrogen bomb in Bikini Atoll. Even though the boat was 160 kilometers away from the bomb, the fallout reached to their boat and the ashes rained onto them and the fish.

When they got back to their village, they found themselves in “black and darked-skin”, so they decided to go to local hospital. The doctor in that hospital suggested them to go to Tokyo Hospital and asked them to bring some samples of the ash. Even though they’ve got dark-skin, they were still happy that they went back home safe and caught lots of fish. They gathered with their families and or met their girlfriends.

When the two representative crews, who went to Tokyo hospital, came back, they were all informed that they had got radiated by the fallouts of the bomb, especially by Strontium-90. The boat crews started to get headache, nauseas, and hair-fallen. The villagers started to get worry, but the news hadn’t been spread out of the village yet. Until one reporter named Kabe, decided to make the news telling that the American hydrogen bomb test had affected a Japanese fishing boat. So the news was spread and the government started to consider it. But since there was no way to cure these diseases caused by the radiation, they felt that there was no hope, so they were kept in the hospital so that the radiation would not spread to other people.

In September 23^rd, in the same year, Kuboyama died. In his last pray, he said, “I hope I am the last victim of hydrogen bomb.”

Kaneto Shindo

Kaneto Shindo was a Japanese filmmaker, production designer, screenwriter and director, who were born in Hiroshima at 28th of April 1912. He started his early career in the film business as an art director during the late 30s and during the 40s he started to learn scenario writing under the training of the notorious ‘perfectionist’ director Kenji Mizoguchi in the movie Loyal 47 Ronin (1941). Kenji Mizoguchi’s style has influenced Shindo and through the movies written and directed by Shindo, people can see the influence easily, for example significantly we can see that woman has taken the main role in the movies of both directors and the role that woman play as a savior of the man.

The movie script that brought the fame to Shindo’s career was for the Kosaburo Yoshimura’s movie, Shochiku. Another famous director that has been a mentor for Shindo was Kon Ichikawa. Both mentors has influenced Shindo to finally begin his debut in directorial by directing the movie The Story of A Beloved Wife in 1951. Together with Yoshimura in 1950, Shindo established the production company Society of Modern Film or Kindai Eiga Kyokai.

Several movie works by SHindo were heavily influenced by the atomic bomb dropped in Japan after the WWII. Through the movie Children of the Atomic Bomb, Shindo as a native Hiroshima citizen, tried to bring up the impacts and aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima seen through the eyes of the Hiroshima children. Through another movie titled Dai Go Fukuryumaru, Shindo also tried to criticize the nuclear bomb and the impact that it brings to the human race. It criticizes the testing of the nuclear weapon at the Nam Island on bikini atoll which has an aftermath beyond expectation of USA. He uses these movies to emphasize on how no good nuclear weapon can bring to human race.

Shindo has won various prestigious awards such as Japan Academy Prize Director of the year through the movie A Last Note in 1996, Grand Prix Moscow Festival in 1960 for The Naked Island movie, Asahi prize, Japan fro activities in independent film production (1975) and the most recent, Special Jury Prize award for the movie Ichimai No Hagaki at 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival (November 2010) which he received in the age of 98.

Besides the movie The Naked Island that made Shindo well-known to the western film community, a film written by Shindo that was remade into an American movie called Hachi: A dog’s tale has also made him famous in the west.

The Hydrogen Bomb Exposure Mode

The fallout on the boat contained 26 nuclides.  The presence of uranium 237 suggested that the bomb was of the type which used natural uranium as its outer component.  The radiative intensity of the fallout at 7:00 AM, 1 March, is estimated at 1.4Ci/g.  The fishing-boat crew received external gamma ray irradiation, internal irradiation from fallout intake, and bata ray irradiation from fallout on naked skin.  External gamma ray irradiation is considered to have  been the main cause of acute symptoms.  The two-week doses of gamma ray varied but are estimated to have ranged from 170 to 600 rads.  Radiochemical analysis of urine and external measurement of thyroid gland radioactivity showed internal irradiation.  However, there were no cases of long-term presence of radioactive material in the men examined.  The degree of skin injuries led to estimates that local skin exposure doses were roughly 1,000 rads or higher.

Clinical Course by the Bomb Radiation

   The initial general symptoms appearing in the crew included fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and anorexia.  Conjunctivitis was observed in all cases.  Leucopoenia, thrombopenia, and moderate ormild anaemia also occurred.  The minimum counts of leukocytes were　all less than normal: 5 cases at a level of 3,000 per cubic　millimetre, 13 cases at a level of 2,000 per cubic millimetre, and　5 cases at a level of 1,000 per millimetre.  The minimum count of　blood platelet was at a level of 1,000 per cubic millimetre.  A few　cases showed mild hemorrhagic　tendencies.  These findings　correlated with the condition of the bone　marrow.  The affected　bone marrow ran a course from aplasia to hypoplasia to partial　recovery to normalization.  As the bone marrow recovered,　peripheral blood-cell counts approached normal levels.  A temporary　decease in the number of spermatozoa was found, but signs of　recovery appeared two years after　exposure, and there was no　permanent exposure-related sterility. 

    　The main site of injury was the exposed areas of the skin. 　Working clothes, gloves, and shoes played an unexpected role in　protecting the crew from bata ray exposure.  Skin injuries　developed in this sequence: erythema, edema, bulla, and erosion. 　Ulceration and recovered after a few months in most instances. 　Some individuals showed depigmentation, pigmentation,　telangiectasia, or atrophy of the skin without, however, signs of　carcinogenesis for many years.

     Thyroid nodules were observed in the major of the Marshall　Islanders who were 10 years or younger at the time of nuclear test. 　One of these cases died　from acute myelogenous leukaemia 18 years　after exposure. 

Character Analysis 1 - Kuboyama Aikichi

In Daigo Fukuryu Maru, all the fishermen were described as hardwoking people, especially when they did their job. From this point, we can see that it depicted one of Japanese value, which is hard-working. Beside their working ethics, there was scene which the crews let the chief to bless the net using Japanese sake as the sign that they hope they could catch good and a lot of fish. From this scene, we also lead us to the fact that Japanese still believe in such myths.

If we look more closely to each character, we can see that some characters were emphasized. Let us take a look for the character that was given most emphasize. That was the chief Radioman, Kuboyama Aikichi.

He was the chief radioman. His job was to take communication to the city to inform the progress of everything that was going on through the sailing. He got most emphasize because at the end of the story, he was the only crew that died for the radiation sickness.

Basically he was a father of 3 pf his children, whom all were girls. His wife worked at the fish store and truly a Japanese housewife, pattient and caring. Having a family must have affect Kuboyama characteristic. He was a fine responsible man, doing well in his job, respected by the other crews. He was the one that asked the crew to go to hospital in Tokyo, always support the crew to hang on and not to give up in the sickness.

Unfortunately, he ended up dying because the sickness was not getting better while it did on the other crew. Due to his age (around 40 to 50), his progress of recovering was very slow comparing to others whom still at their 20s. At the very end of his time, he got coma and it got worse. However, he still did not give up. He even promised to his mother that he would not die. Looking into this facts, we can see that Kuboyama was a caring loving father, who refused to give up whatever the condition was.

Character Analysis 2

Another emphasized character are the chief of fishermen, Mishima Tamio, and one of the crew, Harada. Mishima Tamio was the chief of fishermen which means he was the person in charge of controling everything. He was also the decision maker, meaning he was the one who made the decision of changing the direction of the route. As chief, he was respected by all the fishermen. He also a very reliable person, as he was not selfish, also thinking about the crew’s condition and could make the right decision.

Harada, one of the crew, was quite a shy person. He got a girlfriend and we can see that they love each other. I can say that Harada was a shy person looking to the scene where he beat some of the crews whom teased him having a girlfriend. He was easy to cry. He cried when his girlfriend visited him in the hospital and said that she would wait for him to recover. This also show that the girlfriend was very loyal to Harada.

Another character is the owner of the boat, Nishiyama Yoichi. He was the owner of the boat. He was very strict and quite hard on his crew. This could be shown by the scene when he scolded all the crews and chiefs as they did not give any reports about changing the route and ended up coming back not in the scheduled day. However, he was a caring boss that he listened to the story about the bombing and gave permission to the crew to get to the hospital for medical check-up rather that keeping them to finish their works.

One of the doctor, the psychologist for exact, named Kumagai, appeared from the middle of the film. As the psychologist, he gave affection to the patients that he could get along with all of them. This proved that he was doing his job well as a doctor. He was very concerned about Kuboyama's condition that was not getting better.

Cinema Studies - Music

In regards to music, this film has a very cheerful background song from the beginning until the pika. We can hear the background music, the same rhythm; even though it changes to an acoustic version and whistling, it continues as the background. Here we can feel that the fishermen were really happy being together; even though they were fighting, the background music is still cheerful. After that, they had some problems because they couldn't get any fish before they had to go to the south (minami), the music changed turn sad. But when they decided to go to the south, the happy BGM came again, representing the new spirit of fishermen.

When they saw the pika, there was no BGM at all. It was all silence, and suddenly there was a very loud pikadon sound, causing everybody to become panicked. The fallout came along with a mysterious sprinkle background music which makes a clear image, that those fishermen did not really know what the 'mystery white dust' was.

At 00:53:48, the mysterious music, combined with the cutting scene of newspapers, shows more uncertainty about what was actually going on. When the Americans were inspecting the boat, the clock ticking BGM seems to represent the alert and hurry that they were forced to act with, as the possibility of radiation sickness would be increasing day by day. At 01:00:03, they were admitted to Tokyo hospital, and the sad BGM, seems to emphasize their separation from their family, friends, and relatives. When we see images of the hospital, a serene BGM can be heard, possibly to stress the atmosphere inside this place of healing.

When the fishermen were at the hospital, happy BGM can be heard on some occasions, such as the scene when the old lady was asking about makisushi (Japanese roll). At this time, they were happy and got their spirit back. Besides that, when one of the girlfriends came to visit one of them, there was a happy BGM as well. When one of them is happy, everybody else is happy. Nevertheless, when everybody else were getting better, Kuhoyama's condition worsened. When he was in a coma, there was a flashback of the image of the fallout. It can be interpreted that this flashback was a hint to the causal link of Kuhoyama's coma. Boats in the ocean were there with sad BGM, and at 01:33:05 he died in silence, with no music whatsoever. After that there were sounds of birds, and everybody started crying.Here the film tries to set a sombre mood in response to the death of Kuhoyama's. The song is a very sad song, probably not unlike those heard at the funerals of national heroes.

Cinema Studies - Special Effect

There were some special effects in this film, such as the image of the map of the fishing route.
This allowed us (and the fishermen) to know how far they have traveled, because when they were at the sea, all that can be seen is just an endless ocean of water. The date, as well, was to inform the viewer of how long the fishermen had been in the ocean, and how long it would take for the radiation sickness to spread in their bodies.

When they got back to the shore, people started to know about the bomb. At 00:48:13, there was cutting from scene to scene, about the doctor, newspaper, television, and so on. This is an emphasis on the fact that the knowledge of the bomb is already spreading among them.

At the end of the film, when Kuhoyama's wife took his ashes on the train, there was a cutting scene plus special effect that informs us the place (Odawara-Sizuoka-Yairon). Here, the same background music that has been played many times suddenly stopped, without fading out. At 01:43:18 people started singing a sad song in the minor scale (furosato) to pay respect to Kuhoyama. When this song slowly fades out, turning into a BGM, an image of a very calm ocean can be seen. Here I think the director tried to set the mood of the viewer, and he wants to show us how much Kuhoyama was respected by others.

Cinema Studies - Additions

If we hear carefully when they speak, the fishermen speak in non-standard Japanese dialects (方言ーhougen). I found that certain parts of the film were dubbed, especially on scenes with more formal conversations like the television interview.　From 00:09:25 I noticed that the movements of the lips do not match the syllables heard.　At 01:05:03, I also found that when there is a speech and interview, they dubbed the conversation with the standard Japanese, not the local dialects, to give a more formal and serious atmosphere.

The film also contains some criticisms for the US, who are understood to disrespect the Japanese, even when they are helping them recover from the two bombings. This criticism is contained in the scene when the fishermen refused to be taken to Tokyo on American airplanes, claiming that because the radiation sickness was America's fault, they should apologize first.

This film is, above all, a dramatic film. Employing dramatic truth, the love storyline caters to the entertainment value demands of the viewers.

Comparison with GOJIRA (1954)~~fiction and non-fiction

The Daigo Fukuryu Maru film might remind us with the film GOJIRA which was made in 1954, the year when the Bikini Atoll incident happened. GOJIRA, if you don`t know, is told as a creature that has been transformed into a huge destructive monster as the effect of bomb radiation. In fact, GOJIRA`s director, Ishiro Honda, made this film because he was inspired by the incident happened to the Daigo Fukuryu Maru fishing boat.

As for the storyline, actually the two films have different plot. But two films had same inspiration source, which is the effect of bomb testing. Or in other words, both films` message is the same, which is to show the feeling of anti-nuclear.

But the one of the obvious differences is that Daigo Fukuryu Maru is rather a non-fiction film, while GOJIRA is a fiction film.

What does fiction or non-fiction mean?

To be simple, non-fiction means true or real, and fiction means not true or might be imagination. Usually, these terms is more often used by written pieces, such as novels, stories, articles, news, etc.  Examples of fictional pieces are poems, plays, animations, animal stories, etc. While non-fictional pieces are newspaper stories, editorials, personal accounts, journal articles, legal documents, etc. Non-fiction based on true stories or real world.

Gojira, as I stated above, is a fictional story. This film link the true story about atomic bomb, but then created imaginative elements, which is not exist in the real world, such as the monster. Daigo Fukuryu Maru is rather a non-fictional film because it is based on true story. It is true that it is not exactly non-fiction because it still put elements of creative license, such as the love story between Harada and Kiyo-chan, but the plot of the story is more telling about historical experience that happened in the real life.

The Route

This picture showed the route that was taken by Daigo Fukuryu Maru.

They changed the route and went to east of Japan.

On the middle, they found out that the net was broken and at last they decided to change the route and headed south while trying to save the fuel and went back to Japan. Unfortunately, they apparently were crossing the area where the hydrogen bomb was tested in Bikini Atoll.