28/09 大統領と広島―なぜ原爆と向き合わぬ

　ふだんはうまくいっている外交関係にも、触れ方が難しい問題はある。たとえば、日本と米国における原爆だ。

　広島・長崎では２０万人以上が犠牲になり、いまも多くの人々が後遺症に苦しんでいる。日本側から見れば、許せない無差別攻撃だ。だが、米側は戦争終結を早めるために必要だったと正当化する。

　原爆観の対立は、安保条約を結ぶ日米関係の底深く刺さった「歴史のトゲ」といえる。

　難題だけに、トゲを抜こうとする人もいれば、あえて関わろうとしない人もいる。

　内部告発サイト「ウィキリークス」が入手していた米外交文書で、この問題の一端がのぞいた。０９年８月、オバマ米大統領の初来日を前に、当時の薮中三十二外務次官がルース駐日大使と会談した。薮中氏は、大統領の広島訪問は「時期尚早」と伝えた、というのだ。

　その年の４月、オバマ大統領はプラハで「核なき世界」を訴えていた。その演説を受けて、大統領の広島訪問を期待する声が、被爆地を中心に盛り上がっていたころだ。

　結局、大統領は広島に行かなかったが、米側が強い関心を抱いていたのは事実だ。外務次官が消極的な見解を伝えたのだとしたら、どういうことなのか。理解できない。

　「ここに来て事実を知ってください。未来を生きる子どものために」。この夏に亡くなった被爆の語り部、沼田鈴子さんは大統領への期待をそう言葉にしたことがある。

　これこそ、被爆国日本が世界に発すべきメッセージだ。外務省はその広報役のはずだ。

　もちろん、外務次官が広島行きを強く勧めても、米国内の保守派の反発は大きく、実現したかどうかはわからない。

　同時に、もし実現すれば、日本はアジアに対する戦争責任を果たしたのか否かが、国内外で問い直されたかもしれない。

　どちらも、政権や外務省には波乱要因に映っていた可能性がある。だからといって、避けて通るのは健全ではない。

　すでに０８年には、当時のペロシ米下院議長が広島を、河野洋平衆院議長がハワイの真珠湾を訪ねて献花した実例もあった。こんな努力の先に、大統領の広島訪問が実現できるならば、日米両国は原爆ともっと正面から向き合えるに違いない。

　今回たまたま、政権交代期の外務官僚の発言が問題になったことで、改めて確信する。「歴史のトゲ」は政治全体で抜いていくしかないのだ、と。

08/07 最新鋭の翼 広島初登場 全日空 Ｂ７８７

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着陸するボーイング７８７（広島空港で）

　全日空が世界で初めて導入する米ボーイング社の新型旅客機「７８７」が７日、三原市本郷町の広島空港に飛来した。空港の給油や乗降などの設備が機体に適合するかを確かめるためで、９月にも羽田線で就航する予定。

　ボーイング７８７は、２５０～３００人乗りの中型機で、薄くて長い翼で空気抵抗を減らし、燃費を約２０％向上させ、騒音も大幅に抑制。窓が大きく、手荷物の収納スペースも広いため、ゆったりとした乗り心地という。

　全日空広報室の吉岡和男部長は「広島は新幹線との競合が激しいが、最新型の機体と優れた機内環境を売りに、利用を促進したい」と話している。

　空港の展望デッキには約５５０人のファンらが集まり、午後４時３０分、厚い雲のすき間から機体が現れると一斉にカメラのシャッターを切った。母、妹と訪れた府中町立府中東小３年山内健太郎君（８）は「翼の形が格好いい。飛行機が大好きなので、将来はパイロットになりたい」と喜んでいた。

（2011年7月8日  読売新聞）

18/05 THE COLUMN/ Fumihiko Yoshida: Lessons of A-bomb should be applied to Fukushima disaster

Fumihiko Yoshida (The Asahi Shimbun)

On Aug. 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, black raindrops began falling on communities distant from ground zero. The rain contained not only the soot and dust that was swept up in the aftermath of the bomb, but also radiation.

The novelist Masuji Ibuse (1898-1993) wrote about the tragedy of the atomic bombing in a work that has been translated into English as "Black Rain." In the novel, a young woman reveals her inner feelings in her diary entries.

"The rain looked like thick sticks the size of fountain pens."

"I went to the pond a number of times to wash my clothes but I could not remove the black spots from the rain."

The woman also walked in the ashes of a burnt-out Hiroshima. She would eventually develop symptoms of radiation poisoning.

On the other hand, in the real world, modern medicine has not yet clearly demonstrated all of the effects on human health from the black rain. All that time has passed without even an accurate measurement of the amount of black rain that fell and the radiation that it contained.

Last year, however, 65 years after the dropping of the atomic bomb, a report on the results of a study into what hibakusha survivors went through was compiled by the Hiroshima city government. The study showed that the black rain had definite psychological effects on many people.

A team of specialists, including Kenji Kamiya, who heads Hiroshima University's Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, who conducted the study for the city carried out questionnaires of hibakusha as well as those who experienced the black rain. Interviews were also conducted with those surveyed.

The study found that many of those who experienced the black rain felt the same psychological pain of those who lived near ground zero when the atomic bomb fell.

The study results showed the depths of the psychological exposure to radiation that emerged on that tragic day.

A major question for today is how to respond to the effects from the major accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The shock on human beings from the atomic bomb is much greater and there were no reports of any "black rain" as a result of the Fukushima accident.

However, both events are linked by a common fear of radiation.

Government officials have emphasized that radiation levels in the areas near the Fukushima plant will not immediately lead to adverse health effects on local residents.

Be that as it may, the release of radiation from a crippled nuclear plant for an extended period is an unprecedented development.

Moreover, depending on future conditions at the plant and the movement of any radiation plume, there still is the possibility that radiation exposure levels could increase in certain areas.

If that is the case, the experience of those who lived in areas hit by the atomic bomb will provide an important clue in how to proceed with psychological care for those who lived near the Fukushima plant.

According to the Hiroshima study, the major cause of psychological pain felt by those who experienced the black rain was concern for their future health.

They became worried about late-onset symptoms emerging even with minimal amounts of radiation exposure. Any health problem was suspected of being connected to the radiation.

Kamiya said, "The psychological burden was undoubtedly very large."

One practice being tested by those in the medical profession is what has been called risk communication.

Doctors explain the risks of radiation in a simple way. Individuals who raise any concerns during consultations with doctors are encouraged to seek further treatment. Even in cases where the risk is low based on the circumstances surrounding the individual's exposure to radiation, doctors do not simply say, "There will be no immediate health damage," and leave it at that.

Doctors try to respond to questions and explain in a manner that will convince those who come in for consultations.

While it may not have been all encompassing, such efforts have continued in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"If doctors from those two cities explained that there were no problems in cases where there are no problems, residents in Fukushima should be more assured," said Kamiya, who now also serves as a radiation health risk control adviser to the Fukushima prefectural government.

He plans to dispatch doctors to Fukushima from Hiroshima as well as Nagasaki after gaining cooperation in that city.

There was also a second cause of the psychological pain felt by those who experienced the black rain.

According to Nozomu Asukai, a deputy head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science who was part of the team of experts for the Hiroshima study, the second cause was "discrimination and prejudice."

In Ibuse's novel, a man who experienced discrimination as a hibakusha is depicted as worried about the effect of the black rain on his niece. In actual society, many individuals felt the stabs of pain caused by discrimination and prejudice.

Similar reports have surfaced in Fukushima.

Prefectural government officials have heard from local residents who have been denied service at restaurants and hotels just because they came from Fukushima.

While such discrimination and prejudice may be the actions of a small number of insensitive individuals, each such act leaves behind scars among disaster victims.

The damage from negative publicity to agricultural produce and manufactured goods is another form of prejudice and discrimination. Such negative publicity is not restricted to Japan and has led to import restrictions on items from Japan. Left as is, such actions could widen the psychological pain felt.

A strategy is necessary for immediate and effective risk control that prevents anything not deemed safe from reaching the market, but also proudly selling anything that does reach the market because that means it is undoubtedly safe.

Yoshibumi Nakane, a professor emeritus at Nagasaki University, has for many years studied the psychological aftereffects in Nagasaki of the atomic bombing.

"People should be afraid of radiation," Nakane said. "However, people should never overreact. They should be properly afraid after properly understanding the dangers. That is fundamentally how people should deal with radiation."

In the wake of a huge sacrifice, Japan has accumulated a large volume of experiences and information in the two cities hit by the atomic bomb.

It can even be called Japan's mission to use that legacy, which can be considered lessons from the atomic age, to deal with the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11.

The actual circumstances at those two ground zero points should not be forgotten. There are still many people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki who are even now worried about the effects from the black rain.

Without facing up to this reality, no proper response can be made to the situation in Fukushima.

History has not yet ended.

* * *

Fumihiko Yoshida is an Asahi Shimbun editorial writer.

24/04 広島大、サイトで放射能情報…長年の研究成果

　福島第一原子力発電所の事故を受けて、広島大は放射能について正確な情報を発信するため、「放射能対策基本情報ポータルサイト」を開設した。

　これまで同大学や同大学緊急被ばく医療推進センターの各ホームページには、放射線被曝 (ひばく) に関する項目を掲載していたが、新たな情報を加え一元化した。

　放射能の基本情報では「大人と子供のどちらが被ばくの影響が大きいか（回答・子供のがんリスクの方が高い）」など、Ｑ＆Ａ形式で２２項目を載せた。放射性物質の除染が必要な基準や、食べ物の安全性についてもまとめている。

　また、被曝医療の情報では、体に付着した放射性物質の除去方法を紹介。甲状腺を守るための安定ヨウ素剤の服用は「イソジン、ルゴールなどの消毒用ヨード剤にはアルコールなどが含まれているため危険」として、医師に必ず相談して内服用の安定ヨード剤を服用するよう呼び掛けている。

　広島大は「長年の研究に基づいた正確な情報なので活用して、少しでも安心してもらいたい」としている。

　放射能対策基本情報ポータルサイトは（http://aboutradiation.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/）。

（2011年4月24日17時51分 読売新聞）

03/04 福島県立医大が広島大・長崎大と連携協定

　福島第一原発事故を受け、福島県立医大（福島市）は２日、被爆地にある広島、長崎両大学と教育・研究・診療分野での連携協定を結んだ。

　両大学に蓄積された放射線に関する研究や診療のノウハウを学ぶことで、原発事故によって放出された放射性物質による健康への影響などの研究に役立てるのが狙い。

　県立医大の菊地臣一学長が両大学に申し入れ、快諾を得た。１日には、広島大原爆放射線医科学研究所の神谷研二所長と長崎大医歯薬学総合研究科の山下俊一科長が県立医大の特命教授に就任。将来的には医学分野に加え、放射線による風評被害対策の研究や学生向けの合同講座の開設も検討している。

　協定締結後、菊地学長は記者会見し、「原爆による瞬間的な被爆とは異なり、（原発事故で）低レベルの放射線を慢性的に浴びることの影響はわかっていない。長期的な視点に立って人材育成などに取り組みたい」と語った。

（2011年4月3日00時23分 読売新聞）