05.10.11
Fukushima: the first man to photograph the Japan nuclear crisis
Japan Nuclear Crisis In Pictures: photojournalist Kazuma Obara tells us his incredible story of getting inside the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant to take photos
Image © Kazuma Obara
The day began like any other. On 11 March Kazuma Obara turned up to his job at the Kyoto branch of Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance and was going about his normal routine. When the floor shook and he began to feel dizzy, he simply chalked it up to working too hard. However, when a group of colleagues began checking Yahoo News and sending round updates, he realised that not only had there been a major earthquake, but a devastating tsunami had also hit Japan.
“When I checked the TV news, my mind went blank,” Kazuma recalls. “I called my family in Morioka, Iwate prefecture and knew they were safe. But my best friend’s hometown is Minami-Sanriku, one of the areas with the largest number of missing people. He lives in Tokyo, but I know his family very well. I also have many other friends living in the stricken areas.”
On 12 March Kazuma turned off his TV and went outside to take photos of people who were collecting contributions for those in need. Two days later he told his boss that he was quitting his job.
“I could no longer watch people suffering through the newspapers and TV,” he says. “TV news was broadcasting that civilization was destroyed. The same videos from helicopters played over and over again. I couldn’t distinguish people from these videos, and I wanted to see their facial expressions. How are they coping? What are they feeling? I thought, this is the time to become a full-time photographer.”
Kazuma’s home in Osaka was largely unaffected by the earthquake and tsunami that struck other regions of Japan, and because he could still buy food and petrol in Osaka he stocked up on supplies and joined his friend on a journey back to Minami-Sanriku to find his family and help others in need. When they arrived, they eventually located all of his friend’s family, except for his grandfather, who went missing in the tsunami in Japan.
Kazuma began documenting the relief efforts, damage and ongoing plight of the victims of the disaster. But over time he noticed the personal stories disappear from the news. Information about the stricken areas began decreasing. Of particular concern to Kazuma was the lack of information about what was (and still is) happening at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that suffered meltdowns in three of its six reactors.
To try and raise awareness, Kazuma held five exhibitions of his photos between April and August of this year in Osaka, Shizuoka, Saitama and two in Tochigi. “These places are far away from the areas stricken by the tsunami in Japan,” he says. “I don’t want people to forget about the victims. Sometimes when your life is ordinary and these things are far away from you, it’s hard to think of these things as your problem.”
Image © Kazuma Obara
Most shrouded in secrecy, according to Kazuma, is the ongoing trouble at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant is still emitting dangerous levels of radiation, and the workers battling to stop it remain virtually invisible to us.
“I wanted to expand the information we have about Fukushima,” he says. “I wanted to do this to help us all, but also to protect the workers, some of whom are even younger than me – and I’m 25 years old.”
Kazuma knew he must get inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant and show the world what was happening. To protect his source at the plant, he can’t divulge too many details as to how he got inside, but generally speaking someone who works at the Fukushima nuclear power plant helped him pose as a fellow worker to get through the gates.
Surprisingly, security is not high, he says. “TEPCO doesn’t check our faces at the gate or inside.”
After entering the gate of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Kazuma then went inside the building situated just 200 meters from Reactor 1. “Upon entering, my body was screened, I took a capsule of iodine and ate lunch without a mask like everyone else. Apart from the actual work, I experienced the typical day of a worker,” he says.
Kazuma brought six cameras with him – four DSLRs, one of which was his trusted Canon EOS 5D Mark II, with which he shot the exteriors of the buildings; and for shooting inside the plant’s buildings he used a digital compact camera and a small toy camera.
To keep from drawing attention to himself, Kazuma brought a small blue bag, which workers are permitted to bring into the building. When he wanted to take a picture he simply held the camera under the bag to hide what he was doing.
He says he was able to take photos freely, particularly outside within the plant. But some people at the Fukushima nuclear power plant did suspect he was not a typical worker, and eventually Kazuma was found taking pictures inside.
However, when they asked him what he was doing and he told them that he was a photographer, rather than getting angry they took care to help ensure he was properly protected in his suit and mask.
Image © Kazuma Obara
Kazuma took about 100 pictures in total. Shooting inside the buildings was by far most difficult, he says. “Many people were resting. The smoking room was especially difficult because it is a quadrangle. The ashtray is in the centre of the room, so most people were standing or sitting there, leaving no blind spot in this room where I could work discreetly. So what I did was try to sit behind my source and hide the camera. One person did notice me and watched my camera as I took pictures. But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t have much time. Luckily he didn’t say anything to me.”
Outside, Kazuma shot mostly from his car, which gave him more cover. However, because the radiation is so high outside he couldn’t stay in one place for very long and there was little room for error.
Kazuma doesn’t deny the risks he took. He was fearful of being arrested, and still is to this day. “When I showed my photos to the picture editor of a Japanese magazine he told me that some people might try to attack me because of these. So far no one has. The Japanese government doesn’t all journalists within 20km of the reactors, so I think that’s why none of the Japanese media wants to publish my pictures. There has been a lot of foreign interest, though.”
Most of all, Kazuma is concerned about his health. “My personal dosimeter showed 60μSv for the 6 hours I was there. This is not high radiation, but I didn’t check internal exposure. Because I am 25 years old, maybe effect of the radiation is stronger compared to older people? I don’t know. But I want to have children in the future, and I am afraid of the effects of this experience not only on me, but on my future children as well.”
But Kazuma does not regret his actions. He’s taken pictures that no one else in the world has taken and helped to shed some light on one of the most significant and underreported stories of the year. “No one here knows what the conditions are like. Any information we get about the situation comes from UK or German media, not Japan’s.”
Kazuma hopes that by publicising these photos it might spur more regulation of companies like TEPCO, which manages the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and promote a freer flow of information in this and future catastrophes. And he also hopes that seeing the faces of the workers who are putting their lives on the line will foster more sympathy and action against what he believes are cruel working conditions.
“Six months on, there has been no disclosure of who the workers are and the realities of the conditions they work in,” Kazuma says. “Who are these unseen heroes risking their lives for the rest of the population? Unfortunately, anonymous reporting has been the only way news media can reveal these facts to the public. Non-disclosure has become the norm for these people, their identities kept hidden when they are fighting to protect our safety.”
To read a timeline of Kazuma’s day inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant and to see more of his photos, pick up the November issue of Photography Monthly, on newsstands now.
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