Munesuke Yamamoto is a photo journalist whose works are mainly of the memories of wars, the people in the destroyed countries in Middle East, and so on. Fukushima nuclear disaster is also his important theme. He lives in the neighboring town to ours, and is acting in the citizen group for peace. I am happy to have him as one of our friends Recently he published a new book, which was made of his photos taken in Fukushima and poems of a poet who lives in Fukushima.
The poet made his family flee to an unpolluted town after the accident and now he lives in Fukushima alone. He began writing poems after the disaster, and doing an activity to invite the children from Fukushima to a summer camp in Sado Island, so they can play outdoor. His poems are written in the dialect of Fukushima, which sounds so warm and sincere. They are simple but move us with sorrow, anger, irritation, and sympathy of the people of Fukushima.
Yamamoto’s photos and the poems are making great pages together, and we can understand both much more. The title of the book is “Najo sube?”, that means “ What should we do?” or “What can I do with this?” in Fukushima dialect. From the word we can see the deep anguish and dismay of the people.