福島第一原発では、炉心の冷却と高レベルの放射性廃液の処理作業が懸命に続けられています。
高レベルの放射線に晒される事故現場で、決死の作業を行っている人々の勇気を称え、その無事を皆さんにも共に祈ってと切々と訴える詩（散文詩）をご紹介します。日本語で書かれたこの詩は、消防団や自衛隊員による最初の放水が行われた3月
17日の夜、書かれたもののようです。原作者の思いを広く世界に伝えたいと、東郷
茂彦氏が英訳したものです。 残念ながら原作が手に入りませんが、取り急ぎ格調高い英訳の詩をご紹介します。
この危険な作業を率先して引き受けた自衛隊員・消防団員・東電および協力会社
社員などの人々のことは、海外でも「勇気ある50名の人々」として賞賛されました。
9.11の現場で救助活動に当たり、多くの落命した消防隊員とイメージが重なります。
無事を祈らずにはおれません。
A plea for pray : （Written around Thursday, March 17, 2011）
Please pray !
Please pray for the volunteers
at the site of Fukushima nuclear plants!
Here is a plea from the family of the servicemen and workers,
Who join now the most dangerous mission at Fukushima nuclear plant.
Please, please, the family says,
Please pray, they implore,
“We need all your prayers,
For those who are sacrificing their lives,
To save Japan,
To save our people,
To save your family.
They risk their lives
For this most dangerous mission,”
The family pleads and implores for the success of this mission.
The members of the SDF’s special anti-chemical units,
They are all volunteers.
Aged more than fifty five,
Almost finished bringing up their kids,
Therefore no regret of losing their lives,
There are about fifty of these men.
Here is an article of Jiji Press:
TEPCO asked help to electric companies all over Japan
And to all of collaborated companies and its subcontractors.
They needed experienced men
To join works inside destroyed nuclear plants.
They needed “go for break” units.
And those who applied for this dangerous mission
Were volunteers too.
A man who worked more than forty years.
For Chugoku Electric Company applied
to the mission.
“This kind of work has to be done by veterans
like us,
Only one year left for my retirement
And I have finished bring up children,”
He reportedly said calmly and decisively.
His wife and daughter could not say anything.
For the first time, the daughter felt something
different
In her father’s unusual quietness.
Next morning when he left his house for
the mission,
He just said “OK, I’ll get to work,”
Just like his usual morning good bye to his family.
When you work inside a nuclear power plants,
You will be exposed to radiation.
The GOJ had decided the limit to 100 millisieverts.
But now, it is raised to 250.
Why?
Because they have asked !
The workers and servicemen asked to raise.
“If we work under the 100 millisieverts rule,
We can work only several minutes at the site.
The mission cannot be accomplished.
So, please raise the limit to 250.”
They were ready to be heavily exposed to radiation.
Because of their courageous endeavor and devotion,
The nuclear fission in a reactor in Fukushima
Had stopped right before reaching to its critical state.
If it had reached to the critical state,
Our life would have changed completely.
Our precious time with families, with beloved one and
With friends would have been gone.
All those who live within the radius of
Three hundred kilometers from nuclear power plants,
They might have lost their lives.
We owe them, we owe them all our precious time
Which we are cherishing now.
Please, please pray for them,
Please pray for the success of the mission.
Today, the water cannons operation had a certain success.
Please pray for the success of tomorrow.
Please pray so that these volunteers can come back safely.
Please pray,
We plea to you.
Please let your family, friends and colleagues,
As many as possible, let them know
The courageous and dangerous mission which
These volunteers are engaged now.
To pray, that is what we can do now.
translated by Shigehiko Togo.
Translator’s note:
On March 21, ten days after the Three Eleven, I got an email from a friend of mine
copy-pasting the original version of this poem-prose in Japanese. The writer was
unknown and it seems that it was written on the night of the 17th, the first day
of the SDF’s water cannon attack.
News afterword report that these courageous men were not limited to veterans but
younger one too. It has also been revealed that TEPCO had inhumanly treated
workers at the site.
However, the original Japanese version was moving. I am not in a position
to confirm the contents of this poem-prose, but I have decided to translate it
into English. Because I truly believe that in the operation of fighting against
nuclear power plants disaster, there are many who are risking their lives and
the danger seems to increase day by day. This poem-prose describes the best
spirit of these men and I wished many people oversea would know it.
I express my sincere gratitude to Emi Sato, who inspired me to translate it
into English. Tokyo, Thursday, March 31, 2011.
SDF： Self-Defense Force (自衛隊)
TEPCO：Tokyo Electric Power Company（東京電力）
GOJ：Government of Japan（日本政府）