{"id":701,"date":"2012-04-29T11:37:06","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T02:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/?p=701"},"modified":"2012-06-14T01:18:26","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T16:18:26","slug":"would-you-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/29\/would-you-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Would You Stay?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Going home to the nuclear exclusion zone \u8b66\u6212\u533a\u57df\u5185\u4e00\u90e8\u89e3\u9664\uff1a\u81ea\u5b85\u3078\u3002\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dtNjuAeWhv0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>We were prepared to talk our way past a police checkpoint\u2014or play dumb, in my case.\u00a0 But we drove right over the border unaccosted.\u00a0 13 months after the tsunami, the fields remain strewn with twisted cars and the insides of ravaged houses.\u00a0 Cracked and roofless buildings stand untouched since the earthquake.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-680\" title=\"IMG_4370 small\" src=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small-600x400.jpg 600w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small-450x300.jpg 450w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>12 km up the Pacific coast from the still-smoldering Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Minami-Soma was cleaved in two.\u00a0 The north side of the city remains populated, while the south end was abandoned to the nuclear exclusion zone.\u00a0 That is, until April 16, when, for the first time, evacuees were allowed to return home without a special permit, though they still can\u2019t spend the night.<\/p>\n<p>The Nemotos had an organic farm here for 12 years, spreading sustainable practices to their neighbors.\u00a0 Mrs. Nemoto lost cousins in the tsunami.\u00a0 They evacuated first to Fukushima City, where radiation is twice as high as it is here, and later to adjacent Soma, where they live with their son\u2019s family.\u00a0 The trauma of relocation has left their teenage granddaughter suffering sleepwalking and seizures.<\/p>\n<p>Koichi Nemoto is determined to resume farming his evacuated land.\u00a0 He\u2019s working with a team of researchers to test various experimental methods of preventing crops from absorbing radioactive cesium.\u00a0 He can grow anything, he says proudly.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-702\" title=\"nemoto neighbor\" src=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-300x168.jpg 300w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-1024x576.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-600x337.jpg 600w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-500x281.jpg 500w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>It\u2019s the complete opposite for their next-door neighbors, also named Nemoto (the name of the neighborhood, too).\u00a0 The neighbor Nemotos have no desire to move back, they tell us as they revisit their abandoned home, and they consider cultivating their fields a lost cause.\u00a0 They just want the government, or the power company, anybody, to buy their property, so they can move on.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you were a Fukushima farmer, would you stay?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/indiegogo.com\/uncannyterrain\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-ak-ash4\/292118_312436535494104_138783162859443_784306_483960592_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>This was just one of the provocative questions students asked us, often in eloquent English, after we screened preview footage of our documentary <em>Uncanny Terrain <\/em>at Junko\u2019s high school alma mater Inakita in Nagano in central Japan.<\/p>\n<p>I answered that in the U.S., it\u2019s relatively easy for us to pick up and go at the first sign of crisis or opportunity.\u00a0 I\u2019m a proud Chicagoan, sure, but the sense of identification the people in Fukushima feel for the land is on a whole other level.\u00a0 One of my personal goals for this project is to better understand that sense of attachment.<\/p>\n<p>I only learned later when she translated her answer for me that Junko said she would probably stay.<\/p>\n<p>What makes a person decide whether to move on or stick out a disaster whose repercussions won\u2019t be fully understood for decades?<\/p>\n<p>How can these two families of Nemotos, living side by side, have such contradictory responses to the disaster?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/indiegogo.com\/uncannyterrain\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-703\" title=\"IMG_0257\" src=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-300x221.jpg 300w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-1024x755.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-600x442.jpg 600w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-406x300.jpg 406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Among the dozens of farmers we\u2019ve met in the past year, we have seen a particular commitment by organic growers to stay and cultivate.\u00a0 This is counterintuitive on its face.\u00a0 These farmers, who have worked hardest to keep their crops free of contamination, are now the most perseverant in the face of the most insidious contamination they\u2019ve ever encountered.\u00a0 But on another level it makes perfect sense.\u00a0 The commitment they have made to protect and perfect their land is not something they can walk away from, no matter the odds.<\/p>\n<p>Please <a href=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/donate\" target=\"_blank\">make a tax-deductible contribution<\/a> to help us cover the cost of capturing and sharing this unfolding story.\u00a0 And please spread the word.\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Going home to the nuclear exclusion zone \u8b66\u6212\u533a\u57df\u5185\u4e00\u90e8\u89e3\u9664\uff1a\u81ea\u5b85\u3078\u3002\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dtNjuAeWhv0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>We were prepared to talk our way past a police checkpoint\u2014or play dumb, in my case.\u00a0 But we drove right over the border unaccosted.\u00a0 13 months after the tsunami, the fields remain strewn with twisted cars and the insides of ravaged houses.\u00a0 Cracked and roofless buildings stand untouched since the earthquake.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-680\" title=\"IMG_4370 small\" src=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small-600x400.jpg 600w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small-450x300.jpg 450w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_4370-small.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>12 km up the Pacific coast from the still-smoldering Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Minami-Soma was cleaved in two.\u00a0 The north side of the city remains populated, while the south end was abandoned to the nuclear exclusion zone.\u00a0 That is, until April 16, when, for the first time, evacuees were allowed to return home without a special permit, though they still can\u2019t spend the night.<\/p>\n<p>The Nemotos had an organic farm here for 12 years, spreading sustainable practices to their neighbors.\u00a0 Mrs. Nemoto lost cousins in the tsunami.\u00a0 They evacuated first to Fukushima City, where radiation is twice as high as it is here, and later to adjacent Soma, where they live with their son\u2019s family.\u00a0 The trauma of relocation has left their teenage granddaughter suffering sleepwalking and seizures.<\/p>\n<p>Koichi Nemoto is determined to resume farming his evacuated land.\u00a0 He\u2019s working with a team of researchers to test various experimental methods of preventing crops from absorbing radioactive cesium.\u00a0 He can grow anything, he says proudly.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-702\" title=\"nemoto neighbor\" src=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-300x168.jpg 300w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-1024x576.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-600x337.jpg 600w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor-500x281.jpg 500w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/nemoto-neighbor.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>It\u2019s the complete opposite for their next-door neighbors, also named Nemoto (the name of the neighborhood, too).\u00a0 The neighbor Nemotos have no desire to move back, they tell us as they revisit their abandoned home, and they consider cultivating their fields a lost cause.\u00a0 They just want the government, or the power company, anybody, to buy their property, so they can move on.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you were a Fukushima farmer, would you stay?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/indiegogo.com\/uncannyterrain\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-ak-ash4\/292118_312436535494104_138783162859443_784306_483960592_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>This was just one of the provocative questions students asked us, often in eloquent English, after we screened preview footage of our documentary <em>Uncanny Terrain <\/em>at Junko\u2019s high school alma mater Inakita in Nagano in central Japan.<\/p>\n<p>I answered that in the U.S., it\u2019s relatively easy for us to pick up and go at the first sign of crisis or opportunity.\u00a0 I\u2019m a proud Chicagoan, sure, but the sense of identification the people in Fukushima feel for the land is on a whole other level.\u00a0 One of my personal goals for this project is to better understand that sense of attachment.<\/p>\n<p>I only learned later when she translated her answer for me that Junko said she would probably stay.<\/p>\n<p>What makes a person decide whether to move on or stick out a disaster whose repercussions won\u2019t be fully understood for decades?<\/p>\n<p>How can these two families of Nemotos, living side by side, have such contradictory responses to the disaster?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/indiegogo.com\/uncannyterrain\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-703\" title=\"IMG_0257\" src=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-300x221.jpg 300w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-1024x755.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-600x442.jpg 600w, http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0257-406x300.jpg 406w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Among the dozens of farmers we\u2019ve met in the past year, we have seen a particular commitment by organic growers to stay and cultivate.\u00a0 This is counterintuitive on its face.\u00a0 These farmers, who have worked hardest to keep their crops free of contamination, are now the most perseverant in the face of the most insidious contamination they\u2019ve ever encountered.\u00a0 But on another level it makes perfect sense.\u00a0 The commitment they have made to protect and perfect their land is not something they can walk away from, no matter the odds.<\/p>\n<p>Please <a href=\"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/donate\" target=\"_blank\">make a tax-deductible contribution<\/a> to help us cover the cost of capturing and sharing this unfolding story.\u00a0 And please spread the word.\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[458,6,35,455,145,17,9,104,18,19,11,456,457,7,14,12,15,41,274,97,66,36],"class_list":["post-701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video-2","tag-becquerels","tag-documentary","tag-evacuation","tag-exclusion","tag-farm","tag-food","tag-fukushima","tag-japan","tag-kajino","tag-koziarski","tag-meltdown","tag-minami-soma","tag-nemoto","tag-nuclear","tag-organic","tag-radiation","tag-rice","tag-soil","tag-testing","tag-uncanny-terrain","tag-vegetables","tag-zone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":806,"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions\/806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uncannyterrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}