The Lotus Club: Documentary Series

A lotus flower grows out of the mud and blossoms above the muddy surface of the water. What are seen above the muddy surface of Japan and Scotland, in the eyes of two Glasgow-based Japanese journalists?

January

“Our friends in Fukushima” (2013, 40 mis)

Why and how did some Fukushima University academics measure environmental radiation in Fukushima to make a radiation map? The map is said to have influenced the government evacuation policy.

February

“Our Scotland: a Japanese perspective” (2013, 34 mins)

“The bird, the tree, the bell and the fish of Glasgow” (2014, 33 mins)

If there is anything unique about Glasgow, its enigmatic rhyme associated with its coat of arms may be one, and Glaswegians’ belief that they are friendly may be another.

March

“100 Bq/kg, 0.23 µSv/h, the standard of living in Fukushima” (2014, 43 mins)

‘100 Bq/Kg ’is the limit of radioactive materials in general foods to be marketed in Japan, and ‘0.23 µSv/h ’is the air dose rate target in the long run. With these targets, recovery work has started in Fukushima.

April

“Japanese isn’t English” (2016, 14 mins)

“Our Japan: Bucharest students’ views” (2014, 32 mins)

Japanese is different from English in terms of sounds and grammar, but the students at Bucharest University studying Japanese talked, in Japanese, about their favourite Japanese words.

May

“Here and there in Fukushima” (2015, 48 mins)

In Okuma Town near the nuclear power plant that caused the nuclear accident, there was a group of retired civil servants patrolling the town where all the residents were evacuated after the accident.

June

“Design Kimono - Koji Yoshie” (2017, 28 mins)

“Live a tradition in Maramures, Romania” (2014, 26 mins)

What are traditional art forms? How can they be preserved and developed further? A Kimono designer in Kyoto, Japan, and a folk musician in Maramures, Romania, talk their views.

July

“Borders in Fukushima - July 2016” (2017, 65 mins)

With the progress in the decontamination work, air dose rates were reduced, making it possible to lift evacuation order in some areas in Fukushima, and shifting borders with no-go areas.

August

“Make peace in the Philippines” (2015, 43 mins)

“Hiroshima after Fukushima” (2018, 22 mins)

Nuclear power generation was accepted as a peaceful use of atomic power, even in Hiroshima, until Fukushima.

September

“seven Years After - Fukushima in July 2018” (2019, 65 mins)

Fukushima was well known for carp farming. Is carp farming possible now after the nuclear accident? In Tomioka Town near the nuclear plant some part of the no-go area are chosen to be decontaminated.

October

“12 Years After Fukushima 2023” (2024, 65 mins)

The research at Fukushima University is on the long-term process of environmental radiation. Decontamination has opened up some no-go areas, but it has left a huge volume of radioactive soil removed.

November

“X” (2025)

This will be Japan Desk Scotland’s 13th Fukushima documentary, with interviews carried out in the summer of 2024. Once the editing is over, its title and its running time will be announced.

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