Fukushima Worker Depicts Life in Crippled Plant Through Manga Comic Book
A worker who used to work for the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant will be releasing a manga comic book that depicts the lives of workers inside the radiation-laden facility.
In a nutshell, comic book artist Kazuto Tatsuta said life while inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant isn't "hell on earth," as what most global media and the world's populace had imagined. Rather, it's one filled with a careful routine to protect against radiation, such as putting on and taking off protective layers of varied articles of clothing like hazmat suits, gloves, boots and filtered masks.
Mr Tatsuta said working at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was just like working for any other construction site. Though physical danger cannot be perceived because radiation is not something seen by the naked eye, Mr Tatsuta was still forced to quit his job at the plant later because he had reached the annual legal exposure limit of 20 millisieverts. He worked there from June to December 2012.
His primary reason for applying work at the plant was because he was struggling to make his career as a manga artist work. Workers at the Fukushima plant earn $80 - $200 a day.
Yet, the 49-year-old artist said he could have never imagined that he would get the inspiration for his latest work, titled 1F: The Labor Diary Of Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant ("Ichi-Efu"), from there.
The comic's first episode, published in the weekly manga magazine Morning, had won for Mr Tatsuta a newcomer award.
Japan Times said few episodes will be released as a book in April. The newbie manga comic artist also revealed his publisher Kodansha Ltd. is planning on turning it into a series.
Updates can be accessed at this link https://www.facebook.com/ichiefu/posts/1415129962074416.