Fukushima - A Nuclear Story (2015)

An exclusive journey inside the triple tragedy that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The documentary sheds light on what really happened at the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

We follow Italian news reporter Pio d’Emilia who has lived in Japan for over thirty years. d’Emilia was in Tokyo the day of the earthquake and he travelled through many of the towns and villages hit by the tsunami. He eventually reaches the gate of the nuclear plant but is refused entry. It’s not until June 2013 that Tepco, the plant operator would allow journalists access to the facility.

In his quest to reveal Fukushima’s on-going nuclear disaster, d’Emilia collected over 300 hours of footage consisting of shocking images and interviews with local people, authorities and officers, focusing on what he calls the social “collateral effects” of decisions by the government and the nuclear community. An exclusive interview with former Prime Minister Naoto Kan reveals how Tokyo and all of Japan was saved from a much greater catastrophe by chance.

USE OF MANGA IN THE FILM
Manga is a Japanese word referring to both comics and cartooning. Manga is used in the film as a tribute to this traditional Japanese art. It also serves as a tool to recreate events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres: action-adventure, business/commerce, historical drama, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy among others. Since the 1950s, manga has steadily grown to become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry and also gained a significant worldwide audience.