Japan’s Dream of Reason
In March of 2011 when the news first broke concerning the earthquake, tsunami and forthcoming nuclear meltdown in northern Japan, it was immediately clear to some of us that we were witnessing the unmistakable handiwork of Godzilla. That the radioactive monster’s latest rampage was at the core of the disaster was of course blacked out by the likes of CNN, the BBC, the New York Times, all the major Japanese news outlets,—even Al-Jazeera—out of obvious fears over what sort of blind, bloodthirsty panic news of a giant radioactive monster on the loose might spark around the globe. But the evidence was as clear as a kaiju footprint on the beach, and it had been laid out clearly again and again over half a century of Godzilla films. You put together a major seismic and oceanic disturbance followed immediately by the destruction of a nuclear facility, there is only one suspect to consider. Add it up, people!
Perhaps realizing how very obvious it all was and that it wouldn’t be long before the masses began demanding the truth, the story went dark everywhere. We suddenly stopped hearing about Fukushima, about the deadly radiation levels spreading across the country, and the already devastating effects seen in plant, animal, and human life as far south as Tokyo. Stop reporting a story and everyone will simply assume that everything’s A-OK, all is well in hand, and Godzilla’s gone back to sleep on the ocean floor. In the best case scenario, they’ll completely forget it ever happened, distracted as they are by the latest Lindsay Lohan scandal or the latest feud among the American Idol judges.
Two and a half years after Godzilla’s attack, any disturbing news that does come out of Fukushima only seems to appear on irrelevant do-gooder environmentalist websites. And even that news is downplayed as “no big deal” by the mainstream media and the Japanese government, both of whom are much more excited at this point to tout plans to transform the site of the (at the moment) second-worst nuclear disaster in history into a thriving theme park in which tourists wearing radiation suits and respirators will be able to tour the contaminated grounds, what’s left of the crippled reactor and pose for amusing photos with workers still struggling to clean up the devastation and keep the leaks under control.
Meanwhile comes word that earlier this month poisoned steam was once again spotted rising from the reactor. Much more troubling, however, was the news that a nearby volcano had just erupted spreading ash over the area, and that an estimated 300 tons of radioactive water from the reactor is being pumped into the ocean every day.
What’s not being reported of course, is that the two are likely connected. As the Godzilla films have illustrated, a volcanic eruption is as sure a sign heralding the arrival of a new giant monster as an earthquake or a tsunami. Which monster we’re dealing with is not yet known—perhaps Rodan or King Ghidorah—but as suicidal as it may seem, it may help explain the dumping of so much radiation into nearby waters.
At this point in history, Japan’s leaders have witnessed nearly 30 Godzilla attacks on their nation (even those cases in which Godzilla was acting as Japan’s defender against the likes of Megalon and Destroyah and Space Godzilla resulted in billions of dollars worth of property damage), so by now they know full well how to rouse a slumbering Godzilla when he’s needed. There’s no better way to do this than to expose him to a massive dose of radiation, hence dumping billions of gallons of water from Fukushima’s core into the seas off the coast in hopes it will reach him wherever he may be dozing. That they would take such drastic steps to summon the creature back after all he’d done—contaminating all sea life in the area and decimating the nation’s already struggling fishing industry in the process (as well as ultimately Osaka and Tokyo when Godzilla comes ashore)—would seem to indicate that whatever has emerged from the volcano is something far too terrifying to imagine.
There may be some strange stories coming out of Japan in the days to come, whispers of tens of thousands of casualties, but don’t count on hearing any details on the news.
by Jim Knipfel