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Chernobyl
While I was in Ukraine with JUNO for the tour, I made a bit of time to go visit Chernobyl. I've wanted to go there for a really long time and see it with my own eyes, so I took the sudden unexpected chance.
On April 26th of this year, it's been 22 years since the tragic nuclear plant accident. And strangely enough, the day I visited was April 25th. The other members and I left Kiev under a beautiful clear sky, and arrived at the Russian border about an hour and a half later. Then less than 30 minutes later, we were in Chernobyl.
It was intense. The documents and photographs in the office clearly showed the tragic events of the time. There was also a map that showed the areas contaminated by radiation, divided into red and pink according to density, which made the threat seem all too real. All around us were left over nuclear power supplies and reactors, and the level of radiation was truly astounding. Because the soil and plants are still contaminated, we weren't allowed to step onto or touch anything but the asphalt that had been laid since the accident. They even told us not to touch the four cute cats that lived in the yard of the office, since they were apparently contaminated too.
We also went to a famous town called Pripyat. Before the accident, it was a prosperous town of about 50,000 people. It was the town with the highest radiation level, and all the residents were forcefully evacuated. It's been neglected for 22 years, and it seems like time has stopped in all the buildings, from the houses to the hotels, promenades, and restaurants. It's been left behind…a city of death. I couldn't stop shaking at the sight of such an ominous ghost town that didn't seem to fit at all with the sun shining brilliantly overhead.
Actually visiting Chernobyl, I once again felt keenly that it's really one of the greatest sins that man had committed as we make progresses. That we ventured into territory we shouldn't have. One mistake in operation brought an unbelievably huge range of horrible damage that affected humans, the natural world, and the future. Radioactivity remains for a long time according to the human clock, and there will still be danger thousands of generations from now. We must admit our mistakes. And we must seek out the countless number of other alternatives, must find methods that are good for life and nature.
Many of the local people were hurt in terrible ways, and from the generation confronted by this tragedy to the new life yet to be born, the danger still lingers on, including thyroid cancer and cancer that affects children. Ash of death envelops the planet. The many monuments that exist in Chernobyl are material representations of a fervent prayer that such a tragedy never happens again. They are seeking for a safe and beautiful life for everyone. We must not take the wrong road any more.
Only a few countries, Japan and Russia, have experienced the effects of nuclear power. And then there's Iraq, who has sustained serious damage by depleted uranium weapons. I believe that people from these countries, who have had such cruel experience, must take the initiative and share this will with the world so that this never happens again. Now is the moment when we can choose the correct path.
SUGIZO
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