Half-Life in Fukushima

On 11 March 2011, an earthquake and a tsunami near the Japanese coast caused a nuclear accident in Fukushima. In the days following the catastrophe, the entire population was evacuated over a perimeter of up to 20 to 30 km around the plant, leaving towns empty and cattle without water or feed until the government requested their slaughter. Naoto stayed there, alone. Today, whereas the half-life — namely the time necessary for half of the atoms to naturally disintegrate — is not yet ready to be attained (30 years), the invisible evil continues to hover. Bags of waste are lined up, marking the fron- tier of the “red zone”. The decontamination continues, attempting to erase memory by taking apart the houses or scraping the contaminated ground in vain. Vegetation has taken over the city, invading the landscape and the setting of this film like in a post-apocalyptic science-fiction film. Filmed in 16 mm, Naoto, roaming the remains of an ancient civilisation that now seems to have disappeared, is, like a reference to a theme cherished by SF, the last man of Fukushima.