Last night Masako and I went to the first screening of a film in Shibuya she helped translate. This was by far the smallest theater I've ever been in, and would be safe to say that the screen was smaller than most big screen TV's. Theater aside we enjoyed the film.

Hibakusha at the End of the World is a documentary film about victims of radiation poisoning. It starts in 1998 in Basra, Iraq interviewing children with acute radiation poisoning caused by US weapons made with depleted uranium, and their struggle to treat patients with little to no medical supplies due to UN sanctions.

The film then moved to Hiroshima Japan and talked with an 85 year old survivor of the bomb, Dr. Shuntaro Hida. Dr. Hida was one of the first to treat radiation poisoning during the American occupation of Japan.

As a group they then traveled to the community living within sight of the Hanford Nuclear plant, birth place of the bombs dropped on Japan. We are then given a brief tour of "the death mile" by Tom Bailie, an area farmer who has been actively suing the government for the community for over 14 years. Tom showed the de-classified government documents dating back to 1946 showing the Department of Energy knew that they were harming people with low dose radiation from the reactor and by intentionally spraying iodine-131 on their homes and farms.

Overall I think the film dragged on a little and could have cut some of the scenes in half while still making the same strong point, watch any two hour documentary and you will feel the same. Anyone interested in independent documentary films should check this one out and look for Masako's name in the credits! It will be playing July 4th and 5th in Tokyo. See the website for more info

English website/Japanese website

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