Fukushima Cleanup Recruits ‘Nuclear Gypsies’ from Across Japan

July 14th, 2011

Nuclear Ginza (1995)

Part 1

Part 2

Via: Guardian:

Four months on from the start of the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, this hot-spring resort in north-east Japan has been transformed into a dormitory for 2,000 men who have travelled from across the country to take part in the clean-up effort 30 miles away at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Iwaki-Yumoto has come to resemble corporate Japan in microcosm. Among its newest residents are technicians and engineers with years of experience and, underpinning them all, hundreds of labourers lured from across Japan by the prospect of higher wages.

They include Ariyoshi Rune, a tall, wiry 47-year-old truck driver whose slicked-back hair and sideburns are inspired by his idol, Joe Strummer.

For five days a week, Rune is in thrall to the drudgery of life as a “nuclear gypsy”, the name writer Kunio Horie gave to contract workers who have traditionally performed the dirtiest, most dangerous jobs for Japan’s power utilities.

The industry has relied on temporary workers for maintenance and repair work since the nuclear plant construction boom in the 1970s. Now, as then, those from the lowest rungs of Japanese society work for meagre wages, with little training or experience of hazardous environments.

Posted in Atrocities, Economy, Elite, Energy, Environment, Health, Media | Top Of Page

One Response to “Fukushima Cleanup Recruits ‘Nuclear Gypsies’ from Across Japan”

  1. Eileen says:
    July 16, 2011 at 5:22 am

    U an very naseaus (sp- wanting to throw up and/or puke in a bucket) as I read this. Somebody help me.
    These people wanting to work in the plants well, that’s their choice.
    But the scum lords above who even consider paying humans to clean up their crap ought to be burning in some kind of HELL. Somebody help me here before I submit commemts that get me banned from this site. Neither Jesus, Mary, Joseph, or the Holy sprit, fer Christs’ sake would stand for using humans as a sacrifice for a nuclear power plant. God please help these people so they don’t go there.Oh my god. I don’t know what to do. Dreams of Mom and Dad, and worrying about all in Japan. Pick up the slack for me folks.
    Mom and Dad in the dream the other night. Wow. I “caught them” together, escaping to somewhere below, that looked just like it does when you look out an airplane window. Long story, but I think I am free now.
    I think there are going to be really blank spots in communciation ahead.
    Hang in there folks.
    I for one don;t think its a train without its light on in the tunnel ahead.
    Don[t worry if you go through a big blank spot in the days ahead.
    We’re all in this together.
    Love to you and blesings

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