Daigo Fukuryū Maru (第五福龍丸, Lucky Dragon 5) was a Japanese tuna fishing boat, which was exposed to and contaminated by nuclear fallout from the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear device test on Bikini Atoll, on March 1, 1954.
Kuboyama Aikichi, the boat's chief radioman, died half a year later, on September 23, 1954, suffering from acute radiation syndrome. He is considered the first victim of the hydrogen bomb of Operation Castle Bravo.
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Early days
In 1947, the fishing boat was launched from Koza, Wakayama, named Dainana Kotoshiro Maru (第七事代丸, Kotoshiro Maru No. 7). Later it became a tuna fishing boat in Yaizu, Shizuoka, where it was renamed the Daigo Fukuryū Maru.
Nuclear test site contamination
Daigo Fukuryū Maru encountered the fallout from the U.S. Castle Bravo nuclear test on the Bikini Atoll, near the Marshall Islands, on March 1, 1954. The boat, along with its 23 fishermen aboard, as well as their catch of fish, was contaminated. They returned to Yaizu, Japan on March 14. The crew members, suffering from nausea, headache, burns, pains in the eyes, bleeding from the gums, etc., were diagnosed with acute radiation syndrome and admitted to two Tokyo hospitals. On September 23, chief radio operator Mr. Aikichi Kuboyama, 40, died — the first Japanese victim of a hydrogen bomb. He left these words: "I pray that I am the last victim of an atomic or hydrogen bomb."[1][2]
When the test was held, the Daigo Fukuryū Maru was catching fish outside the danger zone which the U.S. government had declared in advance. However, the test was over twice as powerful as it was predicted to be, and changes in weather patterns blew nuclear fallout, in the form of a fine ash, outside of the danger zone.[2] The fishermen realized the danger, and attempted to escape from the area, but they took time to retrieve fishing gear from the sea, causing them to be exposed to radioactive fallout for several hours.
Later, the United States expanded the danger zone and it was revealed that in addition to the Daigo Fukuryū Maru, many other fishery boats were in the expanded zone at the time. It is estimated that about a hundred fishing boats were contaminated to some degree by fallout from the test. Many hundreds of inhabitants of the Marshall Islands were also exposed, and a number of islands had to be evacuated entirely.[2]
The US at first tried to cover up the Lucky Dragon incident, sequestering the victims and declaring the site off limits. Later the United States paid Kuboyama's widow and children the equivalent in yen of about $2,500.[3]
The tragedy of the Daigo Fukuryū Maru gave rise to a fierce anti-nuclear movement in Japan, rising especially from the fear that the contaminated fish had entered the market. It also inspired the entire Kaiju eiga (monster movies) starting with Godzilla (Gojira) in 1954. The U.S. government feared this movement would lead to an anti-American movement, and attempted to quickly negotiate a settlement with the Japanese government (led at the time by the Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who was considered to be a pro-U.S. politician). The U.S. government agreed to pay $2 million compensation to the Japanese for injuries or damage sustained as a result of the blast.[4] The Japanese government also acknowledged that it would not pursue further reparations from the U.S. government.
The Daigo Fukuryū Maru was preserved in 1976 and is now on display in Tokyo at the Tokyo Metropolitan Daigo Fukuryū Maru Exhibition Hall.[5]
See also
- History of nuclear weapons
- Project 4.1 — study of other victims of Bravo contamination
External links
- Official website of the Tokyo Metropolitan Daigo Fukuryū Maru Exhibition Hall. Japanese
- Daigo Fukuryū Maru Exhibit at the Official Homepage of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
- Daigo Fukuryu-Maru (1959) - IMDB film entry
Notes and references
- ^ http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/ed20090301a2.html
- ^ a b c Lorna Arnold and Mark Smith. (2006). Britain, Australia and the Bomb, Palgrave Press, p. 77.
- ^ Gerald H. Clarfield and William M. Wiecek (1984). Nuclear America: Military and Civilian Nuclear Power in the United States 1940-1980, Harper & Row, New York, p. 207.
- ^ Gerard DeGroot, The Bomb: A Life, Random House, 2004.
- ^ 都立 第五福竜丸展示館 Official Site
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