Travel Report and Fall News

September marks a month with many disasters in Japan. This September 6, there was an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 with the epicenter in the Middle Eastern part of Hokkaido. The epicenter was 62 miles away from the Tomari nuclear power plant, which had been inactive. The blackout across Hokkaido reminded me of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident seven years ago and New York City's massive blackout of 2003. I felt terror thinking about when the nuclear power plant will be restarted.

There was the 17 anniversary of September 11 attacks in New York City.The number of victims have been increasing nowadays. Many victims have been died by cancer because of  the toxic substances was mixed in the dust when the building collapsed.

In August I visited friends in Buffalo and Montreal. This trip began with visiting Niagara Falls on both the US and Canada borders. On the Canadian side, luxurious houses line up along the river and flourish in the tourism business. On the US side factories line up along the river, and the place where the waterfall can be seen was a national park.

While guiding me, my friend told me about the “Love Canal Incident,” known as the site of the landfill where this neighborhood became the epicenter of a large-scale environmental pollution disaster that hurt the health of hundreds of residents. Her friend has become cancer and still lives there.

In Montreal, I visited Ms. Ryoko Hashizume who I met in Belgium in 2015. She introduced me to her members of group “Montréal KIZUNA” who remembers the East Japan great earthquake, and knew the current situation of people who had to coexist with radiation, and continued to support. All the members were unique. They were cooperating naturally using their skills, and I felt comfortable to be with them.

During Japanese festival, I enjoyed participating their activities. They had a booth to sell supporters’ handmade items, and a corner to give information on nuclear issues such as radiation exposure. I had a chance to communicate with many customers and I got information on Canadian nuclear issues. Quizzes on nuclear issues became popular by giving prizes to people with correct answers. I felt that continuing activities toward such publicity will lead to raising awareness of nuclear issues.

In Montreal, I measured spatial dose of radioactivity with my geiger counter called ECO TEST of Ukraine's TERRA-P.  Approximately average 0.13 μSv / h. There was a place that go up to 0.16 μSv / h in the Kent park close to the Montreal University.I heard from Ryoko that McGill University and Montreal University in Montreal were used as laboratories for the Manhattan Project before ultimately moved to the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories where located about 200 km north of Ottawa in Ontario. I knew that Britain was involved in the development of nuclear bombs, but I didn't know that Canada was also involved. More info: Canada’s historical role in developing nuclear weapons

Although I tend to believe myself that I am safe, my apartment in New York is also  0.13 μSv/h. This figure is almost the same as my parents' house, which is about 100 km away from Fukushima, which was a candidate site for radioactive waste final disposal site in Tochigi. My Geiger counter is not accurate but it serves as a guide. Measuring radioactivity with a Geiger counter is a trigger to make one aware of our environment, and it reminds me that radioactive contamination is not another person's affair.

In this trip, I learned there are similar problems in the US and Canada, such as indigenous people's exposure to uranium mining, the existence of concentration camps of Japanese immigrants during the wartime, etc. I felt that the shadow of the Britain in Canada. Knowing Canada would lead to knowing the US more.

"Under This Sky: Entrance of Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant" 
The three worst nuclear meltdowns in history were at Three Mile Island in the U.S., Chernobyl in the Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan. The Three Mile Island nuclear accident, in 1979, was the first of these major nuclear accidents. Next year, on March 28, will be the 40th anniversary of this event, and the plant is scheduled to be shut down in September. The image of the entrance to the Three Mile Island plant implies, with both relief and anxiety, the long road of its decommissioning.

The 8th Anti-Nuke Power Art Exhibition
September 24, Monday- October 21, Sunday
Opening  September 26, Wednesday, 5:30-7:00PM
Closing    October 17, Wednesday, 5:30-7:00PM
Theater for the New City’s  TNC Art Gallery
155 1st Ave. New York, NY 10003

Opening day is International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. Let's wish for denuclearisation and peace together.

Group Critiques 
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop program
September 24, Monday
6:30-8:30PM
50/50 Gallery
323 West 39th Street 5th Floor NY NY 10018

As an introduction to my project "under this sky”, I am presenting some of my photo panels, and my powerpoint with my recent activities and plans.

Discover Your Collagraph
September 29, Saturday, and 30, Sunday
10:30AM- 2:30PM
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop
323 West 39th Street 2nd Floor NY NY 10018
646-416-6226  rbpmw@efanyc.org

"Nature Rip off" 
The adan is a tree, a symbol of Okinawa, used for a long time by Okinawans for their daily necessities. Seventy percent of US military bases in Japan are in Okinawa, and the island’s natural beauty has been destroyed by the construction of these bases. This cracked landscape implies that Nature has been “ripped off” by human beings. And as we are all part of nature, we humans have been ripping off ourselves.

RBPMW Members Show
October 1 - October 28
50/50 Gallery
Opening Reception: October 3, Wednesday, 6:00-8:00PM
During EFA Open Studios: October 19, Friday, 6-9PM
Contact Robert Blackburn Printmaking workshop
323 West 39th Street 5th Floor NY NY 10018
646-416-6226

"all things are linked 911” 
The outline map represents our Earth. In the beginning, Earth had no national borders. The folded-paper cranes serve as symbols of peace and hope. I’ve made folded-paper cranes from a world map and attached them wherever U.S. bombs have been dropped and where 9/11 disasters occurred. The U.S. is a country of immigrants, yet it bombs its immigrants’ homelands. Since the September 11 attacks, the number of refugees around the world has been increasing. The refugee problem has been caused by needless human conflict.

Voice: A Celebration of Refugee Stories
EDGE Gallery
October 12, Saturday - October 28, Sunday
Opening Reception: October 12, Saturday, 5:00-10:00PM
“Sauti" Film screening & Discussion October 19, Friday, 7:00-9:00PM
Organised by NeeNee productions 
7001 W Colfax Lakewood, CO80214

Advanced Printmaking Workshop 
October  20, Saturday - October 21, Sunday
10:30AM-3:00PM
Boulder Creative Collective
organized by Melissa Pickering
2500 47th St, Boulder, Colorado 80301
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