How stupid we are. The current crisis has made us realize many things.

It's been 65 years since Japan lost the Second World War. However, there are still lawsuits against the Japanese government over compensation for exposure to radiation caused by the atomic bombs in 1945. Although our government has approved people who can meet conditions required by law as victims and compensated them, the conditions have been controversial because it's very difficult to identify victims who suffer from secondary or internal exposure to radiation.

When I was a child, my mother would always say to me, "Don't let yourself be exposed to the rain. The rain could be harmful ". At the time, nuclear tests were frequently carried out by some countries like the Soviet Union and America. Japanese people understood that nuclear tests were carried out so far away from Japan that the radiation levels in the rain were low and the rain was not likely to be detrimental to their health. Still, they were worried about secondary exposure to radiation through the rain since it was very well-known in Japan that a lot of people had been exposed to radiation in the black rain that fell right after the atomic bombs were dropped. As a matter of fact, when China carried out nuclear tests, radiation levels in Tokyo were higher than usual. Recently, I learned that radiation levels in Tokyo right after the nuclear tests in China were higher than the levels in Tokyo after radiation started leaking from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Anyway, I think that these experiences have been almost forgotten in the past two decades. On top of that, although Japan depends greatly on nuclear power, I suppose that many of us underestimated the risk of it.

Actually, the current crisis has made us realize many things. We've finally realized what it means to live in an eco-friendly way. We've realized how much we used to waste. We've realized how comforting simple phrases like "hello" and "Are you OK?" can be. We've realized how many people support us. Thank you very much!