Japanese band sheds light on Fukushima nuclear disaster

The band is called Shingetsu Toka and it's making a name for itself as an antinuclear group.

“Our goal is to raise awareness of the dangers of nuclear power and exposure to radiation to people who live in Tokyo,” drummer Yukiko Yamagishi told the Japan Subculture Research Center. “We basically sing about the indifference and responsibilities of the Japanese adults and voters, including myself. However we find it very difficult to realistically write about the sentiments of the people of Fukushima after the 3/11 nuclear accident. Some our songs should be taken as love songs dedicated to children living in Fukushima; some are protests, some are news bulletins.”

According to an article on the JSRC website, Shingetsu Toka's second EP is called Living in a Radioactive Material World. The title song is compared to the aggressively political early work of the Clash.

Approximately 88,000 people have been evacuated from Fukushima, where an earthquake in March 2011 crippled a nuclear-power plant.

Band members have asked Fukushima residents, including youth, to write down their thoughts about what happened.

Yamagishi explained to the JRSC that the band's name, translated into the New Moonlight Flowers, reflects its desire to "grow flowers in dark or invisible places of our world and shine light on the things that most of us don't see or try not to see".

They often collaborate with guitarist and singer Kenji Sato, who a Fukushima nuclear-power plant worker who has been a source of information for the women in the band.